Expanded Partnership Fuels Loan Growth and Innovation in Consumer Financial Services

CHESTERBROOK, Pa., Aug. 5, 2025 — JG Wentworth, a leading provider of consumer financial services, today announced an expanded forward flow agreement with funds managed by One William Street Capital Management, L.P., a premier New York-based alternative investment manager.

The expanded agreement underscores JG Wentworth’s dedication to delivering responsible, high-quality financial solutions to consumers nationwide. The additional funding will support growing demand for the company’s loan offerings, which provide consumers with immediate debt relief, improved financial wellness, and credit building opportunities.

“Our collaboration with One William Street empowers our clients to secure their financial future and build their credit profiles,” said Jason Tepperman, JG Wentworth’s President and Head of Lending. “With this expanded partnership, we are committed to delivering even greater access to affordable financing, helping more consumers take control of their financial lives.”

Frank Prezioso, Deputy CIO at One William Street Capital Management, remarked, “We were pleased to have the opportunity to expand our relationship with JG Wentworth through this upsized facility, and we look forward to continue providing capital solutions to the company as it expands its offerings to consumers.”

In addition to consumer lending, JG Wentworth offers comprehensive financial solutions, including debt resolution, structured settlements, life settlements, annuity payment purchasing, and an innovative online marketplace that connects consumers with best-in-class financial products.

About JG Wentworth

JG Wentworth is a leading consumer financial services company dedicated to providing personalized financial solutions that help Americans achieve their financial goals. Powered by a team of over 800 employees, JG Wentworth specializes in consumer lending, debt resolution, structured settlement and annuity purchasing, life settlements, and marketplace services designed to connect consumers with high-quality financial products. For more information, please visit www.jgwentworth.com.

About One William Street Capital Management

One William Street Capital Management (“OWS”) is a premier alternative investment manager offering clients investment solutions across public and private asset-based, structured, and opportunistic credit. Founded in 2008, OWS and its affiliates manage approximately $8.0 billion in assets.

OWS’ Private Asset-Based Finance strategy provides capital and risk solutions to specialty finance companies, fintechs and other asset owners and originators via unitranche and mezzanine facilities, forward flow agreements, portfolio acquisitions, and other bespoke asset acquisition and financing structures. On behalf of its investors, the firm invests across a range of asset classes and geographies, with a focus on North America and Europe.

For more information, please visit https://onewilliamstreet.com/.

Contact Information:
JG Wentworth
6102166777
[email protected]

SOURCE JG Wentworth

Funding round supports ketteQ’s mission to deliver adaptive planning, AI-powered insights, and measurable results in months, not years.

ATLANTA, Aug. 5, 2025 — ketteQ, the provider of the world’s most adaptive supply chain planning solutions, today announced it has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Vocap Partners. The new capital will accelerate the company’s global expansion, fuel continued innovation in agentic AI and Agentforce and strengthen delivery capacity to meet growing global demand from manufacturers, distributors, and service organizations seeking faster, more innovative planning solutions.

“The world’s supply chains are being redefined, and ketteQ was purpose-built for this exact moment,” said Mike Landry, CEO of ketteQ. “We’ve shown what works: AI that acts, planning that adapts, and value delivered in months, not years. Our investors see it too, and this round allows us to stay focused, move faster, and scale what’s working.”

Unlike legacy supply chain planning providers attempting to retrofit outdated architectures with AI layers, ketteQ was built from the ground up in the cloud with deep integration to Salesforce, designed specifically for complex, ever-changing supply chain environments. At the core of its platform is PolymatiQ™, an agentic AI solver engine that enables adaptive planning across demand, inventory, production, material and service.

ketteQ’s cloud-native architecture and intelligent automation help organizations move beyond reactive decision-making to proactively orchestrate their supply chains, supporting revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and operational resilience.

ketteQ is trusted by some of the world’s most respected brands, including Coca-Cola, Carrier, Johnson Controls, NCR Voyix, and Alliance Consumer Group, all of whom rely on the platform to move beyond reactive firefighting and toward proactive, AI-powered decision-making.

The company’s momentum is reflected in strong business metrics, including:

• 170% average annual CARR growth
• 134% net revenue retention
• 100% implementation success rate
• Deployments completed in months, not years

Scaling What Works
With this new funding, ketteQ will accelerate investment across five core areas:

1. Global Implementation Capacity – Expanding delivery teams and partner enablement to support faster go-lives
2. Customer Success – Deepening support and expert services for adoption, retention, and value realization
3. AI & Autonomy Innovation – Advancing PolymatiQ™ to enable next-gen planning capabilities
4. Partner Ecosystem Growth – Certifying and supporting global consulting partners
5. Agentforce Solutions – Embedding intelligent workflows and Salesforce agents into the ketteQ solution clouds

“Every supply chain in the world is under pressure to modernize, and adaptive, AI-enabled planning is now mission critical, not optional,” said Mike Becker, Managing Partner at Vocap Partners. “In a market urgently searching for modern solutions, ketteQ isn’t catching up—they’re leading. That’s why we’re proud to continue backing the team in this next phase of global growth.”

Learn More
To explore ketteQ’s Series B funding, strategy, and future vision, visit the Series B landing page at www.ketteq.com/seriesb.

About ketteQ
ketteQ is the world’s most adaptive supply chain planning solution, purpose-built for complex, ever-changing business environments. Powered by PolymatiQ™, an agentic AI solver engine, ketteQ enables organizations to move from reactive to proactive planning across demand, inventory, production, and service. The platform is deeply integrated with Salesforce but operates flexibly across any enterprise environment. ketteQ delivers real-time insights, rapid user adoption, and enterprise-wide scalability. To learn more, visit www.ketteQ.com. 

About Vocap Partners
Vocap Partners is an early growth equity firm investing in B2B software and healthcare IT companies with strong product-market fit and clear paths to scale. The firm combines capital with deep operating experience to support execution across go-to-market, product strategy, and organizational development. With offices in Atlanta, New York, and Vero Beach, Vocap has a strong track record of helping entrepreneurs build and realize value. Learn more at www.vocap.vc.

SOURCE ketteQ Holdings Inc.

Round led by TTV Capital will expand company’s AI capabilities and fund acquisition of CPA practices

MARIN, Calif., Aug. 5, 2025 — OLarry, an AI-powered tax firm for the next generation of high-net-worth individuals and businesses, today announced that it has raised a $10 million Series A round led by TTV Capital and joined by Walkabout Ventures and Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to $14.5 million. OLarry bridges the gap between DIY tax preparation and ultra-high-net-worth, hourly tax advisory, empowering thousands of clients to gain access to personalized tax strategies for an all-inclusive annual fee. With AI at its core, OLarry automates client onboarding, document preparation, and data extraction, enabling CPAs to focus on what they do best: provide proactive advice to clients with complex financial situations.

“Proactive tax planning has historically been reserved for the ultra-high-net-worth – those who can afford the most elite tax firms in the country. We built OLarry for the next generation of high-net-worth individuals and businesses, who need personalized tax advice but are underserved by TurboTax or their current tax advisor,” said Eric Rachmel, Co-founder and CEO of OLarry. “OLarry uses AI to streamline workflows, freeing up CPAs to focus on what they do best: provide holistic tax advice year-round, not just during tax season. In doing so, we enable our clients to make smarter investment and life decisions because they can understand how it will impact their taxes.”

The combination of increased demand for personalized tax advice, coupled with a 17% decrease in accountants entering the job market and increasingly sophisticated AI, means that tax preparation services are ripe for disruption. Since OLarry’s inception in 2024, the company has deployed a roll-up strategy to rapidly scale its business – acquiring Branton, de Jong & Associates in San Jose and Byrne, Seligman & Co., Inc. in San Mateo – while training its proprietary AI models to automate document requests, classify and extract data, and enable rapid research, bringing automation to the historically manual tax process.

“We invested in OLarry because of the significant market opportunity: 75% of CPAs at the partner level are expected to retire within the next 10-15 years, and dramatic improvements in AI can streamline tax preparation and filing in a way that wasn’t possible a few years ago,” said Lizzie Hartley, Partner at TTV Capital. “OLarry is building an AI-powered tax advisory business at exactly the right time, in the right way – by improving inefficiencies, eliminating manual work, and taking a proactive approach to tax advisory services. We are proud to support Eric, Becky, Corey, and the entire OLarry team as they continue to onboard new clients and scale the business.”

OLarry will use its new infusion of capital to continue building out the company’s proprietary tax data classification and extraction model, enabling more efficient ingestion and structuring of complex financial data. Funds will also advance the development of predictive scenario planning tools to help clients optimize tax outcomes in real-time, as well as create an agentic, AI-powered client experience to support seamless communication, education, and advisor interactions. OLarry is pursuing strategic CPA firm acquisitions and recruiting nationally recognized, top-tier CPAs to further strengthen its advisory practice. To learn more about careers at OLarry, visit https://olarry.com/careers.

About OLarry
OLarry is a modern, AI-powered tax advisory firm for high-net-worth individuals, businesses, trusts, and estates with complex financial situations. Serving more than 2,000 clients and 700+ businesses across the United States, OLarry uses AI to automate client onboarding and document preparation, enabling CPAs to focus on tax strategy and advice. With a flat-fee membership, OLarry clients have year-round access to customized tax planning supported by modern technology. To learn more, visit https://olarry.com/.

SOURCE OLarry

RICHMOND, Va.  , Aug. 5, 2025 — Wealthcare Capital Management (Wealthcare), a technology-enabled RIA that supports independent financial advisors, has continued to increase its accelerated growth trajectory in the first half of 2025 and secured a new financial partner to help them reach the next stage of their growth strategy. Wealthcare’s new partner, Sammons Financial Group, and the firm’s sustained momentum validate its commitment to empowering advisors with flexible solutions to drive growth and deliver unparalleled client service.

Key Highlights of Wealthcare’s Remarkable 2025 Achievements:

1. Closed on new partnership with Sammons Financial Group: Sammons acquired Wealthcare from its former partner, NewSprings Holdings, in July.
2. Continued Growth Across Affiliation Channels: So far in 2025, seven new advisors have joined Wealthcare, expanding the firm’s national presence to 191 advisors in 29 states.
3. Achieved $9 Billion in Regulatory Assets Under Management (AUM): As of June 30, 2025, Wealthcare surpassed $9 billion in AUM for the first time in its history.
4. Exceeded $870M in Advisor-Driven Models: Wealthcare’s innovative solution, ‘advisor-driven models,’ has surpassed $870 million in assets under management. This solution empowers advisors who use their own investment models while outsourcing trading and rebalancing, reflecting Wealthcare’s flexibility and commitment to meeting diverse advisor needs.

“Our growth to-date in 2025 has been tremendous,” said President and CEO Matt Regan. “We expect to see continued, if not accelerated, momentum through the end of the year and beyond thanks, in part, to our new relationship with Sammons Financial Group. Our advisors and staff are critical to our firm’s overall success. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them, and we remain fully committed to offering flexible solutions and support to help them thrive.”

Wealthcare offers Flexible Affiliation Models, allowing financial advisors to partner with the firm on the terms that will enable them to meet their clients’ needs best, including hybrid and fee-only 1099, W2, and acquisition options. Wealthcare’s flexible approach allows advisors to maintain as much or as little independence as they want, while benefitting from everything Wealthcare has to offer.

Wealthcare remains focused on delivering exceptional value and support to its advisors, including unparalleled flexibility and industry-leading back- and middle-office support. The firm looks forward to building on its successes, exploring new opportunities in the financial advisory landscape, and welcoming additional advisors to the Wealthcare community.

About Wealthcare
Wealthcare is the architect of the original goals-based planning and investing methodology 26 years ago and holds 12 patents on its established goals management process. Powered by its patented Comfort Zone^®, ‘Wealthcare’s approach features innovative, personalized experiences and step-by-step tools that create deeper relationships between advisors and investors. Wealthcare empowers firms and advisors to go independent and grow their advisory businesses by providing GDX360^® – ‘Wealthcare’s proven fiduciary process that seamlessly integrates planning, investing, and trading – and a full-suite of practice-management services.  Wealthcare is comprised of three RIAs, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC, Wealthcare Capital Management LLC, and Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC. Learn more at www.wealthcaregdx.com.

About Sammons Financial Group
The companies of Sammons Financial Group® help families and businesses by empowering futures and changing lives. Sammons Financial Group is employee owned with member companies that are among the most enduring and stable in the financial services industry. Sammons Financial Group is Midwest-based, with offices in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota.

SOURCE Wealthcare

$600M Startup Leader Dan Daly Goes Viral with Powerful Message on Customer Experience, Visionary Investing, and Mindset

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5, 2025 — Automotive executive turned lifestyle investor Dan Daly is capturing national attention after his compelling street interview on The School of Hard Knocks went viral—amassing over 177,000 likes and 25,000 shares in just hours. The momentum continued with a 90-minute subscriber Q&A that drew more than 300 paying members eager to hear Dan’s unfiltered insights on leadership, loyalty, and customer experience.

Dan’s story is rooted in resilience—from humble beginnings to a successful 20-year career in automotive retail. In 2019, he became the first hire and Vice President of a newly formed dealership group, scaling it to $600 million in annual revenue within five years through one core belief: The customer is the CEO.

Today, he runs Aim High, a consulting firm that helps business owners reclaim lost revenue and boost profits—not through cost-cutting, but by making customer experience the engine of growth.

He also leads Global Investment Partnership, a venture redefining real estate investing. His firm is developing a tokenized co-ownership fund for boutique vacation homes across Europe—offering Golden Visa access, Bitcoin payment options, and immersive ownership experiences. The fund is tailored for globally mobile investors seeking not just returns, but connection, authenticity, and long-term value. It’s about experiential, lifestyle-based investments that create deeper ties to the places they own.

“My mission is simple,” says Daly. “To help businesses and investors create lasting impact and profits by prioritizing the customer experience—and outperform the competition because of it.”

For media inquiries, podcast bookings, or investment opportunities, contact: [email protected]

About Dan Daly
Dan Daly is the founder of Aim High and Global Investment Partnership. A 20-year automotive industry veteran, he helped build a startup dealership group to $600M in annual revenue in under five years. Today, he consults businesses on customer-first profitability and leads a hospitality real estate venture blending tokenization, luxury travel, and global residency benefits.     

Websites: www.aimhighnow.com | www.globalipllc.com

SOURCE Global Investment Partnership

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 5, 2025 — Lyric, a leading AI-powered platform transforming supply chain decision making, today announced it has raised $43.5 million in Series B funding. The round was led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from Primary Venture Partners, Permanent Capital Ventures, VMG Partners, PSP Growth and NewBuild Venture Capital.

Lyric’s momentum continues to accelerate. Revenue has grown 500% since emerging from stealth 18 months ago, with enterprise adoption now spanning Fortune 500 companies across a range of industries.

A new model for supply chain intelligence

Supply chain teams are under growing pressure to make faster, smarter decisions, but many are held back by rigid tools that simply can’t keep up. As Gartner® notes, “today, many of the activities associated with data, including preparation, transformation, pattern identification, model development and sharing insights with others, lack augmentation and automation. While demands for more analytics-enabled and near-real-time decision making remain high, technical hurdles and data quality concerns limit user adoption and opportunities to drive business outcomes from these solutions.”*

To address this challenge, Lyric built Lyric Studio, a composable platform designed from the start to give customers the power to tailor decision-making intelligence to their unique needs. With seamless data integration, a rich library of algorithms, an intuitive workflow builder, and a built-in experience layer, Lyric puts advanced science in the hands of business users faster, easier, and with precision. It helps teams move quickly and make better decisions across modeling, planning, and frontier use cases.

“We chose Lyric as our next-generation supply chain design platform after thorough assessment of multiple considerations. Within a brief period, we are already expanding our capabilities into many unique use cases with the speed and agility to meet our strategic objectives. Lyric’s algorithmic horsepower and talented technical team are exceptional,” said Natesh Rao, Supply Chain Leader at Mondelēz International.

Investing in product, intelligence, and community

The new capital will accelerate Lyric’s product roadmap, expand its library of reusable supply chain logic, and deepen its AI-driven capabilities for experimentation, simulation, and automation. The company will also invest in customer success, onboarding, and community programs as it scales platform access for global supply chain teams.

“This investment is more than a milestone; it is a signal,” said Ganesh Ramakrishna, Co-Founder and CEO of Lyric. “Supply chains today are too complex and volatile for static software. Leaders need platforms that adapt to them, not the other way around. We are proud to be building the next generation of supply chain infrastructure.”

Looking ahead to Empower 2025

Lyric will unveil new capabilities and share its forward-looking roadmap at Empower 2025, the company’s annual conference, in Chicago on August 13–14, 2025. The event will gather supply chain leaders from across industries to explore what is possible in an AI-first, composable future.

“We believe supply chain decision making is overdue for reinvention,” said Teddie Wardi, Managing Director at Insight Partners and new Lyric board member. “Lyric’s platform-first approach delivers the flexibility and intelligence companies have been seeking for years. We are excited to back the team as they scale globally.”

Learn more at lyric.tech.

*Gartner, Market Guide for Analytics and Decision-Making Platforms for Supply Chain, Christian Titze, Leonard Ammerer, David Pidsley, 14 January 2025

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Lyric

Lyric is a leading AI powered platform that puts algorithmic decision making into the hands of supply chain builders. With Lyric Studio, enterprises design, test and deploy high performance models faster, unlocking better decisions across planning, logistics, inventory and beyond. Lyric is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

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 December 31, 2024, the firm has over $90B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices 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.  

SOURCE Lyric

Raised in Under Three Months, the Oversubscribed Fund will 
Invest in High-Growth Consumer Brands

NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2025 — Prelude Growth Partners (“Prelude Growth”), a growth equity firm focused on partnering with high growth branded consumer product and service businesses, today announced the first and final close of its third fund, Prelude Growth Partners III, L.P. (“Fund III”). Fund III was significantly oversubscribed, closing in less than three months at its hard cap with $600 million in total commitments. Fund III received strong support from a broad base of prestigious institutional investors including endowments, charitable foundations, public pension funds, global financial institutions and family offices. Prelude Growth now manages $1.3 billion in assets.

Consistent with Prelude Growth’s prior funds, Fund III will continue to execute its focused investment strategy, partnering with passionate and exceptional founders and management teams across advantaged consumer products and service categories.  Fund III aims to commit between $15 million and $75 million to high-growth consumer businesses.

Neda Daneshzadeh, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Prelude Growth, said, “We are thrilled to have closed Fund III with tremendous support from both existing and select new limited partners who helped us complete a significantly oversubscribed fundraise in just two and a half months. This is a testament to how much the limited partner community values a disciplined approach.  We look forward to partnering with truly exceptional consumer entrepreneurs who are setting the pace of innovation in their categories.”

“We are here to support founders in building the iconic brands of the future” added Managing Partner and Co-Founder Alicia Sontag. “We leverage our deep consumer experience and insights with our partner brands and provide powerful expertise in building successful brands at a large scale.  We act as highly collaborative partners to our founders and management teams, enabling them to maximize the potential of their brands.”

Since Prelude Growth’s inception in 2017, the firm has become the partner of choice for branded consumer product and service businesses by providing deep strategic and operating value-add support to scale their partner brands faster.  The firm has backed leading consumer brands including Sol de Janeiro, Bachan’s, MadeGood, PHLUR, Blueland, Summer Fridays, So Good So You, Skin Pharm, and Westman Atelier. Prelude Growth’s previous fund, Prelude Growth Partners II, L.P., closed in 2021 with $250 million in committed capital.

Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal counsel for Fund III. No placement agent was used.

About Prelude Growth Partners
Prelude Growth Partners is a leading consumer-focused growth equity firm that supports brands made for the new modern consumer. By partnering with founders and CEOs, Prelude Growth Partners provides deep category experience, value-added operational support, and a broad network to power the high potential, fast-growing consumer brands of tomorrow. Prelude Growth Partners seeks to make investments of $15 million to $75 million in each company, across branded consumer categories including beauty & personal care, food & beverage, health & wellness, pet and other consumer product and service companies. Representative past and current partner investments include: Bachan’s, Banza, Blueland, dpHUE, Fly By Jing, MadeGood, So Good So You, Skin Pharm, Sol de Janeiro, Summer Fridays, The Center Brands (including Naturium and PHLUR), Tower 28, and Westman Atelier. For additional information on Prelude Growth Partners, please visit www.preludegrowth.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts
[email protected]

SOURCE Prelude Growth Partners

AI investments account for 58 cents of every VC dollar deployed in 2025

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 5, 2025 — While AI companies continue to attract significant venture capital (VC) investment, these companies are also operating with higher cash burn rates, according to the latest report from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank.  AI companies account for approximately one-third (36%) of VC deals and the majority (58%) of total VC investments, but they are also showing higher burn rates and lower profit margins, according to the report.

“AI is one of the most transformative innovations of the past two decades, driving strong potential across all sectors and industries. While increasing investment raises concerns about lofty valuations and high burn multiples, we remain optimistic that AI will help to push the innovation economy forward,” said Marc Cadieux, President of Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, and co-author of the bi-annual State of the Markets Report. “Founders and CFOs are starting to focus more on balancing growth and profitability. After being in a constant state of flux since 2019, revenue growth rates and profitability in the tech sector have stabilized over the last four quarters.”

According to SVB, 75% of all venture-backed tech companies are growing revenue, with 63% of those either profitable or improving profitability. The percentage of profitable companies studied has more than doubled since 2022.

“What you’re seeing today is the start of the institutionalization of venture. The industry is kind of like Cro-Magnon on the evolutionary scale from ape to human,” Ian Sigalow, co-founder and managing partner of Greycroft, stated in the report. “We’re somewhere in the first third of evolution. We will become an industry that looks more like private equity given the number of companies and the global scale and ambition of these businesses.”

Leveraging proprietary data and research, SVB’s bi-annual State of the Markets report provides an outlook on the innovation economy, focusing on venture capital (VC) trends, fundraising, the impact of AI, and the current state of the innovation economy market.

Key Numbers – At a Glance

• Fundraising: Fundraising by venture funds in the US is on track to hit $56B this year, a 21% drop from 2024 and the lowest level since 2017. Mega-funds are dominating, leading to larger deal sizes, especially in AI. Among conventional VC fund capital raised in the US over the last three years, more than 36% went to funds at least a billion dollars in size—up from 20% for the period ending six years ago.
• AI Burn Rate: $5 is burned by the median Series A AI company to gain $1 of new revenue. Burn multiples for AI companies are higher than other sectors, suggesting low-cost capital could be fueling inefficient growth.
• IPOs: There were 10 US VC-backed tech IPOs in the first half of 2025. With the IPO window finally cracking open, it appears pent-up demand from investors could drive continued activity through the back half of the year.
• Investors: One-third of US VC investment came from deals with the six largest funds. The increase from 10% in the period ending in November 2024 was driven almost exclusively by massive AI deals

Key Themes:

• Influence of Venture Podcasts: According to SVB’s new Podcast Sentiment Index, the first-of-its-kind index drawing from 3,200 venture podcast episodes, AI and defense are high on the list of hot topics among VC firms. Key themes in podcasts also included improving sentiment of AI after ChatGPT was released and the momentum continues. Meanwhile, defense received a huge boost in mentions following the 2024 presidential elections.
• Unicorn KPIs: While 72% of tech unicorns are achieving YOY growth, only 21% are turning a profit. While growth can naturally slow as companies scale, 91% of non-growing unicorns are burning through their once-ample cash reserves.
• Geography of Innovation: New York has become a fintech standout, with nearly 30% of local VC dollars going to the sector in 2024 — more than double the national average. Austin dominates in consumer tech, and Denver received 54% more share of VC dollars than the national average for climate tech.

Learn More
To access SVB’s 2025 State of the Markets report please visit: State of the Markets Report | Silicon Valley Bank

To share its deep industry knowledge, SVB develops various insights reports focused on sectors spanning the innovation economy. For the complete library of SVB’s signature research reports, please visit Market Research Industry Trends & Insights | Silicon Valley Bank (svb.com) 

About Silicon Valley Bank

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial banking to companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity and venture capital industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB’s parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com

SOURCE Silicon Valley Bank

Leadership addition brings deep market expertise to accelerate VERIS growth

LANCASTER, Pa., Aug. 5, 2025 — The Benecon Group, a national leader in self-funded healthcare solutions, today announced the appointment of Michael Sullivan as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). This strategic appointment comes as the company scales its national consortium solution, VERIS, into its next phase of commercial acceleration.

A veteran healthcare executive, Sullivan brings over 25 years of experience leading complex benefit and insurance organizations, including executive leadership roles at Independence Health Group, AmeriHealth Administrators, and Highmark. Sullivan’s deep expertise in stop loss, third-party administration, product strategy and distribution partnerships, paired with his proven track record driving large-scale growth across regional and national markets, makes him uniquely positioned to lead Benecon’s commercial operations at this pivotal moment.

“VERIS resonates across the market for its employer control, risk protection, and cost predictability,” said Matthew Kirk, CEO of The Benecon Group. “Michael’s appointment ensures we build on that traction with operational precision, partner enablement and national scale. He brings a strategic lens, a commercial playbook, and the experience to scale our growth engine across the country.”

VERIS by Benecon is an independent consortium model that leverages actuarial intelligence and underwriting precision to drive sustained health plan performance. Through data-driven design and stop-loss purchasing power, VERIS is a validated platform with over a decade of proven results — and is now primed for broader reach.

As Chief Commercial Officer, Sullivan will lead Benecon’s go-to-market execution across all fronts, including advisor activation, channel strategy, regional expansion, and strategic partnerships.

“VERIS is a blueprint for scalable self-funding and has already proven its value to advisors and employers across the country,” said Sullivan. “In partnership with the expert team at Benecon, my focus is to amplify that success, deepen our partner relationships, and unlock the full market potential of this platform.”

Throughout his career, Sullivan has led multi-line commercial health insurance businesses serving hundreds of thousands of members and generating over $1 billion in annual revenue. He has grown TPA business units, launched new lines of business across multiple markets, and held a C-level role with national scope and operational responsibility across all 50 states.

“Benecon’s appointment of a Chief Commercial Officer is a clear investment in growth, discipline, and long-term category leadership,” said Jason Mironov, Managing Director at TA Associates (“TA”), Benecon’s private equity partner. “Michael brings the experience, network and commercial strategy needed to drive the next phase of VERIS expansion.”

“In the rapidly evolving self-funded healthcare market, VERIS stands apart for its actuarial strength, scalability and advisor-friendly design,” said Michael Berk, Managing Director at TA. “Michael’s leadership will help Benecon meet growing market demand with clarity and precision.”

“Employers and advisors are seeking solutions with consistency, predictability and scale,” added Michael Smith, Managing Director at Neuberger Berman Private Markets. “VERIS delivers on those expectations, and Michael’s appointment signals a strong commitment to continued expansion.”

About Benecon

VERIS by Benecon is a self-funded healthcare model built for control, capped liability, and long-term plan performance. Unlike models that work to get companies into self-funding, VERIS is built to keep them there – through actuarial design, underwriting precision, and built-in risk protections. As the only national, independent consortium, it secures the full plan – not just the 30% typically covered by stop-loss. VERIS defines total cost exposure up front and delivers guaranteed renewals, rate caps, no new lasers, and full surplus return. It’s self-funding, solved—where decisions and dollars stay where they belong – with the employer. Learn more at benecon.com.

About TA

TA is a leading global private equity firm focused on scaling growth in profitable companies. Since 1968, TA has invested in more than 560 companies across its five target industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services. Leveraging its deep industry expertise and strategic resources, TA collaborates with management teams worldwide to help high-quality companies deliver lasting value. The firm has raised $65 billion in capital to date and has over 150 investment professionals across offices in Boston, Menlo Park, Austin, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. For more information, visit: www.ta.com.

About Neuberger Berman Private Markets

Neuberger Private Markets is a division of Neuberger Berman and has been an active and successful private markets investor since 1987. Neuberger Private Markets invests across strategies, asset classes, and geographies for a large number of sophisticated and renowned institutions and individuals globally. As of March 31, 2025, Neuberger Private Markets manages over $140 billion of investor commitments across primaries, co-investments, secondaries, private credit, and specialty strategies. Neuberger Private Markets has an experienced and diverse team of over 440 professionals with a global presence in 15 offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

SOURCE Benecon