The Couple Invests In Female-Founded and Operated At-Home Diagnostics Company

BOULDER, Colo., April 24, 2024 — Proov, the creator of a suite of at-home fertility-related hormone tests, has announced today that an equity share of the company has been purchased by GRAMMY award-winning singer-songwriter, actor and author Ashanti and her fiancé, GRAMMY winning, Double Diamond selling, entertainment icon Nelly. This news comes off of the duo’s pregnancy announcement via Instagram last week, which featured the Proov Check test.

Proov offers over 10 products, including the first and only FDA-cleared at-home PdG test, that bring innovative solutions to child bearing people and their partners – clinically proven to help them become pregnant faster and more cost-effectively.

“The team and I are thrilled to have Ashanti and Nelly join us in our mission to increase visibility and accessibility of clinically proven fertility and pregnancy related solutions to those who need them,” says Proov CEO Dr. Amy Beckley.

Ashanti and Nelly echo, “We’re excited to work together on our first joint business endeavor, championing a female-led enterprise dedicated to empowering women with personalized care solutions.”

Proov products are available nationwide in CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Amazon, and direct-to-consumer on Proov’s website, proovtest.com.

About Proov
Proov is a diagnostics company offering medical grade at-home tests and a support platform that is clinically proven to help those looking to conceive do so faster, and more cost-effectively. Proov goes beyond typical fertility tracking (which focuses on finding the fertile window) to help uncover key issues that can make conceiving more difficult. Proov founder, Dr. Amy Beckley, PhD, created the core Proov technology (Proov Confirm PdG tests) after her own battle with infertility.

For more information, please visit proovtest.com

About Ashanti
Ashanti is a GRAMMY® Award-winning singer/songwriter, actor and author, who burst onto the music scene with her smash hit, self-titled debut album Ashanti. The album landed the #1 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and R&B album charts, selling a whopping 504,593 units in its first week and set a SoundScan record as the most albums sold by any debut female artist in the chart’s history, granting her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, which she still holds today.  Ashanti has released six studio albums and received eight Billboard Awards, a GRAMMY, two American Music Awards, two Soul Train Awards, six ASCAP Awards, and many more awards and illustrious honors. Ashanti has continued to reign at the top as one of Billboard’s “Top Females of the Decade from 2000-2010” and continues to break Billboard records as having a Hot 100 entry in the 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s.

Ashanti is CEO of Written Entertainment, Inc., and in addition to her music accolades and awards, she has elevated her brand and company with several major partnerships including her own fragrance, “Precious Jewel” with AMC Beauty, American Express, Shea Moisture, Marc Jacobs and Ciroc, to name a few. Her endorsements include Herbal Essences, where she is the first African American to land a national campaign, and Candies Apparel. She launched her clothing line, in collaboration with Miss Circle, and partnered with Pretty Little Thing to create her own swimsuit line, “Ashanti.” She has written her first book of poetry, through Hyperion, titled Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections on Love and released her first children’s book, My Name Is A Story, with Harper Collins that was voted, “2023 Best Children’s Book” by the African American Literary Awards. Ashanti is the Ambassador for the Jumpstart Reading Program and became the “Youth of the Year” Ambassador for the Boys and Girls Club of America in 2009 and was also inducted into their Hall of Fame. She became a member of their “BE GREAT” Campaign with Denzel Washington and was also a part of the “Let’s Move” campaign with Michelle Obama. To celebrate her contributions to the entertainment industry, Ashanti received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 7, 2022.

About Nelly
Double Diamond Selling, Multi-platinum, 3xGrammy award-winning rap superstar, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and actor, Nelly, has continually raised the bar for the entertainment industry since stepping on the scene in 2000 and has solidified his status as a rap luminary. His distinctive vocals, magnetic personality and infectious smile captivated audiences worldwide, while his achievements across entertainment industry platforms has set him apart as a true icon. In 2023, Nelly expanded his entrepreneurial empire by introducing MoShine, his signature moonshine brand, captivating enthusiasts with its unique blend and distinctive branding. Additionally, he made headlines with a groundbreaking sale of a portion of his music catalog, shattering records in the process. The following year saw Nelly’s strategic partnership with his fiancée, Ashanti, in an equity deal with Proov, a female-owned company specializing in pregnancy and fertility tests. Simultaneously, he is  orchestrating the triumphant relaunch of Apple Bottoms, his revolutionary women’s clothing line, and Three Commas, a men’s fashion brand. Despite his myriad ventures, Nelly remains committed to his musical craft. Anticipation mounts as he prepares to unveil his highly awaited single from Heartland2, the much-anticipated sequel to his country-inspired album Heartland, with the full album slated for release in 2025.

Beyond his musical prowess, Nelly’s achievements span across various domains, including sports commentary, reality television, and film. Notably, he has left an indelible mark as a commercial actor for brands such as Lay’s, Burger King, and Honey Nut Cheerios. Furthermore, his ownership of a sports team underscores his passion for sports and community engagement, while his philanthropic endeavors reflect a commitment to making a positive impact on society. In every endeavor, Nelly exemplifies the epitome of excellence, innovation, and resilience, leaving an enduring legacy that transcends generations.

SOURCE Proov

Investment accelerates commitment to securing cloud email environments with advanced protection, visibility, and control

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2024 — Sublime Security, the AI-powered, programmable email security platform, announced today that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding, led by Index Ventures with participation from previous investors Decibel Partners and Slow Ventures. Cybersecurity visionary and Crowdstrike Co-founder & former CTO Dmitri Alperovitch is also joining the investment round and Board of Directors. The added funding will be used to further invest in the platform and improve the customer experience. In a rapidly evolving threat landscape, email remains a top security concern for businesses. Sublime gives security teams the ability to detect and prevent these attacks with out-of-the-box protection and unprecedented visibility into their cloud email environments, with additional controls for customized detections, attack surface reduction, threat hunting, and more.

Increasing financial impact

According to the most recent 2023 FBI Internet Crime Report, Business Email Compromise (BEC) accounted for over $2.9 billion in losses, although the actual number is likely much higher due to underreporting. The volume and scope of attacks are escalating as bad actors deploy large language models (LLMs) to wage advanced and varied malicious attacks that include BEC, QR code phishing, extortion, malware/ransomware, fraud, spam, and more.

Email security that’s not a black box

Email security has traditionally been driven by vendors that offer black box, one-size-fits-all solutions. However, security teams can no longer afford to wait weeks or months for vendors to address false positives or missed attacks, during which time legitimate emails continue to get blocked and the same attack campaigns continue to land successfully.

As the email threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly, defensive tools must be equally adaptable. Sublime’s AI-powered detection engine gives teams visibility, transparency, and ultimately control to protect their organizations against complex email-borne attacks, unlike the traditional black box approach.

“On the offense, Generative AI enables attackers to rapidly create diverse, sophisticated campaigns at scale, but on the defense, it’s a powerful tool for automated detection, triage, and explainability,” said Josh Kamdjou, Founder and CEO of Sublime Security. “The Sublime Platform is a modern take on email security that delivers immediate out-of-the-box protection, with the added ability for teams to tailor email security controls to fit organizational needs and benefit from community-driven protections as the threat landscape evolves.”

Historically, defenders have had difficulty exercising meaningful control or collaborating within the email domain due to a lack of tooling and common language for expressing complex attacker behavior. Sublime’s Core Detections are open source on GitHub where anyone can contribute to and benefit from new protections against the latest threats. Advanced teams that want granular control to tailor detections, create exclusions, or mitigate false positives for their organization also have access to Sublime’s detection engine with a purpose-built domain-specific language (DSL), Message Query Language (MQL), which works universally across Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace via API integrations.

Kamdjou spent 10 years at the Department of Defense engaged in various offensive cyber initiatives and also worked in the private sector as a red teamer. Email phishing was always the easiest way for him to gain initial access to a system, and he set out to build a product capable of stopping him. Co-founder and COO Ian Thiel was an early team member at Optimizely and most recently led growth at Alto. The team publicly launched Sublime in February 2023 and the platform is already experiencing significant demand and impressive traction, with customers including some of the world’s top security teams at Spotify, Ramp, Vanta, Brex, Centrica, and others.

“Email security has become a high priority for businesses as they face GenAI-powered attacks, and we believe that Sublime’s impressive technology, the founders’ backgrounds, and their unique go-to-market strategy put them in a strong position to tackle this problem,” said Jahanvi Sardana, Partner at Index Ventures. “Sublime is pioneering a bottoms-up, security practitioner-led approach that promotes community-driven collaboration, and given the massive market opportunity for email security, we are excited to see Sublime continue its trajectory of hyper-growth.”

In addition to the funding, Sublime is also announcing the launch of Attack Score, its latest feature that uses transparent, explainable machine learning to prioritize email threats. Attack Score aids security analysts in quickly understanding and prioritizing detected threats based on the detailed context of observed attack indicators. Security teams have full control over Sublime’s Attack Score output, enabling them to combine it with other logic using detection-as-code.

Sublime’s Core Platform can be self-hosted for free at any scale, and the first 100 inboxes are also free in Sublime’s hosted SaaS environment. For more information, visit: https://sublime.security/

About Sublime:

Sublime is the AI-powered, programmable cloud email security platform that detects and blocks attacks like Business Email Compromise (BEC), malware/ransomware, credential phishing, and more. The open platform enables security teams to have better visibility and control over their email environment, customize and tailor the platform to suit their unique needs, and collaborate with their peers against novel attacks to reduce risk and prevent email-borne incidents. The company was co-founded by Joshua Kamdjou and Ian Thiel in 2019 with funding from investors including Index Ventures, Decibel Ventures, and Slow Ventures. Deploy a free, self-hosted Core version of the platform or Sublime Enterprise at https://sublime.security/start

SOURCE Sublime Security

NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 — Alaffia Health, the leader in generative AI for health plan claim operations, today announced $10M in Series A funding, bringing its total amount of capital raised to $17.6M. The round was led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from GingerBread Capital and existing investors including Anthemis, Aperture Venture Capital, 1984 Ventures, Remarkable Ventures, and Tau Ventures. In connection with the round, Amish Jani from FirstMark will join the company’s Board of Directors. Alaffia’s management team intends to use the funding to expand its commercial footprint and further invest in advanced AI research and product development.

Since its Seed funding round, Alaffia has achieved robust growth, increasing its revenues by 4x over the past 12 months alone. Earlier this year, Alaffia was also featured in the Everest Group’s Payment Integrity Solutions PEAK Matrix® Assessment, a testament to its profound presence and leadership in claims solutions for health insurance plans. This recognition, combined with its surge in revenue, underscores the industry’s appetite for Alaffia’s leading AI solutions across the health plan ecosystem.

A key component to Alaffia’s success is the efficacy of its advanced AI solutions provided to its health insurance plan customers. The company last year announced its new, flagship generative AI tool, Ask Autodor, a co-pilot built for health insurance claims teams. Ask Autodor was purpose-built for clinicians and medical coders to automate complex manual tasks such as large patient medical record reviews, clinical policy document assessments, and insurance claim adjudication. Clinicians and medical coders across utilization management, payment integrity, special investigations, and appeals can leverage Ask Autodor to complete complex facility claim reviews up to 20x faster than traditional processes.

As generative AI continues to dominate industry discussions this year, industry experts and economists expect significant monetary implications for various sectors. In healthcare, where the U.S. spends over $4 trillion annually, Alaffia Health’s AI solutions are expected to play a crucial role in cost reduction. “The advent of advanced, multimodal, AI systems represents the breakthrough we all needed to finally bend the healthcare cost curve,” said TJ Ademiluyi, co-founder and CEO of Alaffia Health. “We’re pioneering the adoption of these new AI tools across the ecosystem and are excited to partner with FirstMark to achieve our next set of milestones.”

This round of funding reaffirms Alaffia’s commitment to innovation and its vision for a more efficient healthcare system—one that eliminates unnecessary costs and improves outcomes for patients. “Alaffia is transforming the healthcare industry with new AI tools, and we at FirstMark are immensely proud to support their journey,” said Amish Jani, co-founder of FirstMark. “Their innovative use of large language models is not just enhancing claims operations—it’s reshaping the healthcare landscape for providers, payers, and patients alike. We are confident their innovative approach will establish new industry standards, significantly curbing wasteful spending and benefiting the entire ecosystem.”

About Alaffia Health

Alaffia Health is a leading AI company that helps health insurance plans streamline their operations and reduce claim spending. The company offers Autodor, its integrated claims platform, to revolutionize the way that clinicians and medical coders across utilization management, payment integrity, special investigations, and appeals review health insurance claims. Alaffia Health has been featured on Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider and Becker’s Hospital Review. For more information, visit www.alaffiahealth.com.

About FirstMark Capital

FirstMark is an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. Our mission is to partner with entrepreneurs who are focused on solving meaningful problems. We have built an engaged community among the teams in our network to spread ideas and opportunities. We are privileged to work alongside the founders of businesses like Pinterest, Shopify, Airbnb, Discord, Ro, Justworks, and Gravie. Visit us in New York City or online at www.firstmark.com and @FirstMarkCap on Twitter/X.

SOURCE Alaffia Health

The Female-Founded Brand Secures $4M in Seed Funding and Announces Retail Launch with Erewhon

NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 — KEY, an all-natural energy drink harnessing the power of ketones, launches today to modernize the $62B energy drink market. Co-Founded by two trailblazing executives from rival beverage companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Karishma Thawani and Tekla Back, KEY offers a clean alternative without the sugar shock or caffeine jitters that give energy drinks a bad rap.

Simultaneously, KEY announces the oversubscribed close of a $4M seed round led by AgFunder, one of the world’s most active foodtech and agtech investment funds. With additional backing from Alethia, the leading beverage VC and AgFunder SIJ Impact Fund, the round will support strategic retail distribution, inventory and marketing efforts.

“As a former PepsiCo exec, I swore I’d never launch a beverage, as I know how tough it is to start and scale a brand. However, when I discovered the benefits of ketones, I became determined to make them accessible for all,” says Co-Founder Tekla Back.

Co-Founder Karishma Thawani adds, “The first time I tried ketones, I was blown away by the long-lasting energy, the euphoric feeling and the mental focus I felt. I cannot wait for everyone to experience KEY to tap into their full potential.”

In an industry saturated with sugar-laden, artificial stimulant sips, KEY is unlocking an alternative source of genuine energy from ketones. The ketones in each beverage deliver long-lasting smooth energy, instead of a sugar spike followed by a crash. Ketones also provide dose-dependent advantages such as improved cognitive benefits, appetite suppression, metabolic health and enhanced recovery. Additionally, unlike the synthetic ketones found in supplements today, KEY uses pure active natural ketones made using fermentation.

KEY’s debut collection features the following flavors with all-natural ingredients:

• Pineapple Passionfruit ($3.75) –  Rejuvenate with tropical pineapple and ripe passionfruit
• Grapefruit Peach ($3.75) –  revitalize with refreshing grapefruit and juicy peach
• Ginger Lime ($3.75) –  invigorate with spicy ginger and citrusy lime

Manuel Gonzalez, general partner at AgFunder, said: “I was an investment banker for many years. We survived day in and day out with caffeine and energy drinks, boxes, and boxes of them. Every time, I thought, well, this is not good for me, but let’s have it. When I saw KEY, I thought, this is not possible, all-natural, no sugar, no caffeine… how can this be? Well, it so happens that ketones activate our own body’s ability to make energy. Ketones and green tea are my new mantra. But more than anything, Tekla and Karishma are the embodiment of founder market fit. Every time I talk to them, I like this company better, and every time I drink a KEY, I feel the long-lasting energy, and when I read the simplicity of the label, I see a great company in the making.”

In addition to launching direct-to-consumer and on Amazon, KEY will roll out their first line of beverages at select, curated retailers including celebrity-favorite Southern California health grocer Erewhon and targeted high-traffic retailers across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Hamptons. With over 25 years of combined experience in the food & beverage industry, Co-Founders Thawani and Back, are combining old school retail and online community building to scale fast, balancing brand building and distribution.

About KEY
KEY is a first-of-its-kind, clean all-natural energy drink, providing long-lasting energy by unlocking a new energy source: ketones, made using fermentation. Thawani and Back, experienced beverage industry innovators, combined the functionality of ketones with the enjoyment of energy drinks, to create a first-of-its-kind beverage category. Rooted in the belief that humans possess untapped potential, KEY’s mission is to help people unlock this natural energy.

KEY’s offerings can be found at select retailers across California and NYC and on drinkkey.com

PR Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE KEY

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 24, 2024 — FirstHive, the leading provider of customer data platform (CDP) solutions, has announced the closing of its latest funding round with Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV), Saama and Amit Singal as new lead investors. This round marks a new chapter for FirstHive as it expands in the U.S. and aims to revolutionize customer engagement for enterprises worldwide.

FirstHive was founded in 2016 by Aditya Bhamidipaty with the goal of providing modern enterprises with a single source of intelligence to unravel customer identity and streamline data within enterprises’ marketing and analytics ecosystems. The company has quickly emerged as a leader in the CDP space, empowering brands to create deeply personalized customer experiences and drive meaningful engagement across channels.

“In a cookieless world, CDPs have become indispensable for enterprises looking to embrace generative AI,” commented General Partner at BGV Yashwanth Hemaraj. “FirstHive leverages first-party data to create deeply personalized experiences, turning the absence of third-party cookies into an opportunity for more meaningful customer engagement, automating decisions and personalizing marketing. At BGV, we are excited to back Enterprise 4.0 startups that leverage AI, Automation and Unique datasets to drive massive value creation with global enterprises.”

“Saama is thrilled to lead the latest investment round in FirstHive,” noted Partner at Saama Capital Hemant Asher. “Our confidence in FirstHive stems from four key factors: the growing importance of first-party customer data for B2C and B2B brands, FirstHive’s proven track record with global enterprises, the platform’s ability to compete and win against respected global competitors, and the leadership team’s demonstrated maturity and results. We believe FirstHive is well-positioned for continued success.”

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Benhamou Global Ventures, Saama, and Amit Singal to the FirstHive family,” said Founder and CEO of FirstHive Aditya Bhamidipaty. “Their support and expertise will be invaluable as we embark on the next phase of our journey. This investment will enable us to expand our presence in the US market, extend platform capabilities, accelerate AI capabilities and ultimately deliver more value to our customers.”

FirstHive was previously backed by Arka Ventures (Blume, BGV, Emergent VC), New Wave Partners (VA, US), InfoEdge Ventures (India AIF), Mela Ventures, and angel investor Amit Midha, CEO, Alat.

About FirstHive

FirstHive, a premier global Customer Data Platform, is a tool for consumer marketing enterprises to consolidate all their opt-in first-party consumer data. Once deployed, FirstHive becomes the single source of truth of customer identity & data within the enterprise’s marketing and analytics ecosystem. FirstHive acts as the brain or system of intelligence by delivering seamless cross-tool & cross-channel communication for the marketing teams and with its out-of-the-box recommendation & assisted decision engine, directly enhances CX and marketing ROI objectives. FirstHive is based in California with operations and customers across the US, India, and ASEAN.  

Media Contact:
Ksenia Kulik
9193493786
[email protected] 

SOURCE FirstHive

Lead investor Emerson Collective champions Midi’s mission to expand access to expert, insurance-covered care for women in midlife and beyond

LOS ALTOS, Calif., April 24, 2024 — Midi Health, the fastest-growing virtual care clinic for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, today announced the close of a $60M Series B funding round led by Emerson Collective, bringing the company’s total funding raised to date to $100M. Additional investors include GV (Google Ventures), who led the previous funding round, along with Memorial Hermann, SemperVirens, Felicis, Icon Ventures, Black Angel Group, Gingerbread Capital, Able Partners, G9 and Operator Collective. They join a syndicate of primarily female-led investors including F7, Steel Sky Ventures, Avestria, Muse Capital, 1843 Capital, Anne Wojcicki, Susan Wojcicki, and K50 Ventures.

Women spend more than a third of their lives in perimenopause or menopause, with more than 1.2 billion women globally expected to be in these life stages by 2030. Upwards of 85 percent of women will experience menopausal symptoms that can negatively impact their productivity and quality of life, yet 75% of women who seek care for these symptoms do not receive any treatment. The primary reason is that only about 1 in 5 OB/GYNs, and even fewer primary care physicians, receive specialized menopause education or training.

“Historically, women’s healthcare has been neglected, with perimenopause and menopause having significant unmet needs,” said Fern Mandelbaum of Emerson Collective. “Midi is providing expert, empathetic care coupled with comprehensive insurance coverage, finally addressing this gap and ensuring that all women receive the support they need and deserve.”

A pioneer in the midlife women’s health space, Midi Health was founded in 2021 with a mission to close this care gap, and is now the fastest-growing virtual clinic focused on treating women in perimenopause and menopause. Over the past year, the company has cared for tens of thousands of patients, expanded to all 50 states, added Fortune 100 employers offering Midi as a workplace benefit, and launched partnerships with major healthcare systems such as Memorial Hermann and benefits platforms such as Progyny and Cleo.

The additional round of funding will allow Midi to expand insurance coverage (already established nationwide), hire and upskill an additional 150 clinicians by end of year, diversify service lines, amplify the conversation around midlife women’s healthcare, and scale to care for 1 million+ women per year by 2029.

The quality of Midi’s care is validated by a recent survey of 2,200 patients, in which: 

• 91% report overall symptom improvement within 2 months of their first Midi visit. Broken down for several symptoms:
  • 94% report improvement of hot flashes and night sweats within 3 months
  • 93% report improvement of insomnia within 5 months
  • 92% report improvement of moodiness, anxiety, and/or depression within 2 months
  • 89% report improvement of brain fog and memory lapses within 5 months

Midi shows similarly strong results for a number of other health concerns, and the clinical team is well positioned to meet many more needs for women between the ages of 35 and 65 over the course of 2024.

The new funding reflects a growing national awareness of women’s unmet healthcare challenges, and support for innovative solutions designed to fill care gaps. This year, President Biden signed an Executive Order aimed at advancing women’s health research and innovation, with a specific focus on menopause, and a groundswell of corporate employers have added menopause benefits. Midi has seized this unprecedented opportunity to transform midlife well-being for the 1 in 4 women in the U.S. over the age of 40. The benefits extend far beyond a patient population: Addressing the care gap for women in perimenopause and menopause can boost the average per capita GDP generated by women by 1.7%, contributing at least $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040 (Source: McKinsey Report).

“We started Midi with just one specific focus: helping women access world-class, expert perimenopause and menopause care, covered by insurance, and we have been at the forefront of delivering on that promise,” said Joanna Strober, CEO and Co-founder of Midi Health. “But what we have also learned is that addressing the health concerns of women in midlife is more complex than simply treating hot flashes and prescribing hormone replacement therapy. Midi takes a multi-symptom, holistic approach to care designed to help women live their best, most productive and fulfilling lives—whether that involves medication, lifestyle coaching, natural supplements, or other support. Our goal now is to expand services and scope to continue this comprehensive, personalized care far beyond menopause.”

For visual assets including photos and b-roll, visit https://www.joinmidi.com/press-room. For patient stories and more comments from Midi Health CEO Joanna Strober, visit joinmidi.com/series-b-announcement.

About Midi Health
Midi Health is the fastest growing virtual care clinic focused on women navigating midlife hormonal change and beyond. With treatment protocols created by world-class medical experts in perimenopause and menopause, delivered by clinicians trained in women’s midlife health, Midi Health provides patients with personalized care plans that include hormonal and non-hormonal medications, supplements, lifestyle coaching and more. All services are covered by insurance, and conveniently accessible through telehealth visits and 24/7 messaging. To learn more, visit www.joinmidi.com.

Media Contact:
Aimee Grove for Midi Health: [email protected]; 415-706-1906

SOURCE Midi Health

BEDFORD, Ohio, April 24, 2024 — Aropha, a leading laboratory focused on advancing biodegradable material discovery and testing through lab automation and AI predictive modeling, today announced that it has raised $1 million in a Series Seed funding round. The round was led by Comeback Capital, with participation from Lightbank and Right Side Capital Management (RSCM).

Aropha works directly with companies to provide rapid biodegradation testing and implement AI screening into their product development processes. The funding will be used to expand Aropha’s current laboratory operations, increase industry awareness, and fund the development of its biodegradation prediction model, ArophaAI.

“The timing could not be better for the innovation,” said Travis Johnston, Co-Founder, COO, and CRO, Aropha. “What we are seeing is the convergence of adequate predictive testing becoming technologically feasible for the first time and the environmental importance of biodegradation being recognized through increasing legislation.”

With over 145,000 tonnes of microplastics used in the EU each year and new legislation requiring 100% of single-use packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032 in California, the demand for cost-effective and efficient biodegradation testing is rapidly increasing. Aropha is well-positioned to significantly impact the testing industry, as even one of the most common, short biodegradation studies may cost over $10,000 according to the EPA with some complex, lab-based simulation tests reaching over $300,000.

To date, Aropha has helped more than 80 customers with their biodegradation testing through both in-lab and in-silico testing. Year-over-year booked revenue at the end of Q4 saw 190% growth. The company also recently published a free version of its predictive model, ArophaAI-2.

“This fundraising positions Aropha to be the market leader in the biodegradability testing category,” said Kuan Huang, Co-founder, CEO, and CTO, Aropha. “It will enhance our ability to act as a specialty lab for biodegradation that provides rapid, cost-effective physical testing, as well as enable us to develop the first commercially viable biodegradation prediction model that can be widely used across multiple industries and applications.”

Aropha plans to continue expanding its current testing facility, invest heavily in its predictive model development, and strengthen relationships with long-term partners and appropriate accreditation bodies.

Investor Confidence:

“Through the integration of artificial intelligence for material screening and the automation of laboratory processes, Aropha stands on the brink of markedly expediting the creation of environmentally benign materials. We are thrilled to support their mission and believe they have the potential to make a lasting impact on the industry.”
– Scott Shane, Managing Partner, Comeback Capital (https://www.comeback.vc/)

“Aropha’s unique approach to environmental testing has the potential to significantly impact how companies develop eco-friendly products. Their focus on biodegradability testing and future expansion into additional environmentally properties, combined with a market moving towards stricter environmental standards, positions them well as a valuable partner for companies in need of better environmental testing.”
– Eric Ong, Partner, Lightbank VC (https://www.lightbank.com/)

About Aropha
Aropha is a leading independent testing lab pioneering the application of AI modeling and lab automation to advance biodegradation testing. Its team brings together expertise in environmental engineering, chemistry, data science, and software engineering to create cost-effective, rapid biodegradability testing that saves companies months of development time and millions in testing costs. To learn more, please visit: https://www.aropha.com/.

PR Contact:
Nicole Gorman
Gorman Communications, for Aropha
508-397-0131
[email protected] 

SOURCE Aropha Inc.

HIGH POINT, N.C., April 24, 2024 — As more and more consumers search for wellness products, particularly in the area of gut health, recent research from the North Carolina A&T University and existing medical publications confirm that nearly all brewed coffee is a significant source of acid in consumer diets.  Puroast Coffee is the lone exception – all of the other brands tested were shown to have more than 4 times the amount of acid in their brews when compared to Puroast.

Puroast uses a proprietary method in their processing to reduce acid formation. This is important, as the high acid levels in regular coffee are now known to cause gut and other health problems.

A research team, headed by Dr. Salam Ibrahim, published in Bioactive Compounds in Health and Disease (Mar. ’24), tested several coffee brands including those claiming “low acid” on their packaging and brand promotion.  Almost all of these brands were found to have more than double the acid of the high acid/low acid line, the Critical pH, defined by the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the dental community.

Additional concern surrounds the brands labeled as low acid. The study found these coffees in fact have on average more acid than conventional coffee.  

Puroast Coffee was the only exception shown in the published results. This company claims low acid on its packaging and public promotion, and its claims were confirmed in the NC A&T findings. All other brands have on average four times more acid than Puroast. Dr. Taka Shibamoto, of UC Davis, says the “much lower acid levels in Puroast is a significant finding“.

Coffee is a well-known source of acid and health problems; WebMD.com lists coffee as the leading cause of heartburn, and Leena Khaitan, MD states, “…the worst beverage for Acid Reflux is coffee”. Registered Dietician Andrea Dunn says “The acid in coffee is causing gastrointestinal issues like heartburn, acid reflux and bloating”.

Mislabeling by certain coffee brands claiming low acid is a growing concern, particularly in light of the serious health risks coming from high acid diets.   As a result of these new findings regulatory agencies are expected to review this matter.  More on acid in coffee, and on Puroast verified low acid quality, and as an option to conventional high acid coffees, can be found at www.puroast.com.

SOURCE Puroast Coffee, Inc.

BforeAI autonomously maps and predicts malicious infrastructure through the ingestion of massive datasets, analyzing Internet metadata and establishing baselines to detect anomalies, deterring them before they turn into attacks. This unique capability empowers customers with a preemptive active defense posture that enables security teams to stop attacks before they are executed.

“BforeAI is automatically blocking thousands of attacks every day, this new round of funding boosts our ability to serve ever more sophisticated customers and drive value in a competitive market. Increasing digital fraud, scams and cyberattacks prove organizations can no longer rely only on a reactive approach: they need to preempt, disrupt and deter attacks,” said Luigi Lenguito, Founder and CEO of BforeAI.

With multiple AI/ML patents behind its technology, BforeAI specializes in predictive attack intelligence and automated digital risk protection services. The company’s mission is to proactively safeguard data, IT/OT networks, digital assets, customers, employees, and brand reputation. By using behavioral predictive intelligence, PreCrime™ monitors over 96% of the Internet to stay ahead of cyber threats, empowering organizations to effectively preempt risks days to weeks in advance of attack.

“The cybersecurity market is flush with solutions that help companies after an attack or breach has occurred. BforeAI is the first company to bring a predictive approach to improve organizations’ cyber posture. The unique ability to predict and stop a cybersecurity event before it happens and the thousands of direct integrations with service providers worldwide are clear differentiators in this crowded market,” said Jay Leek, Managing Partner and Co-founder of SYN Ventures and BforeAI Board Member.

“The combination of data and AI is leading to tremendous advances in the fight against attackers. Predicting where/when the attacker will be is the next level of cyber defense,” commented Richard Stiennon of IT-Harvest and leading industry analyst.

The BforeAI PreCrime™ subscription offering comprises both Intelligence and Brand solutions, designed to predict, preempt, and deter malicious campaigns before they impact your business; all with a 10 times contract value performance guarantee by Munich Re. This evolutionary learning technology is constantly improving anomaly identification to reduce false positives below 0.05%, enabling organizations to stop attacks in less than seven minutes.

Customers around the world are already turning to BforeAI, including large social media platforms, financial services organizations, and leading global manufacturers in the medical device, food service, and home electronics industries.

About BforeAI:

BforeAI is a pioneer in Predictive Attack Intelligence and Digital Risk Protection Services (DRPS). Using behavioral AI, our PreCrime™ platform aims to shift cyber defense from reactive to preemptive. With solutions for brand protection and threat intelligence, BforeAI is the industry’s fastest, most accurate automated online fraud protection.  To learn more, visit bfore.ai.

About SYN Ventures:

SYN Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in disruptive and innovative security companies in the cybersecurity, industrial security, national defense, privacy, regulatory compliance, and data governance industries. The firm’s dedicated security team of former CISOs, CEOs and Founders has a proven track record with over 300 years of combined security investing and operational experience. SYN also has a highly distinguished network of seasoned security advisors and CISOs.

Media Contact:
Danielle Ostrovsky
Hi-Touch PR
[email protected]

SOURCE BforeAI