Finanzierung zur Deckung der rasch steigenden kommerziellen Nachfrage nach der firmeneigenen ClarosTechUV™-Technologie und zur Unterstützung des Ausbaus des mobilen Labors ClarosLabs™, nachdem bahnbrechende Ergebnisse bei der PFAS-Grundwassersanierung erzielt und die weltweiten PFAS-Vorschriften verschärft wurden.

MINNEAPOLIS, 29. Juli 2026 — Claros Technologies, Inc. (Claros), ein weltweit führender Anbieter von Lösungen zur Zersetzung und Analyse von PFAS – Per- und Polyfluoralkylsubstanzen, allgemein bekannt als „Forever Chemicals” – gab heute den erfolgreichen Abschluss einer Serie-B-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 55 Millionen US-Dollar bekannt, einschließlich der zuvor angekündigten Finanzierung durch Wandelanleihen des Unternehmens. Die Finanzierung wird dazu beitragen, die weltweite Markteinführung des firmeneigenen ClarosTechUV™-PFAS-Abbausystems zu beschleunigen, ClarosLabs™ auszubauen, die Produktion und den Betrieb zu stärken sowie die wachsende Nachfrage von Industrieunternehmen, Sanierungsfirmen, Versorgungsunternehmen und Behörden zu bedienen, die nach einer dauerhaften PFAS-Zersetzung und fortschrittlichen Analyselösungen suchen.

Die Serie-B-Finanzierungsrunde wurde von Treehouse Family Capital LLC angeführt, unter Beteiligung von Daikin America, Inc., Veralto, der Bush Foundation, Nord Asset Management, und der Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, sowie mit fortgesetzter Unterstützung durch bestehende Investoren. An der Finanzierungsrunde beteiligte sich eine vielfältige Gruppe institutioneller und strategischer Investoren aus den Bereichen Industrie, Umwelt und Technologie, was die breite Anerkennung der geschäftlichen Dynamik von Claros, seiner einzigartigen Technologieplattform und der bedeutenden globalen Chancen widerspiegelt, die sich im Zusammenhang mit der dauerhaften PFAS-Zersetzung und entsprechenden Analyselösungen ergeben.

Die Technologie von Claros ermöglicht den weiteren Einsatz von PFAS in kritischen Anwendungen in Schlüsselbranchen wie der Halbleiterfertigung, der Luft- und Raumfahrt, der Pharmaindustrie und dem Gesundheitswesen und sorgt gleichzeitig für die Zersetzung von PFAS im industriellen Maßstab. Das Ergebnis ist eine Lösung, die sowohl die Innovation als auch den Umweltschutz vorantreibt.

Die Finanzierung dient der Erweiterung der Produktionskapazitäten, zusätzlichen kommerziellen Einsätzen in Nordamerika, Europa und Asien, der weiteren Produktentwicklung, dem Ausbau von ClarosLabs™, strategischen Neueinstellungen in den Bereichen Technik und Vertrieb sowie laufenden Investitionen in den Kundensupport und die Anwendungsentwicklung. Die Finanzierung versetzt Claros in die Lage, der steigenden weltweiten Nachfrage gerecht zu werden, da Industrie und Regierungen zunehmend von der PFAS-Verwaltung auf Technologien zur dauerhaften Zersetzung umstellen.

Michelle Bellanca, CEO und Mitgründerin von Claros Technologies, hob die Bedeutung der jüngsten positiven Entwicklung des Unternehmens sowie des zur Unterstützung der nächsten Wachstumsphase gesicherten Kapitals hervor:

„Im vergangenen Jahr hat Claros den Schritt von der bahnbrechenden Technologie zur erfolgreichen kommerziellen Umsetzung geschafft. Unsere Zusammenarbeit mit großen Industrieunternehmen hat gezeigt, dass die dauerhafte Zerstörung aller anvisierten PFAS-Verbindungen im kommerziellen Maßstab zuverlässig, effizient und kostengünstig durchgeführt werden kann, während unsere jüngsten Ergebnisse bei der Grundwassersanierung belegen, dass dieselbe Technologie auch bei komplexen Umweltanwendungen außergewöhnlich gute Leistungen erbringt. In Verbindung mit der rasanten Entwicklung und Umsetzung von PFAS-Vorschriften weltweit haben diese Meilensteine unsere Möglichkeiten grundlegend erweitert. Diese Finanzierung verschafft uns die Mittel, um die kommerzielle Einführung weltweit zu beschleunigen, unsere Technologie weiterzuentwickeln und unseren Kunden dabei zu helfen, eine der größten ökologischen Herausforderungen der Welt zu bewältigen.”

Jack Cogen, Geschäftsführer von Treehouse Family Capital LLC, fügte hinzu:

„Die spannendsten Technologieunternehmen erreichen irgendwann einen Wendepunkt, an dem es nicht mehr darum geht, ob die Technologie funktioniert, sondern darum, wie schnell sie in großem Maßstab eingesetzt werden kann. Wir glauben, dass Claros diesen Punkt erreicht hat. Claros hat bewiesen, dass seine Technologie unter realen kommerziellen Bedingungen effektiv ist. Claros hat eine integrierte Plattform entwickelt, die die PFAS-Zersetzung mit Analysedienstleistungen verbindet, und baut diese nun genau zum richtigen Zeitpunkt kommerziell aus. Angesichts der weltweit zunehmenden Regulierungsdynamik sehen wir die Chance, zum Aufbau eines der maßgeblichen Umwelttechnologieunternehmen des nächsten Jahrzehnts und darüber hinaus beizutragen.”

Claros hat mehrere wichtige kommerzielle Meilensteine erreicht, die ClarosTechUV™ als führende, praxiserprobte Technologie zur PFAS-Zersetzung etabliert haben. Im Dezember 2025 führte das Unternehmen in Zusammenarbeit mit Daikin America eine der weltweit größten Vor-Ort-Demonstrationen zur PFAS-Zersetzung von industriellem Prozesswasser erfolgreich durch und erzielte dabei eine Zersetzungsrate von über 99,99 % bei lang-, kurz- und ultrakurzkettigen PFAS-Verbindungen. Im April 2026 wies Claros bei Anwendungen zur Grundwassersanierung eine Zerstörung der Ziel-PFAS-Verbindungen von ≥99,99 % nach, wobei ein Konzentrat aus etwa einer Million Gallonen (3,8 Millionen Litern) Grundwasser verwendet wurde. Damit wurde die Skalierbarkeit der Technologie sowohl für industrielle Fertigungs- als auch für Umweltsanierungsanwendungen bestätigt.

Zusammen markieren diese Meilensteine den Übergang von Claros von der kommerziellen Validierung hin zur breiten Markteinführung und versetzen das Unternehmen in die Lage, seine integrierte Plattform für die PFAS-Zersetzung und Analysedienstleistungen weltweit in den Bereichen industrielle Fertigung, Umweltsanierung und Einhaltung gesetzlicher Vorschriften kommerziell anzubieten.

Die Finanzierung erfolgt vor dem Hintergrund, dass sich das weltweite regulatorische Umfeld im Zusammenhang mit PFAS weiterhin rasant weiterentwickelt. In Europa treiben die politischen Entscheidungsträger im Rahmen der vorgeschlagenen REACH-Verordnung umfassende PFAS-Beschränkungen voran und prüfen gleichzeitig branchenspezifische Ausnahmeregelungen für wesentliche Verwendungszwecke. In den Vereinigten Staaten verschärfen Bundes- und Landesbehörden weiterhin die Trinkwassernormen, die Auflagen für Industrieeinleitungen und die Sanierungsmaßnahmen. Da diese behördlichen Anforderungen immer umfassender werden, suchen Unternehmen zunehmend nicht nur nach Technologien zur dauerhaften PFAS-Zersetzung, sondern auch nach fortschrittlichen Analysedienstleistungen, mit denen sich PFAS präzise nachweisen, quantifizieren und dokumentieren lassen, um die Einhaltung der Vorschriften zu gewährleisten. Zusammen sorgen diese sich verstärkenden Trends für eine steigende Nachfrage sowohl nach der ClarosTechUV™-Technologie zur PFAS-Zersetzung als auch nach ClarosLabs™, dem Angebot des Unternehmens an PFAS-Analysedienstleistungen.

Informationen zu Claros Technologies

Claros Technologies wurde 2018 gegründet, hat seinen Sitz in Minneapolis im US-Bundesstaat Minnesota und ist ein weltweit führendes Unternehmen im Bereich der PFAS-Sanierung mit zwei Kerngeschäftsbereichen. Der Geschäftsbereich ClarosTech™ konzentriert sich ausschließlich auf die dauerhafte Zersetzung von PFAS und bietet kostengünstige, durchsatzstarke, skalierbare und einsatzbereite Systeme an, mit denen lang-, kurz- und ultrakurzketten PFAS-Verbindungen zerstört werden können. ClarosLabs™, der nach ISO/IEC 17025:2017 akkreditierte Analysebereich des Unternehmens, ist ein führendes kommerzielles Labor, das sich ausschließlich auf den Nachweis, die Quantifizierung und die Expositionsbewertung von PFAS spezialisiert hat. Claros hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, PFAS aus der Umwelt zu entfernen. Claros macht den Begriff „ewige Chemikalien” überflüssig und beseitigt PFAS ein für alle Mal.

Medienkontakt:
Kari Finkler
[email protected]

Financement destiné à répondre à la demande commerciale en forte croissance pour la technologie exclusive ClarosTechUV™ et à soutenir l’expansion du laboratoire mobile ClarosLabs™, à la suite des résultats révolutionnaires obtenus en matière d’assainissement des eaux souterraines contaminées par les PFAS et compte tenu du durcissement des réglementations mondiales concernant ces composés chimiques.

MINNEAPOLIS, 29 juillet 2026 — Claros Technologies, Inc. (Claros), leader mondial des solutions de destruction et d’analyse des PFAS (substances per- et polyfluoroalkylées), communément appelées « produits chimiques éternels », a annoncé aujourd’hui la clôture réussie d’un tour de table de série B de 55 millions de dollars, incluant le financement par obligations convertibles précédemment annoncé par la société. Ce financement permettra d’accélérer la commercialisation mondiale du système exclusif de destruction des PFAS ClarosTechUV™, de développer ClarosLabs™, de renforcer les capacités de production et les opérations et de répondre à la demande croissante des industriels, des entreprises de dépollution, des services publics et des organismes publics à la recherche de solutions de destruction définitive des PFAS et d’analyses pointues.

Le tour de table de série B a été dirigé par Treehouse Family Capital LLC, avec la participation de Daikin America, Inc., Veralto, la Fondation Bush, Nord Asset Management, la Fondation Saint Paul & Minnesota et avec le soutien continu des investisseurs existants. Ce tour de table a réuni un groupe diversifié d’investisseurs institutionnels et stratégiques issus des secteurs de l’industrie, de l’environnement et des technologies, signe de l’intérêt incontestable suscité par la dynamique commerciale de Claros, par sa plateforme technologique différenciée et par l’important potentiel mondial concernant la destruction définitive des PFAS et les solutions d’analyse.

La technologie de Claros permet de poursuivre l’utilisation des PFAS dans des applications critiques au sein de secteurs clés, notamment la fabrication de semi-conducteurs, l’aérospatiale, l’industrie pharmaceutique et le secteur de la santé, tout en permettant la destruction des PFAS à l’échelle industrielle. Il en résulte une solution favorisant à la fois l’innovation et la protection de l’environnement.

Ce financement va permettre de renforcer les capacités de production, de multiplier les déploiements commerciaux en Amérique du Nord, en Europe et en Asie, de poursuivre le développement de produits, d’élargir les applications de ClarosLabs™, de procéder à des recrutements stratégiques dans les domaines de l’ingénierie et des opérations commerciales et de continuer à investir dans le service client et le développement d’applications. Ce financement permet à Claros de répondre à une demande mondiale en forte croissance, alors que les industries et les gouvernements s’orientent de plus en plus vers des technologies de destruction définitive des PFAS, plutôt que se contenter de gérer ces substances.

Michelle Bellanca, directrice générale et cofondatrice de Claros Technologies, a souligné l’importance de la dynamique récente de l’entreprise et des fonds levés pour soutenir la prochaine phase de sa croissance :

« Au cours de l’année écoulée, Claros a franchi le cap qui sépare une technologie révolutionnaire d’une réalité commerciale rentable. Notre collaboration avec de grands fabricants industriels a montré que la destruction définitive de toutes les espèces de PFAS ciblées peut être mise en œuvre de manière fiable, efficace et rentable à l’échelle commerciale, tandis que nos récents résultats en matière d’assainissement des eaux souterraines ont montré que cette même technologie offre des performances exceptionnelles dans des applications environnementales complexes. Conjuguées à l’évolution rapide et à la mise en œuvre des réglementations relatives aux PFAS à travers le monde, ces avancées ont considérablement élargi nos perspectives. Ce financement nous apporte les moyens d’accélérer nos déploiements commerciaux à l’échelle mondiale, de continuer le développement de notre technologie et d’aider nos clients à relever l’un des défis environnementaux les plus importants au monde. »

Jack Cogen, directeur de Treehouse Family Capital LLC, a ajouté :

« Les entreprises technologiques les plus prometteuses finissent par atteindre un point d’inflexion où la question n’est plus de savoir si la technologie fonctionne, mais à quelle rapidité elle peut être déployée à grande échelle. Nous pensons que Claros a atteint ce stade. Claros a démontré l’efficacité de sa technologie dans des conditions commerciales réelles. Claros a créé une plateforme intégrée qui associe la destruction des PFAS à des services d’analyse et se développe commercialement au moment le plus opportun. Alors que la dynamique réglementaire s’accélère à l’échelle mondiale, nous y voyons une opportunité de contribuer à la création de l’une des entreprises phares du secteur des technologies environnementales pour la prochaine décennie et au-delà. »

Claros a franchi plusieurs étapes commerciales décisives qui ont permis à ClarosTechUV™ de s’imposer comme la technologie de destruction des PFAS de référence qui a fait ses preuves sur le terrain. En décembre 2025, l’entreprise, en partenariat avec Daikin America, a effectué l’une des plus grandes démonstrations au monde de destruction sur site de PFAS présents dans les eaux de process industrielles, en atteignant un taux de destruction supérieur à 99,99 % pour les composés PFAS à chaîne longue, courte et ultra-courte. En avril 2026, Claros a démontré une destruction ≥  à 99,99 % des composés PFAS ciblés dans le cadre d’applications d’assainissement des eaux souterraines, à l’aide d’un concentré issu d’environ un million de gallons (3,8 millions de litres) d’eau souterraine, validant ainsi l’évolutivité de la technologie tant pour les applications de fabrication industrielle que pour celles d’assainissement environnemental.

Ensemble, ces étapes marquantes témoignent de la transition de Claros, qui passe de la validation commerciale à un déploiement commercial à grande échelle, permettant ainsi à l’entreprise de proposer sa plateforme intégrée de services d’analyse et de destruction des PFAS sur les marchés mondiaux de la fabrication industrielle, de la dépollution environnementale et de la conformité réglementaire.

Ce financement intervient alors que le cadre réglementaire mondial relatif aux PFAS évolue rapidement. En Europe, les décideurs politiques mettent en place des restrictions générales concernant les PFAS dans le cadre du projet de règlement REACH, tout en évaluant des dérogations sectorielles pour les utilisations essentielles. Aux États-Unis, les agences fédérales et étatiques continuent de renforcer les normes relatives à l’eau potable, ainsi que les exigences en matière de rejets industriels et les programmes d’assainissement. À mesure que ces exigences réglementaires deviennent encore plus précises, les organisations recherchent de plus en plus non seulement des technologies permettant la destruction définitive des PFAS, mais aussi des services d’analyse de pointe capables de détecter, de quantifier et de documenter avec précision les PFAS afin de garantir la conformité réglementaire. Ensemble, ces tendances convergentes stimulent la demande tant pour la technologie de destruction des PFAS ClarosTechUV™ que pour ClarosLabs™, l’offre de services d’analyse des PFAS de l’entreprise.

À propos de Claros Technologies

Fondée en 2018 et implantée aux États-Unis, à Minneapolis, dans le Minnesota, Claros Technologies est un leader mondial dans l’atténuation des PFAS, avec deux divisions principales La division ClarosTech™ se concentre exclusivement sur la destruction permanente des PFAS, en proposant des systèmes abordables, à haut débit, évolutifs et prêts pour le terrain, qui détruisent les composés à chaîne longue, courte et ultra-courte. ClarosLabs™, la division analytique de l’entreprise, accréditée ISO/IEC 17025:2017, est un laboratoire commercial de premier plan qui se consacre uniquement à la détection des PFAS, à leur quantification et à l’évaluation de l’exposition. Claros poursuit la mission d’éliminer les PFAS de l’environnement. Claros veut éliminer le caractère « éternel » des « substances chimiques éternelles » et détruire définitivement les PFAS.

Contact presse :
Kari Finkler
[email protected]

A new pricing model built for larger transactions, along with Palico’s price indicator tool and a refreshed digital presence, reflect the firm’s readiness for the next phase of LP-led secondaries.

NEW YORK, July 28, 2026 — Palico, LLC a regulated Alternative Trading System (ATS) for LP-led secondary transactions, has spent over a decade building toward a more efficient, more accessible secondary market. As the market matures and transactions grow larger and more complex, Palico is positioning itself accordingly, with a pricing model built to support larger transactions, a growing base of participants, and tools like Palico’s price indicator, which gives participants directional pricing estimates to inform their view of the market. A new website and refreshed brand identity, launching alongside these updates, mark the next chapter for the firm.

The scale Palico is now built to handle reflects that progress. As the secondary market matures, Palico continues to evolve alongside it, with the infrastructure in place to support flow-name accounts and the complexity that comes with larger transactions.

A Platform Built Around Access, Transparency, and Neutrality

Palico was founded on the premise that buyers and sellers of private fund interests deserve direct, unbiased access to one another without the friction, opacity, or cost structures that have historically defined secondary transactions. That premise shapes every element of how the platform operates.

Palico provides both sides of the transaction a fully digital, no-cost process to list or bid, with full anonymity maintained until a binding bid is accepted. Sellers gain access to a global network of more than 1,000 secondary buyers, with no exclusivity requirements, and can compare real, observable bids before committing to any counterparty. Buyers get direct access to pre-vetted, off-market LP-led deal flow that never circulates through traditional intermediaries, with every listing backed by verified seller identity and supporting documentation already in place.

A New Fee Schedule Designed for the Market

Alongside the rebrand, Palico is introducing an updated fee schedule that reflects its commitment to reducing the cost of secondary transactions. Palico applies a tiered fee model where rates decrease as transaction size increases. Each portion of the transaction is priced at its corresponding tier, resulting in a blended fee that becomes more competitive at scale. Pricing is set at 5 basis points above $50M.

Rather than lowering fees, this reflects how pricing evolves as the market becomes more standardized, more liquid, and more efficient. Many transactions today are no longer bespoke. Execution is increasingly repeatable, participation is broader, and markets are becoming more efficient. This level of pricing is only possible because      Palico was built as a digital-native platform, connecting buyers and sellers directly and reducing friction. This rebrand, and the new fee structure is yet another step in the evolution of the LP-led secondaries market and how Palico continues to be at the forefront of it.

“When we founded Palico, the LP secondary market was almost entirely relationship-driven. Pricing was opaque, processes were manual, and access depended on who you knew. That has begun to change and regulated digital infrastructure is a large part of why. The new site reflects where we are headed: a marketplace that gives every qualified participant the same access, the same information, and the same process, regardless of size or geography.”

About Palico

Palico, LLC is a FINRA member and SEC-registered Alternative Trading System providing regulated infrastructure for LP-led secondary transactions across private equity strategies, sizes, and geographies. Founded in 2012 by private markets veteran Antoine Drean, Palico connects a global community of accredited buyers and sellers through a secure, fully digital platform. To learn more or apply for membership, visit palico.com.

Contact

Julissa Bonilla
Head of Marketing
[email protected]

All investment opportunities listed on this site available to U.S. investors are offered through Palico LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Palico SAS. Palico LLC is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC.

SOURCE Palico Positions

The voice AI platform grew from a side project to $21M ARR and 8 million users in its first year

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 28, 2026 — Fish Audio, the AI voice platform for expressive real-time text-to-speech, voice cloning, and voice agents, today announced $52 million in seed funding led by Coreline Ventures and Capital Today, with participation from 359 Capital, Play Time, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya Venture Partners, Alphalist Partners, and leading angel investors. The round comes as the company marks its first anniversary, having grown from zero to $21 million in annual recurring revenue and more than 8 million users across creators, developers, and enterprises.

Fish Audio began in the bedroom of Co-Founder and Chief Scientist Shijia Liao, a former NVIDIA video researcher and lifelong VTuber and anime fan frustrated with monotonous synthetic voices. Training models on a single gaming GPU, he set out to fix it. The resulting open-source project, Fish Speech, quickly became one of the most popular voice projects on GitHub with more than 31,000 stars and a devoted following among indie developers, video game designers, and creators. Now, Fish Audio is one of the fastest-growing companies in voice AI, capable of cloning a voice from a 5-second clip in roughly 15 seconds, supporting 83+ languages, and providing word-level emotion control with more than 15,000 natural language controls. From the start, the mission has been to make expressive, high-quality voice AI accessible to everyone, and the company’s growth shows that mission is resonating.

“We built Fish Audio because we wanted voice AI that sounded human, not chunky or robotic, and we wanted that quality to be accessible at any scale,” said Rissa Cao, co-founder and CEO of Fish Audio. “We make high-quality, human-sounding voices available to every user, from beginner creatives to million-dollar enterprises, so communication is not only more efficient, but more trustworthy. We’ve always believed that if we kept making the models better, people would notice. Eight million of them did. There’s a lot of work left to do, and now we have the resources to do it.”

Fish Audio voice AI models meet the demands of the most ambitious developers and enterprises. Its models are fast, easy to integrate, and competitive with the best in the category. Its most recent model, S2.1 Pro, is preferred by nearly 67% of listeners over leading competitors in blind listening tests. For enterprises operating in regulated industries, Fish Audio provides on-premises deployment, zero-data-retention policies, and HIPAA-compliant configurations, giving security and procurement teams the assurances they need without slowing innovation.

“Voice is becoming the default interface for AI, and Fish Audio is unlocking this opportunity to a new generation of creators, developers, and enterprises,” said Osuke Honda, Managing Partner at Coreline Ventures. “In its short history, Fish Audio has built an unbeatable track record of pushing the envelope on performance, multilingual support, emotional expression, and cost. All factors that have quickly made Fish Audio the default choice for creators, developers, and now enterprises globally, and we expect them to continue to lead the way.”

Fish Audio will use the funding to expand its model lineup beyond text-to-speech into the full audio-native stack, including voice-native LLMs, speech-to-speech and more; build out its enterprise sales team; and deepen developer tooling and integrations with partners like LiveKit and Retell.

Through the end of August, the company’s largest and most robust model, S2.1 Pro, will be free for developers via API. Begin building today at fish.audio.

About Fish Audio
Fish Audio is the AI voice platform built for speed and control, for developers and enterprises alike. Founded in 2025 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Fish Audio grew out of Fish Speech, one of the most-starred open-source voice projects on GitHub, into a platform serving more than 8 million creators, developers, and enterprises, including HeyGen, Retell, LiveKit, OpenArt, Telnyx and Sanas. Its open models deliver expressive, real-time text-to-speech, voice cloning, and voice agents in more than 83 languages, and can be self-hosted for teams that want full control over their data and infrastructure. To learn more, visit fish.audio.

SOURCE Fish Audio

• As antimicrobial resistance accelerates, when every hour can matter, faster diagnostics can help clinicians get patients on the right antibiotics sooner
  
• Vivid Dx’s direct-from-blood platform uses light and AI to identify dangerous pathogens, aiming to move infectious disease care from broad-spectrum empiric therapy to targeted treatment
  
• Keith O’Neill appointed as CEO to lead Vivid Dx through clinical validation and toward commercialization, drawing on 25 years of international experience advancing healthcare innovation

OXFORD, England, July 28, 2026 — Vivid Dx, a precision diagnostics company transforming pathogen detection and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) testing, today announced $15 million in seed financing co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Co., with participation from Jameel Investment Management Company and additional strategic investors. The company also announced the appointment of scientist and diagnostics executive Keith O’Neill as chief executive officer to lead its next phase of clinical and commercial development.

When a patient may have sepsis, every hour matters. Hospitals often have to wait days to learn which pathogen is causing the infection and which antibiotics are most likely to work. During that window, clinicians are forced to treat without complete information, often relying on broad-spectrum antibiotics that may not work against drug-resistant infections. This delay is a major public health issue: researchers estimate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could contribute to 39 million deaths globally between 2025 and 2050. As hospitals face tighter antibiotic stewardship requirements and growing pressure to protect last-line therapies, faster diagnostics are becoming essential to giving patients the right treatment sooner while helping slow the spread of resistance.

Rapid infectious disease diagnostics have long faced a difficult challenge: hospitals need faster answers, but those answers also need to be accurate, broad enough to guide treatment, and practical for clinical workflows. Vivid Dx is addressing that challenge by applying AI/ML and advanced sample preparation to Raman spectroscopy, a validated technology with the capability to read biochemical signatures from individual pathogen cells. By combining direct-from-blood pathogen isolation, proprietary Raman spectral databases, and AI-powered signal interpretation, Vivid Dx’s platform is designed to identify pathogens and support phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) directly from blood, with the goal of reducing testing timelines from days to hours.

For hospitals, those earlier insights could help clinicians move from broad-spectrum empiric therapy to targeted treatment sooner, potentially reducing ICU stays, lowering treatment costs, and improving patient outcomes. Faster, more precise treatment decisions could also reduce unnecessary antibiotic exposure, an important factor in slowing the evolution of AMR.

“For decades, clinicians treating serious infections have had to wait too long for the information needed to guide antibiotic treatment. The biggest delay in today’s workflow happens before many diagnostic systems can even begin: clinicians are waiting for culture,” said Keith O’Neill, incoming chief executive officer of Vivid Dx. “Our goal is to move those answers closer to the moment a blood sample is taken. The company has built strong technical foundations, and my focus will be advancing that work through clinical validation and toward a platform that clinicians can adopt routinely to inform patient care decisions.”

O’Neill’s appointment brings Vivid Dx experience spanning scientific research, diagnostics development, global healthcare innovation, and company building. He worked at MIT on the Human Genome Project, built a multi-institution point-of-care diagnostics program, supported early-stage life sciences companies through Enterprise Ireland, and built global innovation alliances at Abbott. Most recently, he served as CEO of Novus Diagnostics, where he advanced the development of a rapid point-of-care test for bloodstream infections.

Vivid Dx is now preparing to test its platform with patient-derived clinical samples, a key step toward showing that the technology can perform in the kinds of complex cases hospitals see every day. To date, the company has achieved proof-of-concept across core platform components, including direct-from-blood pathogen isolation, high-purity bacterial recovery, AI-powered Raman signal enhancement, and development of a proprietary spectral database containing thousands of clinical isolates. In preclinical testing, the platform demonstrated approximately 99% pathogen identification accuracy, and roughly 92% concordance for phenotypic AST testing compared with gold-standard methods.

“Vivid Dx has built strong technical proof across the core platform and is now advancing toward clinical validation,” said Tony Besse, Principal, Health Tech at Oxford Science Enterprises. “The need for faster infectious disease testing is urgent, but speed alone is not enough—hospitals need results they can trust and integrate into care pathways. We look forward to supporting Vivid Dx as it takes the next step from technical proof toward the evidence needed for adoption at scale.”

“Over the next decade, it’s crucial that physicians globally adopt technologies that can help identify pathogens and guide therapy decisions faster and more precisely for drug-resistant infections,” said Nirdesh Gupta, Managing Director, Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures at Cedars-Sinai. “We see significant potential in Vivid Dx’s approach combining blood-based testing and AI-driven analysis, and look forward to seeing the platform progress through clinical validation as it works to support faster, more informed infectious disease treatment decisions.”

About Vivid Dx
Vivid Dx is a precision diagnostics company developing rapid infectious disease testing to help hospitals identify dangerous pathogens and guide faster antibiotic decisions. The company has developed a direct-from-blood platform designed to use Raman spectroscopy and AI to detect infections and support phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing, with the goal of reducing diagnostic timelines from days to hours. Vivid Dx’s work is focused on improving treatment decisions for life-threatening infections such as sepsis while helping address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Vivid Dx is backed by Oxford Science Enterprises, Cedars-Sinai, Jameel Investment Management Company, and additional strategic investors. Learn more at vivid-dx.com.

Media contact:
[email protected]

SOURCE Vivid Dx

• Breaking the cycle of uncertainty and guesswork for those living with autoimmune disease and other complex chronic conditions, Mirae’s AI companion turns day-to-day signals into a living medical library, helping patients understand their condition, catch flares earlier, and make more informed care decisions

• Every clinician can now deliver care to a center-of-excellence standard, supported by Mirae’s continuous patient data and validated, peer-reviewed evidence, enabling earlier detection, more accurate assessment, and more precise treatment decisions

• Mirae’s AI-driven model shifts superior outcomes out of expensive inpatient settings and into everyday outpatient practice, allowing high-quality care to be delivered earlier, more consistently, and without reliance on hospital-based intervention

NEW YORK, July 28, 2026 — Mirae, an AI-driven continuous care platform for autoimmune disease and other complex chronic conditions, today announced $5.4 million in funding led by Oxford Science Enterprises. Mirae captures what patients experience between visits and converts it into a continuous, structured view of disease that clinicians can act on at the point of care, combining patient-reported data with clinical context and peer-reviewed evidence to support more informed, timely treatment decisions.

Mirae builds directly on research from the University of Oxford’s Computational Health Informatics Lab, where co-founder Dr. David Clifton has led work in modeling disease progression using large-scale, longitudinal clinical data. The company is initially focused on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a condition marked by unpredictable flares, complex medication decisions, and highly variable treatment responses. The platform is being deployed with a leading U.S. health system, providing ongoing access to real-world patient data to support model development and validation.

Autoimmune disease and other complex chronic conditions place a high burden on both patients and health systems because they evolve continuously but are managed episodically. Chronic disease could cost the U.S. up to $47 trillion over the next 15 years, with medical and productivity losses contributing to nearly $13,000 per American. Yet care is still delivered through infrequent visits that provide only limited snapshots of a patient’s condition, leaving patients to manage their disease day to day without structured support, and clinicians to make decisions without visibility into how symptoms, behaviors, and treatment responses evolve.

“Where you live should not dictate the quality of care you receive. A lot of the variability in care and outcomes comes from the fact that clinicians are working without a full view of what has happened between visits” said Anuj Patel, co-founder and CEO of Mirae. “The limitations of AI in understanding and modeling complex disease comes from the fact that patients are living with their disease every day, but that experience rarely makes it into the clinical record in a usable way. When you combine experiential data with clinical data, you begin to understand and model disease more effectively and have a path towards true precision medicine. Every patient deserves access to world class decision-making for their care and the tools to take ownership over their condition between visits.”

For patients, Mirae is designed to fit into daily life, turning small, everyday inputs into something clinically meaningful. People can describe symptoms, daily behaviors, medications, and changes in plain language as they happen, without needing to actively structure or organize. Mirae’s conversational AI asks follow-up questions, tracks patterns, and builds a continuous record of how their condition is evolving. As that history builds, it helps patients understand what tends to trigger symptoms, how they’ve responded to treatment, and what has changed. It also prepares them for care moments by summarizing key trends, making it easier to have more informed conversations with their care team.

For clinicians, Mirae’s AI copilot provides a structured, up-to-date view of what has happened between visits, bringing together symptom trajectories, treatment history, lab data, and other inputs into a single, patient-specific picture. Before or during an appointment, clinicians can see how the disease has been evolving, rather than relying on fragmented notes or patient recall. This shifts time away from reconstructing the patient’s history and toward evaluating treatment options and next steps, while also supporting ongoing monitoring as new signals emerge.

“AI is moving quickly into healthcare, but much of that activity remains broad, generalized, and disconnected from the clinical decisions that determine outcomes,” said Joel Schoppig, Health Tech Principal, Oxford Science Enterprises. “Its greatest impact will come from areas where decisions are complex, conditions evolve, and the cost of getting those decisions wrong is high. Mirae is building for this deeper layer of medicine, where patient context, clinical evidence, and workflow need to come together to support a higher standard of care.”

About Mirae
Mirae is building a new model for managing autoimmune disease and other complex chronic conditions, starting with inflammatory bowel disease. The company’s conversational AI turns everyday patient input into structured, longitudinal insight, enabling earlier intervention and more informed treatment decisions. Developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Oxford and designed for integration into clinical workflows, Mirae connects patient experience, clinical data, and peer-reviewed evidence into a continuous system of care. By extending the reach of specialty medicine beyond episodic visits, Mirae aims to make high-quality, data-driven care more consistent, more responsive, and more accessible across patient populations. Find out more at miraehealth.ai.

Media contact
[email protected]

SOURCE Mirae

NEST brings financial literacy, business mentorship, and seed funding to underserved and refugee youth across Metro Atlanta — closing a curriculum gap most Georgia high schoolers never know exists.

ATLANTA, July 28, 2026 — In the schools with the fewest resources, the gap isn’t ambition. It’s access. Most Georgia high schoolers graduate without ever learning how to build a budget, read a term sheet, or file an LLC; and for students from low-income, immigrant, and refugee families, that gap compounds into a lifetime of lost opportunity.

NEST (New Entrepreneurs Shaping Tomorrow), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was built to close it. NEST delivers business and financial education, mentorship, and real seed capital directly to the students least likely to encounter any of it — proving that the barrier was never talent, only opportunity.

The results speak for themselves. NEST has engaged more than 70 high school students, delivered over 65 hours of business, finance, and marketing seminars at no cost to participants, and raised $29,000 to fund education initiatives and seed student startups. Fourteen student-run companies are currently in development, and NEST has built partnerships with six Georgia-based programs, with new chapters taking root in Florida.

At the heart of the program are NEST Tutoring Seminars — free, interactive sessions led by high school and college mentors covering budgeting, saving, investing, marketing, public speaking, 3D prototyping, and training language learning models. These are the practical skills students say their schools simply don’t teach.

Founder of NEST Business Competition Kubby Bhatia’s own path to founding the nonprofit began at LaunchX, an entrepreneurship program where he helped build a startup alongside other student innovators. That experience showed him how many young people have creative, impactful ideas but never get the chance or guidance to pursue them. He noticed that while plenty of nonprofits focus on academics or traditional enrichment, few create space for underserved youth to solve real-world problems through entrepreneurship — so, as a sophomore at The Westminster Schools, he started NEST to make business education and startup opportunities more accessible, personal, and community-driven.

“Bringing business to my community and peers means giving them the resources to drive real change,” said Bhatia. “A lot of these students have the ideas and the drive already. What they’ve never had is someone to hand them the tools, the mentorship, and the check. If we invest now, we plant the seed that change is possible.”

Take Halelulya Tesfamariam. He came to NEST with a strong idea; he’s leaving with a company. His startup, StockSmart, creates inventory and operations software built for field-service businesses like locksmiths, inspectors, HVAC contractors, and mobile mechanics. He won $2,500 in NEST funding — placing 2nd in the Spring 2026 competition behind Sentinel, a disaster-response drone platform that took first place and $5,000. The award let Halelulya file for an LLC and launch a live landing page at stocksmart.pages.dev.

How to Enter — and What Students Could Win

Students don’t just learn theory, they pitch. Competitors present original business concepts to a panel of judges for a chance to win funding to launch their idea, plus ongoing mentorship to take it further.

Registration for the next NEST Business Competition is open now and completely free. Here’s what it takes:

• Who can apply: Any Georgia high school student, individually or in teams of up to four. Each student or team may submit one pitch, and past winners are welcome to return with a new idea.
• What to submit: A 4-5 minute pitch video (recorded anywhere — a classroom, an office, outside) covering the problem being solved, the product or service, target market, competitive edge, business model, financial projections, and the idea’s broader impact and vision.
• Key dates: Early video submissions are due August 10th, with a regular submission deadline of August 24th. The top 10 pitches advance to a live “Shark Tank–style” Finale at the NEST Summit, where finalists get 5 minutes to pitch plus a 2-minute judges’ Q&A.
• What’s on the line: Cash seed funding — $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second, and $1,000 for third — plus ongoing mentorship. The funding goes directly toward building the business: materials, subscriptions, domains, and other startup essentials. Students keep full ownership of their ideas.

Whether you have a fully built idea or just a spark of one, NEST is designed to take you further than you thought possible this early. Register today at nestbusinesscompetition.com or contact [email protected].

About NEST Business Competition

NEST (New Entrepreneurs Shaping Tomorrow) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit expanding access to business and financial education for all students across Georgia. Through free pitch competitions, seminars, mentorship, and seed funding, NEST helps students build real ventures and real futures. Learn more at nestbusinesscompetition.com.

SOURCE Nest Business Competition Inc.

The company has given families nationwide access to $33 million in benefits, covering out-of-pocket costs for care from hospital stays to chronic conditions

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 28, 2026 — Healia, a Columbus-based company that reduces health benefit costs for dual-income families and employers, today announced $18 million in funding, including a $14M Series A led by 111° West Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Pioneer Fund, GoAhead Ventures, and North Coast Ventures. To date, Healia has enabled employers to provide $33 million in additional coverage for families nationwide, equipping families to make healthcare’s most consequential decisions as one household, with the full picture in view.

Roughly 30 million American dual-income families are underserved by a healthcare system designed for the 1960s household: one breadwinner, one plan, a spouse at home. Most of those families now have access to two employer plans, and the system quietly overcharges them for having both. That’s because employers pay to cover working spouses who already have coverage elsewhere, and families default to the plan they know because comparing two plans across two enrollment portals is a headache no one is set up to solve.

Healia is a healthcare benefits platform built for dual-income families. Healia’s Total Care Option (TCO) enables employers to pay a family’s out-of-pocket costs and premiums when they enroll in a spouse’s health plan instead of the company’s. Families pay little to nothing for their healthcare, and employers cut their spend significantly.

Here’s how the Total Care Option works:

• Healia compares the family’s health plan options: It prices every path, staying on separate plans or moving to the spouse’s plan with the TCO, and identifies the least expensive choice for the household.
• Families enroll in a spouse’s plan and the TCO: When a family enrolls in their spouse’s plan, they also receive the TCO to help reimburse essential medical expenses.
• Healia manages the entire claims process: When the family incurs copays, coinsurance, deductibles, or premiums on the spouse’s plan, the employer reimburses them through Healia in a matter of hours.

“Healia saved us thousands during the most stressful year of our lives. When my husband’s company implemented Healia, the decision support tool made it a no-brainer: we enrolled in the Total Care Option and added him to my employer’s plan. We found out we were pregnant on New Year’s Day, and between our daughter’s birth and my own cancer diagnosis that year, we submitted a lot of claims. Often we’d get reimbursed before the provider bill even arrived. Our friends and family were shocked. Honestly, so were we,” said one early Healia member in Phoenix, Arizona.

The result is a rare win-win in employer-sponsored healthcare. A family expecting a baby, managing a diagnosis, or living with a chronic condition pays little to nothing out of pocket, saving up to $26,000 a year. Employers are able to provide meaningful benefits that retain and recruit employees while lowering their healthcare costs up to 76% per enrolled household annually.

“In 5 years, picking a health plan will work the way it should have all along. Every family will see both plans side by side, know exactly what each one costs them, and get paid back for choosing well. When 30 million households make that decision with full information, the whole market has to respond. Plans will compete for families instead of families accepting the status quo,” said Priyang Shah, founder and CEO of Healia.

“Millions of dual-income families are paying twice for healthcare coverage they don’t need, yet the employer healthcare system has largely ignored the problem. I spent more than a decade in healthcare operations, including co-founding TigerConnect, so I recognize structural inefficiencies when I see them. This is one of the clearest I’ve encountered. Priyang combines the product vision, operational discipline, and execution capabilities needed to solve it at scale and deliver meaningful savings for working families” said Andrew Brooks, M.D., Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 111° West Capital.

Healia will use the funding to build its next generation of leaders across sales, engineering, and operations in Columbus while investing in the technology and AI underpinning the TCO. The company is recruiting people who want startup pace and ownership without leaving the heartland to get it.

Open roles are at healiahealth.com/careers.

About Healia

Healia is a Columbus, Ohio, health tech company that builds health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) for employers. Its Total Care Option (TCO) reduces benefit costs for employers and out-of-pocket costs for dual-income employees: when an employee enrolls in a spouse’s plan, Healia enables employers to reimburse the family’s out-of-pocket costs in full. Employers using Healia have provided $33M in additional coverage to their employees since its founding in 2021. Learn more at healiahealth.com.

Media Contact:
Kelsey LaBelle
[email protected]

SOURCE Healia

• Embedded digital dollar wallet volume up 263x year-on-year as stablecoins become core part of B2B payments infrastructure
• PSPs and fintechs have overtaken trading as the platform’s largest customer segment, signalling stablecoins‘ shift into mainstream payments

LONDON, July 28, 2026 — Businesses are increasingly replacing elements of traditional banking infrastructure with embedded stablecoin wallets, according to new proprietary data from BVNK. It shows embedded wallet volume increasing 263x during 2025 as companies adopted digital dollar accounts for global payments, enabling faster and lower-cost ways of holding, moving and converting value.

BVNK is a  leading provider of stablecoin infrastructure, processing more than $36 billion in annualised payment volume. The new data shows a shift toward businesses using stablecoins as “programmable dollars” that can operate outside of banking hours. Half of all BVNK’s transactions now take place outside standard banking hours, and after-hours transaction volume grew from 24% to 31% of total platform volume year-on-year, with volume rising from $2.65 billion to $8.83 billion. This suggests larger, higher-value business flows moving outside traditional banking windows as stablecoins shift from experimentation into infrastructure.

Enterprise adoption

BVNK’s data shows that stablecoin adoption is broadening beyond crypto-native firms. Payment service providers and fintechs have overtaken retail trading firms as BVNK’s largest customer segment, now accounting for 75% of platform volume, reflecting growing demand from companies rebuilding payment infrastructure around stablecoins.

Rather than simply using stablecoins for trading or treasury management, businesses are increasingly embedding digital dollar accounts directly into their products, creating an always-on payments layer alongside traditional banking infrastructure.

“Moving money across borders and between currencies has historically been slow and expensive. Businesses have relied on correspondent banking networks that can take days and add fees at every step.” said Chris Harmse, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at BVNK.

“Stablecoin wallets change that – they act as a proxy for a global dollar account: a single balance a business can hold, move and convert anywhere, instantly, without waiting on banking hours or intermediaries. Businesses are no longer experimenting with stablecoins, they’re rebuilding their payment infrastructure around them.”

BVNK’s 2025-2026 data showed stablecoin growth to be fastest in markets where dollar access has historically been constrained:

• Latin America pay-in volume grew 22x (led by Colombia, Argentina and Brazil);
• UK pay-in volume grew 19x, UK pay-out volume grew 5.17x
• APAC pay-out volume grew 3.4x
• Africa pay-out volume grew 4x

A practical playbook for launching wallets

Embedded stablecoin wallets enable businesses and individuals to send, receive, store, and convert stablecoins across borders and outside of the limits of traditional banking hours, and BVNK is already seeing customers build wallets into their infrastructure at scale.

Corporate payments provider, Corpay, which processes more than $12 billion in payments and $26 billion in foreign exchange each month across 145+ currencies, has integrated BVNK’s stablecoin wallets and settlement capabilities into its platform, giving customers 24/7 payment rails beyond the fixed hours of traditional banking infrastructure. The integration is also improving Corpay’s own capital efficiency, reducing reliance on pre-funded accounts and enabling faster movement of funds across its global footprint.

Global HR and compliance platform Ontop, fintech platform, Meow, and payment infrastructure provider TransferMate are among the other BVNK customers building similar capabilities into their own platforms.

To help businesses evaluate stablecoin wallets, BVNK has published a practical implementation guide covering compliance, infrastructure choices and deployment models. It also highlights use cases such as B2B payments, salary and gig payouts, P2P remittances and digital dollar accounts.

In addition to the guide, BVNK will be hosting a live Stablecoin Wallets 101 session on August 13 for teams evaluating stablecoin wallets, covering fundamentals and practical considerations for launch.

About BVNK: BVNK is the stablecoin-powered financial stack for enterprises. Build financial products. Unlock new markets. Move money in seconds across 130+ countries. One platform for every use case. Trusted by Worldpay, Deel, Corpay and Flywire. Processing billions annually. Learn more at BVNK.com.  

SOURCE BVNK