Founded by ex-Tesla engineers, Maritime Fusion combines high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cable technology with DOE and Columbia Research partnerships to bring fusion energy to ships.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 24, 2025 — Maritime Fusion, a fusion energy company developing first-of-a-kind (FOAK) reactors for maritime and off-grid applications, today announced the closing of a $4.5 million seed round led by Trucks VC, with participation from Silicon Valley legend Paul Graham, Alumni Ventures, Aera VC, Y Combinator, and several strategic angel investors. The capital accelerates the company’s mission to develop its HTS cable technology and bring fusion power to the commercial shipping industry before grid-scale adoption.

While most fusion companies aim directly for grid electricity production that requires high power density and a large capacity factor to be cost competitive, Maritime Fusion is taking a different approach. The company is developing a low-power-density tokamak reactor optimized for off grid applications, where the first viable commercial use cases require 10× less power with zero emissions, far lower uptime requirements, and cost parity with alternative energy sources. This approach to commercialize the tokamak also alleviates the main unsolved materials science and confinement challenges that emerge between breakeven fusion and grid scale reactors.

“Breakeven fusion is on the horizon, but the grid may not be the first place fusion achieves commercial success” said Justin Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Maritime Fusion and a former Tesla engineer. “By targeting applications that require lower power and lower uptime, we simultaneously reduce challenging physics problems from power exhaust to nuclear activation, while also decreasing the burden and cost impact of maintenance operations that are unavoidable in any first-of-a-kind deployment.”

Maritime Fusion is developing Yinsen, a low-power-density HTS tokamak designed with an emphasis on reducing the scope between breakeven class devices and grid scale reactors. The company is advancing the physics basis for Yinsen through two research relationships:

• A Sponsored Research Agreement with Columbia University, focused on pulse scenario development and time dependent plant systems.
• Participation in the U.S. Department of Energy’s DIII-D National Fusion Facility, enabling targeted experiments aligned with Maritime Fusion’s operating regime.

Maritime Fusion has launched a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cable program centered on its patent-pending SHIELD (Superconducting High Integrity Energy Link & Distribution) architecture. The cable recently reached a major milestone, carrying 5,000 amps at 77K in a liquid-nitrogen-cooled bench test at the company’s new San Francisco HTS lab.

SHIELD has a smaller diameter than a quarter (excluding cryostat hardware) but can handle up to 8,000 amps at 77K self-field and even higher current under fusion-relevant conditions. The architecture is also highly modular, allowing for easy packaging of an array of insulated cable bundles to enable industry-leading engineering current densities, strong mechanical robustness, and simplified integration into fusion magnets. 

While SHIELD is the heart of Maritime Fusion’s tokamak magnets, the company also plans to sell this same cable into commercial power distribution sectors starting with AI datacenters, where demand for dense high-power transmission is growing rapidly. Compared to copper material, an HTS solution offers enormous energy savings by avoiding ohmic losses, requiring only ~1.5 W/m of cryocooling at 77K. The main difference in the fusion grade cable compared to power distribution is the need for REBCO tape with Advanced Pinning for high field fusion applications, but nearly all other features of the cable are otherwise the same. The value of efficient power transfer coupled with a much smaller physical footprint enabled by HTS conductors, can exceed $10M per year in cost savings for large-scale datacenter operators.

“Fusion’s impact on transportation will be enormous, obviously for the grid, but also for large-scale applications like maritime,” said Jeffrey Schox, partner at Trucks Venture Capital. “The team picked a smart first channel, allowing them to make a significant impact well before the largest barriers to grid fusion are fully solved.”

Maritime Fusion is hiring across engineering, manufacturing, and business development.
Candidates can apply here.

About Maritime Fusion

Maritime Fusion is developing HTS cable technologies and a low-power-density fusion reactor designed for off-grid applications. Founded by former Tesla engineers, the company is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Trucks VC, Paul Graham, Alumni Ventures, Y Combinator, Aera VC, and leading deep-tech investors.

Media Contact:
[email protected] 

SOURCE Maritime Fusion

Opti is transforming Identity and Access Management (IAM) by giving security teams an AI engine that understands enterprise access at scale – turning complex identity decisions into precise, explainable, and instantly actionable insights

NEW YORK, Nov. 24, 2025 — Opti, the AI-native identity security platform, has secured $20M seed funding in a round led by YL Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Hetz Ventures, with participation from Squared Circle Ventures, LocalGlobe, Maple Capital and angel investor and cybersecurity trailblazer Shlomo Kramer. The funding will be used to accelerate product expansion and global growth.

Identity and access management is at the heart of every cybersecurity challenge – but just 50% of organizations rate their IAM tools and investments as effective, due to manual processes and limited adoption of advanced tools and automation. 

Without automation, businesses struggle to manage a growing and complex range of identity-associated vulnerabilities. Research from McKinsey shows that automation in a cybersecurity context not only improves efficiency, but also enhances overall risk management. Additional studies focusing on critical infrastructure, for example, demonstrate that AI can increase threat detection by up to 98%. Opti brings these advances to identity security with a fully automated platform that cuts costs, saves time and reduces risk and vulnerabilities.

Opti introduces a new automated operating model for identity security, one where AI interprets identity risk, recommends least privilege decisions, and orchestrates clean, safe access across an enterprise. The platform’s pre-trained AI models are built to understand identity context – setting a new benchmark for how identity-based threats are managed. By deploying domain-expert LLMs, trained on curated identity data and frameworks, Opti interprets complex relationships between users, systems, and access rights.

“Identity has evolved into a massive data ecosystem that enterprises struggle to control. Teams work incredibly hard, but they spend their time managing complexity instead of focusing on strategic opportunities,” said Barak Perelman, CEO and Co-founder. “Opti gives them an intelligence layer that elevates and automates their capabilities – making identity operations faster, clearer, and safer.”

“Opti is redefining how enterprises approach identity security. For too long, the space has relied on fragmented, manual, and outdated systems,” said Yoav Leitersdorf, Managing Partner at YL Ventures. “Opti’s AI-native IAM platform introduces a smarter, faster, and more efficient way to manage and mitigate identity risk. Their agentic technology delivers measurable impact by reducing complexity, saving resources, and strengthening enterprise defenses. We’re proud to back their vision and partner with this exceptional team.”

Opti’s AI-Native platform analyzes thousands of data points and their business context to provide teams with ⁠real-time detection of identity vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and overprivileged access. In addition, it offers validated least privilege recommendations generated by domain-specific identity models. Opti’s agentic AI orchestration continuously verifies access corrections with full human oversight and leverages compliance models to transform access and entitlements into straightforward user access reviews.

Built with complex identity infrastructures in mind, Opti is trusted by large enterprises across finance, retail, healthcare, and technology, sectors where identity context, risk reduction, and continuous compliance are mission-critical.

About Opti

Founded in 2024, Opti is an AI-native platform revolutionizing identity and access management (IAM) for enterprises. Built by serial cybersecurity entrepreneurs Barak Perelman, Mille Gandelsman, and Ido Trivizki, it uses advanced GenAI and specialized large language models (LLMs) to automate identity operations, reduce security risks, and enhance compliance. Opti empowers organizations to work more efficiently, more securely, and more cost-effectively.

Learn more at: https://www.opti.ai/

Contact:
Gavin Horwich
[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2830397/Opti_Team.jpg

SOURCE Opti

NEW YORK, Nov. 24, 2025 — Model ML, the leading global AI workflow automation platform for financial services, today announced a $75 million Series A financing led by FT Partners, the global leader in FinTech investment banking. The round also includes significant participation from Y Combinator, QED, 13Books, Latitude and LocalGlobe, and comes just six months after the company’s seed raise, led by LocalGlobe, and only twelve months after its launch.

“We’re thrilled to announce this round with such an exceptional group of investors as we continue our mission to transform how financial institutions work. This financing enables us to accelerate global expansion and advance our AI capabilities across key financial hubs as we scale to meet rapidly growing enterprise demand,” said Chaz Englander, CEO of Model ML. “We couldn’t imagine a better strategic partner for us than FT Partners – Steve McLaughlin and his team have long been pioneers in leveraging data and technology in investment banking, and our tight collaboration will show how AI can redefine the entire financial advisory workflow.”

“Model ML is setting a new standard for how financial institutions leverage AI to achieve superior client results,” said Steve McLaughlin, Founder & CEO of FT Partners. “While we expect significant efficiency gains, the true power of Model ML lies in the insights it will unlock for our clients, investors, and the broader FinTech ecosystem. We believe Model ML will fuel the next evolution of world-class service for our clients and transparency across all stakeholders in transactions.”

Addressing a Critical Market Need

Founded by brothers and repeat entrepreneurs Chaz and Arnie Englander, Model ML enables financial teams to build AI workflows that automate client-ready Word, PowerPoint, and Excel outputs directly from trusted data, in exact prior formats. This capability is applicable across entire organizations, driving group-wide deployments. It is now in use at several of the world’s largest banks, asset managers and consultancies, including two of the Big Four accounting firms.

High-stakes deliverables like pitch decks, investment memos, and diligence reports are still built through slow, manual processes that strain teams and stall business momentum. Entire deal teams across all levels of seniority lose time formatting outputs and chasing down inconsistencies across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These inefficiencies introduce reputational risk and slow decisions.

That’s the gap Model ML is built to close. Model ML’s agent workflows go far beyond simple data retrieval and chat interface flows. They interpret schemas, reason across multiple sources, write the code needed to extract or transform data, and generate finished, branded outputs—long PowerPoint decks, research reports, investment memos—with verification built in.

Model ML’s verification capabilities are a big differentiator. The company recently ran a verification workflow, testing the AI against consultants from McKinsey and Bain on real Word and PowerPoint outputs. The consultants took over an hour to complete the task. Model ML did it in under three minutes and still caught more errors. In other words, it wasn’t just 20x faster; it was more accurate.

Chaz continued, “High-stakes business runs on documents: pitch decks, diligence summaries, investment memos. But most firms still build them the hard way. Analysts spend entire weekends cross-checking numbers and formatting slides. Despite all that effort, mistakes still slip through because no one can realistically verify every data point in a 100-page deliverable. That’s why we built Model ML. Our agents reason across data sources, write the code to extract and transform what’s needed, and generate finished, branded outputs with verification built in. We’re eliminating the grunt work so teams can focus on the analysis that actually matters.”

Industry-Leading Advisors

Model ML is guided by a prestigious advisory board including:

• Sir Noel Quinn (Former CEO, HSBC)
• Axel Weber (Former Chairman, UBS)
• Saul Nathan (Former Chairman, Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley)
• Jeff McDermott (Former Global Co-Head of Investment Banking, UBS and Nomura)
• Philip Rickenbacher (Former CEO, Julius Baer)
• Keith Robinson (Chairman, Tech IB, Barclays EMEA; Ex-Chief Strategy Officer @ Sage)

“Model ML is creating the blueprint for how modern financial services firms will operate,” said Axel A. Weber, Former Chairman, UBS. “In today’s world, precision and speed are essential, reputation and innovation are a must. Model ML delivers this at scale.”

“Model ML is creating something remarkable that will transform financial services entirely,” Sir Noel Quinn, Former Group CEO at HSBC. “By seamlessly integrating an intuitive, user-friendly interface with cutting-edge AI, Model ML is empowering financial professionals to work smarter, extract deeper insights, and enhance efficiency.”

“Model ML has moved faster than almost any company we’ve seen,” Colin Evans, OpenAI “Their acute product–market fit, relentless product focus, and genuine care for their customers are setting them apart. They’re consistently pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with LLMs—and showing the world what AI in financial services can truly look like.”

Customer Traction

In less than a year, Model ML has grown its customer base to include several of the largest investment banks, asset managers, and consultants in the world.

“Model ML has been a bit of a game changer for us,” Fiona Satchell, Senior Managing Director, Three Hills Capital. “From automating monthly portfolio reporting updates to generating initial drafts of our investment memos, it has streamlined critical processes across the team. By removing much of the manual, repetitive work, it has freed our teams to dedicate more time to value-added analysis, sharper investment insights, and driving stronger outcomes across our portfolio.”

Big 4, Deal Advisory “Model ML is generating a lot of excitement in our team. Over my 25-year career, I’ve seen teams spend hours on repetitive tasks and fixing errors in client-deliverable decks. Model ML is enabling us to dramatically reduce the level of effort required to check deliverables, helping save much-needed time for our teams. Beyond the product, their flexible approach to developing a solution that works for us makes them incredibly easy to work with.

Big 4, Deal Advisory “We’ve been blown away by Model ML’s capabilities and their team. Their AI modules have not only freed up over 90% capacity during review and prep stages for our teams, but they’ve also demonstrated how they can achieve the same outputs with higher accuracy than if we performed the workflows manually. We know this is a crowded space, and we spent months doing our due diligence. We’re confident Model ML is the right team for our needs.”

Use of Investment Proceeds

This new financing will be used to accelerate global expansion and deepen AI capabilities across key financial hubs. The company will build out dedicated onboarding and customer success teams in San Francisco, New York, London, and Hong Kong to support rapid enterprise adoption.

In parallel, Model ML will scale its AI engineering and infrastructure teams in New York and London, focusing on advancing its proprietary agentic systems and workflow automation modules. These investments will ensure seamless deployment, integration, and scaling for the firm’s growing roster of global banking, private equity, and consulting clients.

About Model ML

Model ML is the AI workflow builder for financial services. It enables teams to build AI Modules that automate client-ready Word, PowerPoint, and Excel outputs directly from trusted data, in exact prior formats. Founded by brothers and repeat entrepreneurs Chaz and Arnie Englander, the company is guided by a world-class advisory board and is already working with some of the largest financial institutions globally.

About FT Partners

Financial Technology Partners and its affiliates (FT Partners) is the leading global investment bank focused exclusively on FinTech, providing world-class strategic and financial advisory services to CEOs, founders, and investors across the global FinTech landscape. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York and London, the firm has advised on many of the most significant transactions in FinTech.

SOURCE Model ML

Pioneer of Whole-Family Care for Medicaid Thriving and Ready for Next Clinical and Product Growth Phase

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 21, 2025 — Nest Health is the first one-stop solution for whole families on Medicaid that brings medical, behavioral, and social care right to their door. Nearly half of children and postpartum women on Medicaid do not receive recommended care. This in-home option has made a dramatic impact for moms, dads and children alike, and has impressive traction amidst a challenging Medicaid environment in the U.S.

With proven impact and significant growth ahead, Nest Health is excited to announce the close of its Series A round, now exceeding $22.5 million. New investors include Socium Ventures, a venture and growth investment firm backed by Cox Enterprises, Amboy Street Ventures, Impact America Fund, Hopelab, University Growth Fund, and Luminary Impact Fund. Socium Ventures will join the Nest Health board of directors.

With the Series A funding, Nest plans to expand its family-focused clinical products, using AI to automate care and supercharge the efficiency of its care teams, and to grow both in current states and into new geographies through existing and additional payer partnerships.

“Getting to one doctor, let alone five doctors, can be overwhelming for so many families. Partnering with Nest aligns with our mission to support innovative models that address real challenges,” said Tim Howe, partner at Socium Ventures. “Nest has demonstrated that bringing care directly into the home can help improve health outcomes and cost savings. The team’s unique combination of clinical acumen and technology expertise positions them to scale this impact nationwide. We are proud to support this growth phase, and together we look forward to creating meaningful change in the healthcare system.”

“Amboy Street Ventures invests in companies that fundamentally expand access to care for women and families. Nest’s model succeeds because it delivers comprehensive medical, behavioral, and social care directly into the home—where it’s most needed and most effective,” shared Carli Sapir at Amboy Street Ventures. “What the team has built is not only clinically rigorous, but operationally scalable in a Medicaid environment that rarely rewards innovation. We’re proud to support Nest as they enter this next phase of growth.”

How Nest Works:
Nest’s model is the first comprehensive Medicaid care solution built for the entire household, harmonizing a family’s care plan and avoiding the need to juggle between pediatric, adult, or mental health and other fragmented point of care-based providers. Every family receives longitudinal care through in-home visits aligned with ages and stages of development, supplemented with virtual care when that is the best fit. Services include primary care, mental health and substance use treatment, social support such as help with housing or utilities, 24/7 access to clinical support, and care coordination with specialists. Nest also leverages AI capabilities to automate workflows before, during and after pivotal human interactions between caregivers and families.

“The home environment is crucial for good health, and a healthy home is required to change generational health outcomes,” says Dr. Rebekah Gee, CEO and Founder of Nest Health. “Nest Health is determined to provide a new standard of care and concrete solutions for better health — and eliminate access barriers for the millions of American families who need an alternative care model. We are honored to have best-in-class new and existing investors championing our growth.” 

The Nest model continues to help families in Louisiana and Arizona, and the data are impressive:

• 2:1 ROI for payer partners
• NPS score of +98
• Reaches 75% of families for whom health plan had no working number
• 60% reduction in ER utilization (pre/post engagement, validated by 3rd party)
• Payer churn reduced by more than half (55%)
• Vaccination rates 2x state target in Louisiana
• In Arizona, 62% of Nest patients who’ve received a flu shot this season did not receive one last year.

“At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Health Choice, we believe the best care meets families where they are. Our partnership with Nest Health is bringing a proven, whole-family model into homes across Maricopa County and rural Mohave County, where limited provider access makes this care especially impactful. Together we are connecting medical, behavioral, and social care to improve health and equity for families,” shares Dr. Heather Carter, Medicaid Segment General Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and Health Choice CEO.

About Nest Health
Nest Health is the first value-based healthcare provider built for families. Nest is making comprehensive medical, social, and behavioral care radically accessible to America’s highest-risk families through in-home visits and wraparound virtual care. To learn more about Nest, watch this video.

Media Contact:
Catherine Sanderson
Head of Marketing & Communications, Nest Health
[email protected]

SOURCE Nest Health

Agentic AI platform serves one-third of top 30 global pharma companies, delivering 18x faster insights and turning medical evidence into a driver for physician and patient adoption of novel therapies

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2025 — Sorcero, the AI-powered intelligence platform for life sciences, today announced $42.5 million in Series B financing led by NewSpring Growth, NewSpring Capital’s dedicated growth equity strategy that invests in fast-growing, industry-transforming technology companies. They are joined by Leawood Venture Capital and Blu Ventures, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $59 million. The latest funding allows Sorcero to accelerate expansion across medical affairs, safety, scientific communications, and medical device segments globally, continue scaling its platform for a medical-insights driven engagement model, and meet life sciences’ critical need to drive adoption of breakthrough therapies.

One-third of the top 30 global pharma companies use Sorcero to discover actionable insights from their medical data and drive effective evidence-based, personalized engagement with healthcare professionals (HCPs). Using Sorcero, companies are improving productivity in generating scientific evidence by up to 92%, accelerating insight generation by up to 72%, and delivering published evidence, manuscripts, and value dossiers two to five months faster than manual efforts.

The Sorcero Intelligence Platform includes Sorcero Medical™, Sorcero SciComms™, Sorcero Safety™, Sorcero Medtech™, transforming how therapies get to market, accelerating content production, and improving patient outcomes. Sorcero uniquely combines Agentic AI specifically trained for life sciences, the industry’s largest medically-enriched data pool, and a platform architecture designed for regulatory and privacy needs of life sciences.

“Our vision is to create a unified intelligence platform for the precision medicine era,” said Dipanwita Das, CEO and co-founder at Sorcero. “We’re pioneering a new evidence-based medical affairs model where science, personalized for physicians, drives engagement and product adoption. This puts doctors’ evidence needs at the center and helps life sciences generate real-world insights radically faster, identify patients in need of specific treatments, and continually improve patient outcomes to drive healthcare provider adoption.”

Optimizing life sciences for a disruptive era

Precision medicine and specialty drugs now represent over 80% of new approved products. Companies spend billions on research and development, but new complex medicines take years to secure broad adoption and coverage, with effective therapies often failing to reach eligible patients. With over 1,300 drugs in Phase III development and with 76% of new products securing less than 50% payor coverage in six months, quality and speed-to-market of scientific publishing and evidence are critical and medical affairs teams require new approaches to deliver the precision targeting and evidence today’s therapies require.

An estimated 70% of healthcare professionals (HCP) believe that pharma representatives don’t understand their needs and 62% are overwhelmed by the volume of irrelevant promotional content. Inadequate understanding of patient and customer needs is one of the leading causes why drug launches underperform.

Sorcero unifies fragmented global data and real-world evidence into actionable, compliant intelligence. The platform integrates hundreds of sources to create a 360-degree view of over 40 million HCPs and 100 million published scientists worldwide. Medically-tuned AI agents ingest, analyze, and validate information to ensure 96.1% clinical inclusion accuracy, surpassing the 95% FDA regulatory threshold and PhD-level human performance.

Unlike traditional medical outreach informed primarily by U.S.-only claims data and prescription volumes, Sorcero reads more than 263 million publications and 1.3 billion citations globally, including every congress session, report, survey, CRM interaction, safety case, and medical inquiry. This identifies which KOLs and doctors are active in specific research areas or treating relevant patient populations. The platform continuously monitors product efficacy and safety, providing the precise, real-time insights precision medicine practitioners now expect, and allowing life sciences customers to engage HCPs with the right information at the right time.

Investor and market validation

“We see tremendous potential in AI helping pharma engage the right doctors with the right evidence at the right time and ultimately serve patients who can’t wait months for critical information on life-changing therapies,” said Hart Callahan, NewSpring General Partner. “Sorcero is uniquely positioned to become the vertical AI platform precision medicine demands and provide the medical insights that get treatments to patients faster.”

“We invested in Sorcero because their time-to-replicate advantage and expanding data network create a widening moat as they scale,” said Dan Goldsmith, life sciences software veteran and investor. “As specialty therapeutics become the norm, life sciences organizations must be data-driven and science-focused to improve therapy adoption. There’s a lot of hype around AI, but few companies deliver measurable value at scale. Sorcero stands out as a proven AI platform—driving real outcomes, accelerating evidence generation, and transforming how therapies reach patients.”

Sorcero is backed by exclusive data and deep AI and data partnerships with Google Cloud, Springer Nature, ServiceNow, USDM Life Sciences, and Snowflake, with built-in GxP, GVP, GDPR, and SOC II compliance and pharmacovigilance to meet the needs of a highly regulated industry. The company’s recent acquisition of Axiom Health accelerates its expansion into the medical device market.

The Sorcero platform is available directly and via the NIH STRIDES and Google Cloud Marketplace today, as well as a growing number of digital marketplaces. To learn how Sorcero is pioneering a new insight-driven medical & market access model in life sciences, visit www.sorcero.com.

About Sorcero
Sorcero’s medically-tuned intelligence platform transforms life sciences decision-making, accelerating patient access to life-saving treatments. By delivering global insights, we empower industry leaders to deliver breakthrough therapies. Founded in 2018 by pioneers in AI, public health, and personalized content, Sorcero is a Certified B Corp headquartered in Washington, DC. The company’s innovations have been recognized by over a dozen awards, including as Google’s Partner of the Year for Healthcare & Life Sciences, America’s Most Innovative Companies by Fortune, Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies, and seven foundational medical AI patents. Learn more at: www.sorcero.com.

About NewSpring
For more than 25 years, NewSpring Capital has worked alongside founders and management teams in the lower-middle market, providing capital, operational support, and strategic guidance to help businesses scale. With over $3.5 billion in assets under management and more than 250 investments completed, we bring operational experience and investment expertise to build market-leading companies across sectors such as technology, healthcare, business services, consumer, and industrials. Through five distinct strategies covering the spectrum from growth equity and control buyouts to mezzanine debt, we tailor our approach to each company’s stage and goals, always with a focus on sustainable growth. As specialists in the lower-middle market, we support growth that leads to more predictable outcomes. At NewSpring, we are as invested in your outcome as you are.

SOURCE Sorcero

The largest Dragons’ Den deal in history, backing a category defining shift in undergarments.

TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2025 — District Ventures Capital (“District Ventures“), a venture capital fund focused on investing in innovative CPG brands today announced it has led a $20 million investment in women’s intimate-apparel brand, Huha Wear Inc. (“Huha“). The investment, District’s largest to date, had co-investors including Export Development Canada.

The Vancouver-based brand, founded in 2019 by Alexa Suter is rapidly redefining health, comfort, and performance in the underwear category. Known for its popular Mineral Undies line, which uses breathable, tree-derived fibres combined with antimicrobial zinc-oxide liners, Huha will be using the investment for continued product innovation, building category leadership, and expansion into new markets.

“Alexa has developed a brand that resonates with consumers by creating underwear for modern health and comfort,” said Arlene Dickinson, Founder and General Partner of District Ventures Capital. “We see tremendous potential in Alexa’s vision and impressive momentum, and we are thrilled to partner and support the next chapter of this rapidly growing brand.”

Originally pitched on Season 18 of the hit TV series, Dragons’ Den, where a deal was struck by Arlene and Alexa, this now marks the largest investment in the show’s 20-year history and is District’s largest investment to date.

“When founding Huha, my vision was to support, rather than compromise, women’s comfort and wellness,” said Alexa Suter, Founder of Huha. “With District Ventures’ resources behind us, we’re now ready to amplify that vision and bring Huha to more markets and consumers. This is an exciting milestone for the brand and the investment validates the demand for products that are made with innovative fibres that are healthy for our skin.”

District Ventures’ investment in Huha further underscores the venture capital fund’s strategy of backing innovative Canadian consumer packaged goods brands that merge strong visions with scalable business models.

Media Contact

District Ventures: [email protected]
Huha: Sydney Schiff, 917.710.0488, [email protected]

About District Ventures Capital

District Ventures Capital is a venture capital fund that specializes in investing in innovative companies in the food and beverage, and health and wellness sectors. Led by General Partner, Arlene Dickinson, the fund has distinguished itself from traditional venture capital funds by offering a unique platform that provides companies with unparalleled support in marketing, programming, and commercialization. With $100 million in investments managed through Fund I and ongoing investments from Fund II, District Ventures Capital is dedicated to providing tailored support to companies that are bringing innovative products to market, driving growth and creating jobs in the consumer brands space.

For more information, visit www.districtventurescapital.com.

About Huha Wear Inc.

Huha designs thoughtful skin-layer garments for bodies that breathe, sweat, move, and live. Made with TENCEL™ and SMARTCEL fabrics, the latter permanently spun with soothing and natural antimicrobial zinc oxide, Huha’s skin layer basics are better and more breathable for all bodies. Huha is doing something different in women’s intimates, setting a new standard of self-love and self-care. Founder Alexa Suter’s search for a solution to her recurring UTIs, led to the creation of Huha’s mineral underwear which has expanded into a product range of bras, underwear, tanks, boxers and shorts in 2XS-3XL. Huha obsesses over fit, comfort, and functional fabrics because your underwear should work with your body, not against it. 

Follow along on Instagram @wearhuha and online at hu-ha.com. 

SOURCE Huha

• Claire Glossop Irani, Promoted to Head of Strategic Partnerships & Office of the CEO, Relocates to Abu Dhabi to Lead Regional Initiatives

ABU DHABI, UAE, Nov. 21, 2025 — Inovia Capital, Canada’s leading full-stack software investor partnering with founders to build global tech companies, today announced the opening of a new office in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)—one of the world’s most dynamic hubs for innovation and artificial intelligence. This expansion strengthens Inovia’s global presence with offices across Canada, the Bay Area, London, and now the UAE.

The opening of the Abu Dhabi office marks an important milestone in deepening strategic partnerships across the Middle East following the Canadian Innovation Delegation in the UAE led by the firm in October, and supports the ambitions outlined in the recent Canada-UAE Memorandum of Understanding on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Infrastructure.

“Canada and the UAE share a strong and growing ambition to advance innovation, talent mobility, and global collaboration,” said Chris Arsenault, Partner & CEO  at Inovia Capital. “Our new office builds on the momentum created through relationship-building efforts that began over a year ago, including our October Innovation Delegation in the region, and allows us to contribute meaningfully to building bridges between our two ecosystems.”

As part of this expansion, Claire Glossop Irani, recently promoted to Head of Strategic  Partnerships and Office of the CEO, has relocated to Abu Dhabi to lead Inovia’s efforts across the Middle East. In addition to continuing to oversee Inovia’s Global Investor Relations function, her mandate will include supporting portfolio companies by generating new commercial and financial partnerships, especially in the UAE and KSA.

Claire’s professional experience in the Gulf, when she was previously based in Dubai, combined with her investor relations, investment and ecosystem-building expertise, positions her uniquely to accelerate Inovia’s regional ambitions.

“It is an opportune moment to accelerate strengthened ties between the Canadian and Middle East tech ecosystems,” said Claire Glossop Irani. “Being based in Abu Dhabi will allow us to better support our portfolio by deepening our relationships with entities committed to building the next generation of global technology companies.“

While Inovia’s core investment mandate remains firmly rooted in Canada, the opening of the Abu Dhabi office—and extended activities across the Middle East—represents a significant milestone in the firm’s commitment to building ties with the region and supports its mission to back founders as they build global, sustainable technology companies.

About Inovia Capital

Inovia Capital is Canada’s leading full-stack software investor, partnering with founders to build impactful and enduring global companies. With three investment strategies—Discovery, Venture, and Growth—the team leverages an operator-led mindset to provide founders with multi-stage support, mentorship, and access to a worldwide network. Inovia manages over US$2.5B with operations in Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Calgary, the Bay Area, London and Abu Dhabi. For more information, visit inovia.vc.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 20, 2025 — Plug and Play, the world’s largest innovation platform and early-stage venture capital firm, today announced its official expansion into New York City through two initiatives led by New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC): the NYC AI Nexus and the International Landing Pad Network (ILPN).

The announcement was made on stage during the Plug and Play Enterprise & AI Expo at the Silicon Valley Summit, where industry leaders, startups, and investors gathered to discuss how artificial intelligence and digital transformation are reshaping business. Together, these initiatives mark Plug and Play’s first location in New York City and reinforce its commitment to connecting innovators, corporations, and governments to solve global challenges through technology.

“Plug and Play is expanding into New York City’s unparalleled innovation ecosystem in a major way, as a selected operator for both our NYC AI Nexus and International Landing Pad Network initiatives,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President & CEO Andrew Kimball. “The firm’s established expertise building technology ecosystems all over the world will strengthen NYCEDC’s efforts to support early-stage and global companies, fostering dynamic innovation, job creation, and economic growth right here in the five boroughs.”

Through the NYC AI Nexus, Plug and Play will focus on helping small and medium-sized enterprises adopt and implement AI solutions that improve efficiency and business outcomes. The program will target industries including food and beverage, media and advertising, travel and hospitality, and professional services. Over the next three years, Plug and Play and co-operator C10 Labs will collectively support up to 165 AI startups, facilitate 96 pilots between startups and industry partners, and host 90 ecosystem events citywide.

“New York City represents one of the most dynamic and diverse innovation ecosystems in the world,” said Michael Olmstead, Chief Revenue Officer and Partner at Plug and Play. “Through our collaboration with NYCEDC, we’re excited to help founders—from early-stage AI innovators to global deep tech leaders—scale their solutions, pilot new technologies, and connect with corporate partners that can accelerate real-world impact.”

As part of the International Landing Pad Network, Plug and Play will also lead a program in partnership with Cornell Tech to attract growth-stage international companies to New York City. The initiative aims to bring over 50 international startups to the city within 12 months, offering coworking space, mentorship, and access to Plug and Play’s global network of investors and corporate partners. The program will focus on startups operating in medtech, health, sustainability, and deep tech sectors as they scale into the U.S. market.

“The International Landing Pad Network gives international startups a soft landing into one of the world’s most influential innovation hubs,” said Sherif Saadawi, VP of Growth Strategy, Plug and Play. “With the support of NYCEDC and Cornell Tech, Plug and Play will help global innovators navigate the U.S. startup landscape, connect with corporate partners, and unlock the opportunities that only New York can offer.”

Plug and Play’s new operations in New York City will serve as a hub for innovation, connecting startups, corporations, investors, and academic institutions to build solutions that strengthen industries and create new jobs.

To learn more about Plug and Play New York, visit: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/locations/new-york-city.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we’re present in 60+ locations across 25+ industries. We offer corporate innovation programs, helping our partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also run startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC where we’ve invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.

Media Contact
Jacky Tsang
Senior Communications & PR Associate
[email protected]

SOURCE Plug and Play

Built by decorated veterans and elite operators, Twenty emerges from stealth to deliver intelligent, full-lifecycle cyber warfare systems to accelerate the speed and scale of U.S. and allied cyber operations.

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 20, 2025 — Twenty, the company leading the industrial-scale transformation of cyber warfare technologies, today announced that it has raised $38 million in total funding. The Series A round was led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from General Catalyst and In-Q-Tel.

Founded in 2024, Twenty has operated in stealth while partnering with the U.S. military and Intelligence Community to build and deploy intelligent, agentic, end-to-end systems that accelerate the entire offensive cyber operations lifecycle. By applying world-class software engineering to a warfighting domain historically lacking commercial innovation, Twenty delivers military and intelligence cyber capabilities to deter and defeat determined adversaries.

The funding comes amid intensifying warnings about violations of U.S. digital borders and the need to conduct offensive cyber operations to hold adversaries accountable and protect Americans at home. Experts have noted that America’s investments in offensive cyber capabilities are falling behind rapid advancements by its adversaries, particularly the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Members of Congress and Administration officials have been alarmed by repeated PRC intrusions into U.S. critical infrastructure and telecommunications networks. John Ratcliffe, Director of the CIA, called for the urgent modernization of offensive cyber capabilities so that the U.S. has “all the tools necessary to go on offense against our adversaries.” The need is especially pressing after revelations last week that PRC state-sponsored hackers used Anthropic’s AI to conduct a highly-automated hacking campaign targeting major corporations and foreign governments.

Twenty’s Co-founder and CEO, Joe Lin, first recognized critical gaps in offensive cyber operations while leading Public Sector at Expanse. There, he saw how U.S. cyber analysts and operators often relied on manual processes and disjointed tools to execute missions of national consequence — approaches unsuited for the speed and scale of cyber conflict.

“We are in an existential competition with the PRC, a highly determined adversary that seeks to remake the global order in its image. Cyberspace is the front line of our competition against China,” said Joe Lin, Co-founder and CEO of Twenty. “To counter the PRC, we must equip our analysts and operators with intelligent and autonomous capabilities needed to conduct cyber operations at industrial scale. We can no longer rely upon bespoke methods to generate mission outcomes in a domain that underpins every element of modern life and warfare.”

Timothy Junio, co-founder and CEO of Expanse (acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $1.25B in 2020) who led Twenty’s Seed round, remarked:

“This is the strongest team I’ve ever seen building cyber capabilities for critical national security missions. Joe and Twenty’s co-founders have assembled an extraordinary group of world-class technologists, former operators from military and three-letter agencies, and business leaders who’ve landed over $100M in government contracts. I can think of no better company to build and deploy transformative capabilities for the U.S. government, military, and Intelligence Community.”

Raymond Tonsing, Managing Partner of Caffeinated Capital, emphasized the urgency of the mission:

“As our adversaries grow more sophisticated, the United States must close critical gaps in its cyber operations. Twenty is a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity to help improve our national security. We are thrilled to partner with Joe and the Twenty team.”

About Twenty
Twenty builds and deploys intelligent and autonomous end-to-end systems that accelerate the entire offensive cyber operations lifecycle. Founded in 2024 by decorated veterans and elite operators, the company partners with the U.S. military and Intelligence Community to deliver mission-ready capabilities designed to counter determined adversaries and secure the foundations of modern life.

SOURCE Twenty