Slauson & Co. leads round, joined by InvestTN and Baukunst, to scale the discovery-driven marketplace helping brands turn excess inventory into revenue.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28, 2026 — Offe Market, the online marketplace giving excess inventory from beloved brands a new life, today announced a $3 million seed round, bringing its total funding to $4.3 million. Slauson & Co. led the round, with participation from InvestTN and Baukunst, which led the company’s pre-seed round. Additional investors include commerce angels Jill Fisher Bowen, Stephanie Kleinjan, and Ruffin Mitchener, creator and founder of Brydge Club. The funding will advance Offe Market’s commerce intelligence platform, focusing on AI-powered pricing, personalized discovery, and live commerce.
Founded by retail veteran Rachel Gannon, Offe Market offers a curated, ever-changing assortment of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands at 30–80% off retail prices. The company has grown 2.5x year over year in revenue, shopper count, and order volume. Offe has worked with more than 200 brands, including consumer favorites Harper Wilde, OBEY, Rachel Antonoff, Wrangler, and Dolce Vita. Offe has also expanded into home and beauty, offering rugs, furniture, candles, and skincare from brands like Nopalera, P.F. Candle Co., Papier, Chillhouse Nails, and Wildflower Cases.
“The satisfaction of a great deal never gets old. What’s changed is how we shop and whose recommendations we trust,” said Rachel Gannon, founder and CEO of Offe Market. “We do the handpicking for you and let you in on the best finds. I love watching our customers share their hauls and discover new brands. Knowing those purchases help keep products out of landfills makes it even better.”
Gannon developed the concept for Offe Market after a decade in buying and merchandising. After joining Rue La La at the height of the flash-sale era, she managed a $120 million business at Macy’s. She later became ban.do’s first buyer, building its third-party buying channel into a multimillion-dollar business. In these roles, she saw firsthand the limitations of traditional off-price channels, including low payouts, complicated logistics, limited sales data, and little control over how products were presented and sold.
Offe Market gives brands a flexible way to sell excess merchandise without diluting brand value and image. Its commerce intelligence platform connects directly to brands’ inventory systems, syncing product information, pricing, and availability in real time while automating fulfillment routing from its distribution center. Offe gives brands control over pricing and merchandising along with sell-through data to inform inventory decisions. For shoppers, personalized recommendations make it easier to discover new brands and products.
“Off-price is a multibillion-dollar industry, yet some of its biggest players still generate less than 2% of sales online,” said Waverly Middleton, an investor at Slauson & Co. “With Offe Market, we see an incredible opportunity to reach a new generation of shoppers while giving brands a trusted channel to move excess inventory. Rachel understands both sides of the business, and we believe she has the potential to reshape the category.”
The company recently unveiled a refreshed brand identity and interface designed to spotlight curated product drops. Its Echo Park store in Los Angeles also serves as a gathering space and content studio producing organic social and live commerce content. The location hosts sample sales and events, including a Galentine’s Day celebration that drew more than 400 attendees.
About Offe Market Offe Market is a next-generation off-price and marketplace connecting shoppers with cult-favorite fashion and lifestyle brands at 30–80% off retail. By pairing discovery-driven shopping with a circular commerce model, Offe Market gives unsold inventory a new life while making premium products more accessible and sustainable. Learn more at https://offemarket.com.
NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2026 — Sava, the next-generation trust company, today emerged from stealth with $10 million in funding led by Gradient Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, SV Angel, Instacart co-founder Max Mullen, Orange Collective, and SurgePoint Capital. The company provides administrative trustee services through its subsidiary, Sava Trust Company, an independent corporate fiduciary chartered in Nevada.
Sava Trust Company co-founders Rush Sadiwala (left) and Nimit Maru (right) are building the modern trust company.
Notable strategic operators joined Sava’s round, including Tomer London (co-founder of Gusto) and Eleonora Sharef (former Head of Private Wealth at McKinsey). Sava was founded by technologist and serial entrepreneur Nimit Maru, founder of Fullstack Academy (acquired in 2019) and Bloomspot (acquired in 2012 by JPMorgan Chase Bank), and Rush Sadiwala, a repeat founder of VC-backed startups and accomplished private investor.
Sava is building modern, agentic software infrastructure to make the creation, funding, and administration of trusts quicker and simpler for families, advisors, estate attorneys, tax professionals, and trust officers operating in the $6.5+ trillion U.S. trust and estate industry. Sava Trust Company acts as administrative trustee to handle ongoing compliance, reporting, and disbursements over the life of a trust without compromising the attorney-client or advisor relationship.
The team combines deep expertise in AI, software engineering, product design, and institutional trust & estate administration, including Head of Trusts Jordan Wolff, who brings 20+ years of experience in the industry. Wolff held leadership roles at state- and national-level trust companies, most recently serving as Head of Trust & Estate Administration at Hightower Advisors ($340B+ AUM). By combining a regulated fiduciary with domain expertise and agentic software infrastructure, Sava delivers a faster and more transparent experience for onboarding, funding, and administering trusts, at a more accessible price point to expand access to estate planning tools traditionally reserved for high-net-worth individuals.
Every year, thousands of founders, early employees, and professionals come into real wealth for the first time, through a sale, an IPO, or a secondary. A trust is often the best way to protect that money, pass it on, or give it away. But setting one up still means weeks of back-and-forth among an attorney, a financial advisor, a CPA, and a trust officer, run through a “black box” of email, PDFs, and phone calls. The client rarely knows where things stand, and the cost and friction keep many people who would benefit from ever starting. Sava was built for that person and the professionals who serve these individuals.
Rather than layering technology onto broken legacy systems, Sava is rebuilding the underlying infrastructure of trust administration from the ground up. As a Nevada-chartered trust company, Sava combines the regulatory foundation and fiduciary oversight of a traditional institution with modern technology. AI agents orchestrated by human trust officers compress the time to complete administrative workflows, including onboarding, document extraction, KYC/compliance checks, custodian data synchronization, P&I accounting, and distributions, eliminating errors caused by past manual-only processes. Experienced human trust officers review and approve the work, and remain liable for fiduciary decisions executed according to clients’ trust documentation.
“Trusts are powerful tools for protecting and transferring wealth, and we see an enormous opportunity to make them more accessible,” said Nimit Maru, co-founder and CEO. “Raising our seed funding and launching a Nevada-chartered trust company is a major milestone in our vision to create a better experience for families, attorneys, and advisors. With this funding, we’re investing in our technology and infrastructure to deliver a world-class experience while bringing down costs and making these instruments available to far more people.”
Sava is designed to make trust administration faster, more transparent, and significantly less expensive. The company is targeting onboarding in days, rather than weeks or months. Sava’s platform gives clients, their attorneys, and financial advisors centralized, real-time visibility into their trust formation, funding, and administration. Clients pay a transparent, flat annual fee per trust, so families and their advisors know the cost from day one.
“Forming and managing trusts is unnecessarily complex and messy. When we first met the team at Sava, they already had a clear vision for how to automate the legal and financial components of this multi-trillion-dollar industry,” said Darian Shirazi, general partner at Gradient. “With Nimit’s experience selling a prior company to JPMorgan Chase, we also had confidence that the team would be able to build an AI agentic trust solution that met the expectations of financial regulators globally. We’re proud to partner with Sava and lead their seed round as they bring AI to an industry we believe desperately needs innovation.”
Sava Trust Company’s Nevada charter allows clients nationwide to establish trusts in one of the most advantageous jurisdictions in the country while retaining their existing advisor and attorney relationships (or accessing one of Sava’s vetted attorney partners). The company is developing API infrastructure to allow fintechs and financial platforms to embed trust capabilities directly into their products, creating further opportunities to make trusts more accessible beyond traditional high-net-worth estate planning.
About Sava
Sava is building the next-generation trust company. Founded by Nimit Maru and Rush Sadiwala, Sava develops the software and AI behind modern trust administration. Sava is headquartered in New York City and backed by Gradient, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Instacart co-founder Max Mullen, Orange Collective, and SurgePoint Capital.
About Sava Trust Company
Sava Trust Company, LLC is a Nevada-chartered trust company serving clients nationwide. Built with modern technology, it provides superior service to families, their attorneys, and financial advisors. Sava Trust Company is regulated by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division. Learn more at savatrustcompany.com/contact or reach out at [email protected].
Led by MaC Venture Capital and Toyota Ventures, the oversubscribed seed round advances a new approach to spacecraft design, enabling modular spacecraft to autonomously assemble, expand and reconfigure in orbit.
GOLDEN, Colo., Oct. 28, 2026 — Rendezvous Robotics, the company building spacecraft that assemble themselves in orbit, has raised $20 million in an oversubscribed seed round. MaC Venture Capital and Toyota Ventures led the financing, which comes as the company prepares for a first-of-its-kind mission in 2028, when seven independent spacecraft tiles will autonomously join to form a single spacecraft, separate and assemble again into a different configuration.
Conceptual render of Rendezvous Robotics Spacecraft tiles
The financing marks Rendezvous’ first priced funding round and includes significant participation from the University of Michigan Endowment, new investment from Astera (co-founded by Jed McCaleb), Industrious Ventures, and continued support from existing investors Aurelia Foundry, ATX Venture Partners, and Mana Ventures, among others. The capital will support development of the company’s next-generation spacecraft, flight demonstrations and team expansion.
Most spacecraft are designed around what fits inside a rocket fairing. That constraint forces engineers to make tradeoffs in power generation, compute, antenna size and heat dissipation before launch, even as demand for all of these continues to grow. Rendezvous is rewriting the rules of how spacecraft are built. Its spacecraft launch as compact, independent modular tiles, that autonomously maneuver, align and connect in orbit. The modular design allows spacecraft to be assembled into larger structures and reconfigured after launch to adapt to new missions.
From an MIT Lab to Orbit
Rendezvous builds on nearly a decade of research that began with TESSERAE, a modular self-assembly technology invented by Dr. Ariel Ekblaw at MIT and further developed through the Aurelia Institute, which Ekblaw founded. Earlier generations have flown aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and on two missions to the International Space Station (ISS), providing the foundational proof of the underlying technological concept in microgravity.
“The vision behind TESSERAE was never simply to connect tiles in space. It was to rethink how we build beyond Earth,” said Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, Co-Founder and Board Chair of Rendezvous Robotics. “For decades, the way we build spacecraft has been shaped by what we can fit inside a rocket. We’re challenging that constraint. What began as an experiment in self-assembly is now becoming a new way to build spacecraft in orbit.”
The company is now developing a new generation of larger, independently operating spacecraft tiles, with ground demonstrations underway to validate autonomous movement, alignment and assembly. A planned parabolic flight campaign in November 2026 will further test electromagnetic actuation and mobility in microgravity. These efforts are leading to Rendezvous’ low-earth demonstration, scheduled to launch aboard a reserved rideshare no earlier than April 2028. The mission will feature fully autonomous assembly and reconfiguration of independently deployed Rendezvous spacecraft tiles in free space, demonstrating how spacecraft can change their physical structure after launch without external robotic assistance.
“We’re changing what it means to build a spacecraft,” said Joe Landon, Co-Founder and CEO of Rendezvous Robotics. “Imagine spacecraft with megawatt-scale power generation, enormous communications and sensing apertures, and the ability to expand or reconfigure as mission needs change. Rendezvous is building spacecraft on an entirely different scale, with the ability to add capabilities after launch and take on missions that simply aren’t practical with the way we build spacecraft today. We’ve brought together a world-class engineering team with the experience, ingenuity and technical expertise to make that vision a reality.”
Separately, a final ISS demonstration of fifth-generation TESSERAE technology is scheduled for December 2026, when 32 tiles will autonomously assemble into a three-dimensional structure in a controlled microgravity environment. The experiment marks the culmination of the earlier TESSERAE research program as Rendezvous advances the larger, free-flying spacecraft architecture.
Investors Back a New Approach to Spacecraft Design
MaC Venture Capital
“The most interesting companies challenge assumptions that an entire industry has learned to work around,” said Michael Palank, Managing General Partner at MaC Venture Capital. “Rendezvous is doing exactly that. Instead of finding better ways to package a spacecraft for launch, they’re rethinking how spacecraft are built in the first place. The team has the technical foundation, experience, and ambition to pursue something genuinely different.”
Toyota Ventures
“What stood out to us is that autonomy isn’t an added feature. It’s fundamental to how Rendezvous is designing its spacecraft,” said Chris Abshire, Partner at Toyota Ventures. “The ability for individual modules to maneuver, connect, and eventually reconfigure in orbit could create an entirely new set of options for spacecraft designers and operators. Toyota Ventures sees significant potential in the combination of robotics, modularity, and autonomous control.”
University of Michigan Investment Office
“We’ve followed Ariel’s research with great interest and have tremendous confidence in her vision and the team she’s helped build,” said Daniel Feder, Senior Managing Director at the University of Michigan Investment Office. “Bringing breakthrough technology out of the research environment and into practical use takes both technical discipline and long-term commitment. Rendezvous has a strong foundation of research behind it, and we’re excited to support the next stage of its development.”
About Rendezvous Robotics
Rendezvous Robotics builds modular spacecraft designed to assemble, expand and adapt in orbit. Building on technology originally developed through MIT’s TESSERAE research, the company is advancing autonomous in-orbit assembly to enable larger, more capable and reconfigurable spacecraft for commercial, civil and national security missions. Rendezvous Robotics is headquartered in Golden, Colorado. For more information, visit www.rdvrobotics.com.
About MaC Venture Capital
MaC Venture Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley that invests in technology startups leveraging shifts in cultural trends and behaviors. The general partners represent diverse backgrounds in technology, business, politics, entertainment, and finance, allowing them to accelerate entrepreneurs on the verge of their breakthrough moment.
About Toyota Ventures
Toyota Ventures is the early-stage venture capital arm of Toyota. Founded in July 2017, our mission is to discover what’s next for Toyota by helping startups bring disruptive technologies and business models to market quickly. With more than $800 million in assets under management, we invest in visionary founders building deep tech companies that solve hard problems. For more information about Toyota Ventures and our portfolio companies, please visitwww.toyota.ventures.
About University of Michigan Investment Office
The University of Michigan Investment Office manages the university’s long-term investment portfolio, including its endowment, one of the largest in the country. Established in 1999, the office is responsible for developing and executing investment strategy, asset allocation, and risk management practices designed to preserve and grow the real value of endowed funds over time. With assets exceeding $20 billion, the Investment Office generates sustainable distributions that fund student scholarships, faculty support, innovative programs, and life-saving research.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2026 — Oridian Capital Partners (“Oridian”), a lower middle market private equity firm formerly known as HCI Equity Partners, today announced that it has been named to Inc.’s 2026 Founder-Friendly Investors list for the seventh consecutive year. Inc.’s annual list recognizes private equity firms, venture capital firms and lenders with demonstrated track records of supporting founder-led businesses.
“Being recognized for seven consecutive years reflects our longstanding commitment to building trusted partnerships with founders and management teams,” said Doug McCormick, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Oridian Capital Partners. “We recognize the years of dedication and entrepreneurial vision that go into building a successful business. Our approach is grounded in preserving that foundation while providing the strategic resources, operational expertise and capital to help companies realize their full potential.”
To compile the Founder-Friendly Investors list, Inc. surveyed entrepreneurs who have sold their businesses to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders completed questionnaires detailing their experiences working with private equity, venture capital and debt firms and provided data on their companies’ performance during those partnerships. The resulting list highlights investment firms that founders identified as strong partners throughout the investment process.
“Oridian understands what it takes to build on the foundation of a founder-led business while positioning it for its next stage of growth,” said Scott Milberg, CEO of ACR. “Their team brings a collaborative mindset, deep operational experience and a commitment to working alongside management. That partnership has been instrumental as we continue to expand our capabilities and pursue new opportunities for growth.”
Bob Hund, Operating Partner at Oridian Capital Partners, added, “This recognition is particularly meaningful because it reflects feedback directly from the founders we partner with. Founder- and family-owned businesses have long been central to our investment strategy, and we understand the importance of aligning our operational expertise with their long-term objectives. This recognition reinforces the value of our approach and the results we work to achieve together.”
About Oridian Capital Partners
Oridian Capital Partners (formerly HCI Equity Partners) is a lower middle market private equity firm focused on partnering with growth-oriented, family and founder-owned service, distribution, and manufacturing companies. The firm targets entry points in large, stable, fragmented North American markets and drives transformational growth through disciplined M&A consolidation and operational excellence. Oridian is headquartered in Washington, D.C., please visit oridiancapital.com.
About Inc.
Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com..
Inc. Magazine’s Founder-Friendly Investors is a published list of U.S. founder-friendly private equity firms. Oridian Capital Partners has paid a fee to be considered for this recognition. Private equity firms that have exited U.S.-based, founder-led, public or private, portfolio companies within the past five years were eligible to apply. This recognition is based on the analysis of and information gathered by Inc. Magazine using its own criteria and methodologies. As part of the vetting process, Inc. Magazine interviewed one or more portfolio company representatives about their experience partnering with Oridian. For investments to qualify, portfolio company founders must have remained actively involved in their business for at least one year post-investment. The complete list of private equity firms considered for this award is not known to Oridian. The award reflects information about a sample of portfolio companies and may not be representative of every portfolio company’s experience with Oridian. There is no guarantee that similar awards will be obtained by Oridian in the future. Portfolio companies should make their own determinations about the prospects of partnering with Oridian.
Backed by Wing Venture Capital, Northstar exposes toxic combinations lurking across disconnected security systems and gives AI agents the context to act
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 28, 2026 — Northstar Security today emerged from stealth with $7 million in seed funding led by Wing Venture Capital to address one of cybersecurity’s biggest challenges: security teams have more data and tools than ever, but still lack the connected context needed to understand risk and take action. Northstar’s agentic AI platform connects security and IT data through a real-time Security Context Graph, uncovering hidden risks and toxic combinations while enabling AI agents to investigate and help resolve them. The funding will accelerate product development, team expansion and go-to-market efforts.
Northstar can answer complex security questions, identify previously hidden exposures, and orchestrate autonomous remediation workflows, with human oversight where appropriate.
Security Has a Context Problem Enterprises have spent billions on tools to detect threats, vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, yet critical security information remains fragmented across disconnected systems. A vulnerability, unmanaged device or overprivileged identity may appear manageable in isolation. When combined, they can create dangerous exposures that put critical business systems at risk.
Uncovering these toxic combinations requires analysts to piece together information across multiple tools, investigate relationships, assess business impact and coordinate fixes. The process can take hours, leaving security teams buried in manual work.
Northstar changes that equation by creating the context foundation that makes agentic security possible. Its real-time Security Context Graph maps relationships among assets, identities, vulnerabilities, applications and business systems to give both humans and AI agents a shared understanding of the environment. With that foundation, Northstar can answer complex security questions, identify previously hidden exposures, and orchestrate autonomous remediation workflows, with human oversight where appropriate.
“Security teams are drowning in data but starving for context,” said Amer Deeba, CEO and co-founder of Northstar Security. “We’ve spent decades building better tools to find security problems, but connecting the dots and fixing them remains painfully manual. We believe the next generation of security won’t be defined by more dashboards or alerts. It will be powered by AI agents that understand the full context of an organization’s environment and can take proactive action. That’s why we built Northstar: to provide the context foundation for agentic security and move the industry from finding problems to continuously fixing them.”
“The cybersecurity industry has spent billions building better ways to find problems, yet security teams are still struggling to keep up with the risks they’ve uncovered,” said Jake Flomenberg, Partner at Wing Venture Capital. “Northstar is challenging decades of conventional thinking by giving AI agents the context to understand what’s happening and the ability to do something about it. We believe it has the potential to fundamentally rewrite the security playbook.”
From Disconnected Signals to Autonomous Action Consider a common security problem: a company laptop without endpoint protection. Identifying the device may require navigating six different tools to determine who owns it, what systems it can access and whether it poses a meaningful risk. Hours later, the analyst may have the answers, but the device remains unprotected.
With Northstar, an analyst can ask those questions in natural language and quickly see the relationships that matter. The platform can reveal, for example, that an unprotected laptop belongs to a privileged user with access to a business-critical payroll system. Northstar’s AI agents can then initiate remediation workflows to deploy endpoint protection, notify the owner or restrict risky access, with human oversight where appropriate.
Northstar also makes its Security Context Graph available to external AI agents through Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling organizations to build their own security workflows using Claude and other AI tools. The result is a fundamental shift from investigating isolated security findings to understanding interconnected risks and taking action to resolve them.
“Security teams don’t need another dashboard generating more findings. We need to connect the data we already have, understand what matters, and turn that context into action,” said Randy Barr, CISO, Cequence Security. “Northstar lets us do exactly that, using agentic workflows to continuously identify and remediate security issues. This is where security is heading: from finding problems to continuously fixing them.”
Northstar’s platform brings together three capabilities:
Connected Security Context: A real-time Security Context Graph that unifies assets, identities, vulnerabilities, configurations, and business relationships across existing enterprise systems.
Context-Driven Risk Intelligence: AI-powered analysis that answers complex questions, exposes hidden risks and toxic combinations, and prioritizes issues based on their potential business impact.
Agentic Remediation: Intelligent agents and workflows that turn findings into actionable outcomes, coordinating fixes across systems and teams with appropriate human oversight.
Today, Northstar supports more than 70 integrations across enterprise security and IT systems, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Entra, Okta, GitHub, Slack, Workday, and Zendesk.
“The next generation of security operations won’t be measured by how many alerts teams can process, but by how quickly they can proactively resolve risks,” said Gerhard Eschelbeck, former CISO of Google and an investor in Northstar Security. “Northstar is enabling that shift by giving AI agents the context to move from investigation to autonomous action.”
Northstar was founded by Amer Deeba and Ed Rowe, who first worked together at Adobe in the late 1990s. Deeba previously co-founded Normalyze, acquired by Proofpoint, and held senior leadership roles at Qualys. Rowe, Northstar’s CTO and co-founder, previously served as CTO of Farmers Business Network and Senior Vice President of Engineering at AppDynamics. The founding team combines decades of experience building enterprise software, security platforms, and large-scale data infrastructure.
About Northstar Security Northstar Security is building the context foundation for agentic security. Its AI-powered platform transforms fragmented security and IT data into a real-time Security Context Graph, enabling organizations to understand their security environment, uncover hidden risks and toxic combinations, and orchestrate autonomous remediation workflows. By connecting security intelligence directly to action, Northstar helps enterprises move beyond finding problems to continuously fixing them. For more information, visit northstar.security.
Media contact: Cathy Summers Summers PR [email protected] 415-483-0480
Finalists compete for over S$2.5 million (US$2 million) in prizes and gain a pathway to SMU’s Urban SustaInnovator accelerator and US$10 million USI Fund
SINGAPORE, Oct. 28, 2026 — For many deep-tech start-ups tackling urban and sustainability challenges, the biggest hurdle is not developing breakthrough technologies, but finding the customers, partners and opportunities to deploy them at scale.
Grand Finalists from the 12th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition at SMU in Oct 2025
Addressing this challenge, the 13th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) today opened applications for university founders and recent graduates seeking to turn frontier ideas into real-world impact. Organised by Singapore Management University’s Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE), LKYGBPC is one of Asia’s most globally representative deep-tech start-up competitions, spanning 12 focus areas including climate tech, energy, food and land use, urban mobility, longevity and healthtech, and sustainable materials and circularity.
Fifty finalists will be flown to Singapore 28 September to 1 October 2027 to compete for over S$2.5 million in prizes and take part in an Innovation Festival featuring investor engagement, mentorship and connections with corporate and ecosystem partners.
Beyond the Competition: A Gateway to SMU’s Urban SustaInnovator (USI) accelerator
LKYGBPC does not end at the pitch. Selected LKYGBPC finalists can join SMU’s Urban SustaInnovator (USI) accelerator, launched in 2025, which supports start-ups through market access, pilot projects and strategic introductions across Asia. In May 2026, SMU IIE launched the USI Fund to back promising ventures as they pilot and scale.
“Founders of breakthrough technologies can create value only when they reach the people, industries and communities they are designed to serve. SMU created LKYGBPC as a platform to help founders bring their innovative ideas to life by connecting them with the partners, markets and opportunities needed to turn innovation into real-world impact. Now, through the USI programme and USI Fund, we offer a post-competition pathway to pilot, scale and raise capital throughout Asia,” said Rony Palathinkal, Head of the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition and Urban SustaInnovator at SMU IIE.
Opening Doors Across the Region
One of the biggest challenges for sustainability start-ups is getting access to the right partners to validate and deploy new technologies, said Chor Chee Hoe, cofounder of Qarbotech, a Malaysian agritech company that transforms agricultural waste into compounds that enhance crop productivity. A finalist in the 12th LKYGBPC, Qarbotech is also part of the inaugural cohort of the USI accelerator, which is still ongoing.
“One major thing we gained from the LKYGBPC, and the USI accelerator programme is the meetings we’ve had with family offices, which helped secure several pilot projects. Right now, we are halfway through a 12-month pilot with a large sugar cane plantation in the Philippines and we’re launching in another Southeast Asian market,” said Chor. “And through the SMU network we got connected to a distributor who is helping bring our product into Thailand and Pakistan. Those connections have been invaluable.”
Indeed, SMU is uniquely positioned to help startups make these connections with its network of Overseas Centres in Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Shenzhen, and its International Advisory Councils in eight countries. “SMU’s expansive network of partners from industry, government and community across Asia enables us to forge connections that enable startups to cross borders and scale their innovative solutions,” says Professor Sun Sun Lim, Vice President of Partnerships and Engagement in SMU, and Lee Kong Chian Professor of Communication & Technology.
From Finalist to Pilot with Kajima
Two of the finalists from the 12th edition of LKYGBPC have secured pilot projects with The GEAR by Kajima, the innovation hub established by Japanese construction giant Kajima to advance sustainable and occupant-centric building technologies in Singapore.
Singapore-based Standard Physics (formerly Inviscid AI), founded by Qiu Ziming and Kabir Jain, combines real-time IoT sensor data with computational fluid dynamics to create digital twins that help buildings and data centres cut energy use. After LKYGBPC, Standard Physics joined Y Combinator’s Winter 2026 cohort and then SMU’s inaugural USI accelerator. The startup has since secured a pilot with Kajima, is in discussions on three further pilots, and recently raised a US$2.3 million seed round led by Square Peg Capital.
“The accelerators were very complementary. YC was good at getting us from zero to one, and then USI has been very helpful in getting us from one to 10. The USI team can make the right introductions and help you grow,” said Jain.
Cambridge, UK-based Mimicrete, founded in 2021 by Dr Liz Zijing Li, who holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, is developing ‘self-healing’ concrete that extends infrastructure lifespan, reduces maintenance costs and lowers carbon emissions. Through USI, it is now validating its technology at The GEAR for potential large-scale deployment in Singapore and is exploring opportunities to scale up production across the region.
“This has really accelerated our journey,” said Dr Li. “We didn’t think these kinds of collaborations and connections could happen so quickly, but the competition and accelerator created the platform for them.”
Why Singapore, Why Now
Singapore is positioning itself as a global hub for sustainability innovation, offering start-ups a test bed to pilot and validate new technologies before scaling across Asia and beyond. This ambition is backed by the Republic’s S$37 billion Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 plan, which dedicates S$10.8 billion for mission-oriented research across key pillars including urban solutions and sustainability, and a S$40 million USS Translation Fund announced in February by the Ministry of National Development (MND) and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) to support companies as they develop, pilot and commercialise promising urban and sustainability solutions.
Building a Global Pipeline of Innovation
Established by SMU in 2002, LKYGBPC is a biennial competition open to start-ups with at least one founder currently enrolled in a university programme or who graduated within the past five years. Its 12th edition in October 2025 attracted over 1,500 entries from founders representing 1,200 universities across 91 countries, including Stanford, Cambridge and the University of Tokyo. Finalists from the 9th to 12th editions have collectively raised over S$1 billion.
Said Shirley Wong, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at SMU IIE, Chairperson of the 13th LKYGBPC Advisory Committee, and Managing Partner of TNF Ventures: “As Asia continues to urbanise, the region presents both complex challenges and significant opportunities for innovation. LKYGBPC brings together founders worldwide and connects them with Singapore’s ecosystem of industry, investors and institutions to accelerate solutions with regional and global impact.”
The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC), organised by Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), is a global competition for deep tech startups tackling urban solutions and sustainability challenges. Named after Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, the biennial competition is open to founders enrolled in university or within five years of graduation. Its 12th edition drew more than 1,500 entries from over 1,200 universities across 91 countries, while finalists from the last four editions have collectively raised more than S$1 billion in funding. For more information, visit https://iie.smu.edu.sg/lkygbpc
About SMU IIE
The Singapore Management University’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) empowers aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators to create positive change. It offers tailored training programmes, an equity-free incubator, and a vibrant community that connects innovators through events and networking opportunities, including the renowned Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC). For more information visit https://iie.smu.edu.sg
About SMU
Established in 2000, Singapore Management University (SMU) is renowned for its world-class research and innovative teaching. SMU’s mission is to generate impactful research and cultivate creative, entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy. Collaborating with global researchers, businesses, and public sector partners, SMU drives innovation with global relevance. For more information: www.smu.edu.sg
4th annual list, recognizes 60 leading cybersecurity startups across three stages of growth
24 newcomers on the Fortune Cyber 60
Prestige list produced with Lightspeed Venture Partners and AWS
NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2026 — Fortune today announced the 2026-2027 Fortune Cyber 60, its annual list recognizing 60 of the most important venture-backed startups shaping the future of cybersecurity.
Produced in partnership with Fortune editors, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and AWS, the Cyber 60 spotlights companies developing innovative technologies to help businesses confront an increasingly complex range of digital threats.
FORTUNE CYBER 60
The 60 companies are presented as an unranked list across three stages of development:
Early
Early Growth
Growth
This year’s list includes 24 newcomers including 16 Early stage companies such as Artemis Security, Corma, Frontier Security, and Oz Security, among others.
Lightspeed conducted much of the research for the 2026 list in close collaboration with Fortune editors. The selection process considered companies across the cybersecurity startup ecosystem, examining factors including business growth, product innovation, market impact, and the evolving needs of enterprise security leaders.
“In the past 12 months, the threat of AI-powered cyber-attacks has gone from being a potential risk to a dangerous reality for businesses,” Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune Tech Editor and West Coast Bureau Chief. “Fortune’s Cyber 60 list shines a light on the startups developing the most innovative technologies to counter the threat and keep enterprises secure in this new era.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with Fortune for the 4th consecutive year to recognize the companies shaping the future of cybersecurity,” said Guru Chahal, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners. “This year’s Fortune Cyber 60 arrives at a pivotal moment for the industry, as AI transforms both the threats organizations face and the tools, they use to defend themselves. Our latest survey of CISOs underscores just how profound this shift has become: 75% have experienced or suspect an AI-related security incident, while 88% expect their security budgets to increase.”
Chahal added, “What excites us most is the generation of founders rising to meet this challenge—not simply incorporating AI into existing products, but fundamentally reimagining what cybersecurity can look like. The Fortune Cyber 60 celebrates the companies leading that transformation.”
Cyber 60 Honorees, Industry discussion at the New York Stock Exchange with Fortune editor
To celebrate the companies named to the 2026 Fortune Cyber 60, Lightspeed and AWS Startups will host an invitation-only event at the New York Stock Exchange this morning, bringing together cybersecurity founders, investors, executives, and industry leaders, and representatives of several companies on the Cyber 60.
The event at NYSE will include Cyber 60 honorees, Lightspeed partners, and the AWS Startups team, followed by a behind-the-scenes visit to the NYSE trading floor during the opening bell ceremony. Allie Garfinkle, senior writer and Term Sheet editor at Fortune, will moderate panel discussions featuring select Cyber 60 honorees and special guests.
The complete 2026 Fortune Cyber 60 and accompanying editorial coverage is available here.
About the Cyber 60
The Fortune Cyber 60 identifies significant venture-backed cybersecurity startups that have not completed an IPO, acquisition, or other major exit. Companies are grouped by stage rather than ranked, reflecting the distinct opportunities and challenges facing businesses at different points in their development.
About Fortune
Fortune is the premier global media company for global business leaders, built on a 96-year-old legacy of trusted, award-winning journalism. Independently owned, Fortune tells the story of business, spanning legacy companies to the world’s new generation of innovators. Fortune measures corporate performance through rigorous benchmarks, and holds companies accountable, in regions around the world. Its iconic rankings includeFortune 500,Fortune Global 500,Most Powerful Women, andWorld’s Most Admired Companies. Fortune builds world-class communities by convening industry thought leaders for exclusive summits and conferences, including theFortune Global Forum,Fortune Brainstorm Tech, andFortune Most Powerful Women. For more information, visit fortune.com.
Media Contact
Patrick Reilly SVP, Global Communications Fortune Media [email protected]
NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2026 — Regal Healthcare Capital Partners (“Regal”) has been named to Inc.’s 2026 Founder-Friendly Investors list, which recognizes private equity firms, venture capital firms, and lenders with demonstrated track records of supporting founder-led companies. This year’s list recognizes Regal among 294 firms across the investment landscape. This is the fifth consecutive year Regal has been named to the list.*
The Founder-Friendly Investors list celebrates the investors and firms that work closely with entrepreneurs and remain engaged with the businesses they back. Honorees are recognized for their approach to partnering with founders and supporting their companies through growth and beyond.
“With the current funding environment and rapid changes facing growing companies, founders are looking for more than just capital from their investors. They want true partners who believe in their business, but who are also able to provide the critical advisement and strategic support they need to reach their potential,” said Bonny Ghosh, editorial director at Inc. “The 2026 Founder-Friendly Investor awards celebrate those firms – the ones committed to partnership, excellence, and helping founder-led companies grow.”
Since its founding in 2018, Regal has partnered with the founders of 15 healthcare services businesses. Regal is a partner of choice for founders due to the breadth of experience of its team, which includes founders who have navigated the process of choosing an operating and financial partner, operators who have executed high-growth strategies delivering clinical excellence, and financiers who have helped these companies optimally capitalize for expansion. The Regal team includes physicians, healthcare services experts, entrepreneurs, and operators.
Prior to co-founding Regal, Dr. David Kim, an emergency room physician and serial healthcare entrepreneur, navigated the process of choosing and successfully working with private equity partners multiple times. This track record and experience give Regal an unmatched ability to work seamlessly with founders.
“I’ve built healthcare businesses, so I know what founders are up against,” said Dr. Kim. “That’s how we built Regal, and we’re proud to be recognized by Inc. for a fifth straight year.” “Our core focus is to bring operating and financial experience to our partner founders and help them get past whatever is in the way of growth,” added Regal co-founder Jon Santemma.
To compile the Founder-Friendly Investors list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders completed questionnaires about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital, and debt firms and shared data on how their companies have performed during these partnerships. The resulting list highlights investors that founders identified as strong partners throughout the investment process.
About Regal Regal is a New York-based control growth equity and buyout firm that partners with leading healthcare entrepreneurs and supports them with strategic, financial, operational, and managerial expertise, as well as equity capital, to enable their businesses to reach their full potential. Regal typically seeks to partner with companies with $20-100 million of annual revenue and $2-15 million of annual EBITDA. For more information, visit www.regalhcp.com.
About Inc. Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
Disclaimer *Inc. Magazine announced the “2026 Founder-Friendly Investors” list in October 2026. Regal was also named to the list in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Private equity and venture capital firms that have exited U.S.-based, founder-led portfolio companies are eligible to apply. For firms to qualify, portfolio company founders must have remained actively involved in their business for at least one year post-investment. Inc. Magazine selected the honorees by assessing each applicant’s responses to the nomination form and the questionnaires completed by founder references, in relation to the year 2026. Regal is not aware of the number of advisers also surveyed for the award. Like all entrants, Regal paid a fee to be considered for this award. Reference to an award is only one piece of information relevant to an evaluation of an investment adviser such as Regal. This award represents information as of a specific date and time and may not reflect important information related to an evaluation of Regal which has occurred prior to, or subsequent to, the announcement of the award. As such, this award is not indicative of Regal’s future performance and does not reflect the experience of, or any rating by, Regal’s investors and generally does not relate to investment advisory services to clients.
This communication is for informational purposes only and is not an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security or of any fund or account that Regal manages or offers.
MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 28, 2026 — TempusDirect, a technology-enabled provider of third-party claims cost containment solutions serving the property and casualty (“P&C”) insurance industry, today announced a strategic investment from Aldrich Capital Partners (“ACP”), a private equity firm focused on investing in technology-driven business services companies with strong leadership teams and significant growth potential.
The investment will support TempusDirect’s next phase of growth as the Company continues to scale its technology platform, expand its market presence, and enhance its service capabilities. TempusDirect plans to invest in product development, client services, and business development, while advancing automation and technology-driven efficiencies across its suite of solutions. These initiatives will further strengthen the Company’s ability to deliver faster, drive meaningful cost savings, and offer exceptional service to its insurance carrier partners.
“We founded TempusDirect ten years ago believing there was a better way to help insurance carriers manage the complexity and rising costs of third-party claims. Our success has been built on delivering measurable value to our clients, developing innovative solutions, and assembling an exceptional team. Our partnership with Aldrich marks an exciting next chapter, providing the resources and strategic support to accelerate innovation, expand our capabilities, and deliver even greater value to our carrier partners,” said Greg Gaughan, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of TempusDirect.
TempusDirect offers a comprehensive suite of three complementary solutions designed to address critical cost containment needs across the third-party claims lifecycle. Its bill validation and benchmarking solution leverages proprietary claims data to evaluate medical charges and establish defensible benchmarks for attorney-represented claims. Its direct provider negotiation solution facilitates the resolution of medical bills for unrepresented claimants through direct engagement with healthcare providers. Additionally, its demand package review solution provides carriers with a data-driven assessment of medical expenses presented in attorney-represented claims at the demand stage. Together, these integrated capabilities enable insurers to make more informed claims decisions, manage growing claims costs, and accelerate resolution while maintaining consistency and efficiency throughout the claims process.
“Operational excellence and responsive service have been at the core of TempusDirect from day one. As carrier demand for our solutions continues to grow, this investment allows us to expand our capacity, continue innovating across our platform, and keep delivering the speed and accuracy our partners rely on,” said Josh Dickerson, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of TempusDirect.
“We’re excited to back Greg, Josh, and the talented team they’ve built at TempusDirect,” said Raz Zia, Managing Partner at Aldrich Capital Partners. “We are active investors in industry specific business services companies and TempusDirect’s tech-enabled solution for the insurance market really stood out. Customers and industry experts consistently pointed to the clear, demonstrable return TempusDirect delivers. We see a significant opportunity to build on that foundation by expanding the platform’s capabilities, having the ACP AI team deploy more advanced capabilities for clients and serving an even broader set of customers in the years ahead.”
About TempusDirect
TempusDirect is a technology-enabled provider of third-party claims cost containment solutions serving the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry. Powered by a proprietary database of historical claims data across multiple insurance carriers, the Company helps insurers validate and benchmark medical bills, negotiate provider settlements, and evaluate demand packages to reduce claims costs and improve resolution efficiency. Founded in 2016, TempusDirect is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, visit www.tempusdirect.com.
About Aldrich Capital Partners
Aldrich Capital Partners is a private equity firm that partners with technology-driven businesses led by exceptional management teams. The firm combines growth capital with strategic and operational support to help companies accelerate innovation, scale their operations, and realize their long-term growth potential. For more information, visit www.aldrichcap.com.
