Trilogy Equity Partners leads the $11.7 million round, with participation from a16z speedrun, BMW i Ventures and Accel

SEATTLE, Sept. 30, 2026 — Kanu AI today announced $11.7 million in funding led by Trilogy Equity Partners, with participation from a16z speedrun, BMW i Ventures, and Accel. Founded just over a year ago, Kanu AI has more than doubled its revenue in each quarter since launch and now serves enterprises across a range of verticals, including commercial real estate, insurance, financial services, and technology.

A company’s most valuable intelligence rarely exists in software alone: it lives in how employees interpret data, make decisions, and drive outcomes. That judgment is often trapped in people’s heads, inboxes, spreadsheets and one-off work. Employees repeat the work, but the company’s systems do not learn from it, and the organization as a whole never compounds it.

Kanu AI automatically captures an enterprise’s intelligence and turns it into production-grade software. Staff members show Kanu AI how they work and connect the systems they already use. Kanu then builds those workflows into operational software in the customer’s cloud. Teams across the organization can use these workflows safely and predictably, with software that adapts as their work changes.

“Companies have spent decades buying software built around someone else’s idea of how they should work,” said Karan Grover, Founder and CEO of Kanu AI. “Instead of renting generic intelligence from another vendor, companies can use Kanu to turn their own data, judgment, and operating expertise into an asset they own, and compound it across the organization.”

For one national customer, Kanu AI reduced an analysis process that previously took up to eight weeks across PDFs, email, spreadsheets, CRM data, and GIS systems down to under 10 minutes. The customer is on track to cut software costs by more than $1 million this year and generate millions in additional revenue by year’s end.

Built for How Enterprises Actually Deploy AI

Kanu is designed to operate within the security, governance, and operating realities of the modern enterprise:

• Runs inside the customer’s cloud and security layer. Data stays with the customer, accessed via existing permissions and policies. Model choice, logic, and outputs are all under the customer’s control.
• Stays current. When a workflow changes, Kanu’s software adapts along with it. All it takes is for one person to teach Kanu something for the entire organization to benefit the same day. No rebuilds or rollouts, or another internal tool becoming obsolete.
• Shows its work. Every output can be opened to inspect what Kanu read, the information it used, how it interpreted that information, and why it reached its conclusion. It is a complete path, from source to decision.
• Is collaborative. Where review and judgment are required, Kanu’s workflows can include human review and approval checkpoints.

Enterprise buyers have moved beyond asking what AI can do. They are asking what can operate within their governance, data, and security requirements and become more valuable as their organization uses it. Kanu is designed for that standard.

“Top of every enterprise leader’s list is how to leverage AI to truly enhance their business performance in an enterprise-worthy fashion,” said Chuck Stonecipher, Managing Director of Trilogy Equity Partners. “Kanu AI’s solution uniquely answers that question.”

“We are strong believers in Kanu AI’s vision for the future: where code is a commodity but doesn’t feel like a commodity,” said Josh Lu, GM and Partner at a16z speedrun. “Kanu is creating this future by enabling generated workflows to be truly production-grade: stable, scalable and secure.”

“With Kanu AI, we see the emergence of a foundational technology for enterprise software,” said Kasper Sage, Managing Partner at BMW i Ventures. “The team is tackling one of the hardest and most valuable problems in the industry: giving organizations the ability to safely and reliably ship workflows without relying on long, manual engineering cycles.”

Kanu is available today through AWS Marketplace and Google Cloud Marketplace. The company is hiring across engineering and business roles.

About Kanu AI

Kanu AI turns how an organization works into software workflows the organization owns. Deployed inside the customer’s own cloud and security layer, Kanu learns from the company’s data, expertise, and approved work, then builds and maintains systems that produce finished outcomes. Every result is inspectable and every consequential step remains under human control. Other vendors sell companies’ software. Kanu builds them an asset they own. Kanu AI is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit getkanu.com.

Media Contact
Mary Magnani, CodePR
[email protected]

SOURCE Kanu AI

The platform’s fourth offering, Arlington Industrial, brings the platform to approximately $225 million in total investment volume across three asset classes

Lightstone DIRECT has met every targeted monthly distribution to date

NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2026 — Lightstone DIRECT, a real estate investment platform built for high-net-worth individuals searching for institutional-quality opportunities without institutional barriers, today announced the opening of Arlington Industrial. With this announcement, less than a year after launch, Lightstone DIRECT deals account for roughly $225 million in total investment volume across four offerings.

The new investment in Arlington, Texas, follows offerings in Abernathy Industrial Park in South Carolina, Hidden Lakes Apartments in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and OKC Outlets in Oklahoma City. Arlington Industrial is the platform’s second industrial investment, expanding Lightstone DIRECT’s offerings across industrial, multifamily, and retail.

Arlington Industrial is a six-building shallow bay industrial property totaling 170,390 square feet of infill space at the midpoint between Dallas and Fort Worth. The property is 95% leased to 24 small business tenants that keep a metroplex running, including HVAC contractors, local distributors and light manufacturers.

Arlington Industrial follows closely on OKC Outlets, which opened to investors in August 2026 and marked the platform’s first move beyond industrial and multifamily. The open-air center is the only outlet center within more than 100 miles of Oklahoma City, currently 97.5% occupied. Leveraging institutional knowledge in this space, Lightstone built and recapitalized a 22-property outlet portfolio to Simon Property Group for $2.33 billion in 2010.

Since beginning distribution in April, the platform has met every targeted monthly distribution. “We’re delighted to offer accredited investors the opportunity to invest alongside us and benefit from our 40-year track record,” said Mitchell Hochberg, President of Lightstone. “It’s gratifying to see that the diversity of our offerings across industrial, retail, and multifamily asset classes, is resonating with investors.”

By design, Lightstone DIRECT offers a higher degree of alignment with accredited investors than many other real estate investing platforms. Lightstone closes each Lightstone DIRECT acquisition on its own balance sheet before offering interests to accredited investors, who subsequently redeem a portion of Lightstone’s equity, and the firm maintains a minimum 20% equity investment in every transaction, investing its own capital alongside individual investors.

“Small-bay industrial is increasingly difficult to build economically in Dallas–Fort Worth, yet demand for this type of space remains robust,” said Greg Fink, Chief Investment Officer of Lightstone. “We acquired Arlington at a meaningful discount to estimated replacement cost in a market where we believe competitive supply is difficult to replicate, creating a compelling basis for the investment.”

Lightstone acquired the property for approximately 45% below its estimated replacement cost. The acquisition comes as Dallas–Fort Worth led all U.S. industrial markets in net absorption in the first half of 2026 (per JLL and Newmark), while only a sliver of new construction across the metroplex is shallow bay.

ABOUT LIGHTSTONE DIRECT

Lightstone DIRECT is a real estate investment platform built for high-net-worth individuals. The platform brings qualified investors the opportunity to partner with a $12B AUM real estate owner/operator. Lightstone DIRECT provides accredited investors access to carefully underwritten, single-asset multifamily, industrial, and commercial assets that have passed Lightstone’s rigorous due diligence process, approved by Lightstone’s investment committee – the same transactions Lightstone pursues with its own capital. https://lightstonedirect.com.

ABOUT LIGHTSTONE

Lightstone, founded by David Lichtenstein, is one of the most diversified privately held real estate companies in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, Lightstone is active in 28 states, developing, managing, and investing across residential, hospitality, commercial, and retail real estate. Its $12 billion-plus portfolio spans 243 properties, including over 25,000 multifamily units and more than 16 million square feet of industrial, life sciences, and commercial space. Since 2004, Lightstone has realized 56 investments at a 27.6% net IRR and a 2.54x net equity multiple. The firm employs more than 645 people across the country.

SOURCE Lightstone DIRECT

One Year After Receiving SEC Approval, Texas Stock Exchange Has Unparalleled Resources to Compete

DALLAS, Sept. 30, 2026 — TXSE Group, the parent company of the Texas Stock Exchange, today announced the successful completion of its third-round financing, expanding its capital position to $430 million. The milestone falls on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of TXSE’s Form 1 application to operate as a national securities exchange. TXSE is the first national securities exchange established in Texas, and the only exchange in the state with operations, infrastructure and active primary listings.

“Real competition for primary listings is here, and it is here to stay,” said TXSE Group Chairman and CEO James H Lee. “Our historic capital position is an institutional validation of the demand for a legitimate third listing alternative, and that is exactly what we have deployed. While the legacy equities exchanges prioritize fintech, prediction and energy markets, mortgages, data businesses and other pursuits, TXSE is solely focused on being the best exchange operator in the world. Our fortress-like capital position gives us the resources to deliver on our mission to improve conditions in the public equity markets by aligning with and advocating for issuers.”

The financing round leaves TXSE Group with a record cash surplus and the most capital ever raised by a new exchange. TXSE Group’s existing owners accounted for more than 75 percent of the third-round raise, reflecting deep and unwavering conviction from the largest financial institutions on earth. Major equity holders include BlackRock, the world’s largest institutional manager; Charles Schwab, the world’s largest retail organization; Citadel Securities, the world’s largest global liquidity provider; as well as J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America, three of the largest global investment banks, among the other leading institutions that include:

• Individuals or entities that direct or control public companies across multiple industries of various sizes, with a combined market capitalization in excess of $4 trillion;
• Nine of the 10 largest liquidity providers, representing more than 85% of total U.S. equity order flow; and
• Many of the world’s largest sponsors, representing more than 1,000 ETFs with a combined AUM of $11 trillion, or two-thirds of the more than $16 trillion of total capitalization of ETF assets in the U.S.

“Our record cash surplus further positions TXSE to substantially increase its capital reserves while providing the flexibility for strategic initiatives,” added TXSE Group Chief Financial Officer Jaime Gow. “We look forward to leveraging our capital position to accelerate our scaling of primary listings and continuous trading.”

Completion of the funding round follows a surge in announcements of corporate and ETF primary listings from across the United States. In the last 20 days alone, established public companies representing a combined $115 billion of market value have announced moves to the Texas Stock Exchange off the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market.

About the Texas Stock Exchange

Texas Stock Exchange LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of TXSE Group, is a fully integrated, electronic, national securities exchange headquartered and incorporated in Texas. Backed by many of the largest financial institutions and liquidity providers in the world, TXSE is purpose-built to bring real competition to corporate listings and expand access to America’s public markets. With issuer alignment and transparency at its core, TXSE serves as a global listing and trading venue for both public companies and the growing universe of exchange-traded products. For more information, visit us at www.txse.com, on LinkedIn, or on X.

Contact info
[email protected]

SOURCE TXSE Group Inc.

Investment round led by industrial leader International Paper, alongside other new investors Cerity Partners, Harmonic Growth Partners, and Thayer Investment Partners

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 30, 2026 — Relay, the system of action for physical operations, today announced it has raised $36 million in new funding, bringing total capital raised to over $90 million. Relay’s latest funding round, which was significantly oversubscribed, represents a powerful alignment among industry leaders with Relay’s vision for the future of frontline work: one that is safer, better connected, and empowered with the spoken intelligence of its workers.

As a signal of Relay’s growing leadership in industrial digital transformation, the round was led by International Paper, a Fortune 500 leader in sustainable packaging solutions, with more than 125 years of manufacturing experience. Other new investors include clients of Cerity Partners, a nationally recognized wealth and investment management firm with over $200 billion in assets under management which also manages venture investments for Fortune 500 companies, Harmonic Growth Partners, a leading expansion-stage investor that pairs experienced investors with successful former venture-backed CEOs to help management teams navigate the challenges of scale, and Thayer Investment Partners, who partners with corporate leaders representing many of the world’s top hospitality brands. Earlier lead investors G2 Venture Partners and Wind River Ventures also increased their investments in this round.

“What makes this round special isn’t simply the capital being raised – it’s the alignment with leaders from the industries we serve on how Relay can help them digitally transform their physical operations,” said Chris Chuang, CEO and Co-Founder of Relay. “International Paper understands Relay not just from an investor standpoint, but from the perspective of a customer witnessing the transformational value Relay delivers across its highly demanding industrial environments. Similarly, Thayer brings perspective from multiple leading hotel brands that already run Relay across thousands of properties. It’s a powerful endorsement when customers aren’t just buying your system but are also betting on the company behind it.”

Earning the Right to Serve the Frontlines

Companies have invested billions digitizing physical operations, yet frontline workers remain underserved with analog tools or technology designed for the desk rather than the harsher realities of physical operations. Frontline teams operate production lines, maintain equipment, clean hotel rooms, care for patients, respond to emergencies, and keep complex facilities running – activities that are often incompatible, and sometimes dangerous, with interacting and entering data on a screen.

Some of the most valuable operational knowledge lives in what workers say over their radios, not what is typed or logged into MES, CMMS, PMS, or other static reporting systems built to digitize workflows. In fact, according to recent research from Relay of 500 manufacturing professionals, 57 percent say their most important operational communication happens out loud, in person. Only 17 percent said almost everything frontline workers notice and flag ends up in a system, log, or formal report. Relay calls what slips through signal evaporation. And that gap has a meaningful cost, with 79 percent saying communication breakdowns cause delays, rework, or missed handoffs at least a few times a month.¹

With Relay, workers simply continue communicating how they have for decades — pick up a radio, wear it during their shift, and push to talk. But behind that familiar interaction is a robust system that combines the power of cloud communications, AI, real-time translation, location awareness, and automated workflows – all packaged in modern, durable, next-gen hardware built specifically for the frontlines.

“We run complex and demanding industrial operations, where strong communications isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s foundational,” said Keith Townsend, Group Vice President, Packaging Solutions North America, International Paper. “Relay has proven it can deliver clear, dependable communications in extremely loud and challenging industrial environments. Relay goes beyond communications to improve shift transitions, strengthen operating processes, accelerate responses to safety and maintenance alerts, and connect frontline insights into operational systems. We invested because we envision Relay as an important part of our modern industrial technology stack.”

“Thayer has a unique vantage point on hospitality technology, as our investment partners represent many of the world’s leading hospitality companies,” said Chris Hemmeter, Managing Partner at Thayer. “Relay is increasingly becoming a standard in hospitality, particularly in more complex and demanding luxury hotel, resort, and casino properties. With Relay’s AI-powered system, teams are safer, more connected, and ultimately more effective at delivering exceptional guest experiences.”

Accelerating the Next Chapter

As enterprises accelerate investments in automation and AI, Relay believes competitive advantage will increasingly depend on how effectively organizations link machine intelligence with the knowledge of the people driving the physical actions required in their operations. The new funding will accelerate Relay’s software and AI platform capabilities – including its insights and agentic layer that will allow teams to query their shift data and act on it – worker safety solutions, integrations with other enterprise systems, next-generation frontline hardware, expansion across the industrial and hospitality markets, and continued hiring across its product and go-to-market teams.

Relay serves hundreds of thousands of frontline workers and works with approximately 10 percent of the Fortune 500, including multiple companies with over 10,000 users on Relay. Among its enterprise customers, Relay maintains 99 percent gross revenue retention and 130 percent net revenue retention.

Relay’s growth has also earned consistent market recognition. The company has appeared on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for three consecutive years and was recently named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America (#830) for the third consecutive year.

About Relay

Relay is the system of action for physical operations, serving the 80 percent of the world’s workforce that doesn’t sit behind a desk – the frontlines. Relay captures what the frontline says and does, and turns it into action in the systems they already run, helping teams unlock operational intelligence and improve their communications, safety, and productivity. Relay’s system combines its powerful software and AI platform with purpose-built next-gen hardware, to better connect frontline teams, overcome language barriers with support for 35 languages, and deliver rapid ROI for its customers. Relay is used by nearly 10 percent of the Fortune 500, and processes over one billion data points weekly from the nearly 10,000 sites it’s deployed across in sectors like manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, and more. For more information, visit relaypro.com.

Media Contact: [email protected]

Q&A

Where does critical operational communication happen in manufacturing facilities?

Critical information moves through verbal conversations because of the speed and physical demands of frontline work, where gloves defeat touchscreens, noise defeats phones, and there is no desk. In fact, Relay found 82% of manufacturing professionals still relay information manually. While written records matter, they hold the closure rather than the human context behind it, so the challenge is capturing that spoken information before it disappears once the conversation ends.

Why do manufacturers still need frontline context after digitizing their operations?

Digital systems show what changed, but workers understand why, and bringing that frontline context into the operational record links machine data to what actually happened on the shift. Relay customer data found roughly 80% of what happens on a floor is never recorded anywhere, even in operations that bought purpose-built software for the job. As experienced people retire and AI reaches the floor, that context becomes not a complement to machine data, but what makes it interpretable.

How can manufacturers ensure critical context and data are being saved?

The practical first step is to find out how much is being lost today. Every operation has an Evaporation Rate, the share of its spoken reality that never reaches the right person in time to act, and most have never measured theirs. Voice-based communication tools that let workers talk naturally while automatically converting those conversations into structured, searchable records address this gap. Relay’s approach preserves the speed factory workers need while ensuring the context behind an issue or update doesn’t disappear once the conversation ends.

¹ Survey of 500 U.S. manufacturing professionals at organizations with 500 or more employees, conducted by Dynata on behalf of Relay, August 2026.

SOURCE Relay Inc.

Miter is modernizing the $2 trillion construction industry’s dreaded tech “Frankenstack,” helping fuel the boom in data center, housing and energy buildouts nationwide

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2026 — Miter, the leading AI-powered workforce management platform for the construction industry and the built world, announced it has raised a $40 million Series B round of financing led by Battery Ventures, bringing its total capital raised to $78 million. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Coatue also participated.

Miter intends to use the funds to continue investing in AI products that help customers run their back offices and jobsites. The company will also significantly grow its engineering team based in San Francisco and New York and add to its go-to-market teams across the U.S. Miter’s products are already in use by major general and specialty contractors, SMBs and other enterprises.

Current customers include Clayco, an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 5 design-build firm that delivers complex, high-performance projects with an unwavering commitment to safety, and Haugland Group, a family-owned, union-strong infrastructure services organization with more than 1,600 employees, delivering integrated solutions across energy, heavy civil, marine and logistics, and technology and engineering.

Today, the construction industry is a notable bright spot in the U.S. economy. The sector added 22,000 jobs in August as overall U.S. employment declined, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. AI data center projects drove much of that job growth, and both are projected to keep climbing. Roughly two of every 100 American construction workers now get paid through Miter, while contractors use the platform to coordinate workforce management, field operations, job costing and expenses across hundreds of thousands of active jobs each month. The company is rapidly building out related products for the field and back office in areas such as safety, accounts payable and project intelligence to keep up with new demand.

“The U.S. has never needed this much new infrastructure this fast. We need to unleash the potential of electricians, welders, carpenters and ironworkers everywhere,” said Connor Watumull, who co-founded Miter with Tobin Paxton and serves as CEO. “Miter is helping contractors modernize their operations and unify their workforce, jobsites and financials in one system.”

Miter has also embedded deep AI capabilities across the platform, giving superpowers to the teams building the world we live in. In the back office, Miter’s technology parses and structures the data buried in invoices, receipts and pay rate tables; runs the complex workflows contractors previously did by hand; and surfaces labor and job cost trends while the job is still running rather than weeks after it closes. In the field, Miter’s AI creates safety reports from photos or voice notes and summarizes job status using inputs from across the platform. The company plans to extend AI capabilities further to help contractors build stronger teams and increase profits.

Watumull says most contractors now rely on a cobbled-together “Frankenstack” of 1980s-era software, spreadsheets and paper to run their businesses. That’s partly because of the unique demands of construction industry accounting and payroll. Most contractors require specialized technology to “job cost,” the practice of tracking costs to specific projects and cost codes. A single construction crew can trigger compliance requirements across payroll, HR and safety at once, such as prevailing wage laws and certified payroll reports on publicly funded projects. Those obligations extend further to taxes withheld across multiple states as crews move between jobsites, meal and rest break rules that vary by state, and OSHA recordkeeping requirements.

“The construction industry is tremendously complex, which has made it difficult for technology providers to develop robust tools attuned to customers’ specific demands, despite the large potential market,” said Michael Brown, a Battery Ventures general partner. “But Connor, Tobin and their team have succeeded in developing an easy-to-use, integrated product that delivers payroll as well as other mission-critical business functions. The traction they’ve achieved is impressive, and we’re excited to watch them leverage technology to take on more of the work their customers do by hand today.”

Watumull previously worked as a venture capital investor and, prior to that, as a product manager in the technology industry and as a management consultant. He and Paxton announced Miter’s Series A fundraising round in May 2025; since then, the company has tripled its customer count.

About Miter

Driven by a vision of a better built world, Miter’s AI-native operating system makes it easier and faster to build critical infrastructure by empowering the next generation of contractors to strengthen their workforce, control job costs and accelerate jobsite execution. More than 2,000 contractors, from ENR Top 20 builders to family-owned specialty contractors, run payroll, HR, field operations and expense management on Miter. Miter has tripled customer count in the 18 months and is backed by Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Coatue, the investors behind Shopify, Toast, Procore and ServiceTitan. Learn more at miter.com.

SOURCE Miter

The additional $25 million from longtime partner SG Credit Partners and Wingspire Capital will fund new products for kids, parents, and busy households, and bring Skylight to more people in more places

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30, 2026 — Skylight, the brand millions of families rely on to get everyone on the same page and lighten the mental load, today announced it has expanded its credit facility to $75 million. The $25 million increase comes from SG Credit Partners alongside Wingspire Capital and will help Skylight widen its product lineup and move into more channels and markets.

The news follows Skylight’s biggest year yet: the business doubled and now reaches more than 12 million customers, including 1.7 million households using Skylight Calendar. The company has remained bootstrapped, growing alongside the families who use it and putting its profits back into the products they rely on today and the ones they’ll reach for next.

“Families have always been at the center of what we build, and as we grow, we can take even more off their plates,” said Chia Chung, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Skylight. “This commitment lets us double down on what’s working and create dedicated products for every stage of family life.”

Skylight began with the Frame, which helps loved ones share memories, and the Calendar, which helps families stay in sync. The expanded facility will fuel the next wave of products, including:

• Skylight Buddy: Continued development of the routine coach that sold out within a week of launch and helps kids take charge of their day.

• Skylight Assistant: Deeper investment in the AI-powered family assistant you can text, which makes it easy for you, your spouse and your entire household to get things done and stay on track.

“We’ve watched families fall in love with Skylight for years, and we’re excited to keep backing a team that builds with so much care,” said Dan McCallum, Managing Director at SG Credit Partners.

“It’s rare to find a company growing this fast and this profitably, and we’re glad to be along for what comes next,” said Will Bence, Senior Managing Director at Wingspire Capital.

About Skylight
Founded in 2014, Skylight connects loved ones by creating the world’s simplest products and services that improve family life. Its current offerings are the Skylight Calendar, a touch-screen calendar that syncs the whole family’s events, activities, chores, meal plans and more, all in one place; Skylight Buddy, a personal routine coach for kids that guides them through daily tasks; and the Skylight Frame, a touch-screen digital frame that allows users to send and display photos within seconds. For more information, visit www.myskylight.com.

About SG Consumer Products
SG Consumer Products, a division of SG Credit Partners (“SGCP”), is a national private credit manager providing capital to lower middle market businesses and entrepreneurs requiring tailored credit solutions. SGCP has established a broad credit platform consisting of three verticals: Software + Technology, Consumer Products, and Commercial Finance. Headquartered in Southern California with offices throughout the country, the firm has provided in excess of $1.3 billion to lower middle market entrepreneurs across a variety of industries. For more information, please visit www.sgcreditpartners.com.

About Wingspire Capital
Wingspire Capital offers one-stop solutions of up to $200 million for middle market companies, including revolving lines of credit, asset-backed term loans, first-out revolvers & term loans, equipment loans and leases, sale lease-backs, and lender finance. Industries financed include business services, consumer products, e-commerce & retail, food & beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, transportation & logistics, automotive, technology applications and financial services. Wingspire Capital operates in two business units: Wingspire Corporate Finance and Wingspire Equipment Finance. Loans made or arranged pursuant to a California Financing Law license.

Wingspire Capital is a portfolio company of Blue Owl Capital Corporation (NYSE: OBDC). OBDC is externally managed by Blue Owl Credit Advisors LLC, an indirect affiliate of Blue Owl Capital, Inc. (NYSE: OWL). Blue Owl Capital, Inc. is a global alternative asset manager with $319 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2026. For further information about Wingspire Capital, visit www.wingspirecapital.com.

Contact
Skylight PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Skylight

KYIV, Ukraine, Sept. 30, 2026 — M-Fly – a Ukrainian defense tech manufacturer of combat-tested laser guidance systems and high-precision gyro-stabilized gimbals for UAV platforms – has secured new funding to accelerate growth and meet battlefield needs. The company was backed by existing investors: MITS Capital, which led the round, and Freedom Fund. Norwegian defense-focused VC Gardar and an undisclosed new investor also joined the round.

The exact funding amount and the company’s valuation will not be disclosed.

“M-Fly has made incredible progress since graduating from MITS Accelerator, and we are excited to see increased demand from NATO nations for its cutting-edge systems,” said Perry Boyle, co-founder and CEO of MITS Capital. “M-Fly is exactly the kind of company MITS Capital targets: a Ukrainian maker of components for the drone supply chain that can continuously improve its offering as battlefield conditions change,” he added.

M-Fly was founded in late 2023, growing out of the founders’ earlier military-focused volunteer project. By mid 2026, the company had secured $1.4 million through a friends-and-family round, grants from the state-owned defense tech cluster Brave1, and VC funding from MITS Capital, Freedom Fund, Resist.ua, and Ukrainian entrepreneur Borys Shestopalov, co-founder of HD-group.

As of fall 2026, M-Fly’s product portfolio includes laser guidance systems and high-precision gyro-stabilized gimbals for air, maritime, and ground unmanned platforms. The company has tested its core technologies on the battlefield in Ukraine, confirming the stabilization platform’s performance at speeds of up to 350 km/h.

M-Fly offers a line of cost-efficient laser-guided systems, including RB-150CW and Seeker, to improve unmanned platforms’ efficiency.

Another product is the RB-220, a heavy-duty gimbal suitable for large UAVs, manned aviation, helicopters, and naval drones. It can also be used as a ground-based station for air defense applications.

The company also developed the RB-150GD, a dual-sensor gimbal with thermal and daylight video channels designed specifically for medium-class drones. Based on this platform, the company is developing the RB-150 Marine, a weather-resistant gimbal for boats and vessels.

M-Fly plans to release the RB-100, the lightest product in its lineup and designed for small drones, in the first quarter of 2027.

“Over the past 12 months, we have doubled our team and increased revenue severalfold,” said Vladyslav Myhovych, founder and CEO of M-Fly. Demand from Ukrainian customers and NATO allies has increased significantly since the beginning of 2026. The main drivers are the growing use of interceptor drones in Ukraine and the resulting need for lower-cost reconnaissance UAVs equipped with high-quality imaging systems.

“What matters even more than performance is that the company has cracked the unit economics, allowing it to price its products significantly below those of its closest competitors,” said Denys Gurak, co-founder and COO/CIO of MITS Capital. “That’s why we decided to support the next stage of its growth with additional funding.”

A gimbal can account for around one-third of the cost of a reconnaissance UAV, while some imported gimbals can cost several times more than the aircraft they are installed on, Myhovych said. “Reliable aerial imaging is critical for the military. Our goal is to keep bringing the overall cost of reconnaissance platforms down by making capable stabilized imaging systems more affordable,” he said.

A central part of M-Fly’s strategy is deep vertical integration, giving the company control over its products, supply chain, and trade-offs among size, weight, power consumption, and price. All core product elements – from motors and camera lenses to cameras and software – are custom-developed in-house. This approach has allowed the company to price its systems almost on par with Chinese offerings while keeping the share of Chinese components below 6%.

In 2026, M-Fly also migrated its processing architecture from random-access memory (RAM) to a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based platform. The shift makes its systems less dependent on specific computing components and lets engineers adapt more quickly when particular chips or memory components become unavailable.

“Amid the global crisis called RAMageddon, we became almost hardware-agnostic, which protects our supply chain and unlocks scaling,” said Myhovych. He expects the drone camera market to exceed more than $100 billion over the next 5-7 years. “New funding will allow us to scale our production facilities and pace of product adaptation to hold a visible share of this market,” said Myhovych.

You can find visuals and additional materials here: M-FLY_Press_Kit MITS_Capital_Press_Kit

Media Contact:
Valentyna Dudko
0966494566
[email protected]

SOURCE MITS Capital

Winning the 2026 People’s Choice Safety Innovation Award, opening a new Australian Operations Center of Excellence, and launching a $2.6 million Regulation CF campaign mark progress for GACW’s Air Suspension Wheel

PHOENIX, Sept. 30, 2026 — In its ongoing efforts to address longstanding tire-related risk, Global Air Cylinder Wheels® (GACW) (https://globalaircylinderwheels.com/), the innovator behind the patented Air Suspension Wheel® (ASW), continues to receive significant new recognition from the mining industry, recently winning the 2026 People’s Choice Safety Innovation Award at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference in Australia.

The award represents the latest milestone for GACW as the company advances from years of engineering development and real-world testing toward commercial deployment. Since its last major operational update earlier this year, GACW has also opened its first operational Center of Excellence in Australia and launched a new Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) campaign through StartEngine with the goal of raising up to $2.6 million (https://www.startengine.com/offering/gacw).

“This award gives us something extremely important at this stage of our development — validation and recognition from the people who understand mining safety and the risks involved in these operations,” said Harmen van Kamp, CEO and Co-Founder of Global Air Cylinder Wheels. “They are responsible for health and safety on mine sites, those who make and influence operating decisions, and who realize the problems we are trying to solve. To have the Air Suspension Wheel recognized by this audience is tremendously meaningful for our company and everyone who has worked to bring this technology to the industry.”

The Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference is one of Australia’s leading mining safety gatherings. The 2026 conference brought together more than 1,200 Senior Site Executive (SSE) certification holders, including mining operators, regulators, union leaders, site leadership, safety and health management, engineers, maintenance professionals, and equipment suppliers. GACW was one of five companies selected to present for the conference’s Safety Innovation Award.

“Mining is an industry where safety is never an abstract issue,” Van Kamp said. “The people at this conference live with these challenges every day. They understand what happens when equipment fails and why eliminating a hazard can be more powerful than simply finding another way to manage or mitigate it. It is another important step toward putting this technology into commercial operation.”

The Australian recognition follows another major validation milestone announced by GACW in March, when the company reported successful extreme-condition testing of the ASW in the Iron Ore belt mining operations in the USA.

The company recently opened its first operational Center of Excellence in Australia. The Australian expansion places GACW closer to mining companies evaluating its technology and provides additional infrastructure as the company works through the extensive technical, operational, and procurement processes required before new equipment can be deployed across major mine sites.

The company has reported a global intellectual property portfolio encompassing more than 75 issued patents and more than 120 pending patent applications internationally, covering suspension, damping, tread, and mechanical wheel technologies.

GACW has raised more than $10.5 million through previous Regulation CF rounds and private investments as it has funded engineering, field testing, intellectual property development, and commercialization activities.

“Our goal remains to give the mining industry a safer, longer-lasting alternative to the conventional tire and help change how heavy equipment moves in some of the toughest operating environments in the world,” Van Kamp added.

ABOUT GLOBAL AIR CYLINDER WHEELS

Global Air Cylinder Wheels® is an engineering company based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Media Contact:
George Pappas
Conservaco, The Ignite Agency
562 857-5680
[email protected] 
https://conservaco.com/

SOURCE Global Air Cylinder Wheels

CLEVELAND, Sept. 30, 2026 — TRG, a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital and a global managed services provider focused on the full lifecycle of enterprise endpoints, announced today that it has acquired Fentron, a Westerville, Ohio-based cybersecurity and advisory firm. The Fentron team will join Inversion6, TRG’s dedicated cybersecurity division, adding complementary capabilities and senior engineering talent that further strengthen TRG’s integrated cybersecurity offering across the enterprise endpoint lifecycle. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Fentron has built a strong reputation for helping organizations strengthen their security posture. Its capabilities span CISO advisory, ransomware readiness, vulnerability management, incident response preparedness, tabletop exercises, and SIEM integration, serving clients across the financial, manufacturing, government, and healthcare sectors.

“We have been impressed by Fentron’s deep technical expertise, experienced team, and strong client relationships,” said Sean Kennedy, Founder and CEO of TRG. “The team is a natural fit with Inversion6 and strengthens our ability to deliver comprehensive cybersecurity solutions as part of TRG’s broader endpoint lifecycle offering.”

“TRG and Inversion6 are an ideal home for Fentron and a strong fit for our clients, employees, and culture,” said Josh Fenton, Chief Executive Officer of Fentron. “Our team will continue delivering the expertise and hands-on service our clients expect, now with access to TRG’s broader capabilities, scale, and resources. We are excited about the opportunities ahead for both our clients and our team.”

About Fentron

Fentron is a cybersecurity and advisory firm headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, specializing in enterprise security architecture, incident handling, and CISO advisory services for organizations of all sizes. The company delivers security strategy, ransomware readiness, vulnerability management, incident response preparedness, tabletop exercises, and SIEM integration across the financial, manufacturing, government, and healthcare sectors. For more information, visit www.fentron.com.

About TRG

TRG is a global managed services provider that manages and secures the full lifecycle of enterprise endpoints. The company delivers a comprehensive suite of services spanning the entire device lifecycle, including procurement, configuration, deployment, depot repair, asset management, and integrated cybersecurity solutions. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, TRG maintains facilities in North America, Europe, and Latin America. For more information, visit www.trgsolutions.com.

About Gemspring Capital

Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Connecticut-based private equity firm with $5.1 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation, and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $2.0 billion in revenue and are in the aerospace & defense, business services, consumer services, financial and insurance services, healthcare, industrial, software, and tech-enabled services sectors. For more information, visit www.gemspring.com.

Media Contact

Zubin Malkani
Gemspring Capital
[email protected]

Amy Martin
Chief Marketing Officer, TRG
[email protected]

SOURCE Gemspring Capital