Ballast Point Partners leads Takt’s first institutional round as the company invests in its platform, expands AI and automation capabilities, deepens enterprise integrations, and supports customers’ growing global operations.

RESTON, Va., Aug. 17, 2026 — Takt, a warehouse labor management and intelligence platform that unifies labor, automation and robotics data, today announced a $9.25 million Series A financing led by Ballast Point Partners. The round is Takt’s first institutional financing. Founded in 2021, Takt supports more than 100 warehouses across North America and international markets, including operations for Fortune 500 retailers, global brands and some of North America’s largest third-party logistics providers. The company has added more warehouse sites this year than in any previous year.

Distribution centers have absorbed a decade of new technology — goods-to-person systems, autonomous mobile robots, sortation, voice — and each system produces its own data. Labor performance lives in one place, automation throughput in another, time and attendance in a third. Supervisors reconstruct the shift by hand, and by the time the picture is complete, the shift is over.

“Warehouses generate more data than ever, but the people responsible for their performance still struggle to see where operations are going off track in time to change the outcome,” said Glynn LoPresti, co-founder and CEO of Takt. “That is not a reporting gap. It is a modeling gap. Takt closes it by treating labor, automation and robotics as one operation.”

Takt integrates with warehouse management systems, time clocks, robotics and material handling controls, and homegrown applications, then measures that activity continuously against engineered labor standards. Operations teams use Takt to build labor plans, set goals and incentives, coach employees, and connect performance to cost and profitability. TaktAI reasons over the combined model to identify where results are moving and why, so supervisors can make intraday moves before problems compound.

Kenco, one of North America’s largest third-party logistics providers, selected Takt as its labor management and warehouse intelligence system and deployed it across 19 distribution centers. At a single-client CPG site, average cost per pallet fell 15%, or $229,000 annually. ODW Logistics replaced a legacy labor management system with Takt and reported a 29% improvement in workforce performance and a 39% increase in employee retention.

“The way warehouses run has changed faster than the technology used to measure them, and that gap is what drew us to this category,” said Sean Barkman, a Partner at Ballast Point Partners who joins Takt’s Board of Directors. “What stood out about Takt was the evidence. Kenco standardized 19 distribution centers on the platform, plans to extend it to 30 more, and can point to results site by site. Enterprise operators do not expand a deployment at that pace unless the product is working.”

The Series A will fund broader integrations with tier-one warehouse management, robotics and material handling systems; an expansion into order orchestration, resource scheduling and engineering tools; and a set of TaktAI agents that move from explaining what changed to acting on it, rebalancing labor against the live order profile within bounds supervisors set. Takt will also continue expanding across the United Kingdom, the European Union and Asia-Pacific.

The full announcement is at www.takt.io/blog/series-a

About Takt

Takt is a warehouse labor management and intelligence platform that unifies labor, automation and robotics data into a single model of how an operation actually runs. Operators use Takt to plan labor, manage and incentivize performance, engage employees, understand operational costs, and improve performance while work is still in progress. Takt supports more than 100 warehouses across North America and international markets for retailers, e-commerce brands and third-party logistics providers. Learn more at www.takt.io.

About Ballast Point Partners

Ballast Point Partners, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a later-stage venture capital and growth equity fund founded in 2002 to provide expansion capital for rapidly growing, privately owned companies, with a particular emphasis on companies located in Florida, the Southeast, and Texas. The Ballast Point partners have more than 90 years of combined experience investing in and building high-growth companies in several industries, including software, technology-enabled business services, and healthcare. Ballast Point Partners has over $550 million under management across four funds and seeks to make initial equity investments ranging in size from $5 million to $15 million. For additional information, visit www.ballastpointpartners.com.

SOURCE Takt, Inc.

Deployments demonstrate measurable revenue impact and proprietary advances in Physical AI following $20 Million Series A

LOS ALTOS, Calif., Aug. 17, 2026 — Palona AI unveiled its multimodal AI operating layer for physical businesses, proven first in restaurants. Palona works with operators including Din Tai Fung, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Giordano’s, Rooted Hospitality and Cali BBQ to connect customer demand, live operations and intelligent action.

Palona closed its Series A financing, bringing total funding to $20 million, including converted SAFEs. Investors include Ardenwood Ventures, CrimsonOx, UpHonest, Turbo, Llama Ventures, Neo, Fusion Fund, Defy and Maynard Webb, together with other institutional, strategic and individual investors.

Restaurants are Palona’s first proof market, but the platform can extend to any physical business where customers and frontline teams interact.

“Physical businesses need AI that can understand what is happening and act in real time,” said Maria Zhang, founder and CEO of Palona AI. “Palona turns demand, operational context and live signals into actions that drive revenue, quality and execution.”

Palona’s product suite includes Revenue Expansion, Revenue Intelligence and Operations Excellence. It captures and converts demand across calls, catering, private events and large-order inquiries; identifies intent, value and urgency; and turns operational signals into manager-ready workflows.

Together, these capabilities form a continuous Capture → Understand → Act → Learn system that drives coordinated action across people, systems and AI agents, not another dashboard.

A multi-brand production study spanning Cali BBQ, Rooted Hospitality and Giordano’s recorded 481 orders over 194 location-days and identified 305 large-order and catering inquiries across seven restaurants. At Cali BBQ, after more than a year in production, Father’s Day revenue increased 20% year over year, while Palona became the restaurant’s highest Average-Order-Value channel as its Revenue Expansion capabilities expanded to support catering and large orders.

“Before Palona, calls we couldn’t answer represented demand we couldn’t capture. Now we’re converting more of those conversations into orders and identifying catering opportunities we previously had no dedicated process to manage. For an operator, that’s where AI becomes real. It creates measurable revenue while helping the team execute better,” said Shawn Walchef, CEO of Cali BBQ.

Palona invented a proprietary Interaction Model for Physical AI. Unlike systems that only detect objects or describe scenes, it represents how people, objects, places and processes relate over time. Using spatial, temporal and semantic context with calibrated uncertainty, it determines what is happening, whether action is required and which workflow should follow. Palona holds U.S. Patent No. 12,481,517 for orchestrating specialized AI agents based on user intent, model performance and real-time computing requirements.

About Palona AI

Palona AI is the AI operating layer for physical businesses, proven first in restaurants. Palona captures demand, understands live operations and coordinates workflows that help businesses grow revenue, protect quality and execute with consistency.

For more information, visit palona.ai.

SOURCE Palona

Phase 1b/2a clinical trial assessing safety and efficacy of LTX-001 in adults with schizophrenia initiated

Financing advances LTX-001 through initial readout from Phase 1b/2a trial and progresses LTX-002 through additional dosing cohorts of ongoing Phase 1/2 trial in ALS

WORCESTER, Mass., Aug. 17, 2026 — Leal Therapeutics, Inc. (Leal), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class neuro-metabolic therapeutics, today announced a second close of $30 million of its Series A financing. The round includes new investor Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), in addition to existing investors OrbiMed, Newpath Partners, Euclidean Capital, SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), Chugai Venture Fund, Alexandria Venture Investments, and PhiFund.

Proceeds from the second closing of Series A financing will be used to advance LTX-001 through an initial readout of its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial in schizophrenia patients, as well as progress LTX-002 through additional dosing cohorts in an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

LTX-001, a first-in-class brain-penetrant oral GLS1 inhibitor, has completed single ascending dose (SAD) and multiple ascending dose (MAD) Phase 1 trials and demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile and dose dependent CNS target engagement. Leal today also announces the initiation of the Phase 1b/2a trial (NCT07734493) in adults with schizophrenia, with initial data expected by year-end. 

LTX-002 is an intrathecally delivered antisense oligonucleotide designed to restore healthy sphingolipid levels in the central nervous system (CNS) by targeting SPTLC1.  LTX-002 is being investigated in NeurALS, a Phase 1/2 trial (NCT07660614) in adults with ALS.

“We are very excited to partner with our top-tier syndicate of investors which now includes Lilly”, said Asa Abeliovich, M.D., Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Leal. “This funding will support us through key clinical milestones for LTX-001 in schizophrenia, including initial data from the now ongoing Phase 1b/2a trial, and LTX-002 in ALS, while also advancing our preclinical pipeline towards clinical development.”

About Leal Therapeutics:

Leal Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel neuro-metabolic therapeutics for patients with high-need central nervous system disorders. Leal was launched in 2021 and is headquartered in Worcester, Mass.  Leal’s lead programs address the critical intersection between CNS and metabolic disorders.  The Leal team has particular expertise in CNS therapeutic development, as well as leveraging human genetics, functional genomics and biomarker analyses to support our mission.  Leal has the technological capability to develop and produce small molecule and nucleic acid CNS therapeutics, and is also developing a next-generation CNS delivery platform utilizing antibody-like shuttle technology to enable the transport of peripherally administered therapeutics to the brain.

Media contact: Tehya Frank, [email protected] 347-640-1334

SOURCE Leal Therapeutics

CINCINNATI, Aug. 17, 2026 — WeBrokr today confirmed its role as exclusive sell-side advisor to MyGolfSpy on its strategic investment from Graham Sports & Entertainment Partners (GSE) and Bolt Ventures, the family office of sports investor David Blitzer. The transaction closed in May 2026 and was publicly announced on July 23, 2026. It was completed through Pin High Golf, a newly formed platform designed to build an independent golf media, data, and experiences company anchored by MyGolfSpy.

Founded in 2008 by Adam Beach in Yorktown, Virginia, MyGolfSpy has spent more than fifteen years building one of the most trusted independent voices in golf equipment testing. The company operates a proprietary in-house testing facility with five simulators, works with a community of more than 300 volunteer equipment testers, and has made its “Most Wanted” and “Tested & Approved” evaluation frameworks industry reference points for objective golf reviews. Beach continues as Founder and CEO under the new platform, with Pin High Golf providing the capital and operational support to expand testing capacity, scale video and affiliate commerce, deepen OEM and retailer relationships, and selectively pursue further acquisitions across golf media, data, and experiences.

“Golf has always been the sport closest to my heart, and MyGolfSpy was one of those rare deals where you feel a personal stake in getting the outcome right for the founder,” said Logan Abner, Founder of WeBrokr. “Adam Beach built something genuinely special. The process came with a structural challenge most M&A processes don’t: the digital media acquirers who would normally compete for an asset like this don’t deeply understand golf, and the golf-industry acquirers don’t fully grasp digital media. The combination of GSE and Bolt Ventures was the only group able to bridge that gap with real conviction.”

MyGolfSpy Founder and CEO Adam Beach said the partnership with Bolt and GSE gives the company the resources to accelerate its mission and expand its testing and technology, while GSE Co-Founder and CEO Shervin Mirhashemi described Pin High Golf as the vehicle to scale MyGolfSpy as the anchor asset of an independent media and experiences platform in golf. David Blitzer characterized MyGolfSpy as a category-defining brand with a differentiated data asset and a deeply engaged audience.

WeBrokr served as exclusive sell-side advisor to MyGolfSpy throughout the transaction.

Media Contact:
Logan Abner
WeBrokr
[email protected]

SOURCE WeBrokr, LLC

Sun River deepens its investment as VERO scales across 40 states, reinforcing the company’s
financial strength and growth momentum

DALLAS, Aug. 17, 2026 — VERO, a multifamily risk and leasing decision platform, today announced a new round of capital backing from its existing investor group, led by Sun River Capital, a Dallas-based growth equity firm. The round, funded entirely by investors who know the business best, signals deep conviction in VERO’s trajectory and underscores the company’s financial strength as it scales.

The investment comes as VERO’s platform now supports leasing decisions on 1,390 properties across 40 states nationwide. That scale is exactly why the capital is going in now: VERO is targeting profitability by the end of 2026 on the back of 31,140% growth since 2021, and this round lets the company keep growing without the distraction of raising more money.

“We’re extremely pleased with the progress this team has made. We believe there’s a huge opportunity to build the best risk and underwriting technology in multifamily, and Sun River seeks to increase our ownership in the portfolio companies where we have the highest conviction. VERO is squarely one of them,” said Copley Broer, Co-Managing Director, Sun River Capital.

The backing reflects a broader pattern in VERO’s growth. As one of the fastest-scaling risk platforms in multifamily, the company continues to attract capital from the investors who understand the business at the deepest level, a vote of confidence leadership says sets the stage for VERO’s next phase of growth.

“We’re incredibly proud of what the team has built. Having the investors closest to our business choose to double down is the strongest validation we could ask for. This capital lets us keep growing toward profitability and beyond, without the distraction of raising more money,” said Jamey Rosamond, CEO, VERO.

For more information, visit sayvero.com.

About VERO

VERO is a risk management platform built for multifamily. By combining applicant screening, risk analysis, and protection services under one roof, VERO helps property owners and operators prevent fraud, protect NOI, and speed up the leasing process so the right renters can move in faster. VERO’s full-stack platform covers identity verification, income verification, credit and criminal checks, document fraud detection, and AI-driven decision support within a single, SOC 2-compliant workflow that integrates with Yardi, Entrata, RealPage, and Rent Manager. Visit sayvero.com.

SOURCE VERO

• DST Global led the round, with new investment from Tribe Capital, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Smash Capital, Fifth Wall, Valor Capital, Intel Capital, Liberty Global Tech Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, and NTT DOCOMO Ventures. 
• Strategic investments were made by industry leaders spanning compute, connectivity, distribution, media and advertising.  

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 17, 2026 — Higgsfield, the leading AI video and image creation platform for professional creators, brands, agencies, and studios, today announced a $400 million Series B financing at a $5.4 billion valuation. The round was led by DST Global, with participation from Tribe Capital, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Smash Capital, Fifth Wall, Valor Capital, Intel Capital, Liberty Global Tech Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, and NTT DOCOMO Ventures. Existing investors also participated in the Series B, including Accel, Menlo Ventures, AI Capital Partners (Alpha Intelligence Capital’s US-based fund), GFT Ventures, Capra Ventures, BAM Corner Point and BroadLight Capital. 

Strategic investments were also made by industry leaders spanning compute, connectivity, distribution, media and advertising reflecting a shared conviction that Higgsfield’s platform will reshape and power the next generation of visual media. Natalia Vodianova Arnault, supermodel and impact investor, has also joined the round as an investor and will serve as an advisor to Higgsfield, bringing more than 25 years of experience across the global fashion, beauty and creative industries.

“Every business needs visual content, but creating it at the quality, speed and scale companies demand remains complex and expensive,” said Alex Mashrabov, Co-Founder & CEO of Higgsfield. “AI is fundamentally changing that. The next wave of value will be created by the applications that put this technology to work, and Higgsfield is leading that shift in visual media. We’re building the platform businesses use to create high-quality content faster and more efficiently, positioning Higgsfield at the center of a multi-trillion-dollar global market.”

This new funding more than quadruples Higgsfield’s valuation of $1.3 billion during its Series A funding round and extension. This month, the company also reached $700 million in annualized revenue.  

Higgsfield has more than 30 million users globally across 238 countries and territories, with the United States representing its largest market. A primary driver of that momentum is the increased adoption of Higgsfield’s agentic products, which automate complex, multi-scene visual production. Following the company’s Supercomputer rollout in May 2026, users of Higgsfield’s agentic products have grown 42-fold in just three months, driving more than 20 million content generations per month.

Today, Higgsfield powers visual production for 390 of the Fortune 500. The company’s enterprise customer base spans advertising and marketing, media and entertainment, broadcasting, fashion, retail, consumer brands, technology, financial services, and pharmaceuticals.

“We are looking forward to supporting Alex, Yerzat, and the team as they build the next generation of AI tools for visual creation,” said Yuri Milner founder of DST Global.

“Every major technology revolution in media gives birth to a new creative medium and spurs growth,” said Kevin Mayer, former Walt Disney executive, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman at Smash Capital and Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Candle Media. “Higgsfield is empowering storytellers to push past the limits of traditional production, laying the groundwork for a new era of human creativity.”

“At Tribe, we look for true outlier metrics, and Higgsfield’s revenue velocity and customer retention speak for themselves,” said Boris Revsin, Managing Partner at Tribe Capital. “By solving critical workflow bottlenecks for both global brands and Hollywood storytellers, Higgsfield is establishing the financial benchmark for creative software.”

“Somewhere right now there is a young person with an extraordinary eye and no budget,” said Ms. Vodianova Arnault. “Higgsfield gives them amazing tools to tell their story. It puts the power in the hands of the creative. I believe this is the future.” 

The financing will be used to fund continued investment in research and development, expand global infrastructure, recruit elite AI talent, and scale Higgsfield’s global go-to-market efforts. 

As AI adoption accelerates, Higgsfield is also addressing the widening skills gap among creators, students and enterprises worldwide. To expand access to AI-native creative tools and skills, the company is scaling two initiatives:

• Higgsfield Academy is a free training program designed to teach commercial-grade AI video production. The program has already attracted more than 400,000 interactive course visitors, and 67,000 lesson completions. To accelerate learning, Higgsfield has open sourced its flagship AI-generated films, including Hell Grind and The Cully Hill Boys. Available for free, the films offer creators complete access to the underlying project files within Higgsfield’s workspace.
• Higgsfield For Good, launching in September 2026, will help schools and nonprofits create and instantly localize visual learning materials across languages. Through a partnership with non-governmental organization YGA, which has reached 1.9 million students over more than 25 years, Higgsfield will support its World Science Movement by providing AI tools to 70,000 students and 13,000 educators, helping them transform complex science topics into engaging visual learning experiences for the next generation. As part of the broader rollout, Higgsfield Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Yerzat Dulat is also leading a specialized STEM program across eight rural schools in Central Asia. 

About Higgsfield

Higgsfield is an AI-native multimedia content creation platform for creators, marketers, brands, agencies, and studios. From commercial campaigns to original long-form narrative series, Higgsfield is built for teams that operate at professional scale, where output quality and consistency are non-negotiable. The platform has scaled to more than 30 million users across 238 countries and territories, with the United States representing its largest market.

Higgsfield was co-founded by Alex Mashrabov, who previously co-founded AI Factory, the AI computer vision technology company behind Snapchat’s Cameos and face filters. Snap acquired AI Factory in 2019. 

Visit the platform at https://higgsfield.ai/  

SOURCE Higgsfield Inc.

CHICAGO, Aug. 14, 2026 — Ziegler is pleased to announce the successful closing of Maple Knoll Communities’ $23,465,000 Series 2026 Refunding Revenue Bonds and Westminster Village North’s $43,000,000 Series 2026 Refunding Revenue Bonds.

Maple Knoll Communities, Inc. (Maple Knoll) is a not-for-profit senior living organization with a history dating back more than 175 years. Maple Knoll owns and operates two CCRCs in southwest Ohio: Maple Knoll Village, located in Springdale, OH (suburb of Cincinnati) and The Knolls of Oxford, located on an 84-acre campus near Miami University in Oxford, OH. The two communities consist of an aggregate 395 independent living units, 90 assisted living and memory care units, and 153 skilled nursing beds.

Westminster Village North (WVN) is a single-site not-for-profit senior living community in Indianapolis, Indiana founded in 1972 after the closing of Sunnyside Tuberculosis Sanatorium in 1969. The campus is set on 57 historic acres located on the northeast side of Indianapolis, just south of Geist Reservoir. The community consists of 157 independent living apartments and cottages, 90 assisted living apartments, and 148 health and rehabilitation suites for a total of 395 units across its continuum of care.

Both Communities are affiliates of BHI Senior Living (BHI) with Maple Knoll joining the organization in September 2022 and WVN joining in February 2024. BHI operates 10 market-rate CCRCs across Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan for an aggregate of 3,171 units and was ranked #20 on the 2025 LZ 200. Maple Knoll and WVN are not members of the BHI Obligated Group.

Maple Knoll used the proceeds of the Series 2026 Bonds to refund its three outstanding Series 2021B bank loans with expiring commitment periods. The organization elected to proceed with Huntington, the holder of the Series 2021B-3 Bonds, which represented a majority of the outstanding Series 2021B par amount. Maple Knoll selected a 10-year bank commitment and simultaneously executed a 5-year interest rate swap at an attractive rate. The Series 2026 Bonds mature on June 5, 2041, consistent with the maturity of the refunded Series 2021B Bonds.

Westminster Village North’s Series 2026 Bonds will both refinance the organization’s outstanding Series 2016 bank loans and provide approximately $2.1 million of new money for general capital expenditures. The financing includes a 10-year bank commitment period paired with a 10-year interest rate swap, providing Westminster Village North with favorable long-term financing terms. The bonds have a final maturity of December 1, 2050.

Ziegler served as both the placement agent and swap advisor, for each transaction shepherding the proposals to ensure competitive, on-market terms for Maple Knoll and WVN.

Tom Meyers, Senior Managing Director in Ziegler’s Senior Living Finance Practice said, “The bank credit market provided an excellent opportunity for BHI Senior Living to address the unique financing needs of both Maple Knoll and Westminster Village North. Ziegler was pleased to structure two customized financing solutions that delivered competitive bank terms and tailored interest rate hedges aligned with each community’s objectives. Successfully executing these financings concurrently reflects the improved credit strength of each non-obligated group borrower, as well as the strong credit profile of its supporting organization, BHI. Ziegler was honored to partner with BHI and support these important transactions.”

Roger Weideman, Chief Financial Officer at BHI added, “Our long-standing relationship with Ziegler continues to strengthen BHI’s financial position. Their understanding of our organization’s history, our continued growth, and our future goals enables them to deliver effective solutions during changing market conditions. Our recent refinancings ensure stability across our communities and position us for future growth while maintaining our commitment to exceptional service for older adults.”

Founded in 1904, BHI Senior Living has been enhancing the quality of life for older adults for more than a century. Through its 12 communities across the Midwest, comprehensive home health care services, and nonprofit mission rooted in purpose, BHI creates environments where older adults can truly thrive.

Ziegler is the nation’s leading underwriter of financings for not-for-profit senior living providers.¹ Ziegler offers creative, tailored solutions to its senior living clientele, including investment banking, financial risk management, merger and acquisition services, seed capital, FHA/HUD, capital and strategic planning as well as senior living research, education, and communication.

For more information about Ziegler, please visit us at www.ziegler.com.

¹ Based on full credit given to senior managers of lead-managed underwriting principal volume for senior living transactions completed nationally. Rankings and amounts through LSEG data as of 12/31/25. Note: For-profit bond financings are excluded.

About Ziegler:
Ziegler is a privately held, national boutique investment bank, capital markets, and proprietary investments firm. It has a unique focus on healthcare, senior living, and education sectors, as well as general municipal and structured finance. Headquartered in Chicago with regional and branch offices throughout the U.S., Ziegler provides its clients with capital raising, strategic advisory services, fixed income sales, underwriting and trading as well as Ziegler Credit, Surveillance, and Analytics. To learn more, visit www.ziegler.com.

Certain comments in this news release represent forward-looking statements made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This client’s experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients, nor is it indicative of future performance or success. The forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, in particular, the overall financial health of the securities industry, the strength of the healthcare sector of the U.S. economy and the municipal securities marketplace, the ability of the Company to underwrite and distribute securities, the market value of mutual fund portfolios and separate account portfolios advised by the Company, the volume of sales by its retail brokers, the outcome of pending litigation, and the ability to attract and retain qualified employees.

SOURCE Ziegler

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14, 2026 — Homestead Capital, an investment manager specializing in U.S. agriculture, today announced the successful first close of its inaugural commingled private credit strategy, which focuses on originating senior secured loans to agricultural borrowers across the United States.

This first close was anchored by a $150 million commitment from the private credit investment team of a large U.S. state pension system, which views the strategy as a complementary asset-backed lending diversifier within its private credit portfolio. Homestead is targeting a total raise of $350 million in commitments from investment partners with a hard cap of $500 million.

“These significant commitments reflect increasing institutional demand for differentiated private credit strategies backed by real assets,” said Dan Little, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Homestead Capital. “Agriculture continues to face a structural shortage of flexible lending capital despite strong borrower demand and resilient collateral values. We believe Homestead’s deep operating expertise, nationwide sourcing network, and disciplined underwriting position us to address this market while delivering compelling opportunities for investors.”

The commingled private credit strategy builds on Homestead’s established, integrated agricultural investment platform to provide flexible financing solutions to high-quality agricultural operators while seeking attractive risk-adjusted returns through asset-backed lending. The strategy focuses primarily on senior secured loans collateralized by farmland and other agricultural assets, addressing financing needs that are often underserved by traditional agricultural lenders. 

Since its founding in 2012, Homestead has deployed more than $1.8 billion across a diverse portfolio of U.S. farmland and agricultural assets, developing long-standing relationships with operators, landowners, and agricultural service providers nationwide. These relationships provide proprietary sourcing advantages and support the firm’s underwriting, portfolio monitoring, and asset management capabilities.

The first close of the inaugural commingled credit strategy follows the firm’s recent announcement of a strategic partnership with Barings and MassMutual. This partnership was initiated with a $300 million forward-flow program, providing additional capital to support Homestead’s expanding agricultural lending platform.

“We are grateful for the confidence our investors have placed in our team and strategy,” said Justin Burns, Head of Credit at Homestead Capital. “This first close enables us to capitalize on a robust pipeline of lending opportunities while continuing to build long-term partnerships with institutional investors seeking exposure to a differentiated segment of private credit.”

About Homestead Capital

Homestead Capital is an investment manager that seeks to acquire, finance and manage diversified portfolios of high-quality farmland assets across the United States. Founded in 2012, Homestead employs equity and credit strategies with a focus on risk management and differentiated portfolio construction. Homestead seeks opportunities for value enhancement through capital improvements, tailored farm management, crop selection and rotation, and economies of scale. San Francisco-based Homestead manages approximately $1.8 billion in equity and credit assets, as of Aug. 14, 2026, for pension plans, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and family offices. 

For more information, please visit www.homesteadcapital.com.

Media Contacts
David Chan, Head of Investor Relations
[email protected]

Margaret Kirch Cohen, Newton Park PR
[email protected]
+1 847-507-2229

SOURCE Homestead Capital

HOUSTON, Aug. 14, 2026 — Fannin Partners, LLC today announced two new grants from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) and the Faris Foundation to advance development of a targeted Raptamer-Drug Conjugate (RapDC) therapy for Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive pediatric cancer with limited treatment options. The CDMRP’s mission is foster novel approaches to biomedical research in response to the expressed needs of its stakeholders, and the Faris Foundation is dedicated to advancing research and improving outcomes for children with cancer.

Ewing sarcoma is a rare and aggressive bone and soft tissue cancer that primarily affects children and adolescents. Patients whose disease recurs or becomes resistant to standard therapy have few treatment options. The company is developing RapDCs targeting IL1RAP, an internalizing cell-surface receptor expressed on the majority of Ewing sarcomas. RapDCs are similar to antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), replacing antibodies with fully synthetic Raptamers that bind internalizing cell-surface proteins and deliver cytotoxic payloads directly into cancer cells. These awards also represent further external validation of the broader Raptamer platform, which is designed to generate targeted therapeutics against a wide range of disease-associated cell-surface receptors.

“At the Faris Foundation, we invest in exceptional science,” said Dr. Asha Virani, Founder and Mommy to Chief Angel Officer of the Faris Foundation. “Fannin’s team is advancing an innovative platform with the potential to transform the treatment of Ewing sarcoma. The CDMRP’s support further validates the scientific promise of this work and underscores the urgent need for new treatment options for children with this devastating disease. We are honored to partner with Fannin in advancing this important program.”

“We are grateful for the support of both the CDMRP and The Faris Foundation,” said Dr. Atul Varadhachary, Fannin Managing Partner. “Children with relapsed Ewing sarcoma have seen far too little therapeutic innovation over the past several decades. These grants enable us to advance our synthetic RapDC platform toward a new generation of targeted therapies that are more precise and programmable than existing approaches. Philanthropic funding is especially important for advancing therapies for rare pediatric cancers, where commercial incentives alone are often insufficient.”

These awards expand Fannin’s growing pediatric oncology portfolio, joining Allterum Therapeutics’ CD127 antibody program in clinical development for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Raptamer Therapeutics’ RapDC program for osteosarcoma currently in IND-enabling studies. Beyond the Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma programs, the Raptamer platform provides a versatile foundation for developing targeted therapeutics across multiple disease areas. Its modular design enables the development of therapies directed against disease-associated cell-surface targets, supporting future applications in oncology and other therapeutic areas.

About Raptamer Therapeutics
Raptamer Therapeutics is Fannin’s proprietary precision therapeutics discovery platform. The fully synthetic Raptamer technology is designed to enable precise targeting, programmable molecular design, and site-specific conjugation of therapeutic payloads. Using the Raptamer platform, Fannin is advancing a pipeline of targeted therapeutics across multiple therapeutic areas.

About Fannin

Established in 2014, Houston-based Fannin Partners is among the most active early-stage product development groups in the life sciences with a dozen programs/platforms at different stages including four in clinical development. Fannin advances its pipeline both internally and through Fannin-founded entities with a combination of investor and grant funding. More than $295 million has been invested across the Fannin portfolio, including over $85 million from grant funding. An additional critical element to our model is helping develop life sciences entrepreneurs locally through our talent development programs. For more information, visit www.FanninInnovation.com.

For More Information:

Serena Miggins
[email protected]
713.966.5844

SOURCE Fannin Partners