NEW YORK, May 22, 2024 — Flybridge, a pioneering early-stage venture capital firm, today launched the Flybridge AI Index, a new stock market index designed to track the performance of 28 publicly traded companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation. This diverse group spans sectors such as infrastructure, applications, and industry-specific AI solutions, offering a comprehensive view of the AI landscape.

The Flybridge AI Index features industry titans like NVIDIA, Google, Microsoft, and IBM, alongside emerging AI-driven companies such as C3.ai, Palantir, and UiPath. Utilizing an equal-weighting methodology, the index provides an aggregate performance snapshot of these AI leaders.

Since its inception on January 1, 2023, the Flybridge AI Index has achieved a remarkable 100.5% return, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 (32.9%), NASDAQ (52.5%), and other major indices. This impressive performance underscores the rapid growth and market potential of the AI sector.

“Artificial intelligence is one of the most transformative technological advancements of our era,” said Chip Hazard, General Partner at Flybridge. “The Flybridge AI Index offers a valuable benchmark for tracking the progress and performance of key public companies driving AI innovation.”

In conjunction with the index launch, Flybridge will host an event during New York Tech Week on June 4th. This event will feature leaders from some of the companies included in the index, discussing the impact of AI on various industries and the future of AI-driven innovation.

The Flybridge AI Index will undergo quarterly updates to incorporate new AI-focused public companies and remove those that no longer meet the criteria.

“As early-stage investors, understanding the drivers of value in public markets is crucial,” said Daniel Porras Reyes, creator of the AI Index at Flybridge. “The AI Index will be a dynamic tool, evolving with the market as the generative AI wave progresses.”

For more information on the index, including the full methodology and current holdings, visit ai-index.flybridge.com.

About Flybridge Capital

Flybridge is a venture capital firm based in Boston that partners with bold entrepreneurs to build exceptional and valuable technology companies. Since its founding in 2002, Flybridge has invested in over 150 companies across multiple emerging technology sectors. Notable Flybridge investments include MongoDB, Nasuni, Chief, Codecademy (acquired by Skillsoft), and more.

SOURCE Flybridge

Led by Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, Telegraph Hill Capital, and Ripple Ventures—funding will fuel company’s mission to automate and simplify data cleaning

VANCOUVER, BC, May 22, 2024 – Artemis, a technology startup innovating data preparation to address data quality challenges, today announced it has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, with participation from Telegraph Hill Capital, Ripple Ventures, and other angel investors. Artemis plans to use the funds to fuel its mission to simplify data preparation and provide easier access to data cleaning for both technical and non-technical users.

Artemis was founded in 2022 by Josh Gray and William Shi with the vision to create an easy-to-use platform that enables teams to build, explore, and automate data-cleaning tasks using autonomous AI agents. These agents can be easily manipulated on a drag-and-drop canvas and deployed in an organization’s data warehouse. The Artemis platform accelerates data-cleaning processes by up to 50 times, transforming how data-rich teams clean, manage, and use their datasets.

“The winners in the world of AI are organizations that have clean and accessible data. Today, the tools to clean and transform data do not allow teams to scale their work fast enough to keep up with the demand for insights and new AI products. Artemis is here to change that,” said co-founder, Josh Gray.

“Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is proud to support Artemis—a game-changing data technology company led by Indigenous co-founder, Josh. We are impressed by the company’s innovative platform, which revolutionizes data cleanup and automation. Artemis also aligns with our mission to empower Indigenous entrepreneurs,” said Althea Wishloff, General Partner of Raven Indigenous Capital Partners.

“At Telegraph Hill Capital, we realized across our portfolio how crucial clean and high-quality data is for our businesses who want to scale new AI products. When we met with Artemis, it was clear this was a team and company we wanted to work with,” said Luis Gutierrez Roy, Managing General Partner of Telegraph Hill Capital.

The Artemis platform is already adding valuable impact for B2B e-commerce and healthcare markets through successful proof-of-concept engagements with companies like Matter Inc., a growth platform for e-commerce brands, and AlayaCare, a global technology platform for home and community-based care. Through these relationships, Artemis is positioned to expand its reach and serve an even broader range of clients for their data automation journeys.

“As a proud Indigenous-led company, this funding allows Artemis to continue growing, innovating, and adding a wider expanse of features to penetrate new markets,” said Josh Gray, CEO at Artemis.  “Our fast-growing team is deeply grateful for the trust and confidence this group of investors and angels have placed in our company,” added Gray.

To learn more about Artemis, how to integrate the Artemis platform, or explore career and engagement opportunities, visit: artemisdata.io

About Raven Indigenous Capital Partners
Established in 2018, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is an Indigenous-led and owned social finance intermediary headquartered in Vancouver. Raven works in partnership with Indigenous enterprises and social purpose organizations to accelerate their success by providing access to capital and bespoke technical assistance within an Indigenous cultural framework. Ultimately, Raven aims to achieve a positive and lasting impact on the Indigenous economies.

About Telegraph Hill Capital
Telegraph Hill Capital (THCAP) is a venture capital firm that backs early-stage tech entrepreneurs with an entrepreneurial spirit. Its partners leverage industry connections and expertise to help portfolio companies thrive. THCAP focuses on fast-growing tech startups in North America and Western Europe, focusing on software products, apps, and digital platforms. TCH leads seed and pre-seed rounds, preferring B2B models, and supports entrepreneurs throughout their journey, providing follow-on rounds and backing later-stage founders with strong relationships. For more information, visit: https://www.thcap.com/.

About Ripple Ventures
Ripple Ventures is the leading pre-seed B2B software fund backing companies at the earliest stages in North America. The fund leads financing rounds with high conviction, writing $500–750K USD checks. Ripple helps founders around the inception to pre-revenue stages navigate the most challenging steps of finding product market fit.

About Artemis
Artemis is a Vancouver-based company in Canada. Founded in 2022, the Artemis platform empowers data teams to deploy cutting-edge AI agents that automate data cleanup tasks using pre-built knowledge graphs on a user-friendly canvas. The Artemis platform enables data engineers to deliver insights and AI products faster in healthcare and B2B technology organizations. For more information, contact: [email protected] or visit www.artemisdata.io.

SOURCE Raven Indigenous Capital Partners Inc.

The fundraising round was led by Lightspeed Faction and will be used to advance the network and development of on-chain weather derivatives

ZUG, Switzerland, May 22, 2024 — WeatherXM AG, core contributor to the WeatherXM Network, a leading decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN), today announced the closing of a $7.7 million USD Series A round led by Lightspeed Faction. Additional participating investors include: Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital, Arca, Alumni Ventures, Placeholder VC, Red Beard Ventures, Metaplanet, GS Futures, Consensys Mesh, Westerly Ventures, dlab, Eleftherios Diakomichalis and Juan Benet.

The company plans to utilize this investment to grow the team, and the network, and continue research and development in crypto-enabled weather hardware and decentralized infrastructure.

Manolis Nikiforakis, WeatherXM CEO and Co-Founder said, “This round kicks off our growth stage. During the last two years, we proved our ability to manufacture and deploy thousands of stations globally, at a fraction of the typical cost.  Now it’s time to grow 10x: We want to be the largest weather station network in the world by the end of 2025 serving both traditional and new web3 markets”.

This investment follows an initial $5M seed round from investors including, Placeholder VC, metaplanet, Consensys Mesh, SOSV, Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital, DLTx and several prominent angel investors including Juan Benet (Filecoin), Maxwell Krohn, Dimitris Togias and Ele Diakomichalis (Radicle). In just 2 years, WeatherXM deployed more than 5,000 stations in more than 80 countries, a record number
compared to government-funded agencies.

WeatherXM produces a variety of weather station hardware devices that collect local environmental data, collaboratively building a unique ground sensor weather network. Each station includes a secure element that provides cryptographic proofs of the data collected, and data is stored on the Filecoin decentralized storage network, where it can be queried and processed to create hyper-local weather forecasts as well as web3-native use cases such as onchain prediction markets and parametric weather insurance products.

Participants who operate the special low-cost, low-maintenance stations, are given ERC20 $WXM tokens as rewards, which are the WeatherXM Network Association native governance, utility, tokens. Starting Thursday, May 30, $WXM will be tradable on Gate.io, MEXC.com, BitMart.com, Uniswap v3 and SwissBorg.com will follow.  On the same day, station owners will be able to start collecting daily rewards and accumulated beta rewards on the Arbitrum mainnet.

Investor Quotes: 
Tim Khoury, Deal Partner at Lightspeed Faction added, “We’re thrilled to see WeatherXM utilize crypto incentives to build out the world’s highest resolution, most comprehensive and most accurate weather network. Users can enjoy hyper-local weather data and be rewarded for their contributions to the network, while businesses across the insurance, power and energy, and agriculture industries can access more reliable forecasts and better plan for the future. WeatherXM is leveraging the power of a decentralized physical infrastructure network to make a positive impact in the world, and we’re beyond excited to be supporting this team”.

About WeatherXM AG
Founded in 2022, WeatherXM AG is the core contributor of the WeatherXM Network. The company also designs and builds crypto enabled weather stations, utilizing WiFi, Helium and 4G wireless communications, and value-added services that leverage the Network’s data.

You can learn more about the company and its products and services at https://weatherxm.com
A real-time map of deployed stations is available at https://explorer.weatherxm.com

About WeatherXM Network Association
WeatherXM Network Association is a non-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland. The purpose of the Association is to grow and develop the WeatherXM Network and its surrounding community and ecosystem. The Association owns WeatherXM Network’s data, and is the issuer of the $WXM token. Through an auction mechanism (in $WXM) the network sells licenses that allow commercial uses of their publicly available weather data.

You can learn more about the WeatherXM Network Association and the $WXM token at https://weatherxm.network/.

About Lightspeed Faction
Lightspeed Faction is the leading blockchain-native venture capital firm that merges Silicon Valley VC experience with deep blockchain expertise. Faction typically invests in early-stage startups across the blockchain ecosystem that are in their Seed or Series A funding rounds. Faction is firmly committed to the growth of the crypto space, investing in projects with the potential to meaningfully contribute to and advance the industry and society at large.

For more information, please visit: https://www.faction.vc

About Lightspeed Faction’s Relationship with Lightspeed
Faction Ventures, LLC (“Faction”) and Lightspeed Management Company, L.L.C. (“Lightspeed”) are separate businesses that operate independently of each other. Faction is a registered investment adviser under the United States Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Faction advises its own fund(s) and does not advise any Lightspeed clients, and Lightspeed does not advise Faction or any of its clients.

Value of weather observation data
More than one third of the global economy is weather-sensitive and accurate weather data are critical for many industries. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “highly weather-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, energy, transport and construction, and disaster risk management can benefit by over US $160 billion per year from potential improvements in weather forecasting capabilities that would be within reach given our current state of scientific knowledge and our technology”.

Climate change creates more challenges across business, public discourse, and daily life, increasing the demand for and value of precise, hyper-local data.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE WeatherXM

The new funding accelerates go-to-market (GTM) and technology integrations for the generative
AI platform that defends against phishing and impersonation

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 22, 2024 — Bolster, a leader in multi-channel phishing protection, announced a $14 million Series B financing round led by new investor M12, Microsoft’s venture fund. Existing investors Thomvest Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Liberty Global Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, Cervin Ventures, and Transform Capital also participated. The financing brings Bolster’s total funding to over $40 million.

Over 90% of all cyberattacks begin with phishing, according to the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, and nearly 43% of all phishing attacks in Q4 2023 were on social media platforms, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

Assisted by AI, attackers deploy sophisticated phishing and impersonation attacks across all digital business channels. To respond to the growing digital threats, businesses need to leverage leading AI security vendors, like Bolster, which supports over 120 customers including some of the world’s most well-known brands. Bolster uniquely detects and eradicates phishing and impersonation attacks as they weave across malicious websites, mobile applications, social media platforms, and messaging tools.        

“Having observed the email security landscape for over twenty years, it’s evident that traditional methods are failing to keep pace. The advent of generative AI in the arsenal of cyber attackers signals a troubling escalation in the severity of business email compromise and phishing threats. Monitoring Bolster’s journey from its early days, I am thoroughly impressed by their innovative application of AI to proactively identify and neutralize fraudulent activities by targeting the very infrastructure of these attacks,” said Todd Graham, Managing Partner at M12.

Since 2017, Bolster has used AI and machine learning to train models on over 100TB of structured data of URLs, domains, natural language text, and emails.  Bolster created CheckPhish, one of the most popular phish and scam detection sites on the internet since 2018, with over 20% of the Fortune 500 registered as users. This site’s huge amount of data is used to augment Bolster’s AI and machine learning models.

“As a global platform serving tens of millions of people around the world, Bolster has proven to be invaluable in helping to uncover and prevent an array of phishing, scam, and impersonation attempts across multiple digital channels. We’ve been impressed by their innovative solutions at the intersection of generative AI and cybersecurity, resulting in swift identification and eradication of external online threats, and are looking forward to seeing how its platform capabilities will expand with the backing of M12 Ventures,” said Jeff Sen of WeTransfer.

Bolster’s platform advancements leverage generative AI’s application to cybersecurity. In the past year, Bolster has introduced eight cutting-edge LLM technology-based transformers, capable of detecting and eliminating phishing threats before they can even reach an email. Bolster’s engineers and researchers constantly update their deposition engine and orchestrator with the latest intent models for text and vision, making Bolster’s generative AI ethical and resilient against data bias.

“Bolster is committed to leading the industry in leveraging generative AI for real-time detection and response to phishing and impersonation attacks. This issue impacts nearly all businesses today,” said Bolster Co-founder and CTO Shashi Prakash. “This investment validates our technology and accelerates our platform development and go-to-market initiatives.”

With the new funding, Bolster plans to invest in GTM initiatives that strategically prioritize executive monitoring, business email compromise (BEC) attack detection and takedown, and threat-hunting automation. The sales organization will be structured around these key areas, supported by comprehensive training and marketing initiatives, to increase market penetration and heighten customer engagement.

Additional Resources

About Bolster
Bolster’s mission is to make the internet a safer place by detecting, taking down, and monitoring phishing, fraud, and scam activity across the web, social media, app stores, and the dark web. Within milliseconds, Bolster renders a verdict using LLMs and the largest structured phishing dataset in the industry – delivering multi-channel phishing protection with near-perfect precision and at scale. To learn more, go to www.bolster.ai.

SOURCE Bolster

FREDERICK, Md., May 22, 2024 — Theradaptive, Inc., a regenerative medicine company developing targeted therapeutics, announced today it has been awarded funding from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) to support human clinical trials for its lead product, OsteoAdapt SP.  OsteoAdapt SP is currently in Phase I/II clinical studies for transforaminal lumbar interbody spinal fusion (TLIF) to treat degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, and retrolisthesis.

Theradaptive was granted an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) in January 2024 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin its human clinical trial. This $1 million award from the MSCRF Clinical Program will enable Theradaptive to expand its OASIS human clinical study to sites in Maryland. More details can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov: identifier NCT06154005. Theradaptive also holds three Breakthrough Medical Device designations for various spine indications including TLIF, ALIF, and PLF.

“We are so grateful to the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund for this generous support as we take OsteoAdapt SP through clinical development,” said Luis Alvarez, PhD, CEO and Founder of Theradaptive. “This grant will expand our ability to provide patients with limited options a much better alternative by accelerating the development of this ground-breaking technology.”

How OsteoAdapt SP is changing biologic implants

OsteoAdapt SP is a biologic-enhanced implant designed to stimulate anatomically precise local bone growth and promote rapid fusion following spinal surgery. It combines a proprietary protein called AMP2 that activates a patient’s own stem cells with a resorbable scaffold implant. This implant remodels into bone and completely resorbs, leaving no trace behind. This technology ushers in the next generation of regenerative therapeutics compared to the current standard of care by mitigating side effects and significantly improving safety and efficacy over traditional bone grafts and biologics.

“This funding will benefit us greatly as we work toward making this revolutionary therapy available to patients in need, putting Maryland at the forefront of innovation in regenerative bone repair” said Jonathan Elsner, PhD, Vice President of Clinical Operations. “We appreciate that MSCRF recognizes the importance of this program and look forward to dosing the first patient in the coming months.”

“Our goal is to accelerate the development of promising technologies by providing funding to help them reach patients as quickly as possible,” said Ruchika Nijhara, Executive Director of MSCRF. “We are enthusiastic about the potential of OsteoAdapt SP to benefit patients suffering from debilitating spine conditions.”

Theradaptive was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2017 to commercialize a platform that immobilizes therapeutic proteins on implantable biomaterials. The company’s near-term focus is on regenerative treatments for musculoskeletal conditions and spinal fusion surgery.

Clinical sites investigating OsteoAdapt SP in TLIF procedures are currently enrolling patients across the U.S., including Maryland, and in Australia.

Theradaptive plans to file for marketing authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration following successful completion of pivotal clinical studies.

About Theradaptive

Theradaptive, Inc. is a privately held regenerative medicine company developing therapeutic implants that harness the body’s own stem cells to regenerate tissues. The company’s proprietary AMP2 technology platform enables localized, sustained delivery of therapeutic proteins to trigger highly targeted regenerative responses.

Theradaptive’s lead clinical program, OsteoAdapt SP, is an investigational bone graft material designed to improve spinal fusion outcomes. For more information, visit www.theradaptive.com.

Contact:
Harry Warne
Senior Contributor
Flame PR
[email protected] 

SOURCE Theradaptive

DULUTH, Ga., May 22, 2024 — AGCO (NYSE: AGCO), a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology, today announced its recent investment in the Innova Ag Innovation Fund VI of venture capital firm, Innova Memphis. This fund investment is the first executed by AGCO’s recently launched corporate venture capital initiative, AGCO Ventures. The deal aligns with AGCO’s approach to support the next generation of farming through advanced solutions that promise a more automated, digitized and sustainable future for agriculture.

The Innova team is renowned for its focus on nurturing early-stage startups revolutionizing agriculture.

“We are excited to announce our investment in Innova Ag Innovation Fund VI, a move that reflects our unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in agriculture,” said Seth Crawford, AGCO Senior Vice President and General Manager, PTx. “This partnership enables us to tap into the latest innovations in the field, from automation and digitization to sustainability and efficiency, ensuring that we continue to provide our customers with the most advanced and effective solutions on the market.”

Through this partnership, AGCO intends to leverage Innova’s expertise in identifying and supporting high-potential startups at the forefront of agricultural technology.

“We are immensely proud to partner with AGCO, a true leader in the agricultural sector, whose commitment to innovation and sustainability mirrors our own,” said Dean Didato, a partner at Innova. “This collaboration represents a unique synergy between AGCO’s industry expertise and our vision for a technologically advanced farming future and revitalized rural economies. Together, we are set to empower the brightest minds in agriculture, driving transformative solutions that promise to enhance farm productivity and profitability and secure a sustainable future for our planet.”

For more information on the strategic areas of focus, visit AGCO Ventures.  

About AGCO
AGCO (NYSE: AGCO) is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology. AGCO delivers value to farmers and OEM customers through its differentiated brand portfolio including core brands like Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson®, PTx and Valtra®. AGCO’s full line of equipment, smart farming solutions and services helps farmers sustainably feed our world. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA, AGCO had net sales of approximately $14.4 billion in 2023. For more information, visit www.agcocorp.com. For company news, information, and events, please follow us on X: @AGCOCorp. For financial news on X, please follow the hashtag #AGCOIR.

About Innova Memphis
Founded in 2007, Innova is an early-stage investor focused on starting and funding high-growth companies in AgTech and MedTech. The firm has invested in over 125 companies across the United States from its five investment funds, totaling over $110 million. Currently, Innova is looking to invest in novel solutions that address agriculture’s chronic labor shortage, supply chain deficiencies, margin pressures, and increased demands for transparency and sustainability. www.innovamemphis.com

SOURCE AGCO Corporation

NEW YORK, May 22, 2024 — Superlegal, the first AI platform for legal contract review for small and medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”) and the only AI solution authorized to practice law in the U.S.A., announced today the closing of its $5 million seed funding round, co-led by Aleph and Disruptive AI fund, with the participation of Alicorn Venture Capital, and Tom Glocer, the former CEO of Thomson Reuters. The company also received a grant from the Google AI Startups Fund. Superlegal is the second LegalTech venture for CEO and Co-Founder Noory Bechor and CTO and Co-Founder Ilan Admon. The pair previously founded LawGeex, a pioneer in AI-powered contract review for large enterprises, acquired in 2023. Superlegal’s new round of funding will enable it to accelerate product innovation, attract top talent, and expand its market presence.

Superlegal’s comprehensive SaaS platform is AI-powered and lawyer-verified and is designed to help SMBs handle their contracts efficiently and cost-effectively, as well as accurately review and advance contracts without relying on a legal department or outside legal counsel. The company’s patented AI contract review engine was trained using data from the world’s largest legal organizations and includes unique algorithms designed specifically for legal language. Superlegal provides a remarkable 90% reduction in legal costs and a 70% reduction in deal cycles.

Legal contract review and negotiation is a challenge for many businesses, especially those with high monthly contract volume and without an inhouse legal team. For example, the construction sector, which comprises over 3.6 million firms, often requires contracts with more than 100 suppliers and contractors. This complexity underscores the intricate and demanding nature of the construction industry for the solution provided by Superlegal and demonstrates already high adoption.

Noory Bechor, CEO and Co-founder of Superlegal said, “This investment from three industry-leading VCs with deep passion and expertise in AI serves as a robust validation of our vision and dedication to ensuring that small and medium-sized businesses can access, afford, and adopt the same AI technologies as enterprises. With this funding, we can expedite our growth trajectory and sustain our commitment to innovation, while leveling the playing field between small and large businesses.”

Yorai Fainmesser, General Partner at Disruptive AI, remarked, “The legal sector is one of the major beneficiaries of the Generative AI revolution and Superlegal is positioned to become a market leader with its fully automated solution. Leveraging Superlegal’s proprietary AI to replace lawyers’ involvement in day-to-day business contracts can speed up deal closing cycle for SMBs seeking to drive revenues faster.”

Eden Shochat, Equal Partner at Aleph, remarked, “Aleph is thrilled to join forces again with the Superlegal team, as they continue empowering small and medium businesses to overcome the hurdles of lengthy legal procedures and lawyers. We’ve witnessed the transformative power of AI across industries, and its ability to swiftly address one of the business’s most costly and time-consuming aspects. Superlegal’s AI contract review, verified by licensed attorneys, allows customers to run their business faster without the fear of legal risk.”

About Superlegal
Superlegal is a unique AI platform designed to assist small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with legal contract review. It is the only AI licensed to practice law in the USA and is powered by AI technology while being verified by lawyers. The platform is designed to help businesses efficiently and cost-effectively handle their contracts and accurately review and advance contracts without depending on a legal department or outside legal counsel.

The company was founded in 2021 by Noory Bechor, an international lawyer, and Ilan Admon, a leading AI expert. They previously founded LawGeex, an AI-powered contract review pioneer for enterprises, acquired in 2023. Bechor, CEO and Co-Founder of LawGeex and Superlegal, is a commercial lawyer and AI software pioneer. His mission is to transform commercial legal, recently founding Superlegal to extend AI’s reach. Admon, an internet entrepreneur and experienced CTO, specializes in AI with over 20 years of programming experience.

Superlegal is headquartered in New York, NY, and is supported by Aleph and DisruptivAI fund, as well as Alicorn Venture Capital, Google’s AI fund, and Tom Glocer, former CEO of Thomson Reuters.

About Aleph
Aleph is an early stage venture capital fund focused on partnering with great Israeli entrepreneurs to build large, meaningful companies and impactful global brands. Founded in 2013, Aleph is a partnership of Michael Eisenberg, Eden Shochat, Yael Elad and Tomer Diari with $850M under management. Aleph has invested in over 60 companies (not all announced) including Lemonade (LMND), Windward (WNWD), Melio, Healthy.io, Simply, Honeybook and Empathy.

About Disruptive AI
Disruptive AI (DAI) is the first Israeli venture capital specialized in Artificial Intelligence startups from their early stages and acts as a home for the Israeli AI innovation community. DAI is partnering with top Israeli entrepreneurs who bring industry domain expertise and strong AI technology vision to build large, meaningful companies and impactful global brands. The Fund is backed by more than 30 active top leading entrepreneurs from the Israeli hi-tech arena and strategically involved with global corporations who marked AI as their focus.

SOURCE Superlegal

Recognized for its online commercial trucking insurance platform and Driver Safety Program, Cover Whale will use funding to support the next phase of profitable growth

NEW YORK, May 22, 2024 — Cover Whale Insurance Solutions, Inc., a leading insurtech specializing in connected insurance for commercial auto, today announced funding of $27.5 million in debt and equity from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. The funding round, which also had existing debt investors convert into the Series A preferred, will support Cover Whale’s continued growth and accelerate its progress toward transforming trucking insurance and improving safety on America’s roads.

The funding will provide for a strong balance sheet supporting Cover Whale’s profitable, growing business. Known for its ability to provide agents and their trucking clients with lightning-fast policy quotes and bound coverage, Cover Whale is actively investing in its technology and operating platform to further improve speed to quote and improve service quality.

“Cover Whale was built from the ground up to transform commercial auto insurance with technology at our core,” said Dan Abrahamsen, CEO of Cover Whale. “We believe this investment from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital will support our continuing mission to deliver the industry’s leading trucking insurance experience, building on the positive impact we’ve already made for our agents, drivers, and the general motoring public.”

Founded in 2019, Cover Whale’s unique business model combines easy, instant quotes and binds with advanced telematics and real-time driver coaching. It continues to redefine commercial trucking insurance via technology-driven strategies, optimizing road safety and financial performance with tangible results.

“We believe Cover Whale is a rare instance where the team has built a large-scale insurtech MGA and achieved consistent profitability while remaining capital efficient” said Nick Nocito, Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. “We are looking forward to partnering with the team as they continue to grow the platform and pursue new avenues of growth.”

About Cover Whale
Cover Whale, an insurtech founded by experienced insurance and technology veterans, focuses on technology, underwriting, and data to provide innovative insurance programs for the commercial auto industry. Operating as a managing general agent (MGA), the company currently has more than 15,000 in-force policyholders, ending 2023 with a $225M in GPW while maintaining industry-leading loss ratios. Cover Whale’s unique Driver Safety Program combines insurance coverage with telematics and real-time driver coaching to reduce claims, keep drivers safe and save lives on America’s roads. Cover Whale delivers its product through more than 4,000 active agents with the industry’s fastest, most agent-friendly online quote and bind experience. With a fundamental belief that safe driving should be rewarded, Cover Whale’s safest drivers save by receiving the best insurance rates in the industry. The company was named 2023 Insurtech of the Year by Program Manager, one of America’s Best Startup Employers on Forbes’ 2023 list, and more recently, the #3 insurtech to watch in 2024 by PropertyCasualty360. For more information, visit www.coverwhale.com. Stay updated with Cover Whale on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and our blog.

About Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital

Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital is the growth-focused private investment platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital targets growth equity and credit investments within technology, consumer, healthcare, and other high-growth sectors. For over three decades, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital has successfully pursued growth investment opportunities and has completed investments in over 220 companies, leveraging the global brand and network of Morgan Stanley.

Media contact:
[email protected] 

SOURCE Cover Whale

• Over 2,300 startups have applied to participate in Decelera Menorca, which celebrates its 10th edition
• The fund organizing the event, Decelera Ventures, has raised 38 million euros in the last year to invest in tech startups focused on sustainability

MENORCA, Spain, May 22, 2024 — This week 20 startups will gather in Menorca for 10 days to meet with mentors and investors. The organization selected the 20 finalist startups from over 2,300 applications worldwide, a 35% increase over last year’s applications.

Startups at Decelera Menorca can access up to 300,000 euros in investment to boost their projects. Decelera Ventures, the early-stage fund behind the organization, raised 38 million euros last year and has a portfolio of 19 companies. The fund plans to invest in over 50 projects in the next 3 years, with tickets of up to 300,000 euros, and provide follow-up support.

Decelera Ventures is the world’s first ‘decelerator’. At this event, founders step out of their day-to-day, to gain new perspectives, prepare for their next phase of growth and connect with investors. Since 2015, when the first edition was held, over 10,000 startups from more than 95 countries have applied to Decelera.

During the program, more than one hundred Experience Makers and over fifteen venture capitalist and international investors will learn about the 20 finalist startups, which include the global talent community Nova, credit building platform through remittances for African immigrants Kredete, platform connecting companies and university students U4IMPACT, dating platform Flamme, AI tech company Aitaca, 3D printing software developer Ziknes, property management software Praefy, platform for energy providers Quixotic360, and subscription management platform Emendu, automate invoices and delivery notes using AI, Dost, among others.

Among the prominent attendees are names from the entrepreneurial ecosystem: Bernat Farrero (Factorial and Itnig Podcast), Marta Zaragoza (Declarando), Pepe Borell (Deale), Rui Stoffel (BusUp), Alvaro Dexeus (Pleo, Ex-Deliveroo), Laura Esnaola (Care with Care), Sean Cook (Ex-VP of Mailchimp), Mike Landman (Ripple), Philippe Gelis (Kantox), Laura Urquizu (Red Points), Oriol Vila (Hola Luz), Tim Varner (Whitelabel).

The event is supported by global entities and local companies such as the Menorca Tourism Promotion Foundation, Sancus Capital, Julius Bär, Son Parc Hotels & Golf, San Miguel, Funq, Fibralink, Gin Xoriguer, Cacahuete, Owners Car, Queso Mahón, Carolina Carreras, Agua de Menorca, El Paladar, and Can Senylaet.

SOURCE Cision Portugal SA