SAN FRANCISCO, June 5, 2025 — JetBlue Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, announced today that Arielle Ring has joined the firm as President. She will help lead strategy and support portfolio companies with fundraising and monetization optimization. She will report into Amy Burr, CEO of JetBlue Ventures.

Ring brings nearly two decades of leadership experience across the travel and transportation industry. She has served as CFO of both Northvolt North America and Ohmium International, and was previously Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets and Strategic Finance at BBAM, an alternative asset manager with $20 billion in assets under management. She began her career in Citi’s Investment Banking division, where she focused on travel and transportation within the Global Industrials Group.

Over the course of her career, Ring has raised more than $4 billion in public and private equity, structured and closed over $10 billion in debt, managed and sold a public company, and completed more than $11 billion in M&A transactions.

“Arielle brings financial expertise and deep industry knowledge that will be invaluable as we enter our next phase of growth,” said Amy Burr. “Her experience complements our leadership team and strengthens our ability to support innovative startups transforming travel and transportation.”

About JetBlue Ventures

JetBlue Ventures (JBV) is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on companies redefining the travel and transportation landscape, with an emphasis on enterprise and frontier technologies. Founded in 2016 as JetBlue’s corporate venture capital arm, JBV is now part of SKY Leasing, a premier aviation asset manager. Based in San Francisco, the firm has made over 50 investments across the travel, hospitality, and transportation industries. Learn more at www.JetBlueVentures.com.

Contact

JetBlue Ventures
Anna Shimoda
[email protected]

SOURCE JetBlue Ventures

New funding will fuel expansion of distribution network plus AI-powered solutions amid 2X + YoY growth and 20x scale-up in run rate

MEXICO CITY, June 5, 2025 — Crabi, the leading full-stack auto insurance platform built to make coverage simpler, smarter, and more accessible, announced it has raised $13.6 million in new funding. The round was led by Kaszek and IGNIA, with participation from 30N Ventures, Redwood Ventures, Carao Ventures, Azuro Capital, Newtopia VC, and other investors.

This funding marks a new milestone in Crabi’s mission to redefine how Mexicans protect their vehicles, combining cutting-edge technology with a disciplined operating model to close the country’s longstanding insurance gap and bring coverage to millions nationwide.

Despite being one of the largest automotive markets in Latin America, over 70% of vehicles in Mexico are uninsured. Traditional insurance options have remained expensive, outdated, and difficult to access for decades. Crabi is the first tech-native insurance company in over 25 years to receive regulatory approval in Mexico, paving the way for a new generation of digital insurers. Crabi tackles the gap head-on by offering real-time, mobile-first insurance experiences. Delivering instant policy issuance, automated claims support, and transparent pricing, making car insurance finally accessible to millions of drivers.

Over the past three years, Crabi has achieved 2x+ year-over-year growth, dramatically improved its loss ratio and operating efficiency, and scaled its run rate by more than 20x — all while maintaining a lean, technology-driven operation.

“At Crabi, we’ve proven that insurance can be scaled profitably when you put automation, AI, and customer experience at the heart of your operation,” said Daniel Bernardez, CEO and Co-Founder of Crabi. “Applying modern engineering and data science to legacy insurance processes unlocks massive gains in pricing, speed, and risk selection. But none of that matters unless you’re also building the right infrastructure, aligning technology with regulation from day one. This new capital allows us to double down on both fronts, expanding access to affordable coverage while building a smarter, more inclusive insurance system for Mexico,” added Bernardez.

Crabi has already built strong partnerships with car dealerships, vehicle financing platforms, leasing companies, and brokers. By deeply integrating into their workflows and leveraging customer data to drive smarter underwriting, Crabi reduces risk while improving operational speed, benefiting both partners and end customers.

“Crabi is the most disciplined and well-positioned insurtech we’ve seen in Latin America,” said Nicolás Berman, Partner at Kaszek Ventures. “Their combination of proprietary infrastructure, regulatory edge, and scalable distribution puts them in a league of their own. We believe Crabi will set the standard for what modern insurance looks like across the region.”

With this funding, Crabi plans to onboard more distribution partners into its growing network, invest further into AI-driven operations and underwriting solutions, and continue closing the protection gap for the millions of drivers who have historically been excluded from the formal insurance market.

About Crabi

Crabi is a full-stack digital car insurance company on a mission to make coverage more accessible, transparent, and affordable across Mexico. As the first licensed auto insurer in Mexico in over 25 years, Crabi combines proprietary underwriting models, AI-powered operations, and end-to-end infrastructure to deliver instant, mobile-first insurance experiences. By embedding directly into the workflows of brokers, dealerships, and lenders, Crabi is redefining how drivers in Mexico get insured, from quote to claim.

Learn more at www.crabi.com.

Media Contact:

Rick Medeiros

510-556-8517

[email protected]

SOURCE Crabi

AI-powered platform unifies social listening & community management, attributes revenue to organic engagement, and scales selling in DM conversations

SEATTLE, June 5, 2025 — Nectar Social, the agentic social commerce platform for disruptor brands, today announced its emergence from stealth with $10.6 million in combined pre-seed and seed funding co-led by True Ventures and GV (Google Ventures), with participation from Trust Fund by Sophia Amoruso, BAM Ventures, Mercury Fund, Charge Ventures, Flying Fish Ventures, XRC Ventures and FAB Ventures. Nectar Social addresses a fundamental shift in commerce. As Gen Z and Gen Alpha reject traditional marketing in favor of social-first discovery and engagement, brands are struggling to keep up with screenshots, spreadsheets, and duct-taped tools that weren’t built for this era. Nectar steps in as the embedded agent built for today’s commerce—listening in real time, surfacing actionable insights, attributing engagement to revenue, and much more.

Founded by sisters Misbah Uraizee and Farah Uraizee, former Meta product and engineering leaders, Nectar is more than a platform—it’s the teammate every brand needs. It listens to customer feedback in real time, surfaces nuanced insights brands didn’t know to ask for, and engages automatically in the moments that matter most in an authentic way. Nectar is built for the way people actually shop now—starting from social platforms. OLIPOP, Jones Road Beauty, and Solawave are among the many businesses leveraging Nectar to unlock the potential of AI and drive greater impact with their teams, with customers achieving >85% AI-assisted responses within 30 days and seeing social DM campaigns deliver >12% conversion rates compared to 1-3% for traditional channels. Early customers have generated six figures of revenue, with some experiencing a 150% lift in engagement rates and 50% increase in content impressions after implementation.

“In the attention economy, we’re living through the collapse of the traditional marketing funnel,” said Misbah Uraizee, Co-founder and CEO. “Every purchase starts in a social search, comment, or conversation, and brands need new infrastructure. Nectar is the social operating system for modern commerce—one that makes every interaction personal, proactive, and profitable.”

How Nectar Transforms Social into a Revenue Channel

1. Grow and manage communities with social copilot agents: power everything from community management to strategic insight generation. Nectar manages routine interactions, produces high-quality content, and proactively tracks signals that would previously take teams weeks to uncover. The system intelligently adapts to brand needs, with seamless toggles between full autonomy and human-in-the-loop oversight.
2. Real-time insights and listening across brand and influencer: keep a live pulse on brand sentiment and safety across all content types, including video. Nectar tracks key conversations, surfaces emerging trends, and monitors influencer performance. Teams can zoom in to the specific SKU level to understand exactly how products are being received and talked about across platforms.
3. Full funnel revenue attribution and selling in DMs: link every social interaction—comments, DMs, mentions—to purchase behavior using advanced predictive analytics. Nectar builds unified customer profiles to reveal exactly who is driving conversations and conversions. For the first time, revenue can be attributed across the entire social path-to-purchase.

“What impressed us most about Nectar was how deeply they understand the seismic shift in consumer behavior,” said True Ventures Partner Tony Conrad. “For today’s generation, the purchase journey begins with content, flows through community, and culminates in personalized conversation. Nectar has created an entirely new infrastructure category that connects these touchpoints—redefining what a marketing stack looks like for modern businesses who need to convert attention into revenue.”

“Misbah and Farah Uraizee are standout product and engineering leaders who were early to recognize that consumer behavior is shifting toward real-time, personalized social shopping experiences,” said GV General Partner Frederique Dame. “With Nectar Social, they’ve built an intuitive, technically advanced platform that helps brands leverage generative AI to show up with speed, context, and scale—driving engagement, loyalty, and revenue in this next era of commerce. We’re excited to support them in shaping the future of social commerce.”

The company’s 12-person team is based in Seattle and is currently partnering with a select group of disruptor brands across CPG, beauty, wellness, food & beverage, software services, and lifestyle.

About: Nectar is the first agentic social commerce platform transforming organic channels into a measurable, high-converting revenue engine. It brings personalization and performance to social—uniting what were once fragmented tools: community engagement, content reporting and insights, social listening, influencer tracking, and revenue attribution. With best-in-class intelligence and analytics, Nectar empowers brands to be proactive with their audience, surfacing insights that drive action and accelerating trust, loyalty, and growth. Founded in 2023 by Misbah and Farah Uraizee, the team of 12 is based in Seattle, Washington. Nectar has raised $10.6 million in combined pre-seed and seed funding led by True Ventures and GV (Google Ventures), with participation from Trust Fund by Sophia Amoruso, BAM Ventures, Mercury Fund, Charge Ventures, Flying Fish Ventures, XRC Ventures and FAB Ventures.

Press contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Nectar Social

SHANGHAI, June 5, 2025 — Qure Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (QureBio) announced that it has completed a Series C1 financing round. The financing raised nearly CNY 100 million (approximately USD 14 million) and was led exclusively by Efung Capital. This infusion of capital will be used to accelerate QureBio’s clinical trials and advance its pipeline of novel antibody therapeutics.

Therapeutic Focus and Technology Platforms

QureBio specializes in developing bispecific and multispecific antibody and protein therapeutics to address unmet medical needs in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory disorders. The company has established a suite of proprietary technology platforms – including its I2T platform and its T-cell engager and NK-cell engager platforms – which form the foundation for its pipeline of novel drug candidates. Using these platforms, QureBio has built a robust pipeline of therapeutics aimed at previously intractable diseases.

Pipeline Highlights

Key pipeline developments include:

• Q-1802 (Claudin18.2/PD-L1 bispecific antibody): Received regulatory clearance to initiate clinical trials in both China and the United States in March 2021. Phase II patient enrollment is nearly complete, and preparations are underway for Phase III clinical trials in China.
• Q-1801 (SIRPα/PD-L1 bispecific antibody): Obtained clinical trial approvals in China and the US, and is poised to begin clinical studies.
• PD-1 Antibody-Cytokine Fusion Candidate: An innovative fusion protein with dual functions as a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor and a cytokine modulator, demonstrating a favorable therapeutic window. This candidate targets an area where similar approaches by larger biopharmaceutical companies have faced setbacks, and QureBio is seeking partners to accelerate its global development.

Strategic Partnerships and Industry Recognition

QureBio’s proprietary antibody engineering technology has garnered broad industry recognition. Leveraging its platform capabilities, the company has established collaborations with leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms – including BRL Medicine, BioMap, Hengrui Pharma, and Precision Scientific – to co-develop novel therapies. These partnerships underscore QureBio’s status as an emerging leader in innovative biopharmaceuticals.

About QureBio

Qure Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (QureBio) is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2017 and based in Shanghai, China. The company specializes in the research and development of innovative antibody and protein therapeutics, focusing on bispecific and multispecific antibodies for oncology, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory disorders. QureBio has built multiple proprietary technology platforms for antibody discovery and engineering, enabling a robust pipeline of drug candidates aimed at addressing critical unmet medical needs in China and around the world.

Qu, Xiangdong, the founder of Qure Bio, said:

We express our appreciation to Efung Capital, a leading Chinese VC/PE focusing on Biomedicine, for its trust and support in QureBio.  As an innovation-driven biotech company focused on pioneering biopharmaceuticals, we will continue leveraging our proprietary bispecific and multispecific antibody technology platforms to develop novel therapies for unmet clinical needs include malignancies, autoimmune diseases, and inflammation-based disorders. We look forward to collaborating with partners to develop novel therapies to benefit patients worldwide. 

Fan, Rongkui, lead investor in this round of financing from Efung Capital, said:

There are numerous companies engaged in the development of Claudin18.2 targets, and different products have demonstrated promising therapeutic potential across various treatment lines. As a promising model, the Claudin18.2 bispecific antibody holds the potential to achieve unique clinical value in first-line therapy for gastric cancer. Efung Capital is optimistic about the advancement of Q-1802 into Phase III clinical trials, aiming to provide gastric cancer patients with innovative products that offer differentiated efficacy and align with national circumstances. Additionally, the company’s founding team has a deep understanding of tumor immunology mechanisms, with core members having previously led R&D efforts at multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Amgen, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer, combining international perspectives with the ability to localize industrialization. The core team has demonstrated exceptional efficiency in key areas such as target validation, molecular design, and process development, and has subsequently developed an early-stage differentiated R&D pipeline covering solid tumors and autoimmune diseases.

About Efung Capital

Efung Capital is one of the earliest professional biopharmaceutical investment institutions in China. Its investment team consists of a group of PhDs in biopharmaceuticals from top universities in China and abroad, focusing on global biopharmaceutical VC/PE investments. It has conducted in-depth screening and invested in companies such as CHIPSCREEN, FRONTIER BIOTECHNOLOGIES Inc., Ascentage Pharma, Lifotronic, HARBOUR BIOMED, Obio Technology, ASIERIS, 3D-Medicines, Genuine Biotech, Apexigen, Centrexion, and Elicio, among other high-quality domestic and international companies. With its outstanding investment performance and exceptional research and investment capabilities, Efung Capital has been honored with numerous industry accolades, including multiple awards such as the Qianke Top 30 Investment Institutions in China’s Healthcare Sector, China Venture Capital Top 100, China Venture Capital Top 10 Best Exit Cases of the Year, China Venture Capital Top 10 Best Biomedical Investment Institutions of the Year, China Venture Capital Top 30 Best Venture Capital Institutions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area of the Year, China Venture Capital Top 100 Chinese Venture Capital Institutions of the Year, Fund of Funds Top 30 Best Healthcare Investment Institutions of the Year, and China’s Most Dynamic Drug Innovation Investment Institutions. It has been consecutively named one of the “Top 10 Venture Capital Institutions in Shenzhen” for multiple years and has been featured in an exclusive interview by the world-renowned journal Nature. Efung Capital aims to drive the industrialization of biotechnology achievements through capital investment.

SOURCE QureBio Ltd.

Trusted by DeepL, Bolt, SumUp, TravelPerk, Axel Springer and more.

BERLIN, June 5, 2025 — Flank, a Berlin-based company building an autonomous AI legal agent for enterprise teams, today announced a $10 million funding round led by global software investor Insight Partners (backers of Clio and DarkTrace), with continued participation from Gradient Ventures, the Seed fund designed for founders in AI, as well as 10x Founders and HV Capital. The $10 million round will fund continued product development, expand the engineering and commercial teams, and deepen enterprise partnerships.

The Legal Team’s Autonomous Ally

Flank seamlessly integrates into a company’s workflows, becoming the first line of defence for legal teams. Its AI agent reviews, drafts, and red-lines key legal documents and autonomously answers company-wide legal and compliance questions in minutes, not days. Unlike chatbots or copilots, Flank’s autonomous agents resolve requests directly at the point of need — operating inside the tools already in use, like email, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. There are no new interfaces, no extra software, and no employee retraining required.

Flank’s architecture is designed to take over entire high-volume workflows (think NDAs, vendor contracts, routine compliance checks), allowing legal departments to run leaner and redirect human expertise to strategic judgment and deal-making where it matters most. The agent operates with the speed and fluency of an A-player hire — but with the ability to handle thousands of requests simultaneously.

“Legal teams are overloaded with repetitive, high-volume tasks that drain time and resources,” said Lili Breidenbach, CEO of Flank. “Flank lets them focus on high-value work while our agent handles the rest — invisibly, autonomously, and embedded within the business. We’re excited to announce our funding with Insight Partners and look forward to partnering with them as we scale and grow.”

As part of the round, Sophie Beshar, Vice President at Insight Partners, will join Flank’s board of directors. “Flank is helping define a new category of enterprise software — autonomous agents that are embedded, invisible, and capable of real work at scale. Legal teams are among the most stretched in modern organizations, and Flank’s approach unlocks speed, accuracy, and massive leverage without disrupting workflows,” said Beshar. “We’re excited to back Lili, Jake, Charlotte, and the entire Flank team as they reimagine how enterprise teams operate, starting with legal.”

Flank’s proprietary agentic framework (Flank-a0) and next-generation, vector-less retrieval engine enable breakthrough capabilities:

• Autonomous and proactive agents that interact with the business directly to solve their requests at the point of need.
• Embedded & eventually invisible intelligence that seamlessly and proactively unblocks the business. No new interfaces. No additional tools.
• Proprietary Engine that kills off vector retrieval frameworks, delivers context aware responses, and can be customised in seconds with natural language.
• Enterprise-grade Supervision engine combines proprietary AI oversight with human expert augmentation, preventing misuse and ensuring performance.

Today, Flank supports global enterprises across the US, Europe, and MENA, including DeepL, SumUp, TravelPerk, QA, PROS, Lusha, and more. Flank has already achieved triple-digit revenue growth over the past year and is hiring across product and technology to accelerate its ambitious roadmap. In addition, Flank has partnered with leading international law firm Simmons & Simmons, which has integrated Flank’s agent to deliver faster, more efficient legal services for their clients — a milestone in the adoption of autonomous legal intelligence by top-tier professional services.

“Autonomous agents aren’t the future… they’re already here, and they’re transforming how we work. Through our partnership with Flank, we’ve embedded agents that deliver legal outcomes end-to-end. We’re launching agents that handle the drafting, review, and negotiation of NDAs, DPAs, service agreements, IMAs, and more. These agents are live, in production, and already delivering real impact for our teams and our clients.” — Lucy Shurwood, Partner at Simmons & Simmons

“Flank started as a solution for legal, but it is becoming a critical part of how we operate as an organization, helping form the backbone of our internal AI strategy. We are now rolling it out across compliance, info-sec, and beyond, delivering instant, autonomous support without disrupting workflows.” — Philip Young, General Counsel at QA Group

“With Flank, legal is finally on-demand: intuitive, effortless, and built into how our team already works. We didn’t have to teach a single person how to use it. Today, it autonomously handles 5,000 requests a month for us without breaking a sweat.” — Andrew Cooke, Chief Legal Officer at TravelPerk

About Flank

Flank is a Berlin-based company building autonomous agents to transform enterprise legal operations. Designed as the legal team’s first line of defence, Flank autonomously reviews, drafts, and red-lines key documents while answering legal and compliance questions. Built on its own proprietary agentic framework and engine, Flank delivers autonomous, embedded, and invisible intelligence. Trusted by leading enterprises and backed by Insight Partners and Gradient Ventures.

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.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2703318/Flank_Logo.jpg

TORONTO, June 5, 2025 – iGan Partners is pleased to announce that it has led the first close of a Seed+ financing round for Cosm Medical, a medical device company modernizing pelvic health through personalized gynecological care. The round included new investor Spring Impact Capital and several angels, and will support Cosm’s U.S. expansion, clinical validation, and commercial growth.  

Cosm’s flagship platform, Gynethotics^TM, combines medical imaging, AI-driven design software, and 3D printing to create custom vaginal devices – starting with pessaries – tailored to each patient’s unique anatomy and needs. The solution addresses a widespread but underserved women’s health issue: pelvic floor disorders, which affect up to half of all women in their lifetime.

“Cosm is modernizing a long-overlooked space in women’s health through a personalized, data-driven platform grounded in precision care,” said Sam Ifergan, Founding Partner at iGan Partners. “We’re excited to support their mission to improve outcomes and quality of life for millions of women.”

“At Cosm, we’re not just building a product—we’re redefining an entire category of women’s health. Our Gynethotics™ platform is more than just technology; it’s a commitment to precision, personalization, and dignity in care. With the support of iGan Partners and our investors, we’re accelerating a future where women are no longer underserved – where every solution is tailored, and true innovation means changing lives. This is just the beginning.” – Derek Sham, Founder & CEO of Cosm Medical.

“We were impressed with Derek’s experience in commercializing medical devices, as well as COSM’s extraordinary team, depth of intellectual property and thoughtfulness of the go-to-market strategy, said Olivia Hornby, Managing Partner at Spring Impact Capital. “As impact investors, we were excited by COSM’s mission of building customized and data centric Gynethotics solutions – providing better care for the huge percentage of women who suffer from pelvic floor disorders.

Gynethotics^TM pessaries are approved for sale in both Canada and the U.S., and Cosm is actively expanding its presence across North America. The company is also building its clinical dataset and advancing its product pipeline to support new applications beyond pessary support, including postpartum and post-surgical recovery.

About Cosm Medical

Cosm Medical is a medical device company developing a hardware and software platform to personalize the treatment of pelvic floor disorders (PFDs), such as incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Its first product, Gynethotics^TM, is a made-to-measure gynecological prosthetics platform that combines imaging, AI, and 3D printing to improve pessary performance, enhance patient comfort, and reduce complications. Cosm is redefining care for a long-overlooked area of women’s health through precision medicine and digital innovation. Learn more at https://www.cosm.care/

About iGan Partners

iGan Partners is a North American venture capital firm focused on investing in emerging leaders in medical technology and digital health. We partner with founders building transformative solutions to improve patient outcomes, reduce system inefficiencies, and enable the future of data-driven care. iGan provides capital and strategic support to early commercial-stage companies across MedTech, digital health, diagnostics, and health IT. Our team brings deep sector expertise, a strong cross-border network, and a track record of scaling healthcare ventures from early growth to successful exit. Learn more at https://iganpartners.com/

SOURCE iGan Partners

DALLAS, June 5, 2025 — Skytale Group (“Skytale”), an investment banking and management consulting firm specializing in healthcare and consumer businesses, is pleased to announce it has advised MD Esthetics, a premier medical aesthetics and wellness company with 12 locations across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Virginia, in its platform investment from private equity firm New Harbor Capital. This transaction represents New Harbor Capital’s initial investment in the medical aesthetics and wellness space and sets the foundation for building a premier national platform behind the MD Esthetics team.

Co-founders Dr. Michael Pedro and Danielle Pedro launched MD Esthetics in 2018 with a clear vision: deliver high-quality medical aesthetics and wellness services while building a strong team and a growth-minded culture. In just a few short years, they have expanded across three states, developed a provider training academy, and assembled a leadership team that knows how to scale. Their holistic, thoughtful approach to wellness has made them a standout brand in the industry and a natural choice for a platform investment.

“What the MD Esthetics team have built is incredibly impressive. It is not just a group of med spas, it is a fully integrated platform with a real vision,” said Tedd Van Gorden, Director of Investment Banking at Skytale Group. “They’ve combined clinical rigor, a unique expansion playbook, and a deep investment in people. That kind of foundation is exactly what New Harbor was looking for, and we’re thrilled to have helped bring this partnership together.”

With this investment, New Harbor Capital will partner with the MD Esthetics leadership team to accelerate the company’s growth strategy, support future acquisitions, and continue enhancing the infrastructure that has positioned MD Esthetics as a market leader.

“This partnership with New Harbor Capital marks a significant milestone for MD Esthetics. New Harbor’s deep expertise in scaling founder-led healthcare companies will be instrumental in accelerating our growth and cementing our leadership within the medical aesthetics and wellness space,” said Dr. Michael Pedro, CEO and Co-Founder of MD Esthetics. “The team at Skytale was incredible to work with. They kept us focused, guided us through every step, and made a complex process feel much more manageable. Their deep expertise in the medical spa space was invaluable — they truly understood the nuances of our business and what would resonate with the right buyers. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

“We are very excited to partner with Dr. Michael and Danielle Pedro, and the entire MD Esthetics team,” said Ed Lhee, Partner at New Harbor Capital. “We look forward to accelerating their expansion, both organically and through future acquisitions, to solidify their position as a leader in the medical aesthetics and wellness space.”

Skytale Managing Director, Ben Hernandez; Director, Tedd Van Gorden; Partner, James Turcott; Vice President, James Wimpress; Senior Associate, Wendi Sun; and Analyst, Jake Martin; represented MD Esthetics in the partnership process.

About Skytale Group:

Skytale Group is an investment banking and management consulting firm based in Dallas, TX. Skytale offers tailored and comprehensive strategic guidance to medical practices looking to thrive, grow, scale, sell, or understand the value of their businesses. Skytale’s highly experienced team relies on vast knowledge of dental, medical aesthetic, and other healthcare industries they serve to guide clients in making decisions that move their businesses forward. Obsessed with details and efficiency, Skytale analyzes financial statements, systems, and operations to help clients elevate every aspect of their businesses. Certain principals of Skytale Group are licensed Investment Banking agents registered with Burch & Company, Inc., 4151 N. Mulberry Dr, Ste 235, Kansas City, MO 64116, member FINRA/SiPC. Services involving securities shall be performed by Burch. Skytale Group and Burch are unaffiliated entities.

Learn more at skytalegroup.com.

SOURCE Skytale Group

NEW YORK, June 5, 2025 — Neuberger Berman, a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, is pleased to announce the final close of NB Strategic Capital Fund II (the “Fund”) at just over $4.0 billion of total capital commitments, with additional capital committed by limited partners to co-invest alongside the Fund. The amount surpassed the Fund’s initial target of $2.5 billion and represents a four-fold increase from the predecessor fund, NB Strategic Capital Fund I, which held a final close in 2020 at just over $955 million.

The Fund’s diverse investor base spans North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, featuring corporate and public pension plans, endowments, foundations, insurance companies, family offices, and high net worth individuals. 

Commenting on the closing, Tristram Perkins, Global Co-Head of Secondaries at Neuberger Berman, said, “We are grateful to both existing and new investors for the confidence they have placed in our team and the support they have shown us. We are excited by the market opportunity in GP-led secondaries, which continues to grow rapidly, and we believe will continue to be an important source of liquidity for private markets and attractive investment opportunities for our investors.”

Neuberger Berman is a highly experienced and scaled investor in GP-led secondaries, having led or co-led over 40 single and multi-asset continuation fund transactions, representing over $15 billion of cumulative transaction value. NB Strategic Capital II is now positioned as one of the largest funds dedicated to the highly attractive GP-led secondary market, which in 2024 alone expanded 44%, reaching a record $75 billion of transaction value. 

Together, the Fund and Neuberger Berman’s other pools of private equity capital enhance the deployment capabilities available to the secondaries team to lead GP-led continuation vehicle transactions. This Fund is highly complementary to Neuberger Berman’s broader GP-centric strategy, which partners with sponsors across their capital structure and throughout the private equity ecosystem. 

Ben Perl, Global Co-Head of Secondaries at Neuberger Berman, added, “Our private markets platform has been purposely built to partner with leading private equity managers. By combining our team’s fundamental approach to asset underwriting and Neuberger Berman’s broad-based industry research and differentiated resources as a global asset manager, we are well-positioned to continue serving as a preferred partner to GPs.”

In private markets, Neuberger Berman has over $135 billion of assets under management across primaries, co-investments, secondaries, direct lending, capital solutions, and other strategies. This includes over $20 billion in assets under management across its flagship private equity secondaries funds and other secondary vehicles.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman is an employee-owned, private, independent investment manager founded in 1939 with over 2,800 employees in 26 countries. The firm manages $515 billion of equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and hedge fund portfolios for global institutions, advisors and individuals. Neuberger Berman’s investment philosophy is founded on active management, fundamental research and engaged ownership. Neuberger Berman has been named by Pensions & Investments as the #1 or #2 Best Place to Work in Money Management for each of the last eleven years (firms with more than 1,000 employees). Visit www.nb.com for more information. Data as of March 31, 2025.

About NB Private Markets

NB Private Markets is a division of Neuberger Berman and has been an active and successful private markets investor since 1987. NB Private Markets invests across strategies, asset classes, and geographies for a large number of sophisticated and renowned institutions globally including public and private pension funds, endowments, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and intermediaries. As of December 31, 2024, NB Private Markets managed over $135 billion of investor commitments across primaries, co-investments, secondaries, private credit, and specialty strategies. NB Private Markets has an experienced, diverse and stable team of over 440 professionals with a global presence in 15 offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia (as of March 31, 2025).

Media Contact: Fiona Kehily, +44 20 3214 9087, [email protected]

All Neuberger Berman information is as of March 31, 2025, unless otherwise indicated and is subject to change without notice. Firm data, including employee and assets under management figures, reflects collective data for the various affiliated investment advisers that are subsidiaries of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. Firm history/timeline includes the history of all firm subsidiaries, including predecessor entities and acquisitions.

This material is being issued on a limited basis through various global subsidiaries and affiliates of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. Please visit www.nb.com/disclosure-global-communications for the specific entities and jurisdictional limitations and restrictions. The “Neuberger Berman” name and logo are registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. © 2025 Neuberger Berman Group LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Neuberger Berman

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 4, 2025 — WedgeHR, the video interviewing platform revolutionizing how businesses hire, today announced the successful close of its latest funding round. This investment brings together an elite group of HR tech operators, franchising leaders, and growth-focused investors, accelerating WedgeHR’s mission to simplify and humanize hiring at scale.

Participants in the round include former Terryberry executives Scott VanderLeek, Mike Byam, and David Beemer, renowned for scaling performance-based HR solutions; franchising expert and serial entrepreneur Kristi Mailloux; and operational scale strategist Todd Recknagel. Mailloux, Recknagel, Byam, and Beemer now join the WedgeHR Board of Directors, alongside newly appointed board member Chris Tarrant, a seasoned operator and executive advisor. Investor Sam Shooster also joins the round, bringing deep experience in venture capital and growth-stage strategy.

WedgeHR also welcomes BDev Ventures as an institutional investor, marking a new phase of systematized growth, technical scale, and strategic backing.

As part of this growth phase, WedgeHR has strengthened its executive team with two key leadership additions:

• Aaron Schaap joins as Chief Operating Officer (COO), bringing extensive experience in operational leadership, team development, and startup scale.
• Scott VanderLeek steps in as Chief Sales Officer (CSO), adding decades of high-performance sales expertise and a proven track record in enterprise growth.

“This round isn’t just about capital — it’s about surrounding WedgeHR with leaders who’ve built and scaled iconic companies,” said Matt Baxter, CEO and Founder of WedgeHR. “With Aaron and Scott joining the executive team and the backing of these world-class investors, we’re positioned to help thousands more businesses hire faster, smarter, and with greater human connection.”

The new capital will fuel product-led growth initiatives, deepen integrations with top ATS and HR platforms, and accelerate revenue through franchisor, QSR, and enterprise channel partnerships.

WedgeHR has seen rapid growth over the past year by helping companies reduce time-to-hire, eliminate early-stage ghosting, and screen talent in a more authentic, human way — all with just 15 minutes of setup time.

For more information or to schedule a demo, visit www.wedgehr.com

About WedgeHR
WedgeHR helps businesses hire faster by replacing early-stage interviews with recorded video responses — giving employers a clearer, more efficient way to screen candidates while saving recruiters hours in the process. With a mission to remove friction from hiring and connect people to better opportunities, WedgeHR powers hiring for franchise groups, high-volume employers, and growing businesses across North America.

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SOURCE WedgeHR