Funding will expand AI-powered platform to mobile research and scale team to meet demand from Fortune 500 and high-growth companies
NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 — Strella, the AI-powered customer research platform, today announced that it has raised $14 million in Series A funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Decibel Partners, Bain Future Backed Ventures, MVP Ventures and 645 Ventures.
The investment will allow Strella to expand its platform to mobile customer research and accelerate engineering team growth – enabling new research methodologies that leverage Strella’s AI capabilities.
Emerging from stealth in October 2024, Strella is building the AI-native platform to democratize customer research across organizations. Traditional customer research remains a weeks-long manual process. Strella addresses this gap by incorporating AI into the most tedious parts of the research process.
“We built Strella to make research faster, smarter, and more human — proving that teams no longer have to choose between speed and depth. By combining AI with human insight, we’re creating a new standard where qualitative research is continuous, scalable, and empowers confident decisions at every level of an organization.” Lydia Hylton CEO, Co-founder
Strella has experienced explosive growth, quadrupling its customer base and increasing revenue tenfold since coming out of stealth. The platform now serves leading companies, including Amazon, Duolingo, Apollo GraphQL, and Chobani, collectively conducting thousands of interviews, delivering a 90% average time savings on manual research work.
“Before Strella, studies took weeks. Now we get insights in a day — sometimes in just a few hours. And because participants open up more with the AI moderator, the feedback is deeper and more honest. Research is now faster, richer, and easier to access across our team.” Brian Santiago, Sr Product Design Manager, Apollo GraphQL.
“Strella makes it possible to do user interviews at a scale, speed, and cost that was impossible before LLMs and also expands the universe of use cases (customers are creative!). This macro trend combined with ever-improving voice models places Strella at the center of multiple compelling technological tailwinds,” said Lindsey Li, Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We are especially impressed by the team’s combination of technical depth and commercial expertise, and by Strella’s ability to unite AI with human insight. The team is setting a new standard for qualitative research.”
About Strella Strella is an AI-powered customer research platform that enables teams to conduct hundreds of in-depth user interviews in hours instead of weeks. The platform’s AI moderator adapts in real-time to participant responses, probing deeper like skilled researchers to uncover the ‘why’ behind user behavior. By combining survey speed with interview depth, Strella delivers 10x faster insights while maintaining the nuanced understanding of traditional qualitative research. Used by Fortune 500 companies and fast-growing startups, Strella helps teams validate ideas and understand customer needs — transforming weeks of manual research into insights overnight.
ORANGE, Calif., Oct. 16, 2025 — Assistive Technology Development, Inc. (ATDev), a pioneer in AI-enabled, high-performance rehabilitation and personal mobility solutions, announced today that it has raised $3 million in Seed funding. The round was led by Dobrzelecki Legacy Ventures, with participation from Uphonest Capital, The Life Science Angels, and other industry expert angels.
ATDev CoFounders Todd Roberts and Owen Kent showcase their Reflex product
“This investment is a major milestone in our mission to deliver mobility for all, empowering people of every ability to live independently through cutting-edge, affordable technology,” said Todd Roberts, CEO and co-founder of ATDev. “We’re thrilled to have partners who share our belief that access to movement is a fundamental human right.”
Reimagining Independent Mobility
ATDev’s mobility ecosystem combines robotics, wearable technology, and telehealth to support independence at any level of physical ability. Its flagship device, Reflex, is a smart, at-home knee rehabilitation robot that brings high-quality physical therapy into the home environment.
Meeting a Growing National Need
More than 61 million Americans live with disabilities, and 10,000 Americans turn 65 each day. The demand for affordable, reliable assistive mobility solutions is growing rapidly. Yet, traditional technologies are often bulky, expensive, and ill-suited for modern, independent living.
“Our long-term vision is a world where ability is never limited by cost or infrastructure,” said Owen Kent, CMO and co-founder of ATDev. “This capital helps us bring that vision to life faster, for millions of people.”
About Assistive Technology Development, Inc. (ATDev)
Founded in 2020 and spun out of UC Berkeley, ATDev is an assistive technology startup building an ecosystem of robotic personal mobility devices.
NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 — Temple Digital Group announced that it successfully raised a $5M seed round to build a privacy focused trading platform for digital assets on the Canton Network.
The round was led by Paper Ventures and included participation from YZi, CMT Digital, Sfermion, Halo Capital, Protagonist, 5N Canton, Eterna Capital, AMA, GSR, Selini, Presto and G20.
Temple leverages Canton‘s privacy-preserving architecture to deliver 24/7 markets with built-in compliance and connectivity to the broader digital-asset economy. The platform combines features of traditional electronic trading systems—such as automated order routing, all-to-all liquidity, and post-trade reporting—with blockchain innovations such as instant settlement, tokenization, and non-custodial wallets.
With the new funding, Temple plans to expand its product lines to support additional assets, financial instruments, and integrations across blockchain networks.
The Canton Network, whose development group, Digital Asset, recently raised 135M,has built a new technical stack to update the international financial system in collaboration with the world‘s largest institutions. Canton Network is already conducting trillions in monthly volume from products launched by major partners such as Goldman Sachs, Broadridge, BNP Paribas, and more.
Designed to meet institutional standards for privacy and compliance, Canton provides additional privacy and compliance features for capital markets —offering capabilities that networks like Ethereum and Solana cannot natively support.
The company‘s leadership team—Evan Varsamis (CEO) and Dan Simerman (CSO)—bring deep experience in digital assets, trading systems, and decentralized networks. The duo see Canton as ‘An Open Institutional Network‘ where anyone can access and build technology for the new financial system.
“We see an incredible opportunity to develop new financial primitives with and for large institutions ready to participate in digital asset markets” said Evan Varasmis, CEO and co-founder of Temple. “We want Temple to be a core trading engine for use cases that have traditionally been inaccessible on decentralized networks.”
About Temple Digital Group
Temple Digital Group is an infrastructure development company building a privacy focused technical stack to trade capital markets on the Canton Network.
The expansion will add 12,000 square feet of covered bay space and 3,000 square feet of indoor workspace
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 16, 2025 — RTI International, an independent scientific research institute, today celebrated the start of a project that will more than double the size of its RTI Pilot Xcelerator (RPX), a plug-and-play demonstration facility at its Research Triangle Park campus that helps government agencies, commercial partners and startup companies scale, engineer and test transformative energy and industrial innovations.
From left: RTI’s Mike Kaelin, Harold Hicks, David Dausch, Tim J. Gabel, Marty Lail, and Sameer Parvathikar break ground on the RPX expansion
The expansion of the RPX will add 12,000 square feet of covered bay space and 3,000 square feet of indoor workspace, control rooms and staff amenities, resulting in over 25,000 square feet of space dedicated to pilot-scale technology demonstration. The upgraded facility is expected to open in 2026 and will enhance RTI’s ability to help clients validate the performance of new technologies under real-world conditions.
“The RTI Pilot Xcelerator brings our mission to life, helping transform bold scientific ideas into real-world solutions that tackle society’s toughest challenges,” said RTI President and CEO Tim J. Gabel. “We’re proud to be investing in the infrastructure that allows science to move faster and farther.”
RPX is the only privately owned energy pilot laboratory in North Carolina and one of the few in the U.S. To date, it has been used to develop and scale technologies that convert agricultural waste into biofuels, capture carbon emissions and produce low carbon intensity aviation fuels.
“Today’s groundbreaking reflects our commitment to advancing energy innovation,” said David Dausch, Ph.D., Vice President, Engineering and Advanced Technology at RTI. “Taking emerging energy technologies from concept to commercial readiness is a major challenge. By expanding RPX, we’re creating a more robust environment to help clients bridge the gap between laboratory prototype and real-world impact.”
The expanded RPX will feature configurable bays for process skids and dedicated control rooms for real-time monitoring. It will also be fully connected to the utilities, bulk gas supply, and other infrastructure needed to support advanced testing and scale-up. A planned adjacent solar field will enable behind-the-meter integration for renewable energy demonstrations.
“The RPX expansion builds on the success of the original facility established in 2013, which has supported partnerships with government agencies and commercial clients,” said Sameer Parvathikar, Ph.D., Program Director of RPX and the Senior Director of Sustainable Energy Solutions at RTI. “This next chapter opens the door to even more collaborations with clients tackling the toughest energy and industrial challenges.”
In June 2025, Aether Fuels, a sustainable fuels technology company, announced a project to demonstrate its breakthrough Aether Aurora™ sustainable aviation fuel at RPX. Other recent clients include Syzygy Plasmonics, which successfully demonstrated an all-electric CO2-to-fuel production pathway, and Lydian Labs, which conducted a successful pilot demonstration of its e-Reforming technology for producing sustainable aviation fuel.
Funding led by Bayland Capital, with participation from GTJA Investment Group, Proxima Ventures, Lapam Capital, and Grains Valley Venture Capital
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 16, 2025 — BridGene Biosciences, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for traditionally “hard-to-drug” targets, today announced the recent completion of a $28 million Series B+ financing round. The round was led by Bayland Capital, with participation from GTJA Investment Group, Proxima Ventures, and existing investors Lapam Capital and Grains Valley Venture Capital.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance BGC-515, a covalent TEAD inhibitor for solid tumors, through ongoing clinical development and toward Phase 2. The funding will also support the company’s second program, expected to enter the clinic in 2027, and accelerate the development of additional programs in oncology and autoimmune diseases. In addition, the financing enhances BridGene’s capacity to expand strategic collaborations and further validate the broad applicability of its proprietary IMTAC™ chemoproteomic platform across oncology, immunology, and neurology.
“Our recent financing provides important resources to advance our lead program, BGC-515, a covalent TEAD inhibitor, through Phase 2 clinical development,”said Ping Cao, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of BridGene Biosciences. “This funding will also enable us to progress additional pipeline programs toward the clinic and further expand the reach of our IMTAC™ chemoproteomic platform through strategic collaborations, as we continue to translate our discoveries into transformative therapies for patients.”
“We are excited to lead this financing round for BridGene Biosciences,” said Yuexing Su, Founding Partner of Bayland Capital. “BridGene’s IMTAC™ platform represents a powerful and differentiated approach to drug discovery, enabling the company to discover small molecules against traditionally undruggable targets. With a growing pipeline led by the covalent TEAD inhibitor BGC-515 and multiple follow-on programs across oncology and autoimmune diseases, we believe BridGene is well positioned to deliver transformative therapies to patients and generate substantial value in the biopharmaceutical field.”
About BridGene Biosciences BridGene Biosciences is a biotechnology company pioneering the discovery and development of innovative small-molecule drugs that target traditionally undruggable targets. Leveraging its proprietary IMTAC™ (Isobaric Mass-Tagged Affinity Characterization) chemoproteomic platform, BridGene screens covalent small molecules against the entire proteome in live cells to identify novel binding sites and drug candidates for high-value targets.
The company is advancing a diversified pipeline led by BGC-515, a covalent TEAD inhibitor currently in clinical development for solid tumors, along with additional programs in oncology and autoimmune diseases. BridGene’s approach integrates deep chemical biology with translational insight to unlock new therapeutic opportunities and bring transformative medicines to patients.
About Bayland Capital Founded in 2019, Bayland Capital is an investment firm specializing in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. It serves as the exclusive investment platform of Pharmaron, a leading global provider of life sciences services. Leveraging deep industry insights, Bayland Capital seeks global investment opportunities in innovative drug R&D platforms, novel therapeutics and medical devices. Bayland’s mission is to enhance human health by integrating life sciences, the healthcare industry and capital markets. Bayland’s vision is to become a leading global healthcare investor, driving biomedical innovation.
About GTJA Investment Group Founded in Shenzhen in 2001, GTJA INVESTMENT GROUP (GIG) is dedicated to investment in the healthcare industry with a focus on strategic equity investment. GIG is involved in all the investment stages which include PIPE, M&A, PE, VC, and angel investment. GIG has the largest healthcare investment team in China, and has an AUM of US$3.3bn. GIG has invested in more than 160 companies, 110 of which are in the healthcare industry, 41 portfolio companies went IPO. GIG’s global impact is sustained through our branches in HongKong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, and other major cities worldwide. GIG is in the process of growing into an investment group with global vision and impact.
About Proxima Ventures Proxima Ventures is a respected VC fund focused on investing in innovative and disruptive medical and bio- technologies, dedicated to serving outstanding and innovative companies with tremendous potential for growth. Proxima Ventures is run by a highly experienced team with proven track record in the life science industries. The team has broad global knowledge, in-depth experience, and an extensive industry network. Currently, Proxima has multiple Chinese Yuan (RMB) and USD funds under its management, investing in angel to growth stage companies. Proxima Ventures has established a leading medical entrepreneurship ecosystem, helped its portfolio companies connect with high-quality clinical and industrial resources, and achieved remarkable results.
About Grains Valley Venture Capital Since its establishment in 2012, Grains Valley has focused on early-stage venture capital investments in cutting-edge technologies including information technology, life sciences, artificial intelligence, and clean technology. With assets under management exceeding RMB 3 billion, the firm has invested in over 50 companies, including notable names such as Hello Inc. and CloudMinds. Adhering to in-depth sector research and long-term collaboration as its core philosophy, Our vision is Empowering humanity’s exploration of new frontiers intechnological civilization.
Oversubscribed round reflects surging enterprise demand for device management and security in private LTE/5G deployments.
BOSTON, Oct. 16, 2025 — OneLayer, the leader in private LTE/5G OT management and Zero Trust security, today announced it has closed a $28 million Series A round led by Maor Investments with participation from McRock Capital, Chevron Technology Ventures and existing investors Viola Ventures, Grove Ventures and Koch Disruptive Technologies.
Co-Founders: Dave Mor (CEO), Or Turgeman (VP R&D)
The Series A round brings total funding to more than $43 million, enabling OneLayer to accelerate its go-to-market motions and expand product capabilities as enterprises rapidly adopt private cellular networks for critical operations. The investment reflects the company’s explosive growth, with 6X growth last year and 3X growth this year backed by a strong customer pipeline extending through 2026.
“Private 5G represents a massive market opportunity, with enterprise demand far outpacing the industry’s ability to deliver simple, secure solutions,” said Ido Hart, Partner at Maor. “OneLayer solves this by translating cellular networks into enterprise IT language, eliminating the need for specialized cellular expertise. At its core, OneLayer is building the essential infrastructure layer that will make private 5G as ubiquitous as WiFi or any LAN.”
OneLayer’s mission is to secure and manage all private cellular network devices with enterprise-grade capabilities while eliminating the need for specialized cellular expertise. The company’s platform transforms private cellular environments from operational silos into integrated enterprise networks, providing complete device visibility, security, and control through familiar IT management tools.
The funding round was highly competitive and oversubscribed, reflecting strong investor confidence in OneLayer’s vision and proven momentum. OneLayer has demonstrated significant market traction across multiple verticals, including utilities, manufacturing, mining, airports, and critical infrastructure, with proven deployments spanning across North America, Europe and Latin America. This includes major expansions at leading fortune 100 manufacturers, with enterprises scaling from initial deployments to comprehensive multi-site deployments spanning numerous facilities.
“Enterprises are deploying private cellular networks at unprecedented scale, but they’re struggling with device visibility, security gaps, and operational complexity that didn’t exist with traditional IT infrastructure,” said Dave Mor, CEO and Co-Founder of OneLayer. “The demand for solutions that bridge this gap is explosive, customers need to manage thousands of cellular-connected devices with the same confidence and control they have over their existing IT assets.”
“OneLayer enables secure private 5G for industrial automation and autonomy – the foundation Industrial AI needs to scale,” said Scott MacDonald, Co-founder & Managing Partner of McRock Capital. “Private cellular networks represent the next wave of digital transformation, but connectivity without security is a house of cards. OneLayer provides the missing layer of trust that enterprises need to adopt private 5G with confidence.”
“OneLayer’s software platform holds promise to improve private cellular network reliability and integration for industrial companies, offering better visibility, cost efficiency and security,” said Jim Gable, Vice President of Innovation within Chevron’s Technology, Projects and Execution division and President of Technology Ventures at Chevron. “This is the latest investment from our Core Venture Fund, which focuses on high-growth startups and breakthrough technologies that have the potential to improve Chevron’s core businesses, as well as create new opportunities for growth. We welcome OneLayer to the portfolio.”
OneLayer’s platform has proven essential for organizations deploying private LTE and 5G networks at scale. Notable deployments include:
Southern Linc’s regional LTE network spanning 122,000 square miles across Alabama, Georgia, and southeastern Mississippi, supporting diverse devices from grid control systems to mission-critical push-to-talk services.
Evergy’s private LTE network, built to eventually cover their 1.7 million customers in Kansas and Missouri; currently supporting thousands of devices, including Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, smart meters, OT and other cellular devices.
Latin America mining operations where OneLayer enabled automated processes, improved operational efficiency, and secure deployment of new production sites through comprehensive device discovery, classification, and network segmentation.
OneLayer’s comprehensive partner ecosystem spans the entire private cellular value chain, from cellular leaders Nokia and Ericsson to leading cellular router manufacturers Digi, Cradlepoint, and Multitech; CMDBs ServiceNow and SolarWinds; channel partners and integrators World Wide Technology (WWT), Burns & McDonnell (B&M), Anterix, and Future Technologies; and leading cybersecurity vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Checkpoint, Claroty, and more.
Adding to the strong revenues from its expanding customer base, the company will use the Series A funding to:
Accelerate go-to-market initiatives in response to surging enterprise demand
Expand product capabilities to provide customers a platform that solves their critical operational pains
Scale geographic expansion beyond North America following successful entry into Latin American markets, and further expand European operations
OneLayer’s growth reflects the broader market transformation as private cellular networks evolve from carrier-grade infrastructure to enterprise-managed networks. With partnerships across major 5G vendors and proven success in critical verticals and leading enterprises, OneLayer has become the defacto solution for managing and securing the rapidly expanding private cellular market.
About OneLayer OneLayer provides advanced asset management, operational intelligence, and Zero Trust security for private LTE and 5G networks. Its technology empowers enterprises to manage their cellular networks seamlessly without the need for cellular expertise. For more information, visit www.onelayer.com.
With $1 billion in insured value, Stand brings mitigation-first coverage to the largest catastrophe market in the U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 16, 2025 — Stand, the company reimagining insurance for catastrophe-exposed properties, today announced the close of its $35 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Eclipse, alongside previous investors Inspired Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, and Equal Ventures. Since its launch just over a year ago, Stand has grown rapidly, underwriting $1 billion in insured value in its first market, wildfire-exposed California.
The new funding will support Stand’s expansion into Florida, one of the largest and most volatile catastrophe markets in the United States. According to NOAA, the state has experienced 94 separate billion-dollar disasters since 1980, with the last seven events alone resulting in more than $1 trillion in losses. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s state-run insurer of last resort, currently holds nearly $300 billion in exposure, underscoring both the scale of the market and the urgent need for sustainable private capacity.
“Insurance should play a central role in creating resilient communities,” says Dan Preston, co-founder and CEO of Stand. “The scale of risk in Florida demands a new model: One that links coverage to hardening homes against wind storms. That’s what Stand is building. By expanding into the largest catastrophe market in the country, we’re working hard to make this a reality for the world’s property owners.”
Stand’s approach to insurance is rooted in resilience. By linking coverage to mitigation upgrades, such as hardening homes against wind, fire, and flood, Stand helps homeowners reduce their risk while lowering costs over time. Stand’s underwriting is informed by physics-based models, first applied to wildfire and now extended to wind, offering a more precise view and clear assessment of how structures withstand extreme weather events.
Damage due to weather-related catastrophes have topped $146 billion per year on average in the US over the last decade, while access to insurance coverage has diminished. Insurers are departing states worst-hit by disasters and hundreds of thousands of homeowners have been left without coverage after large insurers either cancelled policies or denied renewals.
“Over the last 10 years, U.S. weather disasters have caused over $1.4 trillion in losses — with less than half insured,” said Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Eclipse partner and board director at Stand. “Rising costs and shrinking coverage are leaving American families exposed. Eclipse’s $30M investment in Stand reflects our conviction that resilience is the future, giving property owners the tools to safeguard their properties and their futures.”
Led by industry veterans with decades of experience across insurance, technology, and applied science, and backed by top investors and reinsurers, Stand is recognized for outstanding claims management and customer service. With operations now spanning California and Florida, Stand is scaling its mission to protect homes in the world’s most catastrophe-prone regions.
Second Nature’s next generation AI-based training solution is set to build on existing success with major brands such as Oracle, Zoom, Adobe, Teleperformance and Check Point
NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 — Second Nature, the sales and service AI roleplay platform, has announced today a Series B funding round of $22m, led by Sienna VC and supported by Bright Pixel, StageOne Ventures, Cardumen, Signals VC, and Zoom, which is also a customer. Building on notable industry recognition such as selection by Open AI during its beta stage, the company co-founded by a former Facebook lead engineer and a Kaltura senior executive will use the funding to expand its operations and further refine its industry-leading AI sales training technology.
Second Nature Announces Series B Funding Round
Second Nature creates a data model of each company’s sales and service playbook by analyzing recorded calls, marketing collateral, scripts, and other customer-facing materials. From this, it generates a library of AI-driven roleplays that mirror the most common scenarios teams encounter. These roleplays enable realistic practice with AI-powered avatars that can simulate objections, challenges, and diverse customer responses. After each conversation, the system provides targeted feedback against customizable performance metrics. Highly scalable and quick to deploy, customers can build their first AI roleplays within an hour of onboarding, with support for more than 20 languages, multiple scenarios, and a range of conversational moods.
With businesses incorporating AI into more functions than ever before, sales is one area doubling down on AI to find that edge. McKinsey highlighted that companies which invest in AI enjoy a revenue uplift of up to 15% and a sales ROI increase of up to 20%, underscoring the huge potential for high-impact, AI-driven tools in this arena. Through its interactive, sophisticated AI-powered roleplaying simulation, Second Nature has consistently demonstrated how it is transforming sales and service performance, meeting and surpassing industry expectations.
Across its portfolio of major brands and household names including the likes of Zoom, Oracle, Adobe, Teleperformance and Check Point among others, sales increased by over 20% following an average of only 30 minutes practicing per trainee with Second Nature. Likewise, onboarding time decreased substantially – in some cases shaving three weeks off a typical nine week process.
Ariel Hitron, Co-Founder and CEO at Second Nature said, “The introduction of AI is rapidly changing the playbook for sales, service, customer-facing, and go-to-market teams. From Fortune 100 enterprises to fast-growing startups, companies use Second Nature to help their teams adapt to this new reality, onboarding faster, improving performance, and rolling out new product messages more effectively. As a leader in this space, this new funding enables us to accelerate and expand our product and technology innovation, seamlessly integrating personalized AI training, coaching, and certification into the workflow of any team.”
Second Nature has been deployed across a range of industries, from HR to education, healthcare to waste management, and is applicable to any customer facing setting. Its success has already been demonstrated with customers such as insurance marketplace GoHealth, with reported onboarding time being down by 33%, as sales increased by more than 20%. While video conferencing leader Zoom saw opportunities increase from 2.78 per month to over 6, while experiencing a 100% sales employee participation rate.
“Second Nature is setting the standard for AI roleplay training. Their platform helps sales teams practice, improve, and perform faster and at scale. This foundation puts them in a strong position to execute on a long-term vision: delivering the next generation of AI Sales Agents, the next big pillar in modern go-to-market strategy. We are proud to back Ariel, Alon, and their team, for the precision, impact, and long-term value they bring,” said Mikaël Pereira, Partner at Sienna VC
“Second Nature is an innovator, pioneering the AI role-play market. In 2019 we made our initial investment, and since then have seen how Second Nature is continuously transforming AI role-play technology into real, quantifiable business impacts for leading global enterprises. Our continued support highlights our confidence in the growing market and in Second Nature’s ability to maintain and expand its leadership,” commented Tal Slobodkin, Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures
Gonzalo Martinez de Azagra, Founder and General Partner at Cardumen Capital added: “Second Nature is the gold standard in Sales training and Certification. As such they have an unmatched sales call dataset that can also help them dominate AI driven sales calls in the future.”
“When you see a customer increase from a $50k pilot to a $500k contract that then gets increased to over $1m per year, you know that the software does have full product market fit with enterprises. We are delighted investors in Second Nature,” commented Jens Lapinski, Founder and Managing Partner, Angel Invest.
About Second Nature
Second Nature is an AI-powered dynamic training platform, which provides a virtual partner to practice customer exchanges, sales pitches and other realistic scenarios. Its conversational AI engages in discussions with sales and customer service reps, scoring them, and helping them improve on their own so that they can ace every conversation Second Nature was founded in 2019 by Ariel Hitron, a seasoned tech entrepreneur who helped scale Kaltura from startup to global success and Alon Shalita, a former lead engineer at Facebook.
About Sienna VC
Sienna VC is a Paris-based venture capital firm investing in early growth tech companies. With over ten years of active investments in Israel, its team is the most active European investor in the Israeli ecosystem. Sienna acts as a bridge to Europe, helping founders expand and scale across the continent through its deep local networks and operational support.
About StageOne Ventures
StageOne Ventures is a seasoned venture capital firm with over 25 years of experience leading seed-stage investments and helping visionary founders build disruptive, high-impact companies. StageOne has a proven track record of turning early innovation into market leaders. Investing out of our 4th $150M fund, we support over 29 active portfolio companies, focusing on Israeli founders globally, leading seed rounds with continued support through Series B, and investing in enterprise technologies spanning cybersecurity, SaaS, AI, DevOps, and Deeptech. Beyond capital, we provide hands-on partnership through business development, strategic introductions, and access to strong founder and executive communities, all designed to help our companies scale and succeed.
About Bright Pixel
Bright Pixel Capital is the technology investment arm of the multinational group Sonae. With special focus on cybersecurity, infrastructure software, retail technologies, business applications and emerging tech, it has a portfolio of more than 60 companies, from early to growth stages. Bright Pixel acts as a partner that brings specialized know-how, global footprint, and a wealth of experience in helping companies from early stage to IPO. For more information, visit brpx.com.
About Cardumen Capital
Cardumen Capital is a global venture capital firm and asset management company with presence in Europe, Middle East and Asia that invests in world-class founders who bring the future into the present.
With €300M in Assets Under Management, Cardumen Capital’s extensive portfolio encompasses tech companies and fund investments across three different strategies, with global coverage.
Cardumen Capital strives to be the most active investor for both entrepreneurs. Its portfolio benefits from decades of experience in the world’s most important tech ecosystems, a culture of radical collaboration, and absolute availability. Cardumen Capital is backed by world-leading institutional investors and corporations.
SEATTLE, Oct. 16, 2025 — Brook.ai is making remote care an integral part of U.S. healthcare, extending continuity of care outside the traditional practice setting and delivering measurable improvements in patient outcomes. The company’s success has prompted new investment led by UMass Memorial Health and Morningside, accelerating Brook’s national expansion through a $28 million Series B to further its equitable, accessible care model.
“At UMass Memorial, we’ve seen firsthand how Brook’s remote care model improves patient outcomes and supports population health. That’s why we’re proud to lead this investment and expand our use of the platform, helping scale a solution that delivers continuous care at a critical moment for health systems,” said Eric Dickson, MD, President and CEO, UMass Memorial Health. “Our goal is to back models that expand access, improve equity, and strengthen the sustainability of care for our patients and community.”
Brook has achieved positive health outcomes with its partners, including reducing congestive heart failure (CHF) readmissions by 90% and achieving an 80% increase in controlled populations with hypertension in as little as six weeks.
This investment in Brook comes at a pivotal time as the company experiences significant growth. Always-on, personalized care with Brook’s platform has driven increased patient satisfaction and strong patient engagement— reflected in an 82% retention rate and Net Promoter Score of 66, placing Brook in the “excellent” category — and has fueled 204% patient growth over the past year, underscoring its growing value to patients and providers nationwide.
“Outcomes-focused support makes a real difference for patients and providers, and what really sets Brook apart is that people actually use our platform at home, every day. That engagement drives better outcomes and growth, as shown by the ongoing expansion we see with our customers and investors,” said Oren Nissim, CEO, Brook.ai. “Our partnership with UMass Memorial and Morningside in our latest investment round allows us to expand our outcomes-driven model to more health systems at a moment when it’s needed most.”
“Brook’s ability to deliver robust clinical outcomes while also creating clear benefits to its health system partners has created a truly differentiated platform, and we are proud to be co-leading with UMass Memorial on this investment,” said Stephen Bruso of Morningside. “This round will enable Brook to continue scaling its commercial activities while also expanding its clinical reach to become even more impactful to our partners.”
Brook’s remote care solution comes at a critical time for healthcare providers, as reimbursement models and care-at-home adoption accelerate toward 2026. It addresses urgent system-wide challenges, including workforce shortages, rising chronic disease, and mounting costs — by delivering outcomes-driven remote care that health systems can implement quickly.
“Our solution addresses the key barriers to adoption, allowing providers to implement remote care without the burden of building infrastructure, hiring staff, or managing complex billing processes,” added Nissim.
Brook’s platform is designed for easy adoption — health systems can be up and running in 30 days, with no capital expenditure required.
The Series B funding will be used to:
Expand services for additional patient populations and conditions
Increase product and engineering headcount, with a focus on safe AI development
Product enhancements to support higher engagement and better outcomes
Expand operations to support growth
For more information about Brook’s remote care platform, visit brook.ai.
About Brook
Brook.ai is enabling the future of remote patient care with a unique offering that blends remote clinical teams with AI to deliver continuous, always-on care. Brook augments traditional healthcare by combining intelligent data collection and analysis with compassionate support from skilled health specialists — shifting the paradigm from reactive, intermittent check-ups to proactive, ever-present, habitual care. For patients, this means getting better, faster, with instant access to care teams from the comfort of home. Providers can extend their care into patients’ homes without increasing clinician workloads. And payers can help members improve long-term health, slow disease progression, and reduce costly admissions. Brook’s personal health assistant, a part-AI, part-nurse system, is trained on millions of patient conversations over the past six years — providing timely nudges, insights, and recommendations. It all translates into better patient outcomes and ROI. Learn more at brook.ai.
