Investment will enable Bria to expand its visual generative AI Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and redefine the future of content creation at scale.

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2025 — Bria, a leading visual generative AI platform-as-a-service (PaaS) empowering enterprises to create scalable and compliant visual content, today announced a notable strategic investment from Bright Pixel Capital. This partnership will enable Bria to expand its cutting-edge AI technology, enhancing the development of AI-driven visual products for businesses with an emphasis on transparency, control, and privacy protection, and to accelerate the adoption of its platform across industries such as advertising, media, retail, gaming, and e-commerce.

The investment is an extension of Bria’s $40 million Series B funding round, led by Red Dot Capital with participation from Maor Investment, Entrée Capital, GFT Ventures, Intel Capital, and In-Venture.

Bria’s visual generative AI PaaS is designed to help businesses generate high-quality visual assets tailored to their needs while avoiding the risks associated with IP infringement and privacy concerns. Its unique attribution engine ensures that content creators and data owners are properly compensated for their contributions, creating a fair and transparent ecosystem for the use of generative AI in commercial applications.

The investment marks a milestone in Bria’s mission to redefine the future of content creation at scale. Bolstered by Bright Pixel, a global investor, Bria will accelerate its goal of providing enterprises with the tools to produce on-brand content, all while maintaining strict compliance with data privacy and copyright laws.

“At Bria, we’re committed to building a responsible, flexible, and scalable AI platform that empowers enterprises to leverage generative AI safely,” said Dr. Yair Adato, Founder and CEO of Bria. “With the support of Bright Pixel, we are well positioned to scale globally at the intersection of creativity and technology, magnifying our impact and delivering responsible, world-class AI solutions that empower both businesses and creators.”

Through this investment, Bria will continue to expand its platform offerings, including enhanced tools for fine-tuning and personalizing content, and to extend its patented attribution engine to other forms of creative media, such as music and text. This broader application of Bria’s technology will empower enterprises to produce a wide variety of high-quality assets while maintaining the same rigorous standards for transparency and fairness.

“Bria is setting a new standard for how companies create and deliver visual content,” said Daniela Coutinho, Principal at Bright Pixel. “As AI becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the modern enterprise, Bria’s state-of-the-art technology and legal-first approach make it an invaluable solution for businesses, ensuring compliance with evolving AI regulations. We’re thrilled to support Bria at this critical juncture in their growth as they lead the charge in responsible generative AI.”

With Bria, enterprises have complete control over visual content generation, enabling teams to create images, videos, and other multimedia assets that are aligned with their brand’s visual language. The solution integrates seamlessly with industry-standard tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Figma, and AWS, making it easier for enterprises to adopt AI-driven content creation workflows without sacrificing control or compliance.

About Bria

Bria’s visual generative AI platform-as-a-service (PaaS) enables developers, product teams, and enterprises to build commercial-ready content. Our foundation models, trained on 100% licensed data from 30+ partners, ensure legal compliance with proper attribution to data owners and artists. Bria provides technical teams full access to source code and weights, production-grade APIs/SDKs, and the flexibility to incorporate these AI building blocks into their preferred builder environments. Bria’s pre-built pipelines offer the fastest path to market-ready visual AI implementation. At the same time, advanced teams leverage our ControlNets, LoRAs, and LCMs for pixel-perfect precision and maximum control over visual outputs. Bria offers complete IP/privacy indemnity and EU AI Act-compliant architecture with flexible commercial terms that leverage existing cloud commitments. Leading advertising, gaming, media, and retail enterprises rely on Bria to deliver precise, on-brand visual content at scale. Looking ahead, Bria is pioneering the future of premium content generation—where visual AI, data ownership, and artistic contribution coexist to create sustainable value. For more information, visit Bria.ai.

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  

Media Contact
Sarah Small
Headline Media
[email protected]
US:+1 929 255 1449 

SOURCE Bria

SEATTLE, Sept. 17, 2025 — Envive AI, the intelligence layer for the future of digital commerce, announced the close of its $15 million Series A round led by Fuse VC today, bringing total funding to $20 million. The company is pioneering a new era of brand-safe, self-improving AI agents designed to drive every customer interaction towards business outcomes, enabling performance and growth at scale.

Consumer behavior is shifting rapidly as shoppers embrace AI in their purchasing journeys. According to McKinsey, over 25% of Gen Z consumers have already used AI tools to help make purchasing decisions, a number that’s expected to rise quickly in the next 12 months. This shift has created a new imperative: brands must become agentic themselves to thrive in this future. Envive is helping them by building a reinforcement learning-based intelligence layer that learns from every user behavior and orchestrates cooperative, brand-aligned agents to drive outcomes across the funnel.

“We have all experienced the fatigue of endlessly scrolling a website looking for the perfect item. Consumers deserve a better online shopping experience, and with Envive AI, brands can finally deliver that to their customers,” said Cameron Borumand, General Partner at FUSE.

“Commerce is entering the agentic era,” said Aniket Deosthali, CEO and co-founder of Envive AI, who previously led generative AI at Walmart. “Brands need more than just wrappers around LLMs. They need a system that continuously learns from real-world behavior and drives the outcomes they care about. That’s what we are building: self-improving agents with performance, control, and safety at their core.”

Envive integrates signals from every user touchpoint across the stack: awareness, browse, consideration, and post-purchase, then intelligently directing action in real time. These agents are not siloed; they are cooperative, sharing context and adapting together to optimize outcomes across the customer journey. As foundation models advance, this intelligence layer grows in capability, enabling brands to orchestrate simple actions today and multimodal experiences tomorrow.

“In an AI-driven future, I believe retailers need to balance innovation with responsibility and Envive provides the only platform designed from the ground up to meet this need,” said Sri Chandrasekar, Managing Partner at Point72 Ventures, an early investor in Envive AI. “I think their combination of advanced AI expertise and retail execution makes them uniquely positioned to lead the industry.”

Envive’s agentic growth engine has already helped iconic brands like Spanx, Supergoop!, Coterie, and Wine Enthusiast materially increase onsite conversion, elevate rankings in generative search, and drive retention across the customer journey. Envive is scaling rapidly, with 5x growth projected in 2025.

Backed by Fuse VC, Point72 Ventures, and the AI2 Incubator. The founding team blends deep AI pedigree and commerce experience:
Iz Beltagy, Chief Scientist, creator of AI2’s OLMo
Matt Peters, Chief Architect, inventor of ELMo
Sameer Singh, CTO and reinforcement learning researcher
Aniket Deosthali, CEO, former Gen AI leader at Walmart

“Our mission is simple: build agents that learn in the real world and drive outcomes,” said Deosthali. “We are just getting started, but the future is already here.”

About Envive AI
Founded in 2023 and based in Seattle, Envive AI builds the intelligence layer for commerce. Envive powers self-improving, brand-safe AI agents that optimize for revenue, customer loyalty, and discoverability across search, sales, content, support, and beyond. By integrating every interaction into a seamless learning and action system, Envive transforms static websites into living commerce platforms. Brands adopting Envive benefit from control, performance, and safety at scale.

SOURCE Envive AI

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2025 — GridStrong, the all-in-one platform for automating electric grid compliance and operations, today announced it has raised an oversubscribed seed funding round to transform how power asset owners navigate increasingly complex regulatory and reliability frameworks. GridStrong’s solution automates costly and tedious interconnection and compliance processes—reducing time, improving quality, and enabling higher system reliability. The $10 million round was led by Congruent Ventures with participation from Energize Capital, along with strategic investments from Engie Renewables North America and other major utilities.

The grid faces unprecedented strain driven by load growth, interconnection bottlenecks, evolving generation mix, and underinvestment in new transmission. As capacity constraints intensify, regulators are introducing highly technical, time-critical requirements. As a result, owners and operators of generation, transmission, and large-load assets face mounting compliance pressures. But compliance is still managed through fragmented systems, spreadsheets, and labor-heavy processes that were never designed for the pace or sophistication required for the modern grid.

GridStrong’s solution combines AI-native software with deep technical understanding to streamline complex workflows and give asset owners clarity, control, and confidence without the usual rework, delays, and audit risk. 

“Standards are evolving faster than ever, data is multiplying, and the stakes for noncompliance are high,” said Tom Scaramellino, GridStrong Co-Founder and CEO. “GridStrong replaces the unscalable model of manual, consultant-heavy workflows with end-to-end automation built by engineers who helped write the very standards shaping our industry.” 

Founded in February 2025 by Tom Scaramellino, an energy software industry veteran, and Ryan Quint, the former Director of Engineering at the NERC, the company already boasts more than half of the 25 largest renewable asset owners as customers, representing hundreds of gigawatts of power across North America. Strategic utility investors, including Engie, have been among GridStrong’s early adopters and design partners. 

“Leading asset operators have seen that GridStrong combines deep domain expertise with proven software execution capability,” said Kevin Kopczynski, Partner at Congruent Ventures. “Their unique insights are exactly what is required to unlock the potential of Vertical AI to  address today’s challenges and achieve the speed and performance the grid demands.”

“From the beginning of Energize, we have tracked how shifts in consumer behavior, industrial development, and digital technology are reshaping the grid,” said John Tough, Managing Partner of Energize Capital. “Grid congestion, reliability, and rising demand have made compliance requirements more complex than ever — and platforms like GridStrong’s are vital to deliver the operational scale to meet this need.”

GridStrong takes a unique approach by seamlessly integrating dispersed plant information into intelligent workflows and clearly structured data frameworks. Their enterprise-class platform serves the complete asset lifecycle, from the initial interconnection request to post-COD operations across all AC plant functions.

About GridStrong. GridStrong is the unified platform for electric grid compliance and operations, serving generation, load and transmission owners across North America. Built by engineers who have written many of the industry standards, GridStrong automates compliance workflows to reduce audit risk and deliver results faster. Asset owners like Southern Company, Orsted, AES, Engie, NextEra Energy, Invenergy, Intersect Power, Akuo, Recurrent Energy, and many more rely on GridStrong to meet the demanding requirements of today’s grid. Visit gridstrong.ai to learn more.

Contact. For more information about GridStrong, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE GridStrong

Vie Ventures welcomes additional strategic collaborators, expanding the coalition to more than ten leading disease philanthropies focused on autoimmune and inflammatory disease

BOSTON, Sept. 17, 2025 —  Vie Ventures, a new life sciences investment firm focused on bridging venture capital and disease philanthropy to develop breakthrough therapies for patients, today announced the successful convening of its inaugural Therapeutics Advisory Council (TAC). The event brought together leaders from disease-focused philanthropy, industry, and venture capital to shape a new model for advancing therapies in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Held on September 9, 2025, in New York City, the TAC is designed as a coalition where foundations and investors collaborate to identify common biology, de-risk therapeutic development, and accelerate cures across autoimmune disease.

Vie Ventures also announced the expansion of its Strategic Collaborator network, with new organizations joining the inaugural members. The new collaborators include American Diabetes Association, Arthritis Foundation, Beyond Celiac, Food Allergy Fund, Immune Boost Capital, and National Psoriasis Foundation. These organizations join Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, Lupus Research Alliance, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Scleroderma Research Foundation, and Sjögren’s Foundation.

The expanded group represents leading organizations spanning multiple autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, providing unmatched expertise, patient networks, and research infrastructure in alignment with Vie Ventures’ strategy to unite venture capital and disease foundation expertise to accelerate therapies for autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases. Together, these organizations underscore the TAC’s role as a unique cross-disease coalition committed to advancing innovation and improving patient outcomes.

“We launched the Therapeutics Advisory Council to create a forum where foundations, industry innovators, and investors can work side by side to accelerate progress in autoimmune disease,” said Steven St. Peter, MD, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Vie Ventures. “This first meeting demonstrated the power of that collaboration, surfacing shared challenges and opportunities that no single organization could address alone. We are especially pleased to welcome the new Strategic Collaborators, expanding our coalition of disease-focused philanthropies whose expertise and patient networks will be essential as Vie Ventures seeks to advance the development of cutting-edge solutions across a range of autoimmune diseases.”

“The inaugural TAC meeting clearly demonstrated the value of bringing foundations together with industry and venture capital to accelerate progress in autoimmune disease,” said Luke Evnin, PhD, Co-Founder and Senior Advisor to Vie Ventures, and Chairman of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. “By sharing insights across diseases and working collectively, we have the opportunity to address the heterogeneity and complexity that too often slows innovation.”

“To my knowledge an endeavor like the TAC, which was organized to unite two powerful but often siloed forces, with its mission-driven commitment and market-driven innovation, has not been done at such scale and certainly not across autoimmunity. The opportunity here is immense,” said Lou DeGennaro, Ph.D., Senior Advisor to Vie Ventures.

The following is a recap of key topics from the event:

The TAC’s first scientific discussion –”Fibrosis Across Autoimmune Diseases” – focused on fibrosis as a common pathway across autoimmune diseases, providing a forum to explore shared biology and therapeutic gaps. Presenters emphasized the absence of approved anti-fibrotic therapies, the need for reliable biomarkers and clinical endpoints, and the regulatory challenges of measuring fibrosis across organs. The session underscored the value of cross-disease collaboration, as many mechanisms and trial design hurdles are common across indications, offering opportunities to accelerate drug development by sharing expertise and data.

The afternoon panel – “The Funding Environment: Discovery Research, Venture Capital, Public Markets and Partnering with Big Pharma” – involved experts from academia, finance, and industry discussing the state of biomedical innovation. Panelists highlighted challenges in U.S. research funding and the markets, noting that capital scarcity and investor risk aversion are reshaping company formation and financing. They emphasized the opportunity for innovative funding vehicles and novel collaborations backed by pharma, which remains a consistent buyer of innovation, making close alignment essential for success.

The closing session brought together disease philanthropy CEOs and senior leaders to reflect on the day’s discussions. Speakers emphasized opportunities to leverage shared infrastructure like biorepositories and trial networks, while also acknowledging the challenges of disease heterogeneity and diagnostic gaps. The session closed with a strong sense of momentum and a collective commitment to advancing therapies more effectively together.

About the Therapeutics Advisory Council
The Therapeutics Advisory Council was established by Vie Ventures to provide a structured forum for disease-focused philanthropies, scientists, and investors to collaborate on the advancement of treatments for autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases. Founding discussions centered on the collective mission to align patient-focused philanthropies and venture capital to advance innovation and accelerate the development of therapies across autoimmune disease. To learn more, visit  vieventures.com.

About Vie Ventures
Vie Ventures is a life sciences investment firm operating at the intersection of venture capital and disease philanthropy. Vie Ventures invests alongside other leading venture capital investors and strategic partners in private biotech companies focused on advancing novel therapeutics for autoimmune disease and other disorders of the immune system, an area of significant unmet medical need. Our team leverages decades of experience, a proven track record in life sciences venture capital, a returns-oriented approach, and a network of strategic collaborators from across the biotech and disease philanthropy ecosystems to advance life-changing therapies and cures for patients. To learn more, visit vieventures.com

Media Contact
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Casey McDonald
[email protected]
(646) 577-8520 

SOURCE Vie Ventures

Positions firm to build on investments across real assets, operations and technology, creating the infrastructure of tomorrow

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2025 — GreenPoint, a global investment firm building the next generation of real assets, today announced it has raised more than $1 billion in equity commitments across its inaugural flagship fund and associated vehicles (the “Fund”). The commitments reflect strong support from a global base of institutional investors, including La Caisse (formerly CDPQ), Texas TRS and funds managed by GCM Grosvenor, that underscores GreenPoint’s differentiated model.

The Fund targets Real Assets investments primarily in North America, Europe and Australia with a focus on emerging sectors that are undergoing technology driven transformation, such as digitization, electrification, and automation. Today, these target sectors span across Transport and Logistics, Energy and Environment, Digital Infrastructure, and Living.

“The significant support we have received from institutional investors validates our thesis,” said Chris Green, Founder and CEO of GreenPoint. “We’ve built GreenPoint to do more than deploy capital — we build vertically integrated platforms that are positioned to define the next era of real assets. We believe that building the infrastructure of tomorrow in the digital era is a generational opportunity that will provide compounding value to our stakeholders.”

The Fund has made a number of significant investments to date, including in Lysara, where GreenPoint is building a £1 billion EV charging, urban densification and fleet infrastructure platform across Europe and Outpost, which GreenPoint is similarly developing into a dedicated $1 billion platform focused on modernizing U.S. freight through a national network of automated truck terminals, with the goal of unlocking greater efficiency and resilience across the supply chain. Each of these fully integrated platforms incorporates physical assets, specialist management teams, operations and enabling technology.

“GCM Grosvenor has been a long-term backer of nascent real estate platforms and GreenPoint’s integrated model represents an exciting evolution of the industry,” said Peter Braffman, Managing Director at GCM Grosvenor. “Outpost is another great example of their ability to combine operational expertise, innovation in technology, and long-term capital which is a point of differentiation in the market and within our broader portfolio.

Latham & Watkins LLP acted as fund counsel.

About GreenPoint 
GreenPoint is a global real assets investment firm building the infrastructure of tomorrow. With over $1 billion of equity committed, GreenPoint invests in vertically integrated businesses that are reshaping sectors including transport and logistics, energy and environment, digital infrastructure and living. By combining operational expertise, technology and a disciplined, long-term approach, GreenPoint focuses on delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors and portfolio companies while providing tailored solutions and lasting value for customers. GreenPoint is headquartered in New York, with offices in London and Sydney.

Contacts
Erik Carlson / Madeline Jones
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
[email protected]

SOURCE GreenPoint Partners

The investment strengthens Groq’s role in the American AI Stack, delivering fast, affordable compute worldwide.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 17, 2025 — Groq, the pioneer in AI inference, today announced $750 million in new financing at a post-money valuation of $6.9 billion. The round was led by Disruptive with significant investment from Blackrock, Neuberger Berman, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and a large US-based West Coast mutual fund manager. The raise also included continued support from Samsung, Cisco, D1, Altimeter, 1789 Capital and Infinitum.

Groq powers more than two million developers and Fortune 500 companies with fast, affordable compute and is growing its presence globally, building on existing data centers in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

“Inference is defining this era of AI, and we’re building the American infrastructure that delivers it with high speed and low cost.” — Jonathan Ross, Groq Founder and CEO

The White House recently issued an executive order promoting the export of the American AI Technology Stack, emphasizing the global deployment of US-origin AI technology. Groq is playing a central role, with their American-built inference infrastructure already powering developers and enterprises worldwide.

Disruptive, a Dallas-based growth investment firm, has backed some of the most transformative and successful companies in the last decade, including large investments in Palantir, Airbnb, Spotify, Shield AI, Hims, Databricks, Stripe, Slack and many other AI leaders and AI adjacent businesses. Disruptive has invested nearly $350 million in Groq.

“As AI expands, the infrastructure behind it will be as essential as the models themselves,” said Alex Davis, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Disruptive. “Groq is building that foundation, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with Jonathan and his team in this next chapter of explosive growth.”

About Groq
Groq is the inference infrastructure that powers AI with the speed and cost it requires. Founded in 2016, the company created the LPU and GroqCloud to ensure compute is faster and more affordable. Today, Groq is a key part of the American AI Stack and trusted by more than two million developers and many of the world’s leading Fortune 500 companies.

Groq Media Contact: [email protected]

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2725167/Groq_Logo_No_Trademark.jpg

Funding to scale virtual and in-home care, enhance clinical innovation, and support vulnerable pediatric populations nationwide.
Round includes continued support from Oak HC/FT, Optum Ventures, and Rubicon Founders plus new investment from the Autism Impact Fund and others.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2025 — Imagine Pediatrics, one of the nation’s largest pediatric medical groups delivering 24/7 virtual and in-home care for children with special health care needs, today announced it has raised $67M in Series B funding. Participants in the round include existing investors Oak HC/FT, Optum Ventures, and Rubicon Founders and new strategic investment from the Autism Impact Fund (AIF) and others.  

Founded in 2022, Imagine Pediatrics now cares for approximately 40,000 children nationwide through an integrated medical, behavioral, and social care model. This funding will accelerate national expansion, enhance the company’s proprietary technology platform, and fuel clinical innovation designed to close persistent care gaps and expand access to specialized pediatric care for children with special health care needs.

In the U.S., one in five children has a special health care need, accounting for nearly half of all pediatric healthcare spending across Medicaid and Commercial insurance. Many face multiple chronic conditions, behavioral health challenges, and unmet social needs. Imagine Pediatrics addresses these challenges with unlimited access to multidisciplinary care teams that work alongside a child’s existing providers, offering services from pharmacy and nutrition to palliative care and social support.

Through value-based partnerships with leading health plans, Imagine Pediatrics has completed nearly 300,000 patient encounters in just over two years, reducing reliance on emergency departments and avoidable hospital admissions, and saving partners more than $65 million in 2024 alone. Families rate the company highly, with a Net Promoter Score above 86.

“This investment strengthens our ability to scale proven, innovative care models that expand access, improve outcomes, and lower costs for children with special health care needs and their families,” said George Boghos, CEO of Imagine Pediatrics. “We’re proud to partner with investors who share our vision for building a more accessible, inclusive pediatric care system.”

“As the investment and innovation arm of the autism community, AIF is proud to become a strategic investor with Imagine Pediatrics, supporting their mission to reimagine pediatric health care together,” said Chris Male, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of AIF. “We look forward to being part of the continued growth of Imagine Pediatrics as it expands its reach and positive impact in vulnerable and underserved populations.”

About Imagine Pediatrics
Imagine Pediatrics is a tech-enabled pediatric medical group that delivers 24/7 virtual and in-home care to children with special health care needs through value-based care arrangements. Its multidisciplinary care teams provide integrated medical, behavioral, and social care designed to expand access to specialized pediatric care for children with special health care needs. The result is fewer hospital stays, more safe days at home, better outcomes and experience for families. Learn more at www.imaginepediatrics.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Yancey Casey
Amendola Communications on behalf of Imagine Pediatrics
[email protected]
(678) 895-9401

SOURCE Imagine Pediatrics

Led by cornerstone investors Alaska Airlines, American Airlines; with IAG, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines from oneworld alliance, and Singapore Airlines as part of initial $150M fund close 

oneworld BEV Fund aims to identify, enable and scale lower carbon jet fuel of the future to support consumer demand, economic development, jobs and technology innovation

DALLAS/FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 17, 2025 — oneworld alliance and member airlines, in partnership with Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), today announced the launch of a new investment fund designed to address the limited availability and high cost of today’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). The fund, led by cornerstone investors Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, seeks to accelerate the global development of long-term aviation fuel solutions that are cost effective, scalable, and have lower emissions than conventional fuels.

The oneworld BEV Fund will:

• invest in novel, next-generation Sustainable Aviation Fuel technologies
• support the growth of alternative fuel markets to meet the long-term needs of the global aviation industry
• create economic value for investors and regions around the world
• drive technology innovation
• develop a diverse and resilient SAF supply chain to meet future demand

“By investing in the SAF technologies of the future, American and our oneworld partners are making a business decision to accelerate the development of novel technologies with the potential to reach larger scale at lower prices than current technologies can achieve,” said Robert Isom, chief executive officer of American Airlines and chairman of oneworld. “We believe reducing the emissions from our operation meets the demands of our customers, will make our business more competitive, and will enable us to continue to deliver the enormous economic benefits of commercial aviation for generations to come.”

“Alaska Airlines is excited to work alongside oneworld carriers to invest in innovative and cost-competitive SAF technology to drive the long-term energy transformation for our industry,” said Ben Minicucci, chief executive officer of Alaska Air Group. “In Breakthrough Energy Ventures, we have a partner with the scientific, technical and commercial expertise to make effective investment decisions that will create the market for next-generation fuels and power our industry in the years ahead.”

“Investing in SAF with Breakthrough Energy Ventures is part of oneworld’s strategy to create a future of aviation that solves problems at scale and serves the needs of the greater aviation community,” said Nat Pieper, chief executive officer of oneworld. “At oneworld, our member airlines are united in their long-term mission to address carbon emissions and invest in technologies that can improve speed to market of innovative fuels across the globe. By working together, we’ll be better positioned to create long-term solutions for the energy transformation of an industry that is vital to global economic growth.” 

BEV, Breakthrough Energy Venture’s capital fund founded by Bill Gates, will serve as the fund’s investment manager, bringing deep technical expertise, a rigorous diligence model, and extensive experience supporting the growth of early-stage climate technology companies. By leveraging its resources to support the energy transformation of one of the most challenging sectors for climate mitigation, BEV aims to advance fuel technologies that offer the greatest potential for tackling the sector’s emissions and securing long-term commercial success.

“Sustainable Aviation Fuel is essential to addressing the sector’s environmental impact and represents a major commercial opportunity,” said Eric Toone, chief technology officer at Breakthrough Energy and managing partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “The oneworld BEV Fund is built to identify and scale breakthrough SAF technologies that can deliver real emissions reductions for jet fuel, compete with fossil-based fuels on cost, and integrate seamlessly with today’s aviation infrastructure. These are complex systems-level challenges that will take time to solve, and the fund is built with the long-term vision and staying power to help bring solutions to market.”

The fund is also supported by oneworld alliance member airlines International Airlines Group (IAG), Cathay Pacific, and Japan Airlines. Recognizing the power of collective action, oneworld and Breakthrough Energy Ventures made an early decision to welcome non-alliance investors, including Singapore Airlines, which shares the alliance’s commitment to accelerating industry-wide progress in SAF.

“Sustainable Aviation Fuel is the most viable pathway for the aviation industry to progress to reach net zero. With our oneworld partners we have actively supported collective efforts on sustainability and today’s announcement further highlights the potential of collaboration, demonstrating how leading airlines can come together with the goal to accelerate action. To unlock SAF’s full potential, we are calling for supportive policy frameworks that help attract investment and enable the infrastructure needed to kickstart production.”
     –  Mr. Luis Gallego, chief executive officer, IAG

“As an airline with significant long-haul operations, scaling innovation to make SAF more accessible and cost-competitive is critical to Cathay Pacific’s future. This investment reflects our belief that only through collective action – across geographies and industries – can we build a resilient and scalable SAF ecosystem that delivers meaningful environmental progress and supports the future of our industry. And with Asia continuing to play a pivotal role in the global SAF ecosystem, we’re proud to help lead this momentum from the region.”
     –  Mr. Ronald Lam, chief executive officer, Cathay Group

“Relationships and connections with countries and regions around the world through air transportation are necessary for an island nation like Japan, thus we believe we have a mission to tackle the environmental impact of air transportation. Working towards this common mission for oneworld, we look forward to promoting technology and the use of SAF together with the member airlines, anticipating expansion into the Asian region in the future.”
     –  Ms. TOTTORI Mitsuko, president and representative director, Group CEO, Japan Airlines

“Our investment in this fund demonstrates Singapore Airlines’ strong support for developing and commercialising next generation Sustainable Aviation Fuels. Reducing the carbon emissions of jet fuel demands collective action across the entire aviation ecosystem, and such initiatives will drive innovation towards meaningful progress in this crucial energy transformation.”
     –  Ms. Lee Wen Fen, chief sustainability officer, Singapore Airlines

The global aviation industry, which generates some $4.1 trillion in economic activity and supports 86.5 million jobs, currently accounts for approximately 2-3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to other environmental impacts. Airlines and manufacturers continue to invest in modern aircraft, engines and operational efficiencies. Demand for air travel is expected to rise in the coming decades, and SAF, which today can reduce lifecycle emissions of jet fuel by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel, is a crucial tool for mitigating the industry’s environmental impact. While SAF can significantly decrease the carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft engines, the first-generation SAF in production today has come with challenges. The SAF industry has not yet attracted the investment required to scale production at competitive prices in line with market needs, and lifecycle environmental impact is a concern. oneworld and its partners are focused on supporting new technologies that can scale the availability of cost-competitive SAF, while minimizing other environmental impacts.

About Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is a purpose-built investment firm that partners with, launches, and scales global companies that are building an emissions-free global economy. We seek true breakthroughs and are committed to supporting these entrepreneurs and companies by bringing to bear a unique combination of technical, operational, market, and policy expertise. Backed by many of the world’s top business leaders, companies, and investors, Breakthrough Energy Ventures has raised more than $3.5 billion in committed capital and partnered with more than 110 groundbreaking companies. Breakthrough Energy Ventures is the venture capital arm of Breakthrough Energy, a global network of climate leaders committed to accelerating the world’s journey to a clean energy future. The organization funds breakthrough technologies, advocates for climate-smart policies, and mobilizes partners around the world to take effective action, accelerating progress at every stage. Visit Breakthrough Energy Ventures to learn more.

For media inquiries, please contact: Shahaley Bornstein 
[email protected] 
(469) 688-2211

About oneworld 

oneworld® is a global airline alliance bringing together 15 of the world’s leading airlines, who are committed to delivering the highest level of service and convenience to travellers. With a strong focus on innovative solutions, oneworld member airlines are working collectively to address their environmental impact and accelerate the adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. The alliance’s members serve nearly 1,000 destinations worldwide and include: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Fiji Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and SriLankan Airlines. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Chris Singley 
[email protected]
+1 (817) 308-1288

Chris D’Aloia – American Airlines
[email protected]
+1 (682) 473-0622

Alex Da Silva – Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines
[email protected]
+ 1 (808) 391-5728

SOURCE oneworld Management Company, Inc

NEW YORK and LONDON and BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 17, 2025 — DRUID AI today announced it has secured $31 million in Series C financing to advance the global expansion of its enterprise-ready agentic AI platform under the leadership of its new CEO Joseph Kim. The strategic investment was led by Cipio Partners, with participation from TQ Ventures, Karma Ventures, Smedvig, and Hoxton Ventures.

“Customer success is what it’s all about, and delivering real business outcomes requires understanding companies’ pain points and introducing innovations that help those customers address their complex challenges”, mentioned Kim. Previously, Kim was CEO of Sumo Logic. He serves on the boards of directors of SmartBear and Andela. He was also a senior operating partner at Francisco Partners, CPTO at Citrix, SolarWinds, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and chief architect at GE.

Roland Dennert, managing partner at the premier global growth equity fund Cipio Partners, explained: “Our investment will help accelerate DRUID AI’s expansion into the U.S. and elsewhere, fuel further technological advancements, and strengthen its position as a global leader in enterprise AI solutions.”

The appointment of Kim as CEO and the new funding come on the heels of DRUID AI earning a Challenger spot in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI Platforms for 2025. This is just the latest development validating the maturity of DRUID AI’s platform and its readiness to deliver business results in a market that is experiencing rapid advancement and adoption.

In 2024, DRUID AI grew ARR 2.7x year-over-year. Its award-winning platform has powered more than 1 billion conversations across thousands of agents. In addition, the DRUID AI global partner ecosystem has attracted industry giants Microsoft, Genpact, Cognizant, and Accenture.

DRUID AI is trusted by more than 300 global clients across banking, financial services, government, healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications. Leading organizations such as AXA Insurance, Carrefour, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Georgia Southern University, Kmart Australia, Liberty Global Group, MatrixCare, National Health Service, and Orange Auchan have adopted DRUID AI to redefine the way they operate.

Powered by advanced agentic AI and driven by the DRUID Conductor, its core orchestration engine, the DRUID platform enables businesses to deploy AI agents and intelligent applications that streamline processes effortlessly, integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and efficiently fulfill complex requests. DRUID AI’s end-to-end platform delivers 98% first response accuracy.

To learn more, visit www.druidai.com.

Contact:
Raluca Rotaru
[email protected]

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SOURCE DRUID AI