Kendric Tonn receives an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship for Scenes from Japan, a painted travelogue of places most visitors never see

GREENWICH, Conn., July 17, 2026 — O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (OSV), an investment firm that empowers creators, has awarded an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship to Kendric Tonn, a painter based in Columbus, Ohio.

Tonn will use the fellowship to continue Scenes from Japan, a series of watercolor paintings made on location across Japan and collected, alongside firsthand essays, into books. Rather than working from photographs, Tonn paints each subject directly from life, using methods inspired by traditional Japanese art. A regular visitor to the country, Tonn works beyond the major tourist routes to capture places that are visually rich but rarely documented. The project already comprises several dozen paintings and two published books, funded independently and shipped to backers in more than 20 countries. Over the next 12 months, Tonn plans to complete a further round of painting in Japan, release a third book and stage the first public exhibition of his work.

Tonn studied English at Sewanee: The University of the South, then spent a year teaching the language in Japan before returning to train in oil painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design and the Florence Academy of Art. He has worked as a freelance fine artist since 2011, painting portraits, figures and still lifes, with work held in private collections worldwide. He began Scenes from Japan in 2020.

OSV’s founder and CEO, Jim O’Shaughnessy, commented, “Kendric is preserving a version of Japan that would otherwise go unseen. He has enormous talent, and we’re delighted to be supporting him.”

“The fellowship is both an honor and, in practical terms, a great aid,” said Tonn. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to do substantial work on Scenes from Japan over the last few years. This will allow me to do a final round of painting culminating in an exhibition of the work.”

About the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships Program

Launched in 2023, the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships program discovers and empowers the world’s boldest creatives, builders and researchers. Fellows receive a grant of up to $100,000 and gain access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts. OSV will award up to 20 fellowships in 2026.

Tonn is the fourteenth fellow announced in 2026. More information about previous fellows is available at OSV’s website.

Applications for the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships are now closed and will reopen on Jan. 1, 2027. Individuals interested in applying can do so via OSV’s website.

About O’Shaughnessy Ventures

OSV is a creative investment firm that empowers creators to bring their ideas to life. Founded by Jim O’Shaughnessy, a pioneer in quantitative investing, founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and author of five books, OSV aims to provide financial support and to partner in growing the next life-changing creative ideas.

OSV combines Jim’s deeply rooted interest in all things art, science, investing and technology with his long-held desire to establish scenarios designed to help promising creators and their inspiring ideas succeed, regardless of age, location, job history or level of education. For more information, visit OSV’s website.

Media Contact:
Ena Gong
O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC
(917) 355-7420
[email protected]

SOURCE O’Shaughnessy Ventures

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 21, 2026 — Apaluma, which transforms fragmented regulatory records into a unified ecosystem, today announced the closing of its $5.55 million seed funding round led by Crosslink Capital and Kickstart, co-led by Haven Ventures and Overwater Ventures, with Orange DAO and NM Vintage Fund as additional pre-seed and seed investors.

Government agencies hold the data that shapes daily life: Permits, regulations, and environmental records are all public records. Most of it sits in PDFs, scanned ledgers, and incompatible databases. It exists, but no one can use it. Apaluma transforms fragmented regulatory records into one connected ecosystem.

The records become searchable, secure, mapped to real-world locations, and governed by each agency’s own rules. The platform is purpose-built for the full regulatory life cycle and serves analysts, scientists, and regulators who need answers in hours, not weeks.

“With Apaluma, every record — from filing to enforcement — lives in one connected system,” said Apaluma founder and CEO Alicia J. Keyes. “That unification expedites permitting, speeds up FOIA requests, streamlines agency operations, and makes the regulatory life cycle of a location coherent and actionable.”

“We invest in founders who understand a problem from the inside,” said Gabby Contro of Crosslink Capital. “Alicia ran economic development for the state of New Mexico. She has sat at the nexus of sustainability and development. That firsthand insight is what convinced us that Apaluma can solve this long-fragmented problem for regulators and businesses.”

For more information, visit www.apaluma.com.

FAQ

What environmental data does Apaluma work with?

Government agencies hold the world’s most critical data sets around air, water, energy, and waste — data that shapes daily life via permits, regulations, environmental records, and public filings.

How does Apaluma unify government environmental data?

Apaluma links every facility, permit, violation, and record by meaning through data ontology, not just by keyword, so queries surface the full regulatory picture of a location.

How does Apaluma handle environmental data digitization?

Apaluma ingests decades of scanned PDFs, classifying and normalizing records into structured intelligence. The platform also connects legacy systems without rip-and-replace, so agency data stays where it lives.

Can Apaluma support a public environmental data project?

In New Mexico, the Apaluma platform ingested every public document the New Mexico Environment Department has ever filed, normalized it, and made the entire archive searchable from a single interface, with cited sources on every answer.

Does Apaluma work with air pollution data, pollution data, and air quality data for government agencies?

The platform connects monitoring feeds and sensor data to decades of permitting context on a single dashboard, unifying siloed state, federal, city, and county records into maps, charts, and dashboards in one place.

Does Apaluma offer water-quality data solutions?

Apaluma is used daily by permit reviewers, compliance officers, and water-quality analysts — all without hallucinated facts or untraceable claims.

For more information:
[email protected]

SOURCE Apaluma

KATY, Texas, July 16, 2026 — Crypto.com (“the Company”) today announced a strategic $400 million investment from Citadel Securities valuing the Company at $20 billion. The milestone marks the first institutional funding round in the Company’s decade-long history.

Citadel Securities’ investment comes as the industry is undergoing rapid institutionalization, with crypto increasingly serving as fundamental infrastructure for a greater part of the capital markets. Funding is expected to accelerate Crypto.com’s expansion into all asset classes, including tokenized securities and derivatives, bridging the gap between digital asset and traditional markets to create a more efficient 24/7 financial ecosystem.

“We are thrilled to work with Citadel Securities to continue driving the crypto industry into a new era of institutionalization,” said Kris Marszalek, Co-Founder and CEO of Crypto.com. “The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance. Having built the right regulatory and tech infrastructure over the last decade, Crypto.com is now perfectly positioned to capture this new wave of growth across all asset classes.”

“The convergence of traditional financial markets and digital asset infrastructure is an exciting evolution with the potential to further improve market efficiency,” said Jim Esposito, President of Citadel Securities. “Crypto.com has built a foundation to support the continued institutionalization of the digital asset market, and we are pleased to collaborate with the Crypto.com team as we help create the capital markets of the future.”

About Crypto.com
Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is trusted by millions of users worldwide and is the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy. Our vision is simple: Cryptocurrency in Every Wallet™. Crypto.com is committed to accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrency through innovation and development of new use cases including prediction markets and tokenized RWAs.

Learn more at https://crypto.com.

About Citadel Securities
Citadel Securities is a technology-driven, next-generation global market maker. We provide institutional and retail investors with world-class liquidity, competitive pricing and seamless front-to-back execution in a broad array of financial products. Our teams of engineers, traders and researchers harness leading-edge quantitative research and the accelerating power of compute, machine learning and AI to power our analytics and tackle the market’s and our clients’ most critical challenges. Together, we are forging the future of capital markets. For more information, visit CitadelSecurities.com.

SOURCE Crypto.com

CHEVY CHASE, Md., July 16, 2026 — Blue Energy, a developer of financeable, prefabricated nuclear power plants, today announced a strategic equity investment from Constellation Technology Ventures, the venture arm of Constellation (Nasdaq: CEG), the nation’s largest producer of clean energy and operator of the largest fleet of nuclear power plants in the United States. The investment reflects a growing confidence in Blue Energy’s strategy to utilize shipyard manufacturing and project financing to deploy proven reactor technology that has the potential to accelerate new nuclear development – making it predictable, faster and more affordable. It also marks the first investment by Constellation Technology Ventures in a U.S. nuclear developer advancing small modular reactors.

“With demand for near-term power rising, Constellation’s investment will help Blue Energy meet America’s need by making new nuclear development predictable, rapidly scalable, and project financeable for the first time in history. This relationship helps us leverage an established operator, proven technology, and innovative, project-financeable deployment models to expand access to nuclear energy,” said Jake Jurewicz, Blue Energy CEO and Co-Founder. “Together, we’re demonstrating that the future of nuclear energy isn’t a decade away and doesn’t take a leap of faith on technology or construction execution, it’s being built right now.”

“Constellation is committed to exploring innovative pathways that can help accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies in the United States and allocate risk appropriately,” said David Dardis, Constellation Senior Executive Vice President and Chief External Affairs and Growth Officer. “The Constellation Technology Ventures investment in Blue Energy supports its deployment plans for the GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300, a proven technology with a potential path to scale for the next generation of nuclear energy.”

Blue Energy’s model is designed to address one of the biggest challenges facing the nuclear industry: how to finance and deploy new nuclear generation at the speed required to meet growing demand. By utilizing proven nuclear technology and employing an innovative large-format robotic prefabrication and assembly method inspired by offshore oil & gas and LNG projects, the company plans to unlock project financing for the first time in the nuclear sector and accelerate deployment timelines.

Earlier this year, Blue Energy announced it raised $380 million and forged a strategic partnership with GE Vernova to develop a multi-gigawatt gas-to-nuclear project utilizing GE Vernova gas turbines and BWRX-300 small modular reactors. The company also recently secured a key U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing milestone that supports its goal of delivering reliable power in 48 months or less through its phased gas-to-nuclear deployment strategy. Blue Energy could begin early site works on its first planned project in Texas in 2026, to support a final investment decision in 2027.

About Blue Energy  

Founded in 2023, Blue Energy develops financeable, turnkey nuclear power plants compatible with leading reactor technology. Our proprietary lower cost of capital solution and offsite pre-fabrication accelerates new nuclear deployment – making it predictable, faster and more affordable. We will deliver baseload power competitive with fossil fuels and renewables to meet unprecedented global demand. Blue Energy’s world-class team has extensive experience in nuclear construction, licensing, engineering, and development. We stem from MIT’s Nuclear Science & Engineering Department and are backed by VXI Capital, Engine Ventures, At One Ventures and Tamarack Global. Visit www.blueenergy.co or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Blue Energy

Semiconductor and AI-infrastructure selection drove QuantumStreet AI’s equity strategies amid macro uncertainty and sharp sector rotation.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2026 — QuantumStreet AI, an IBM partner company specializing in AI-driven investment solutions for institutional investors, reported that 98% of its index strategy assets outperformed their benchmarks over the first half of 2026, with the remaining 2% matching benchmark performance and none trailing.

The first half of 2026 tested systematic strategies. Macro uncertainty, geopolitical tension and sharp sector rotation unsettled many rules-based approaches. Across the year to June 30, 2026, every QuantumStreet AI index strategy either beat or matched its reference benchmark.

The Foresight Multi-Asset Index returned 12.64% for the period, ahead of its multi-asset benchmark by 2.97%, the widest margin across the reported strategies. The AIPEX TE250 Index returned 11.50%, outperforming the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust by 1.99%. Remaining strategies posted relative gains of up to two percentage points.

The firm’s standout equity results came from stock selection in semiconductor and AI-infrastructure names rather than shifts in sector weighting. AIPEX, its U.S. equity strategy, returned 10.85% against 9.66% for the Russell 1000 Index, holding its technology allocation broadly stable through the half, with selection concentrated in names such as Micron Technology, Lam Research, Qualcomm and Twilio. AIPEX TE250 applied the same selection edge inside a constrained 2.5% tracking-error budget, returning 11.50% against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and generating 1.99 percentage points of excess return on 250 basis points of active risk.

“Challenging, unpredictable markets, such as what we’ve experienced in 2026, separate models that adapt from models that are tied to pre-defined rules and algorithms,” said Art Amador, co-founder and president of QuantumStreet AI. “What matters to an allocator is not just that a strategy held up or even outperformed, but that the risk team can open it up and see which signals drove each position, providing a true glass box. That is the part traditional quantitative investment strategy cannot give them.”

QuantumStreet AI applies explainable AI to identify durable signals across equities and multi-asset portfolios and to adapt as market regimes shift. Each allocation breaks down into the individual contributions of its underlying drivers using the SHAP framework, so risk teams can see and defend the model’s position to investment committees.

About QuantumStreet AI
Founded in Silicon Valley as an IBM partner company, QuantumStreet AI is a global leader in AI-powered investment solutions, and its technology underpins over $8 billion in globally deployed strategies. Its investment solutions, used by tier-1 investment banks and institutional fund managers, leverage advanced deep-learning, explainable models, and large-scale data analytics to build transparent, rules-based portfolios across major asset classes. These are used by banks, asset managers, insurers, pension plans, and institutional investors seeking data-driven, superior outcomes. For more information, visit quantumstreetai.com.

Media Contact
Sam Barber, Pitchr.ai, [email protected]

SOURCE QuantumStreet AI

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2026 — With its Series C now reaching $100 million, Whale, a global enterprise AI company, today announced a $40 million extension as it scales its global enterprise AI deployments. The round was led by CMB International (via an investment fund under CMBI that focus on AI and frontier technology) and SMBC Asia Rising Fund (SARF, the corporate venture capital fund of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation), with participation from Krungsri Finnovate (CVC arm of Krungsri / Bank of Ayudhya, part of MUFG), Singtel Innov8, Hyundai Motor Group, and Charisma Partners. Earlier Series C participants include Bosch Ventures, MTR Lab, MDI Ventures, Gentree Fund, and Linear Capital.

Whale builds the AI Operating System (AIOS) for enterprise operations, connecting digital and real-world workflows through its proprietary Business World Model (BWM) — an AI model designed to interpret signals from cameras, sensors, and audio the way large language models process text. Headquartered in Singapore, with a growing base in North America, Whale leads enterprise AI adoption across Asia-Pacific — including Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and beyond. The company serves more than 1,600 enterprises in 45+ countries across retail, automotive, F&B, manufacturing, financial services, and more. Managing 600,000+ edge AI nodes globally, its solutions help businesses tackle challenges from compliance auditing and service quality to operational efficiency.

Whale Scales Global AI Deployments

This Series C3 extends Whale’s reach across North America and APAC, with MENA and Europe on the horizon. “This new funding isn’t about starting from scratch. It’s about advancing what we’ve built here,” said Jerry Ye, Founder and CEO of Whale. “We’re scaling our teams globally, deepening enterprise partnerships, and expanding our platform integrations with local infrastructure. Enterprises across regions are grappling with rising operational costs, and the urgent need to turn unstructured operational data into decision-ready intelligence, and we’re already delivering that today.”

Strategic investors see the same inflection point. “We have witnessed retail digitization undergo a fundamental shift, from tool integration to AI-native operations, and see the AI-driven efficiency trend as irreversible,” said Zheng Xiang, VP of Charisma Partners. “Whale’s perception-cognition-execution loop reshapes the operational foundation for enterprises, and we believe Whale is poised to lead the next generation of enterprise AI infrastructure.”

The AI Operating System: Unifying Enterprise Operations at Scale

Enterprises don’t need more software; they need an operating system that connects online data with physical environments — turning every store, showroom, and facility into an intelligent, responsive operation. Whale’s flagship vision and voice products are the primary entry points for operational transformation. SpaceSight converts cameras and IoT sensors across stores, showrooms, and commercial facilities into real-time intelligence, measuring foot traffic, dwell time, engagement, and operational compliance, so businesses can optimize performance without adding headcount. Echo analyzes frontline sales conversations to identify what top performers do differently, turning those insights into scalable coaching programs that address the high-turnover challenge facing businesses today.

Both are powered by the BWM, giving enterprises a continuously updated model of how their operations run and generating direct, executable actions at scale. SpaceSight and Echo feed into the rest of Whale’s platform — Lume for AI-powered content distribution, Alivia for workflow automation and intelligent agents, Harbor for knowledge management and compliance, and Novus for AI infrastructure and governance — together forming a full-stack AI OS for enterprise operations.

“Whale’s ability to unlock and structure data from physical environments — enabling enterprises to turn real-world activities into actionable intelligence — is particularly compelling. By combining Whale’s technology with SMBC Group’s global client network and industry expertise, we look forward to delivering value across industries and regions,” said Mayoran Rajendra, Managing Director and Head of AI Transformation Office, SMBC Group.

Strategic Investors Back Whale’s Global Scale-Up

Across financial services, telecommunications, automotive, and multinational commerce, investors are drawn by the same thesis: a proprietary AI foundation seven years in the making.

For CMBI, Whale’s AI deployments across Asia-Pacific and its growing global commercial traction made the decision clear. “Whale has built a strong technology foundation with a clear direction in enterprise AI, and Jerry and his team have demonstrated the ability to execute across complex, real-world deployments, which is rare at this scale,” said Dr. Zhang Guoyong, General Manager of the Private Equity Investment Management Department, CMBI. “We see long-term potential in their approach and are pleased to support their next phase of growth.”

That execution resonates regionally. Krungsri Finnovate identified a strategic match between Whale’s end-to-end AI and its own ASEAN networks. “Whale is one of the few players with native, enterprise-grade AI capable of powering a full-suite, omnichannel product across the entire customer journey — and that capability is exactly why we chose to invest through Finnoventure Private Equity Trust I. With Krungsri’s strong footprint in Thailand and ASEAN, and MUFG’s global network behind us, we’re well placed to support Whale’s expansion across the region.” said Palida Artispong, Acting Managing Director and Head of Portfolio Growth and Investor Relations, Krungsri Finnovate.

Hyundai Motor Group zeroed in on a different dimension: the ability to move AI beyond software and into actual business results. “We are excited to support Whale as it scales an enterprise AI platform that goes beyond software enablement to address real-world business operations — translating innovation into tangible business impact for customers across sales, marketing, service, and customer engagement,” said Keith Noh, VP and Head of ZER01NE, Hyundai Motor Group. “As Whale deepens its presence across key global markets, we look forward to partnering with the team on its next phase of growth.”

The confidence extends to Whale’s earliest backers. Linear Capital has followed Jerry and the team from the beginning, and sees the momentum compounding. “We’ve watched Jerry and the Whale team continuously embed AI capabilities deeply into enterprise products, and their ability to evolve alongside AI has produced rapid growth in both product strength and global reach. As one of Whale’s earliest investors, Linear Capital looks forward to seeing Whale emerge as a global leader in enterprise AI,” said Zheng Can, Managing Director, Linear Capital.

About Whale

Whale is an enterprise AI company building the AI Operating System for enterprise operations. Its platform — SpaceSight (physical space intelligence), Echo (voice and audio intelligence), Lume (content distribution), Alivia (intelligent agent and workflow execution), Harbor (knowledge management and compliance), and Novus (AI infrastructure and governance) — is built on Whale’s proprietary Business World Model (BWM), an AI model designed for physical environments the way large language models were designed for text. Together, these products deliver a complete intelligence loop from physical sensing to autonomous execution across retail, automotive, F&B, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and fashion and apparel.

AI to Power Enterprise Operations | meetwhale.ai

SOURCE Whale

Direct private lender’s 9% loan helps fast-track 41-acre site purchase in booming Gulf Coast region

ENGLEWOOD, N.J., July 16, 2026 — Kennedy Funding, one of the nation’s leading direct private lenders, has closed a $1.5 million land loan for the acquisition of a 41.09-acre fully entitled multifamily development site along Highway 59 in Loxley, Baldwin County, Alabama.

The financing, provided to Vision of Loxley APT, LLC, was completed in just 18 days, enabling the borrower to satisfy a contractual acquisition deadline on a property approved for 420 multifamily units. The borrower is purchasing the site for $3 million.

Kennedy Funding’s financing also featured an impressive 9% first-year interest rate, an exceptionally competitive rate for a land acquisition loan.

“This was exactly the kind of opportunity Kennedy Funding is built for,” said Mark Falzone, Executive Loan Officer at Kennedy Funding. The borrower faced a firm purchase deadline, brought substantial equity to the transaction and had a development-ready property.

“We recognized the urgency immediately and moved quickly to provide the funding needed so the acquisition could move forward.”

Andrew Williams, Managing Partner at KLEI Capital, a San Diego-based broker, praised Kennedy Funding’s responsiveness. “There was another lender who could not get the deal across the finish line, so we reached out to Kennedy Funding, a lender with extensive experience in land loans and a reputation for closing fast. Kennedy said they could close by the deadline, and they did. They responded right away, quickly vetted the deal, and the entire experience was phenomenal,” Williams said.

Located along Highway 59, one of Baldwin County’s primary commercial corridors, the site offers direct access to Interstate 10 while placing future residents within convenient commuting distance of Mobile, Pensacola and Alabama’s Gulf Coast beaches. Highway 59 serves as the backbone of central Baldwin County, connecting rapidly expanding residential communities with employment centers, shopping, healthcare and transportation. Population growth, expanding healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, tourism and new business investment continue to drive demand for housing throughout the region.

Adding to the area’s momentum is the nearby Gulf Alabama (Port Alabama) Industrial Center, a more than 900-acre industrial development planned to include approximately 12 million square feet of industrial space. The project is expected to generate thousands of jobs while strengthening the Highway 59 and Interstate 10 corridor as one of the Gulf Coast’s premier logistics and industrial hubs.

The region is also benefiting from significant corporate and industrial investment. Novelis is constructing a $4.1 billion dollar aluminum rolling and recycling facility in Baldwin County that is expected to create significant job opportunities. Nearby Mobile is also home to Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Facility and Austal USA, a ship manufacturer headquartered in the city.

“Deals like this demonstrate where Kennedy Funding’s private lending adds the most value,” said Kevin Wolfer, CEO of Kennedy Funding. “When qualified borrowers face extremely tight deadlines, they need certainty of execution. Our team was able to provide that certainty and keep this project moving forward.”

The approved 420-unit project will help meet increasing housing demand generated by the area’s expanding population, expanding industrial base and growing workforce.

With development-ready land becoming increasingly difficult to find in high-growth markets, the loan highlights both the continued demand for multifamily housing across Baldwin County and Kennedy Funding’s ability to deliver customized financing solutions when speed, certainty and execution matter most.

About Kennedy Funding

Kennedy Funding is a global direct private lender specializing in bridge loans for commercial property and land acquisition, development, workouts, bankruptcies and foreclosures. Kennedy Funding has closed more than $4 billion in loans to date. Their creative financing expertise provides funding up to 75% loan-to-value, from $1 million ($3 million international) to more than $50 million, in as little as five days. The company has closed loans throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, Canada, and Central and South America.

For more information or to discuss funding solutions, visit www.kennedyfunding.com.

SOURCE Kennedy Funding

The Series D, led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, comes as Fora crosses $3 billion in bookings and rolls out its embedded AI assistant for travel advisors.

NEW YORK, July 16, 2026 — Fora, the platform powering a new generation of travel entrepreneurs, today announced it has closed a $60 million Series D at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The round is led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, with continued participation from existing investors Thrive Capital, Insight Partners, and Heartcore Capital. New investors PLUS Capital, alongside Amy Schumer and other members of its artist and athlete collective, BlackPines Capital Partners, and Tribeca Venture Partners, also joined the round.

The financing follows a period of accelerated growth for the company. Since its founding in 2021, Fora advisors have booked more than $3 billion in travel. It took Fora three years to reach its first $1 billion in lifetime bookings, eight months to reach the second billion, and just five months to reach the third.

Fora’s next bet is that AI will make travel advisors more valuable — not obsolete. Fora is focused on scaling Via, its embedded AI assistant, currently in beta with a group of the company’s top advisors. The new AI operating layer across Fora’s entire platform is designed to help advisors tackle tasks like destination research, supplier knowledge, client itineraries, and proposal generation, dramatically reducing time-consuming administrative work. With Via, advisors spend less time on operations and more time on the things only humans do well: building relationships, offering experience-informed judgment and personalization, and planning the kind of trip no algorithm can replicate.

“Fora’s mission has always been to give advisors the infrastructure they need to build real businesses,” said Evan Frank, co-founder of Fora. “In the age of AI, the ceiling on what’s possible for this profession is only getting higher, and the things that are hardest to replicate — human expertise, relationships, taste — matter even more. With AI increasingly handling the operational layer, we’re already seeing advisors building bigger, more meaningful businesses — faster.”

Fora’s growth has coincided with broader momentum in the travel advisory profession. LinkedIn ranked travel advisor as the fifth-fastest-growing job in the United States in 2025. 97% of Fora’s over 15,000 active advisors are new to the travel advising profession, including former physicians, attorneys, traders, full-time parents, and retirees who use Fora to run travel businesses. Fora’s model accommodates a range of advisor businesses on the platform, from those advising for supplemental income to advisors making more than $10 million in annual bookings.

“Fora has more revenue than all AI travel companies, combined,” noted Brian O’Malley, founder and managing partner of Tactile Ventures. “Fora is bigger in AI travel because their offering combines automation when you want it with human accountability when you need it to provide a seamless traveler experience.”

The new capital brings Fora’s total funding to $138.5M and will allow Fora to deepen AI capabilities through Via, expand to new markets, grow its presence in categories like cruise, flights, and enterprise investment, and continue hiring.

About Fora

Fora is the platform powering a new generation of travel entrepreneurs. Its AI-enabled platform gives advisors the technology, training, and community to build thriving businesses—and connects travelers to personalized trip planning, expert service, and VIP perks worldwide. Since the company launched in 2021, Fora advisors have booked more than $3 billion in travel for clients across 180+ countries. Fora is headquartered in New York City and backed by Forerunner, Tactile Ventures, Thrive Capital, Insight Partners, Heartcore Capital, PLUS Capital,  BlackPines Capital Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners. Learn more at foratravel.com.

SOURCE Fora

New Juno Bio lab infrastructure marks a major step in scaling provider-led care and advancing precision vaginal microbiome testing

OAKLAND, Calif., July 16, 2026 — Juno Bio, a women’s health company dedicated to closing the gender health gap through precision vaginal microbiome testing and multi-omics, today announced the opening of its first sequencing lab built entirely for women’s health. The new facility, in Oakland, California, marks a major step forward in expanding access to high-quality, clinically relevant microbiome testing.

To fuel this stage of growth, Juno Bio has raised $3.8 million in funding. Investors include Ada Ventures, Artesian, Entrepreneur First, and Illumina Accelerator, investors known for backing early-stage startups spanning women’s health, deep tech and applied sequencing.

Using next-generation sequencing, Juno Bio’s platform delivers a detailed, clinically actionable view of vaginal health, equipping patients and healthcare providers with deeper insights into conditions that are often misunderstood or misdiagnosed.

Since its founding, Juno Bio has pioneered a new standard of care for vaginal microbiome health, building one of the largest repositories of vaginal microbiome data and helping thousands of women access more precise testing and treatment. After launching its first wellness test, the company has sold more than 20,000 tests organically and evolved into a clinical platform, expanding its scientific and clinical infrastructure through pharmaceutical R&D partnerships, its own clinical lab, telehealth and pharmacy integrations, and a growing network of medical advisors, including Anna Powell, MD, of Johns Hopkins, specializing in reproductive infectious disease and vulvovaginal disorders.

“Vaginal microbiome testing has the potential to significantly reshape how we understand and manage vaginal health, particularly for patients with recurrent or unexplained symptoms,” said Dr. Powell. “While the field is still evolving , advances in sequencing and data interpretation are moving us closer to a future where more personalized, microbiome-informed care can complement existing diagnostic approaches.”

Juno Bio’s new clinically actionable vaginal microbiome and STI test is designed to address a critical gap in women’s health, where recurrent infections, fertility concerns, and peri- and menopausal symptoms are frequently misunderstood or inadequately treated. Processed in Juno Bio’s own CLIA-certified lab, the test analyzes approximately 10,000 bacteria and fungi, along with four common STIs, to give patients and clinicians a detailed picture of the vaginal ecosystem.

“Over the past five years, Juno Bio has grown from a pioneering vaginal microbiome test into a clinical platform advancing a new standard of care for women’s health,” said Hana Janebdar, Founder and CEO of Juno Bio. “We’ve built one of the largest repositories of vaginal microbiome data, helped thousands of women access clearer answers, expanded our clinical and scientific infrastructure, and deepened our partnerships across research and care delivery. This next chapter is about scaling that work, expanding access to more actionable care, and continuing to close the gender health gap. We’re incredibly grateful to our investors and partners for their trust in our team and our vision as we move into this next stage of growth.”

Unlike traditional tests that focus on a limited set of pathogens, Juno Bio’s platform can help identify microbes associated with co-infections, subclinical conditions, and broader microbiome patterns that may influence care. When paired with symptoms and clinical review, the test can help clarify likely drivers of concerns such as bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections, aerobic vaginitis, cytolytic vaginosis, and estrogen-related changes, supporting more informed next steps across care, lifestyle, sexual health practices, and prescribed medication.

“Juno Bio is setting a new standard for how vaginal health is understood and managed,” said Check Warner, Co-founding Partner at Ada Ventures. “What they’ve built at this stage, with this level of capital efficiency, is exceptional. We’re proud to support the team as they scale their clinical infrastructure and continue leading innovation in this critically underserved category.”

Despite how common vaginal health concerns are, they remain widely misunderstood. According to Juno Bio data, prior to using its test, 67.5% of customers had been incorrectly diagnosed, whether misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed, or overdiagnosed, and only 13% had been successfully treated. Additionally, approximately half of users experience co-infections, which are often missed by conventional testing but can significantly impact treatment outcomes.

“The vaginal microbiome is still one of the least understood systems in the body at a clinical scale. With our lab, we’re starting to build a measurement standard that clinicians can actually use,” said Leighton Turner, PhD, Founder and CSO of Juno Bio. “We believe the level of detail from this kind of testing can meaningfully improve how vaginal healthcare is provided.”

Juno Bio’s original wellness test helped tens of thousands of people better understand their vaginal microbiome. Its new clinically actionable test builds on that foundation with physician ordering and review, CLIA-certified lab processing, and results designed to help inform clinical decisions. The test is currently available in 46 states, with additional expansion planned.

Media Contact
FACTORY PR
[email protected]

About Juno Bio:
Juno Bio is a women’s health company advancing precision care through the vaginal microbiome. By combining cutting-edge sequencing technology with clinically actionable insights, Juno Bio helps individuals better understand and manage their vaginal health. The company is building the data infrastructure needed to transform how conditions are defined, identified and treated, closing critical gaps in women’s healthcare.

SOURCE Juno Bio