Investments from Riverside Acceleration Capital, Evoce Capital, Mark Cuban, and others finance “Shark Tank” edtech company
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 22, 2025 — Today, Beanstack announces they have raised $1.5 million in capital led by Riverside Acceleration Capital and Evoce Capital with additional investment from Mark Cuban, Kapor Capital, Militello Capital, and the founders and their family as a strategic raise. The former “Shark Tank” company will use the funds to accelerate its repeatable growth model and to further invest in its “Reading Culture Trailblazer” client marketing program. It is seeking to raise an additional $500K under the same convertible note terms through March 31st.
Beanstack was originally created as a book-of-the-month business focusing on non-traditional genres and interests and quickly found many supportive and enthusiastic backers—including Mark Cuban after a “Shark Tank” appearance. Not long after, they reimagined their business model as a platform to empower libraries and schools to build a culture of reading through reading challenges and motivation tools for readers of all ages. The product featured on “Shark Tank” is very different from what Beanstack offers today but their mission, purpose, and goals remain the same. Beanstack for Schools uses proven gamification principles to motivate students to read, without relying on quizzes. The product is licensed by over 15,000 libraries and schools worldwide. Collectively, Beanstack readers have logged over seven billion minutes of reading.
Beanstack was founded by husband-and-wife team Felix Brandon Lloyd, a former Washington, D.C. “Teacher of the Year” and Jordan Lloyd Bookey, Google’s previous head of K-12 education outreach. In 2014, the couple received a $250,000 investment from Mark Cuban during the fifth season of “Shark Tank.” Now, the edtech company is growing significantly year over year and has received additional funding from Cuban as part of this ongoing fundraising round, as well as from Riverside Acceleration Capital, Kapor Center Investments, Evoce Capital, and Miltello Capital.
With an estimated $10 trillion in small business assets expected to change hands over the next decade, Baton revolutionizes how small business owners and buyers achieve success
NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2025 — Baton, the leading marketplace for small and medium-sized business acquisitions, today announced its Series A raise of $10 million, led by Obvious Ventures with participation from Burst Capital, FJ Labs, Fluent Ventures, and Spencer Rascoff (co-founder and former CEO of Zillow) via 75 & Sunny. Previous investors Divergent Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and Zeno Ventures also participated in this round. The new funding, which brings Baton’s total raised to $15.5 million after a seed round led by Giant Ventures, will accelerate the growth of Baton’s marketplace to support even more small business owners. Baton’s success rate with owners who are selling their business is 10 times higher than current market solutions, with 70% successfully closing through Baton.
Millions of small business owners are expected to exit within the next 5-10 years as baby boomers prepare to retire, triggering an unprecedented $10 trillion wealth transfer, often referred to as “the Silver Tsunami”. At the same time, a generation of young buyers aspire to embark on their entrepreneurial journey, motivated by changes in work culture stemming from COVID-19 and the acceleration of technology to better operate small businesses. However, current listing sites are filled with low-quality entries with incomplete or inaccurate information, a lack of verified data to help buyers underwrite a deal quickly, and little to no support after the initial connection is made. Not only does Baton hold a significantly higher close rate, but its use of technology enables a 50% cost savings compared to traditional solutions.
“The sale of a business can seem daunting — our team comes from a background of family business owners and we have seen it firsthand,” said Chat Joglekar, CEO and co-founder of Baton. “Not only is our team dedicated to ensuring business ownership is attainable for anyone, we deeply care about small business owners and support them through each and every step of this process.”
Baton empowers small business owners with the data to make the right decisions and navigate the sale process with clarity and certainty. For owners, Baton starts with a free valuation that analyzes their financials, market trends, and industry benchmarks, and offers a free Private Listing, which allows an owner to gauge buyer interest without any monetary commitment. On a paid plan, Baton creates a class-leading listing with reconciled financials and native data room, and helps guide the owner through buyer interest, negotiations, and closing in half of the time as a traditional sale process. Browsing available listings in all 50 states, buyers love the listing quality, the ability to underwrite a deal quickly, and move to negotiations. Baton partners with dozens of lenders, accountants, lawyers, and other professionals to streamline each stage of the transaction. These partnerships provide sellers and buyers with the tailored expertise they need for a smooth and successful sale process.
“We studied the category and identified Baton as the leading marketplace for business ownership transfer,” said James Joaquin, Co-founder of Obvious Ventures. “Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy, and we’re excited about how the Baton team is making small business ownership attainable for everyone.”
“Baton allowed me to pass my dream business since childhood into the right hands with confidence and ease,” said Gus Reckel, founder of L’imprimerie, a French bakery and cafe in New York City. “I’m incredibly grateful to the team at Baton for making me feel like getting the best possible experience in selling my business was their top priority, and because of that, my dream will live on for the years I enjoy my retirement and beyond.”
About Baton: Baton is the leading marketplace for SMB acquisitions. With a 10X higher success rate than previous top solutions and a 70% close rate, Baton is the best place for sellers to navigate the sale of their small business, and for buyers to start their entrepreneurial journey.
The company stops security risk from entering the code base, uses Artificial Intelligence and Language Learning Models to provide insights and policy questions for tens of thousands of code changes every week
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 22, 2025 — DryRun Security, the AI-native company delivering application security (AppSec) for development and security teams, today announced its $8.7 million seed funding round from lead investors LiveOak Ventures and Work-Bench as well as participation from Cannage Capital. The company is also introducing Natural Language Code Policies (NLCP), a game-changing feature that frees AppSec teams from the painstaking work of building and maintaining scripted policy rules. By allowing them to define their security policy in an intuitive, domain-focused way, NLCP cuts the overhead of custom rule writing and helps teams get coverage across all of their code bases without worrying about the language or framework.
Every company today is managing more code than ever before, and AppSec professionals are challenged to identify the needle in the haystack of code changes that deserve further review. Security issues backlogs are growing while developers fumble through confusing results from code scanning tools that can’t support new technologies fast enough. All of this is creating a system where developers often bypass (or ignore) security review and the security team is left to retrofit old tools by writing new rules that aren’t easy to maintain and result in growing technical debt.
DryRun Security is going beyond AI and LLM’s early automation capabilities to build what it calls Contextual Security Analysis (CSA). This approach both identifies security risks and seamlessly integrates mitigation into developers’ workflows. CSA layers static context, change context and application context to make contextually aware assertions in near real-time and is ideal for distributed, modern applications and teams. It fits naturally in an organization practicing DevOps, prioritizes reducing security tool pressure on developers and makes it easy for developers to reason about security.
“DryRun Security is a true leap forward in application security, enabling application security teams to identify code risk in a way that previously wasn’t possible,” said Creighton Hicks, Partner at LiveOak Ventures. “The current generation of pattern-matching tools strictly looks at the literal syntax of code. DryRun Security is built from the ground up to leverage the latest in AI technology. This not only eliminates the need to write complicated pattern-matching rules but also goes beyond the literal syntax to understand risk based on code context and behavior. For the first time, DryRun Security enables the left hand of application security to know the security implications from what the right hand of development is doing, even if there’s not technically an insecure line of code.”
The DryRun Security CSA approach enables AppSec professionals to execute GitHub native security analysis in seconds to gain awareness across both development and security teams. The company is also introducing with today’s announcement its Natural Language Code Policies Feature Set, a groundbreaking tool that enables development teams to define and enforce security policies using plain, conversational language. It helps teams understand which code changes are the riskiest, a task that is often so overwhelming it’s skipped all together. The Natural Language Code Policies transform the traditionally complex process of creating code policies and integrate seamlessly into developers’ workflows, allowing for real-time security policy enforcement and compliance monitoring. This reduces vulnerabilities earlier in the software development lifecycle, saving teams time and resources while delivering more secure applications. For more information, please visit www.dryrun.security/blog/announcing-natural-language-code-policies.
“We know how frustrating it is when risky code slips in unnoticed—especially for AppSec teams who want to stay on top of every critical change,” said James Wickett, co-founder and CEO of DryRun Security. “That’s why we built DryRun to find the ‘needle in the haystack’ of code changes, so teams can spot unknown risks before they start—without slowing developers down. Our early customers are already seeing tangible, day-one improvements in their security posture, validating that modern, AI-native application security tools can finally keep up with the code velocity of today’s software development teams.”
“With DryRun Security, we’ve transformed how we manage application security across our global development team. The GitHub integration ensures that our developers get precise and instant feedback directly in their workflow, enabling them to fix security issues without skipping a beat. The tool has not only helped us catch risks like hardcoded credentials early but has also fostered a culture of security among our developers. DryRun Security is an indispensable part of our AppSec toolkit,” said Gary Gonzalez, CTO at PlanetArt.
“DryRun Security is a step function in application security for the enterprise. They enable organizations to weave security seamlessly into the SDLC process with modern AI-driven solutions, and we’re excited to support their vision of transforming how enterprises address security at scale,” said Kelley Mak, General Partner at Work-Bench
DryRun Security was co-founded in 2023 by two application security luminaries, James Wickett and Ken Johnson. Having worked in the AppSec space for years, the founders shared a vision for empowering development teams to build secure software without disrupting their workflows. With this new funding and product launch, the company is poised to change the way teams approach application security. DryRun Security will use the investment to increase its engineering hires and grow its Go To Market (GTM) function.
About DryRun Security DryRun Security (based in Austin, TX) finds the needle in the haystack of code changes so Application Security (AppSec) teams spot unknown risks before they start. The company was honored as a finalist in the BlackHat 2024 Startup Spotlight Competition and runs more than 15,000 code reviews every week for its customers, which include BrightHR, Gusto, PlanetArt, The Modern Groom, SimpleRose, RAD Security, and Rollbar among others. DryRun Security was founded by AppSec and DevOps veterans James Wickett and Ken Johnson who have empowered more than 10,000 developers with secure code review training. Its lead investors are LiveOak Ventures and Work-Bench with participation from Cannage Capital. For more information, please visit https://www.dryrun.security/
Media Contact for DryRun Security Ray George 650-922-3825 [email protected]
MLB Becomes Equity Partner as Part of Expanded Relationship
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Jan. 22, 2025 — Cast Iron Media, a technology-driven sports media company, today announced the completion of a five-year extension of its media rights partnership with Major League Baseball (“MLB”). Additionally, Cast Iron Media has secured strategic investments from Orkila Capital and David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures as new equity partners, with MLB also joining as an equity partner as part of the expanded relationship. The terms of the transactions are not disclosed.
These developments enable Cast Iron Media to increase its marketable inventory and accelerate innovation through its proprietary ad-tech platform, The Foundry. With an unmatched ability to deliver targeted, high-volume advertising on Connected TV and other OTT platforms, Cast Iron Media continues to unlock value for leagues, rights holders, and advertisers in an era of surging sports streaming viewership.
“This is a transformative leap forward for Cast Iron Media,” said Kent Heyman, CEO of Cast Iron Media. “With the support of MLB, Orkila and Bolt Ventures, we will continue to innovate, empowering our league, team, and rights partners to maximize the value of their sports streaming rights, while delivering even greater value to our media clients. These investments position us to set a new standard in live sports media, benefiting rights holders and advertisers.”
Major League Baseball
Expanding on a successful relationship that began in 2021, this new strategic partnership agreement extends Cast Iron’s media rights to manage local inventory on MLB’s digital platform. In addition, Major League Baseball’s minority equity stake deepens the collaboration between the two organizations and aligns their shared vision for advancing the sports streaming experience for fans and advertisers. During the 2024 season, MLB.TV set a new high of 14.5 billion minutes watched, a jump of +14% over last year’s previous high mark of 12.7 billion minutes watched. The 28 most-watched days in MLB.TV history have occurred in the last two seasons since the implementation of the new rules with 19 of those days taking place in 2024.
“We’ve worked closely with Cast Iron Media for many years as the sports media landscape has evolved to accommodate developments in streaming platforms and access,” said Noah Garden, Deputy Commissioner, Business & Media, MLB. “Cast Iron shares our commitment to delivering exceptional value for advertisers in this dynamic landscape.”
Orkila Capital
Orkila Capital, founded in 2013 by Jesse Du Bey and Taylor Storms, brings decades of experience in media, entertainment, and sports investments. With a portfolio that includes IRONMAN, Club Brugge, and Auto-Tune, Orkila specializes in supporting high-growth companies with strategic expertise and long-term capital.
“Cast Iron Media is setting a new standard for innovation and precision in sports streaming ad placement,” said Jesse Du Bey, Managing Partner of Orkila Capital. “They have demonstrated their unique ability to enhance the value of local live sports for rights holders and advertisers on connected devices. We’re proud to partner with Kent and the Cast Iron Media team to support their vision and help accelerate their growth and impact on the industry.”
Bolt Ventures
Bolt Ventures, the single-family office of David Blitzer, adds another layer of strategic expertise. The firm focuses on scaling innovative companies through active investment and entrepreneurial guidance.
“We are impressed by Cast Iron Media’s forward-thinking approach and commitment to reshaping the live sports streaming experience,” said David Blitzer. “Kent and his team have built an exceptional platform that combines cutting-edge technology with a deep understanding of the sports media landscape. We are thrilled to partner with Cast Iron, Orkila and MLB to support the next phase of the company’s growth and innovation.”
Jefferies LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Cast Iron Media.
About Cast Iron Media Cast Iron Media is a leading sports streaming and advertising company that specializes in delivering targeted ads with precision through its advanced technology platform, The Foundry. Through established partnerships with major leagues, teams, and Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (vMVPDs), Cast Iron Media manages expanded commercial inventory across live MLB, NBA, NHL, and NCAA games. The company’s advanced platform delivers targeted ads with unmatched precision to over 5,000 live games annually.
For more information, visit www.castiron.media.
About Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is the most historic professional sports league in the United States and consists of 30 member clubs in the U.S. and Canada, representing the highest level of professional baseball. Led by Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., MLB has achieved back-to-back attendance gains for the first time in 12 years with an overall increase of +11% and 80% of Clubs welcoming more fans over the last two seasons following extensive rule changes that have improved the quality of play on the field. With the 2024 season featuring the best time of game in 40 years and the most stolen bases in 109 years, MLB viewership increased across all its national media partners, grew international viewership by +18%, set another record for MLB.TV streaming with more than 14 billion minutes watched and earned League of the Year honors from Sports Business Journal and the CLIOS. As the league increased its marketing efforts and promotion of star players like 2024 NL MVP Shohei Ohtani and 2024 AL MVP Aaron Judge, MLB has significantly increased its younger fan base as evidenced through viewership, social media, ticket purchasing, and participation metrics. Through its MLB Together social responsibility efforts, MLB remains committed to making a positive impact in the communities of the U.S., Canada and throughout the world. With the continued success of MLB Network, MLB digital platforms and local media production and distribution, MLB continues to find innovative ways for its fans to enjoy America’s National Pastime and a truly global game. To learn more about MLB, please visit www.mlb.com.
About Orkila Capital Founded in 2013, by Jesse Du Bey and Taylor Storms, Orkila Capital makes proprietary investments in the Consumer, Media, Sports and Entertainment sectors. Orkila has built deep expertise in the sports media sector globally, with current and recent investments in IRONMAN, Club Brugge, Bellator and numerous other platforms targeting passionate communities. Orkila manages approximately $1B of deployed capital across multiple private equity funds and Special Purpose Vehicles. For more information visit www.orkilacapital.com.
About Bolt Ventures Bolt Ventures is the single-family office of David Blitzer. Bolt Ventures focuses on providing capital and strategic expertise to emergent and scaled opportunities at the forefront of Sports, Technology, Media, and Entertainment.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 22, 2025 — Sonocharge Energy – an innovative tech company enabling the world’s batteries to last longer, charge faster and be safer – today announced $23.5M financing round led by ClimateTech venture capital firm Cycle Capital, with participation of Honda, current investors Khosla Ventures, Temasek, and non-dilutive funding partners.
“Sonocharge Energy is the first investment out of our Fund V, a venture growth fund focused on electrification, power electronics and photonics. We’re thrilled to partner with Honda, Khosla Ventures and Temasek to support the company through its growth phase as it is accelerating the commercialization of its solutions in a wide range of applications,” said Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner at Cycle Capital. “As we’re actively looking at deploying $350M in the ClimateTech sector in the next few years, Sonocharge Energy is an exemplary case of how technology can facilitate electrification by improving performance and scale its deployment.”
“Sonocharge Energy has an innovative technology that enables longer battery life and faster charging. This technology uses acoustic waves to significantly increase the charge cycle life of batteries, and Honda has high hopes for its potential. To Honda, this is a useful technology as longer battery life will help to reduce environmental impact and improve convenience for EV users. Honda will continue to discover, collaborate with, and invest in innovative ventures such as Sonocharge Energy through Honda Xcelerator Ventures1, our global program for open innovation,” said Manabu Ozawa, Managing Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
“We are pleased to see Cycle Capital and Honda join our current investor syndicate.” said An Huang, CEO of Sonocharge Energy. “We’re grateful to be supported by such a strong group of investors that bring invaluable resources, experience, and commercial partnerships crucial to scaling our company. This funding will enable us to advance core R&D, and work closely with our customers to optimize for their specific use case and prepare for manufacturing.”
This marks an important milestone for the company and comes on the heels of customer-funded lab tests demonstrating significantly improved performance with lithium-ion batteries using Sonocharge Energy’s technology. This new funding will enable the company to grow its team in its new location in Silicon Valley and accelerate the commercial deployment of its solutions with key EV and battery manufacturers to extend the range and performance of batteries.
About Sonocharge Energy
Sonocharge Energy, Inc is developing a platform solution to improve battery performance with acoustic wave induced electrolytic motion to overcome charging performance and improve safety in lithium batteries. The novel technology provides a reduced-cost solution that extends battery life for e-mobility and various energy storage applications. For more information on the company visit: https://www.sonochargeenergy.com.
About Cycle Capital
Cycle Capital is a leading Climatetech venture capital platform scaling impactful, sustainable innovation. Founded in 2009, Cycle Capital invests across North America and Europe in growing companies commercializing solutions to the major ecological challenges and contributing to a net-zero transition. Cycle Capital is the founder of Cycle Momentum Accelerator + Innovation Engine. Cycle Capital has developed an ESG and impact assessment methodology integrated into the investment workflow from the pre-investment phase to the exit of the portfolio company. For more information on Cycle Capital, visit: cyclecapital.com.
About Honda
Established in 1948, Honda is a global mobility company with its head office in Tokyo. To realize a sustainable and safe society, Honda seeks to achieve zero environmental impact and zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles by 2050. Besides providing motorcycles, automobiles, power products, aircraft, and other products and services, Honda will explore diverse future strategies toward achieving its goals, such as through investment in outstanding startups.
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1 *Honda Xcelerator Ventures is Honda’s global open innovation program designed to facilitate collaboration between startups and Honda. The program is driven at the global level by Honda Innovations Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Preferred Equity Investment Supports the Development, Construction and Operations of Cenergy’s 300+ MW Solar Portfolio
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Jan. 22, 2025 — Cenergy Power (“Cenergy” or the “Company”), a national-scale solar developer, announced the closing of a preferred equity investment from Aiga Capital Partners (“Aiga”). Cenergy specializes in the development, construction management, ownership and operation of small utility-scale, community solar, and commercial and industrial solar assets.
The preferred equity investment supports the development of Cenergy’s 300+ MW portfolio of solar assets, which includes more than 50 MWs of operating and in-construction projects in Maine, Illinois and California. The investment underpins the Company’s goal of establishing its presence as an independent power producer while also selling projects to trusted partners.
William Pham, CEO of Cenergy, said, “Aiga’s investment arrives at an inflection point for Cenergy, as we position ourselves to not only grow our development platform, but also strengthen our ability to own and operate solar assets. We are excited to start the partnership with Aiga at this defining moment in our 19-year history, and to leverage Aiga’s well-known finance and development expertise in renewable energy to get us to the next level of our corporate journey.”
Rory Meyers, Managing Partner of Aiga, added, “Cenergy’s differentiated culture emphasizes the value of partnership and collaboration. Their entire team is committed to the local communities in which the Company operates, which has resulted in a high-quality portfolio of solar projects throughout the U.S. Aiga is excited to partner with Cenergy’s management team, bringing our extensive renewables experience, relationships and capital to support Cenergy’s differentiated platform so it can continue to scale its solar development and operations platform.”
About Cenergy Power
Cenergy, formed in 2006 by a group of seasoned power system professionals and financial experts, is a leading distributed generation and small utility-scale solar developer, owner and operator with more than 450 MWs of experience working with local communities and businesses on value-added solar projects. For more information, please visit: www.cenergypower.com
About Aiga Capital Partners
Aiga is a minority-owned investment adviser supporting the Energy Transition with structured debt and equity investments for developers of sustainable assets in North America. In an effort to contribute towards net zero emission goals, its strategy targets growth capital deployment opportunities in renewable energy, energy storage and other sustainable infrastructure sectors. To learn more, visit: www.aigacapital.com
HUNTINGTON, N.Y., Jan. 22, 2025 — Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical, a leader in innovative solutions targeting inflammation and metabolic health, proudly announces a financial and strategic investment from 5 Horizons Capital. Horizon, as the lead investor for the Phase 2 clinical trial of SJP-001, Sen-Jam’s flagship therapeutic, is paving the way for innovation in collaboration with Novotech, a global full-service clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO), while actively seeking follow-on investments to further accelerate this groundbreaking initiative.
The SJP-001 clinical trial, which recently received ethics approval in Australia, is designed to evaluate the therapeutic’s efficacy in mitigating inflammation and promoting metabolic health, specifically targeting relief from dietary and alcohol-induced overindulgence. With the support of 5 Horizons Capital, Sen-Jam is poised to execute a robust trial strategy in collaboration with Novotech, renowned for its expertise in early-phase clinical trials.
Jim Iversen, Co-Founder and CEO of Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical, stated, “We are thrilled to welcome 5 Horizons Capital as a financial and strategic partner to our team, on our journey to revolutionize inflammation care. Their investment and expertise in advancing clinical-stage therapies will enable us to bring SJP-001 closer to patients worldwide. With Novotech’s excellence in trial management and 5 Horizons’ visionary support, we are one step closer to transforming how the world addresses metabolic health and inflammation.”
Aaron Ray, Managing Director of 5 Horizons Capital, commented, “As the lead investor in Sen-Jam’s Phase 2 clinical trial for SJP-001, we are proud to be part of this community that has the potential to redefine how inflammation is treated globally. We are committed to supporting this groundbreaking therapeutic as it moves into clinical trials. Additionally, we look forward to collaborating with other investors to drive follow-on funding and accelerate the development of this promising asset.”
This partnership underscores Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical’s commitment to delivering scalable, accessible solutions that enhance global health outcomes. By combining 5 Horizons Capital’s financial and strategic expertise, Novotech’s clinical trial leadership, and Sen-Jam’s groundbreaking technology, this collaboration positions SJP-001 as a potential game-changer in the global market for metabolic and inflammatory health.
About Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical is a pioneering biotech company transforming the treatment landscape for inflammation and metabolic disorders. Through its proprietary “Pleiotropic Anti-Inflammatory Remedies” (PAIR) technology, Sen-Jam delivers precision therapies that work in harmony with the body’s immune system to mitigate systemic risks associated with chronic inflammation while supporting long-term health and vitality. To learn more visit wefunder.com/senjam.
About 5 Horizons Capital 5 Horizons Capital specializes in supporting biotech companies during the critical in-human clinical trial phase. By providing capital and strategic guidance, 5 Horizons empowers the development of transformative therapies, accelerating value inflection points and driving innovation in life sciences.
About Novotech Novotech is Asia-Pacific’s leading full-service CRO, with over 25 years of experience in managing clinical trials across all phases and therapeutic areas. Novotech is committed to delivering high-quality clinical development services that enable biotech companies to bring innovative therapies to market efficiently.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical Christine Leonard 781-913-1902 [email protected]
Lindus Health is the ‘anti-CRO’ fixing the broken clinical trial industry, setting the stage for greater scientific innovation and lower healthcare costs.
The company offers clinical trials that are up to three times faster and produce demonstrably better quality trial data than traditional players.
The Series B was led by Balderton Capital and will be used to further develop Lindus Health’s proprietary AI- and technology-enabled delivery of clinical trials.
NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2025 — Lindus Health, “the anti-CRO” running radically faster, more reliable clinical trials, announced today it has raised $55M in Series B funding. The round was led by new investor Balderton Capital, with support from Visionaries Club and existing investors Creandum, Firstminute, and Seedcamp. The company is backed by a star-studded strategic advisory board, including Robert S. Langer, founder of Moderna and over 40 other biotechnology companies, and Tim Garnett, former CMO of Eli Lilly, amongst others.
Co-Founders Michael Young, Nik Haldimann, and Meri Beckwith.
As the only major provider offering fully integrated CRO services and in-house trial management technology, Lindus Health is uniquely positioned to leverage big data and AI. The $55M in new funding will allow the company to further develop their AI technology and eClinical platform, Citrus™, to optimize study design, automate central monitoring of study data, enable instant biostatistics, and more, as well as hiring in key areas including clinical operations and product development.
All new medical treatments must undergo rigorous testing through clinical trials, which are run by contract research organizations (CROs), to demonstrate that they are safe and effective. CROs are notorious for running trials over-time and over-budget – 85% of clinical trials are delayed – and the clinical research process has become exponentially slower and more expensive over the last two decades. The CRO industry has remained stagnant with extremely limited adoption of technology or modern approaches to streamline clinical development. This ultimately hinders the pace treatments can reach patients and drives up research and healthcare costs. From 2021 to 2022 alone, the cost of developing a single drug was estimated to have increased by almost $300M. These costs are passed on to patients in the form of higher drug prices and insurance premiums.
Lindus Health is disrupting the $112B CRO industry with its tech-first “anti-CRO” approach, thanks to a combination of in-house technology and vertical integration of services. The company has leaned heavily into the power of AI and automation through their proprietary clinical trial software platform, Citrus™. It also built sophisticated methods for central patient recruitment and enabling new trial designs. This has resulted in massive efficiency gains, with clinical trials that are up to three times faster and produce demonstrably better quality trial data, ultimately setting the stage for greater scientific innovation and lower healthcare costs.
“The antiquated CRO model is failing the industry and failing patients, with inefficiencies and misaligned incentives propelling costs and causing researchers to stumble before their breakthroughs can reach patients,” said Meri Beckwith, co-founder of Lindus Health. “Lindus breaks the cycle by completely reinventing the way clinical trials operate, allowing life science companies to iterate faster.”
“The last 20 years have seen huge breakthroughs in fundamental scientific research, but this isn’t impacting the general population because of the artificial bottleneck that clinical trials create,” said Michael Young, co-founder of Lindus Health. “We’re fixing that with a new paradigm for running trials underpinned by technology. That doesn’t just lead to faster trials, it changes the way companies can think about drug development going from waterfall big bets to agile research.”
Launched in 2021, Lindus Health has operated a total of 42 end-to-end clinical trials, making an impact across a broad range of market segments including psychiatry, diagnostics, and respiratory health. The company has enrolled over 36,000 patients in their trials across North America and Europe, including collaborations with Aktiia on a 7,500-patient device study and Pharmanovia on a Phase IV trial for insomnia.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Lindus Health in their mission to improve the clinical research ecosystem,” said Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner at Balderton. “In an industry marked by slow growth and fragmentation, their vision for how clinical trials should operate and unwavering commitment to help improve patient outcomes puts them on a completely different playing field than other companies in this space. With the last two decades of developments in the life sciences and artificial intelligence we are at the cusp of an exciting new wave of drug discovery, Lindus’ pioneering mission to build the anti-CRO will enable the translation of these discoveries into the therapeutics that will improve the health and lives of millions of people.”
Lindus Health’s pioneering use of machine learning (ML) to predict clinical trial outcomes from historical trial data and optimize study design has earned recognition in Nature. The company also facilitated foundational research into perceptions on clinical trial participation across various demographic groups, conducted alongside Oxford University, highlighting its commitment to turning patient insights into actionable steps that improve trial outcomes. Lindus has earned numerous accolades such as inclusion in WIRED Startups 100, Sifted, and others that reflect Lindus’ growing influence on the way clinical trials are executed and managed.
This latest funding marks a pivotal step in Lindus Health’s journey to create monumental change in the way clinical research is conducted. By breaking free from outdated industry norms, the company is unlocking the potential for groundbreaking treatments to reach patients more efficiently, setting the stage for better healthcare for all.
To learn more about Lindus Health and its bespoke CRO, site, and technology solutions for clinical trials, visit www.lindushealth.com.
About Lindus Health Lindus Health is an anti-CRO running radically faster, more reliable clinical trials for life science pioneers – bringing ground-breaking treatments to patients more quickly. This is achieved through a commercial model that aligns incentives (fixed-priced quotes per study, with milestone-based payments), a world-class clinical operations team with its unique software platform, and access to over 40 million Electronic Health Records.
Clinical trials are the biggest bottleneck to advances in healthcare. Lindus Health removes this constraint through end-to-end execution of clinical studies driven by technology and forward-thinking approaches to clinical operations.
To date, Lindus Health has delivered clinical trials across the US, UK and Europe to tackle a range of conditions, including diabetes, asthma, acne, social anxiety, major depressive disorder, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome and insomnia. The company has raised over $80M from investors including Peter Thiel, Balderton, Creandum, Firstminute Capital, and Seedcamp.
About Balderton Capital Balderton Capital is a multistage venture firm with more than two decades of experience supporting Europe’s best founders from Seed to IPO. We have both early and growth funds and invest across the technology sector, with a proven track record backing AI, fintech, B2B SaaS, digital health, mobility, gaming and marketplace companies. Previous investments include Darktrace, Depop, Flywire, Kobalt, MySQL, Nutmeg, Peakon, Recorded Future, Talend and THG. Balderton’s current portfolio includes: Aircall, Beauty Pie, Contentful, Dream Games, GoCardless, Lendable, Matillion, Merama, Photoroom, Revolut, Tibber, Wayve, Writer and ZOE.
Media Contact: Jodi Perkins Amendola for Lindus Health [email protected]
PHOENIX, Jan. 22, 2025 — Trinity Capital Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIN) (“Trinity Capital” or the “Company”), a leading alternative asset manager, today announced that its equipment finance vertical has surpassed $1 billion in fundings to high-growth companies since 2018. This milestone underscores the Company’s commitment to supporting the growth and innovation of businesses in a variety of industries, including manufacturing & automation, energy, space technology, climate tech, and artificial intelligence.
“Crossing the $1 billion mark is a testament to the strength and dedication of our equipment finance team,” said Kyle Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Trinity Capital. “We believe the market is primed for continued growth of this vertical and we’re excited to build on this momentum, driving even greater value for our clients and stakeholders.”
Trinity Capital has established itself as a key player for capital expenditure (CapEx) financing. With a dedicated team of investment professionals, the equipment financing vertical has supported companies such as Hermeus Corp., DrinkPAK LLC, Hadrian Automation, Inc., Rocket Lab USA, Inc., and Dandelion Energy in scaling their operations, fueling innovation and advancing key sectors in manufacturing.
“The success of the equipment financing vertical highlights the growing demand for flexible, innovative financial solutions that align with the strategic goals of companies across various industries,” said Ryan Little, Senior Managing Director, Equipment Finance at Trinity Capital. “This financing solution empowers companies to access additional capital without diluting their equity base, which not only strengthens their capital structure but also positions them for long-term success.”
Cited fundings include debt investments made by the equipment finance vertical from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2024. Prior to January 16, 2020, such investments were made through Trinity Capital’s predecessor funds, the first of which was launched in 2008. On January 16, 2020, these predecessor funds were merged with and into Trinity Capital, immediately after which Trinity Capital began operating as a business development company.
About Trinity Capital Inc. Trinity Capital Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIN) is an international alternative asset manager, aiming to provide investors with stable and consistent returns through access to the private credit market. We source, vet, and invest in dynamic privately funded growth-oriented companies, giving our investors access to a strong and diversified portfolio. With distinct business verticals, Trinity Capital stands as a trusted partner for innovative companies seeking tailored growth capital solutions. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, the firm has an international footprint, supported by a dedicated team of strategically located investment professionals. For more information, visit the company’s website at trinitycapital.com and stay connected by following us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).
