NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2025 — Siguler Guff & Company, LP (“Siguler Guff” or the “Firm”), a global private markets investment firm with more than $17 billion in assets under management, today announced the final close of the Siguler Guff Brazil Special Situations Fund III (“BSSF III” or the “Fund”), the latest vintage of its Brazilian Legal Claims strategy.

BSSF III closed on $415 million in commitments, surpassing its $350 million fundraising target. An additional $23.7 million (R$127,950,000) was raised through a parallel local currency vehicle, bringing total capital raised to approximately $439 million.

Siguler Guff’s Brazilian Legal Claims platform targets structured credit investments related to legal claims against Brazilian public entities. In this capacity, Siguler Guff is a capital solutions provider to corporations and individuals in need of liquidity. As an asset class, Brazilian Legal Claims are typically uncorrelated to broader economic conditions.

The Fund’s strategy is led by Cesar Collier, Partner and Head of Latin America, and managed by a team with over 100 years of combined experience with the legal and operational expertise to navigate Brazil’s complex judicial system. The Firm also actively participates in legislative discussions and has contributed to key Supreme Court rulings that help shape the asset class. Siguler Guff has maintained a local presence in Brazil since opening its São Paulo office in 2011.

Since launching the strategy in 2015, Siguler Guff has generated over $1.3 billion in investment proceeds from Brazilian Legal Claims. The Firm has exposure to hundreds of underlying credit-rights across more than 70 transactions closed over the past decade. Through this activity, Siguler Guff has cultivated an ecosystem of sophisticated legal partners, expert judicial appraisers, and sourcing/operating partners — a network that provides what the Firm believes to be one of the largest transaction funnels of Legal Claims investment opportunities in Brazil.

BSSF III’s predecessor fund, the Siguler Guff Brazil Special Situations Fund II (“BSSF II”), was recently recognized by Preqin as one of the top 10 best-performing private debt funds globally by net IRR (2017– 2022 vintage, $250–$499 million fund size). In addition, as of Q1 2025, BSSF II’s distributed-to-paid-in capital ratio ranks in the first quartile according to Cambridge Associates’ global private equity and venture capital benchmarks for funds in the 2019 vintage year.

Commenting on the fundraise, Sean MacDonald, Partner and Co-Head of Emerging Markets at Siguler Guff, said, “We are pleased that BSSF III exceeded its target and received excellent support from its current Limited Partners as well as new investors, validating the strategy’s strong performance since inception.”   

Drew Guff, Co-Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Siguler Guff, noted, “Our Brazilian Legal Claims strategy continues to perform well for investors owing to the leadership of Cesar Collier and the expertise of our São Paulo team, who have built important relationships in Brazil and throughout Latin America.”

Mr. Collier added, “We are pleased to continue bringing long-term institutional capital to Brazil and very proud of the tangible benefits our investments can deliver – supporting businesses and helping to create jobs and generate tax revenue.” 

NOTE: Preqin award and ranking was issued in April 2025. Selections and awards were made based on net IRR for private debt funds between $250m and $499m in size in the 2017-2022 vintage year cohort. Cambridge Associates’ top quartile ranking was based on Cambridge Associates’ global private equity and venture capital benchmark report for the period ending March 31, 2025. Rankings were made based on global private equity and venture capital funds in the 2019 vintage year.

Siguler Guff was not required to provide compensation to be evaluated or to receive the award from Preqin or Cambridge Associates. The selection methodologies of rankings and awards can be subjective and will often vary. These rankings or awards may not represent investor experience with Siguler Guff or Siguler Guff’s funds or services, nor do they constitute a recommendation of Siguler Guff or its services. Such ranking or award is not necessarily indicative of Siguler Guff’s past or future performance. 

About Siguler Guff
Siguler Guff is a multi-strategy private markets investment firm which, together with its affiliates, has more than $17 billion of assets under management. With 30 years of experience investing in private markets, Siguler Guff seeks to generate strong, risk-adjusted returns by focusing opportunistically on market niches. Siguler Guff’s investment products include multi-manager funds, direct investment funds and customized separate accounts targeting specific areas of compelling opportunity. The Firm’s core investment strategies include Small Buyout, Emerging Markets, Opportunistic Credit, Real Estate and Small Business Credit. Siguler Guff’s institutional investment knowledge, sector immersion approach and longstanding relationships provide access to compelling investment opportunities within each of its targeted strategies. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in New York, Siguler Guff maintains offices in Boston, Houston, West Palm Beach, London, Mumbai, São Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney.

Media contacts:
Jeffrey Taufield / Daniel Yunger
[email protected] / [email protected]
Kekst CNC
212.521.4800

SOURCE Siguler Guff

Aligns Investment Pillars with Growing Client Demand for Public to Private Portfolio Construction

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2025 — Nuveen, a global asset manager with $1.3 trillion in assets under management, today announced the creation of a dedicated Global Infrastructure Investment Platform, bringing together multiple specialized teams under unified leadership to capitalize on the unprecedented investor demand for infrastructure assets.

Reflecting the firm’s core areas of conviction, culture of collaboration, and unique position as a multi-asset manager, Nuveen’s investment capabilities will now be organized into six distinct asset class pillars.

This milestone follows decades of organic growth and strategic acquisitions that have established Nuveen as a leader in alternative investing, with $340 billion in assets under management across real estate, natural capital, infrastructure, private capital, and specializations in leveraged finance and private placements.

Doubling Down on Infrastructure

Global infrastructure investment needs are estimated at $94 trillion through 2040,¹ driven by energy transition requirements, digital transformation, and aging infrastructure replacement across developed markets. Nuveen’s new platform positions the firm to capture this opportunity through integrated expertise spanning sustainable real estate financing, clean energy development, infrastructure credit, and digital infrastructure equity investments.

“Over the course of multiple decades, we’ve strategically built out our broader alternative investment capabilities, and today we’re ready to meet the unprecedented client demand for infrastructure exposure across both public and private markets,” saidBill Huffman, Chief Executive Officer of Nuveen.

“We’re committed to delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions across the risk-return spectrum, from development-stage clean energy projects to stabilized digital infrastructure assets and differentiated securitized investment-grade opportunities. By bringing together our specialized teams, we can better serve clients who are seeking to allocate capital to the infrastructure investments that are essential to the global economy,” Huffman continued.

Jessica Bailey, who previously served as CEO of Nuveen Green Capital, has been appointed as Head of Global Infrastructure, a newly created role responsible for scaling the platform, which ranks among the top 20 infrastructure managers by AUM.² Bailey will report to Saira Malik, Nuveen Chief Investment Officer.

New Global Infrastructure Platform Combines Proven Specialists

Nuveen has a multi-decade track record as an infrastructure investment manager, with $36 billion in AUM across private infrastructure debt and equity and listed infrastructure. The newly structured multi-asset Global Infrastructure Investment Platform brings together multiple established teams, including:

• Nuveen Energy Infrastructure Credit provides private credit solutions supporting energy and power infrastructure development focused on digitalization, electrification, and reindustrialization trends across North America, Europe, and other OECD markets. Don Dimitrievich continues to serve as Head of Energy Infrastructure Credit.
• Specialized Nuveen Infrastructure Equity Teams led by Biff Ourso, who continues to serve as Head of Infrastructure Equity:
  • Diversified Infrastructure manages direct investments, limited partnerships, and co-investments in North American clean energy, agricultural infrastructure, digital, transportation, and social infrastructure assets.
  • Clean Energy Infrastructure manages committed capital across private infrastructure projects spanning clean and renewable energy and energy storage infrastructure globally.
  • Digital Infrastructure targets majority private equity investments in cloud, connectivity, and technology services businesses essential to the digital economy.

• Nuveen Green Capital is a national leader in sustainable financing solutions for critical infrastructure in commercial real estate, focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and resiliency projects. Retaining her title as Chief Investment Officer, Alexandra Cooley will also serve as Chief Executive Officer of Nuveen Green Capital. She co-founded the business in 2015 and helped create the industry-leading sourcing, structuring, and financing platform for C-PACE.³

The investment strategy and processes of each team remain unchanged. The Infrastructure Platform will benefit from the deep bench of infrastructure investment expertise core to the firm’s DNA as one of the largest municipal bond managers, with $190 billion in AUM.⁴ 

Core Investment Capabilities Reinforced for Continued Growth

In addition to Nuveen’s new Global Infrastructure Investment Platform, the five other distinct asset class pillars include:

• A Global Real Estate Platform which is among the largest in the world,⁵ with over $135 billion in AUM.⁶ Chad Phillips continues to serve as Head of Nuveen’s Global Real Estate platform.
• A Global Natural Capital Platform which positions Nuveen as the largest institutional investor in farmland, overseeing $11 billion in AUM across farmland and timberland. Martin Davies continues to serve as Head of Global Natural Capital.
• A Global Private Capital Platform which is a top-5 private debt fundraiser globally with $87 billion in committed capital and recently entered into a strategic partnership with Hunter Point Capital and Temasek. Ken Kencel and Anthony Fobel continue to serve as co-Chief Executive Officers of Nuveen Private Capital.
• A Global Fixed Income Platform which is among the largest in the world and recognized as a top-5 institutional fixed income manager, with $569 billion in AUM. Anders Persson continues to serve as Head of Global Fixed Income.
• A Global Equities Platform which is ranked among the top-5 best-performing active managers by LSEG Lipper and oversees $536 billion in AUM. Willis Tsai will serve as Head of Global Equities.

Media Contact: Sally Lyden | [email protected] | 646.984.1913

About Nuveen 
Nuveen is a global investment leader, managing $1.3 trillion in public and private assets for clients around the world, as of June 30, 2025. With broad expertise across income and alternatives, we invest in the growth of businesses, real estate, infrastructure, and natural capital, providing clients with the reliability, access, and foresight unique to our 125+ year heritage. Our prevailing perspective on the future drives our ambition to innovate and adapt our business to the changing needs of investors — all to pursue lasting performance for our clients, our communities, and our global economy.

¹ Global Infrastructure Outlook, a G20-backed initiative
² IPE Real Assets Report July/August 2024
³ The United States Department of Energy: 2016 C-PACE Report lists the Connecticut C-PACE program as the first statewide C-PACE program in the U.S.
⁴ As of August 2025
⁵ Pensions & Investments Real Estate Managers Special Report, Oct. 2024
⁶ All AUM figures as of August 31, 2025

SOURCE Nuveen

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 1, 2025 — Honest, Indonesia’s fastest-growing credit card issuer, has closed an oversubscribed growth round led by Orico, bringing the company’s total equity funding to $100 million. The round saw continued backing from XYZ Venture Capital, SV Pacific Ventures, and Village Global, alongside new participation from other leading U.S. investors, including Gilgamesh Ventures. Honest also secured $40 million in debt financing from Mizuho Bank.

With fewer than 3% of Indonesians owning a credit card, Honest is unlocking access to credit for millions of consumers. The company will use the new capital to expand its flagship Honest Card into corporate and co-branded cards, drawing inspiration from Nubank, Ramp, and Imprint in the Americas—but designed for Asia. Honest can launch co-branded cards in weeks and approves more than 90% of applicants, compared with traditional Indonesian banks that often take years to launch and approve fewer than 5%.

Makoto Umemiya, President & Representative Director of Orico, said:
“Indonesia’s credit card market holds enormous potential, and Honest is well-positioned to lead this growth with its innovative approach. We are excited to back the company as a long-term strategic partner, supporting its journey to become a market champion and transform financial services for millions of Indonesians.”

Orico is one of Japan’s leading credit card issuers and the consumer finance arm of Mizuho Financial Group, one of the world’s largest banks with trillions in assets.

Ross Fubini, Managing Partner at XYZ Venture Capital, added:
“We’ve never seen anything like Honest—it’s the first truly digital credit card in the region that customers are genuinely excited about. Honest has solved problems traditional banks couldn’t touch, and you can see the difference in how people talk about the product—they love using it.”

XYZ Venture Capital is a billion-dollar Silicon Valley fund founded by Fubini, who has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List. Fubini will also join Honest’s board with XYZ becoming the company’s second-largest investor after Orico.

About Honest

Launched in 2023, Honest is Indonesia’s fastest-growing credit card issuer, with ambitions to pursue a U.S. IPO before 2030. The company was founded by Peter Panas, former VP of Product for Apple Card at Goldman Sachs, and Will Ongkowidjaja, co-founder of Alpha JWC, Indonesia’s leading venture capital firm.

Honest is the only fintech in Indonesia with a credit card license, following its acquisition of GE Finance Indonesia in 2022. Its investors include leading Silicon Valley firms such as XYZ, Village Global, and Goodwater, as well as Japanese payments leaders Orico, Rakuten, and GMO. Notable angel investors include David Vélez, founder of Nubank.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Honest Financial Technologies

New funding to accelerate growth as apiphani combines Deep Automation™ and expert engineering to help enterprises move beyond legacy support models — delivering resilience, security, and performance.

BOSTON, Oct. 1, 2025 — Apiphani, an AI-native platform and managed services company for mission-critical applications, today announced$25 million in Series A funding led by global software investor Insight Partners. The new capital will accelerate apiphani’s growth, expanding its footprint in regulated industries such as energy, utilities, and telecommunications, where uptime, security, and performance are paramount. Enterprises have historically relied on global systems integrators (GSIs) leveraging labor-arbitrage models to deploy large teams of low-skilled, low-cost workers to manage complex IT environments — an approach that often results in missed service-level agreements and a heightened risk of downtime.

Apiphani takes a different path: small, highly skilled, senior teams empowered by apiphani’s proprietary, AI-driven automation and observability platform. The result is a model that can minimize risk, strengthen compliance, and deliver reliability — at scale — that legacy players can’t match. “At a time when global integrators will assign hundreds of people to support a relatively vanilla, mid-sized enterprise IT environment — and still miss service levels — we’re proving there’s a better way,” says Justin Folkers, Co-Founder and CEO of apiphani. “CIOs and CFOs know that downtime is unacceptable. It’s our belief that a combination of expert engineers and AI-driven automation is the only model that scales with resilience.”

Apiphani has achieved 100% uptime across all its client production environments for well over two years.

At the core of apiphani’s approach is luumen, its proprietary observability platform powered by the company’s AI-based Deep Automation™ technology. Originally developed to support apiphani’s managed services, it is now a product offering available directly to enterprises. Luumen gives engineers real-time visibility into environments and integrates seamlessly with IT toolchains across monitoring, alerting & escalation, ITSM, security, and backups. Designed as both an ecosystem and an engineer’s workbench, luumen includes a library of preconfigured automations for common application and infrastructure tasks. It also offers extensive add-ons and integrations that let teams tailor the platform to their environment. Beyond observability, luumen enables enterprises to build and monitor bespoke automations that reduce manual work, eliminate ticket sprawl, and increase the value of existing IT investments.

“We didn’t inherit the technical debt of legacy providers, so we built from the ground up with automation at the center,” says Cynthia Borgman, apiphani Co-Founder and Chief Delivery Officer. “This isn’t about labor arbitrage. It’s about enabling exceptional talent to do meaningful work in an environment that is both rewarding and supportive.”

“Enterprises have heard many promises over the past decade — resilience, better security, and workflow automations that save time and resources, to name a few. Today, outages and security breaches are even more common, and enterprises are investing millions in AI without seeing ROI. Apiphani has built the software product and managed services offering to meet those promises for their customers, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them in this next chapter,” says Richard Matus, Principal at Insight Partners.

Founded in 2018, apiphani began with on-premise SAP support and has since expanded its model to meet the needs of modern cloud and hybrid infrastructures. With new funding, the company plans to scale its engineering and go-to-market teams in Boston and Lisbon, while continuing to expand capabilities and broaden industry reach. “Our thesis was bold,” says Folkers. “But we’ve proven it works at scale. With the support of Insight Partners, we’re ready to help enterprises realign their operations with business objectives in ways that simply weren’t possible before.” Moelis & Company served as exclusive financial advisor to apiphani.

About apiphani

Apiphani, a technology-enabled professional and managed services provider, is reimagining the way organizations manage their mission-critical workloads. Apiphani helps unlock the hidden and under-utilized capabilities of customers’ existing software investments, reduces technical debt, and deploys and supports high-performance, highly resilient application estates that serve as the foundation for digital transformation and innovation. One of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S., apiphani is at the vanguard of the movement to hyper-automate IT operations. Apiphani’s luumen product suite, enabled by their AI-based Deep Automation™ technology, automates many of the common tasks associated with managing a complex IT environment, freeing people to focus on more value-additive work. To learn more, visit apiphani.io.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of June 30, 2025, the firm has over $90B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 875 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has a global presence with leadership in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on X @insightpartners.

Media Contact:
Hope Eyre
VP, Marketing & Alliances
Apiphani
Email: [email protected] 

SOURCE APIPHANI, INC

Led by Village Global with participation from Circle Ventures, Paxos, and WTI; Startup achieves $1 40 Million in total payment volume within first 11 months of launch

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2025 — Mesta, the Global fiat + Stablecoin Payment Network, today announced it has raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Village Global, with participation from Circle Ventures, Paxos, and WTI – Western Technology Investment. Existing backers including Garuda Ventures, Canonical Crypto, Everywhere Ventures, and Inventum Ventures also reaffirmed their support.

Mesta will deploy this capital to expand its global payment features, strengthen its international teams, and accelerate growth worldwide.

Since its launch just 11 months ago, Mesta has cemented itself as one of the fastest growing cross-border payment networks, combining the reliability of fiat rails with the efficiency of stablecoin rails. The company has processed more than $140 million in total payment volume (TPV) to date, with transaction volumes scaling more in the last two months than the first nine combined. Today, Mesta executes an average of $3 million in daily volume and is on track to surpass $300 million in TPV by year-end.

Scaling the Payment Network That Solves Cross-Border Pain

Cross-border payments have historically forced businesses to choose between speed and cost — sacrificing one for the other. Mesta solves this problem by combining fiat rails for reliability and compliance with stablecoin rails for speed and cost-efficiency, creating a single, faster, cheaper and more efficient hybrid payment network.

Mesta enables enterprise-grade cross-border payments across multiple use cases such as bill payments, payroll, supply chain payments and same name On/Off ramps. Mesta’s customers span the full spectrum of Web2 and Web3 – from payment companies, SMB fintechs, crypto wallets, OTC desks, and more. With support for USD, EUR, GBP, USDC, USDT, USDG and PYUSD, Mesta can convert these into global Stablecoins and 40+ global currencies via hybrid rails that eliminate the inefficiencies of legacy systems such as SWIFT. Its local rails built natively in many currencies deliver unmatched cost, speed, and compliance advantages – without the need for pre-funded pools. Mesta’s settlement times are very often just a few minutes and their customers save more than 50% on fees.

“Our mission at Mesta is to rewire the way money moves globally – faster, cheaper, and at enterprise-grade accuracy, without sacrificing compliance,” said Sandeep Pyapali, Founder & CEO of Mesta. “In under a year, we’ve proven the demand for hybrid fiat + stablecoin rails. This seed round allows us to double down on scaling our network and building the holy grail: the ability to move money seamlessly between any two fiat currencies worldwide.”

Why Now: Timing with the Genius Act and Market Momentum

The recently passed Genius Act, coupled with rising liquidity and adoption of stablecoins, signals a regulatory and market environment that is finally ready for enterprise-grade blockchain-enabled payments.

Mesta anticipated this convergence early, building a network that combines the best of blockchain innovation with regulated fiat corridors — positioning it as the go-to infrastructure for the next wave of global money movement.

The Founder Factor: Experience That Wins

Sandeep brings unmatched expertise to Mesta, having previously spearheaded the Uber Global Payment Network, facilitating billions in transactions across 70+ countries. His leadership experience at PayPal and BILL, gives him a unique perspective on what it takes to build a global, compliance-first, enterprise-grade network that addresses the real-world pain points of payments teams.

“When policy and innovation align, entire economies benefit,” Sandeep added. “We foresaw this moment, built the rails early, and now we are ready to help fintechs, wallets, and enterprises move money without friction.”

Investor Confidence in the Future of Payments

“Cross-border payments remain one of the most broken areas in global finance. Mesta’s hybrid rails – stablecoin + fiat, offer a real, enterprise-ready solution that the market has been waiting for,” said Jacob Mullins, Venture Partner at Village Global. “We are proud to back Sandeep and the Mesta team as they continue to accelerate adoption among fintechs, wallets, and enterprises worldwide.”

With strategic partnerships across leading fintech organizations, liquidity providers, and banks, Mesta is building a resilient, compliance-first network designed to become the global standard for cross-border money movement.

About Mesta

Mesta is the Global Fiat + Stablecoin Payment Network designed to rewire cross-border payments with enhanced speed, cost optimization, and efficiency in a compliance-first model. Launched in 2024, Mesta has already processed over $140 million in transaction volume, serving fintechs, payment companies, trade aggregators and wallets across the world. Founded by Sandeep Pyapali, Mesta is backed by leading global investors including Village Global, Circle Ventures, Paxos, WTI, Garuda Ventures, Canonical Crypto, Everywhere Ventures, and Inventum Ventures.

For more information, visit www.mesta.xyz

For media enquiries write to[email protected] 

SOURCE Mesta

Plutus, the emerging leader in Agentic AI solutions for the insurance sector, today announced an investment from ServiceNow Ventures , joining existing investor Moneta Ventures in backing Plutus’ mission to transform insurance carriers and brokers with AI-powered offerings built on the ServiceNow AI Platform.

CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2025 — Founded by former ServiceNow executives Chirag Jindal (CEO) , Kara Anderson (COO) , and Abhishek Bajpai (CTO) , Plutus delivers pre-configured, AI-native solutions to modernize claims, underwriting, and servicing processes for P&C, L&A, and broker ecosystems.

“Our mission from day one has been to bring purpose-built, industry-specific AI agents to the insurance ecosystem that are built on ServiceNow,” said Kara Anderson, COO and Co-founder of Plutus . “With the support of both Moneta Ventures and now ServiceNow Ventures, we’re accelerating our roadmap to help carriers and brokers modernize faster and with greater confidence.”

The investment from ServiceNow Ventures reinforces the strong alignment between Plutus’s agentic AI solutions for the insurance industry and ServiceNow’s vision for AI-driven innovation for the financial services industry. Built on the ServiceNow AI Platform, Plutus leverages ServiceNow’s powerful foundation to accelerate intelligent automation across insurance workflows, driving greater efficiency and smarter decision-making. As part of ServiceNow’s expanding partner ecosystem, this collaboration positions Plutus to deliver transformative, AI-powered solutions that redefine the future of insurance operations.

“Plutus represents the type of industry-focused, AI-first innovation we want to see thrive in the ServiceNow ecosystem,” said Vidya Balakrishnan, VP and GM, Financial Services, ServiceNow. “Built on the ServiceNow AI Platform, their agentic AI solutions have the potential to dramatically simplify and modernize insurance operations. Together, Plutus and ServiceNow are empowering carriers to resolve policyholder issues quickly, transparently, and at scale, and we’re excited to support their growth.”

With enterprise contracts already in motion, Plutus is positioned to become the partner of choice for carriers and brokers looking to unlock the full potential of AI on the ServiceNow AI Platform.

Media Contact: [email protected]

Plutus is on a mission to transform insurance on ServiceNow. A bold new entrant into the ServiceNow partner ecosystem, Plutus partners with carriers and brokers to modernize journeys, deploy AI-native digital agents, and accelerate outcomes with pre-built solutions across the insurance value chain.

SOURCE Plutus Technology Solutions Inc.

NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2025 — SECONDSENSE, the curated search platform for secondhand luxury handbags, today announced the close of an oversubscribed $2 million institutional round, led by Outlander VC. The three-week raise underscores investor conviction in SECONDSENSE’s unique position at the intersection of luxury, technology, and data. The funding accelerates its mission of making luxury resale more transparent, personalized, and accessible.

SECONDSENSE is the only platform that empowers consumers with the data behind pricing decisions for the growing secondhand luxury handbag market. By standardizing listings across leading resale sites, the company eliminates search fatigue and information asymmetry—two of the biggest pain points for secondhand shoppers. Instead of juggling multiple tabs to compare hundreds of SKUs, users instantly see each handbag’s market value and where to find the best deal. These results are powered by SECONDSENSE’s proprietary AI, which unlocks real-time price arbitrage across the market. One early user saved $3,000 on the purchase of a pre-loved Hermès Birkin through the platform.

The company first captured the spotlight in April when content creator Alix Earle organically shared SECONDSENSE with her 7+ million TikTok followers, sparking viral interest and rapid community adoption. Since then, SECONDSENSE continues to resonate with digitally savvy, luxury, investment-minded consumers seeking clarity in a historically opaque market.

“Luxury resale exploded, but the market is fragmented. It is filled with messy, unstructured data so the customer experience remains overwhelming and inefficient,” said Chris Lucas, founder and CEO of SECONDSENSE. “AI solves this problem. We built SECONDSENSE to bring order to the chaos. Our proprietary AI empowers shoppers with real market data so they can shop smarter, invest better, and find the right item at the best condition and lowest price. This round unlocks growth: scale product verticals, triple down on our proprietary AI core, and enhance personalization and customer service.”

Proceeds from the raise will be used to strengthen SECONDSENSE’s AI infrastructure, expand personalization features, and grow partnerships with global resale platforms and local boutiques to capture the broadest data set and best selection. By bridging the gap between consumers and fragmented resale ecosystem, SECONDSENSE is pioneering a new era of trust, access, and efficiency in luxury shopping.

SECONDSENSE officially launched this summer and is now inviting resale partners and collectors to experience the future of secondhand luxury.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE SECONDSENSE

MAI’s AI agents are driving 40% more sales for e-commerce companies and managing millions of dollars of Google Ads spend monthly

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2025 — MAI, the AI platform that drives revenue by automating and optimizing performance marketing, today announced the launch of its flagship product alongside a $25 million Seed funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Gaorong Ventures, UpHonest Capital, and others.

MAI is launching AI agents that autonomously manage and optimize performance marketing, giving small and mid-sized businesses access to the same advanced advertising tools used by the biggest enterprises. MAI’s agents are already helping clients drive 40% more sales and managing millions of dollars of Google Ad spend every month. The funding will be used to expand MAI’s product and engineering teams and accelerate development of its AI agent platform.

“Digital advertising is one of the biggest growth levers available to businesses, but it’s also one of the hardest to master,” said Yuchen Wu, co-founder and CEO of MAI. “We’ve spent our careers building ad platforms and e-commerce engines at companies like Google and Instacart, and saw firsthand how advanced technology helped the largest companies grow. However, those same tools have historically been out of reach for small and mid-sized businesses. That’s why we built MAI. Our agents do the heavy lifting, driving results autonomously, so business owners can focus on building their companies.”

E-commerce continues to grow at roughly 8% annually , surpassing even its Covid-era peak. At the same time, distribution channels have fragmented, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and consumer apps face fiercer competition than ever. Digital ads, especially Google Ads, have become the primary way these companies acquire customers, but managing campaigns is time-consuming and often opaque. Business owners must either spend hours every week managing campaigns themselves or pay an agency hefty fees to do it for them.

MAI addresses this challenge head on by putting Google Ads on autopilot and helping businesses scale their spend profitably. Its AI agents integrate deeply with all their business data and work 24×7 to adjust spend, identify opportunities, and update in real time when performance shifts. 

“With MAI, we’re giving customers an army of AI agents that are solely focused on one thing: improving their bottom line by optimizing digital ads,” said Jian Wang, co-founder and CTO of MAI. “Our customers get the results of a full-time expert team that drives growth without the overhead, so they can focus on building their business rather than babysitting ads.”

With MAI, businesses can:

• Automate Google Ads management: MAI agents set up, monitor, and adjust campaigns continuously without human monitoring.
• Optimize in real time: Budgets, bids, and creative assets are dynamically tuned 24/7 to maximize performance.
• Adapt to each business: MAI agents learn a company’s unique products, customers, and goals instead of applying one-size-fits-all rules.
• Detect issues instantly: From broken discount codes to stockouts, MAI flags problems that impact ad performance before they drain budgets.
• Scale efficiently: MAI agents can handle thousands of products and creative variations at once, making enterprise-level complexity manageable for lean teams.

Since launching with early customers in late 2024, MAI has seen rapid adoption among D2C brands and consumer apps, doubling its customer base in months. Businesses like Dreo, DrWoof, Fanka, Flamingo, NutritionFaktory, Patpat, Velotric, and Vivaia trust MAI’s AI agents to manage their ad spend and drive revenue.

“Working with agencies always felt expensive and opaque with lots of fees and little clarity on results,” said Mike Bires, CEO NutritionFaktory. “With MAI we can see clearly that the ads just work. The impact to the business is felt almost immediately.”

“Performance marketing is the lifeblood of modern commerce, yet for too long, the tools that drive scale have only been available to the largest enterprises,” said Josh Coyne, partner, Kleiner Perkins. “Yuchen and Jian bring a rare combination of deep ad platform expertise and firsthand empathy for the challenges growth businesses face. MAI’s approach is bold and refreshingly pragmatic. We’re excited to back Yuchen and Jian as they build this out.”

About MAI
MAI drives growth for businesses with AI agents that automate and optimize performance marketing. Brands across the globe trust MAI’s AI agents to manage millions of dollars of digital ad spend monthly. The company is founded by AI/ML engineers who built Google Ads and managed a team of growth marketing engineers Instacart. It is backed by Kleiner Perkins, Gaorong Ventures, UpHonest Capital, and others. For more information, visit mai.co.

SOURCE MAI

Rick Van Valkenburg joins as Chief Commercial Officer to accelerate commercial growth

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2025 — Summer Robotics, a pioneer in machine vision for vision-guided robotics, today announced it completed the first closing of its Series A financing. The round was led by Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc., with participation from Solasta Ventures, Naver, and other investors.

The funding will accelerate the company’s Kortx machine vision platform, which enables robots to operate in dynamic, unstructured environments, under a wide range of lighting conditions — thus unlocking new automation capabilities in manufacturing, logistics, as well as humanoid applications.

Summer Robotics also announced the appointment of Rick Van Valkenburg as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Rick brings nearly 30 years of experience in automation and machine vision, including 28 years at Perceptron Inc., where he held leadership roles driving commercial growth and global partnerships.

“Our Kortx platform is enabling robotics applications that were not feasible with existing solutions,” said Schuyler Cullen, CEO of Summer Robotics. “This Series A investment validates our vision and allows us to scale faster. Rick’s leadership will be pivotal as we expand our commercial footprint.”

“After nearly three decades in this field, I believe Summer Robotics is building something truly transformative,” said Rick Van Valkenburg. “I’m excited to help bring this technology to market.”

The company has already launched pilot programs with automotive manufacturers and is expanding into additional industries seeking advanced automation.

“Summer Robotics’ breakthrough technology is set to unlock spatial intelligence for AI to better understand the physical world,” said John Wei, Senior Director at Applied Ventures, LLC. “We’re excited to support them as they enter their next phase of growth.”

About Summer Robotics
Summer Robotics develops next-generation automation solutions powered by its Kortx machine vision platform, combining AI, computer vision, and high-speed imaging to enable robots to perform in unstructured environments. Founded in 2020, the company is headquartered in Campbell, CA.

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Summer Robotics