The Orlando-based defense venture capital firm underwrites every investment for a 3-5x return on its own, arguing that a portfolio built to depend on one breakout winner is a slower and riskier way to generate returns than the industry assumes.

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 8, 2026 — Most venture funds are underwritten to need one enormous outcome: the single company that returns the whole fund and then some. Backswing Ventures, an early-stage defense venture capital firm, argues that a fund built around disciplined, independently justified bets can outperform one waiting on a unicorn, and do it faster.

The Unicorn Model Is Slower Than the Pitch Decks Suggest

Venture capital’s standard model asks a large majority of portfolio companies to underperform so a single winner can pay for the fund. Backswing says that math is getting harder to rely on. Outsized outcomes still happen. They’re simply taking longer to turn into cash that reaches investors.

Carta’s Q1 2026 fund-performance data shows the gap. Among 2017 and 2018 vintage funds, the ones with enough time to have realized outcomes, fewer than 20% have returned even 1x DPI to their limited partners. Paper valuations don’t pay LPs back. Distributions do.

SpaceX makes the same point on a bigger stage. The company was founded in 2002 and didn’t hand shareholders a liquid outcome until its initial public offering closed in June 2026, 24 years later. It may be the clearest unicorn outcome venture capital has ever produced, and it still asked its earliest backers to wait a generation for a payout.

“The venture math everyone learned assumes one company in the portfolio has to do all the work,” said Kyle Asman, Founder and Managing Partner of Backswing Ventures. “We’d rather build a fund where no single company has to.”

Entry Price Carries as Much Weight as the Exit Headline

If a fund isn’t counting on a unicorn, what it pays going in starts to matter as much as what a company might be worth someday. PitchBook’s data makes the case for why:

• Median U.S. venture-backed acquisition, 2023: $60.6 million
• Share of U.S. venture exits that were acquisitions, 2023: approximately 69%

Most venture-backed companies don’t need to dominate an industry. They need a buyer, and a reasonable one is usually available well below unicorn status.

“An 8% stake in a $250 million outcome and a 1% stake in a $2 billion outcome pay the same,” Asman said. “One of those is a lot easier to get right, and it starts with what you pay to get in.”

In Defense, a Single Component Can Be the Whole Business

Backswing applies the same underwriting logic to its core sector. A defense startup doesn’t need to build a complete weapons system to produce a venture-scale outcome. A sensor that fits a dozen different platforms, a power system, a navigation or communications layer: each can be a durable, sellable business without the company ever building the program around it.

Rocket Lab’s 2025 acquisition of Geost put a price on that idea. Rocket Lab paid $275 million for Geost’s electro-optical and infrared sensor technology, a component built to plug into many different national-security platforms rather than a single finished system.

“Selling into an ecosystem is a smaller, more repeatable bet than trying to own an entire platform,” Asman said. “Those are the kinds of businesses we look for.”

A Fund That Isn’t Waiting on One Company

Backswing describes its process as a series of individually justified bets rather than a search for a single breakout winner. Each investment is expected to clear a 3-5x return on its own: price, ownership stake, market size, and a credible buyer all have to line up before the firm considers what happens if a company outperforms.

“A 3x return isn’t a disappointment,” Asman said. “A $200 million exit isn’t a failure just because someone else’s company sold for $2 billion. Our job isn’t to find the company that returns the whole fund. It’s to build a fund that was never counting on one.”

About Backswing Ventures

Backswing Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on dual-use and defense technology companies. The firm invests in businesses building next-generation capabilities across aerospace, autonomy, defense systems, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and national security technologies. Backswing Ventures‘ Fund II surpassed 1.0x DPI in under three years, making it among the top-performing 2023-vintage venture funds in the country.

Media Contact

Backswing Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Backswing Ventures

Oversubscribed fund builds on TrueBridge’s venture platform to pursue a growing opportunity set across fund and company secondaries

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Sept. 8, 2026 — TrueBridge Capital Partners, a venture capital investment firm, today announced the final close of TrueBridge Secondaries II, L.P. (“Secondaries II”), with $508 million in commitments. The fund received support from new and existing investors, including foundations and endowments, pension funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

Secondaries II invests in venture funds as well as direct secondary investments in venture-backed companies, with an emphasis on opportunities where the firm’s relationships, information, and underwriting capabilities provide an advantage.

The Fund launches at a time of significant growth in the secondary market. As venture-backed companies remain private longer and traditional paths to liquidity have become less predictable, investors, employees and other shareholders are increasingly turning to secondary transactions for liquidity. At the same time, a larger and more mature universe of private technology companies has expanded the opportunity set for secondary investors.

“The evolution of the venture market has created an important role for secondaries, both as a source of liquidity and as another route for investors to access high-quality venture assets,” said Andrew Winslow, Partner at TrueBridge. “Our relationships across the venture ecosystem give us access to secondary opportunities that are often not broadly available, including sought-after venture funds and companies that can be difficult for investors to access through traditional channels. That access allows us to be highly selective and build concentrated portfolios around the assets where we have the greatest conviction, while our deep familiarity with the underlying managers and companies gives us an additional advantage in evaluating those opportunities.”

TrueBridge’s secondaries strategy draws on nearly 20 years of investing across the venture ecosystem. Longstanding relationships with leading venture managers provide the firm with visibility into thousands of venture-backed companies and potential fund-level opportunities. The firm’s direct investment platform provides an additional perspective on individual companies, their markets, and their financing histories. Together, these capabilities allow TrueBridge to identify, evaluate, and access secondary transactions with a depth of context that can be difficult to replicate.

The close of Secondaries II follows TrueBridge Secondaries I, the firm’s first dedicated venture secondaries fund, which closed with $230 million in commitments in 2024. The strategy is part of TrueBridge’s broader venture investment platform spanning fund investments, direct investments, secondaries, and customized solutions.

About TrueBridge Capital Partners
TrueBridge Capital Partners is a venture capital investment firm managing more than $15.0 billion in assets.* Founded in 2007, TrueBridge invests across the venture ecosystem through access-constrained venture funds, direct investments in venture-backed companies, secondary investments and customized investment solutions.

TrueBridge is the data partner behind Forbes’ Midas List, Midas Seed List, Midas List Europe and Next Billion-Dollar Startups and is a regular venture-focused contributor on Forbes’ platform. TrueBridge is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For more information, please visit truebridgecapital.com.

*AUM reflects Regulatory Assets Under Management.

Suzanne Kirschbaum | [email protected] | 919.442.5201

SOURCE TrueBridge Capital Partners

ZaiNar brings shared, real-time location awareness to robots and autonomous machines

BELMONT, Calif., Sept. 8, 2026 — Today, ZaiNar announced it is joining the newly announced Arm® Total Design for Physical AI ecosystem as a founding location partner.

Arm Total Design for Physical AI is a collaborative ecosystem that brings together companies across the physical AI technology stack to reduce complexity, enable earlier development, and accelerate the path from design to deployment for autonomous systems. As part of the ecosystem, ZaiNar brings expertise in shared, real-time location awareness for robots and autonomous machines, while working to optimize its algorithms and signal processing to run on Arm-based compute platforms.

“Robotics has spent a decade teaching every machine to figure out where it is, one machine at a time. That was the only option when location had to come from the robot. It does not anymore. The networks are already deployed, and they can tell every machine on site where everything is, continuously, without adding a single piece of hardware. That is what we are bringing to the Arm Total Design for Physical AI ecosystem.”

— Daniel Jacker, CEO and Co-Founder, ZaiNar

“As physical AI moves toward deployment, autonomous systems need a shared understanding of the environments around them. Arm Total Design for Physical AI is designed to bring together the technologies needed to make that possible at scale, and ZaiNar’s location intelligence adds a critical layer of real-world awareness for robotics and autonomous machines.”

— Dermot O’Driscoll, Vice President of Go-to-Market, Physical AI, Arm

Every robot in the field today answers the same question in isolation: “Where am I, and where is everything else?” Each machine carries its own sensors, builds its own map, and starts from zero in every new environment. ZaiNar answers that question once, for the entire site, from the infrastructure side. It complements the perception running on each machine rather than replacing it, giving every robot on site the same shared ground truth.

ZaiNar turns the wireless networks already in place into a sensor, delivering sub-10cm location indoors, underground, and in the GPS-denied environments where satellite positioning fails. The system requires zero device changes and zero hardware changes, adds no battery drain, and runs network-side only.

ZaiNar provides location updates 100 to 500 times per second, compared with the once-per-second maximum of standard 5G positioning reference signals, so it keeps pace with fast-moving objects such as drones, vehicles, and robots. It is carrier-agnostic and works across WiFi, 5G, and other radio protocols. ZaiNar is self-calibrating: performance improves over time, with ZaiNar learning from every new environment it is deployed in.

ZaiNar delivers situational awareness for robotics across three capabilities. The first is training: grounding robot models in how people, equipment, and vehicles actually move through real sites. The second is swarm enablement, where every machine knows the position of every other machine and can coordinate optimized movements. The third is environmental memory, a persistent record of a site that new machines inherit instead of mapping the space from scratch.

About ZaiNar

ZaiNar is the foundation layer for Physical AI. Founded in 2017 and based in Belmont, California, ZaiNar turns the wireless networks that already exist into a sensor, delivering sub-nanosecond time synchronization and sub-10cm 3D location outdoors, indoors, underground, and in GPS-denied environments. ZaiNar runs as network-side software with zero device or hardware changes and no battery drain, works across WiFi, 5G, and other radio protocols, and is carrier-agnostic. ZaiNar has raised more than $100 million, is valued at more than $1 billion, holds more than 100 patents, shares board members with SpaceX & xAI, and is backed by Samsung, SoftBank, AME Cloud Ventures, Future Ventures, and GFC. Learn more at ZaiNarTech.com.

SOURCE ZaiNar, Inc

The financing includes $93.4 million in C-PACE capital, the largest C-PACE financing closed in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Sept. 8, 2026 — Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the closing of approximately $217.6 million in financing for the residential and hotel components of the Erieview Tower and Galleria redevelopment in downtown Cleveland. BGL’s Real Estate team served as the exclusive financial advisor to ErieView Development on the project.

The redevelopment will turn the 40-story 1964 landmark at East Ninth Street and St. Clair Avenue into a 210-key W Cleveland hotel, the first W Hotel in Ohio, and 215 W Apartments offered exclusively for rent rather than for sale, a first for the brand worldwide. The hotel and apartments are scheduled to open in 2027.

The amenity program is the most extensive assembled in a single Ohio building. A resident will be able to park in the enclosed garage on a February evening, and reach the 38th-floor restaurant, without ever stepping outside. Residents, office tenants and hotel guests will draw on the same food and beverage program throughout the property, including dining delivered to residences and to office floors. The spa, fitness center, 15,000-square-foot ballroom and lobby lounge are planned to be reachable within the Tower.

“BGL brought both creativity and discipline to a highly complex capital structure, helping us bring together the right financing partners to move this landmark redevelopment forward. Their understanding of historic redevelopment, structured finance, and the Cleveland market was instrumental in helping us reach this important milestone. This project has always been about more than one building. It is about honoring Erieview Tower’s legacy while creating new energy for East Ninth Street and downtown Cleveland for generations to come,” said Elias Kassouf, ErieView Development.

Financing the Residential and Hotel Phases

Nuveen Green Capital provided $93.4 million in C-PACE financing for the redevelopment, the largest C-PACE transaction closed in Ohio. The proceeds fund energy, water, and building-envelope improvements, including VRF mechanical systems, curtain wall, and elevator modernization. ERIEBANK, a division of CNB Bank, is providing senior financing of $20 million.

Foss & Company invested in the Ohio Historic and Transformational Mixed-Use Development tax credits and provided bridge financing for those tax credits. Consortium Structured Investments invested in the federal historic tax credits, with Midland States Bank providing federal historic tax credit bridge financing. Cuyahoga County provided a loan supporting the hotel. The financings also include Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program funds, City of Cleveland tax abatements and tax increment financing, and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority incentives.

BGL worked closely with Kohrman Jackson & Krantz (KJK), representing ErieView Development in the transaction. The other parties involved in the closing include Berardi + Partners LLC, TurnDev, Turner & Townsend, Novogradac & Company LLP, Beyer Blinder Belle (hotel architect), and Rockwell Group (interior design).

“This was a highly meaningful financing for BGL, not only because of the scale and complexity of the transaction, but because of what it represents for Cleveland,” said Anthony Delfre, BGL Managing Director, who advised Erieview Development on the financing. “BGL’s founder, the late Mike Gibbons, was a strong advocate for high-quality multifamily housing across the Midwest, and Northeast Ohio is exactly the kind of market where that vision continues to resonate. Cleveland’s momentum, combined with the strength of the Erieview redevelopment, helped make it an ideal setting for Marriott to introduce Ohio’s first W hotel and the first W Apartments offered for rent anywhere in the world.”

About BGL’s Real Estate Team

BGL’s Real Estate team offers comprehensive real estate investment banking services tailored to the middle market. It provides client-focused solutions with an emphasis on real estate advisory, debt, preferred and private equity placement, financial restructuring, recapitalizations, sale-leasebacks, structured finance, and asset acquisitions and dispositions across all asset classes. The team assists real estate owners and developers looking to form alliances and joint ventures with single-source capital providers to gain local and institutional access for all capital needs.

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and New York. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, Inc., an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit https://www.bglco.com/.

Industry contact:

Anthony D. Delfre
Managing Director
Real Estate
[email protected]
216.920.6615

Sean P. Maynard
Managing Director
Real Estate
[email protected]
312.291.3171

Media contact:

Kaylyn R. Hlavaty
Communications Manager
[email protected]
216.920.6622

SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Investment Acknowledges BrightPlan’s AI-First, Enterprise-Grade Financial Wellness Platform, Recently Ranked No. 125 in Software on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list.

BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 8, 2026 — BrightPlan, an AI-powered financial wellness platform built for global enterprises, today announced the first closing of its Series C funding round, led by ABS Capital Partners, a growth equity firm with more than three decades of experience investing in B2B software and technology-enabled software companies. Additional investors are expected to join the round over the next 90 days ahead of a final close.

As BrightPlan marks its 10th anniversary, the Series C round provides capital to fund the company’s next phase of growth, building on more than 230% revenue growth over the past three years. BrightPlan now serves more than 10 million employees across 50+ countries, with 0% enterprise customer churn, underscoring its effectiveness in improving financial wellness for its customers’ employees globally.

“A few weeks ago, Inc. recognized us for our remarkable growth and innovation, and this latest funding round will fuel our scale and cement our market leading position for years to come,” said Marthin De Beer, Founder and CEO of BrightPlan. “The additional capital will enable us to accelerate our vision to make AI-first financial wellness possible for everyone by bringing trusted, always-on financial guidance to even more employees around the world.”

Built for the Global Enterprise

The Series C round will support continued innovation in BrightPlan’s AI-driven platform, expansion of its enterprise distribution and partner network, and deepening of its global advisory capabilities, reinforcing the company’s position as a category leader in financial wellness.

“What set BrightPlan apart in our diligence was quality and customer satisfaction, in addition to strong growth. This is a platform delivering meaningful AI-driven outcomes and data for both the employees using it and the employers paying for it, a level of impact we haven’t seen matched elsewhere in financial wellness,” said Jennifer Krusius, Partner at ABS Capital Partners. “With the category projected to reach over $7 billion by 2031, BrightPlan is poised to dominate the category, and that is exactly what this investment is built to fuel.” As part of the investment, Krusius is joining BrightPlan’s Board of Directors.

Growing BrightPlan’s partner network accelerates its mission to make financial wellness possible for everyone. At a higher level, the partner ecosystem is built around the relationships and technology employers already use to support their people in other ways, integrating financial wellness into the retirement, benefits, and HR platforms already embedded in the employee experience to make it more accessible through channels employees already trust.

BrightPlan takes a disciplined approach to expanding into new countries. While others in the category check the box with educational content alone, BrightPlan’s holistic approach accounts for the cultural, regulatory and data privacy nuances that shape real financial decisions in every market. This investment will support continued enhancement of BrightPlan’s patented AI-first employee experience and expansion into additional countries as its global enterprise customer and partner base grows.

To learn more about this milestone and BrightPlan’s continued growth, visit https://www.brightplan.com/press-release/.   

For investor or media inquiries, visit: www.brightplan.com/contact-us/.

About BrightPlan

BrightPlan brings AI-powered personalization and trusted in-country advisors together in one global financial wellness platform, helping deliver a consistent, engaging employee experience across more than 50 countries and supporting over 10 million employees worldwide. Recently named No. 125 in Software on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, BrightPlan transforms workforce data into workforce intelligence, helping employers align people strategy with business priorities to improve workforce performance at scale. For more information, visit www.brightplan.com. 

About ABS Capital Partners

ABS Capital Partners is a growth equity firm investing in B2B software and technology-enabled services companies. Founded in 1990 and based in Washington, D.C., with offices in Hunt Valley, Maryland and San Francisco, the firm has invested more than $2.5 billion in over 130 companies, pairing capital with hands-on operating expertise to help management teams scale. Its portfolio includes growth-stage software companies such as ValidiFi, Cariloop, and Greenspace Health. For more information, visit www.abscapital.com. 

Disclosures

BrightPlan LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser that may offer digital and human investment advice to US residents. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training nor does it imply endorsement by the SEC. BrightPlan is neither registered with any international agency to provide, nor does it provide, any specific investment advice or recommend specific securities or financial products to non-U.S. residents. Local financial advisors may be made available through firms in BrightPlan’s advisor network. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. BrightPlan is a registered trademark of BrightPlan, LLC. © 2026 BrightPlan LLC

BrightPlan paid Inc. a non-refundable application fee in connection with its submission for consideration. The ranking was based on Inc.’s applicable eligibility criteria and percentage revenue growth over the relevant three-year period.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE BrightPlan

Jordan’s Al-Risha 245-acre campus is designed around contracted energy, dedicated onsite generation, and closed-loop cooling, creating AI infrastructure to scale to 400 MW without competing with consumers for grid power, water, or land

HOUSTON and AMMAN, Jordan, Sept. 8, 2026 — As artificial intelligence drives an unprecedented global race for electricity and data center capacity, Mindstream Energy is developing a different model for how the next generation of AI infrastructure can be built.

The model addresses challenges confronting data center development in the United States and Europe: limited grid capacity, consumer electricity costs, water requirements, land constraints, lengthy development timelines, and community opposition.

Instead of bringing another massive computing load to a constrained power grid, bring the compute to where the energy already exists.

At Jordan’s Al-Risha natural gas field, Mindstream is developing a 245-acre Sovereign AI & Digital Infrastructure Campus designed to scale to 400 MW using dedicated onsite generation, modular AI infrastructure, and resilient international fiber connectivity. Phase 1, planned for 70 MW of initial commercial capacity, is targeted for March 2027.

Al-Risha begins from a fundamentally different position.

The dedicated natural gas resource is already there and under a long-term contract with Mindstream. Power will be generated onsite. The remote desert campus does not compete with residential communities for land, while closed-loop cooling minimizes water dependency. Dedicated onsite generation allows the campus to scale without drawing hundreds of megawatts from Jordan’s consumer electricity grid or impacting the availability or cost of electricity for Jordanian consumers.

“AI has created an extraordinary technology opportunity, but it has also created an enormous infrastructure challenge,” said Mark Thimmig, Chairman and CEO of Mindstream Energy. “We started with a simple question: Why keep trying to bring massive amounts of power to the compute when we can bring the compute to the energy?“

Mindstream has assembled the foundation required to answer that question at commercial scale: contracted energy, 245 acres of land, dedicated onsite generation, international telecommunications connectivity, valuable government-approved investment and tax incentives, and a modular infrastructure strategy capable of scaling to 400 MW.

That combination provides economic advantages while positioning Mindstream to serve hyperscalers, neoclouds, governments and enterprises competing globally for AI-ready power and infrastructure.

But Mindstream does not intend to build 400 MW speculatively.

“We are not building 400 MW and hoping customers arrive. We are securing the ability to deliver 400 MW and deploying capacity as customers require it,” Thimmig said. “That allows us to configure infrastructure around each customer’s compute, density, cooling and operating requirements while deploying capital in step with demand.”

Mindstream is working with Orange Jordan on resilient fiber connectivity designed to provide low-latency access throughout the region and international reach toward Europe and India, transforming a remote energy-producing location into a globally connected computing platform.

Al-Risha provides the way to transform a domestic energy resource into a higher-value digital export: AI compute.

“The new energy export can be intelligence,” Thimmig said. “Jordan has the opportunity to convert energy produced within the country into sovereign digital capacity that can serve customers far beyond its borders.”

Build Compute Where the Energy Exists™.

About Mindstream Energy

Mindstream Energy develops energy-backed digital infrastructure supporting Sovereign AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced computing workloads. Its Al-Risha Sovereign AI & Digital Infrastructure Campus in Jordan combines energy availability, modular infrastructure, global connectivity, and advanced technology relationships to serve compute-intensive applications across Jordan, MENA, and international markets.

For information, capacity requirements, strategic partnerships, or investor inquiries, visit www.mindstreamenergy.com or contact [email protected].

Media Contact:
George Pappas
Conservaco. LLC
562-857-5680
[email protected] 
www.conservaco.com

SOURCE Mindstream Energy

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2026 — Iron Road Partners, a leading regulatory consulting firm serving the investment management industry, today announced that James “Jim” McGovern, a former member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Asset Management Unit and a longtime chief compliance officer at multiple hedge fund complexes, has joined the firm as managing director.

McGovern joins Iron Road following a distinguished career on both sides of the regulatory relationship. He spent nine years in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, ultimately serving as an Assistant Director in the Asset Management Unit. The unit is the Commission’s dedicated enforcement arm for investment management, and its formation reshaped how the agency investigates the asset management industry.

McGovern subsequently built and led compliance programs at some of the industry’s most sophisticated hedge fund managers. Most recently he served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Candlestick Capital Management LP. Previously, he was General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Mason Capital Management LLC and Chief Compliance Officer of Hutchin Hill Capital LP. He began his legal career in the litigation department of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.

His arrival deepens two of Iron Road’s core strengths: its bench of senior former SEC officials and its capabilities in the hedge fund space. McGovern joins a leadership team drawn from the senior ranks of the SEC’s examination and enforcement programs and from the compliance departments of major asset managers. His arrival adds front-line enforcement experience paired with the perspective of a practitioner who has sat in the CCO seat.

“Jim brings the judgment that can only be developed through years of managing SEC enforcement investigations, combined with many years of practical experience serving as a hedge fund CCO,” said Igor Rozenblit, Iron Road Partners’ founder and managing partner. “He understands not just what the SEC staff is looking for in a compliance program, but what it actually takes to build a regulatory infrastructure that holds up under scrutiny. All of our clients, and especially our hedge fund clients are going to feel the difference immediately.”

“As a CCO, Iron Road was the firm I called,” said McGovern. “Now I get to be on the other end of the phone, helping clients get ahead of difficult compliance issues.”

McGovern earned his J.D. from Boston College Law School and his B.A. from Boston College.

About Iron Road Partners Headquartered in New York, with offices in Boston and Denver, Iron Road Partners is a regulatory solutions firm offering advisory services and tech enabled managed services to investment managers and registered funds. With a team comprising former senior regulators, chief compliance officers, and industry leaders, Iron Road Partners provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of top-tier investment managers. Iron Road Partners was named to the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. For more information, visit www.ironroadpartners.com

SOURCE Iron Road Partners

The proceeds will support the development of standardized nanoparticle production lines, continued advancement of core technologies, recruitment of key talent, and commercial expansion across priority global markets.

Financing Overview

SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 8, 2026 — i2Cool Shenzhen Limited (“i2Cool”), a platform company specializing in electricity-free passive radiative cooling materials, has completed a Series B financing round worth tens of millions of yuan, equivalent to several million US dollars. The round was backed by Shenzhen TopoScend Capital Co., Ltd. (“TopoScend Capital”), with Linglu Capital serving as the exclusive financial adviser.

The proceeds will primarily be used to build standardized nanoparticle production lines, advance core technology development, recruit key talent, and accelerate commercialization in priority markets worldwide.

Research Foundations and a Scalable Product Platform

Founded in 2022, i2Cool focuses on the research, manufacturing, and commercialization of electricity-free passive radiative cooling materials. The company has established scalable production and delivery capabilities for radiative cooling nanoparticles. Its founding team has strong roots in Hong Kong academia and is led by two scholars recognized among the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists. Together, the team brings more than 15 years of research experience in radiative cooling and related fields, as well as extensive expertise in translating materials science into commercial applications.

Co-founder Professor Edwin Chi-Yan Tso is Associate Dean (Internationalisation and Outreach) and Chair Professor of Energy and Sustainability at the School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong. He is also a member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences and a recipient of support under the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars. Co-founder and CEO Prof. Martin Y. Zhu is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Management at City University of Hong Kong’s College of Business and was named to the Forbes China 30 Under 30 list in 2024.

At the heart of i2Cool’s business is its “Particle+” platform, built around standardized functional nanoparticles. The platform extends the company’s core radiative cooling materials into coatings, films, powder coatings, textiles, automotive coatings, exterior wall tiles, and other end products—creating an integrated portfolio from enabling materials to finished applications.

Full-Spectrum Thermal Management, Accelerated by AI

i2Cool’s core technology is built on full-spectrum thermal management and optical control. By engineering material performance across the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared bands, its solutions reflect solar radiation to reduce heat gain while emitting thermal energy through the 8–13 μm atmospheric window. This enables passive cooling without additional electricity or refrigerants.

i2Cool’s core products can achieve solar reflectivity and mid-infrared emissivity of more than 95%. To move beyond the predominantly white appearance of conventional radiative cooling materials, the company also integrates technologies such as photoluminescence and thermochromism, enabling color customization and adaptive thermal control while preserving cooling performance.

Related research involving members of the team was published in Science. The reported hierarchically structured passive radiative cooling ceramic achieved 99.6% solar reflectivity and 96.5% mid-infrared emissivity. These figures relate specifically to the research material reported in the paper and should not be interpreted as uniform specifications across all of i2Cool’s commercial products.

Building on this foundation, i2Cool combines AI-powered optical simulation with polymer materials science to model and optimize light-scattering and reflection pathways within nanoparticle systems. According to the company’s internal development benchmarks, this approach has improved R&D efficiency by a factor of 12 compared with conventional methods.

Commercial Momentum and Global Expansion

i2Cool’s commercialization has continued to accelerate. The company currently reports an order backlog of CNY 120 million (approximately US$17.9 million) and a three-year compound annual growth rate of 377% in operating revenue. Its solutions have reached more than 30 countries and regions, including markets across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. To date, i2Cool has completed more than 500 projects covering over 1,100,000 square metres, with overseas markets accounting for 50% of revenue.

Alongside established applications in buildings and power infrastructure, i2Cool is expanding into high-growth areas such as AI data centres, robotics, and new energy vehicles. The company has worked with industry players including Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd., The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), and Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

Leadership and Investor Perspectives

“Our ambition extends beyond any single radiative cooling product. We aim to build a platform company for the sector,” said Prof. Martin Y. Zhu, Co-founder and CEO of i2Cool. “By continuously strengthening our capabilities in functional nanoparticles, materials design, and AI-enabled R&D, we can bring this advanced thermal-management technology into a wider range of industries and address real heat-management challenges in both industrial applications and everyday life. This financing will directly support the build-out of standardized nanoparticle production lines and capacity expansion, while accelerating large-scale deployment in high-value applications such as new energy vehicles and AI data centres.”

“The 15th Five-Year Plan period will be critical to advancing China’s dual-carbon goals. Tighter carbon-intensity requirements are accelerating green transformation across industries, making energy efficiency and carbon reduction increasingly important to high-quality development,” said Yanping Shi, Vice President of TopoScend Capital and General Manager of the Duliang Advanced Industries Investment Fund. “i2Cool has taken passive radiative cooling from a City University of Hong Kong laboratory to scaled production and commercial deployment across more than 30 countries and regions. It is a strong example of industry–university–research collaboration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and of green technology progressing from policy support to market adoption. This investment represents an important step in TopoScend Capital’s green technology strategy. We will continue to focus on low-carbon value chains and use capital to support technological innovation and the broader green transition.”

“i2Cool has established clear technological strengths in microscopic materials design and spectral-control modelling, while successfully developing standardized nanoparticles that underpin a scalable product platform,” said Xiaorui Xi, Investment Director at Linglu Capital. “The company has also built strong international momentum, with operations spanning more than 30 countries and regions and overseas markets contributing more than half of its revenue. We see significant potential for i2Cool to grow into a global platform company for radiative cooling materials and look forward to its continued technological and commercial progress.”

About i2Cool

Founded in 2022, i2Cool Shenzhen Limited is a green technology company specializing in electricity-free passive radiative cooling. Built around standardized functional nanoparticles, its portfolio spans coatings, films, powder coatings, textiles, automotive coatings, ceramics, and other applications. Through passive cooling solutions that require no additional electricity or refrigerants, i2Cool helps customers across industries reduce heat loads, energy consumption, and carbon emissions.

Contact:

i2Cool Limited
[email protected] 

i2Cool Limited
[email protected]

SOURCE i2Cool

SparkLabs’ global competition names Tyrese Gibson and Kevin Chou co-chairs and brings together 34 leaders across climate, AI, energy, finance and government as judges ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye

PALO ALTO, Calif. and ANKARA, Türkiye, Sept. 7, 2026 — SparkLabs Group and SparkLabs True Zero today announced that applications are open for the True Zero Global Prize, a new worldwide startup competition awarding $75,000 to innovators advancing sustainability, regenerative technologies and planetary health. The first-place winner will receive $50,000 and the second-place winner will receive $25,000 as a grant.

More importantly, the contest will connect startup founders and innovators operators, policymakers, venture capitalists and various industry leaders to help these promising companies move faster from innovation to global impact.

“We are excited that this will be our first step towards the launch of SparkLabs True Zero in Türkiye. It is fortunate our country is hosting the UN Climate Change Conference, COP31, and the launch of our global sustainability startup accelerator will be soon after the conference. So we welcome all entrepreneurs across the world to apply and we will be your gracious hosts at COP31 in Antalya,” stated Taha Saran, Founding Partner at SparkLabs True Zero.

The winners will be announced November 15, during the UN Climate Change Conference COP31, which takes place November 9-20 in Antalya, Türkiye.

Actor, recording artist, author and entrepreneur Tyrese Gibson will serve as Co-chair of the True Zero Global Prize, bringing global visibility to startup founders solving some of the most consequential challenges today. Tyrese has sold over 4 million singles and albums and has been nominated for six Grammy Awards. As an actor, he has had recurring roles in two of the highest-grossing film series in movie history: Fast & Furious and Transformers.

“I’ve always believed in using my platform for work that truly matters. Teaming up with SparkLabs as Co-Chair of the True Zero Global Prize is all about empowering visionaries who are reshaping our global future through sustainability. I’m looking forward to celebrating these game-changing leaders,” Tyrese Gibson explained.

Tyrese is joined by serial entrepreneur, Kevin Chou, as Co-Chair. Kevin was previously Co-founder and CEO of Kabam, which was initially acquired by Netmarble for $800 million. He turned his efforts to found a nonprofit working to put plug-in solar within reach of ordinary American households.

WHO SHOULD APPLY
The Prize is open to startups and organizations, including nonprofits, worldwide developing solutions across sustainability, regenerative technology and planetary health. Priority sectors include carbon reduction, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, and transportation.

The key dates for the contest are:

Applications opened: September 1, 2026

Application deadline: September 28, 2026

Finalists present to judges: October 5, 2026

Winners announced: November 15, 2026

Apply at: https://www.f6s.com/true-zero-global-prize/apply

A 34-member global judging panel will select the finalists. This will be a multidisciplinary panel spanning climate and energy, artificial intelligence, agriculture, finance, policy, law, media and venture capital.

ABOUT SPARKLABS TRUE ZERO
SparkLabs True Zero is where sustainability, AI and entrepreneurship come together to create global impact. Based in Ankara, Türkiye, it is a joint initiative of Net Zero TEKMER, an innovation hub focused on sustainability, and SparkLabs Group, a global network of startup accelerators and venture capital funds. This global program accelerates sustainable and regenerative technologies by helping world-class founders build and scale high-impact companies.

ABOUT SPARKLABS GROUP
Founded in 2013, SparkLabs Group is a global network of startup accelerators, venture capital funds and innovation programs supporting entrepreneurs across major technology and industry sectors. The group has invested in more than 600 startups around the world.

SOURCE SparkLabs Group