Finalists will compete for cash prizes, recognition and funding from top investors at the upcoming 2025 Venture Madness Conference.

PHOENIX, Jan. 29, 2025 — Venture Madness by Invest Southwest has selected 16 finalists for the 2025 Venture Madness Conference which will be held April 2-3, 2025, at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The 2025 selection process was highly competitive, with more than 125 applicants vying for an opportunity to present their innovative businesses at the annual pitch competition and capital conference. The finalists were chosen based on several key factors, including their business potential, innovative approach, leadership team, competitive advantage, and investment opportunity.

“This year’s finalists represent the future of innovation, and we are also thrilled to introduce a new growth track to the format,” said Tom Fulcher, Chair of Venture Madness. “This addition is designed to support startups that are ready to scale, providing them with targeted resources and connections to fuel their growth as they continue to attract investment. Venture Madness has always been about nurturing the next generation of leaders, and with this new track, we’re excited to offer even more tailored support to companies at different stages of development.”

The 16 finalists for the 2025 Venture Madness include:

Ask Ms. Kay Tempe, AZ

BMSEED LLC Mesa, AZ

Business Genie Mesa, AZ

Calviri, Inc Phoenix, AZ

EnKoat Chandler, AZ

HemaSense, Flagstaff, AZ

HOA.com, Chandler, AZ

Ink’d Greetings Phoenix, AZ

Metfora Diagnostics Tucson, AZ

Parent Projects Tempe, AZ

Precision Epigenomics Inc. Tucson, AZ

RDI Tempe, AZ

Rezliant Mesa, AZ

Sense Neuro Diagnostics Cincinnati, OH

Valence Intelligence Systems Tucson, AZ

VelocitiPM Phoenix, AZ

The 2025 Venture Madness Conference and Expo will bring together approximately 350 accredited investors, entrepreneurs, service providers, and thought leaders. Attendees will have the opportunity to discover the region’s most promising early-stage companies, engage in networking, and gain insights on emerging market trends. As Arizona’s longest-running venture capital event, Venture Madness has helped companies raise over $1 billion in funding since its inception in 1992.

“This year, we’re taking things to the next level,” said Karen Katzorke, President & CEO of Venture Madness. “As Arizona’s startup community continues to thrive, we’re more committed than ever to connecting accredited investors with high-potential, innovative companies. Venture Madness is designed to offer investors access to a curated group of startups ready to scale, along with exclusive pitch sessions and unparalleled networking opportunities. We’re excited to continue strengthening Arizona’s position as a leading innovation hub, creating new opportunities for investors to make impactful connections and discover the next wave of industry-changing companies.”

Key Event Details:

• Event Dates: April 2-3, 2025
• Location: Mountain America Stadium, Tempe, AZ
• Tickets: Available atventuremadness.com

Venture Madness is supported by the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) as our diamond sponsor, drawing investors from across the country to connect with high-potential startups in Arizona. For more than 10 years,Venture Madness has fostered a dynamic community of investors, entrepreneurs, and business mentors, empowering companies to scale and succeed.

Past Successes:

Previous winners of the Venture Madness competition have gone on to secure significant investments and grow their businesses. Among those are companies such as Retisio, a leader in AI-driven digital commerce, Rovicare, a software innovator in healthcare management, and Quibble, a pioneer in vacation rental revenue management.

About Venture Madness by Invest Southwest:

Venture Madness is the premier Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating connections between investors and early-stage companies. Through a variety of events and programs, it offers essential resources to foster startup growth, including mentoring from successful entrepreneurs and investors.

About the 2025 Venture Madness Conference and Expo:

The 2025 Venture Madness Conference and Expo is Arizona’s signature event, blending a pitch competition with a capital conference. It offers emerging companies a platform to compete, network, and secure funding from top-tier investors. Companies in the competition must first undergo a rigorous selection process to ensure they meet the high standards of the event.

Investor Attendees from Past Years Include:

Venture Madness has attracted top investment firms such as Arizona Venture Development Corporation, Access Venture Partners, AZ-VC, AZ Tech Investors, Bridge Bank, Canyon Angels, Desert Angels, EPIC Ventures, Fulcrum Equity Partners, Grayhawk Capital, JP Morgan, Kickstart Fund, Peak Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Wells Fargo, and many more.

For more information about the event, the competition, or to purchase tickets, visit venturemadness.com.

Tags: Angel Investor, fund investor, investor events phoenix, pitch competition, pre-seed funding, series A funding, startup funding, venture capital, venture capital conference, Venture Madness VM25

SOURCE Venture Madness by Invest Southwest

Additional Strategic Investments from Genworth, Nationwide, and Edward Jones Help Drive Cutting-Edge Predictive AI

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29, 2025 — Waterlily, which uses AI to predict long-term care (LTC) needs up to decades before they happen, today announced the closing of a $7 Million Seed round led byJohn Kim, founding partner of Brewer Lane Ventures. The company also secured strategic investments from Genworth, Nationwide, and Edward Jones. In addition, Waterlily welcomed participation from key industry leaders including Tim Kneeland (former CEO of GE Insurance & Transamerica LTC), and others. Waterlily previously raised a $2.2M Pre-Seed round with notable investors including Scott Barclay (Managing Director of Healthcare at Insight Partners.)

Waterlily uses AI to help a family plan for long-term care needs with predictions, while estimating the costs. The accuracy and specificity of Waterlily’s machine learning algorithms enable it to predict a user’s likelihood of needing long-term care, the age at which their needs will begin, how their needs will progress over what time period, and how many hours or months of care specific family members, professional caregivers, or care facilities will provide.

The platform provides an overall personalized care plan – analyzed against personal financial data, insurance coverage, and health care trends to protect family savings and make sure loved ones have what they need to afford the cost of long-term care. Waterlily is being used by financial advisors, insurance carriers, insurance distributors, and independent insurance agents to help their clients build better plans for their long-term care, and to motivate behavioral changes.

“Traditional financial planning tools have just not kept pace with the long-term care complexity and uncertainty out there,” said John Kim, Founding Partner at Brewer Lane Ventures. “Waterlily is addressing one of the single most critical gaps in financial security and is well-positioned to help millions of families needing better tools to manage the financial challenges of aging.”

Few people realize that health insurance and Medicare do not fully pay for long-term care. As a result, millions of Americans remain unprotected against the financial impact of long-term care. Waterlily’s AI model is based on a series of assumptions regarding specific healthcare costs, personal health history, and caregiving trends. This program takes that information and develops a tailored plan, not only projecting when care can be initiated but also estimating the probable cost of the interventions, considering existing insurance policies and other financial resources.

“The system for financial planning today for long-term care is reactive, not proactive,” said Lily Vittayarukskul, Waterlily CEO and Co-Founder. “Our application of AI makes the whole process seamless and more intuitive for families to know what they need to do today to secure their financial future and care needs tomorrow. This significant investment represents a belief in Waterlily’s ability to improve the financial well-being of millions of families.”

This round of financing will enable Waterlily to continue growing its platform, create more advanced AI-powered tools, and really ramp up its ability to create a suite of much more customized data-driven solutions for individuals, families, and financial planners. The company aims to close the gap in long-term care planning so the next generation can better stand the chance of dealing with rising costs of long-term care.

About Waterlily

Waterlily is a financial technology company founded by Lily Vittayarukskul and Evan Ehrenberg. It predicts a family’s future Long Term Care (LTC) needs and costs in retirement by analyzing over 500M data points using our AI modeling software. Since launching in March 2024, Waterlily has closed paid contracts with Prudential and other similarly sized carriers, Financial Independence Group, one of the largest LTC BGAs, and one of the largest LTC providers in the midwest. Waterlily has helped hundreds of families navigate long-term care planning while enabling wealth advisors and agents to close on millions of dollars of assets under management and policy and annuity premiums.

Media Contact: Ann Noder, [email protected], 480.263.1557. 

SOURCE Waterlily

Series A funding round led by Trilogy Equity Partners & Foundry Group to accelerate AI-driven conversion of mobile LiDAR scans into design-ready, detailed 3D models.

DENVER, Jan. 29, 2025 — Canvas, the leader in 3D measurement and modeling solutions for residential and light commercial spaces, today announced a $10M Series A funding round led by Trilogy Equity Partners & Foundry Group, with participation from Acquired Wisdom Fund, GC&H Investments, and Frontier VC. The funding will accelerate Canvas’s efforts to solve the complex challenge of turning mobile 3D scans into precise, design-ready models tailored for construction and remodeling workflows.

With over 15 years of experience and 20+ patents in 3D sensing and computer vision, Canvas’s AI-powered solutions help over 12,000 design and construction professionals save countless hours by eliminating manual measuring and as-built modeling. Instead, customers use an iPhone or iPad to scan interior spaces in minutes, receive an instant 3D digital twin, and Canvas converts the scan into the CAD/BIM format of their choice. This dramatically reduces errors, and the need for labor-intensive modeling – allowing professionals to focus on their craft.

“Canvas is solving a critical challenge in the design and construction industry: turning raw 3D scans into reliable, construction-grade models quickly and affordably,” said Canvas CEO Sarah Bird. “Our technology makes this process simple and accessible, enabling professionals to focus on what they do best. This investment is a powerful endorsement of our ambitious mission to create a digital twin of every interior, transform it into structured data and power the full lifecycle of each property.”

“We’re at a pivotal moment in 3D modeling, driven by AI and the growing accessibility of LiDAR in mobile devices. Canvas is uniquely positioned to deliver an end-to-end solution that turns the real world into structured data for digital workflows,” said Yuval Neeman of Trilogy Equity Partners. “Canvas is starting with the massive residential and light commercial markets, providing affordable solutions for professionals at all levels. The potential for future applications is enormous.”

With this investment, Canvas will recruit the world’s best researchers and engineers to push the boundaries of our proprietary AI-driven spatial data processing technology and reality capture. The company is also scaling its go-to-market team to bring Canvas’s groundbreaking solutions to design and construction professionals around the globe – unlocking new possibilities and transforming the way the industry works. Learn more at canvas.io or by following Canvas on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn: @ScannedWithCanvas.

About Canvas
Canvas is the leading 3D measurement and modeling technology solution for architecture, interior design and construction professionals. With 110+ million square feet modeled, Canvas uses the latest advancements in AI and mobile-device LiDAR technology to make property reality capture and analysis accessible for all – saving customers from hours of field measuring and as-built modeling. Learn more at canvas.io.

About Trilogy Equity Partners
Formed in 2006, Trilogy Equity Partners (https://trilogyequity.com/) is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Bellevue, Washington. Trilogy is your hardest working partner, backing ambitious founders from Seed to Scale. Trilogy leads early-stage rounds for enterprise and consumer software startups that are building in the areas of SaaS and applications as well as cloud native infrastructures and tooling for data and AI products, and takes a hands-on approach to helping entrepreneurs build extraordinary businesses over time. The firm’s roots include entrepreneurs and leaders of multinational, category-defining technology businesses.

Media:
[email protected]

SOURCE Canvas

New Fleet Management Software Platform Raises $5 Million in Seed Funding to Simplify Ongoing Auto Services

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2025 — Fleets are grappling with operational efficiency and profitability challenges such as fraud, overspending, and vehicle maintenance. Rynse, a new fleet management software for government and enterprise organizations, provides a powerful solution. By connecting fleet management with payment systems, Rynse offers an expansive network of vendors, streamlines procurement, saves time, and reduces fraud, enabling fleets to operate more efficiently.

Rynse has secured $5M in seed funding led by Autotech Ventures, with participation from returning investors Founder Collective and Correlation Ventures, along with new investor Connexa Capital. This funding will fuel Rynse’s strategic expansion and support key initiatives such as product development, marketing efforts, and operational scaling to meet growing demand.

Rynse, which started exclusively serving fleets in 2024, has secured contracts with government agencies across 10 states, including the State of Utah; Anne Arundel County, Maryland; Baltimore County, Maryland; Broward County, Florida; City of Cincinnati, City of Pasadena; City of Pittsburgh; City of Sacramento and Tennessee Department of Environment. In 2025, the company will expand into the private sector.

“Fleet operators and drivers want flexibility in terms of how they maintain their vehicles, but traditional contracting makes that difficult to achieve,” said Ivy Nguyen, principal at Autotech Ventures. “We believe Rynse is a game-changer for the industry because of its potential to deliver immediate value by helping fleets operate more efficiently and with greater transparency. “

How It Works

With its software and fleet-related services payment card, Rynse gives fleet managers and billing administrators more control and vendor and service options. The card offers fleet operators flexible spending controls and access to a nationwide network of car washes, preventative maintenance providers and fueling/charging locations, removing the constraints of relying on single vendors.

Complementing the payment card, Rynse’s advanced fleet management software automatically processes, digitizes and consolidates every transaction—eliminating the need for manual entry or reliance on integrations with expense management platforms. Fleets benefit from unified, timely invoices for all vendors, with transaction data seamlessly synced with Rynse’s system. The data is also formatted for easy uploading into existing fleet management systems.

“When we spoke with fleet operators, they highlighted major pain points with vendor procurement alongside excess time spent on administrative tasks,” said Roland Lau, CEO and co-founder of Rynse. “We set out to create a platform to reduce the administrative burden, offering unprecedented transparency into vehicle service to improve planning, security and compliance. On average, fleets using Rynse have reduced administrative time by an average of 20 hours a month.”

To further address fleets’ procurement challenges, particularly government, Rynse secured the highly competitive Sourcewell supplier award. This strategic cooperative purchasing program streamlines government procurement for state, local, and educational agencies, allowing Rynse to bypass traditional processes. Among major global automotive service providers, Rynse was the only provider to receive the award across multiple categories, including car washing, preventative maintenance and related garage services.

“Becoming a Sourcewell supplier has made Rynse an attractive partner for government fleets and has positioned the company for accelerated public sector growth. As an approved supplier, we can simplify the procurement process by addressing complex regulatory requirements, cutting lead times from months for local governments and years for state entities,” added Lau.

The State of Utah faced challenges establishing a car wash vendor network for its internal departments due to limited procurement resources and lengthy bidding processes. With an estimated 18-month timeline to find a solution, the state turned to Rynse. Within months, Utah gained access to an expanded car wash network and consolidated billing.

“As a Sourcewell recipient, Rynse solved a problem for us, quickly unlocking a broad network of trusted service providers across multiple locations throughout the state, saving our drivers time. This streamlined our entire procurement process, allowing us to service our fleet through one centralized system, reducing costs and saving significant administrative time,” said Cory Weeks, director of fleet operations for the State of Utah.

In 2025, Rynse will continue to grow its public sector footprint and build out its private sector customer base. It will also expand its nationwide network of preferred vendors. For more information about Rynse, visit www.gorynse.com or email [email protected]

SOURCE Rynse

D3 to modernize the domain industry through DomainFi by announcing the launch of Doma Protocol

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2025 — D3 Global, the DomainFi infrastructure leader, today announced the closing of a $25M Series A funding round led by Paradigm. The round was also joined by notable investors including Coinbase Ventures, Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon Labs, Dharmesh Shah, the founder of HubSpot, and Richard Kirkendall, CEO of Namecheap, highlighting support from Web2 and Web3 leaders for DomainFi, a decentralized finance layer to accelerate the growth of domains as a $340B+ real-world asset class.

D3 is building the world’s first DomainFi network on the Doma Protocol, an innovative blockchain that transforms existing and future domains into a modern form of digital real estate. By announcing the launch of Doma Protocol, D3 aims to unlock new liquidity, innovation, and financial opportunities for the internet domain industry as well as major crypto communities. D3’s DomainFi network will offer participants substantial benefits such as asset appreciation, fractional ownership, domain-based lending, and enhanced digital identity and branding.

The Doma Protocol: Decentralized Infrastructure for DomainFi

Doma Protocol is the first-ever blockchain purpose-built for the Internet’s stakeholders and designed to meet ICANN’s stringent compliance requirements and industry standards. This ensures that the blockchain is fully compatible with the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) and can be easily integrated with domain industry tools and processes.

Doma also creates a futureproof bridge between the DNS and Web3 name systems, ensuring both domain state, as well as streamlined operations across registries, registrars, and crypto communities, are all mapped correctly on-chain. Doma abstracts underlying infrastructure complexities including ICANN compliance and other DNS-specific requirements within the domain value chain (renew, manage, transfer, etc.) allowing for tokenization of existing and future domains on a verified basis. Via verified tokenization, Doma enhances the composability, liquidity, and interoperability of domains, representing a paradigm shift in how domains are registered, traded, and utilized across both Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. Developers can request early access to Doma today at https://www.doma.xyz. 

Alongside Doma’s launch, D3 also unveiled a new DomainFi community at the company’s Dominion conference:

• Solana: D3 and Solana Foundation together are building infrastructure to bridge Web2 and Web3 domains on Solana‘s blockchain, further integrating Solana‘s vision to promote interoperable payment and identity solutions. This includes applying for the .SOL and .SOLANA Top-Level Domains (TLDs) and tokenizing traditional domains like .com, .xyz, and .ai.
• Avalanche: As a D3 partner, Avalanche plans to apply for and launch the .AVAX Top-Level Domain (TLD). As a flagship DomainFi partner, Avalanche will provide DeFi utility and liquidity for the $340B+ domain industry through its interoperable network and vast ecosystem of developers.
• OneFootball: Through a partnership with D3, OneFootball plans to use .football domains as the fan identity infrastructure for their worldwide community of over 180 million active monthly users.
• Plume: By integrating DomainFi as a new vault category with its newly-launched Nest Protocol, Plume will enable tokenized domains to generate institutional-grade yields and democratize access to traditionally restricted assets and opportunities.
• Hockey.com: DomainFi democratizes access to premium domains through fractional ownership of tokenized assets like Hockey.com while providing liquidity options for current owners.

“Internet domains have long been a valuable asset class,” said Fred Hsu, CEO and Co-Founder of D3. “And for the first time in nearly three decades, we have the opportunity to modernize and transform the technologies and processes currently used by the domain industry through the Doma Protocol. The DomainFi economy will usher in a new era of innovation and financial opportunity as every domain, community, and user comes on-chain.”

“Domains were the first digitally native asset class and are still one of the largest,” said Charlie Noyes, General Partner at Paradigm. “Bringing domains on-chain will make them more liquid and enable innovative new types of financial products, while giving crypto ecosystems like Solana access to names that work with the rest of the existing internet. The D3 team is uniquely suited to rebuilding domain infrastructure for the future of digital markets, and we’re excited to back them.”

Funds raised from this round will accelerate D3’s commitment to building the DomainFi economy, including technologies to expand domain functionality as composable assets and programs to onboard domain name system operators—such as registrars and registries—to utilize DomainFi for their operations. Through strategic partnerships within the traditional domain industry and top Web3 communities, D3 will pave the way for DomainFi to democratize digital asset ownership for over 5 billion connected Internet users, transforming the domain industry on a global scale.

About D3 Global

D3 Global is building the world’s first DomainFi network to tokenize 362M+ existing and future domains as real-world assets. D3 unlocks the financial potential of domains by building on Doma Protocol, a decentralized blockchain infrastructure that bridges traditional Internet domains (.com, .net, .ai, and .org) and future domain extensions from the Web3 world (.shib, .near, .core, and .ape). Backed by Paradigm, the D3 team consists of industry veterans with over three decades of collective experience, known for leading domain name monetization, internet protocols, and various TLD operations including .xyz, .inc, .tv, and .link. Learn more about D3 at https://www.d3.inc and Doma at https://www.doma.xyz.

Press Contact
[email protected]

SOURCE D3 Global

Investment to Drive Innovation in Product Data Insights and Enhance Value for Retail and CPG Customers

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2025 — Harmonya, the AI-powered platform for product data enrichment, insights, and attribution serving CPG brands and retailers, today announced a strategic investment from dunnhumby ventures and its existing investors, Bright Pixel Capital and Team8. This investment reflects a shared commitment to advancing AI-driven solutions and enhancing value for the retail and consumer packaged goods ecosystem. This influx of capital will accelerate Harmonya’s 2025 product roadmap, enabling new use cases and faster time-to-value for both brands and retailers.

The investment and broader collaboration aim to accelerate Harmonya’s growth and innovation while enhancing dunnhumby’s suite of advanced data and AI propositions. Harmonya and dunnhumby plan to leverage their combined expertise to address critical market challenges, deliver actionable insights, and create opportunities for their customers to drive sustainable growth.

“We are honored to partner with dunnhumby. Their strategic investment represents a powerful vote of confidence in our vision and technology,” said Cem Kent, Co-Founder and CEO of Harmonya. “Together, we will help the world’s largest CPG and retail companies solve their toughest data challenges and achieve new levels of success.”

“To thrive in today’s dynamic market, key retail decision makers need to view products and their attributes from the consumer’s perspective. We are thrilled to support Harmonya’s brilliant team and AI-powered approach to making product information meaningful by solving this critical product attribute inconsistency problem,” said Leo Nagdas, Head of dunnhumby ventures. “We look forward to collaborating on our mission to transform often inconsistent, disparate, and complex product data sets into meaningful and actionable strategic assets that deliver rapid efficiencies and value across organizations.”

About Harmonya
Harmonya is redefining how CPG brands and retailers approach product data. Our AI-powered solutions for product data enrichment, insights, and attribution transform static product information into actionable intelligence, helping businesses navigate today’s data-driven economy with speed and confidence.

By combining cutting-edge AI technology with a deep understanding of CPG and retail, Harmonya enables Fortune 500 companies, including six of the top 10 global CPG brands, discover trends, improve decision-making, and achieve measurable growth.

With over 20 million products, hundreds of categories, and more than $500 billion in tracked annual sales, Harmonya offers the industry’s most comprehensive enriched data coverage. Our team of experts spans offices in New York and Tel Aviv, dedicated to driving innovation for iconic brands like Coca-Cola, Unilever, PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Mars Petcare. Learn more at www.harmonya.com.

About dunnhumby ventures:

dunnhumby ventures is dunnhumby’s strategic venture capital and ecosystem-led innovation arm with a mandate to partner and invest in early-stage retail technology start-ups that embrace data and artificial intelligence for innovation along the customer’s path to purchase. Backed by dunnhumby -the global customer data science leader- dunnhumby ventures seeks to foster industry collaboration via the Retail Innovation Network, its exclusive ecosystem of senior retail innovation leaders, and seeks to align with founders at an early stage to supercharge their ability to take innovation to market by tapping into dunnhumby’s retail industry expertise, data science assets, and global retailer and supplier partner network. Its focus areas include artificial intelligence (AI), data capture and enrichment, retail media, loyalty and customer engagement, category management, supply chain, and commerce.

SOURCE Harmonya

Cybersecurity start-up accelerates development and GTM efforts to bring strength of agentic AI to enterprise and managed security service provider SOCs

TEL AVIV, Israel and DALLAS, Jan. 29, 2025 — Conifers.ai today announced $25 million in funding, as well as the formal launch of the company and its Conifers CognitiveSOC™ platform. This native AI platform helps organizations solve critical security operations center (SOC) challenges at scale, increasing effectiveness and efficiency, reducing risk, and increasing proactiveness to achieve SOC excellence.

Led by security industry veterans Tom Findling, Alon Yotvat, and Mark Kurman and backed by SYN Ventures, Picus Capital, and others, Conifers brings the power of agentic AI as a force multiplier to SecOps teams. Conifers enables customers to use AI to rapidly investigate complex, multi-tier security incidents at scale, with confidence and trust, and with the tools and portals they already use. This has resulted in increasing investigation accuracy by up to 8% compared to humans and reduced total end-to-end investigation time by up to 87%. Conifers CognitiveSOC platform also provides qualitative analytics and strategic KPIs that translate tactical results into measurable achievements and help build trust in the technology.

According to Tom Findling, Co-Founder and CEO of Conifers, “This is the year companies will start demanding more and compromising less for SecOps. According to leading industry analyst firms, SOAR is now obsolete and the opportunity for AI-based solutions is ripe for the taking. Our enterprise and MSSP customers are looking for solutions that tackle not just basic, Tier 1 problems but also more complex ones. They need to measure ROI and value beyond standard operational metrics like MTT(x)—to understand true business impact. The stakes are far too high to make the uncomfortable compromise between efficiency and effectiveness. They now need both for SOC excellence at a time when cyber attacks are at an all-time high.”

The Conifers CognitiveSOC platform was designed to continuously ingest an organization’s ever-growing stream of security incidents and, in conjunction with its institutional knowledge, provide deep, contextual investigations. Conifers’ ability to continuously ingest and leverage institutional knowledge results in greater accuracy and consistency in its findings. Its patent-pending architecture ensures the right combination of AI techniques will be used on each incident analysis for more efficient and accurate incident resolution with predictable costs. Through its unique staged implementation framework, Conifers provides organizations with a proven process that builds trust and confidence in adopting AI in the enterprise.

“We are thrilled to partner with Conifers as it assists SOC teams in solving their most challenging investigations with its AI-native platform, CognitiveSOC. Conifers promptly solves complex incidents and frees up the Tier 1/2/3 analysts responsible for these triage processes, enhancing both the effectiveness and efficiency of provider and enterprise SOCs,” said Jay Leek, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of SYN Ventures.

“Operating in large-scale deployments across the enterprise and providers, the Conifers CognitiveSOC demonstrates real business value,” said Rutger de Boer, CTO of DTX. “As a service provider, implementing Conifers CognitiveSOC has enabled us to expand our offerings and business. By leveraging Conifers’ smart AI approach, we can increase the quality and accuracy of its offerings. Additionally, with the power of smart AI, DTX can stay ahead of the speed of adversaries’ attacks.”

Resources:

About Conifers.ai
Conifers.ai is transforming security operations centers (SOCs) with its AI-native Conifers CognitiveSOC™ platform, enabling enterprises and managed security service providers (MSSPs) to achieve SOC excellence. By leveraging agentic AI, Conifers empowers security teams to investigate complex, multi-tier incidents at scale with confidence, efficiency, and accuracy. Led by seasoned industry veterans and supported by SYN Ventures, Conifers is committed to addressing critical SecOps challenges through innovative solutions that enhance operational effectiveness, advanced investigation reasoning, and decision-making capabilities. With its unique staged implementation framework and patent-pending architecture, Conifers.ai builds trust in AI adoption, delivering measurable ROI and business impact. Learn more at https://www.conifers.ai/.

Media Contact:
Danielle Ostrovsky
Hi-Touch PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Conifers.ai

• Sopra Steria erwirbt über Sopra Steria Ventures Beteiligung an Quantum-Start-up 
• Ziel der Investition ist es, Unternehmen beim Einsatz von Quantentechnologie zu unterstützen

PARIS und HAMBURG Deutschland, 29. Januar 2025 — Sopra Steria, ein führender europäischer Tech-Player, gab gestern seine Beteiligung über Sopra Steria Ventures an der zweiten Finanzierungsrunde (Series B Funding) des Start-ups Alice & Bob bekannt – einem der weltweit führenden Unternehmen auf dem Gebiet Quantencomputing mit integrierter Fehlerkorrektur. Die Beteiligung stärkt die führende Position von Sopra Steria in der Quantum-Szene.

Das Start-up-Unternehmen Alice & Bob hat sich auf die Entwicklung von Quantenprozessoren spezialisiert. Ziel ist, Quantencomputer zu entwickeln, die in naher Zukunft in größerem Maßstab eingesetzt werden können. Die Quanteninformatik hat das Potenzial, die derzeitige Technologielandschaft radikal zu verändern. Dieser schnell wachsende Markt zieht bereits Technologieführer wie Google, Amazon und IBM an und könnte bis 2030 ein Volumen von 2,3 Milliarden Euro erreichen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird die von Alice & Bob entwickelte Technologie Unternehmen aller Größenordnungen in die Lage versetzen, ihren technologischen Reifegrad zu bewerten und neue Anwendungsfälle auszuloten. Damit wird die Einführung des Quantencomputings in verschiedenen Geschäftsbereichen beschleunigt.

„Die Beteiligung von Sopra Steria Ventures an Alice & Bob ist ein wichtiger Schritt, um die Innovationsführerschaft von Sopra Steria im Bereich Quantencomputing auszubauen. Mit seiner wegweisenden „Cat-Qubit”-Technologie hat das Start-up das Potenzial, die Skalierung von Quantencomputern effizienter und zugänglicher zu machen”, sagt Darius Selke, Head of Sopra Steria Ventures Deutschland. „Für unsere Kunden in Deutschland – insbesondere in den Branchen Finanzdienstleistungen, Verteidigung, Transport und Telekommunikation – bietet diese Partnerschaft neue Chancen. Sie können frühzeitig von den Möglichkeiten des Quantencomputings profitieren und ihre technologische Wettbewerbsfähigkeit sichern. Ich freue mich, dass Sopra Steria Ventures dabei eine zentrale Rolle spielt und Unternehmen die notwendige Expertise und strategische Unterstützung bietet, um den Übergang in die Quantenära erfolgreich zu gestalten.”

Weg ins Quantencomputing-Zeitalter ebnen

Alice & Bob und Sopra Steria haben das Potenzial, Großunternehmen bei der Festlegung ihrer Quantum-Roadmap für 2030 zu helfen. Die Investition zielt darauf ab, Unternehmen beim Übergang in das Zeitalter der Quantencomputer in verschiedenen Branchen Sektoren wie Luft- und Raumfahrt, Verteidigung und Sicherheit, Finanzdienstleistungen, Verkehr und Telekommunikation zu unterstützen. Sopra Steria Ventures ist von der Spitzenkompetenz von Alice & Bob und der Fähigkeit ihrer Technologien überzeugt, die Einführung von Quantencomputing zu beschleunigen und eine neue Quelle nachhaltiger Wertschöpfung für ihre Kunden zu schaffen.

„Quantencomputing wird die Technologielandschaft verändern und unseren Kunden revolutionäre Möglichkeiten bieten. Deshalb engagieren wir uns für die Zusammenarbeit mit den besten Akteuren des Sektors, darunter Alice & Bob, und investieren aktiv in diese Zukunftstechnologie”, kommentiert Socheat Chhay, Managing Director von Sopra Steria Ventures. „Alice & Bob, ihr visionärer Ansatz und die Exzellenz ihrer Teams haben uns überzeugt, und unsere Investition zeigt unser Vertrauen in ihr Projekt.”

Sopra Steria Ventures ist für Investitionen und strategische Partnerschaften von Sopra Steria mit Start-up-Ökosystem verantwortlich. Die Einheit fördert Kooperationen mit und Beteiligungen an jungen Firmen. Sopra Steria vertieft so das eigene Leistungsangebot, insbesondere auf den Gebieten generative KI, Quantum, Virtual Realiy und Cybersecurity sowie Nachhaltigkeit und Blockchain. Mit Investitionen zwischen 250.000 € und 1,5 Mio. € arbeitet das Team eng mit Start-ups zusammen, um deren technologische Reife zu erhöhen und Synergien mit dem Partner-Ökosystem zu schaffen, was den Kunden der Gruppe zugutekommt.

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Laura Bandiera
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Company Announces Record Financial Results at 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 28, 2025 — BillionToOne, a next-generation molecular diagnostics company, announced record financial results at this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. In 2024, the company’s revenue reached $153 million, more than doubling from $72 million in 2023.

BillionToOne’s success has been driven primarily by its prenatal testing business, which has captured an estimated 15% market share in the U.S.

“We saw strong momentum in our prenatal business during 2024, with tremendous revenue growth and profitability in the fourth quarter,” said Dr. Oguzhan Atay, Co-founder and CEO of BillionToOne. “We have achieved robust prenatal business growth with a fraction of the sales force size of our largest competitor, demonstrating the power of our technology and differentiation that our products have.”

Building on its success in prenatal testing, BillionToOne is now accelerating its expansion into the oncology liquid biopsy market for late-stage cancers, estimated at over $20 billion, supported by a $130 million Series D financing round secured last summer. The company’s Northstar Select® and Northstar Response® assays, designed for therapy selection and treatment response monitoring, have demonstrated superior detection capabilities. For instance, Northstar Select identified 51% more single nucleotide variants than competing solutions, while doubling the detection of copy number variants, as presented at the latest ASCO Conference. Launched in 2023, Northstar has made significant commercial progress this year and exceeded 3,000 ordered tests in Q4 alone. BillionToOne is also developing a tumor-naive minimal residual disease test, targeting an additional $30 billion market opportunity.

BillionToOne, which currently employs more than 500 people, plans to expand its workforce by at least 100 new employees throughout 2025 to support continued growth.

To learn more about BillionToOne, visit www.billiontoone.com.

About BillionToOne
Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, BillionToOne is a precision diagnostics company on a mission to make molecular diagnostics more powerful, efficient, and accessible for all. The company’s patented Quantitative Counting Templates™ (QCT™) molecular counting platform is the only multiplex technology that can accurately count DNA molecules at the single-molecule level. For more information, visit www.billiontoone.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements and preliminary financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. These results are unaudited and based on management’s initial review. They are subject to change following our year-end procedures and audit, and actual results may differ. The preliminary results are not comprehensive and should not replace full audited financial statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations but are subject to change, and we disclaim any obligation to update them. Our statements involve risks and uncertainties, such as potential changes in preliminary results, challenges in meeting financial goals, ongoing net losses, quarterly fluctuations, and inaccuracies in forecasts.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE BillionToOne