Innovative facility will scale production of cost-competitive organic nitrogen fertilizer, creating 20 jobs in Merced County.

FREMONT and DELHI, Calif., March 4, 2025 — Nitricity Inc., a California startup electrifying the production of nitrogen fertilizer, today announced $10 million in project funding from a strategic mix of capital providers that includes Elemental Impact and Trellis Climate to build a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) organic fertilizer facility in Delhi, California.

Nitricity’s FOAK plant represents a major milestone, marking a 100-fold increase in production capacity to achieve commercial-scale volumes. Slated for operation in 2026, the plant’s full production capacity is already sold out through 2028 under binding offtake agreements with local organic growers. Located in Merced County, the project is expected to create approximately 20 jobs supporting fabrication, deployment, and maintenance.

“We are proud to scale up our manufacturing capacity of a product that creates value for California growers—made locally with local ingredients,” said Nicolas Pinkowski, CEO of Nitricity. “In a market where most nitrogen is imported, our solution onshores production to deliver exactly what growers have been asking for: a sustainable, organic alternative that strengthens farmers’ bottom lines and benefits our community and environment.”

The facility will brew Nitricity’s flagship organic nitrogen fertilizer using recycled almond shells and renewable power. This cost-competitive, plant-based solution is pathogen-free, odor-free, and designed for application through irrigation lines. The product is approved for use in organic farming, registered with OMRI and CDFA OIM. By leveraging local agricultural byproducts, the project strengthens the region’s circular bioeconomy and aims to produce hundreds of tons of low-carbon nitrogen by 2028.

“As one of dozens of FOAKs we’ve funded, Nitricity’s facility proves sustainable fertilizer can be produced at scale while providing local economic benefits,” said Danya Hakeem, VP of Portfolio at Elemental Impact. “Building on our initial investment in 2022, which supported the construction of their Fremont facility and successful field trials in the Central Valley, we’re confident they’re ready for this next frontier. There’s clear market demand that will position them for future commercial financing.”

Globally, traditional fertilizers account for about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Elemental Impact and Trellis Climate are delighted to support Nitricity’s FOAK plant as a first step to addressing this massive source of emissions, while also providing economic benefits to the Merced community and the environmental benefit of transforming agricultural waste into a valuable product.

“Nitricity’s solution is unique in the industry in that it addresses both the production emissions from making fertilizers and the on-field emissions from applying them,” said Lara Pierpoint, Managing Director of Trellis Climate. “We’re excited to accelerate the scale-up of this technology and to partner with a company that recognizes the critical role of community engagement in project success. By integrating technology development with meaningful collaboration with local partners, Nitricity is well-positioned to scale rapidly and effectively.”

About Nitricity

Nitricity is a climate-tech startup creating sustainable, organic nitrogen fertilizers by harnessing air, water, renewable energy, and almond shells. Founded by a team of graduate students from Stanford University in 2018 — Nicolas Pinkowski serving as CEO, Joshua McEnaney serving as president and CTO, and Jay Schwalbe serving as CSO — The company is scaling its clean technology to enable regional, plant-based fertilizer production for a more sustainable farming future. For more information, visit www.nitricity.co.

About Elemental Impact

Elemental Impact is a nonprofit investing platform with 15 years of experience advancing innovative technology that creates lasting economic and climate benefits across communities. Through our platform, we deploy catalytic capital and provide expert services to a portfolio of 160+ companies across energy, agriculture, transportation, industry, and nature-based solutions.

For more information, visit www.elementalimpact.com.

About Trellis Climate

Trellis Climate is an impact-first catalytic capital program, launched at Prime Coalition, enabling novel climate infrastructure solutions to achieve commercial scale at speed. Committed to accelerating the deployment of first-of-a-kind (FOAK) climate projects, Trellis Climate focuses on opportunities with significant climate impact potential, a clear path to scale, and an acute need for catalytic capital. Trellis Climate addresses both financial and systemic barriers by offering risk-tolerant investment capital and sector transformation nonprofit programming, including support for robust partnerships and inclusive decision-making with surrounding communities. By leveraging philanthropy to crowd in as much commercial capital as possible, Trellis Climate aims to expedite the scaling of climate technologies to achieve net-zero targets by 2050. For more information, visit https://www.primecoalition.org/programs/trellis-climate.

Media Contact
David Ganske
[email protected]

SOURCE Nitricity Inc.

Launch of LlamaCloud Knowledge Management Platform Provides Companies of All Sizes Simple, Secure Way to Manage AI Agent Workflow Over Unstructured Data

SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2025 — LlamaIndex, an agent development platform for automating knowledge work over unstructured enterprise data, today closed a $19 million Series A round of funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners with participation from existing investor Greylock. This round brings the total funding raised to $27.5 million. The company will use the new funding to expand its team and accelerate the development of its core generative AI (GenAI) agent development platform. It also will extend its proven solutions to a waitlist of more than 10,000 organizations, including 90 Fortune 500 companies, that are eager to start using LlamaIndex.

LlamaIndex also announced the launch and general availability of LlamaCloud, a commercial knowledge management platform that powers the GenAI stack with best-in-class end-to-end accuracy for agent workflows over unstructured data. Built with enterprise-grade reliability, security and scalability, and integrated with LlamaIndex’s open-source framework, LlamaCloud enables users to connect, parse, extract, and index large volumes of unstructured data, including PDFs, PowerPoints, images, charts and more. This approach ensures that enterprise data is accurate and available for a variety of downstream agent use cases, such as document research, automating workflows, synthesizing insights and generating reports.

“LlamaIndex is compelling for Norwest as we’ve been closely studying enterprise requirements for AI adoption, specifically around data preparation, ingestion and custom agents as part of an ongoing investment thesis,” said Dave Zilberman, general partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “The founding team has demonstrated grit and resilience, building usable, enterprise-enabling capabilities to solve critical pain points—from production accuracy issues to scaling complex data workflows. With customers already lined up, LlamaIndex has the potential to empower the agentic enterprise. We’re excited to see where the next year takes them.”

In less than two years, LlamaIndex has grown to more than 3 million monthly downloads across multiple open-source packages, and has over 38,000 stars on Github and 230,000 LinkedIn followers, as well as three courses with Andrew Ng, CEO and founder of DeepLearning.AI.

Building the Open-Source AI Agent Platform for the Enterprise 
LlamaIndex was founded in 2023 with the introduction of an open-source project that offered developers a starting point for building any custom agent over data, with tools that include data connectors, indices to structure data and advanced retrieval. The company also offers commercially available self-serve APIs that enable open-source users to get better data and output quality, including LlamaParse, which helps companies transform unstructured data into a structured format that can be used for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications.

In developing these tools and APIs, founders CEO Jerry Liu and CTO Simon Suo saw developers running into roadblocks related to processing and indexing their data properly as they built naive RAG chatbots. Developers were wasting development cycles and experienced low accuracy, costing time and resources. To address the challenges of building production-ready agent applications, LlamaIndex developed its core technology for data processing, which is the foundation of the LlamaCloud knowledge management platform.

LlamaCloud for Building More Reliable Knowledge Agents, Faster and Easier
Available now, LlamaCloud can be deployed via SaaS or in a virtual private cloud, and is an out-of-the-box solution for building RAG applications from data ingestion through agent deployment. It offers a library of enterprise-ready data connectors and team features for collaboratively viewing, editing and deploying indexes. LlamaCloud also delivers enterprise-grade security, using role-based access control (RBAC) and single sign-on (SSO) to gate data access across development teams and end users.

“One of the most valuable use cases for large language model (LLM) agents is automating all knowledge work over unstructured data. Because only fragmented tools around data connectors, storage and agent orchestration have been available, developers struggle finding the right techniques and achieving high accuracy for production-grade agents,” said LlamaIndex CEO Jerry Liu. “We made it our mission to deliver the most secure, accurate and easy-to-use platform for building end-to-end knowledge agents, and in the process created a massive community at the epicenter of GenAI. Norwest’s and Greylock’s support in our Series A will allow us to continue growing our reach and enhancing the technology to ensure enterprises can get the most benefits from their AI agents.”

With customers that include Rakuten, Carlyle and Salesforce, LlamaIndex has become a widely used GenAI development platform that provides the tools and abstractions for allowing enterprise engineers to easily connect proprietary data sources to LLMs.

To learn more, or sign up for LlamaCloud, visit cloud.llamaindex.ai.

Customer Testimonials
“Agentforce development has been greatly accelerated with key open-source frameworks, including LlamaIndex, as we iterate our agent framework with our customers across many industries,” said Phil Mui, senior vice president of Engineering for Agentforce at Salesforce. “LlamaIndex provides advanced async workflow abstractions that enable us to build scalable concurrent agents much faster than without such a flexible modern framework.”

“LlamaCloud’s ability to efficiently parse and index our complex enterprise data has significantly bolstered RAG performance,” said Yusuke Kaji, general manager of AI for Business at Rakuten. “Prior to LlamaCloud, multiple engineers needed to work on maintenance of data pipelines, but now our engineers can focus on the development and adoption of LLM applications.”

About LlamaIndex
LlamaIndex enables enterprises to build reliable, secure and scalable AI agents that can find information, synthesize insights, generate reports, and take actions over the most complex enterprise data. From its initial open-source project to tools for building custom agents over data, LlamaIndex now offers developers both commercial APIs that enable users to get better data and output quality and the new LlamaCloud knowledge management platform. Based in San Francisco, LlamaIndex has raised $27.5 million  from leading investors, including Norwest Venture Partners and Greylock. For more information, visit www.llamaindex.ai.

SOURCE LlamaIndex

Alta’s AI workforce, Katie, Luna and Alex, is trained on Alta’s proprietary LLM for sales, enabling streamlined workflow and improved efficiency and productivity to drive business growth.

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 4, 2025 — Alta, the AI revenue workforce solutions provider, announced today that it has raised a $7 million seed financing round and has launched out of stealth. Alta has developed a large language model (LLM) for sales and trained its data-driven AI agents to complete key marketing, sales, and revenue operations (RevOps) tasks in order to help companies empower their sales teams and increase revenue. The round was led by Entrée Capital and Target Global with additional funding from angel investor Ben Lang and others. Gavin Patterson, former President and Chief Revenue Officer at Salesforce, Nir Goldstein, Operating Partner at Greenfield Partners, and Yoram Teitz, Partner at General Atlantic, serve as strategic advisors.

While AI continues to impact nearly every industry, go to market and revenue teams across numerous vertical markets struggle with fully harnessing AI and data for real growth and impact to their bottom line. Identifying the right tools to enhance capabilities of salespeople while also automating relevant tasks, is a real challenge. Companies that can effectively navigate towards AI solutions that bolster a human workforce, rather than replace it, and implement a strong foundation of AI tools, will ultimately be more successful than their competitors.

Recognizing this challenge, Alta has created a data-driven AI Revenue Workforce (agents) that automates repetitive and mundane tasks requiring limited human oversight, such as researching potential leads and conducting personalized outreach across multiple channels, in addition to providing actionable insights based on real-time data across all revenue functions. Alta trained its AI workforce on extensive data across industries, regions, and cultures, which has resulted in the creation of highly specialized and experienced AI agents that help companies achieve improved revenue growth by working smarter and faster, saving companies upwards of 20 hours per week of workforce time, accelerating their sales cycle, and leaving humans to focus on relationship-building opportunities, strategic, and creative work.

AI agents in Alta’s workforce include Katie, a Sales Development Representative (SDR), Luna, an AI RevOps agent, and Alex, an AI Calling agent, with built in integrations of the workforce into more than 50 internal and external marketing, sales, and revenue systems that include CRMs, ERPs, payment, advertising social media tools and more.

By deploying Alta’s AI workforce, revenue teams can shift their efforts to those best executed by people: strengthening relationships and closing deals. Current customers employing Alta’s workforce range from Fortune 500 companies to SMBs.

“Central to Alta is our belief that no AI technology can replace human creativity,” said Stav Levi-Neumark, Co-founder & CEO of Alta. “Instead, humans who choose to strategically leverage AI to enhance how they prioritize ROI, will replace those who don’t. With AI, organizations can drastically improve their most valuable asset: their revenue engine. This funding will allow us to continue developing our out-of-the-box solutions that unlock limitless revenue growth opportunities.”

“The AI revolution is reshaping the way teams and companies operate, and we see endless potential in Alta’s AI solutions to improve the efficiency of revenue teams and deliver better results,” said Avi Eyal, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Entrée Capital. “We are excited to support Alta’s growth as they scale and solidify their position as a major force in the workforce intelligence automation space.”

“What caught our attention about Alta was how they’ve redefined the relationship between AI and sales teams,” said Shmuel Chafets, General Partner at Target Global. “Rather than promising to replace humans, they’ve created AI team members that handle the heavy lifting while empowering salespeople to focus on what they do best. The rapid traction they’ve gained with both enterprise and mid-market customers is a testament to the fact that Alta’s approach delivers measurable returns from day one.”

The company was founded in 2023 by CEO Stav Levi-Neumark, one of the few female CEOs in enterprise AI, alongside co-founders Tom Hoffen and Mor Shabtai (Founder of Xperiti, acquired by Ipsos). The founding team brings deep expertise from their previous roles as senior engineers and product managers at monday.com, while Alta’s broader leadership includes managers from Intel and Meta.

About Alta

Alta is a data-driven AI revenue workforce solutions provider. Their LLM for sales enables data-driven AI agents to act as Sales Development Representatives, revOps, and calling agents performing routine tasks and providing actionable insights with the ability to integrate seamlessly with more than 50 internal and external marketing, sales, payment CRM, ERP, and social media systems. This innovative approach supports human-led revenue teams to focus their attention where it matters most: developing strategy, building relationships, closing deals, and increasing ROI through creative thought.

The company was founded in 2023 by CEO Stav Levi-Neumark, one of the few female CEOs in enterprise AI, alongside co-founders Tom Hoffen and Mor Shabtai (Founder of Xperiti, acquired by Ipsos). The founding team brings deep expertise from their previous roles as senior engineers and product managers at monday.com, while Alta’s broader leadership includes managers from Intel and Meta.

Alta is backed by investors Entrée Capital and Target Global with additional funding from angel investor Ben Lang and others. Gavin Patterson, former President and Chief Revenue Officer at Salesforce, Nir Goldstein, Operating Partner at Greenfield Partners, and Yoram Teitz, Partner at General Atlantic, serve as strategic advisors.

For more information, please visit www.altahq.com.

Media Contact
Charlotte Coran
Gova10 for Alta
[email protected]

SOURCE Alta AI Inc

SHANGHAI, 4 maart 2025 — Pulnovo Medical, een wereldwijd erkende pionier op het gebied van medische hulpmiddelen voor pulmonale hypertensie (PH) en hartfalen (HF), kondigt aan dat het een Serie C-financiering van bijna $ 100 miljoen heeft afgesloten. Deze ronde werd mede geleid door Qiming Venture Partners en bestaande aandeelhouder Lilly Asia Ventures, waarbij de huidige investeerders OrbiMed en Gaorong Capital op een super pro-rata basis deelnamen. De opbrengst wordt gebruikt om Pulnovo Medical’s wereldwijde klinische onderzoeken, internationale bedrijfsuitbreiding en strategische initiatieven te bevorderen.

De financieringsronde was twee keer overtekend en markeert een van de grootste fondsenwervingen in de sector van innovatieve medische hulpmiddelen in Azië-Pacific in de afgelopen jaren. Dit weerspiegelt het vertrouwen van toonaangevende instellingen in de wereldwijde strategie en technische capaciteiten van Pulnovo Medical.

Pulnovo Medical, opgericht in 2013, is een baanbrekend medtechbedrijf dat wordt erkend volgens internationale richtlijnen. Het bedrijf gebruikt zijn uitgebreide klinische expertise om wetenschappelijke vooruitgang en wereldwijde commercialisering te stimuleren. Het bedrijf richt zich op de ontwikkeling van superieure therapeutische oplossingen voor verschillende HF-stadia om de resultaten voor patiënten te verbeteren.

Het kernproduct van Pulnovo Medical, de PADN-technologie (Pulmonary Artery Denervation), is een innovatieve en effectieve minimaal invasieve behandeling voor PH die met succes op de markt is goedgekeurd. PH is een aandoening die kan leiden tot hartfalen en sterfte, met beperkte behandelingsmogelijkheden. PADN gebruikt radiofrequente ablatie om de pulmonale vasculaire endotheliale sympathische zenuw aan te pakken, waardoor de druk in de longslagader effectief wordt verlaagd en de progressie van de ziekte wordt vertraagd.

PADN kreeg in 2021 van de FDA de aanduiding Breakthrough Device voor Groep I, Groep II en Groep IV PH. PADN werd in 2022 opgenomen in de richtlijnen van de European Society of Cardiology en de European Respiratory Society. In 2023 kreeg Pulnovo Medical de aanduiding Humanitarian Use Exemption Device voor Groep I PH. De RF-katheter en RF-generator kregen eind 2023 goedkeuring voor goedkeuring op de Chinese markt, waardoor ze wereldwijd een commercieel beschikbaar interventieapparaat werden. In 2024 ontving Pulnovo Medical’s accessoireproduct, de 9F sheath, goedkeuring van de FDA.

Cynthia Chen, Chairlady, Executive Chairwoman en President van Pulnovo Medical, kondigt aan dat de opbrengst van deze ronde dient ter ondersteuning van twee aankomende FDA-studies voor Groep I PH en Groep II PH (chronisch hartfalen gecombineerd met PH). De onderzoeken zijn gepland voor dit jaar. Onder leiding van het executive team is het bedrijf getransformeerd van een laboratorium naar een wereldwijd gestructureerd bedrijf met kantoren in de VS, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR en vier steden op het Chinese vasteland, waaronder Beijing en Shanghai.

William Hu, Managing Partner van Qiming Venture Partners, zegt: “De doorbraken van Pulnovo Medical op het gebied van interventionele behandelingen voor PH en HF zijn indrukwekkend. De PADN-technologie van het bedrijf is nu commercieel beschikbaar op het Chinese vasteland, in Hongkong en Macau. In 2024 zijn wereldwijde multicenteronderzoeken gestart in Portugal, Servië, Georgië en Zuidoost-Azië. Na de benoeming door de FDA als ‘Breakthrough Device’, valideren de wereldwijde klinische onderzoeken verder het leiderschap en de klinische waarde van de technologie. Als langetermijninvesteerder in de gezondheidszorg zet Qiming zich in om vernieuwers met een wereldwijde visie te ondersteunen. We hebben vertrouwen in het potentieel van Pulnovo Medical en zullen de internationale expansie en commercialisatie ondersteunen om patiënten wereldwijd nieuwe hoop te geven.”

JUPITER, Fla., Feb. 26, 2025 — Myosin Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel therapies for cancer and neurological disorders, has closed its second seed funding round, raising over $3 million to supplement significant investment from the National Institutes of Health.

Myosin Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) is advancing its lead compound, MT-125, to treat glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain cancer with an average survival time of only 8 months. MT-125 targets a molecular nanomotor, blocking both tumor growth and invasion. The FDA granted orphan drug designation to MT-125 for malignant gliomas, underscoring its potential to improve outcomes for patients with this devastating disease. 

The company is also progressing MT-110 for the treatment of methamphetamine use disorder (MUD), Millions worldwide suffer from MUD, yet no FDA-approved treatments currently exist. The latest funding, combined with NIH support, will allow MT-110 to enter Phase 1 clinical trials.

“This funding is pivotal as it will allow us to initiate multiple clinical trials this year, including a Phase 1b trial for MT-125 in glioblastoma patients,” said Dr. Courtney Miller, co-founder and CEO of Myosin Therapeutics. “We are deeply grateful to our investors for their support as we work to bring innovative therapies to patients with cancer and substance use disorders.”

The seed funding round was led by repeat investors,  DeepWork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, and Mint12 Pharma, along with Dynagrow Capital, the private investment management affiliate of Fred Hassan. Also participating in the round were Mayo Clinic Ventures  and The Sontag Innovation Fund, which is focused on accelerating solutions to change the standard of care in brain cancer. Dave Adams, co-Founder of Mint12 Pharma, stated, “Myosin Therapeutics exemplifies a well-run organization, consistently achieving key milestones to advance MT-125 and MT-110. Their dedication to innovative treatments for devastating conditions is inspiring, and we are confident in their ability to deliver meaningful solutions to patients.”

About Myosin Therapeutics

Myosin Therapeutics is a Jupiter, FL-based biotechnology company spun out of The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute (formerly Scripps Research, Florida). The company is focused on developing therapies for neuroscience and oncology indications using a platform that targets molecular nanomotor proteins.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Myosin Therapeutics Inc.

NEW YORK, March 3, 2025 — Consello, the leading global advisory and investing platform, today announced the appointment of Nick Mullen as Head of its Sports Advisory Business. With over a decade of expertise in sports marketing and private equity, Nick will spearhead the expansion of Consello’s sports business ecosystem.

Prior to joining Consello, Nick founded Dynamiq Ventures, a private investment vehicle supported by a global network of family offices. Dynamiq Ventures invests across multiple sectors, including fintech, e-commerce, data, cybersecurity, and sports. He is also a partner at Happy Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on high-growth opportunities in technology and consumer sectors.

Earlier in his career, Nick served as the Group Deputy CEO of International Sports Management (ISM), where he spearheaded the growth of the agency’s U.S. operations.

“We are experiencing a fundamental reshaping of the sports industry,” said Declan Kelly, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Consello. “Nick’s experience in private equity and the business of sports, combined with his extensive network, will play a critical role in uncovering opportunities to shape the future of sports as an emerging asset class.”  

“Consello brings an extraordinary network and set of capabilities from its Corporate Advisory work that position us to become a driving force in the rapidly evolving sports industry,” added Nick Mullen. “Rather than compete for a share of the existing sports landscape, we are looking to create new and incremental value for all stakeholders.”

About Consello

Consello is an Advisory and Investing Platform.

Consello’s six distinct advisory practices provide the complete strategic counsel today’s leaders need to grow and transform their organizations. Consello’s advisory expertise spans Corporate Advisory; M&A; Growth; Marketing; Technology; and Sports, Entertainment and Leadership Development. Dedicated teams operate in each practice, led by a leadership group with deep operational experience across industries, business growth stages and market cycles and with an expansive set of global corporate relationships.

Consello’s investment business, Consello Capital, identifies high-potential mid-market companies and invests capital and expertise to transform their growth.

Consello Media Inquiries

[email protected] 

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2631728/Consello_Nick_Mullen.jpg

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2469591/Consello_Logo_Black_Logo.jpg

Applications now open for the 13th annual entrepreneurial contest to find the next winning brick-and-mortar small business

DETROIT, March 3, 2025 — TechTown Detroit and Comerica Bank announce the return of the Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown, a small business competition that awards $100,000 in startup funding as well as support services to one entrepreneur seeking to open a brick-and-mortar storefront in Detroit, Hamtramck or Highland Park. The competition, first launched in 2011, bolsters small business development in Detroit and will take place over the next four months, with the winning business crowned in June.

Applications, available on HatchDetroit.com, open Monday, March 3, at noon and will close on Friday, April 4. Entrepreneurs with a retail concept looking to establish their first brick-and-mortar location in Detroit, Hamtramck or Highland Park are eligible to apply.

“Detroit’s small business community is built on the strength of its entrepreneurs, and TechTown is proud to support these business innovators through the Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest,” said Christianne Malone, Assistant Vice President for Economic Development at Wayne State University and Chief Program Officer of TechTown Detroit. “We strive to inspire and cultivate Detroit’s small business development through top-notch entrepreneurial resources, financial support, and valuable partnerships.”

Information sessions for interested applicants will be held the week of March 17.

The small business contest includes two rounds of public voting to determine the Top 10 and Top 4 entrepreneurs, allowing the community to vote for their favorite business.

The competition culminates June 11 with the annual Hatch Off, where the Top 4 entrepreneurs present their business plans to a panel of judges and a live audience. There, the winner will receive the $100,000 grand prize that also includes a business support package from TechTown Detroit, Wayne State University’s entrepreneurship hub.

Comerica Bank and Comerica Charitable Foundation Increase Support
As a proven launching pad for aspiring business owners, Comerica Bank and the Comerica Charitable Foundations are increasing their commitment to TechTown’s Hatch Detroit program to amplify the impact on Detroit’s small business economy.

Recognizing the cost of starting and sustaining a business has increased, and to further their commitment to ensuring the success of the Hatch Detroit program, Comerica Bank and the Comerica Charitable Foundation have increased their financial support to a combined total of $200,000 this year, a $50,000 increase from the previous three years.

“Comerica Bank was founded in Detroit more than 175 years ago, and we remain dedicated to supporting the city’s entrepreneurship and the development of small businesses that make up the lifeblood of this community,” said Meghan Storey, Comerica Bank Senior Vice President and Michigan Director of Small Business Banking.

In addition to its financial commitment, Comerica works alongside TechTown to provide in-kind support, such as technical services for contestants, during the contest.

Since 2019, Comerica Bank has provided the $100,000 grand prize for the Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown winner and will do so again this year. This year, Comerica Bank will also be contributing an additional $50,000, in tandem with a $50,000 grant from the Comerica Charitable Foundation, to TechTown for organizational support of the Hatch Detroit program to assist with its ongoing incubation of small businesses.

“Working closely with small businesses, we see extraordinary entrepreneurs rich in ideas and passion who have dedicated their lives to launching and growing a business but remain in need of resources and mentorship. Year after year, TechTown and Hatch Detroit has provided a platform of extensive technical services and guidance needed to help entrepreneurs succeed, creating a strong foundation for Detroit’s small business ecosystem,” said Storey.

Including this year’s contributions and grants, Comerica Bank and the Comerica Charitable Foundation have collectively committed over $1.3 million into Hatch Detroit since first supporting the small business program in 2012.

TechTown’s Commitment to Small Businesses and Hatch Detroit
Last year, TechTown celebrated 20 years serving Detroit as a vital incubator for small businesses and entrepreneurs, dedicated to revitalizing the city through sustainable growth by supporting tech startups and small businesses.

In 2022, Hatch Detroit was integrated into TechTown’s suite of entrepreneurial programs and services.

Adding Hatch Detroit to its small business platform strengthened one of the city’s most popular and successful entrepreneurial programs designed to transform neighborhoods through new brick-and-mortar retail shops.

Since then, Hatch Detroit alumni have opened their brick-and-mortar locations in five different neighborhoods, including: Craig’s Coffee (Midtown), JP Makes and Bakes (New Center), K Walker Initiative (Midtown), Lily’s & Elise (Livernois Avenue of Fashion), Next Chapter Books (East Indian Village), Shell Shock’d Tacos (Midtown), and Sepia Coffee Project (Highland Park).

The Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown has helped create some of Detroit’s most successful and well-known businesses, including winners G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs (2024), Bouncing Around The Motor City (2023), Little Liberia (2022), 27th Letter Books (2019), Baobab Fare (2017), Meta Physica Massage (2016), Sister Pie (2014), Batch Brewery Company (2013) and La Feria (2012).

Under TechTown’s services and support, Bouncing Around the Motor City, Little Liberia and G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs are scheduled to open in 2025, along with Hatch Detroit alum Ice Cream Detroit.

In 2024, Tiffany Cartwright, founder and owner of G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs, won the Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown . G.L.A.M. is a certified woman- and minority-owned business based in Detroit that specializes in natural, organic body scrubs. It provides jobs, training and mentorship to underserved individuals, especially women who have been victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, as well as returning citizens.

Together, Hatch Detroit alumni have opened more than 50 businesses, employ more than 500 people and have invested more than $7 million in their businesses.

KEY COMERICA HATCH DETROIT CONTEST DATES:

March 3: Applications open at noon
Week of March 17: Information sessions take place
April 4: Applications close
April 14: Top 25 contestants notified
May 15: Top 10 contestants revealed
May 16-23: Top 10 public voting takes place
May 27: Top 4 announced
June 2-11: Top 4 public voting takes place
June 11: Winner announced at Hatch Off

Comerica Bank, a subsidiary of Comerica Incorporated, has served Michigan longer than any other bank with a continuous presence dating back more than 175 years to its Detroit founding in 1849. It is the largest bank employer in metro Detroit and has more than 4,300 employees (FTE) statewide. With one of the largest banking center networks in Michigan, Comerica nurtures lifelong relationships with unwavering integrity and financial prudence. Comerica positively impacts the lives of Michigan residents by helping customers be successful, providing financial support that assists hundreds of charitable organizations, and actively participating in Detroit’s downtown revitalization. Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) is a financial services company strategically aligned by three business segments: The Commercial Bank, The Retail Bank, and Wealth Management. Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Comerica, X: @ComericaBank and Instagram: @comerica_bank.

TechTown Detroit, Wayne State University’s entrepreneurship hub, is a nonprofit business service organization that provides programs, education and resources for early- to growth-stage small businesses and tech entrepreneurs. By building bridges for entrepreneurs to succeed, TechTown is accelerating an inclusive economy for Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Since 2007, TechTown has supported more than 6,090 companies, which created 2,277 jobs and raised more than $406 million in startup and growth capital. For more information, visit techtowndetroit.org.

Hatch Detroit supports both existing and new retail initiatives in the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park. Hatch Detroit was founded in 2011 to give residents and aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to have a voice in neighborhood retail development and joined TechTown Detroit’s suite of entrepreneurial programs and services in 2022. Beyond the contest, Hatch Detroit provides funding, exposure and mentoring in support of its alumni entrepreneurs. With support from Hatch Detroit, 50 alumni have opened businesses. They employ over 500 people and have invested over $10 million in economic development. To learn more, visit hatchdetroit.com.

SOURCE Comerica Bank

Funds from Union Square Ventures and European investment group Neurone — with the families behind iconic brands such as Ferrari as co-investors — will power Viam’s global growth across enterprise sectors

NEW YORK, March 3, 2025 — Viam, the engineering platform for data, AI and automation, today announced $30 million in Series C funding, led by existing investor Union Square Ventures with participation from Battery Ventures, Neurone, and other existing investors. Viam has raised a total of $117 million to date.

“We’re fortunate to have incredible partners like Union Square Ventures who are eager to expand their commitment to what we’re building,” said Eliot Horowitz, Founder and CEO of Viam. “At the same time, we’re excited to collaborate with Neurone to advance our global ambitions and further the momentum we’re already seeing in Italy and in Europe more broadly. We hit important milestones last year and this raise will help us continue to achieve our goals.”

In 2024, Viam expanded its customer base across industries such as robotics, quick-service restaurants, climate tech, marine, and industrial manufacturing. This past October, the company announced a groundbreaking partnership with the New York Islanders and UBS Arena, becoming the venue’s Official AI Technology Partner. Viam’s software is being integrated across multiple facets of the arena’s fan experience. In the marine space, Viam has partnered with leading manufacturers like Viking Yachts and has launched a pilot program with global technology provider Kongsberg Discovery, part of KONGSBERG Group, pioneering the use of AI for sonars in fishing. Other customers include Sbarro, Swiss nuclear engineering company Transmutex, autonomous robotic kitchen company Appetronix, and intelligent workplace safety platform CompScience.

“Viam is bridging the critical gap between AI, data, and the countless devices we interact with every day,” said Albert Wenger, Partner at Union Square Ventures. “Eliot and his team are building a world-class operation in New York City, and we’re thrilled to continue supporting them.”

European investment group Neurone also joined the round, alongside existing investors. Viam has already seen significant traction in Europe, partnering with leading manufacturers and marine technology companies. Neurone’s co-investors include the family offices of Italian industrial leaders like Camozzi (Camozzi Group), Enzo Mattioli Ferrari (Ferrari and HPE), Pasubio founder Luca Pretto and Wellness Holding (Alessandri Family). Neurone will help Viam continue to scale and reach potential partners in the region, particularly within Italy’s industrial sector.

“We work directly with Italy’s leading industrial families who are actively thinking about what the future holds for the sector and the technology that shapes it,” said Teodoro D’Ambrosio, Founder and Partner of Neurone. “Hardware sectors serving the physical world are still missing that software-driven inflection point that fueled exponential growth in other domains, like Android in mobile. Viam is building that missing layer, and we’re excited to partner with Eliot and the team on that vision.”

Viam’s platform allows hardware and software engineers to collaborate and build technology solutions that can be implemented across devices and smart machines in the physical world. The company was launched in 2020 by Eliot Horowitz, former co-founder and CTO of publicly-traded database giant MongoDB. Viam previously closed a Series B funding round in March 2024.

About Viam
Viam helps companies unlock the power of AI, data and automation in the physical world. We provide a single platform for engineers of all disciplines to solve problems together and build solutions that are fast and future-proof. Viam powers solutions across robotics, food and beverage, climate tech, marine, industrial manufacturing, and more. Founded in 2020 by former MongoDB co-founder and CTO Eliot Horowitz, Viam is headquartered in New York City. viam.com

About Union Square Ventures
Union Square Ventures is a small, collegial partnership based in New York City. We are generalist investors, working across many sectors and technologies, but with a consistent point of view on how to approach transformative opportunities. usv.com

About Neurone
Neurone is a technology-focused investment group active in company building and direct investments in high-growth ventures. Founded in 2019, Neurone’s team combines entrepreneurial expertise, operational support, and deep technology sector knowledge to help companies scale. With a rigorous, thesis-driven investment approach, Neurone’s approach spans incubation and growth venture investing. Neurone’s portfolio is spread across insuretech, automation, climate, automotive and more, both in Europe and in the U.S. neurone.com

Media Contacts:

Christopher Farrell
Beginners
[email protected]

SOURCE Viam, Inc.

• Frazier Life Sciences launches Callio Therapeutics based on multi-payload antibody-drug conjugate technology and programs exclusively in-licensed from Singapore-based Hummingbird Bioscience
• Financing led by Frazier Life Sciences with significant participation from Jeito Capital alongside other life sciences investors including Novo Holdings A/S, Omega Funds, ClavystBio, Platanus, Norwest, Pureos Bioventures, SEEDS Capital and EDBI
• Company to advance innovative multi-payload programs designed to maximize therapeutic benefit for cancer patients by overcoming limitations of existing single-payload therapies

SEATTLE and SINGAPORE, March 3, 2025 — Callio Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on realizing the promise of multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) to improve cancer therapy, today announced its launch with the closing of a $187.0 million Series A financing round. This financing was led by Frazier Life Sciences with significant participation from Jeito Capital alongside other life sciences investors, including Novo Holdings A/S, Omega Funds, ClavystBio, Platanus, Norwest, Pureos Bioventures, SEEDS Capital and EDBI. The newly formed company, with headquarters in Seattle and Singapore, intends to use the proceeds from the Series A financing to achieve clinical proof-of-concept for its HER2-targeted dual-payload ADC and a second undisclosed ADC program.

In conjunction with the financing, Callio Therapeutics has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Hummingbird Bioscience for its multi-payload ADC platform in oncology, and associated intellectual property and pipeline assets, in exchange for equity, potential milestone payments and royalties.

“We are delighted to be launching Callio Therapeutics with the support of Frazier Life Sciences and this syndicate of investors. Multi-payload ADCs have the potential to enable the targeted delivery of rational drug combinations to cancer cells, and may provide significantly enhanced efficacy,” said Piers Ingram, PhD, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Callio Therapeutics. “This new generation of ADC therapies may meaningfully improve outcomes for patients.”  

Leadership Team

The founding Callio Therapeutics management team comprises individuals with extensive experience from leading biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies including ProfoundBio, Silverback Therapeutics, SeaGen, Medarex, Hummingbird Bioscience and Genentech:

• Piers Ingram, PhD, Chief Executive Officer
• Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer
• Naomi Hunder, MD, Chief Medical Officer
• Angèle Maki, PhD, Chief Business Officer

“The multi-payload ADCs being developed at Callio Therapeutics have the potential to address large unmet medical needs by overcoming many of the limitations of existing ADCs,” said Adam Simpson, Executive Board Chair of Callio Therapeutics and Venture Partner at Frazier Life Sciences. “With the expertise of the Callio Therapeutics team, together with access to the innovative multi-payload ADC technology, we believe that Callio Therapeutics will be the first company to show the clinical benefit of this exciting new multi-payload ADC approach and is well positioned to transform cancer therapy.”

About Callio Therapeutics
Headquartered in Seattle and Singapore, Callio Therapeutics is focused on realizing the promise of multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates to transform cancer patient outcomes. The company is developing next-generation, multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that feature differentiated payload and linker technologies that enable targeted delivery of multi agents to tumor cells to maximize therapeutic benefit. Callio Therapeutics’ lead program is a HER2-targeted dual-payload ADC. Callio Therapeutics was created by Frazier Life Sciences, a longstanding investment firm focused on innovative therapeutics, based on ADC technology and programs exclusively in-licensed from Hummingbird Bioscience. For more information, please visit www.calliotx.com and follow Callio Therapeutics on LinkedIn.

About Frazier Life Sciences
Frazier Life Sciences invests globally in private and publicly traded companies that discover, develop, and commercialize innovative biopharmaceuticals. Frazier Life Sciences manages over $3.9 billion in capital, including Venture Funds focusing on company creation and private companies and the long-only Public Fund focused on small and mid-cap public companies. Since 2005, over 60 Frazier Life Sciences portfolio companies, many of which were created or seeded by Frazier Life Sciences, have completed IPOs or M&As. The Frazier Life Sciences team consists of over 40 professionals with deep expertise in biopharmaceuticals, primarily located in Palo Alto, Calif. (headquarters), San Diego, Seattle, Boston, New York and London. For more information about Frazier Life Sciences, please visit frazierls.com and follow on LinkedIn.

About Hummingbird Bioscience
Hummingbird Bioscience is a Singapore-based biotherapeutics company working at the interface of artificial intelligence and human innovation to discover and develop transformative medicines for hard-to-treat diseases. Hummingbird Bioscience’s computational and systems biology technologies have generated a pipeline of innovative clinical-stage monoclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates in oncology and autoimmunity.  At Hummingbird Bioscience, the commitment to rigorous science, teamwork, and intellectual integrity underpins our passion to accelerate the journey of new drugs from concept to clinic. For more information, please visit www.hummingbirdbioscience.com, and follow Hummingbird Bioscience on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.

SOURCE Callio Therapeutics