HANGZHOU, China, 21 de julio de 2026 — Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA, HKEX: 2391), proveedor líder mundial de servicios de plataforma en la nube para IA, realizó una inversión estratégica en la reciente ronda de financiación pre-A de Robopoet, que recaudó 100 millones de RMB. En esta ronda también participaron los inversores actuales Sequoia China y GSR Ventures, junto con otros dos nuevos inversores. La inversión de Tuya refleja su creciente impulso para completar el ciclo de comercialización de la IA física.

Detrás de la inversión: del desarrollo de la IA a la expansión global

La inversión estratégica de Tuya llega en un momento en que Fuzozo, el primer producto de Robopoet, ha alcanzado unas ventas nacionales acumuladas cercanas a las 300.000 unidades a junio de 2026. La colaboración entre ambas compañías se remonta a 2025, cuando Tuya comenzó a proporcionar la plataforma global de IA en la nube que ayudó a transformar a este compacto, suave y carismático compañero emocional con IA en un fenómeno del mercado.

“El año 2026 marca el momento crucial para la comercialización a gran escala del hardware de IA. El hardware nativo de IA, validado por el mercado, está entrando en una fase de crecimiento explosivo”, afirmó Alex Yang, cofundador, director de operaciones y director financiero de Tuya Smart.

La estrategia va más allá de apostar por una única categoría de producto. Refleja una visión más amplia para la comercialización del hardware de IA. A medida que la IA avanza desde los modelos hasta las aplicaciones del mundo real, el hardware de IA se consolida como un puente clave que conecta la tecnología con los consumidores. Desde robots y juguetes con IA hasta dispositivos domésticos inteligentes, los productos inteligentes se están convirtiendo en compañeros de IA proactivos. A través de su ecosistema de IA+IoT, Tuya seguirá impulsando la convergencia de la IA y el mundo físico.

Sólida validación de mercado de las soluciones de juguetes con IA

Durante el Festival de Compras 618, el mayor evento de compras en línea de mitad de año en China, el modelo de empoderamiento de Tuya demostró su eficacia a gran escala: Fuzozo vendió 40.000 unidades, ocupando el primer puesto en la categoría de juguetes con IA de Tmall, mientras que otros productos de juguetes con IA potenciados por Tuya demostraron colectivamente un impulso en todo el ecosistema: Walulu vendió 8.000 unidades; el robot de compañía inteligente con IA AOOMII, el gato AI Scruffy y Wozzi alcanzaron aproximadamente 5.000 unidades en ventas cada uno; y Famue apareció en la Lista de Oro de Robots Inteligentes de JD.com.

A pesar de sus diversas formas y propósitos, estos productos comparten una base común: Tuya brindó un apoyo fundamental tanto para la innovación de productos como para la expansión de mercado. En el ámbito de la I+D, la plataforma de desarrollo de IA de Tuya ayudó a que los productos avanzaran rápidamente desde el concepto hasta la producción en masa. En el ámbito comercial, Tuya puso a disposición sus recursos operativos locales y su acceso a canales de distribución, allanando el camino para que marcas como Fuzozo ingresaran al mercado global.

El auge de estos productos de hardware de IA no solo confirma que el hardware de IA está entrando en la vida cotidiana del público, sino que también valida la madurez y la replicabilidad del modelo de empoderamiento del hardware de IA.

Potenciando la innovación en IA física con capacidades de IA de pila completa

Esta iniciativa se sustenta en un completo conjunto de herramientas de IA de pila completa diseñado para reducir las barreras de entrada para los desarrolladores de hardware. Tuya ha implementado un conjunto de tecnologías propias que incluyen el modelo de detección de actividad de voz personal (PVAD), Physical AI Foundation V2.8, WukongAI 3.0, la red de comunicación en tiempo real T-RTC, el modelo de acción física y el sistema de memoria a largo plazo OmniMem V2.0.

De cara al futuro, Tuya seguirá expandiendo sus capacidades de plataforma global de IA en la nube y sus recursos internacionales para apoyar a los innovadores de hardware de IA y al emergente modelo de “Empresa Unipersonal”. Mediante inversiones estratégicas como Robopoet, Tuya busca construir un nuevo modelo de crecimiento centrado en el fortalecimiento de la plataforma de IA, la colaboración del ecosistema y la comercialización global de innovaciones de hardware de IA.

Foto – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007018/20260721160654_32_1.jpg

Rounds led by FinSight Ventures and Spice Expeditions, with participation from U.S. endowments, global venture firms and Latin American investors. The full USD 100 million will be invested in Venezuela.

CARACAS, Venezuela and NEW YORK, July 21, 2026 — Cashea, the company powering everyday commerce in Venezuela, has raised USD 100 million from global institutional investors, demonstrating a major vote of confidence in Venezuela’s consumer economy and in Cashea’s model for expanding interest-free financing at scale. Cashea has more than 10 million consumer accounts, a figure equivalent to more than half of Venezuela’s adult population, and a network of 40,000 stores nationwide.

The USD 100 million includes a previously undisclosed USD 40 million Series A led by Spice Expeditions, which closed in March 2026 and comprised USD 20 million in equity and USD 20 million in debt by Architect Capital, and a USD 60 million Series B, closed in June 2026 and led by FinSight Ventures, with participation from Spice Expeditions, Endeavor Catalyst and a broad group of U.S. endowments, global and Latin American investors.

The announcement comes just weeks after the earthquake that struck Venezuela. In the days that followed, Cashea waived late fees nationwide, advanced cash to merchants to improve their liquidity, and widened access to credit so that families could begin to replace what they had lost. The full USD 100 million will be invested in Venezuela to continue expanding access to credit and supporting consumers and merchants.

“Global investors are backing Cashea and a new vision of Venezuela: a resilient consumer economy, thriving merchants and millions of people with access to credit,” said Pedro Vallenilla, co-founder and CEO of Cashea. “Since we founded Cashea in 2022, we have worked to stand alongside Venezuelans and their businesses through the country’s most difficult moments. This financing sends a clear signal that Venezuela’s private sector is investable and that its consumers are responsible and creditworthy when given access to adequate financial services.”

Cashea Begins Where Credit Disappeared

Between 2013 and 2020, Venezuela’s GDP fell more than 80 percent, and consumer credit shrank from USD 15 billion to USD 1.7 billion. For most of the past decade, that left ordinary families with no simple way to finance essential purchases: credit had effectively disappeared.

Cashea was founded to rebuild access to credit by restoring trust between consumers and merchants. The company began by offering fully digital, instant, zero-interest installment financing for everyday purchases, both online and in-store. In four years, Cashea has become a nationwide platform embedded in Venezuela’s everyday commerce.

“Cashear”: Transforming Trust into Credit and Commerce

Today, “cashear” is part of everyday Venezuelan speech. It means more than paying in installments or simply buying with Cashea. It describes a purchase made possible: a new phone, an appliance, something long wanted and finally within reach.

Through the app, a shopper buys online or scans a QR code in a store, makes a first payment, and settles the rest in equal installments every two weeks, at zero interest. Backing that simple interaction is a model built to restore trust. Since its launch, Cashea has enabled more than 100 million transactions.

Investors Who Came to See for Themselves

For Cashea’s backers, this was no remote bet on a headline about recovery. They flew to Venezuela to meet the management team, walk the aisles of partner stores, and watch shoppers check out with Cashea in real time.

The round brought together an unusually broad investor base for a company operating in a single emerging market: U.S. endowments and institutions, including Washington University in St. Louis; global venture firms, including FinSight Ventures, Spice Expeditions, Endeavor Catalyst and Plug & Play; and Latin American investors, including Krealo, Amador, Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and NuMundo Ventures.

“We created Cashea because we believed in Venezuela and its people,” said Vallenilla. “This financing gives us both the ability and the responsibility to go beyond our core installment product, building new ways for Venezuelans to pay, save and buy, and new tools for the businesses that serve them. What we are building is the financial fabric of how Venezuela buys and sells.”

About Cashea

Cashea is the company powering everyday commerce in Venezuela. Founded in Caracas in 2022, Cashea rebuilt access to credit through fully digital, zero-interest installment financing for everyday purchases, both online and in stores. Today, Cashea helps consumers buy what they need and merchants transact and grow. The company has more than 10 million accounts, a network of 40,000 storefronts and has enabled more than 100 million transactions since launch. Building on its core installment product, Cashea is developing new solutions that will give consumers and merchants more ways to transact and grow across Venezuela.

For more information, visit www.cashea.app. 

For media inquiries: [email protected]

For investment inquiries: [email protected]

About FinSight Ventures

FinSight Ventures (“FSV”) is a global technology investment firm founded in 2004, focused on Financial Technology and Enterprise Software & Artificial Intelligence. The firm has backed category-leading companies including Lending Club (USA), Klarna (Sweden), Kraken (USA), Toss (South Korea), Razorpay (India), Rappi (Colombia), Uzum (Uzbekistan), MediBuddy (India), and Easy Home Finance (India). FSV manages over $1B in assets, with offices in San Francisco, Bengaluru, Dubai, and Cyprus.

For media inquiries: [email protected] 

About Spice Expeditions

Spice Expeditions (“Spice”) is a U.S.-based investment organization that invests globally in high-growth companies at the intersection of money and technology. Founded in 2024 with offices in New York, NY, and Westport, CT, Spice focuses on bringing capital, ideas, and relationships to what it describes as the best kept secrets in fintech. In addition to Cashea, Spice has backed founders and their teams across four continents, including Kaspi (Kazakhstan), Toss (South Korea), Plata (Mexico), Imprint (U.S.), Salmon (Philippines), Midas (Turkiye), and Flex (U.S.).

For media inquiries: [email protected] 

SOURCE Cashea

HANGZHOU, Chine, 21 juillet 2026 — Tuya Smart (NYSE : TUYA, HKEX : 2391), l’un des principaux fournisseurs mondiaux de services de plateforme d’IA en nuage, a réalisé un investissement stratégique dans Robopoet à l’occasion du tour de financement préalable à la série A, qui s’est récemment achevé sur la collecte de 100 millions de RMB. Ce tour de financement a également bénéficié de la participation des bailleurs de fonds existants, Sequoia China et GSR Ventures, ainsi que de deux nouveaux investisseurs. L’investissement de Tuya témoigne de l’accélération de ses efforts visant à boucler le cycle de commercialisation de l’IA physique.

Les coulisses de l’investissement : du développement de l’IA à l’expansion mondiale

Cet investissement stratégique de Tuya intervient alors que Fuzozo, le nouveau produit de Robopoet, a enregistré des ventes cumulées sur le marché national avoisinant les 300 000 unités en juin 2026. Le partenariat entre les deux entreprises remonte à 2025, année où Tuya a commencé à fournir la plateforme mondiale d’IA en nuage sous-jacente qui a contribué à faire un véritable phénomène commercial de ce compagnon émotionnel compact en peluche, capable de cligner des yeux.

« L’année 2026 sera décisive pour la commercialisation à grande échelle du matériel pensé pour l’IA. Le matériel conçu nativement pour l’IA, dont la valeur a été validée par le marché, entre dans une phase de croissance explosive », déclare Alex Yang, cofondateur, directeur de l’exploitation et directeur financier de Tuya Smart.

La logique stratégique va au-delà d’un simple pari sur une seule catégorie de produits. Elle reflète une vision plus large de la commercialisation du matériel optimisé pour l’IA. À mesure que l’IA passe des modèles aux applications concrètes, le matériel IA s’impose comme un maillon essentiel reliant cette technologie aux consommateurs. Des robots dotés d’IA aux jouets, en passant par les appareils de domotique, les produits intelligents se transforment peu à peu en compagnons IA proactifs. Grâce à son écosystème associant IA et Internet des objets, Tuya continuera à favoriser la convergence entre l’IA et le monde physique.

Des jouets IA plébiscités par le marché

Lors du Festival d’achat 618, le plus grand événement chinois de vente en ligne de la mi-année, le modèle de déploiement de Tuya a prouvé son efficacité à grande échelle : 40 000 unités de Fuzozo se sont vendues, ce qui place le compagnon émotionnel en tête de la catégorie des jouets IA sur Tmall, tandis que les autres jouets IA alimentés par la technologie de Tuya ont, dans leur ensemble, affiché une dynamique positive dans tout l’écosystème : Walulu s’est vendu à 8 000 exemplaires ; le robot compagnon intelligent AOOMII, le chat Scruffy et Wozzi ont chacun atteint environ les 5 000 exemplaires vendus ; et Famue a fait son entrée dans la « Smart Robot Gold List » (liste des meilleurs robots intelligents) de JD.com.

Malgré la diversité de leurs formes et de leurs finalités, ces produits ont un point commun : Tuya y a apporté un soutien essentiel tant en matière d’innovation que d’expansion commerciale. En ce qui concerne la R & D, la plateforme de développement Tuya AI a aidé les produits à passer rapidement du stade du concept à celui de la production en série. Du côté du marché, Tuya a mis à disposition ses ressources opérationnelles locales et ses capacités d’accès aux canaux de distribution pour ouvrir le marché mondial à des marques telles que Fuzozo.

Le succès de ces produits matériels conçus pour l’IA confirme non seulement que ces technologies font désormais partie du quotidien du grand public, mais atteste aussi de la maturité et de la reproductibilité du modèle de déploiement du matériel IA.

Favoriser l’innovation en matière d’IA physique grâce à des capacités d’IA complètes

Cette initiative s’appuie sur une série d’outils d’IA complets, conçus pour réduire les obstacles rencontrés par les développeurs de matériel. Tuya a déployé une suite de technologies exclusives, notamment un modèle de détection d’activité vocale personnelle, le modèle de fondation d’IA physique V2.8, WukongAI 3.0, le réseau de communication en temps réel T-RTC, un modèle d’action physique ou encore le système de mémoire à long terme OmniMem V2.0.

À l’avenir, Tuya continuera à mettre à disposition les capacités de sa plateforme mondiale d’IA en nuage ainsi que ses ressources à l’international afin de soutenir la création de matériel IA et le modèle émergent des « entreprises unipersonnelles ». Grâce à des investissements stratégiques, par exemple dans Robopoet, Tuya entend mettre en place un nouveau modèle de croissance axé sur le déploiement des plateformes d’IA, la collaboration au sein de l’écosystème et la commercialisation mondiale de matériel IA innovant.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007018/20260721160654_32_1.jpg

New multi-layer NAV and alternative asset capabilities — developed alongside the industry’s leading institutions — mark the most significant expansion of Give Interactive’s investment platform to date

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., July 21, 2026 — The donor-advised fund has often been called a charitable checking account. The name made sense at the time. DAFs were a simple vehicle, with basic investment options, and grants sent when ready. That era is ending.

DAFs are now the fastest-growing segment in American philanthropy, and the shift underway is fundamental. Donors, advisors, and institutions are no longer treating the DAF as a giving convenience; they are treating it as a charitable asset class. These funds warrant the same investment sophistication, structural complexity, and strategic thinking as any other component of a modern wealth management relationship.

Give Interactive announces the launch of its Advanced Investment Management Management, delivering one of the most comprehensive investment administration capabilities available in the sector. The centerpiece of this release is Give Interactive’s fund of funds infrastructure: a multi-layer net asset value (NAV) architecture that enables sponsors to construct sophisticated, multi-manager investment programs natively within the platform.

Give Interactive’s clients represent some of the nation’s largest and most complex charitable organizations. The company’s institutional client relationships reflect significant investment in the operational depth and compliance infrastructure required to serve philanthropic organizations at the highest level. It is through these partnerships that Give Interactive has continued to advance its platform capabilities beyond what the broader market has previously offered.

For more on Give Interactive’s institutional client partnerships, visit: https://www.giveinteractive.com/post/vanguard

Solving the Product Offering Gap

Until now, DAF sponsors & Foundations seeking to offer advanced investment options have faced a difficult tradeoff.

To access more sophisticated strategies or customized portfolios, sponsors have typically been required to go outside their core DAF platform, engaging external investment managers.

The result: sponsors absorbed the cost and operational complexity of building multi-manager programs. Layered fee arrangements, limited transparency, and the friction of managing external vehicles added cost. That cost ultimately made those sponsors less competitive on price and less differentiated on product.

Sponsors on the Give Interactive platform can now administer their own multi-layer investment products and act as their own investment manager of those products. This includes fund of funds vehicles with independent sub-pool NAV calculation, unitized accounting at each layer, and full look-through asset management.

A Multi-Year Investment in Institutional-Grade Infrastructure

The Advanced Investment Management Platform is not a single product launch. It is the result of sustained, deliberate platform investment designed to remove the operational barriers that charitable organizations have historically faced.

“Over the next decade, we believe investment flexibility will become one of the defining competitive advantages for DAF and Foundation administrators. The organizations that can offer sophisticated investment options while maintaining operational excellence will be best positioned to attract donors, advisors, and institutional relationships. We have spent years building the infrastructure to make that possible — and the fund of funds launch is our most recent and most advanced expression of that commitment.”

— Lucas Cherry, CEO, Give Interactive

Full-Spectrum Investment Architecture

Developed alongside some of the nation’s leading charitable organizations, the platform enables institutions to administer virtually every major investment model used across modern philanthropy:

• Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) — across any custodian platform, preserving existing institutional relationships
• Single-Layer Unitized Investment Pools — scalable pooled vehicles with daily NAV calculation and clean unitized accounting
• Multi-Layer Unitized Investment Pools (Fund of Funds) — the platform’s newest and most advanced capability, enabling top-level funds to allocate across underlying unitized pools with independent NAV strike at each layer, supporting multi-manager strategies, sub-advisor diversification, and layered impact programs
• Direct-Held Investment Portfolios — for donors holding securities or assets directly, with full transfer, valuation, and reporting support
• Cash Management Strategies — for liquidity-focused or transitional investment options
• Private Equity and Alternative Investment Structures — for illiquid and alternative assets requiring capital call structures, percentage based valuation, and non-unitized accounting treatment

These capabilities support both publicly traded and privately held assets, allowing organizations to administer increasingly sophisticated portfolios.

Powering the Industry’s Move Toward Impact

The launch also positions Give Interactive’s clients to lead one of philanthropy’s fastest-growing trends. DAFs have established themselves as one of the most powerful and flexible vehicles in American philanthropy. Impact investing, ESG mandates, and mission-aligned strategies are becoming defining expectations for institutions seeking to attract and retain the next generation of high-value donors.

Give Interactive’s multi-layer NAV architecture makes it possible for sponsors to construct and administer sophisticated impact programs at scale. This now includes tiered impact fund structures, blended finance vehicles, and multi-manager ESG programs.

“Our goal is to remove the operational barriers that have historically limited innovation. When technology can support sophisticated investment strategies at scale, charitable organizations are free to focus on delivering better outcomes for donors and greater impact for the causes they serve.”

— Lucas Cherry, CEO, Give Interactive

Built for the Industry’s Most Ambitious Institutions

Give Interactive serves major institutional clients at significant scale. The platform is designed for enterprise-scale organizations while remaining flexible enough to support the fastest-growing emerging sponsors. These institutions of all sizes now have access to investment capabilities that were once available only to the largest financial organizations.

By bringing multi-layer NAV administration in-house, Give Interactive clients gain an advantage with fewer fee layers, leaner operational overhead, and a more competitive total cost of ownership.

As the charitable sector continues to evolve, Give Interactive believes investment innovation will become a defining differentiator. This new shift is empowering organizations to attract new donor relationships, deepen advisor engagement, and accelerate the continued growth of philanthropic giving.

About Give Interactive

Give Interactive is a modern technology platform purpose-built for donor-advised fund and charitable asset administration, fund accounting, and charitable operations. Designed to serve foundations, financial institutions, and DAF sponsors, the Give platform delivers a cloud-native, API-first architecture that replaces legacy systems with scalable, secure, and highly configurable infrastructure.

Give Interactive has become one of the leading platforms for large and complex foundations, trusted by some of the most sophisticated philanthropic institutions in the country. The platform supports billions of dollars in charitable transactions annually and is designed to manage advanced requirements around donor portals, investment management, multi-entity structures, automated grant compliance, and audit-ready reporting. The company serves clients looking for an end-to-end platform and those who need powerful, modular tools that integrate seamlessly with other best in class tools. More information is available at giveinteractive.com.

For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact:
Jasmine Southerland
Give Interactive
[email protected] 

SOURCE Give Interactive

Reflecting the company’s market-driven evolution in the trillion-dollar Physical AI era

AUSTIN, Texas and NEW YORK, July 21, 2026 — Voxelmaps Inc. today announced its rebranding as Robotic Data Inc., reflecting the company’s evolution from a global leader in geospatial data collection to a provider of the foundational data infrastructure powering the next generation of Physical AI.

For the past eight years, the company has collected high-quality geospatial data for some of the world’s largest technology companies, helping power autonomous systems through detailed, machine-readable representations of the physical world. As the market has evolved beyond autonomous vehicles into a new generation of intelligent robots, so too has the company’s mission.

Today’s generation of intelligent robots is driving demand for increasingly sophisticated real-world data. In addition to understanding physical environments, many Physical AI systems are trained using human behavior data that helps models learn how people move, interact, communicate, and perform everyday tasks. Together, these complementary data sources support the development and deployment of intelligent robotic systems in real-world environments.

As Physical AI expands beyond controlled environments into commercial applications, including autonomous vehicles, delivery drones, and humanoid robotics, the demand for high-quality real-world data continues to grow.

“We’re entering a decade where millions of intelligent machines will begin working alongside people,” said Peter Atalla, Chief Executive Officer of Robotic Data. “Their success won’t be determined solely by better AI models, but by the quality of the real-world data they learn from. We believe world and human data will become one of the defining infrastructure layers of the Physical AI economy, and that’s exactly what we’re building at Robotic Data.”

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see this evolution,” said Robert Nawy, Chief Strategy Officer of Robotic Data. “What began as geospatial data for autonomous systems has evolved into critical infrastructure for Physical AI. Robotic Data is helping provide the machine-readable data foundation that enables intelligent systems to understand, navigate, and operate safely.

About Robotic Data
Robotic Data provides the real-world data infrastructure for Physical AI. The company combines World Data and Human Data to create high-quality datasets that enable autonomous vehicles, drones, embodied AI, humanoid robots, and other intelligent systems to understand, navigate, and operate safely in the physical world. Learn more at www.roboticdata.com.

SOURCE RoboticData

Seed investment funded the development of Hey Seven’s AI-native platform, now helping gaming operators identify, engage, and develop premium and emerging premium players.

LAS VEGAS, July 21, 2026 — Hey Seven today announced that Bettor Capital, a leading venture capital firm focused on the real-money online gaming sector, was the company’s seed investor and first institutional investor. Bettor Capital’s seed investment funded the development of Hey Seven’s AI-native player development platform, which is now being deployed with gaming operators across land-based, online, and omnichannel environments.

Gaming operators face growing pressure to increase revenue and build more personalized, high-value player relationships with limited staff. Human player development teams can only maintain a limited number of high-touch relationships, while emerging premium players often stay hidden inside legacy segmentation models. Hey Seven enables operators to identify high-potential players earlier, communicate with greater relevance, and deliver host-level attention at scale.

“Bettor Capital understood what we were building before anyone else did,” said Tal Rubinstein, CEO and Co-Founder of Hey Seven. “As our first institutional investor, they gave us the conviction and the resources to build a platform that operators can put to work from day one.”

Because Bettor Capital funded the platform’s development, operators can invest in proven technology that delivers earlier identification of tomorrow’s VIPs, stronger player relationships, and measurable incremental revenue, not in financing product development.

“Player development represents a large opportunity for efficiency gains and optimization, where AI and new technology can make a significant impact,” said David VanEgmond, Managing Partner of Bettor Capital. “Hey Seven combines deep operator expertise with purpose-built AI to address a problem every casino and digital gambling platform faces: building stronger relationships with premium players at scale. We backed this team early because we believe they have the experience and vision to define the next generation of player development.”

Bettor Capital invested in Hey Seven based on the founding team’s unique combination of tier-one gaming operating experience, enterprise technology expertise, and a shared vision for the future of AI in player development.

Together, Bettor Capital and Hey Seven share the conviction that AI will fundamentally transform player development, enabling operators to build deeper relationships, improve productivity, drive measurable incremental revenue, and strengthen long-term player loyalty.

About Bettor Capital Bettor Capital is an early-stage investment firm focused on the real-money online gaming market, primarily on opportunities within the software supply chain powering the continued digitalization of the gaming industry. Learn more at www.bettorcapital.com.

About Hey Seven, Inc. Hey Seven is the gaming industry’s first AI-native premium player development platform. Built specifically for casinos and integrated resorts, the platform unifies three forms of intelligence never before brought together in a single player profile—gaming intelligence, behavioral intelligence, and conversational intelligence. By combining autonomous AI with operator-defined guardrails, Hey Seven helps land-based, online, and omnichannel operators identify, develop, and grow premium and emerging premium players while delivering measurable incremental revenue. Founded by experienced tier-one gaming and technology executives, the company is built on three non-negotiable values: excellence, transparency, and accountability. Learn more at www.heyseven.ai.

SOURCE Hey Seven Inc.

Hundreds of organizations including Nubank, Abridge, Applied Compute, and H Company use SkyPilot to turn fragmented clouds, clusters, and accelerators into one unified AI supercomputer

SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2026 — SkyPilot today announced it has launched from stealth with $20 million in seed funding. The company introduces SkyPilot Platform, a unified AI compute platform that helps frontier AI teams manage their AI compute across hyperscalers, neoclouds, Kubernetes clusters, and accelerator types.

The funding round was led by Lux Capital, with participation from Amplify Partners, Coatue Management, Foundation Capital, Race Capital, The House Fund, and leading technology operators including Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks; Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist at Google; Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel; Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit; Clem Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face; and Tristan Handy, CEO of dbt Labs.

SkyPilot was founded by Berkeley researchers Zongheng Yang, Zhanghao Wu, and Romil Bhardwaj alongside Databricks co-founder Ion Stoica and networking and cloud computing pioneer Scott Shenker, both Berkeley professors. The technology behind SkyPilot emerged from years of AI systems research at UC Berkeley.

Custom Intelligence Is Existential but Stalled by Fragmented AI Compute

From frontier AI labs to Fortune 500 enterprises, organizations are increasingly building custom intelligence: agents, applications, and post-trained models built on their own data and running on infrastructure they control.

Building custom intelligence at scale requires more compute than any single provider can offer. AI teams are assembling infrastructure across hyperscalers, neoclouds, Kubernetes clusters, and multiple generations of accelerators. As those environments become more distributed, managing AI compute has become a complex operational challenge that slows the development of custom intelligence.

SkyPilot turns fragmented clouds, clusters, and accelerators into one unified AI supercomputer. Through a unified control plane, organizations can develop, manage, monitor, and scale AI workloads across providers without changing how those workloads are built or operated. Today, SkyPilot powers AI compute across hundreds of organizations. Its open source project has surpassed 14 million downloads and attracted more than 280 contributors.

“Every organization is building custom intelligence around its own data and domains,” said Zongheng Yang, CEO and co-founder of SkyPilot. “The challenge is that the AI compute needed to build it is fragmented across clouds. SkyPilot gives frontier AI teams a single platform to manage that infrastructure so they can build custom intelligence faster.”

Introducing SkyPilot Platform

SkyPilot Platform is a managed AI compute platform for organizations operating large-scale AI infrastructure. Built on top of the SkyPilot open source project, it provides large GPU fleet operations, frontier workload support, standardized cluster management, workload orchestration, governance, and enterprise controls through a single platform.

Once customers bring their AI compute, the platform supports development, agentic workloads, training, reinforcement learning, inference, evaluations, and multi-cluster production serving. Customers also gain access to fleet-wide GPU health monitoring, automated remediation, high availability, team and quota management, single sign-on, and SOC 2 compliance.

Private preview customers have successfully used the platform to manage over 10,000 GPUs and support over 200 researchers per organization. Some saw performance improvements of up to 20x compared to SkyPilot open source thanks to the platform’s optimizations.

Product access is now open for select new customers. Prospective customers can visit skypilot.ai to learn more and request access at skypilot.ai/demo.

Leading AI Teams Use SkyPilot to Build Custom Intelligence Faster

Organizations across AI research, foundation model development, healthcare, financial services, and infrastructure use SkyPilot to operate large-scale AI workloads across fragmented compute environments. Major adopters include Nubank, Abridge, Applied Compute, H Company, Archer, and Hippocratic AI. The platform helps teams centralize infrastructure management, improve GPU utilization, accelerate time-to-production, and scale AI development without being tied to a single cloud or hardware provider.

Across those deployments, SkyPilot helps organizations centralize compute management, improve utilization across distributed GPU fleets, accelerate time-to-production, and reduce the operational burden of managing infrastructure across multiple providers.

Funding Supports Continued Growth

The seed funding will support product development, engineering expansion, go-to-market growth, and continued investment in the SkyPilot open source ecosystem.

“Every organization building custom intelligence is running into the same constraint. The compute they need exists, but it’s fragmented across clouds, clusters, and hardware generations,” said Brandon Reeves, Partner at Lux Capital. “SkyPilot brings that infrastructure together into a single operating environment, helping customers achieve double-digit improvements in GPU utilization while giving frontier AI teams the foundation to build and scale custom intelligence.

About SkyPilot

SkyPilot is the AI Compute Platform for frontier AI teams. The company offers products that manage AI infrastructure across hyperscalers and neoclouds through a unified control plane for training, reinforcement learning, inference, and production workloads.

The SkyPilot open source project has been downloaded more than 14 million times and is used by hundreds of organizations worldwide.

For more information about SkyPilot, visit: https://skypilot.ai

SOURCE SkyPilot

Investment to Accelerate AI-Powered Safety and Operations Risk Intelligence for Construction, Utilities, Energy, and Industrial Sectors

CHARLOTTE, N.C. and PLEASANTON, Calif., July 21, 2026 — FactorLab, a Work Risk AI company dedicated to transforming how high-risk work is planned and delivered in distributed operations, today announced a strategic growth investment from Falfurrias Growth Partners (Falfurrias), a Charlotte-based private equity firm focused on growth-oriented, middle-market businesses. The investment will support FactorLab’s next phase of growth and customer success by funding continued development of FactorLab’s proprietary AI and machine learning technology; growth of its commercial organization; and expansion into adjacent industries that share a need for stronger safety and operational risk intelligence.

Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, FactorLab has established itself as an early leader in applying artificial intelligence to the conversations and decisions that happen on the front line, serving enterprise customers across construction, utilities, energy, and industrial markets. The company’s platform, SmartTagIt, uses proprietary natural language processing and machine learning models to capture and analyze frontline conversations, insights and how work actually gets done, giving leaders early visibility into where work is likely to break down. It turns previously untapped field data into real-time, actionable insights that help organizations identify and mitigate risk at the source, and surfaces new risk signals and game tape to empower crews to deliver on-time, prevent rework, and go home safe.

Over the past five years the platform has analyzed more than 2 million daily planning conversations across thousands of worksites and now operates more than 40 proprietary AI models. This scale powers normative benchmarks that let organizations measure field engagement, planning quality, and leadership performance against industry peers. Its mobile-first, intuitive interface drives high adoption among workers, replacing static checklists with a social, engaging experience that field crews and leaders use as an integral part of their daily workflow.

“We have built something fundamentally new for the industry: a platform that learns from real frontline conversations, decisions, and work practices to help organizations operate more safely, consistently, and productively,” said Barry Nelson, Founder and CEO of FactorLab. “Our customers have shown what is possible when frontline learning becomes part of daily operations, and we are deeply grateful for the trust they have placed in SmartTagIt. As we looked to accelerate our investment in technology, product innovation, and our team, we set out to find a partner who understood both the importance of our mission and the scale of the opportunity ahead. We chose Falfurrias because they share our vision, bring highly relevant experience across industrial and business-to-business markets, and have a proven track record helping AI-enabled companies scale with discipline and purpose.”

“We are excited to partner with Barry and the entire FactorLab team. The company has assembled an expansive, proprietary dataset in field safety and operational performance, and its technology delivers measurable value by embedding directly into frontline teams daily planning and operations,” said Michael Clifton and John Comly, Partners at Falfurrias. “FactorLab sits squarely within our focus on growing AI-enabled software businesses, and we believe our operational resources and sector experience will help the team rapidly scale its commercial engine, deepen its product capabilities, and extend its leadership across new sectors.” Bringing that experience to bear, Piers Wells, an Industry First executive with Falfurrias, will serve as a Director of FactorLab and brings deep industrial technology, operational, and go-to-market experience scaling businesses in FactorLab’s sectors.

Equity for this investment comes from Falfurrias Growth Partners I, a growth buyout fund strategy launched by Falfurrias Management Partners in 2023 and builds on the firm’s experience in the industrial technology and software sectors. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Ernst & Young Capital Advisors LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to FactorLab on the transaction, and Holland & Knight LLP served as legal advisor to Falfurrias.

About FactorLab
FactorLab is a Work Risk AI company dedicated to helping distributed organizations transform safety, operational performance, and frontline leadership across construction, utilities, energy, and industrial operations. Its SmartTagIt platform uses proprietary AI and natural language processing models to capture and analyze frontline conversations, insights, and how work actually gets done to give leaders early visibility into risk across every worksite. It surfaces risk signals and game tape that legacy compliance tools cannot reach to empower crews to deliver on-time, prevent rework, and go home safe. FactorLab partners with leading operators in complex, distributed work environments to help them see risk differently, build capacity to improve how work gets done, and operate safely with less effort. For more information, visit www.factorlab.com.

About Falfurrias Growth Partners
Falfurrias Growth Partners is an operationally focused middle-market investment fund focused on investing in high-growth companies in the software and business services sectors. The team is comprised of investors and proven operators, as well as in-house resources across strategy & market insights, finance / integration, human capital, and technology. The new fund strategy was launched in 2023 and is led by Cam Dyer, Partner and Chairman of Falfurrias Growth Partners I’s investment committee. The fund is managed by Falfurrias Management Partners, a Charlotte-based investment firm founded in 2006 by Hugh McColl Jr., former chairman and CEO of Bank of America; Marc Oken, former CFO of Bank of America; and Managing Partner Ed McMahan. The firm has raised approximately $4.0 billion across eight funds and invests in growing, middle-market businesses in sectors where the firm’s operational resources, relationships, and sector expertise can be employed to complement portfolio company executive teams in support of growth objectives. For more information, visit www.falfurrias.com.

SOURCE FactorLab

The Canadian-Based Superfood Brand Will Utilize The Funding to Scale U.S. Growth and Functional Wellness Innovation

TORONTO, July 21, 2026 — Organic Traditions, the family-founded Canadian superfood brand making functional wellness simple, announced today the close of a $10.5M Series A funding round ($15M CAD). The round was backed by a group of strategic angel investors with deep experience in consumer packaged goods, retail, technology, and operations, including executives and operators from FreshPet, Shopify, City National Bank, Frito-Lay, and Colgate-Palmolive.

The funding marks a major milestone for Organic Traditions as the brand enters its next stage of growth under second-generation leadership. With strong momentum in Canada and growing demand for simple, convenient functional products, the company will use the capital to accelerate U.S. retail expansion, grow its eCommerce business, advance innovation behind its Fiber Flow line, and invest in the team and infrastructure needed to support continued North American growth.

Founded more than 25 years ago by Jerry Zeifman and now led by his daughter, Ally Mamalider, Organic Traditions has grown from a Canadian superfood pioneer into one of the country’s leading wellness brands, with a portfolio spanning functional lattes, mushroom coffees, daily greens, fiber smoothies, and other superfood staples. Inspired by ancient wellness practices such as Ayurvedic medicine and cacao rituals, the brand modernizes time-tested ingredients into convenient formats that support energy, immunity, gut health, sleep, and overall wellness.

“This funding represents an exciting new chapter for Organic Traditions, but it does not change who we are,” said Ally Mamalider, second-generation founder and CEO of Organic Traditions. “For more than two decades, the brand has been rooted in the belief that real food can be transformative. This investment allows us to reach more consumers, scale the areas where we see the greatest opportunity, and continue making superfoods simple and accessible.”

Under the leadership of Mamalider, Organic Traditions has experienced 70% revenue growth over the past three years, driven by product innovation, digital expansion, and brand evolution. The brand is now projecting 36% revenue growth across Canada and the U.S. over the next 12 months, including 82% growth across U.S. retail and 64% growth across eCommerce. The brand is also planning to roll out in more than 1,500 U.S. retail doors this year.

Organic Traditions‘ innovation pipeline is being led by Fiber Flow, the brand’s newest product line designed to help consumers address one of the most significant nutritional deficiencies in North America: insufficient daily fiber intake. Each daily stick delivers 8g of fiber plus prebiotics and probiotics with zero sugar, in a clean, delicious, and easy-to-use format. Fiber Flow launched in Costco Canada earlier this year and sold out three times within its first two weeks of launching online. The platform is expected to grow by more than 200% over the next 12 months as Organic Traditions invests in additional line extensions and clinical trials.

“Organic Traditions is meeting a clear consumer need at the intersection of functional nutrition and convenience,” said Walter N. George, President of OT Investors LLC. “The brand has built meaningful trust with consumers over decades while also proving it can innovate quickly and scale across modern retail and digital channels. Ally and the team have a compelling vision for where functional wellness is going next, and we are excited to support that growth.”

The brand’s growth is also supported by strong consumer demand across its core product portfolio, including its best-selling Probiotic Matcha Latte, which has more than 2,000 five-star reviews, and Focus Fuel Mushroom Coffee, one of Canada’s leading mushroom coffees at major retailers.

Organic Traditions‘ products are available at leading natural and specialty retailers across North America, including Erewhon, Fresh Thyme, Earth Fare, MOM’s Organic Market, and regional leaders such as Jewel-Osco and Better Health, as well as more than 6,000 retail stores across Canada. The brand is also available online via Amazon and OrganicTraditions.com. For more information about Organic Traditions, please visit OrganicTraditions.com, or follow on Instagram @OrganicTraditions and on TikTok @OrganicTraditions.

About Organic Traditions
Organic Traditions is a family-owned superfood brand that creates thoughtfully crafted, nutrient-rich blends designed to make superfoods simple and accessible. Founded more than 25 years ago, the brand offers a portfolio of functional lattes, mushroom coffees, daily greens, fiber smoothies and superfood staples designed to fit seamlessly into everyday routines. Rooted in ancient wellness practices from Ayurveda to tea and cacao rituals, Organic Traditions brings time-tested ingredients into modern formats to help consumers support healthier daily habits. Learn more at organictraditions.com or follow along on Instagram and TikTok @OrganicTraditions.

MEDIA CONTACT
Amanda de la Cruz
650-224-5628
[email protected]

SOURCE Organic Traditions