Round exclusively led by Qiming Venture Partners; proceeds to fund China registration trial and overseas early-stage clinical development

SHANGHAI and HANGZHOU, China, Aug. 17, 2026 — Enginprime Medical (“Enginprime” or the “Company”), a developer of percutaneous ventricular assist device (pVAD) technology, today announced the closing of a $12M Series A financing round, exclusively led by Qiming Venture Partners. Proceeds will fund the registration clinical trial of OpusOne™ in China and support regulatory submissions and early-stage clinical development of the platform globally.

Founded in 2023 by Voyagers Capital and a team of experienced engineers, Enginprime is developing next-generation percutaneous ventricular assist systems. The company’s lead product, OpusOne™, is designed to deliver higher flow rates from a smaller catheter profile.

“We are deeply grateful to Qiming Venture Partners and Voyagers Capital for their strategic support,” said Zhiyong Liu, Chief Executive Officer of Enginprime. “This funding marks a pivotal milestone as we advance and scale a globally competitive pVAD system. We are committed to executing our global clinical and regulatory strategies to deliver reliable, cost-effective percutaneous ventricular assist solutions to market.”

Shuo Mao, Principal of Qiming Venture Partners said, ” The foldable impeller pVAD achieves greater flow capacity with a lower-profile design, effectively reducing clinical complications and broadening patient eligibility and clinical applicability. It delivers significant clinical value for ventricular assist therapy. To date, no comparable product has obtained global regulatory approval, representing an untapped technological frontier in the industry. We believe that with solid industrial expertise and profound clinical insights, coupled with the joint efforts of its core team and shareholders, Enginprime’s differentiated pVAD innovation is poised to fill the global market gap and bring substantial therapeutic benefits to patients worldwide.”

“Enginprime came out of Voyagers Capital’s Venture Creation model, and the team has more than delivered on the bar we set when we started the company,” said Fiona Zhang, Partner at Voyagers Capital. “We see a clear gap and opportunities in the global pVAD market, and look forward to bringing OpusOne™ to the market in China and globally with the support of Qiming Venture Partners and other strategic partners.”

About Enginprime Medical

Enginprime was established in 2023 and incubated by Voyagers Capital, leveraging cross-disciplinary engineering capabilities, systems integration expertise, and advanced manufacturing methodologies. OpusOne™, as the company’s flagship medical device platform, is actively advancing clinical validation to support future global commercialization.

About Qiming Venture Partners

Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.5 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.

Since our debut, we have backed over 580 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 210 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange, or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or other means. There are also over 80 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn or super unicorn status.

About Voyagers Capital

Voyagers Capital is a healthcare venture capital fund focused on creating long-term value through strategic investments in innovations. We partner with visionary entrepreneurs to bring transformative products to patients globally.

For more information, please contact:

[email protected]; [email protected].

SOURCE Enginprime Medical Inc; Voyagers Capital

DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 17, 2026 — Wells Fargo announced today at the Iowa State Fair that it is making a $1.5 million investment to Habitat for Humanity to focus on innovative and affordable housing options in towns and rural communities across the country.

“Housing affordability is a growing challenge in Iowa and across the country,” said Jason Rosenberg, head of Public Affairs at Wells Fargo. “Through our partnership with Habitat for Humanity, we’re advancing growth-focused solutions so communities across the nation, greater Des Moines and rural Iowa can continue to thrive.”

As the nation faces a severe housing shortage, many families are struggling to stay in communities where they have established roots. Through this initiative, Habitat will advance alternative housing solutions, such as modular construction, an off-site building technique where pieces of the home are built in a factory and then transported to a permanent foundation.

One of the key advantages of modular construction is its efficiency, helping Habitat expand access to affordable homeownership by reducing build timelines and easing project logistics for local Habitat affiliates, particularly in areas where volunteer and contractor availability is limited. Modular homes meet or exceed local and state building codes, ensuring quality, safety and durability.

From this investment, $1 million will go to Habitat for Humanity International to advance housing innovation, including modular construction. Wells Fargo is providing Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity with $500,000 in funding to expand affordable housing solutions in towns and rural communities in central Iowa, such as Perry and Indianola.

“Along with our traditional home building model, modular homes are an added solution to the housing affordability crisis,” said J. Edwin Hensley, director, U.S. construction at Habitat for Humanity International. “This is a national push. With the support of Wells Fargo, we have the opportunity to prove this can work in rural, suburban and urban communities.”

Beyond this investment, Wells Fargo employees volunteered with Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity at the state fair to build wheelchair ramps for local homeowners. The most affordable home is the one a person already lives in, and this project will highlight the importance of people being able to age in place or live with a disability, keeping them in a home where they feel physically safe and financially secure.

“Homeownership creates stability for families and strengthens communities,” said Lance Henning, CEO of Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity. “For far too many Iowans, homeownership feels out of reach. Everyone should be able to afford to live in the community where they work and where their kids go to school. This investment from Wells Fargo will help support new affordable homeownership opportunities right here in Iowa and all across the country.”

Wells Fargo aligns with community leaders who highlight how housing shortages are not only affecting individual households but the economic growth of the entire community.

“This generous investment to Habitat for Humanity will make a real difference for families in rural communities like Indianola and Perry. In smaller towns, every new home means another family can put down roots, build a future, and contribute to the community they love and call home,” said Congresswoman Ashley Hinson. “I’m grateful to Wells Fargo for investing in stronger communities and more opportunities for Iowa families. I’ll keep working across the aisle to make the American Dream of home ownership attainable again.”

For more than 30 years, Habitat for Humanity International and Wells Fargo have worked together to increase housing affordability and help build more prosperous communities around the world. Since 2015, Wells Fargo & Company and the Wells Fargo Foundation have donated more than $105 million to Habitat for Humanity International and local affiliates in support of affordable and sustainable housing, including support for new home construction and repairs, helping older adults age in their homes, and neighborhood revitalization and disaster response efforts.

About Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity is a movement of people in your local area and around the world, working together to build more prosperous and vibrant communities by making sure everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home. Since our founding in 1976 as a Christian organization, together we have helped more than 65 million people globally build their futures on their own terms through access to decent housing. We’ve done that by working alongside people of all walks of life to build, repair and finance their homes, by innovating new ways of building and financing, and by advocating for policies that make constructing and accessing housing easier for everyone. Together, we build homes, communities and hope. To learn more, visit habitat.org

www.habitat.org/newsroom

SOURCE Habitat for Humanity International

Funding will bring E3’s safety platform to more schools, hospitals, and government facilities

LOGAN, Utah, Aug. 17, 2026 — Emergent 3 (“E3”), the emergency situational awareness and response platform that gives organizations real-time clarity during a crisis, today announced a strategic investment from Arthur Ventures (“AV”), an early growth capital firm that leads investments in B2B software companies. The partnership provides E3 with growth capital and strategic support for its product roadmap and continued expansion across the K-12, healthcare, and government markets.

E3 serves more than 1,000 school districts, hospitals, and government facilities across 48 states, with over 100,000 users on the platform. While most safety tools stop at alerting users that an incident is occurring, E3 answers the questions that drive outcomes: which exits are safe, whether to evacuate or lock down, who is accounted for, and what responders need to know before they arrive.

E3 recently launched two features for K-12 customers. Roll Call is a student accountability tool that syncs with a district’s student information system, allowing administrators to take roll during any emergency and see which students are accounted for, which are safe, and which need to be found first. Reunification manages and documents the student-parent reunification process from staging to release, giving schools a verified record of every student’s safe return. Both build on E3’s existing platform, which includes Smart Maps, location-aware alerts, first responder access, and drill management.

“We built this as dads who wanted something better for our own kids” said PK Keller, Founder of E3. “From day one, our goal has been simple: an end-to-end school safety platform that is easy to use and just works. It’s been rewarding to see educators and first responders share E3 with one another and help bring the platform into healthcare and government.”

“After helping grow another software company, I wanted to build something with real purpose,” said Dalton Mickelsen, CEO of E3. “From day one, E3 has been intentional about the markets we serve and focused on protecting people when it matters most.”

About Emergent 3

Emergent 3 (E3) is the emergency situational awareness and response platform that gives organizations the clarity to protect their people when seconds matter. When an emergency happens, any staff member can trigger a location-aware alert, and leadership sees the incident unfold on an interactive map of the organization’s own floor plans – who is safe, who needs help, and where each person is. With built-in Smart Maps, real-time accountability, first responder access, drill reporting, and reunification, E3 provides coordinated action for schools, hospitals, and government facilities. The platform requires no additional hardware and serves thousands of facilities across the nation. Learn more at Emergent3.com.

About Arthur Ventures

Arthur Ventures is an early growth capital firm that leads investments in B2B software companies located outside Silicon Valley. Since 2013, they have partnered with 80+ companies in different cities across all regions of the United States and Canada. Arthur Ventures manages ~$2 billion and is actively investing out of its $800 million in capital committed to its 2025 fund vintages. Learn more at arthurventures.com.

SOURCE Emergent 3

Jeanty joins as an investor and the face of Nukleus, giving athletes and the professionals who manage their careers one shared source of truth instead of scattered spreadsheets and side conversations.

ISSAQUAH, Wash., Aug. 17, 2026 — Nukleus, a career operating system for the business of sports, today announced that Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty has joined the platform as an investor and its face, ahead of its public launch later this month. The partnership puts one of the NFL’s rising stars behind a system built to solve a problem most athletes live with: a career run by a team, an agent, a lawyer, a CPA, a financial advisor, a marketing agent, working off scattered emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets instead of one shared source of truth. Nukleus replaces the fragments with one platform, giving everyone in an athlete’s orbit the same data at the same time.

“The athlete is the nucleus. Everyone around them, from agents and lawyers to brands and advisors, should be operating off the same information, not chasing it down separately every time something changes,” said Hector Rivas, founder and CEO of Nukleus. “I’ve spent years around the business of sports, watching deals, data, and decisions get lost between people who know they’d be better off working together, but never had a way to actually do it. Nukleus is the system that keeps them on the same team.”

Rivas founded and ran a sports agency, giving him visibility into every piece of the business, not just one. That experience shapes Nukleus’s AI infrastructure, built on a knowledge base of collective bargaining agreements, contract structures, and athlete benefits to support the professionals working on an athlete’s behalf.

“Coming into the NFL, you become a CEO, directing a team of agents, advisors, and marketers, whether you’re ready or not. Nukleus is what finally gets them all on the same page, so I can actually run that team the way it should be run. That’s why I invested in it,” said Jeanty.

Unlike athlete-only tools, Nukleus serves the full ecosystem of sports: athletes join free, while the agents, CPAs, advisors, marketing agencies, brand collectives, trainers, and lawyers who serve them subscribe to run their side of the business.

Nukleus’s leadership team includes founder and CEO Hector Rivas, who previously led ThriftBooks to more than $150 million in annual revenue; CTO Eric Ahlstrom (ESPN, Microsoft, Oracle); Chief Creative Officer Ben Miller (former creative director, University of Washington Football and CAA Sports); and CFO Matt Porter (former Controller, Disruptive Sports).

Nukleus opens to the public later this month. More information is available at nukleus.co.

About Nukleus

Nukleus is the operating system for the business of sports, connecting athletes with the agents, lawyers, CPAs, financial advisors, and marketing professionals who manage their careers. Nukleus replaces fragmented tools with a single shared system and is based in Washington state. Learn more at nukleus.co.

Contact:

Doug Hall

[email protected]

SOURCE Nukleus

Shared leadership structure formalizes how the founders already lead the company as the Aptitude enters its next stage of growth

GOLETA, Calif., Aug. 17, 2026 — Aptitude Medical Systems, Inc. today announced that co-founder JP Wang has been appointed Co-Chief Executive Officer. Wang will lead the company alongside co-founder and Co-CEO Scott Ferguson.

The appointment formalizes Wang and Ferguson’s existing shared leadership of  the company as it expands both the Metrix molecular diagnostic platform and its commercial reach.

Wang co-founded Aptitude with Ferguson and Jackson Gong in 2011. Since then, he has shaped the company’s strategy, vision, and culture while leading much of its work across technology, product development, manufacturing, and operations. He most recently served as President and Chief Technology Officer.

“JP and I have built Aptitude together for more than a decade, and this appointment reflects how we already lead the company,” said Ferguson. “JP has been the driving force behind our product platform, built the capabilities needed to manufacture at scale, and played a central role in shaping the team and culture we have today. We know the business deeply, bring complementary strengths, and share the same vision for its future. Formalizing this structure gives us greater clarity and allows us to move faster as we enter the next stage of growth.”

Aptitude is expanding from a company historically centered on research and product development into a commercial diagnostics company with products in the market and an expanding customer base. Its Metrix platform is designed to bring laboratory-quality molecular testing into homes and point-of-care settings. Aptitude currently offers FDA-authorized molecular tests for COVID-19 and Flu and is expanding both the commercial reach of Metrix and the platform’s test menu.

“We spent many years developing the technology and capabilities required to make high-quality molecular testing broadly accessible,” said Wang. “Our next challenge is to build on that foundation by bringing more tests to the Metrix platform and bringing those products to many more customers. We need to remain as strong at invention and product development as we become at commercial execution. Scott and I have already been leading that work together, and formalizing the Co-CEO structure brings greater clarity both internally and externally.”

The appointment formalizes Aptitude’s existing leadership model and does not change the company’s day-to-day operating structure or its existing relationships with employees, customers, and partners.

About Aptitude Medical Systems
Aptitude Medical Systems is a molecular diagnostics company based in Goleta, California, in the Santa Barbara area. The company develops, manufactures, and commercializes the Metrix platform, which brings laboratory-quality molecular testing to the point of care and the home. Founded in 2011, Aptitude produces FDA-authorized diagnostic products and is expanding the Metrix test menu to address a broader range of diagnostic needs. The company works with commercial and public-sector partners to expand access to molecular testing.

To learn more, visit www.aptitudemedical.com, follow Aptitude on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Aptitude Medical Systems, Inc.

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK, Aug. 17, 2026 — JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC (“Jones”) today announced that it served as sole book-running manager for the $81.3 million initial public offering of Vogenx, Inc. (NASDAQ: VOGX) (“Vogenx”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases associated with dysfunctions in human metabolism.

The offering consisted of 6,250,000 shares of Vogenx common stock at a public offering price of $13.00 per share, at the high end of the proposed range. All shares were offered by Vogenx. Gross proceeds to Vogenx from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, were approximately $81.3 million.

Vogenx’s common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on August 12, 2026 under the ticker symbol “VOGX.” The offering closed on August 13, 2026.

“We are proud to have partnered with Vogenx on this important milestone. This transaction reflects the continued growth of our investment banking and capital markets platform and our ability to deliver thoughtful, high-quality execution for innovative healthcare companies accessing the public markets,” said Alan Hill, CEO of JonesTrading.

“The success of this offering underscores the strength of Jones’s relationships across the fundamental biotech investment community,” said Moe Cohen, Head of Investment Banking at Jones. “Our ability to connect compelling companies with sophisticated, long-term healthcare investors was an important component of the transaction, and we are pleased to support Vogenx as it begins its next chapter as a public company.”

“This transaction is a milestone that represents years of hard work from a dedicated team,” said Vogenx CEO James Green. “We are now well-capitalized to further the development of therapeutics for the treatment of diseases associated with dysfunctions in human metabolism, including PBH and gastroparesis. We are grateful to the Jones team for their partnership, commitment and execution throughout this process, and for helping us reach this important milestone.”

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any offer or sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Jones

JonesTrading Institutional Services, LLC (“Jones”) is a leading full-service investment banking firm, providing a comprehensive suite of services, including capital markets, M&A, and strategic advisory to corporate clients. The firm is dedicated to building lasting partnerships by delivering innovative solutions, deep industry expertise, and tailored strategies that drive value and success. Founded in 1975, JonesTrading has established itself as the global leader in block trading and a premier liquidity provider to institutional investors. The firm’s offerings also include derivatives trading, outsourced trading, electronic trading, prime services, private markets trading, and research/market intelligence. Member FINRA and SIPC.

For more information, please visit www.jonestrading.com

Megan Bracero
[email protected]

SOURCE JonesTrading Institutional Services

Funding will accelerate the product roadmap and support VastAdvisor’s go-to-market plan.

DANA POINT, Calif., Aug. 17, 2026 — VastAdvisor, the AI-powered Organic Growth OS for wealth management firms, today announced the close of its $1 million SAFE round led by investments from fintech industry titans. The firm will utilize this funding to accelerate its product roadmap and support its go-to-market efforts.

Debuting earlier this year at Future Proof Citywide, VastAdvisor has initiated its enterprise relationships and will be expanding across registered investment advisors (RIAs), broker-dealers and wealth platforms. VastAdvisor is building a new category of organic growth infrastructure focused not on managing assets, but on acquiring them — an area long underserved in wealth management. The platform integrates AI-driven audience intelligence, campaign orchestration, compliance automation, and continuous performance optimization into a single, self-improving system. 

Dani Fava, chief strategy officer at Carson Group, Jason Pereira, CFP, senior partner at Woodgate Financial and Sally George, partner at Convergency Partners, led the funding round.

“It has been so meaningful and validating having not only a financial investment from fintech juggernauts but also having their support and encouragement as VastAdvisor develops and permeates the wealth management ecosystem,” said Ian Karnell, chief executive officer and co-founder of VastAdvisor. “We are already off to the races on our journey to become the category-defining organic growth infrastructure in wealth management; this backing will propel us further.”

VastAdvisor’s platform utilizes fine-tuned AI models trained on firm-specific data to optimize targeting, messaging, and conversion — enabling firms to reduce acquisition costs while strengthening campaign performance and compliance posture. Since referrals don’t scale and lead brokers don’t provide ownable leads or a consistent system for generating those, meaningful and repeatable organic growth has been elusive for many firms. Through the VastAdvisor platform, every campaign learns, every dollar compounds and every decision is governed from the start.

“VastAdvisor is a platform that has to be witnessed; its capabilities are exactly what the wealth management industry has needed but could never realize all in one place,” Pereira said. “Organic growth has globally been an issue for years but it doesn’t have to be anymore thanks to VastAdvisor.”

The $1 million SAFE round funding follows several key hiring announcements to VastAdvisor’s leadership team including Phil Gale, co-founder and chief operating officer, Eli Gassert as chief technology officer and Dr. Edoardo M. Airoldi as acting chief data officer.

For more information about VastAdvisor, go to https://www.vastadvisor.ai/. To book a demo, go to https://calendar.vastadvisor.ai/widget/booking/qk1kAd1IMdztH2asCjHj.

About VastAdvisor

VastAdvisor is the AI-powered Growth OS for modern RIAs and enterprise wealth platforms. The company delivers a governed, AI-native system for client acquisition — combining audience intelligence, campaign automation, compliance monitoring, and continuous optimization in a single platform. By turning firm data into learning and learning into growth, VastAdvisor enables wealth management firms to build scalable, measurable, and defensible acquisition infrastructure.

Media Contact Allie Zendrian Public Relations [email protected] 516-581-7202

SOURCE VastAdvisor LLC

Phase 1b/2a clinical trial assessing safety and efficacy of LTX-001 in adults with schizophrenia initiated

Financing advances LTX-001 through initial readout from Phase 1b/2a trial and progresses LTX-002 through additional dosing cohorts of ongoing Phase 1/2 trial in ALS

WORCESTER, Mass., Aug. 17, 2026 — Leal Therapeutics, Inc. (Leal), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class neuro-metabolic therapeutics, today announced a second close of $30 million of its Series A financing. The round includes new investor Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), in addition to existing investors OrbiMed, Newpath Partners, Euclidean Capital, SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), Chugai Venture Fund, Alexandria Venture Investments, and PhiFund.

Proceeds from the second closing of Series A financing will be used to advance LTX-001 through an initial readout of its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial in schizophrenia patients, as well as progress LTX-002 through additional dosing cohorts in an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

LTX-001, a first-in-class brain-penetrant oral GLS1 inhibitor, has completed single ascending dose (SAD) and multiple ascending dose (MAD) Phase 1 trials and demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile and dose dependent CNS target engagement. Leal today also announces the initiation of the Phase 1b/2a trial (NCT07734493) in adults with schizophrenia, with initial data expected by year-end. 

LTX-002 is an intrathecally delivered antisense oligonucleotide designed to restore healthy sphingolipid levels in the central nervous system (CNS) by targeting SPTLC1.  LTX-002 is being investigated in NeurALS, a Phase 1/2 trial (NCT07660614) in adults with ALS.

“We are very excited to partner with our top-tier syndicate of investors which now includes Lilly”, said Asa Abeliovich, M.D., Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Leal. “This funding will support us through key clinical milestones for LTX-001 in schizophrenia, including initial data from the now ongoing Phase 1b/2a trial, and LTX-002 in ALS, while also advancing our preclinical pipeline towards clinical development.”

About Leal Therapeutics:

Leal Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel neuro-metabolic therapeutics for patients with high-need central nervous system disorders. Leal was launched in 2021 and is headquartered in Worcester, Mass.  Leal’s lead programs address the critical intersection between CNS and metabolic disorders.  The Leal team has particular expertise in CNS therapeutic development, as well as leveraging human genetics, functional genomics and biomarker analyses to support our mission.  Leal has the technological capability to develop and produce small molecule and nucleic acid CNS therapeutics, and is also developing a next-generation CNS delivery platform utilizing antibody-like shuttle technology to enable the transport of peripherally administered therapeutics to the brain.

Media contact: Tehya Frank, [email protected] 347-640-1334

SOURCE Leal Therapeutics

Deployments demonstrate measurable revenue impact and proprietary advances in Physical AI following $20 Million Series A

LOS ALTOS, Calif., Aug. 17, 2026 — Palona AI unveiled its multimodal AI operating layer for physical businesses, proven first in restaurants. Palona works with operators including Din Tai Fung, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Giordano’s, Rooted Hospitality and Cali BBQ to connect customer demand, live operations and intelligent action.

Palona closed its Series A financing, bringing total funding to $20 million, including converted SAFEs. Investors include Ardenwood Ventures, CrimsonOx, UpHonest, Turbo, Llama Ventures, Neo, Fusion Fund, Defy and Maynard Webb, together with other institutional, strategic and individual investors.

Restaurants are Palona’s first proof market, but the platform can extend to any physical business where customers and frontline teams interact.

“Physical businesses need AI that can understand what is happening and act in real time,” said Maria Zhang, founder and CEO of Palona AI. “Palona turns demand, operational context and live signals into actions that drive revenue, quality and execution.”

Palona’s product suite includes Revenue Expansion, Revenue Intelligence and Operations Excellence. It captures and converts demand across calls, catering, private events and large-order inquiries; identifies intent, value and urgency; and turns operational signals into manager-ready workflows.

Together, these capabilities form a continuous Capture → Understand → Act → Learn system that drives coordinated action across people, systems and AI agents, not another dashboard.

A multi-brand production study spanning Cali BBQ, Rooted Hospitality and Giordano’s recorded 481 orders over 194 location-days and identified 305 large-order and catering inquiries across seven restaurants. At Cali BBQ, after more than a year in production, Father’s Day revenue increased 20% year over year, while Palona became the restaurant’s highest Average-Order-Value channel as its Revenue Expansion capabilities expanded to support catering and large orders.

“Before Palona, calls we couldn’t answer represented demand we couldn’t capture. Now we’re converting more of those conversations into orders and identifying catering opportunities we previously had no dedicated process to manage. For an operator, that’s where AI becomes real. It creates measurable revenue while helping the team execute better,” said Shawn Walchef, CEO of Cali BBQ.

Palona invented a proprietary Interaction Model for Physical AI. Unlike systems that only detect objects or describe scenes, it represents how people, objects, places and processes relate over time. Using spatial, temporal and semantic context with calibrated uncertainty, it determines what is happening, whether action is required and which workflow should follow. Palona holds U.S. Patent No. 12,481,517 for orchestrating specialized AI agents based on user intent, model performance and real-time computing requirements.

About Palona AI

Palona AI is the AI operating layer for physical businesses, proven first in restaurants. Palona captures demand, understands live operations and coordinates workflows that help businesses grow revenue, protect quality and execute with consistency.

For more information, visit palona.ai.

SOURCE Palona