NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2025 — Utila emerges as the go-to operating system for stablecoins as institutional demand for digital asset infrastructure explodes

Utila has closed a $22 million Series A extension round just six months after announcing its Series A, bringing its total A round to $40 million and nearly tripling the company’s valuation. The extension, led by Red Dot Capital Partners with participation from Nyca, Wing VC, DCG, Cerca Partners, FunFair Ventures and SilverCircle, brings the total funding to more than $51 million and reflects the explosive demand for Utila’s digital asset operations platform as organizations worldwide adopt stablecoins for payments, treasury management and operational workflows.

The rapid-fire extension round materialized without Utila actively seeking capital, as the company received multiple inbound investment offers driven by hypergrowth across all key metrics. With almost all of its original Series A funding still in the bank, the company chose to extend the round to accelerate market capture in the exploding digital asset infrastructure sector.

Since its Series A announcement in March, Utila has seen unprecedented growth driven by mainstream adoption of stablecoins across financial services and more than doubled its customer base. The company now processes over $15 billion in monthly volume and has secured more than $90 billion in total transactions. With hundreds of global institutional customers, Utila has rapidly established itself as the operating system for stablecoins, providing the secure, scalable infrastructure that enterprises need to build, manage and scale digital asset operations.

The Stablecoin Infrastructure Imperative

“We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how organizations handle value transfer, with stablecoins at the center of this transformation,” said Bentzi Rabi, co-founder and CEO of Utila. “Six months ago, we positioned ourselves for the next wave of digital asset adoption. Today, that wave has arrived, and Utila has become the essential infrastructure layer for any organization working with stablecoins – from global payment providers to stablecoin issuers to financial institutions building next-generation treasury and trading operations.”

The rapid extension round underscores the massive market opportunity as stablecoin adoption accelerates across industries. The first half of 2025 pushed stablecoins deeper into the financial mainstream, with aggregate supply climbing to $252 billion and monthly settlement volumes rising 43% to $1.39 trillion. Payment providers, neobanks and financial institutions are increasingly integrating stablecoins into their core operations, creating unprecedented demand for enterprise-grade infrastructure that can handle the complexity, security and compliance requirements of institutional digital asset operations.

“Utila represents exactly the kind of category-defining company we look to back — one that sits at the intersection of a massive technological shift and clear enterprise demand,” said Atad Peled, Partner at Red Dot Capital Partners. “The stablecoin market is exploding, and organizations need enterprise-grade tools to operate safely and efficiently. Utila’s rapid growth and strong customer traction show they’ve built the platform the market truly needs.”

The Complete Digital Asset Operations Platform

Utila’s platform handles four core functions that address the full spectrum of digital asset operations:

• Stablecoin Operations – Complete infrastructure for stablecoin issuers, payment providers and enterprises integrating stablecoin workflows into their business operations
• Treasury Operations – Secure, policy-driven treasury management for digital assets with granular controls and compliance frameworks
• Trading Operations – Institutional-grade trading infrastructure across centralized exchanges and DeFi protocols
• Business Continuity – Seamless wallet environment mirroring capabilities for mission-critical operations

Built by cryptography and cybersecurity experts, Utila combines military-grade security with the operational flexibility that modern institutions require. The platform features secure enterprise-grade MPC wallets, granular policy controls, robust developer APIs, multi-chain support, payments and tokenization engine, comprehensive integrations to AML providers, exchanges, DeFi, and banking rails, and insurance coverage providing additional protection for institutional assets.

“Most institutional wallet providers are still solving yesterday’s problems: trading connectivity and exchange integrations,” explained Rabi. “The infrastructure requirements for operational use cases are fundamentally different from traditional crypto trading. Organizations need platforms that can handle high-volume transactions, complex compliance workflows and enterprise-grade security – all while maintaining the speed and flexibility that digital assets enable. We provide that complete solution, which is why we are the fastest growing, all-in-one wallet platform in the market today.”

Proven Enterprise Platform with Global Reach

The extension funding will accelerate Utila’s global expansion and product development as the company scales to meet surging demand for digital asset infrastructure. Beyond strengthening its presence in North America and Europe, the company plans to expand aggressively in emerging markets where stablecoins play pivotal roles in financial infrastructure – particularly LATAM, APAC and Africa – as regulatory frameworks in these regions continue to mature.

Utila’s client roster spans the full digital asset ecosystem: payment service providers integrating USDC rails, neobanks building stablecoin products, institutional trading firms accessing DeFi liquidity, and stablecoin issuers managing minting operations and more. This breadth contrasts with point solutions in the market targeting specific use cases.

Utila’s rapid growth trajectory positions the company at the forefront of the institutional digital asset adoption wave. As stablecoins become the backbone of next-generation financial infrastructure, Utila provides the essential operating system that enables organizations to participate securely, efficiently and at scale.

About Utila

Founded in 2022 by Bentzi Rabi (CEO) and Sam Eiderman (CTO), Utila is the secure, all-in-one digital asset operations platform for institutions. Utila enables organizations to securely manage and build on digital assets. Trusted by 200+ global institutions, Utila processes more than $15 billion in monthly volume and has secured over $90 billion in transactions.

Utila has raised more than $50 million in total funding from leading investors including Nyca Partners, Red Dot Capital Partners, Wing VC, NFX, Framework Ventures and DCG, along with prominent angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan, Charlie Songhurst and more.

Users can learn more at https://utila.io/

Media Contact

Montner Tech PR
Deb Montner
[email protected]

Contact

Surya Deepan Elango
Utila
[email protected] 

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2764077/Utila.jpg

SOURCE Utila

Oversubscribed round led by Okapi Venture Capital and Shadow Ventures will fuel product development and hiring as MagicDoor helps owners and operators boost productivity

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 3, 2025 — Most property‑management software was built for large, institutional portfolios. Small landlords and “mom‑and‑pop” operators have been left to cobble together multiple tools for leasing, payments, maintenance and tenant communication. MagicDoor was created to change that.  Its AI‑native platform unifies every operational need – listing vacancies, collecting rent, dispatching maintenance, sourcing vendors and handling compliance – into one system. Landlords tell MagicDoor what needs to get done and the platform does the rest, automatically triaging requests, dispatching the right vendors and updating tenants in their preferred language. One customer described the experience as “like having another team member who never sleeps.”

This real‑world impact is why investors oversubscribed the company’s $4.5 million seed round, co‑led by Okapi Venture Capital and Shadow Ventures with participation from Motley Fool Ventures, VITALIZE Venture Capital and Early Light Ventures. The funding will accelerate product development and hiring as MagicDoor scales to meet demand. The company’s AI‑native, fully integrated approach means it can adopt new AI models as they emerge while remaining “open at the boundaries,” ensuring the platform continually gets smarter over time.

Since launching in late 2024, MagicDoor has seen triple‑digit monthly growth and customers report up to a fivefold productivity improvement.  “Property management is broken for the small operator,” said Kasper Søgaard, Founder and CEO of MagicDoor. “We built MagicDoor so independent landlords can run their entire business from one AI‑powered platform, scale without scaling headcount and deliver a better experience to residents. Our unified platform and technical openness mean we can move as fast as AI itself.”

Jeff Bocan, Managing Director at Okapi Venture Capital, said, “MagicDoor’s approach goes beyond chatbots by actually executing work across systems. That’s why we believe they’re creating a category‑defining platform.” Matt Ohlman, Partner at Shadow Ventures, added, “Owners and operators need solutions that help them do more with less. They simply don’t have the same time to devote as as institutional operators and are living their lives. MagicDoor’s early traction shows they’ve tapped into a real pain point and are delivering measurable results.”

As part of the fundraise, MagicDoor also announced the addition of three new board members: Jeff Bocan (Okapi Ventures), Matt Ohlman (Shadow Ventures), and Tim Sheehan, co‑founder and CEO of Greenlight. “We’re excited to welcome experienced operators and investors to our board,” said Søgaard. “Their guidance will help shape our product and accelerate our growth.”

To learn more about its AI‑powered property‑management platform, visit MagicDoor.com

Contact: 
Kasper Sogaard
[email protected]

SOURCE MagicDoor, Inc

CLEVELAND, Sept. 3, 2025 — The video game buy/sell market is becoming much more convenient and value-add for gamers across the country. GameChanger^® Systems, the first and only patented, fully automated “Instant Video Game Buyback” kiosk, has expanded its consumer reach with kiosks in major markets of Houston, Dallas, Metro DC VA/MD area, Louisville, Portland and northern CA. Many more GameChanger^® kiosk locations are coming across the U.S. where consumers already shop at some of the top grocery store brands.

www.gamechangerkiosk.com offers video game buy/sell opportunity on the spot with immediate value to the gamer in seconds, and at higher video game buyback values, anytime without waiting in line at a local video game store. GameChanger kiosks are a “game store in a kiosk” converting ‘Discs to Dollars.’

GameChanger Systems recently completed a second round Series A Preferred growth capital financing in a 3 tranches based upon important benchmarked milestones. This second round Series A Preferred growth capital financing was a follow-on investment from GameChanger’s existing family office investor, who is very experienced with an extraordinary track record of success in consumer financial transaction operations. GameChanger Systems’ seed round funding provided for the development of disruptive technology, covered by 5 U.S. patents, and the successful initial deployment of kiosks in markets across the U.S. GameChanger Systems is now implementing an aggressive kiosk fleet expansion.

“This Series A round has allowed the opportunity to fine tune our disruptive technology and prepare for expansion into new markets through our existing master enterprise agreements with major grocers and retailers,” said GameChanger CEO Brent Hall. “Our goal is to become the buy/sell brand of choice for all things entertainment media, all in a convenient kiosk without the expense and inconvenience of brick-and-mortar stores.” By using patented disruptive point- of-sale and DOOH technology, GameChanger kiosks can create more spending power for gamer and non-gamer consumers alike. “Our GameChanger kiosks regularly buyback 10-30 video game discs at a time, all in just minutes through our convenient kiosks. And if the consumer is not close to one of our kiosk locations, they can easily buy and sell their video games through our ecommerce site, www.gamechangerkiosk.com.”

With its proven technology and its convenient kiosks in great demand, GameChanger Systems is working toward an expansion financing in order to roll out hundreds more GameChanger kiosks in new markets across the US through GameChanger’s current master enterprise agreements with major grocers, and other future big box retail relationships.

This kiosk rollout expansion will give more shoppers easy access to trade their video game discs, converting ‘Discs to Dollars’ at GameChanger kiosks and online at www.gamechangerkiosk.com. “Our kiosks create convenient, immediately available additional consumer buying power. By using digital egifts as payment, when customers leave our kiosks, they can have instant spendable dollars for their favorite grocer or retailer – or even a MasterCard egift, spendable anywhere.”

Brent Halll CEO noted “Our convenient GameChanger kiosks bring unprecedented and immediate value to both video gamers and parents trying to stretch their budgets. This retail combination provides customers with more money on the spot than they had when they first walked in the grocer or retailer’s door. This will increase the spending opportunity for gaming customers in our retail partners as well as increase store foot traffic.” 

GameChanger Systems is now poised for aggressive growth and ready to bring… Value to the Player!

Frost & Co., a boutique investment banking firm headquartered in Nashville, TN represented GameChanger Systems and arranged the financing. www.frostcollc.com

For More Information, Contact:
Brent C. Hall, CEO
GameChanger Systems
[email protected]
www.gamechangerkiosk.com

SOURCE GameChanger Systems

MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 3, 2025 — ID.me, trusted by more than 152 million users to securely prove their identity online, has raised $340 million across a Series E financing announced today and its recent credit facility, at a valuation exceeding $2 billion. The Series E round was led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from existing investors Ares Credit funds and Moonshots Capital, as well as new investors, including Positive Sum. This funding will accelerate ID.me’s mission to expand access to secure, reusable digital identity and to stop AI-driven fraud.

Fraud is now both a financial and national security crisis. Between 2018 and 2022, the U.S. government lost up to $521 billion annually to fraud, according to the GAO. Organized criminal networks in Russia, China, and Nigeria have stolen billions in pandemic relief funds, while North Korean actors increasingly target U.S. companies using stolen identities. Fraudsters are now weaponizing AI tools like deepfakes to exploit vulnerabilities faster than ever. Defeating them requires equally advanced, rapidly deployed solutions.

ID.me is at the forefront of this fight. Seven states credited ID.me with preventing more than $270 billion in unemployment fraud during the pandemic. After the Virginia Employment Commission introduced ID.me in 2024, digital claims rose by 173% while call center volume fell by 57%—streamlining access for claimants and reducing operational strain for the agency.   

“Fraud is evolving at the speed of AI—and so are we,” said Blake Hall, Founder and CEO of ID.me. “Secure identity is foundational to AI ecosystems that will depend on memory, context, and authentication, and ID.me is leading the charge. This funding strengthens our ability to expand secure digital access, protect privacy, and innovate faster to stay ahead of criminal networks.”

This milestone underscores ID.me’s rapid growth as a trusted digital wallet. In 2024 alone, ID.me added 20.4 million new wallets—over 55,000 each day—and powered more than 409 million successful logins—a 44% increase year-over-year.  

With unmatched reach and a proven ability to deliver measurable impact, ID.me serves:

• 152 million users, representing nearly 60% of U.S. adults
• 76 million verified to federal IAL2 standards
• 20 federal agencies and 45 state agencies
• 70+ healthcare organizations
• 600+ leading consumer brands
• 500+ US employers 

“We believe the AI revolution will reshape the global economy, and identity will be its foundation,” said Justin Saslaw, General Partner at Ribbit Capital. “As AI agents become ubiquitous, trusted identity tokens will enable secure, seamless interactions between people, organizations, and machines. ID.me has built one of the most advanced and widely adopted digital identity wallets in the world, giving it a durable advantage in creating and scaling the identity tokens that will power this new era. We’re excited to partner with Blake and the ID.me team as they expand their leadership in the token-driven AI economy.”

“As AI reshapes the economy and new fraud risks emerge, we believe ID.me’s digital identity wallet will become even more essential in enabling secure connections between large organizations and their users, while also minimizing friction and improving the end-user experience,” said John Clark of Ares Management. “Ares is proud to continue supporting ID.me in its next phase of growth.”

About ID.me

ID.me is the next-generation digital identity wallet that simplifies how individuals securely prove their identity online. Consumers can verify their identity with ID.me once and seamlessly sign-in across websites without having to create a new sign-in and verify their identity again. Over 152 million users experience streamlined sign-in and identity verification with ID.me at 20 federal agencies, 45 state government agencies, and more than 70 healthcare organizations. More than 600 consumer brands use ID.me to verify communities and user segments to honor service and build more authentic relationships. ID.me’s technology meets the federal standards for consumer authentication set by the Commerce Department and is approved as a NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 / AAL2 credential service provider by the Kantara Initiative. ID.me is committed to “No Identity Left Behind” to enable all people to have a secure digital identity. To learn more, visit https://network.id.me/.

SOURCE ID.me, Inc.

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2025 — Shine Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, today announced the promotion of Ethan Daly to the role of General Partner. Ethan joined the firm in 2020 as its first hire and has been an integral member of the team ever since. He will continue to lead investments and serve as a board director of portfolio companies on behalf of Shine. He will remain based in the firm’s New York City office.

“Ethan embodies Shine’s ethos. He fully immerses himself in technology and culture, is well-respected in the entrepreneurial and creative communities, and is of unflinching loyalty and integrity. He has a deliberate yet easy way with people, which enables him to strike a terrific balance with founders,” said Mo Koyfman, founder and General Partner of Shine Capital. “Deeply complementary to Alex and me, Ethan has his finger on the pulse of the latest consumer trends, and is equally thoughtful in crypto as he is in artificial intelligence. It is my distinct privilege to recognize Ethan’s accomplishments with his promotion to General Partner.”

“I am honored to become a General Partner at Shine. I have been on this journey since day one, and I can’t wait to see where we are in a decade,” said Ethan Daly, General Partner at Shine Capital. “Shine has given me the platform to do what I love — be a loyal partner to singular entrepreneurs, innovating at the intersection of technology and culture. Building the firm with Alex and Mo is a privilege, and this just further cements our partnership. I am incredibly excited for Shine’s future.”

ABOUT SHINE CAPITAL

Shine Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with creative, convincing, relentless entrepreneurs to build iconic businesses. Shine manages over $600 million across three early-stage funds and one opportunity fund, and maintains offices in New York and San Francisco. We are lateralist investors who believe that novel opportunities emerge from the dynamic intersections of technology, markets, and culture. We lead inception, seed, and series A financings. Our team is an eclectic composition of talents and backgrounds. While we bring deep expertise across many traditional investing verticals, our strength lies in being aligned strategic partners, both in spirit and in practice.

CONTACT

Joe Quenqua
[email protected]

SOURCE Shine Capital

WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 3, 2025 — Mercy BioAnalytics, Inc., a pioneer in extracellular vesicle-based liquid biopsies for the early detection of cancer, today announced the closing of a $59 million series B financing. The round was co-led by Novalis and Sozo Ventures, with participation from Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, American Cancer Society BrightEdge and iSelect Fund, as well as funds committed to women’s health and leadership including Portfolia, Avestria Ventures, and Mindshift Capital. The round also included significant participation from strategic investors including Hologic, Bruker Scientific, and Labcorp.

Coincident with the financing, Mercy is pleased to welcome Rob Freelen to the Board of Directors. A Managing Director and investment partner at Sozo Ventures, Mr. Freelen brings a wealth of experience as a seasoned Director, successful entrepreneur and former executive at Silicon Valley Bank. “Sozo is proud to co-lead this round and help usher in a new generation of cancer diagnostics with the potential to save lives at scale.”

The financing will support the commercialization of Mercy’s blood-based ovarian cancer test portfolio, designed to detect ovarian cancer at earlier, more treatable stages across multiple indications. The Mercy Halo ovarian cancer screening test exhibits unprecedented sensitivity and specificity for the detection of pre-clinical high grade serous ovarian carcinoma in post-menopausal women based on a blinded evaluation of samples from a randomized controlled trial.

The funds will additionally enable the expansion of the Mercy Halo portfolio, including multi-cancer and lung cancer screening tests.

“This financing accelerates our efforts to bring transformative early cancer detection tests to patients and providers,” said Dawn Mattoon, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Mercy. “We are grateful for the support of our investors and proud to partner with those who share our mission to save lives and relieve suffering through the early detection of cancer.”

“We believe Mercy is building one of the most promising early detection platforms in oncology,” said Paul Meister, Partner at Novalis. “Their technology addresses a critical gap in current cancer screening, and we’re excited to support the team as they continue to deliver on critical regulatory, clinical, and commercial milestones.”

About Mercy BioAnalytics

Mercy BioAnalytics, Inc. is on a mission to relieve suffering and save lives through the early detection of cancer. Early-stage cancer is difficult to detect, but when found, is more often amenable to curative therapy. The patented Mercy Halo™ liquid biopsy platform utilizes biomarker co-localization to interrogate highly abundant, blood-based extracellular vesicles that carry unique cancer signatures from their cell of origin. The Mercy Halo platform is designed to detect early-stage cancer, when it is most treatable, and enhance the quality of life for cancer patients and their families. Mercy’s initial focus is the early detection of ovarian and lung cancers. Ovarian cancer, the most lethal gynecological cancer, typically goes undetected until it is too late to cure. Lung cancer, the number one cancer killer globally, takes more lives than breast and prostate cancers combined.

Contact: Josh Gralapp, [email protected]

SOURCE Mercy BioAnalytics

Sofinnova Partners leads premier investor syndicate backing Galvanize’s breakthrough pulsed electric field (PEF) platform—a first-of-its-kind, non-drug approach targeting solid tumors and chronic bronchitis, the leading cause of COPD.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 3, 2025 — Galvanize (“Galvanize”) Therapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage medical technology company pioneering pulsed electric field (PEF) therapies for oncology and chronic lung disease successfully raised an oversubscribed $100 million Series C financing. The round was led by Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, with participation from a global syndicate of top-tier investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Elevage Medical Technologies, Ally Bridge Group, Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, Janus Henderson Investors and Longaeva. Existing investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, T. Rowe Price, Gilmartin Capital, Intuitive Surgical and the company’s founding investor, Apple Tree Partners (“ATP”), also participated in the round.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to expand the company’s commercial footprint and advance its clinical and development activities related to Aliya® PEF in solid tumors and RheOx® therapy for chronic bronchitis. The company will also use the funds to continue to innovate its novel PEF platform, a non-pharmacologic intervention which uses non-thermal, short-duration, highly focused electrical pulses that destabilize cellular pathologic processes in hopes of changing the disease trajectory for these patients.

Concurrent with the financing, Doug Godshall, former CEO of Shockwave Medical and HeartWare International, was appointed Chairman and CEO of Galvanize Therapeutics, while Jonathan Waldstreicher assumed the role of President and Chief Strategy Officer. 

Mr. Godshall commented: “I began following Galvanize in 2016 and became actively involved when I joined the board as Chairman in 2021. I have grown increasingly enthusiastic about the company’s prospects over the last year as the team continued advancing our portfolio and commencing our initial commercial efforts. Galvanize’s Aliya and RheOx technologies hold great promise in the fields of solid tumor oncology and chronic bronchitis. There are millions of patients who are underserved by today’s largely pharmaceutical approaches, and I feel fortunate to be able to join the team as we seek to meaningfully improve the outcomes of those who are suffering with these chronic diseases.”

As part of the financing, Antoine Papiernik, Chairman and Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners, Zack Scott, M.D., General Partner at Norwest, and David Lewis, Managing Partner at Gilmartin Capital, have joined the Board of Directors. 

Mr. Papiernik added: “We have closely followed Galvanize for years and are impressed by its technology, strong team, and execution. Partnering again with Doug after our Shockwave success, and working with such a powerful syndicate, was an opportunity we couldn’t refuse. We believe Galvanize’s PEF program could significantly improve treatment and benefit patients with serious unmet needs.”

About Galvanize Therapeutics
Galvanize™ aims to become the global leader in delivering medical technology innovations that drive biologic processes to treat a range of diseases, including solid tumors, and chronic bronchitis symptoms. The company is based in Redwood City, CA, and is developing and commercializing its revolutionary Aliya^® PEF energy platform in the United States. For more information, please visit www.galvanizetx.com.

About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners manages over €4 billion in assets. For more information, please visit: sofinnovapartners.com.

SOURCE Galvanize Therapeutics, Inc.

HOUSTON, Sept. 3, 2025 — RBL LLC, a pioneering biotech venture creation studio dedicated to rapidly building companies based on breakthrough medical technologies, today announced a strategic investment from Carnrite Ventures that will support the rapid development of its growing pipeline of therapeutic companies.

“Carnrite’s investment validates our thesis that the future of biotech lies in purpose-built platforms that can systematically translate academic breakthroughs into commercial success,” said Paul Wotton, RBL’s managing partner. “Carnrite recognizes the value we have created through our integrated approach here in Houston’s thriving life sciences ecosystem, and their backing enables us to scale this model while continuing to attract the world’s best scientific talent to what is rapidly becoming one of the nation’s premier biotech hubs.”    

“What sets RBL apart is their ability to identify and develop the highest-impact opportunities from exceptional research institutions, all while leveraging Houston’s unique advantages as a biotech destination,” said Jeff Carnrite, partner at Carnrite Ventures. “We are backing a proven team that has created a repeatable process for building companies that matter. The combination of Rice University’s innovation depth with RBL’s disciplined approach and Houston’s world-class medical infrastructure represents exactly the kind of scalable platform we look for in our investments.”    

The partnership comes as RBL reaches a critical inflection point with portfolio companies advancing a robust pipeline of emerging technologies. Carnrite’s investment will directly support RBL’s expanded operations and accelerate the translation of innovative discoveries into patient-ready therapies.

About RBL LLC:

RBL LLC is a pioneering biotech venture creation studio based in Houston that is dedicated to accelerating the development of breakthrough medical technologies and therapies through company formation. RBL provides entrepreneurs, researchers and innovators with infrastructure, financial support and strategic guidance as well as access to laboratory space and shared resources in the Texas Medical Center Helix Park. For more information, please visit https://www.rbl-llc.com/.

About Carnrite Ventures:

Carnrite Ventures is a Houston-based venture capital firm investing in disruptive technology companies across the United States. With $25 million under management, the firm partners with world-class entrepreneurs building transformative energy, industrial, and healthcare technology companies from the earliest stages. In addition to capital, Carnrite Ventures provides sector expertise and strategic support to accelerate growth. For more information, please visit https://www.carnriteventures.com.

Media Contact:

Russo Partners
David Schull or Liz Phillips
(347) 956-7697
[email protected]
[email protected]

SOURCE RBL LLC

Proceeds will fund the registrational STOP-Cdiff (SIDIPREV™ Trial On Prevention of C. difficile Infections) trial for SIDIPREV™, positioned to become the first prevention against C. difficile, a deadly infection that claims 80 U.S. lives daily and lacks any approved preventive therapy.

PLATTE CITY, Mo., Sept. 3, 2025 — LPOXY Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel non-antibiotic therapy to prevent Clostridioides difficile infections (Cdiff), today announced it has signed a term sheet with 5Horizons Ventures, LLC, a life science venture capital firm focused on innovative healthcare solutions in support of a $28 million Series A financing. The agreement facilitates the formation of an investment syndicate to fund LPOXY’s registrational STOP-Cdiff (SIDIPREV™ Trial On Prevention of C. difficile Infections) clinical trial.

The upcoming trial is designed under the FDA’s Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs guidance and is intended to serve as the registrational study for SIDIPREV™, a therapy that aims to prevent life-threatening Cdiff in high-risk hospitalized patients. C. difficile is categorized by the CDC as an urgent public health threat that kills 80 Americans every day.

“5 Horizons Ventures’ commitment marks a major milestone for LPOXY as we move toward launching our pivotal STOP-Cdiff trial,” said Dr. Larry Sutton, CEO and co-Founder of LPOXY. “SIDIPREV™ represents a novel approach to infection prevention that not only addresses a deadly unmet need but also aligns with hospital economics by reducing costly complications within fixed DRG payments.”

SIDIPREV™ is an orally administered, enteric-coated capsule that releases a metered dose of oxygen into the lower gastrointestinal tract, creating an environment hostile to anaerobic pathogens like C. difficile. Oxygen also suppresses toxin production and has mucosal anti-inflammatory effects.

As planned, STOP-Cdiff is a randomized, placebo-controlled superiority trial that will evaluate the efficacy and safety of SIDIPREV™ in approximately 500 hospitalized patients at elevated risk for Cdiff due to age and antibiotic exposure. LPOXY aims to launch the trial in Q3 2026 and file for approval in 2029.

“We’re impressed by the LPOXY team, their data, and their clear-eyed strategy for succeeding where many anti-infective programs have struggled,” said Paul Ferguson, Partner and CFO of 5 Horizons Ventures. “SIDIPREV™ avoids the reimbursement and resistance-related hurdles that have plagued traditional antibiotics, making thisa rare opportunity to unlock real economic value for patients, hospitals, and investors.”

LPOXY is actively building its investment syndicate and is in discussions with other institutional investors aligned with its late-stage clinical strategy.

For more information about LPOXY Therapeutics and its STOP-Cdiff trial, please contact:

Larry Sutton, MD, PhD
CEO, LPOXY Therapeutics Inc.
Phone: +1 (816) 200-0513
Email: [email protected]

Visit our website at www.lpoxy.com for additional details and updates.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the planned pivotal study of SIDIPREV™, regulatory filing and approval, and commercialization of LPOXY Therapeutics Inc.’s products. Forward-looking statements are based on LPOXY’s current expectations and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the timing and success of clinical trials, the regulatory approval process, LPOXY’s ability to secure necessary funding, the potential market acceptance of SIDIPREV™, and other factors detailed in LPOXY’s filings with regulatory authorities.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, LPOXY undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events, or changes in circumstances.

SOURCE LPOXY Therapeutics, Inc