Oak Essentials, the quintessential California-based beauty brand, has successfully raised its first round of funding from two prominent investors in the beauty sector. Silas Capital, known for its strategic investments in emerging consumer brands, and Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of the global consumer goods giant, have joined forces to provide inaugural funding for the promising skincare brand, which just had its 3-year anniversary.

With the backing of these industry veterans, Oak Essentials is poised to accelerate its mission of self-care, simplified—luxurious body and skincare that values efficacy alongside a sensorial, spa-like experience and minimalist aesthetic. The promise is simple: moisture-rich essentials that inspire intentional daily rituals for healthy, youthful skin.

“We love how Jenni Kayne has applied tasteful curation to create Oak Essentials as a luxurious beauty lifestyle brand centered around ritual, relaxation, and sensorial experiences reminiscent of a visit to the spa – at your own convenience. The brand delivers for consumers who are increasingly embracing the holistic wellness benefits of beauty products with an appreciation for self-care and beauty routines,” said Anna Ohlsson-Baskerville, Partner at Unilever Ventures.

Jenni Kayne, known for her eponymous fashion, lifestyle, and home collections, founded Oak Essentials in her vision. While the brands are separate entities, they occasionally collaborate for major moments—like the recent Jenni Kayne Farmhouse and Oak Essentials Wellness Club—to immerse customers in their tastefully curated worlds where they can engage their shared customer base and reinforce their shared aesthetic.

In the three years since Oak Essentials’ inception, the brand has launched 26 products, initially focusing on skincare before successfully expanding into body care. Oak Essentials has sold over half a million products since launch, with over 8,300 5-star reviews across all offerings. The brand’s hero products, including the cult-classic Moisture Rich Balm, Ritual Oil, and Dew Body Oil, have been consistent best-sellers since the initial product launch.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our partnership with Silas Capital and Unilever Ventures. Their investment is a powerful endorsement of our vision to offer spa-like and effective skincare rituals for sophisticated consumers to experience in their own homes.  Having spent the last three years building our DTC business, we’re incredibly proud of how far we’ve come but are eagerly looking ahead to this next phase.  We are so grateful to have Silas and Unilever Ventures’ support and expertise as we place focus on the key areas that we believe will solidify us as leaders in prestige beauty; keeping product innovation at the forefront and building upon our existing assortment and categories, expanding our distribution channels with new and upcoming retail partnerships, and deepening our focus on sustainability as a core pillar of the brand.  This is such an incredible milestone for Oak Essentials and we’re so excited for what’s to come,” said Lauren Harris, CEO at Oak Essentials.

In January, Lauren Harris transitioned from COO at Jenni Kayne to CEO of Oak Essentials. In her new role, she leverages her extensive experience and passion for brand growth to drive Oak Essentials forward. Under her leadership, the brand has become a key player in the skincare industry. Lauren is committed to keeping the customer at the center of every decision, expanding retail partnerships, and enhancing the direct-to-consumer channel, resulting in significant revenue growth and a stronger market presence.

“Jenni is the consummate tastemaker, and over the past few years has artfully reflected her ethos in the development of Oak Essentials’ multi-category assortment of clean, luxe essentials,” said Brian Thorne, Partner at Silas Capital.  “Beyond the elevated aesthetic of these products, they truly do deliver on efficacy – which has been one of the key drivers of the brand’s tremendous growth to date. We’re thrilled to partner with Jenni and Unilever Ventures for this next chapter, supporting both Oak’s impressive e-commerce momentum, as well as its quickly scaling wholesale channel.”

2024 has been transformative for Oak Essentials, marked by substantial growth. The brand has evolved from being DTC only to being stocked at ShopBop and Nordstrom, with more retail relationships anticipated. Recognized as one of NewBeauty’s NB100, Oak Essentials is set to nearly double its revenue.

This summer saw a standout moment for the brand with the launch of The Jenni Kayne Farmhouse and Oak Essentials Wellness Club, an experiential lifestyle and wellness retreat and showcase in Tivoli, New York. Initially open to VIPs, editors, and influencers, and opening to the public this fall, the Wellness Club provides a brand-immersive skincare experience to forge lasting connections and to introduce the brand to the East Coast.

Most recently, Oak Essentials launched Renew Face Polish, which contains biodegradable, sustainably sourced ingredients and was the first to be packaged in eco-friendly tree-free paper cartons. Soon, all products in the line will be housed in these same environmentally conscious containers and clinical testing has been initiated to assure product quality and efficacy. Upcoming launches through the end of 2024 will include a moisturizing cleanser and a first foray into bath products.

“Oak Essentials was born from my lifelong pursuit of intentional living, a journey routed in nature, that inspired me to create a refined, botanical-based skincare collection inspired by the transformative power of spa experiences. As we celebrate Oak Essentials’ third year, this partnership with Silas Capital and Unilever Ventures marks an exciting new chapter for the brand. I’m thrilled for Oak Essentials to collaborate with these respected industry leaders as we push the boundaries of what clean, prestige beauty can be,” said Jenni Kayne, founder of Oak Essentials

About Oak Essentials
Oak Essentials was created by visionary tastemaker Jenni Kayne, renowned for her esteemed lifestyle brand. Her inherent style of luxurious living and years of perfecting her own clean skin-care routine led to the creation of Oak Essentials. Inspired by a transformative experience of indulgent treatments, our promise is simple: we offer a meticulous assortment of skincare essentials that value efficacy and results alongside experience and aesthetic. We deliver simple, spa-quality self-care, designed to elevate daily rituals effortlessly.

About Silas Capital
Since 2012, Silas Capital has been an active emerging growth equity and venture capital investor that partners with consumer brands, in order to help these companies achieve significant revenue growth and profitability, improve operational efficiency, and increase brand recognition and value. The complementary backgrounds of the firm’s partners comprise executive leadership roles across growth equity and venture capital firms, as well as operating companies, which allows the group to deliver on a unique value-add proposition to the management teams, founders and companies with whom Silas partners. The firm not only invests capital to help these companies grow, but also brings significant resources and capabilities to actively assist in the growth of revenue through its expertise in e-commerce and digital expansion, alongside its knowledge of traditional wholesale and retail channels. Previous and current investments for Silas include Bare Snacks, Bellroy, Boll & Branch, Cake, Chief, HATCH, Herbivore, ILIA Beauty, Makeup By Mario, RŌZ, Sakara Life, Vacation, Violette_FR and Wonderbelly to name a few. Learn more at www.silascapital.com.

About Unilever Ventures
Unilever Ventures, the venture and growth capital arm of Unilever, empowers a new breed of forward-thinking entrepreneurs with ground-breaking ideas and ambitions to transform the world. Our mission extends beyond mere capital provision; we enable these visionaries to cultivate distinctive brands and innovative technology solutions that resonate on a global scale. Unilever Ventures brings unrivaled expertise and leadership in the consumer goods industry, from the factory to the end user. Our investment focuses on early-stage opportunities that lie at the fascinating crossroads of consumer goods, commerce, and technology, primarily in North America, Europe, and Asia. For further information, please visit www.unileverventures.com.

Follow along: @oakessentials                                  
Oak Essentials Skincare is available at oakessentials.com, shopbop.com and nordstrom.com

SOURCE Oak Essentials

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24, 2024 — Letta, a new generative AI startup spun out of UC Berkeley’s AI research lab, emerged from stealth today with a $10 million seed round led by Felicis with participation from Sunflower Capital and Essence VC. Notable angels include Jeff Dean (Chief Scientist at Google DeepMind), Clem Delangue (CEO of HuggingFace), Cristobal Valenzuela (CEO of Runway), Jordan Tigani (CEO of MotherDuck), Tristan Handy (CEO of dbt Labs), Robert Nishihara (co-founder of Anyscale), and Barry McCardel (CEO of Hex).

Letta’s focus is unlocking the next generation of AI through advanced memory systems and is led by the same research team that created the popular MemGPT open source project. Before MemGPT, the default information architecture of most AI agents was stateless, meaning that AI agents weren’t able to retain their memory (state) between user sessions. The MemGPT research paper first introduced the concept of self-editing memory for LLMs – enabling an LLM to update its own memory so that it can learn over time as it interacts with human users. If an AI agent can add relevant context to its understanding of the scenario and person it interacts with, keeping track of changes, updates, and new information over time, the agent becomes more useful and practically applicable in real world scenarios. Letta believes that truly useful AI can only be built with stateful APIs.

Letta co-founders Charles Packer and Sarah Wooders met during their PhD research at the Sky Lab at UC Berkeley under the same advisors, Joseph Gonzalez and Ion Stoica. Both professors are also joining Letta’s founding team in an advisory capacity.

“We are just starting to understand how to build compound AI systems around large foundation models,” said Stoica, Professor at UC Berkeley and one of the co-founders of Databricks. “Charles and Sarah’s PhD research at Berkeley laid the groundwork for how to build these stateful AI systems, and I’m excited to see them continue this research agenda at Letta.” Letta believes the most important unsolved problem in AI today is memory.

“The most powerful characteristics of a useful AI agent – personalization, self-improvement, tool use, reasoning and planning – are all fundamentally memory management problems,” said Packer, Letta’s CEO. “The key challenge with agents is understanding how to construct the context window of the LLM, which forms the AI’s ‘memory’, and developing an agentic loop around the LLM to manage the context window over time.” He adds, “Similar to how a microprocessor or CPU is just one part of a computer, LLMs are just one part of larger AI systems. At Letta, our vision is to build the complete AI computer around the LLM.”

Letta plans to use the funding to continue building a new hosted product, Letta Cloud, for developers to build and deploy agents with advanced memory systems. Letta Cloud includes a hosted agent service, which allows developers to deploy and run stateful agents in the cloud, accessible via REST APIs. Letta Cloud is “model agnostic”, meaning that developers can easily swap model endpoints and bring their agents to any LLM provider (even enabling a single agent to run on multiple models).

Additionally, Letta Cloud provides an “Agent Development Environment” (or “ADE”) for agent builders to develop and debug agents by directly viewing and editing both the agent’s prompts and its memory. This is enabled by Letta’s approach to “white-box memory”, which makes the exact prompts and memories being passed to the LLM on each reasoning step transparent to the developer, unlike many existing agent frameworks.

“AI memory shouldn’t be a black box. We want to make sure developers have full visibility into the memory and state of their agents, and have full control over what LLMs they want to use”, said Wooders, Letta’s CTO. “Developers shouldn’t have to choose between performance and model lock-in”.

Agents have attracted tremendous interest from startup founders and investors alike – 42 of the 260 companies (16%) in YC’s W24 batch explicitly mention “agent” in their company description. However, agents today face numerous issues in production – they are unreliable, hard to control, degrade over time (also known as “derailment”), and are generally unable to perform complex tasks involving executing many actions over an extended period of time. Letta believes these problems all stem from lack of proper memory management.

“We are thrilled to support Letta in their groundbreaking journey to advance multi-agent AI by building and enabling innovative memory systems,” said Astasia Myers, General Partner at Felicis. “Letta’s work addresses one of the most pressing challenges in AI today — effective memory management. By building on the transformative MemGPT research, Letta is poised to unlock a new generation of AI applications. At Felicis, we believe in investing in visionary teams that tackle fundamental problems and drive the future of technology. Charles, Sarah, and their team are exactly that, and we are excited to be part of their mission to redefine what AI can achieve.”

The company is releasing its new Agent Developer Environment and API platform for building and deploying AI agents for free today, and is onboarding early developers to the beta of its Letta Cloud hosted platform. Developers can install Letta’s open source software and sign up for the hosted beta at letta.com.

About Letta
Letta is an AI startup unlocking the next generation of AI through advanced memory systems, founded by the researchers behind the MemGPT project at UC Berkeley. Letta’s team believes that programming agents starts with programming memory. And they’re putting their deep expertise in research, systems, and AI behind building the stateful APIs of the future, in a way that is accessible to any developer using any AI model they want.

About Felicis
Founded in 2006, Felicis is a venture capital firm investing in companies reinventing core markets, as well as those creating frontier technologies. The firm was the first to offer a Founder Development pledge, providing needed resources to help founders scale themselves. Felicis focuses on early-stage investments and currently manages over $3B in capital across nine funds. The firm is an early backer of more than 49 companies valued at $1B+. More than 100 of its portfolio companies have been acquired or gone public, including Adyen, Credit Karma, Cruise, Fitbit, Guardant Health, Meraki, Ring, and Shopify. The firm is based in Menlo Park and San Francisco in California. Learn more at felicis.com.

Media Contact 
Ellie Tippett
[email protected]
(415) 328-8079

SOURCE Letta

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Decentralized liquidity marketplace and liquid staking platform aims to catalyze Move-based DeFi ecosystem

HONG KONG, Sept. 24, 2024 – Meridian, a decentralized liquidity marketplace and liquid staking protocol built on Movement, has raised $4 million in seed funding. The round, co-led by ParaFi Capital and Borderless Capital, saw participation from Amber Group, Saison Capital, Interop Ventures, and Oak Grove Ventures. Meridian aims to spearhead the Move-based DeFi ecosystem on Movement, a network of blockchains created by Movement Labs.

Meridian is poised to become the central liquidity and yield hub of the Movement ecosystem, enabling partner protocols to build deep liquidity in a capital-efficient manner while offering users secure, productive yield on their assets. The protocol is currently live on testnet and is scheduled to launch on day one of Movement’s mainnet, marking a significant milestone for the Move ecosystem.

Adam Cader, Co-Founder of Meridian, explained: “This funding round is a significant milestone for Meridian and the broader Move ecosystem. We’re building a platform that will not only enhance liquidity and yield opportunities but also showcase the unique advantages of Move-based smart contracts. Our goal is to create a seamless, efficient, and secure DeFi experience that will attract both users and developers to the Movement ecosystem.”

Rushi Manche, Co-Founder of Movement Labs, added: “Meridian’s successful seed round is a testament to the growing momentum behind Move-based DeFi. As the ecosystem matures, Meridian will play a crucial role in aggregating liquidity and providing essential financial primitives. This funding will accelerate the development of a robust, secure, and highly composable DeFi landscape on Movement.”

The Move ecosystem currently represents only a fraction of total on-chain liquidity and trading volumes compared to existing EVM and SVM solutions. Meridian aims to bridge this gap by leveraging the security and composability of the Move language. The platform will work closely with various restaking protocols and yield-bearing asset issuers to provide a highly secure and composable infrastructure for DeFi activities.

Alpen Sheth, Partner at Borderless Capital, added: Movement is enabling the next generation of secure, accessible blockchain platforms powered by MVM (Move Virtual Machine) and Meridian is building the financial primitives to power the entire ecosystem as a first mover. We are thrilled to back the team and their vision. 

With this injection of capital, Meridian plans to expand its global team, actively hiring across engineering, product, and marketing roles. This growth will support the platform’s ambitious roadmap and accelerate its go-to-market strategy.

About Meridian: 

Meridian is a decentralized liquidity marketplace and liquid staking protocol natively built on Movement, enabling users to seamlessly trade and earn with their assets. By providing a secure and efficient platform for DeFi activities, Meridian aims to become the cornerstone of the Move-based financial ecosystem.

About Movement Labs: 

Movement Labs is the innovative force behind Movement, an ecosystem of Next-Gen, Modular Move-Based Blockchains. It empowers developers to build secure, performant, and interoperable blockchain applications, bridging the gap between Move and EVM ecosystems.

For more information, please visit Meridian or follow us on X @Meridian_Money

SOURCE Meridian

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STOCKHOLM, Sept. 24, 2024 — EQT Foundation announces new call for proposals, reaffirming its commitment to supporting breakthrough science in underfunded areas. The Breakthrough Science grants program awards €25K – €100K to scientists to accelerate their innovative ideas for solving climate change and health inequities, with this call targeting the topic of methane. 

This call for proposals focuses on reducing methane emissions, identified as a critical area for developing impactful solutions to climate change. Methane’s warming effect in the atmosphere is 86 times stronger than CO2, and although 158 countries have committed to reducing their methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, recent studies show a record increase in methane emissions over the past five years. According to the studies, 60 percent of these emissions originate from human activities, therefore representing an opportunity for new climate solutions. 

Application processes for research grants are often time-consuming, limiting the time scientists can spend in the lab working on what is truly breakthrough. EQT Foundation’s breakthrough science program is set up with the scientists in mind, both offering a simple application process and rapid response of no longer than 21 days from the closing date. 

“Our program aims to offer fast and flexible funding to scientists looking to explore breakthrough ideas at the periphery of their domain expertise – ideas that they would not be able to pursue with the fundamental research funding available through their universities or research affiliations. With this program, we aim to help close and spotlight an important funding gap, helping unlock new climate and health solutions at the intersections of research fields where EQT’s expertise can offer valuable feedback loops for the scientists.” Cilia Holmes Indahl, CEO EQT Foundation.

The Breakthrough Science program welcomes applications from researchers at all levels, from PhD students to professors, affiliated with academic or non-profit research institutions. It targets projects focused on significantly lowering methane emissions in areas like agriculture, industrial manufacturing, and waste management.

Applications will be reviewed by the EQT Foundation Grant Committee, with support from scientific and industrial experts within EQT’s global network.

Key Details of the Breakthrough Science Program:

• Application Period: September 24, 2024, to November 8, 2024
• Grant amounts: €25,000 to €100,000
• Eligibility: Researchers globally, affiliated with academic or non-profit organizations
• Research Focus: Projects aimed at reducing/controlling/capturing methane emissions 
• Decision Timeline: Applicants will receive a decision within 21 days after the application deadline

For more information about the science grants program and to apply, please visit EQT Foundation Breakthrough Science.

Contact
Email: [email protected] 
Phone: +46 73 465 5001

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/eqt-foundation/r/eqt-foundation-opens-global-call-for-scientists-developing-solutions-tackling-methane-emissions,c4042152

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SHANGHAI, Sept. 24, 2024 — LongBio Pharma (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (“LongBio” or the “Company”), a Phase III-stage biotech company focused on the R&D of innovative antibody and fusion protein drugs for allergies and complement-mediated diseases, announced the completion of its Series B2 financing round, raising tens of millions of RMB. The round was led by Qiming Venture Partners, with continued support from existing investors. The funds will primarily be used to advance late-stage clinical studies in the company’s pipeline, strengthen team capabilities, and bolster working capital.

Leveraging its proprietary technology platform, LongBio has developed a range of innovative biologics with independent intellectual property rights.

LP-003, a best-in-class, high-affinity anti-IgE antibody, has demonstrated the potential for superior efficacy, lower dosing, longer dosing intervals, and greater cost-effectiveness. Existing data indicates that:

1. LP-003 can extend the dosing frequency of current drugs targeting the same target from once every 2-4 weeks to once every 3-6 months.
2. 100 mg of LP-003 showed comparable efficacy to 300 mg of omalizumab.
3. Subgroup analysis in Phase II study further revealed that LP-003 may offer superior efficacy compared to omalizumab under similar pollen density conditions.

LongBio has also initiated clinical studies in China for LP-003 in various other indications, including chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), asthma, and food allergy. The company aims to present the topline results of the LP-003 Phase II study for CSU, using omalizumab as a positive control, at the 2025 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) meeting in San Diego, US, in February 2025. The US FDA IND filing for CSU and food allergy is currently in preparation, and will be submitted later this year.

LP-005, a potential first-in-class bi-functional anti-C3&C5 antibody, has entered Phase II clinical trials for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) in China. By fully inhibiting all three pathways of the complement system, LP-005 may offer superior efficacy in diseases involving multiple pathways compared to other complement drugs that target only one. LongBio is also exploring LP-005 as a potential treatment for complement-mediated nephritis, eye diseases, and neurological disorders.

For more information, please visit www.longbio.com or contact [email protected]

About Qiming Venture Partners

Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.5 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.

Since our debut, we have backed over 530 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 200 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange, or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or other means. There are also over 70 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn or super unicorn status.

SOURCE LongBio

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24, 2024 — Atomicwork, the leading modern service management platform, today announced the successful closure of a new $3+ million strategic funding. This round was backed by more than 40+ seasoned industry veterans, including global CIOs and CTOs, demonstrating strong confidence in the company’s vision and strategic direction.

As hybrid work reshapes the modern enterprise, efficient IT service management and digital workplace automation have become essential to driving productivity and enhancing employee experience. With Slack and Microsoft Teams at the heart of workplace collaboration, Atomicwork delivers cutting-edge service management solutions directly to end users, simplifying IT operations and empowering businesses to scale faster and operate more efficiently.

Atomicwork has already strengthened its US leadership team with the recent appointments of Lenin Gali as Chief Business Officer and Vandana Rao as Head of Customer Growth, both seasoned leaders with extensive expertise in driving success within the enterprise software industry.

This investment will further accelerate Atomicwork’s progress towards investment in enterprise AI agents technology, and fuel its GTM team expansion in the United States over the next 3 years. This strategic round adds established and experienced enterprise IT, business and technology leaders to Atomicwork’s advisory board, and strengthens the company’s modern service management vision.

Atomicwork’s unique approach to enterprise service management has garnered significant attention, leading to a partnership with Microsoft, and now, this substantial backing from industry leaders. In the past year, Atomicwork has also announced its strategic partnership with Enterprise AI company Cohere to strengthen its AI technology.

“We are thrilled to have the support of such an esteemed group of CIOs, CTOs and CXOs”, said Vijay Rayapati, co-founder and CEO of Atomicwork. “This strategic round not only brings us the additional financial resources to support our next 3 years growth but also invaluable expertise from some of the brightest minds in enterprise IT and business technology. We are excited about what the future holds as we continue to innovate and deliver value to our customers,” he added.

Abhinav Dhar, former CIO of TransUnion, now an investor in Atomicwork, said, “Today’s enterprises are often trapped in a maze of fragmented information, disjointed business applications, and inefficient workflows. This fragmentation isn’t just a productivity drain; it stifles collaboration and innovation across the board. In this AI era, it’s clear that a modern approach to service management is essential. Atomicwork is pioneering a solution to this challenge, offering a platform that seamlessly unifies these disparate systems in an intuitive and engaging user experience that employees will love. By doing so, it liberates IT teams from the shackles of mundane tasks, allowing them to channel their energies into innovation and drive the strategic success that today’s businesses demand.”

Avanish Sahai, former ecosystem leader at Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Google Cloud, has also invested in Atomicwork as part of this round. He added, “Atomicwork’s AI-driven, user-centric approach to transforming enterprise workflows is exactly what modern businesses need, and I believe in their ‘follow the workflow’ strategy to build a modern service management platform. And seeing their prior experience, the team clearly knows how to build a successful and scalable company.”

Jay Ashok Modh, CEO of Intuitive Cloud, has also partnered with Atomicwork. “As a digital advisor to enterprises, every day we deal with the fragmentation of applications and workflows. At Intuitive Cloud, we are very excited to invest in Atomicwork on this journey and partner with them to deliver a modern service management platform to global businesses,” he said.

Rich Waldron, CEO of Tray.ai, has also invested in Atomicwork. He said “At Tray.ai, we’ve always believed in the power of automation to transform business performance. We’re excited to partner with Atomicwork as they redefine enterprise service management, bringing innovation and efficiency to the forefront. Together, we’re empowering businesses to streamline processes and unlock new levels of productivity”.

Atomicwork’s existing investors include Storm Ventures, Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners), Blume Ventures, and Neon Fund. All of them have participated in this new round.

Arun Penmetsa, Partner at Storm Ventures, said, “The lack of a modern and efficient service management solution has severely impacted employee performance and experience across the enterprise. Over the past two years, Atomicwork has built an incredible solution to address this pain point. It has been exciting to see the demand and adoption the product has seen from customers and IT leaders and we are thrilled to continue backing the team in this new round of financing.”

Pranay Desai, Managing Director at Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners), said, “We are delighted to support Atomicwork in this new strategic round. The company’s innovative AI-powered service management is transforming how enterprises operate, driving efficiency, and enhancing user experiences. With their remarkable traction among global CIOs, CTOs, and industry leaders, Atomicwork is well-positioned to lead the next wave of AI innovation in enterprise service delivery.”

For more information about Atomicwork and its latest developments, please visit atomicwork.com.

About Atomicwork

Atomicwork is on a mission to help companies unlock growth by automating enterprise workflows and employee support through our modern service management platform that goes beyond traditional IT Service Management (ITSM) and Enterprise Service Management (ESM) solutions.

The AI-powered modern service management platform seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise applications, internal processes, and business operations to deliver digital workplace automation to help businesses operate faster and scale better in their growth.

SOURCE Atomicwork Inc

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BOSTON, Sept. 24, 2024 — In a move that exemplifies a significant shift in maritime defense, Trousdale Ventures and Scout Ventures have co-led a $11 million investment round in HavocAI, a trailblazing developer of low-cost, collaborative, autonomous surface vessels. HavocAI’s fleet of uncrewed boats represents a game-changing solution, with cutting-edge capabilities delivered at incredibly low costs in an era where threats to global shipping and security intensify daily.

HavocAI’s vessels are the first line of defense against increasingly sophisticated maritime threats, such as those posed to commercial shipping in the Red Sea. These revolutionary boats are the ultimate maritime security system—an advanced, coordinated fleet optionally armed with explosive and electronic warfare warheads and with proven capability to launch both subsurface and airborne drones. Electronic warheads disable enemy drones, allowing them to be captured or destroyed with surgical precision.

“HavocAI is at the forefront of what will define the next generation of warfare—massive, low-cost autonomous fleets that can be deployed rapidly and operated with minimal manpower,” said Michael Potiker, Partner at Trousdale Ventures. “The company’s technology has the potential to not only protect vital shipping lanes but also to reshape how global navies defend themselves in an increasingly volatile world.

The Silent Swarm: A Defining Moment for HavocAI

The future of naval dominance is already unfolding. HavocAI demonstrated its visionary technology at the US Navy’s Silent Swarm exercise, where one sailor successfully controlled numerous autonomous vessels in a coordinated attack-and-defend scenario. Havoc’s solutions don’t aim to replace sailors or existing ships but to create an entirely new kind of naval warfare where human operators can unleash fleets of autonomous assets, responding to threats in real-time at a scale never before possible.

As global conflicts escalate and commercial shipping becomes a bigger target for hostile actors, HavocAI’s technology is primed to fill a critical gap. Its naval drones can neutralize enemy combatants and surface threats, operate in denied-communication zones, and work with air and sub-surface autonomous systems, creating a holistic defense web.

“At HavocAI, we’re not just building boats—we’re building an autonomous fleet that can outthink, outmaneuver, and outlast any adversary while empowering individual sailors to defend against a wide array of threats,” said Paul Lwin, CEO of HavocAI. “Our goal is simple: to make the oceans a no-go zone for any hostile entity.”

A Rapidly Growing Threat, A Powerful Response

With rebel groups threatening the safety of shipping lanes and the specter of near-peer conflicts looming large, the demand for unmanned maritime solutions has never been more urgent. HavocAI’s ability to launch aerial vehicles equipped with electronic warfare warheads that neutralize enemy drones gives it a unique edge in the fight to protect global commerce.

And it’s not just the defense industry that’s taking notice. HavocAI’s powerful software platform is gaining attention from commercial sectors, including shipping, port security, and offshore logistics, opening up multi-billion-dollar markets worldwide.

“Investing in dual-use frontier tech like HavocAI allows us to make a tangible difference. They are solving today’s toughest defense challenges while creating opportunities for commercial expansion—exactly the kind of innovation that transforms industries,” said Brad Harrison, Founder, Scout VC.

“HavocAI’s fleet is adaptable, resilient, and can be deployed on a scale that most operators could only dream of,” added Potiker. “This investment is just the beginning. We’re backing a future where one sailor can safely command an entire fleet of autonomous vessels. By efficiently deploying technology, we can create the most effective deterrent to the asymmetric threats we face today, thereby ensuring regional stability.”

A Game-Changing Investment

With this round of funding, HavocAI is positioned to ramp up production and deploy its game-changing fleet across global waters. Trousdale Ventures and Scout Ventures are backing HavocAI’s ability to solve today’s maritime challenges and anticipate the demands of future conflicts. www.havocai.com 

CONTACT:
Mike Aaron
[email protected]
Phone: (332) 203-2148

SOURCE HavocAI

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SAFETY HARBOR, Fla., Sept. 24, 2024 — Integrated Ventures Inc. (“Company”, “OTCQB: INTV“) is pleased to announce that its newly launched subsidiary, MedWell USA, LLC has signed a strategic and valuable Management Services Organization (“MSO”) agreement with FDA licensed manufacturer of pharmaceutical products.

This agreement enables MedWell USA to act as a Procurement Agent for Semaglutide, a leading pharmaceutical product in the weight management sector. MedWell USA will leverage various marketing avenues to target health providers, wellness clinics and gyms, across 23 states, expanding its footprint in the thriving health and wellness industry.

Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, has gained significant traction as an effective treatment for weight loss and management. The consumer market for Semaglutide is rapidly expanding, with the global market projected to reach $10.6 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5%.

Through this MSO agreement, MedWell USA will act as a B2B procurement agent, introducing health and wellness clinics to reputable pharmaceutical suppliers. By facilitating these connections, MedWell USA aims to ensure that clinics have access to high-quality Semaglutide and other essential pharmaceuticals, thereby enhancing their ability to provide effective weight management solutions to their patients.

“We are excited to announce this pivotal MSO agreement that empowers MedWell USA to play a crucial role in the procurement and expansion of Semaglutide,” said Steve Rubakh, CEO of Integrated Ventures Inc.

“The Semaglutide market presents a significant opportunity, and we are committed to leveraging this agreement to provide top-tier pharmaceutical products to health and wellness clinics. We are anticipating signing of another MSO, which will enable MedWell USA to act as Procurement Agent for Tirzepatide – another GLP-1 based drug that regulates appetite and blood sugar levels while reducing hunger and promoting a feeling of fullness, thus helping patients to keep weight off. This is just the beginning of our journey, as we plan to expand our offerings, to include a broader range of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.”

MedWell USA’s initial focus on the Semaglutide market will be the foundation for its broader strategy to introduce additional pharmaceuticals and supplies. By building strong relationships with health and wellness clinics and pharmaceutical suppliers, MedWell USA aims to become a trusted partner in the healthcare and wellness industry, and facilitate the high volume procurement of high quality, safe and effective pharma products that meet the evolving needs of medical providers and their patients.

Integrated Ventures, Inc.: The Company, located in Safety Harbor, FL, is diversified holdings company that develops, acquires, operates, and invests in businesses with high growth potential.

The Company’s current operations consist of:

(1) Digital currency mining and hosting.

(2) MedWell USA, LLC – B2B procurement agency with focus on the health and wellness category. This subsidiary markets medical weight loss and GLP-1 products by targeting medical offices, wellness clinics, gyms, and online telemedicine companies.

(3) MedWell Direct, LLC – Operator of D2B/B2C telemedicine platforms that connect consumers with licensed healthcare providers and provides weight loss management services, driven by GLP-1 products.

(4) MedWell Facilities, LLC – Facilities management company is dedicated to the health and wellness industry. This subsidiary is focused on developing real estate opportunities, designed to attract health and wellness tenants.

Safe Harbor Statement: The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “plans,” “explores,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continue,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, and various other factors beyond the company’s control.

Contact Details: (215) 613-9898 [email protected]

SOURCE Integrated Ventures Inc.

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Innovative AI Travel Planning Technology Connects Travelers with Advisors to Bring Dream Trips to Life

PHILADELPHIIA, Sept. 24, 2024 — AtlasGuru, a leading travel technology platform known for its personalized trip itineraries powered by user-generated content and artificial intelligence, today unveiled the launch of its “AI-to-Advisor” tool along with an enhanced interface, Itinerary AI 2.0. This marks the platform’s most significant technological update since the debut of Itinerary AI in late 2023. The newly upgraded AtlasGuru.com features detailed itineraries across 125 countries, empowering travelers to create personalized trip itineraries using cutting-edge AI technology and now seamlessly connects users with experienced travel advisor partners to finalize and book their dream vacations.

Itinerary AI 2.0 offers notable upgrades that simplify the travel planning process, including integration with the latest large language models, faster results through progressive loading, visually captivating images to inspire wanderlust, Google recommendations for restaurants at each destination, and weather-based travel timing suggestions.

“Itinerary AI 2.0 and our new AI-to-Advisor tool represent a major leap forward in travel planning by transforming AI-generated travel ideas into a more streamlined, visually appealing, and informative experience,” said Kim Bennett, CEO and Founder, AtlasGuru. “By merging cutting-edge AI technology with the expertise of our travel partner advisors, we enhance and accelerate the booking and planning process, empowering travelers to bring their dream trips to life with confidence and ease.”

A curated group of leading travel advisors and tour operators have partnered with AtlasGuru for the launch of the AI-to-Advisor tool, including New Paths Expeditions, Radcliffe Travel Co, Fora Travel Advisor Rabia Malik, and Cherish Tours, with more partners to be announced soon.

“As New Paths Expeditions plans our 2025 expeditions to some of the most exotic and culturally rich destinations on Earth, we are thrilled to partner with AtlasGuru on the new AI-To-Advisor tool, which brings a new level of innovation to the fast-paced travel industry,” said Jorge Salas, CEO and Founder of New Paths Expeditions. “We are excited to be engaging with AtlasGuru’s robust contributor network and proprietary AI technology to better serve our clients and help them realize their dream adventures.”

In 2023, AtlasGuru launched Itinerary by AI, an interactive tool that combines OpenAI’s ChatGPT’s technology with AtlasGuru’s library of human-created itineraries to generate informed trips via a simple one-click process.

The AI-To-Advisor tool is free to use and available to all AtlasGuru.com visitors. To get started, please visit Itinerary AI, here.

About AtlasGuru

Launched in 2019 by CEO Kim Bennett, AtlasGuru is a travel content platform featuring a community of avid travelers who share itineraries and expert travel tips. Currently, the platform features over 500 contributors spanning 125 countries. AtlasGuru’s Itinerary AI, launched in late 2023, redefines travel planning by using the human-created itineraries on AtlasGuru to fuel personalized generative AI trip plans with the power of OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology. To learn more, please visit AtlasGuru.com on the web, or on social media at @AtlasGuru on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.

Media Contact:
Nicole Weiss
NJW PR Inc.
626-321-7658
[email protected]

SOURCE AtlasGuru

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