TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2024 — WOMBO, a global leader and pioneer in consumer AI applications, today announced it has secured $9 million in its latest funding round. The investment was led by Round13 Digital Asset Fund, with participation from NVIDIA, CoreWeave, SBI, Web3.com, and others.

WOMBO has established itself as a powerhouse in the consumer AI space, boasting over 200 million downloads across its suite of applications. The company’s creative approach to AI in entertainment has resulted in two apps hitting #1 in over 100 countries, with WOMBO and WOMBO Dream both achieving tremendous viral success. In 2022, Google celebrated WOMBO’s achievement by naming Dream the app of the year.

Ben-Zion Benkhin, CEO of WOMBO, emerged from his computer screen to say: “This investment is a testament to WOMBO’s vision of making AI-powered creativity accessible to everyone. With the support of industry leaders like CoreWeave and NVIDIA, we’re well-positioned to scale our technology globally and continue delivering chart-topping hits that reimagine how people interact with AI in their daily lives.”

WOMBO’s ambitious outlook on the future of generative AI in entertainment has caught the attention of industry leaders. The company’s approach to AI applications has fostered collaborations with key technology providers, including NVIDIA. Cutting-edge solutions like NVIDIA Picasso align with WOMBO’s need for reliable and efficient AI at scale.

“WOMBO’s track record of creating viral, AI-powered apps is unparalleled in the consumer space,” said Khaled Verjee, Managing Partner at Round13 Digital Asset Fund. “Their vision for democratizing AI creativity, particularly with w.ai, aligns perfectly with the future we see for consumer technology. We’re thrilled to support WOMBO in this ambitious next phase of growth.”

“Generative AI is changing the way entertainment is delivered,” said Phil Eisler, Vice President of GPU Delivery Network at NVIDIA. “WOMBO is helping shape and scale cutting-edge experiences to its millions of users worldwide.”

The new funding will enable WOMBO to expand its team, accelerate product development, and explore new frontiers in AI-powered content creation.

The company also plans to use the funding to assist in the R&D and creation of w.ai, an ambitious project that aims to create the world’s largest AI supercomputer. w.ai is poised to transform idle devices like MacBooks, smartphones, or PlayStation devices into AI workers, allowing users to contribute computing power and earn rewards.

w.ai is partnering with WOMBO to leverage their unique insights into cloud usage and tap into their extensive user base to democratize access to AI computing resources. Through this collaboration, WOMBO users will have the opportunity to participate in the w.ai platform, contributing to and benefiting from a new era of decentralized AI computing.

WOMBO is ready to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, what’s probable, and what’s quirky in the world of AI.

Stay tuned and keep your phones charged. The future of entertainment is about to get interesting.

About WOMBO

WOMBO is what happens when you give a bunch of AI enthusiasts and meme lords too many stimulants and access to the app stores. With over 200 million downloads, multiple chart-topping apps, and a Google “App of the Year” award, they’re the leading cause of “What the heck did you do to that photo?” conversations worldwide.

SOURCE WOMBO Studios

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 5, 2024 — Drip Capital, a leading digital platform for trade finance, has secured $113 million in new funding. This includes $23 million in equity from Japanese institutional investors, GMO Payment Gateway and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and $90 million in debt financing, led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and East West Bank.

Drip has seen remarkable growth, quadrupling its revenue and doubling its customer base in the past two years. The company has expanded its services for SMBs by integrating forex and risk analytics solutions with its core trade financing products. The new funding will expedite market expansion and support the development of new products tailored to customer needs.

Drip has been a pioneer in the fintech domain, utilizing advanced AI technologies to enable efficient credit risk assessment, streamline operations, and enhance customer experiences. By continuing to invest in AI, Drip Capital aims to be at the forefront of implementing AI for trade finance.

“In 2022 and 2023, the global trade sector faced significant challenges, including rising interest rates that squeezed margins and restricted capital access for SMBs. Despite these challenges, Drip has emerged as the preferred trade finance platform for SMBs in the US and India,” stated Pushkar Mukewar, Co-founder and CEO of Drip Capital. “We’ve achieved cash profitability and expanded our business during this period. We are excited to welcome our new investors, and alongside our existing investors and debt partners, are ready to drive our next phase of growth.”

On the debt capital raise, Drip Capital’s Chief Business Officer, Karl Boog, added: “Having financed over $6 billion in trade in the past eight years, we have successfully scaled our capital providers. We are thrilled to welcome additional capital from East West Bank and the IFC, the world’s largest development finance institution.”

Karl Boog continued: “For our North American business, we have financed nearly $1 billion for US and Canadian SMBs over the past few years. Our unique Payable Finance offering allows our customers to pay their suppliers’ invoices and extend payment terms up to 120 days.”

Drip’s new investors and lenders have praised the company’s impact and potential.

“We are proud to have supported Drip from its inception, through both equity investment and debt financing. We greatly admire the remarkable growth they have achieved so far. It is a great honor for us to participate with an additional equity investment and advance towards a strategic partnership. Drip’s innovative and comprehensive solutions in digital trade finance are transforming how SMBs engage in trade. We believe Drip’s technology and proprietary underwriting are uniquely positioned to address the challenges in this space. We are excited to continue supporting their journey as they drive forward with ongoing growth and expansion,” said Ryu Muramatsu, Executive Vice President, GMO Payment Gateway.

“We are excited to contribute to the growth of society and market, by encouraging Japan–India corridor activities via this collaboration. We look forward to combining the expertise of SMBC Group with Drip Capital’s technologies, to optimize global trade and enable opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses,” commented Keiji Matsunaga, General Manager of Digital Strategy Department, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

About Drip Capital

Drip Capital is a high-growth digital trade fintech focused on the $5 trillion global SME cross-border trade industry. The company collaborates with over 9,000 sellers and buyers across 100+ countries, having financed more than $6 billion in trade transactions. As a strategic financial partner, Drip Capital enables SMBs to effectively manage their cash flows and working capital, driving sustainable business growth.

About GMO Payment Gateway

As a leading company in Japan’s payment industry, GMO Payment Gateway provides comprehensive online payment services, including in-person payment solutions, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), embedded finance, and Banking as a Service (BaaS).

About SMBC Asia Rising Fund

SMBC, one of the leading banks in Japan, co-funded SMBC Asia Rising Fund with Incubate Fund, which is a corporate venture capital, for the purpose of accelerating business development and partnerships through investments in high potential Asian start-ups.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2497481/Pushkar_Mukewar.jpg

SOURCE Drip Capital

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 5, 2024 — Flow Control Group (“FCG”), a leading value-added distributor of flow control and industrial automation products and services, announces today the appointment of David Patterson as Executive Chair and Raymond Aronoff as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Flow Control Group effective October 1, 2024. Mr. Patterson founded and has led FCG as CEO since 2015, and Mr. Aronoff has served as President and COO since 2020.

“When I helped form Flow Control Group nearly a decade ago, we were committed to building a world class, value-added distributor of flow control and industrial automation products and services,” said David Patterson. “Over the years, we have seen differentiated growth from our commitment to our customers and suppliers, and having the right culture and talent to enable that commercial excellence has been critical to our success. Over the last four years, Raymond has been a critical partner in shaping the culture and success of our organization. With that, I’m thrilled to take on the role of Executive Chairman of FCG’s Board of Directors and for Raymond to move into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer for FCG. His leadership and his relentless drive for improvement will undoubtedly bring years of continued success for Flow Control Group and our customers. I look forward to continuing to work with him and the rest of the Board.”

Under Mr. Patterson’s leadership over the past nine years, FCG has enjoyed tremendous growth and successful expansion into new territories and end markets. In his role as Executive Chairman, he will continue to help steer FCG’s growth strategy and corporate development alongside Mr. Aronoff and the rest of the executive team.

Raymond Aronoff assumes the position of President and CEO after having served as President and COO of FCG since 2020. Prior to joining FCG, he served as Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer at BakerCorp, a leading specialty rental and services company, and as Chief Executive Officer at Brock Group, a provider of industrial specialty services. With a degree in Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA from The Wharton School, Mr. Aronoff has a rich track record of business transformation, commercial innovation, and acquisition integration that has proven to be critical to FCG’s strategy.

“What initially drew me to Flow Control Group was its unwavering focus on serving our customers. Even as FCG has grown, we have preserved a culture of ownership in all parts of the organization, which is a powerful testament to David’s leadership and founding principles,” said Raymond Aronoff, Flow Control Group President and CEO. “I am looking forward to leading this incredible family of brands and help further our mission of building the industry-leading flow control and industrial automation distribution platform.”

About Flow Control Group
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, FCG serves as a leading distributor focused on technically oriented products and services for the flow control, fluid handling and process & industrial automation sectors with locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. As a critical intermediary between over 3,000 suppliers and 10,000 customers, Flow Control Group’s distribution and technical services serve an essential function in the movement of mission critical components to a diverse array of end markets and applications.

SOURCE Flow Control Group

Demex Addresses the Largest Weather-Related Insured Loss Challenge in the Global Insurance Industry

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2024 — The Demex Group, a risk analytics and intelligence company that facilitates innovative stop-loss reinsurance protection, has raised $10.25 million through a Series A and previously closed SAFE funding round, led by Congruent Ventures and included Moxxie Ventures, MetaProp, and existing investor Blue Bear Capital.

Demex delivers an innovative parametric reinsurance solution for losses due to severe convective storms – which includes tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail and wind – which have become far more frequent due to climate change, enabling insurers to protect their financial security. In partnership with reinsurance brokers and reinsurance companies, Demex arranges coverage for losses above a specified threshold. This model is resonating with customers as well as investors with $65M of reinsurance bound in the first selling season.

“Growing losses from these storms are a critical problem for the insurance industry – challenging insurance companies’ annual earnings and balance sheet surpluses. We’re grateful to have investors who bring climate perspective, technology capabilities, a property mindset, and insurance experience to Demex,” said Bill Clark, President and CEO of Demex.

“Insurance carriers are taking significant losses from high frequency events such as thunderstorms and have been digging into their surpluses for years,” said Abe Yokell, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures who led the round. “Reinsurers, too, have experienced higher than expected losses due to secondary perils. The Demex model – developed by a blue-chip team from industry heavyweights – quantifies risk and reduces deviation, which broadens reinsurance offerings and ultimately provides a stronger insurance industry for property owners.”

“Higher frequency extreme weather events, like severe convective storms, now cause more damage than the catastrophic events that are addressed by traditional reinsurance,” said Hank Hattemer, Chief Operating Officer of Blue Bear Capital. “Each Demex insurer customer gets a reinsurance product that is precisely calibrated to how those weather events affect its business, tuned based on its own data. No other reinsurance product that I’m aware of works like this – it is a fundamentally new product and the market response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

The investors participating in the funding round come from a range of different sectors. Congruent Ventures is one of the largest early stage investors in climate solutions, Blue Bear Capital invests in high-growth technology companies across the energy, infrastructure, and climate industries, Moxxie Ventures is a Silicon Valley based seed-stage firm that invests across sectors and MetaProp is a property technology investor specializing in real estate and the built environment.

About Demex
Demex is an independent data and analytics company that partners with reinsurance brokers, insurers, and reinsurers to solve the rising challenge of frequent property losses from secondary perils. Demex models loss accumulation based on weather and claims data, informed by climate research, and provides parametric stop-loss solutions that meet the needs of insurers and reinsurers. Demex is a market-maker for a class of risk that is surpassing catastrophe losses – a cluster of losses from secondary perils that threatens not only insurers’ annual earnings but also the sustainability of their businesses.

About Congruent Ventures
Congruent Ventures is a leading early stage venture firm focused on partnering with entrepreneurs to build companies addressing climate and sustainability challenges across four themes: Mobility and Urbanization, the Energy Transition, Food and Agriculture, and Sustainable Production and Consumption. The firm has over $1B AUM across early stage climate tech funds. With 59 companies in the portfolio, Congruent is amongst the most active investors in the climate tech ecosystem. Read more in Congruent’s 2023 Impact Report.

About Blue Bear Capital
Blue Bear is a venture capital and early growth equity firm driving digital technologies and machine intelligence into multibillion-dollar verticals across the energy, infrastructure, and climate industries. The team comes from leading energy private equity firms, startups, and large industrial technology developers. Blue Bear typically leads Seed through Series B rounds, with a portfolio covering operational AI, IoT, and cybersecurity technologies, all deployed with enterprise customers to drive connectivity and intelligence across the world’s most critical industries. More information can be found at www.bluebearcap.com.

About MetaProp
MetaProp is a New York-based venture capital firm focused on the real estate technology (“PropTech”) industry. Founded in 2015, MetaProp’s investment team has invested in 175+ technology companies across the real estate value chain. The firm manages multiple funds for both financial and strategic real estate investors that represent a pilot- and test-ready sandbox of 20+ billion square feet across every real estate asset type and global market. The firm’s investment activities are complemented by pioneering community leadership including the PropTech Place innovation hub, MetaProp Accelerator at Columbia University programs, global events including NYC Real Estate Tech Week, and publications Global PropTech Confidence Index and PropTech 101.

About Moxxie Ventures
Moxxie Ventures is an early-stage venture fund focused on investing in software solutions to hard problems that make life and work better. The firm primarily invests at the seed stage, with pre-seed and Series A exposure as well. Moxxie is a generalist firm, with a focus on a few sectors including vertical applications of AI, health-tech, climate-tech and workplace productivity. They have raised four funds and current investors include Accolade, GEM, TIFF, Northwestern, Sapphire, Cendana, Foundry and a number of strategic family offices. The two GPs, Katie Stanton and Alex Roetter, are former operators from Google, Twitter, Color and Kitty Hawk and have almost 20 years of working together and co-investing.

SOURCE The Demex Group

The round was led by Foundation Capital with Amex Ventures joining as an investor

NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2024 — Sedric AI, (“Sedric”), the pioneering compliance-dedicated AI platform for financial institutions, today announced it has closed a $18.5 million Series A funding round to further its efforts to transform compliance operations across the industry. The latest funding round, led by Foundation Capital with participation from Amex Ventures, brings the total amount raised by the company to date to $22 million. The funds will be used to grow Sedric’s AI lab in Tel Aviv and expand its global go-to-market teams.

Financial institutions are embracing technologies like Gen AI to expand their product offerings, understanding that emerging technology comes with increased potential compliance risk. Regulators are applying more focus and expectations on financial institutions to ensure that those leveraging Gen AI are safeguarding their customers across all customer touchpoints, including communications and marketing.

The current regulatory environment, coupled with the growing scope of financial services, is driving demand for innovative solutions to help compliance officers execute their organization’s policies, guidelines, and standards. Studies show that the current cost of compliance for financial services worldwide is US$206 billion, equivalent to 12% of global research and development expenditures.

Sedric empowers compliance officers with a holistic view of their customer touchpoints across multiple channels to flag deviations from their established compliance policies and guidelines. Sedric’s technology enables companies to quickly take corrective actions without the cost and burden of manual review.

This technology is powered by the financial services industry’s first compliance-dedicated large language model (LLM), providing organizations with a mature, enterprise-ready platform to oversee and manage compliance risks. While starting with vertical-specific battle-tested models, Sedric is a learning system. Its models are customized to an organization’s unique requirements, automating policy enforcement, mitigating deviations, and streamlining audits.

“For financial institutions, compliance and growth can be seen as two competing priorities,” said Nir Laznik, co-founder and CEO of Sedric. “With our compliance LLM, we turn risk into a growth opportunity. Enterprises now have an opportunity to implement a proven, bank-ready solution that is successfully operational and already widely adopted across the financial services industry.”

Sedric’s revenue has increased fivefold over the last 12 months. The company has a growing base of customers in the U.S. and Europe, including global lenders, banks, trading platforms, and insurers.

“Sedric’s AI compliance platform fills a critical industry need as regulatory requirements become more stringent and complex,” said Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital. “Nir, Eyal, and the Sedric team have developed a forward-looking solution that is 100 times more effective, faster, and efficient compared to traditional methods. This is a rare ‘better-faster-cheaper’ compliance solution for financial institutions.”

Sedric’s existing investors include StageOne Ventures, The Garage, Gefen Capital, Skywell Capital, Secret Chord, and K20 Fund.

“I believe that GenAI is going to dominate all aspects of the financial sector, yet in my experience, it’s a challenge to ensure it’s being used responsibly,” said Eyal Peleg, co-founder and CTO of Sedric. “Sedric enables financial institutions to unlock the potential of these powerful tools safely and within regulatory boundaries. Our platform puts guardrails and protections in place to help financial institutions adopt AI in a private, observable, and reliable way.”

About Sedric AI
Sedric developed the first dedicated compliance large language model (LLM) for financial services. Its AI-driven compliance platform transforms compliance operations and empowers compliance officers with a holistic view of risk across every integrated customer touchpoint. With offices in New York and Tel Aviv, the company provides financial services firms with a proven, enterprise-ready solution that is customized to an organization’s unique requirements, enabling organizations to turn risk into a growth opportunity. The company was established by Nir Laznik and Eyal Peleg in 2020 and has a growing base of customers in the U.S. and Europe. For more, please visit: https://www.sedric.ai/

About Foundation Capital
Foundation Capital is an early-stage venture firm founded in 1995. Our enterprise, fintech, consumer, and crypto investments—including Netflix, Lending Club, Sunrun, TubiTV, Chegg, Solana, Stripe, and Uber —have reinvented industries and defined new markets. For a quarter of a century, the firm has endured, evolved, and thrived, with over $5B assets under management, 33 IPOs and ICOs, and 80+ acquisitions to our name. Building companies is in our bones. For more info, visit: foundationcap.com.

Media contact: 
Sivan Ron
[email protected]

SOURCE Sedric AI

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 5, 2024 — Switch Bioworks, a biotechnology company developing low-cost and sustainable fertilizers, announced today it raised $17 million in Series Seed financing led by Change Forces Capital and joined by Grantham Foundation, Astanor Ventures, Acre Venture Partners, Anthos Capital, Thia Ventures, Emerson Collective, as well as the farmer-led Ag Ventures Alliance and others.

Nitrogen fertilizer is an expensive yet essential crop nutrient, supporting the food supply of half the world’s population. Current manufacturing is largely based on fossil fuels and leads to over a gigaton of CO2 equivalent emissions and many damaging environmental consequences such as fertilizer run-off and eutrophication. Switch Bioworks engineers symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing microbes that live on plant roots to replace conventional fertilizer, a solution that is carbon-neutral and lower-cost.

“Not many people realize that their food is grown with fossil-fuel-based fertilizer. If we want to decarbonize our economy, we must find new ways to provide crops with nutrients,” said Kartick Kumar, Managing Partner and CEO at Change Forces, the new spinout climate fund from King Philanthropies. “The team of talented biotechnology experts at Switch have assembled from around the world to develop an innovative approach that dramatically improves the performance and cost-effectiveness of biofertilizers, tackling a significant climate challenge.”

“Making nitrogen fertilizer with biology is something that scientists have tried to do for 50 years,” said founder and CEO of Switch Bioworks, Dr. Tim Schnabel. “What’s been limiting the efficacy of biofertilizers is that as soon as microbes are engineered to make fertilizer, it’s so energy intensive that they are no longer able to compete with native microbes in soil and on plant roots. That’s a problem, because if your microbes get outcompeted in a matter of days, they can’t make a meaningful amount of fertilizer over the crop growing season. At Switch, we’re pioneering a ‘switchable’ engineering approach that enables microbes to first compete and establish themselves on plant roots before switching on fertilizer production.”

The first product Switch Bioworks is developing will be a consortium of diverse symbiotic microbes, where each member is engineered to release nitrogen fertilizer under precise genetic control. Applied at planting using existing farmer practices, Switch’s product will cost less than the conventional fertilizer it replaces, helping farmers improve their bottom line – fertilizer is one of the biggest operating expenses of farming.

Since the potential benefits of switches go beyond nitrogen, the company has developed a modular platform of switches that can improve the performance of many precision-engineered biological products and is actively building R&D and product development collaborations in the agriculture and biotech industries.

The ten hottest years on record have all been in the last ten years, highlighting the urgent need to decarbonize the global economy quickly. With the addition of a pre-Seed round raised in 2022 and grants from organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Switch Bioworks has now secured over $25 million in support of its mission of feeding the world sustainably. This latest financing will be used to complete product development of the company’s first carbon-neutral biological nitrogen fertilizer, including initial scale-up fermentation and formulation as well as greenhouse and field trials in the U.S. and internationally.

About Switch Bioworks:
Switch Bioworks, the living fertilizer company, spun out of Stanford University in 2022 and is headquartered in San Carlos, CA. The company’s internationally trained team of experts develops microbes that produce sustainable nitrogen fertilizer powered by next-generation synthetic biology. As part of the growing global bioeconomy, Switch Bioworks pledges its mission to improve planet health while also dropping the price of fertilizer at the farm gate. Find out more at: www.switchbioworks.com.

SOURCE Switch Bioworks

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 5, 2024 — Mesa Quantum, an innovative quantum sensing company, announced an oversubscribed seed funding of $3.7M led by J2 Ventures, a Boston-based fund focused on dual-use technologies, with participation from SOSV.

This investment enables Mesa Quantum to build a new research and development facility, hire top technical talent, and position themselves to commercialize chip-scale quantum sensors for deployment at scale. The technology has applications in defense, climate, energy, space, telecommunications, and several other key economic areas.

Satellite dependence, for everything from defense to commercial use cases, remains a large, growing, and underserved market. While the Space Force and other government agencies rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites for Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), so too do most consumer electronics. However, GPS is vulnerable to jamming and spoofing attacks, which opens the door to catastrophic outcomes like power grid and telecommunication disruption, failure of military operations in the field, and disruptions to supply chain and transportation networks.

Mesa Quantum has already been awarded an additional Space Force grant of $1.9M for Alternative PNT(Alt PNT) applications, with several other awards they anticipate in short order as a part of their government scaling.

“Given the rise in our everyday technology’s reliance on GPS, it has developed into a single point of failure for our economy. Heightened geopolitical tensions have forced the U.S. government to seek alternative solutions to maintain our national security,” said Sristy Agrawal, CEO & Co-founder of Mesa Quantum. “Current generations of quantum sensors, such as atomic clocks, are not a viable alternative because of their size, weight, power consumption (SWaP), cost, and lack of at-scale manufacturability – all limitations Mesa Quantum is focused on overcoming.”

Mesa Quantum’s groundbreaking technology will result in more resilient, precise, and scalable methods for maintaining synchronization, determining position, and conducting measurements. Using chip-scale quantum sensors for alternative PNT will be indispensable in GPS-denied environments such as military-contested zones, underground, underwater, and in space.

“We have been focused on making an investment in this space for years, and Mesa Quantum is singular in its ability to produce leading-edge technology while servicing the massive commercial needs of what they are producing,” said Dr. Jon Bronson, Managing Partner at J2 Ventures.

“Our vision is to integrate chip-scale quantum sensors into everyday technologies, ranging from autonomous vehicles in the air, on the ground, and at sea, all the way to the smartphones we use daily,” said Dr. Wale Lawal, CTO and Co-founder of Mesa Quantum.

Mesa Quantum is currently hiring talent with experience in quantum physics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), semiconductor manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Candidates interested in joining a fast-moving and dynamic deep-tech startup should visit the company’s website for more information.

About Mesa Quantum 
Mesa Quantum is developing the next generation of quantum sensing technology for integration at scale. They are overcoming the challenges of size, weight, power and cost associated with today’s quantum sensors. Mesa Quantum is miniaturizing and commercializing chip-scale quantum sensors, such as accelerometers, atomic clocks, magnetometers, gyroscopes and gravimeters. This technology has broad implications for consumer electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, defense and communications. Stay updated on their progress by following Mesa Quantum on LinkedIn. 

About J2 Ventures: 
J2 Ventures is a deep-tech venture capital firm based in Boston, investing in sectors critical to national security and private sector advancements, including Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Telecom, and Healthcare. For more information about J2 Ventures and their initiatives, please visit https://www.j2vp.com/.

Media Contact: 
Liang Zhao
Vansary for Mesa Quantum
[email protected]
505-720-6933

SOURCE Mesa Quantum

Brings on Advisory Board of Experts in Digital Wellness, Child Development, and Online Safety

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 5, 2024 — Angel Kids AI, an AI-powered browser designed to provide children with a safe and age-appropriate internet experience, today announced that they have raised an additional $1.1M of funding in an extended Seed round. The new contributions from three investors – Magnify Ventures, CityLight, and Atland Ventures – bring Angel Kids AI’s total amount raised to $5.85M. The additional funding will be used to accelerate Angel Kids AI’s investments in hiring, product development, and marketing initiatives.

“Many of the tech devices we use today have, unfortunately, created division within families. However, we believe that when designed with compassion, technology actually has the potential to bring families closer together and support collaborative learning and relationships,” said Joanna Drake, co-founder and managing partner at Magnify Ventures. “As an AI tool making the internet a safer place for children, Angel Kids AI is absolutely a company designing tech for good. That’s one reason why we were so thrilled to invest.”

Lane Versteeg, Director & VP of Recruitment at Atland Ventures, added, “As a team of undergraduate college students, Atland Ventures is passionate about the work that Angel Kids AI is doing on a personal level. Predatory social media algorithms have significantly impacted the mental health of our generation, and we are proud to stand by Angel Kids AI as they transform the relationship between young people and technology.”

In addition to the funding round, Angel Kids AI has also brought on a world-class advisory board to help advance further iterations of the platform. These advisors, experts in digital wellness, child development, and online safety, include:

• Dr. Alok Kanojia: A Harvard-trained psychiatrist specializing in mental health for the digital generation and author of the book “How to Raise a Healthy Gamer”; he is the president and co-founder of Healthy Gamer, a mental health platform that provides content, expert wellness coaching, and community for young people.
• Stephen Youngwood: A global senior executive with 25+ years of experience working to grow and launch businesses at the intersection of media, content, education, and technology – most recently as the former CEO of Sesame Workshop, the global educational media organization behind Sesame Street. Steve has also worked with leading children’s and educational organizations as a senior Executive or Board Member such as Nickelodeon/Viacom, Disney Education Publishing, Leapfrog Enterprises, Learning Resources and Begin Learning.
• Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov: A lawyer, law professor, and former Digital Safety Consultant with 20+ years of experience advising international organizations on digital safety and public policy. She has provided critical executive support to global corporations and nonprofits setting their digital safety policies.
• Chris McKenna: The Founder of Project Young Eyes, an organization that helps families, schools, and churches create safer digital environments. He has led over 1,700 presentations across the country and has been called to testify before Congress on child protection laws.

“Angel Kids AI is in the midst of an incredibly exciting period of growth,” said Tim Estes, Angel Kids AI CEO and Founder. “We’ve put together a uniquely qualified and experienced group of investors and advisors to come alongside us in building the company that will fundamentally change the way kids experience the Internet for good.”

For more information about Angel Kids AI, please visit https://AngelKids.ai.

About Angel Kids AI
Angel Kids AI is an AI-powered browser that offers age-customized content for children aged 5-12+, creating a protective and personalized online experience. This parent-designed browser ensures children can explore online resources and information customized to their age and parents’ values. Angel Kids AI gives parents key insights to understand and develop their child’s interests. In short, Angel Kids AI is the trusted online companion parents can rely on to foster and support curious children with appropriate guardrails. To learn more about Angel Kids AI, please visit AngelKids.ai.

SOURCE Angel Kids AI

Employers don’t want to choose employees’ health plans. They want to offer high quality plans at a reasonable cost. Thatch makes that possible.

Investment from Index Ventures and General Catalyst will accelerate growth and product development

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 5, 2024 — Thatch, a personalized health benefits platform for forward-thinking businesses, today announced it has raised $38 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Index Ventures and General Catalyst, along with new investors SemperVirens and The General Partnership, with participation from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Avid Ventures. This investment will fuel Thatch’s mission to correct an accident of history and decouple health insurance from employment.

Thatch’s platform abstracts away the complexity of the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) law, which passed in 2020, allowing employers to provide tax-free dollars for employees to purchase their own health insurance plans. By combining fintech and healthtech solutions, Thatch has created a user-friendly interface that simplifies the complex process of healthcare benefit management for both employers and employees.

“There’s finally momentum towards a health insurance market that serves real people’s needs,” said Chris Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Thatch. “We’re seeing interest from employers, brokers, and certainly employees who all recognize the singular opportunity to get high-quality healthcare at a reasonable, transparent cost. With the support of this funding, we’re ready to scale operations to meet the exploding demand.”

Historically, health care benefits were selected and offered by employers as a retention incentive. This doesn’t work for today’s job market where the number of gig workers is on the rise and Americans are more transient than ever. Most people stay in jobs for less than four years, meaning employees switch or lose access to their health plans every few years and plans are not incentivized to provide care that serves members’ needs in the long-term. Further, employers are facing rising health care costs which lead to rising out of pocket costs for individuals.

Since launching in 2023, Thatch has helped hundreds of companies across every sector of the economy improve their healthcare coverage while curbing costs. Customers range from AI startups and small businesses to nonprofits and large enterprises with thousands of employees.

“We are excited to back the Thatch team as they reimagine the future of health benefits,” said Alex Tran, Managing Director at General Catalyst. “In the last year, we’ve seen them hire incredible talent, garner a ton of customer love, and ship products quickly. Thatch offers customers a strong value proposition: employees get greater choice and quality on healthcare; employers get more visibility on spend. In the long-term, we hope Thatch helps bring us a step closer to a more ideal version of American healthcare, one driven by fundamental market forces like quality, transparency, and cost.”

“Healthcare is the last major financial decision still controlled by employers but, like the shift from pensions to 401(k)s empowered individuals, healthcare is due for the same revolution,” said Jahanvi Sardana, Partner at Index Ventures. “Thatch is driving this shift by harnessing free market forces in the individual market and pooling risk across businesses to create collective buying power. From the moment we met Chris and Adam, their deep market insight and compelling vision were unmistakable. Their relentless execution and ability to attract top talent made us confident they’re building a category-defining company.”

Key features of Thatch’s platform include:

• Simplified budget setting and fund allocation for employers
• Personalized plan selection tools for employees
• Integration of tax incentives and credits
• Cost savings through pooled buying power

The funding will be used to expand Thatch’s team, continue to scale its technology platform, and accelerate customer acquisition. The company aims to become the default platform for forward-thinking companies to provide health and wellness benefits to their teams.

“Our vision is to create a healthcare system where employees can maintain great benefits from job to job, and where insurers are incentivized to invest in long-term member health,” added Adam Stevenson, Co-Founder at Thatch. “We’re building towards a future where every company, regardless of size, can offer top-tier health benefits to their employees.”

For more information about Thatch, visit https://thatch.ai/.

SOURCE Thatch