Argentina-based agricultural technology company specializing in biological solutions for regenerative agriculture to expand into new markets, fueled by new capital infusion

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 22, 2025 — Today Puna Bio announced that it had closed a new round of founding led by Corteva, Inc., through its Corteva Catalyst platform.

The investment from one of the world´s leading agricultural technology companies, and other investors, will support the further development of Puna Bio’s product portfolio based on extremophile organisms.

Unlike traditional pesticides and fertilizers, Puna Bio’s innovative products are based on natural solutions that enhance nutrient uptake, tolerance to stress and crop quality. Their biological (non-GMO) seed treatments are based on the unique capabilities of extremophiles isolated from the highest and driest desert on Earth, La Puna of Argentina.

“Our solution, based on ancient bacteria dating back 3.5 billion years, maximizes productivity by 10 to 15 percent in fertile soils and revitalizes degraded soils that would normally be too acidic or salinized to be productive,” explains Franco Martínez Levis, Puna Bio’s CEO and co-founder. “With so much of the world’s agricultural land on the path to degradation and weather patterns becoming more extreme worldwide, our discovery platform ensures that we can continue feeding the global population in a sustainable way”

Puna Bio received its initial funding in 2022, led by At One Ventures, a US venture firm with deep roots in Silicon Valley. The capital enabled the establishment of the company’s first laboratory and growth of its core team.

The new round of funding led by Corteva, Inc., a global pure-play S&P 500 agriculture company [NYSE: CTVA], as well as participation from existing investors At One Ventures, SP Ventures, SOSV, Builders VC, and joined by new investor Dalus Capital.

“With its focus on new, more sustainable ways to enhance productivity, we see significant potential in Puna Bio and its technology,” said Tom Greene, senior director at Corteva and global leader for Corteva Catalyst. “We remain encouraged not only by Puna Bio’s unique approach to developing biological inputs, but by strong field results with new technology that presents an opportunity to enhance farmer profitability while promoting soil health and environmental sustainability.”

The new investment will enable Puna Bio to focus on deeper innovation and the development of new products. Additionally, the company will expand its business to the United States, Brazil, and Paraguay, where it has already made progress in regulatory approvals and commercialization.

About Puna Bio

Puna Bio is advancing agricultural resilience by harnessing extremophiles. Their innovative biological inputs help farmers boost yields, reduce fertilizer use, and grow crops on degraded soils.

With operations across   USA, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, their two current commercial products—Kunza (for soybeans, cotton, and beans) and Kanzama (for wheat and barley)—have already been deployed on over 800,000 acres in just three commercial seasons. Through strategic partnerships and relentless innovation, Puna Bio is shaping a more sustainable future for global agriculture.

For more information, please visit www.puna.bio or contact us at [email protected]

SOURCE Puna Bio

Backed by FXP Ventures and SYN Ventures, Terra introduces the first agentic AI pen testing platform with human supervision, while its multi-agent approach leverages dozens of dedicated fine-tuned AI agents to conduct continuous, deep testing at scale

NEW YORK and TEL AVIV, Israel, April 22, 2025 — Terra Security, an Agentic AI-native penetration testing service-as-software platform, raises $8M in a seed round led by SYN Ventures and FXP Ventures with participation from Underscore VC and notable angel investors including former Google CISO Gerhard Eschelback and Ofer Ben-Noon and Ohad Bobrov, founders of Talon Security, Travis McPeak and Itamar Friedman. Already serving multiple clients, including Fortune 500 companies, Terra will use the funds to advance its platform, expand its AI agents’ capabilities, and grow its customer base.

In sports, there’s a saying that the “best defense is a great offense,” and in cybersecurity, this sentiment also holds weight. Yet, most organizations struggle to conduct continuous penetration testing or red teaming – vital simulations that uncover vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. Despite their promising potential, these ethical hacking mechanisms are vastly underutilized due to their human-intensive nature, which makes them slow, expensive, and unscalable.

Designed to think like a white hat hacker, Terra’s agentic AI platform conducts continuous web application pen testing. Powered by dozens of fine-tuned AI agents, each tailored to a client’s unique environment, Terra’s agents adapt in real time based on unique business contexts and risks. When new vulnerabilities surface, its agents autonomously launch precise tests, guided by human experts through a human-in-the-loop mechanism for maximum accuracy and reliability with AI.

While existing automated solutions fall short of mimicking an adversary’s behavior at scale, particularly for web applications, Terra’s AI-enabled service brings the combination of the accuracy and depth of skilled human testers with the scale and efficiency of automated solutions. As Terra grows, it plans to introduce an agentic AI red teaming solution to its platform as well as expand to cover organizations’ entire network security.

“In the grand scheme of cybersecurity, ethical hacking has long been underutilized due to its inefficiencies and human dependencies, but we now have the opportunity to bring ethical hacking center stage and beat adversaries at their own arena,” says Shahar Peled, CEO and Co-Founder of Terra. “We strongly believe that our platform will transform the narrative around pen testing and ethical hacking by infusing accuracy, efficiency, business context, and continuous pen testing via agentic AI. No longer will pen-testing simply be viewed as an item on a compliance checklist, but as the most effective security capability of a robust security posture. We are grateful for all the support and guidance we’ve received from our investors, partners, and customers, and look forward to the journey ahead.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Terra Security as it works to enable all organizations to leverage high-quality offensive security on a continuous basis, at scale,” says Jay Leek, Managing Partner and Founder at SYN Ventures. “We believe the Company’s vision reimagines penetration testing as we know it today, which is long overdue.”

“Cyber threats move fast and manual pen testing can’t keep up,” says Tsahy Shapsa, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at FXP. “We backed Terra Security from day one because of its founders – an exceptional team with the rare mix of deep technical chops and relentless execution. Together, we validated the problem and approach through over 100 customer interactions to arrive at our conviction. They’re not just improving penetration testing; they’re redefining it with AI employees who work 24/7, guided by top-tier human expertise. It’s not man vs machine. It’s man plus machine. That’s the future.”

About Terra Security

Founded in 2024 by Shahar Peled and Gal Malachi, Terra offers an agentic-AI platform for continuous web application penetration testing. Enhanced by a human-in-the-loop mechanism, Terra’s dedicated, fine-tuned AI agents perform thousands of best-of-breed tests with unparalleled efficiency, accuracy and robust attack surface coverage. Through tailor-made attacks based on unique business context and risk profiles, Terra is revolutionizing the way enterprises build and run their pentest program. For more information, visit: https://www.terra.security.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2669826/Terra_Security.jpg

Media contact:
Inbar Kneller
ReBlonde for Terra Security
[email protected] 

SOURCE Terra Security

– TGM-010 is a naturally occurring, fully-human neuroprotective antibody, with demonstrated ability to cross the BBB, internalize specifically into neurons and engage key stress management machinery to reduce neurological disability

– Financing allows GenrAb to emerge from stealth mode and aggressively push lead therapy into the clinic

– Growing pipeline of novel partnerable neurotherapeutic antibodies

DALLAS, April 22, 2025 – GenrAb, Inc., a developer of first-in-class neuroprotective therapies, today announced completion of a private placement with aggregate gross proceeds of $5.6 million dollars (the “Seed Financing“). The Company will use the proceeds from this Seed Financing to accelerate the development of its lead candidate, TGM-010, a novel, fully-human, neuroprotective antibody which is the first in a growing pipeline of novel neurotherapeutic antibodies selected for their potential to become high impact medicines.

GenrAb is optimizing the world’s most effective biological therapy creation engine, the human adaptive immune system. Employing proprietary immunogenetic models to search the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients undergoing active neurological disease, GenrAb has identified novel, neuronally-specific and neuroprotective antibodies. This is evident from GenrAb’s lead antibody therapy, TGM-010, which has repeatedly and independently demonstrated the capability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), internalize specifically into neurons and engage key stress management machinery to reduce disability. This financing enables GenrAb to aggressively advance TGM-010 through IND and towards human clinical studies in 2026.

“We believe GenrAb has an unprecedented opportunity to develop a novel class of antibody therapeutics that protect neurons under stress.” said GenrAb’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Tiffany. “TGM-010 continues to validate our unique approach that unlocks naturally occurring human antibodies involved in reducing neurodegeneration and maintaining neuronal health. This financing is a key milestone in bringing our first-in-class neuroprotective antibody therapies to the clinic. We’re honored that our investment partners enthusiastically share our vision to seismically disrupt the worldwide neurological treatment market that remains significantly underserved given the number of neurodegenerative diseases for which no effective treatments are available.”

GenrAb is an emerging leader in the growing life sciences ecosystem of North Texas, having won multiple awards for its unique approach to treating neurodegeneration. The Company was founded on technology exclusively licensed from the UT Southwestern Medical Center, and is headquartered in BioLabs at Pegasus Park, Dallas. 

“Actium is pleased to have led this capital raise during a period of extreme market volatility,” said Jun Il Kwun, Managing Director of the Actium Group. “The strong demand for investment in GenrAb, after deep diligence by our team and others, resulted in a sophisticated and diverse syndicate including Salem Partners, GPG Ventures, Research Bridge Partners and Maytal Capital. This financing is a vote of confidence in the novel biology driving GenrAb’s innovative and disruptive technology, which has the potential to transform the treatment of CNS disorders to the great benefit of society.” 

About GenrAb, Inc.

GenrAb, Inc. is harnessing the power of adaptive human immunity to discover neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic human antibodies. Guided by proprietary immunogenetic models, the Company interrogates the cerebrospinal fluid in patients with active neurological disease to harvest novel human disease associated antibodies. Antibodies such as TGM-010, are selected based on their antineuronal capabilities and potential for managing neuronal stress to preserve cell function and survival. Using this unique approach, GenrAb is building a pipeline of patented therapeutic antibodies that can durably reduce disability in patients suffering from neurodegenerative disease, democratizing the availability of even rare antibodies found only in certain patients with neurological disease. GenrAb has been the recipient of multiple accolades, recently featured in the Dallas Morning News, as the North Texas Therapeutics Innovator of the Year, a Texas Biotech Rising Star while winning multiple Golden Ticket awards in highly competitive environments that were sponsored by Boehringer-Ingelheim (’23), and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (’24).

For more information on the Company please see www.genrab.com

About Actium Group

Actium Group is an investment firm founded in 2009 in Seoul, Korea, with headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Actium partners with the most promising life science and technology companies in North America, Europe, and Asia, providing multi-stage capital and managerial support through realization. 

For more information on Actium, please see www.actiuminvest.com 

Contact Information for Investors and Business Development:

Larry Tiffany
[email protected] 

SOURCE GenrAb

The facility will be capable of processing 6 million end-of-life solar PV modules by 2030, producing high-grade critical materials such as silicon, aluminum, copper, and silver.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 22, 2025 —OnePlanet Solar Recycling, LLC (“OnePlanet”), an advanced materials recovery processor specializing in end-of-life solar panels, today announced the successful close of a $7 million seed financing round to advance development of its $90M industrial-scale ‘River City’ Project, a first-of-its-kind solar panel recycling facility located in Green Cove Springs, Florida.

This initial phase of capital will support final engineering, permitting, and pre-construction activities for the facility, which is designed to process over 2 million end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) modules annually upon commissioning in 2027, with planned expansions for additional phases totaling 6 million modules by 2030. The facility is expected to be one of the largest dedicated solar recycling operations in North America and represents a strategic response to the accelerating wave of solar decommissioning anticipated over the coming decades.

The financing round was led by Khasma Capital, an investment fund focused on the circular economy and emerging energy transition assets. Khasma’s investment reflects growing institutional recognition that solar recycling is not a strictly downstream issue, but a critical upstream opportunity essential to sustaining U.S. clean energy buildout at scale.

“OnePlanet has assembled a team with both deep technical expertise and a disciplined approach to infrastructure project execution,” said Ashlynn Horras, Partner at Khasma Capital. “This investment reflects our belief that solar module recycling is not only necessary – it is investable at scale, with durable tailwinds driven by regulation, economics, and resource security.”

In parallel with the equity raise, OnePlanet’s River City project was awarded a $14.5 million Investment Tax Credit under the Department of Energy’s competitive Section 48C(e) Advanced Energy Project Program, established by the Inflation Reduction Act. The tax credit specifically supports domestic advanced manufacturing facilities that recover and reintroduce critical materials—such as silicon, aluminum, and copper—back into U.S. supply chains.

“The River City Project is purpose-built infrastructure for a new era of clean energy maturity,” said André Pujadas, Chief Executive Officer of OnePlanet. “Solar as an industry is now at an inflection point in its lifecycle, where we can’t simply install megawatts—we must also build the industrial capacity to recover and reintegrate the very materials that enable it. This facility will be a cornerstone of that effort.”

Before founding OnePlanet, CEO André Pujadas held senior roles at the largest steel producers in the world including Nucor Corporation and Severstal and was directly involved in the industrial and technological shift that not only revolutionized global crude steel production, but transformed scrap metal from a low-value end-of-life product into a highly sought ferrous commodity. At the heart of the massive sustainable steel market was the deployment of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) technology. During his tenure at Nucor, Pujadas was directly involved in advancing and implementing EAF-based operations. That not only revolutionized domestic steelmaking, but also redefined how the U.S. approached industrial recycling at scale. Today, Pujadas sees the solar industry at a similar inflection point.

“With millions of panels slated for decommissioning, the opportunity to recover high-purity silicon—and reintroduce it as a captive, domestic feedstock—parallels the EAF-era transformation we pioneered at Nucor,” said Pujadas. “OnePlanet is building the infrastructure to harness this untapped materials stream as a foundational input not only for clean energy manufacturing, but also for the U.S. semiconductor industry—supporting domestic chip production and fortifying critical supply chains for decades to come.”

The River City project is being developed as a scalable, platform-level operating asset for a national network of facilities, supporting the buildout of a domestic closed-loop solar economy. The plant’s proprietary state-of-the-art fully automated separation and recovery technologies are optimized for throughput, and recovery of high purity streams strategically positioning OnePlanet as a foundational player in the future of energy-critical minerals recovery in the U.S.

The OnePlanet founding team brings deep institutional expertise spanning global finance, heavy industry, and clean energy infrastructure, with alumni from industry leaders such as Nucor, Goldman Sachs, Commercial Metals Company, and PineGate Renewables. This breadth of experience positions OnePlanet at the nexus of metals manufacturing, advanced materials recovery at industrial scale, and renewable energy asset management. The team was recently strengthened by two key hires—one with a background in advanced chemical production processes at 3M, Koch Industries, and Dow Chemical, and another with utility-scale sales experience at leading renewable energy OEMs including Trina Solar, Array Technologies, and Power Electronics.

About OnePlanet Solar Recycling, LLC

Founded in 2023, OnePlanet is a U.S.-based advanced materials recovery company developing large-scale, end-to-end solutions for solar asset owners. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, OnePlanet is building the infrastructure needed to keep millions of solar panels out of landfills—and putting valuable materials back into American supply chains. We are fully dedicated and committed in our resolve to supporting a true circular economy, whereby both production and consumption aspires to use and reuse materials, as many times as possible.

Learn more at www.1planetrecycling.com

Media Contact
[email protected]
OnePlanet Solar Recycling, LLC
Jacksonville, FL

SOURCE OnePlanet Solar Recycling

This round brings Manychat’s total funding to $163.3 million, powering global expansion, R&D, and advanced AI-agent innovation

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 22, 2025 — Manychat, a global leader in conversational AI and automation across social and messaging platforms, today announced a $140 million growth capital raise led by Summit Partners. This brings Manychat’s total funding to $163.3 million since its founding in 2015, including its first institutional investment of $18 million in 2019 by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Social platforms are the new arena of global commerce, with socially driven commerce projected to surpass $100 billion in the U.S. alone by 2026. Manychat sits at the center of this shift, helping creators and businesses leverage AI and automation to forge stronger and more impactful relationships with their audiences.

Manychat powers billions of messages annually on Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and other platforms, helping more than a million businesses in 170+ countries automate customer interactions, maximize engagement, and unlock monetization potential.

“Manychat was founded with a mission to help businesses grow by building meaningful customer relationships,” said Mike Yan, co-founder and CEO at Manychat. “We also take pride in our ability to package and simplify new foundational technologies for the benefit of our customers. The more useful and effective our technology becomes, the more our customers can focus on delivering exceptional value in their space. This new funding, along with Summit Partners’ guidance and expertise, will support our continued innovation in the realm of agentic AI and intelligent automation, helping our team and our products deliver true value for businesses and creators around the world.”

Manychat, already a profitable company, will use this funding to accelerate its global expansion, invest further in R&D, enhance marketing and customer support capabilities, and advance breakthrough AI-Agent features across new and existing channels. In 2024, the company introduced Manychat AI, which is already used by tens of thousands of creators and businesses to better scale conversations with their customers.

“We believe the rapid growth in social commerce is driving a critical need for brands to invest in strategies and solutions that help build and sustain customer engagement across social and messaging platforms,” said Sophia Popova, Partner at Summit Partners who has joined the Manychat Board of Directors. “Manychat’s innovative platform is helping to redefine how businesses and creators engage with their audiences and to set new standards in digital communication and marketing. We are excited to partner with the Manychat team to help accelerate their global expansion and further enhance their AI-driven solutions.”

About Manychat
Founded in 2015 by Mike Yan and Antony Gorin, Manychat is a global leader in conversational AI and automation across social and messaging platforms, helping businesses and creators engage their audiences through intelligent, automated conversations. With over a million users in 170 countries, Manychat powers billions of conversations optimized for driving engagement, nurturing relationships, and maximizing monetization potential across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Follow Manychat at: manychat.com  |  IG: @manychat

Media contact:

Rebecca Reese
[email protected]
(603) 305-4155

About Summit
Summit Partners is a leading growth-focused investment firm. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and, since the firm’s founding in 1984, has invested in more than 550 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. These companies have completed more than 175 public equity offerings, and more than 250 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and seeks to invest in category-leading, profitable growth companies worldwide. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Susan Barr
[email protected]

SOURCE Manychat

CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA, Calif., April 22, 2025 — Field Medical Inc., a pioneer in cardiac pulsed field ablation (PFA) technology, today announced the successful closing of $40 million in Series A financing. The round includes $20 million in new capital and the conversion of $20 million in seed-round debt. Participants include several leading strategics, venture capital firms and family offices, with multiple seed investors reinvesting – underscoring strong confidence in the company’s initial focus on ventricular tachycardia (VT) and the broader versatility of its technology.

The funding will support the completion of two pilot studies – VCAS for VT and Field PULSE for atrial fibrillation (AF) – as well as continued development of Field’s commercial PFA system and operational scale-up in preparation for VERITAS, the company’s pivotal trial focused on VT.

“This financing is a pivotal milestone as we advance in redefining how electrophysiologists approach ablation therapy,” said Steven Mickelsen, M.D., founder and chief executive officer of Field Medical. “With the support of our investors, we are accelerating the development of the FieldForce™ Ablation System, building on early clinical evidence, and moving closer to our commercial goal of expanding access to next-generation PFA solutions for cardiac ablation.”

“We are encouraged by the strong support and confidence from both new investors and our reinvesting seed-round investor base,” said Oskar Dadason, chief financial officer. “This funding enables us to execute our strategic plan with speed and focus as we transition from early-stage innovation into commercial readiness.”

Field Medical is developing transformative technology for the treatment of all cardiac arrhythmias, including VT and AF. The FieldForce Ablation System, featuring the first built-for-purpose, contact force focal PFA catheter, enables an instantaneous ablation workflow, with therapy delivered in a fraction of a second. Recent results from the VCAS (VT) and PULSE (AF) pilot studies demonstrate the system’s versatility. Powered by FieldBending™, the company’s proprietary technology that delivers brief, high-intensity electric fields, the System is positioned as the single, advanced solution for treating a full spectrum of cardiac arrhythmias.

About Field Medical^® Inc.
Founded in 2022, Field Medical is advancing next-generation pulsed field ablation (PFA) technologies to address the complex needs of modern cardiac ablation. The company is led by Dr. Steven Mickelsen, a pioneer in pulsed electric field technology and a leading innovator in the field. His foundational work in PFA established the basis for modern advancements in the technology, which Field Medical continues to refine with its groundbreaking solutions. In 2024, Field Medical’s technology was recognized by the FDA with Breakthrough Device Designation and inclusion in the TAP Pilot Program. 

For more information, visit www.fieldmedicalinc.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

The FieldForce™ Ablation System is an investigational device and is limited by federal (or United States) law to investigational use.

The Growing Prevalence of VT and AF
Ventricular tachycardia (VT) and atrial fibrillation (AF) are two of the most common and serious arrhythmias, contributing to stroke, heart failure, sudden cardiac death and escalating health care costs. VT and premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) affect more than 6 million people in the United States and Europe, while AF impacts an estimated 2% to 6% of the global population.

The AF catheter ablation market is currently valued at $5 billion and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13% to 16%, surpassing $11 billion by 2034. In comparison, the global VT market— which includes devices and catheter ablation—was valued at approximately $12.5 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.26%, reaching $17 billion by 2027. Notably, the catheter ablation segment within the VT treatment market is projected to grow at a higher rate of 13% annually during this period, reflecting increased adoption of catheter-based interventions for VT management.

Media Contact
Holly Windler
619.929.1275

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2574173/Field_Medical_Logo_Block_WhiteOnBlack_Logo.jpg 

Climate tech funds show positive trajectory despite fundraising headwinds

SAN FRANCISCO, April 21, 2025 — The climate tech sector is seeing signs of recovery as venture capital (VC) is flowing into energy, manufacturing, and carbon tech, according to the latest report from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank. Additionally, Climate tech funds are outperforming overall VC, reaching a 9% higher internal rate of return (IRR) in the 2020-2024 fund vintage.

“With continued investor interest, the Climate tech sector is showing reasons for optimism this year,” said Dan Baldi, National Head of SVB’s Climate Technology and Sustainability practice. “Clean fuels, dispatchable renewables and carbon tech are taking the spotlight, sparked by a shift toward electrification and ongoing goals to reduce emissions.”

Leveraging SVB’s proprietary data and insights, the Future of Climate Tech 2025 Report reveals the current fundraising landscape, sector trends, and explores how the industry is evolving to address challenges across the innovation economy.

SVB’s Future of Climate Tech report analyzes key themes shaping the future of climate technology, including:

• Raising Equity is Tough, But Signs of Growth Persist: 57% of US VC-backed climate tech companies need to raise in the next twelve months even as more than half of companies are reducing burn YoY. Yet there are encouraging signs of growth – trailing 12-month venture investment is increasing, company formation remains strong, and early-stage activity is still vibrant.
• Early-Stage Resiliency: Early-stage investment has remained more resilient than later-stage activity over the last three years, showing a healthy pipeline of companies fueling future growth of the industry.
• Electrification Continues, Demand Accelerates: By 2030, half of electricity generation will come from renewable resources. Climate tech solutions from storage to demand response and improved transmission are poised to transform the energy and power sector.

Key findings from the Future of Climate Tech Report include:

• Valuations and Rounds on the Rise: After valuations bottomed out in 2023, they are on the rise again with climate tech valuations overtaking VC investment at the later-stage. Aside from seed, where median deal sizes have held steady, rounds are getting bigger. Series B and C+ rounds reached decade highs of $30M and $60M, respectively in 2024.
• Extinguishing Burn, Improving Margins: Margins improved, but revenue growth rates fell. Climate tech hardware companies saw growth rates fall from a median of 58% at the end of 2021 to just 19% by the end of 2023. While growth rates have since marginally improved, climate tech software companies are seeing higher profit margins than hardware companies. The median climate tech software company with over $50M in revenue saw a 30% higher profit margin in 2024.
• All-Time High for Clean Power Deals: Bolstered by incentives within the IRA and Chips and Science Act that improve profit margins for many renewable energy producers, clean energy and power companies closed 382 deals and surpassed $7B investment in 2024, up 15% YoY and a more than 3x increase over pre-COVID levels.
• M&A Back to 2020 Levels: Between mid-2023 and early 2024 deals coming from financial buyers jumped from 15% of transactions to 40% of transactions, signaling that financial buyers may be stepping in as VC investment remains low.

Learn More
To read the complete 2025 Future of Climate Tech report, click here: The Future of Climate Tech 2025

SVB is a leader in providing market insights on sectors across the innovation economy. For the complete library of SVB’s signature reports, please visit Market Research Industry Trends & Insights | Silicon Valley Bank (svb.com) 

About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial banking to companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, and venture capital industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights, and connections. SVB’s parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with over $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com

SOURCE Silicon Valley Bank

NewCo’s Launch Delivers Same-Day Funding Access to Businesses Across Canada, Including Quebec

MIAMI, April 21, 2025 — NewCo Capital Group, a leading provider of innovative business financing, has expanded into Canada, marking a key milestone in its global growth strategy. With nationwide service now available across every Canadian province and territory, NewCo brings accessible, non-bank funding solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The move strengthens NewCo’s international footprint as part of its broader global initiative in conjunction with Bizcap, a leading provider of business loans in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Singapore. The Canadian launch began in January 2025 and now includes full service in Quebec, an area historically underserved by specialty financing providers.

“The uptick in demand we’ve seen across Canada since our initial rollout has been both strong and consistent,” said Omer Navon, Director of Operations for NewCo Canada. “We’ve built the infrastructure to scale efficiently across all provinces and territories, including Quebec, ensuring businesses receive timely access to capital with the same level of speed, service, and reliability that defines NewCo’s model.”

Canada’s SME sector forms a significant part of its economy, yet many entrepreneurs still face barriers to securing fast and flexible financing. NewCo Canada’s entry brings a proven, performance-based model to the Canadian market—one that prioritizes speed, transparency, and simplicity.

Key features of NewCo’s financing solutions include:

• Funding amounts from CAD 10,000 to CAD 2,000,000
• Approvals in as little as three hours
• Funds disbursed within 12 hours
• Evaluation based on business performance, not just credit score

“Expanding into Canada is a defining step in our global roadmap, and one that reflects our commitment to building a truly unified funding ecosystem for SMEs worldwide,” said Albert Gahfi, Co-Founder and CEO of NewCo Capital Group and Capytal.com, and a founding executive across Bizcap’s international entities. “Canada is one of several strategic markets we’re activating as we scale our global footprint and bring smarter capital solutions to SMEs around the world,” Gahfi added.

This strategic expansion comes as part of NewCo’s partnership with Bizcap and reflects the company’s long-term vision to make fast, flexible funding accessible to businesses across international markets. To date, the companies have deployed over $2 billion in financing to more than 45,000 businesses globally.

For more information about NewCo’s expansion into Canada and how to partner, visit www.NewCoCapitalGroup.CA.

About NewCo Capital Group
Founded in 2020, NewCo Capital Group provides fast, flexible, and accessible funding solutions to SMEs in the U.S. and now Canada. With a mission to break down financial barriers for growing businesses, NewCo has earned a 4.8/5 Trustpilot rating and continues to set the standard in alternative finance.

Media Contact:
NewCo Capital Group
Media Department
[email protected]
www.NewCoCapitalGroup.CA

SOURCE NewCo Capital Group

“We are delighted to welcome Jay and Prysm to the Electra family,” said Electra Board Chair John Langford. “They’ve already become an indispensable partner and advisor as we transition from prototype to product with the EL9.”

By integrating blown lift technology with hybrid-electric propulsion, Electra’s 9-passenger EL9 Ultra Short offers a range of transformative dual-use capabilities. It operates with the landing and takeoff versatility of a helicopter, the quiet of an electric vehicle, and the cost advantage and safety of a fixed-wing, fixed-propeller aircraft. With the EL9, commercial operators can connect communities that lack traditional aviation infrastructure, fly into airports with strict noise restrictions, create new opportunities and business models for cargo services, and save travelers significant time.

For defense operators, the EL9 introduces novel logistics and troop transport capabilities, including the ability to take off and land with a low signature in helicopter-sized spaces in remote, austere areas and providing mobile power capabilities while building on the safety, cost, and range advantages of a fixed-wing aircraft.

Electra has secured more than 2,200 pre-orders valued at over $10 billion for the EL9 – marking one of the largest provisional order pipelines in the commercial Advanced Air Mobility sector. Additionally, Electra has won over 20 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and NASA, and is currently performing on a Strategic Funding Increase contract with the U.S. Air Force to develop the EL9 for military use cases.

“At Electra, we are on a mission to deliver a new era of aviation, a leap forward in advanced air mobility that is both transformational and practical,” said Marc Allen, CEO of Electra. “The EL9 Ultra Short opens the door to opportunities to establish new commercial routes, connect communities currently lacking aviation infrastructure, and enable entirely novel logistics capabilities for warfighters. We look forward to working with our partners at Prysm to continue the development of this aircraft and chart a new course for aviation.”

The EL9 delivers up to 3,000 pounds of payload and a range of up to 1,100 nautical miles, with in-flight battery recharging that eliminates the need for ground charging stations. The ability to operate from compact spaces and unimproved surfaces such as grass fields, parking lots, and repurposed heliports opens new routes and economic opportunities, making regional air mobility for passengers and cargo more affordable and accessible than ever before.

“Electra’s EL9 Ultra Short is a game-changing aircraft that unlocks important new capabilities for commercial and defense users,” said Jay Park. “The EL9 is the flagship of Electra’s future family of aircraft that will transform aviation with hybrid-electric technology. We are excited to partner with Marc, John and the team in their commitment to innovating and expanding air mobility solutions.”

Lockheed Martin Ventures, Honeywell, and Safran are among Electra’s strategic investors along with Prysm Capital, Statkraft Ventures, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), and other private investors. 

Electra has grown to roughly 80 employees and established its position as the first mover and category creator in Ultra Short aviation.

About Electra
Electra.aero, Inc. (Electra) is an advanced aerospace company building hybrid-electric Ultra Short aircraft that achieve never-before performance advantages to fly people and cargo seamlessly without airports, emissions, or noise. With the Ultra Short, Electra is pioneering Direct Aviation, the next level of connectivity that brings air travel closer to where we live, work, and play. Electra’s Ultra Short technology delivers 2.5X the payload and 10X longer range with 70% lower operating costs than helicopters and eVTOLs with significantly greater safety and far less certification risk.

Electra’s team includes some of the most respected and successful entrepreneurs and engineers in novel aircraft design, with over 40 prior aircraft successfully developed and/or certified. Electra’s contracted customers include NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Navy, along with over 2,200 aircraft under Letters of Intent from 50+ commercial customers, including both airlines and helicopter operators.

About Prysm Capital
Prysm Capital is a growth equity firm focused on partnering with founders and management teams who are disrupting industries and building category-leading companies. With offices in New York, Princeton and San Francisco, Prysm acts as a flexible source of growth capital for companies in the technology and consumer sectors. For more information, please visit www.prysmcapital.com.

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SOURCE Electra.aero