The Series E doubles Vestwell’s valuation as the company surpasses 2 million active savers, $50 billion in assets, and $200 million in annual recurring revenue

NEW YORK, Feb. 18, 2026 — Vestwell, the infrastructure platform powering America’s modern savings economy, has raised $385 million in Series E funding. The round was led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth, with participation from new and existing investors, including Neuberger Berman, SLW, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, TIAA Ventures, and HarbourVest. JPMorgan was placement agent and structuring agent for Vestwell in connection with the financing.

The financing doubles Vestwell’s valuation since its 2023 Series D and brings total capital raised to $660 million. Vestwell has surpassed $200 million in annual recurring revenue and continues to grow profitably. The financing reflects investor confidence in Vestwell’s role as the infrastructure layer for how Americans save.

Vestwell’s growth comes at a critical time, as millions of Americans remain financially vulnerable and under-prepared for emergencies and major life milestones such as college education and retirement.

What This Capital Unlocks

Vestwell is expanding its distribution across all channels where income is earned and benefits are delivered, while advancing intelligent, AI data-driven experiences and extending savings pathways beyond retirement. By embedding savings more deeply into payroll, benefits platforms, financial institutions, and government-led public programs, Vestwell’s platform reaches workers and families where saving actually happens.

The company is also expanding access to more sophisticated, professionally managed investment solutions. These capabilities—historically reserved for larger, institutional plans—move beyond basic, age-based defaults to incorporate a broader set of personalized factors tied to long-term retirement income goals. As a result, more employers and savers can benefit from a tailored, holistic investment approach using Vestwell’s award-winning technology.

Ongoing investment in AI-native capabilities personalizes guidance, automates administration, and surfaces actionable insights for savers and their employers. Together, these advances enable saving to start earlier, adapt more holistically to life’s needs, and operate as a connected, end-to-end experience.

“We’re focused on an ambitious goal to close the $50 trillion savings gap in America,” said Aaron Schumm, founder and CEO of Vestwell. “This capital allows us to move faster on the work that matters most. It reflects strong confidence from leading investors in our unified savings platform and our ability to scale across payroll, partners, and products. We’re deepening the intelligence behind the platform and expanding access beyond retirement so more people can save in ways that best fit their lives.”

A New Approach to Saving

For decades, saving in America has been fragmented. Separate systems for retirement, emergencies, education, disability, and long-term goals each had their own rules, vendors, and barriers to participation.

Today, Vestwell supports more than 2 million active savers and administers over $50 billion in assets through employers, financial institutions, advisors, payroll providers, and government agencies nationwide. Its innovations lower barriers to participation, deliver measurable outcomes, and expand access to modern savings across income levels, languages, and communities.

A secure retirement remains foundational, but achieving that goal requires a broader approach to saving that starts with the first dollar. Vestwell’s platform already powers a broad set of savings pathways—from workplace emergency savings and programs that seed early wealth for college savings and student debt solutions, to ABLE accounts that protect benefits for people with disabilities—delivered through a single, modern infrastructure layer.

“Vestwell has built a resilient platform with strong underlying economics and a clear path for continued expansion,” said Tim DeGrange, a principal of Blue Owl Capital. “The company’s ability to scale profitably while broadening both its product offering and distribution reflects the durability of its model and the strength of its execution. Vestwell is building long-term infrastructure for the savings ecosystem, enabled for today’s age of AI.”

As adoption accelerates across both the private and public sectors, Vestwell has emerged as the connective layer across how saving works in the U.S.

At Scale Today

• More than 2 million active savers using Vestwell-powered programs
• More than $50 billion in assets administered across workplace, institutional, and government channels
• Nearly 30,000 plans added through the Accrue 401k acquisition
• More than 40 government programs leveraging Vestwell infrastructure
• Multilingual experiences across more than 20 languages and AI-powered assistance delivering real-time, personalized support

“Vestwell’s platform has reached an important inflection point, combining innovation and scale with the flexibility to support a broad and evolving set of savings use cases,” said Alex Goodman, principal at Sixth Street Growth. “As demand for integrated savings solutions accelerates across employers, advisors, and partners, we believe Vestwell is well-positioned to build on its momentum and expand its impact over time.”

“The Vestwell team has built a leading savings platform that is extending its reach across major payroll providers with the Accrue 401k acquisition,” said Michael Noryko, managing director at SLW. “Aaron Schumm, Dave Sheen and the leadership team at Vestwell have a long track record of building value with successful acquisitions. They are well positioned to be the backbone for the modern savings economy and we look forward to extending our partnership.”

About Vestwell
Vestwell is the backbone of the modern savings economy. Vestwell is a financial technology company that makes it easier for more Americans to save for life’s most important moments—from retirement to education and healthcare. Founded in 2016, Vestwell’s platform removes traditional barriers to saving, making it accessible, efficient, and approachable for everyone.

Vestwell provides a comprehensive suite of workplace savings solutions, including retirement plans, student loan repayment benefits, and specialized accounts for education, emergencies, and disability savings.

Trusted by financial advisers, employers, payroll providers, financial institutions, and government agencies. With a commitment to closing the savings gap and fostering a secure financial future for all, Vestwell provides the accessible savings technology everyone deserves.

For more information, visit www.vestwell.com.

About Blue Owl Capital Inc.
Blue Owl (NYSE: OWL) is a leading asset manager that is redefining alternatives^®. With over $307 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025, we invest across three multi-strategy platforms: Credit, Real Assets and GP Strategic Capital. Anchored by a strong permanent capital base, we provide businesses with private capital solutions to drive long-term growth and offer institutional investors, individual investors, and insurance companies differentiated alternative investment opportunities that aim to deliver strong performance, risk-adjusted returns, and capital preservation.

Together with approximately 1,365 experienced professionals globally, Blue Owl brings the vision and discipline to create the exceptional. To learn more, visit www.blueowl.com or LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blue-owl-capital

About Sixth Street Growth
Sixth Street Growth provides growth equity and bespoke capital solutions to mid- and late-stage technology companies. Sixth Street Growth is the dedicated growth investing platform of Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm with over $125 billion in assets under management and committed capital. Sixth Street has invested over $10 billion in more than 70 companies through its Growth franchise since inception. For more information, and additional disclosures, visit www.sixthstreet.com/growth, and follow Sixth Street on LinkedIn.

About SLW
SLW focuses on providing flexible expansion capital to later-stage growth companies in the technology and technology-enabled industries. For more information about Silver Lake Waterman, please visit www.slw.vc.

SOURCE Vestwell

• HUMAIN invested $3 billion in xAI’s Series E round just prior to its acquisition by SpaceX, positioning itself at a pivotal moment of platform-scale expansion and integration
• As a result of the transaction, HUMAIN became a significant minority shareholder, with its xAI holdings converted into SpaceX shares
• The investment builds on HUMAIN and xAI’s 500MW AI infrastructure partnership in Saudi Arabia, reinforcing HUMAIN’s role as both a strategic development partner and a leading global investor in frontier AI technologies

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 18, 2026 — HUMAIN, a PIF company delivering full-stack artificial intelligence capabilities globally, today announced a $3 billion strategic investment in xAI as part of the company’s Series E financing round. The transaction represents a significant, end-to-end capital deployment for HUMAIN, reflecting continued momentum in its long-term investment strategy focused on category-defining technology platforms.

The investment comes at a highly compelling inflection point for xAI, preceding its acquisition by SpaceX in early February. The combination of xAI’s advanced artificial intelligence capabilities with SpaceX’s scale, infrastructure, and mission-driven engineering creates a uniquely positioned platform for accelerated growth, deep technological integration, and long-term value creation.

As a result of the Series E transaction, HUMAIN became a significant minority shareholder in xAI, with its holdings subsequently converted into shares in SpaceX. The transaction creates a solid platform for HUMAIN’s exposure to long-term equity upside, reflecting participation in xAI’s final financing round ahead of the merger.

“This investment reflects HUMAIN’s conviction in transformational AI and our ability to deploy meaningful capital behind exceptional opportunities where long-term vision, technical excellence, and execution converge,” said Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN. “xAI’s trajectory, further strengthened by its acquisition by SpaceX, one of the largest technology mergers on record, represents the kind of high-impact platform we seek to support with significant capital.”

HUMAIN’s participation in the Series E round reinforces its role as a scaled, long-term strategic investor capable of supporting companies across multiple stages of growth, while delivering full-stack AI capabilities across four core areas: next-generation data centers; high-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms; advanced AI models; and transformative AI solutions.

The investment builds on the large-scale partnership announced in November 2025 at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum, under which HUMAIN and xAI committed to jointly develop more than 500MW of next-generation AI data center and compute infrastructure and to deploy xAI’s Grok models in Saudi Arabia. Together, these initiatives deepen long-term alignment and extend HUMAIN’s role from strategic partner to leading global shareholder in xAI.

Looking ahead, HUMAIN’s strategy includes the pursuit of additional investments across artificial intelligence, frontier technologies, and critical infrastructure.

About HUMAIN

HUMAIN, a PIF company, is a global artificial intelligence company delivering full-stack AI capabilities across four core areas: next-generation data centers; hyper-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms; advanced AI models, including some of the world’s most advanced Arabic large language models developed in the Arab world; and transformative AI solutions that combine deep sector insight with real-world execution.

HUMAIN’s end-to-end model serves both public and private sector organizations, unlocking value across industries, driving digital transformation, and strengthening capabilities through human–AI collaboration. With a growing portfolio of sector-specific AI products and a core mission focused on intellectual property development and global talent leadership, HUMAIN is engineered for international competitiveness and technological excellence.

Forward-Looking Statement:

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially due to various risks and uncertainties. HUMAIN undertakes no obligation to update these statements.

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2915933/HUMAIN_Logo.jpg

Media Inquiries:
For further details about HUMAIN, please visit humain.com.
For Media inquiries, please contact:
Hana Nemec, Head of Communications & PR
[email protected]
Follow HUMAIN on: X | LinkedIn

SOURCE HUMAIN

Funding will enable Rainfall Health to enhance AI-enabled solutions for the 742 TEAM-mandated health systems in new value-based reimbursement era

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 18, 2026 — Rainfall Health, an AI-driven compliance and reimbursement platform for hospitals and medical groups, today announced it has closed on a $15 million Series A funding round. The company will lean on this investment to build out its AI teams and build a world-class customer support team, who will support the hospitals impacted by the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM), which launched on January 1, 2026.

This new CMS mandate incentivizes hospitals and health systems to deliver on quality outcomes associated with the five highest-spend surgical procedures: lower extremity joint replacement, spinal fusion, coronary artery bypass graft, major bowel procedures, and hip/femur fracture treatment. By complying with the quality metrics, hospitals now stand to gain 20% in increased revenue from existing lines of service, yielding more than $100 million in new revenue per Health System.

“Hospitals have a tremendous opportunity to increase their revenues by delivering high-quality post-acute care that includes consistent check-ins, clear patient instructions, and clinician follow-ups,” said Eddie Qureshi, CEO and Founder of Rainfall Health. “By building out our AI and implementation teams, we will ensure our partners take advantage of this opportunity with CMS while delivering a consistent patient experience. This funding is a vital step for Rainfall as we continue to build the country’s first recognized standard for outcome-based care.”

This Series A investment was led by Two Bear Capital, along with support from other notable investors.

“Building an AI platform for hospitals and health systems to more effectively collect, standardize, and report on patient outcomes will forever change the way they track reimbursement,” said Mark Adams PhD, Partner at Two Bear Capital. “It will create unique new value for patients, providers, and an amazing portfolio business for Two Bear Capital. We’re excited to see Rainfall grow as its platform is deployed across the growing list of US hospitals that will need to deliver on the in-depth infrastructure requirements mandated by TEAM.”

Rainfall Health is the only product on the market that acts as a single blueprint for navigating compliance in this new era of reimbursement. Rather than seeing compliance rules as a downside for hospitals, Rainfall Health is driving towards the opportunity that exists for providers across the country to invest further into a new standard of care and access for their patients. The platform, which is already implemented across several impacted medical groups and hospitals, is built on increased healthcare access, hospital workflow efficiency, and regulatory compliance – all with the goal of improving patient outcomes.

“Rainfall is enabling providers across the country to connect with patients and deliver on their goals at a scale in which the industry hasn’t seen before,” said David Shulkin M.D., the Ninth Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Chair of the RAIN Advisory Committee. “Eddie and his team’s commitment to moving the value-based care needle and supporting hospitals in aligning financial incentives with quality patient outcomes is refreshing to see. This funding round will allow Rainfall to accelerate their implementations as TEAM requirements begin to take hold this year.”

Rainfall Health remains committed to its original mission of using AI to ensure patients in any and all geographic areas have access to quality medical care. The platform will continue to play a key role in doing this across the country, as the outcome-based care model outlined in TEAM will accelerate the industry’s adoption of a more value-based approach in 2026 and beyond.

About Rainfall Health:
Rainfall Health is an AI-driven compliance and reimbursement platform that helps hospitals and medical groups navigate new value-based care models such as CMS’s TEAM model, ensuring they deliver on vital case management and care delivery goals. The company is shaping a new national standard for mandated care-model compliance through the RAIN Compliant^™ designation — a verifiable, AI-enabled framework adopted by hospitals, payers, and clinical partners impacted by the January 1, 2026 TEAM launch. Rainfall works with health system executives, physician groups, and post-acute partners to automate complex regulatory requirements, improve care-quality performance, and unlock new Medicare revenue streams. Follow Rainfall Health on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact
Will Pegler
+1 (203) 962-5694
[email protected]

SOURCE Rainfall Health

• SGT Capital Artificial Intelligence (AI) Co-Investment Fund Closes 25% Oversubscribed
• SGT Capital commits to invest in Artificial Intelligence as an expansion of Data Analytics & Cybersecurity
• SGT Capital Partners Joseph Pacini, Carsten Geyer, Dino Steinborn, Marcel Normann and Marianne Rajic applaud recent fundraising success

ZUG, Switzerland, Feb. 18, 2026 — SGT Capital announces the successful closing of its SGT Capital Artificial Intelligence (AI) Co-Investment Fund, which was 25% oversubscribed.  This fund strengthens SGT Capital’s strategy to invest in market-leading data analytic, cybersecurity and med-tech companies.  The SGT Capital AI Co-Investment Fund builds on SGT Capital’s established track record in technology-enabled sectors and reflects growing institutional investor demand for exposure to transformative AI-driven business models. 

SGT Capital Partners Joseph Pacini, Carsten Geyer, Dino Steinborn, Dr Marcel Normann, and Marianne Rajic applaud the strong investor demand and the successful fundraising outcome, stating:

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the key driver of growth for the global economy, and every company will either deploy AI or face disruption by it. This success underscores strong investor conviction in SGT Capital’s disciplined approach to backing market leading businesses and producing top decile returns.  AI is now a permanent feature of the global economy and SGT Capital is uniquely positioned to identify and support category-defining AI businesses, combining deep sector expertise with a disciplined investment approach.  The oversubscription of this fund reflects investor confidence in SGT Capital’s strategy, team, and track record.  We are grateful for the trust our investors have placed in us and look forward to deploying capital into high-conviction opportunities that drive technological transformation and long-term value creation.”

The SGT Capital AI Co-Investment Fund will focus on investments in scalable technology platforms across North America, Europe, and selected global markets. SGT Capital will leverage its operational expertise and global network to support portfolio companies in scaling revenue, expanding internationally, and strengthening governance and cybersecurity frameworks.

About SGT Capital

SGT Capital Group is a global private equity firm that generates top decile performance for its investors by investing in market leading businesses and expanding their international growth. With offices and portfolio company presence in London (United Kingdom), Zug (Switzerland), Frankfurt (Germany), Dubai (UAE), Silicon Valley (CA, USA), and Singapore, SGT Capital is led by Joseph Pacini, Carsten Geyer, Dr Marcel Normann, Marianne Rajic and Jens Dino Steinborn.

SOURCE SGT Capital

One of Texas’ largest angel rounds bets on scaling expertise as manufacturing’s skills gap widens

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 18, 2026 — Circuit, an Austin-based company building an AI platform for manufacturing and service organizations, today announced it has raised $30 million from individual investors. The funding comes as manufacturers face growing market and product complexity while a wave of retirements takes decades of expertise out the door.

“The work is getting harder and the people who know how to do it are leaving,” said Tyson Tuttle, co-founder and CEO of Circuit. “Products are more complex, tools are changing, and U.S. manufacturers are being asked to produce more with fewer experienced hands. Circuit exists to make sure expertise scales with the business.”

Manufacturing and service teams make hundreds of high-stakes decisions every day: configuring equipment, building quotes, guiding installations, and troubleshooting issues. The knowledge behind those decisions lives across scattered documentation and legacy systems – but more often in the heads of the people who’ve done the work for decades. Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute estimate that expertise drain could leave as many as 1.9 million manufacturing jobs unfilled by 2033.

“In a market crowded with general-purpose AI, it matters that Circuit actually understands manufacturing and service workflows – and how to measure success,” said Tony Bender, executive and advisor at Culligan. “They’re turning our years of product documents and operational know-how into guided execution our teams and dealers can rely on.”

Circuit turns that documentation – including complex visuals like technical manuals, schematics, CAD files, and exploded views – into actionable workflows that help teams configure, quote, and troubleshoot with confidence. The platform plugs into ERPs, quoting tools, and CRMs, pulling documentation from where it already lives. Teams input job requirements or field conditions in plain language. Circuit then layers on proprietary reasoning that interprets configuration logic, compatibility rules, and technical dependencies.

Leading manufacturers and product-driven service organizations – such as Culligan and Four Hands – are already seeing results: faster quotes, fewer support errors, and new hires up to speed in weeks instead of months.

The round includes backing from business leaders and experienced company builders who have built and scaled multi-billion-dollar organizations. Investors include Jim Breyer, Charlie Amato, Lew Cirne, Niccolo De Masi, Tom Long, Gary Petersen, Gary Rieschel, and Craig Robins.

Circuit was founded by Silicon Labs veterans, including former CEO Tyson Tuttle, who bring decades of experience building and shipping products in manufacturing and industrial environments. That firsthand perspective shaped both the platform and Circuit’s approach to partnering with customers – integrating AI into the workflows their teams rely on every day. The new funding will support continued product development, expanded customer deployments, and hiring across engineering and go-to-market teams.

By embedding trusted guidance into everyday workflows, Circuit helps manufacturers move faster, reduce errors, and deliver more consistent execution.

About Circuit
Circuit is purpose-built AI for manufacturing and service organizations. The platform turns technical documentation into an intelligent engine that guides teams through business-critical workflows like quoting, field service, and customer support. Learn more at circuit.ai.

Media Contact
Vanessa Blankenship
Sun PR
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 941-228-2488

SOURCE Circuit

• Round led by Heran Partners and joined by Clave Capital, Inveready and Bio&Tech Smart Capital
• Financing will enable Pharmacelera to build ongoing relationships with major pharm and biotech customers in the US
• Pharmacelera’s platform scours vast chemical ‘exaSpace’ accurately for novel molecules

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 18, 2026 — Pharmacelera, a deep tech company applying Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize drug discovery, has closed a €6 million investment round to accelerate its expansion in the United States and grow the capabilities of its proprietary platform.

Utilizing its proprietary Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence (“QaiM”) algorithms, Pharmacelera is revolutionizing drug discovery by finding novel and diverse molecular candidates across the vast chemical “exaSpace” with unprecedented speed, efficiency and accuracy. It can generate molecules that are up to 10 times better, 75,000 times faster, than traditional AI-led drug discovery approaches. Its technology can be applied to small molecules and small peptides in all stages of drug discovery – from hit identification, through hit-to-lead, to lead optimization.

This investment round will help Pharmacelera grow further and faster – firstly, by establishing a permanent team in the U.S., and secondly, by enabling the Company to expand the technical capabilities of its unique QaiM drug discovery engine in key growth areas.

The round was led by Heran Partners, a leading life sciences investor, and joined by Clave Capital, a long-standing tech transfer investor; Inveready, a Spanish alternative asset manager with a dedicated life sciences strategy; and Bio&Tech Smart Capital, a specialist investor in healthtech and science-based innovation.

Pharmacelera has already participated in more than 100 projects to date, including several notable successes in GPCRs. It has won repeat business from customers in both Europe and the U.S., including three big pharma companies and numerous highly-regarded biotechs.

Enric Gibert, Chief Executive Officer of Pharmacelera, said: “The first wave of AI-powered drug discovery promised a lot but delivered comparatively little. Pharmacelera is changing the picture, by coupling AI with quantum-based simulations to leverage the exaSpace – the vast, undiscovered universe of trillions of molecules – to find highly novel drug candidates that are up to 10 times better, using a process that’s up to 75,000 times faster than traditional AI-led approaches.”

He continued: “The backing of these leading investors, who have a deep understanding of drug discovery, is a strong validation of our revolutionary technology. The funding will enable us to establish a team in the U.S. – a natural next step to continue strengthening our relationships with large pharmaceutical and biotech companies on both the East and West coasts. It will also help us to greatly widen the capabilities of our QaiM engine.”

Raf Roelands, Partner at Heran Partners and new member of Pharmacelera’s Board of Directors, said: “By combining physics-based algorithms with machine learning, Pharmacelera enables the design of molecular candidates for novel targets and modes of action with a higher probability of success. We have a high conviction in this company, which was reinforced through direct discussions with its customers, including leading pharmaceutical companies, who have already experienced the significant impact of its technology.”

The funding round follows the signing of a strategic alliance between Pharmacelera and Silicon Valley company igniter General Inception (GI) in 2023, in which Pharmacelera became GI’s AI drug discovery strategic partner. Venkat Reddy, GI’s Chief Scientific Officer, sits on Pharmacelera’s Board of Directors. Since then, Pharmacelera’s technology has strengthened the intellectual property of several of GI’s portfolio companies.

About Pharmacelera

Pharmacelera is a deep tech computational drug discovery company applying its advanced 3D Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence (“QaiM”) engine to explore the vast chemical “exaspace” – which potentially comprises trillions of molecules – with unprecedented speed, efficiency and accuracy. This engine can significantly outperform traditional methods in its ability to identify structurally diverse, novel, and synthesizable compounds. Using this technology, the Company’s world class, cross-disciplinary team has already participated in more than 100 projects. Pharmacelera’s diversified and scalable business model has attracted recurrent customers including several big pharma firms and many prominent biotechs. Founded by AI engineers, drug hunters from industry and top academic profiles, its founders have co-authored more than 500 publications and hold more than 50 patents on technology and drug discovery. It is backed by Heran Partners, Clave Capital, Inveready and Bio&Tech Smart Capital and based at the Parc Científic de Barcelona, one of Europe’s premiere life science hubs. For more information, please visit https://pharmacelera.com/ 

About Heran Partners

Heran Partners is a specialist venture capital investor committed to creating transformative impact within the life sciences and healthcare industry. It is a Belgium-based investment fund driven by a dedicated team with strong scientific and entrepreneurial backgrounds. It provides venture and growth capital accompanied by a strong network, expertise and mentorship to start-ups and scale-ups with a solid technology platform and strong market potential.

Heran’s investment philosophy centers on addressing emerging health challenges such as an ageing population, the surge in chronic diseases, and associated increases in healthcare costs. Heran believes in harnessing the revolutionary potential of technology, science, and data to meet these challenges head-on. It focusses on solutions for unmet needs in the market. For more information, please visit https://www.heranpartners.com/ 

About Clave Capital

Clave Capital is an independent alternative asset management firm specialized in innovative projects and industrial SMEs. The firm has extensive experience in creating business value from scientific research results, with more than 20 years of expertise in investing, building, and supporting technology projects from their early stages, with a clear focus on technology transfer. Currently, the firm manages €173 million, with a highlight being Clave Innohealth F.C.R., a €50 million fund specialized in medical technologies and promoted with the support of CDTI Innvierte and several private investors linked to the healthcare sector. For more information, please visit https://clave.capital/ 

About Inveready

Inveready is a leading financial services firm specialized in Alternative Assets, Wealth Management, and Investment Funds. Founded in 2008 as a venture capital fund, Inveready has evolved into one of the most active investment firms for small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain, currently managing over €2.4 billion.

The financial group organizes its services into three main business lines: Alternative Assets, which includes various direct investment strategies (Venture Capital, Life Sciences Venture Debt, Strategic Public Equity, Private Equity, and Infrastructure); Wealth Management, which advises clients across a range of high-value products and services; and Investment Funds, investing in small-cap equities with a value investing approach through its management company True Value.

With a team of 60 employees, Inveready is headquartered in San Sebastián, with offices in Barcelona and Madrid. The firm has been recognized as “Best Venture Capital Firm” by SpainCap in 2017 and “Best European Venture Debt Fund” by Preqin in 2023, among other awards. For more information, please visit https://inveready.com/ 

About Bio&Tech Smart Capital

Bio&Tech Smart Capital, FCRE is an early-stage venture capital fund based in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, focused on investing in life sciences, healthtech and science-driven technology companies. The fund is managed by Noso Capital and is deeply connected to Galicia’s growing innovation ecosystem, combining strong regional roots with an active investment focus across Spain.

The fund was created with the mission of translating scientific knowledge into scalable, high-potential businesses, supporting founders at Seed and Series A stages. Bio&Tech Smart Capital is led by a team combining venture capital experience, scientific research and entrepreneurship, backing differentiated technologies with clear and meaningful applications in healthcare. For more information, please visit https://biotechsmartcapital.com/, https://nosocapital.com/es-es/index 

About General Inception

General Inception (GI) is pioneering company creation as an Igniter company. General Inception partners with extraordinary scientific founders at the inception of their journey to efficiently translate their groundbreaking innovations into transformational companies that address humanity’s grand challenges. As a business co-founder, GI brings together domain and functional expertise, executive talent, infrastructure and development resources, and capital to ignite, nurture and scale the company journey. GI is backed by leading venture capital firms Genoa Ventures, Hughes Ventures, Northpond Ventures, OMX Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, and Vertical Venture Partners. For more information, please visit https://www.generalinception.com/

SOURCE Pharmacelera

Global Superhero Franchise Returns with Free Distribution Strategy to Reach 99+ Countries

VANCOUVER, BC and DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 18, 2026 — 99 Kids Holdings Co., a dual Canada-UAE entertainment company, today announced the close of a $5 million Series A funding round led by Exponential Ventures to reboot THE 99—the groundbreaking comic book and animated series that introduced Islam-inspired superheroes embodying universal values to global audiences starting in 2006.

Launching just ahead of Ramadan, the reboot will introduce THE 99 to a new generation through 52 original episodes remastered in 4K with enhanced audio. The series will debut free on YouTube and select broadcasters in English, Arabic, Indonesian, Urdu, Hindi and other languages. This values-driven franchise—recognized by Forbes, studied at Harvard Business School and partnered with DC Comics in a Justice League crossover—returns amid rising global intolerance, delivering 99 heroes from every corner of the world.

A Mission for Today’s World

“The world faces an epidemic of intolerance. THE 99 provides an antidote: stories that teach kids tolerance, empathy, kindness and understanding at critical developmental stages,” said James Drage, Partner of Exponential Ventures and Chairman of 99 Kids Holdings. “After years of conversations through YPO, Dr. Naif and I agree: not rebooting THE 99 would let intolerance win.”

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, creator of THE 99, added: “We proved superheroes can transcend faith, culture and geography using universal values. Now we’ll reintroduce this message to kids who will build bridges, not walls.” Since 2006, THE 99 has reached over 50 million viewers across 60+ countries—making it one of the first Arab-originated children’s IPs to achieve global distribution.

Roadmap to Global Scale

99 Kids Holdings will build a global fanbase of 6-12-year-olds via free content:

2026 Launches:

• Remastered 52-episode series (YouTube + broadcast partners)
• Roblox game
• New comics and animated special

2027+ Expansion:

• Original animated series with new global characters
• Graphic novel series
• Gaming experiences and live-action television/film adaptations

The funding accelerates localization, team builds, broadcaster partnerships and AI-powered tools for personalized fan content.

Exponential Ventures: Civilization-Scale Impact

The investment aligns with Exponential Ventures’ focus on Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP), seeking portfolio companies that create measurable societal impact alongside financial returns. THE 99 is the fund’s first media and entertainment investment.

“THE 99 isn’t just entertainment—it’s a scalable solution for raising empathetic global citizens,” said Salim Ismail, Co-Founder, who will join the advisory board.

99 Kids Holdings is in active discussions with additional strategic investors and partners across North America, Europe, MENA and Southeast Asia.

About THE 99

Launched in 2006, THE 99 featured 47 comics (plus six DC Justice League of America crossovers), 52 animated episodes, a Kuwait theme park and global licensing deals. Operations were suspended in 2014 amid political backlash and extremist threats—ironically proving why its message of tolerance was needed. Recognized by Forbes as a top global trend and with Dr. Al-Mutawa cited as one of the world’s most influential designers, the IP embodies universal values such as empathy, justice, wisdom and compassion.

About 99 Kids Holdings Co.

99 Kids Holdings Co. is a dual Canada/UAE company rebooting THE 99 as a top-10 global children’s IP, backed by impact investors and kids entertainment/tech advisors.

About Exponential Ventures

Exponential Ventures is a VC fund scaling Exponential Organizations with the Open ExO framework, tackling civilization-scale problems with profit and purpose.

Watch THE 99
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@The99Kids

MULTIMEDIA ASSETS AVAILABLE:

Past media:
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HONG KONG, Feb. 17, 2026 — Fireplace, a professional trading terminal for prediction markets, announced a $1.5 million pre-seed round to bring institutional trading infrastructure to one of the fastest growing asset classes in history. The round was led by Frachtis, with participation from White Star Capital and several other notable VCs and Angel Investors, including Syndicate rounds on Legion and Echo.

Fireplace offers what prediction markets always lacked: a unified terminal that aggregates markets, liquidity, and execution across prediction market venues. Fireplace delivers real-time data, institution-grade execution, advanced charting, wallet, whale, and insider tracking, and discovery. Wallet technology and automations are powered by in-house Enclave Money infrastructure.

As prediction markets fragment across platforms and chains, Fireplace is being built to support cross-venue aggregation with smart-order-routing. Rather than forcing traders to manually compare prices and liquidity across venues, Fireplace will intelligently route orders when the same market exists in multiple places.

“Prediction markets are one of the most powerful financial primitives, but the user experience hasn’t caught up.” said Sumer Malhotra, Co-Founder and CEO of Fireplace. “Trading feels slow and information-poor, Fireplace fixes that by giving traders the fastest, most intelligent terminal.”

Prediction markets have exploded over the past year, becoming a core venue for macro-events, sports, crypto events, and elections. Despite this growth, tooling remains fragmented, slow, and information-poor.

In just 5 months, Fireplace has seen rapid traction:

• 30,000+ traders on waitlist 
• 10,000+ organic followers on X 
• Official Polymarket badge on X 
• Public launch on January 27, 2026 

Akshay Rajagopal, Co-Founder and CTO, added: “Prediction markets needed their own Bloomberg Terminal. Fireplace brings real-time infrastructure and execution that simply didn’t exist before.”

Fireplace sits above existing prediction markets, aggregating markets, traders, and liquidity into a single interface.

“Fireplace is building the professional interface that markets like Polymarket have been missing – the data, speed, and tooling that serious traders expect. This will unlock a new category for prediction markets, allowing pro-traders and institutions to participate in a new asset class.” said Xavier Meegan, CIO of Frachtis.

The funding will accelerate development of the terminal, with a focus on execution, deeper data layers, and cross-venue aggregation with smart-order-routing.

Fireplace Pro’s launch: https://x.com/fireplacegg/status/2016210775883628623?s=20

SOURCE Fireplace; Enclave Money

inKind has provided over $600 million in funding to more than 6,000 top restaurants while delivering over $175 million in dining rewards for its 4 million+ users

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 17, 2026 — inKind, the leading restaurant commerce enablement platform and technology company, has closed $450 million in capital to accelerate its growing platform of 6,000 restaurants in the U.S. With this new funding, inKind will advance its platform growth to an additional 10,000 U.S. restaurants over the next year.

Known for connecting thousands of top restaurants with its over 4 million customers, inKind’s fundraise included several prominent individuals and firms, including Matt Hulsizer and Jenny Just (founders of Peak6), Sarosh Mistry (former CEO of Sodexo US), and Vasanth Williams (CPTO of Conde Nast) to name a few.

To date, inKind has provided more than $600 million in funding to a diverse group of top restaurant partners, including acclaimed operators like José Andrés Group, MINA Group and Ethan Stowell Restaurants, and independent establishments like Okàn, Kann, and Superiority Burger; as well as 20 Michelin-starred destinations and 50 James Beard nominees.

The funding raised by inKind, a mix of equity and debt, enables the company to accelerate its impact on the restaurant industry by providing operators with needed access to growth capital and high-spending guests. Additionally, inKind will ramp up innovation of the in-app customer dining experience for its rapidly growing subscriber base of millions.

“Restaurants are the heart of our communities and they deserve partners who understand the unique support they need to thrive,” said Johann Moonesinghe, CEO and co-founder of inKind. “Traditional restaurant financing models can drain equity, cash flow, and long-term viability. We created inKind to change that—offering a smarter, more sustainable way to fund restaurants without the burdens. Our model helps operators maintain cash flow, access capital quickly, and build more resilient businesses. Thanks to our partners that led the funding we’re able to amplify those efforts on a massive scale to up to 10,000 additional restaurants. We’re proud to support thousands of locally owned restaurants nationwide, not just with funding, but as true partners in their success.”

The news aligns with inKind’s continued standout growth, marked by over 100% growth in gross order volume (GOV) for four consecutive years (2020-2024) and is on pace to reach more than $350 million in 2025. To date, inKind has rewarded its users with over $175 million in dining rewards and continues to attract hundreds of thousands of new users monthly.

inKind has become the largest platform of its kind, providing restaurants with financing that essentially pays for itself. The company’s unique business model provides restaurants with funding in exchange for food and beverage credits, rather than equity or debt. These credits are then used by high-spending diners through the inKind app at partner restaurants via inKind’s best-in-class 20% back rewards model.

inKind was created by Moonesinghe, his late brother Rajan Moonesinghe, his husband Andrew Harris and Marcus Triest, as a more supportive capital option for restaurants, based on the challenges they faced as restaurant owners and investors themselves. Having invested directly in over 30 restaurants and owning several themselves, including The Guest House Austin and Las Vegas, Etta Scottsdale, and Ember Kitchen in Austin, Moonesinghe and Harris built inKind to harness the power of regular restaurant customers to support local hospitality businesses in a mutually beneficial way.

José Andrés Group CEO, Sam Bakhshandehpour, whose restaurant group has integrated inKind’s solutions across multiple properties and funding rounds, shared, “inKind understands what it really takes to operate a restaurant. They move at our pace because they know first-hand what works in the hospitality trenches. While traditional lenders see spreadsheets, inKind sees the late nights, the razor-thin margins, and the passion that drives our business. Their capital isn’t just funding; it’s freedom—freedom to invest in our people and perfect our craft. Johann genuinely cares about restaurants and has built something that’s not only incredible for diners but transformative for operators.”

The influx of capital will further drive inKind’s expansion in underserved markets and restaurant segments, particularly among independent restaurants and emerging chains. It will also be utilized to fuel the development of proprietary technology tailored to meet the evolving needs of restaurant owners including expanded financial products that address specific restaurant needs, such as growth capital, equipment financing, and better access to debt.

The company’s innovative approach to capital and its focus on restaurant success have earned it recognition as one of the Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, one of America’s Fastest Growing businesses by Deloitte and Touche, and one of the Best Places to Work by Built in.

For more information about inKind and its mission to support the restaurant industry, visit https://inkind.com and follow @inkind.app.

About inKind
Founded in 2016, inKind is a leading commerce enablement platform that provides low-cost capital investment opportunities for restaurants and exclusive dining rewards for consumers. With over 4 million users in the US and partnerships with 6,000 restaurants nationwide, inKind has become the largest consumer marketplace of its kind. The platform has infused over $600 million in capital to successful restaurant groups like MINA Group, Ethan Stowell Restaurants, and José Andrés Group, as well as independent restaurants such as Okàn, Kann, and Superiority Burger. inKind’s mission goes beyond profit, focusing on delivering exceptional experiences for both restaurant partners and diners. Through its seamless app experience, inKind redefines shared dining experiences by offering tangible savings, enticing rewards, and seamless transactions. Stay up to date with inKind by visiting https://inkind.com and following @inkind.ap.

SOURCE inKind