• Funds will scale Ledgebrook’s tech-led approach to U.S. specialty underwriting, covering custom and complex insurance needs
• Ledgebrook on track to surpass USD 1 billion in cumulative premium written since it started writing business in 2023
• Investment expands Allianz X’s U.S. property and casualty (P&C) platform into mid-sized general liability risks in excess and surplus (E&S) market
• Allianz Re agrees to enter a multi-year reinsurance agreement with Ledgebrook

BOSTON and MUNICH, Oct. 7, 2026 — Ledgebrook, the AI-native specialty insurance platform, today announced it has raised USD 200 million in primary equity financing co-led by Allianz X, the strategic investment arm of the Allianz Group, and Rockefeller Capital Management. Existing and new investors also participated. Ledgebrook will use the funds to scale its technology and extend Blackbird, Ledgebrook’s proprietary AI-native underwriting platform. Separately, Allianz Re has agreed to enter a multi-year reinsurance agreement with Ledgebrook.

Headquartered in Boston, Ledgebrook sits between the brokers who need cover for hard-to-place risks and the capital that backs them, running on technology it built from the ground up. It writes general liability, professional liability, and specialty cover for mid-sized-market businesses in the E&S market, distributed exclusively through wholesale brokers. Ledgebrook’s proprietary AI-based platform, Blackbird, reads submissions, classifies risk, and calculates a technical price, quoting specialty risks, often in hours rather than weeks, with experienced underwriters making the final decision. As such, brokers, and therefore their clients, get fast, reliable answers on placing risks. Ledgebrook’s approach has put it on track to surpass USD 1 billion in cumulative premium written since it started writing business in 2023.

Gage Caligaris, Founder & CEO of Ledgebrook, said: “Our vision is for Ledgebrook to be the company that makes the wheels of insurance spin faster. Businesses with complex risk deserve specialized underwriting, rated with rigor and delivered at speed. Our platform lets our underwriters do that with real discipline. Allianz X backing gives us the capital to keep investing in technology and talent. We’re building this company for the long term.”

Dr. Nazim Cetin, CEO of Allianz X, said: “The industry is applying AI to its simplest risks first, because that is where automation comes easily. We think the larger prize sits at the other end, in complex, hard to place business, where underwriting judgment is scarce and slow decisions cost the most. That’s exactly the gap Blackbird is built to close, and it’s why Ledgebrook fills a meaningful space in our U.S. P&C platform.”

John Mullen, President of E&S at Ledgebrook, added: “E&S is seeing strong multi-year growth. Admitted carriers tightened their appetite and pushed risks that were once routinely placed in the admitted market into this channel, and we’re excited about accelerating the delivery of value to our distribution partners and insured customers in this segment.”

This investment both scales and diversifies Allianz X’s U.S. P&C platform, which is built across various lines of business and segments from micro to mid-sized. Ledgebrook writes general liability in the mid-sized segment of the E&S market, filling a meaningful gap on the platform, deepening Allianz’s presence in that space, and complementing Allianz X’s existing positions.

About Ledgebrook:

Ledgebrook is an AI-native specialty insurance platform. It sits between the brokers who need coverage for hard-to-place risks and the capital that backs them, running on proprietary technology it built from the ground up. Founded in Boston in 2022 by Gage Caligaris, a Harvard mathematician and actuary, Ledgebrook writes general liability, professional liability and specialty coverage through wholesale brokers. In August 2026, AM Best assigned its carrier, Ledgebrook Specialty Insurance Company, a Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and a Financial Size Category of VIII, completing Ledgebrook’s transition to a full-stack platform. The company employs around 300 people, including some 80 underwriters and 50 engineers.

https://www.ledgebrook.com/

About Allianz X:

Allianz X is the strategic investment arm of the Allianz Group, dedicated to keeping the leading global insurer and asset manager at the forefront of the industry. By making and actively managing high-conviction investments in companies with exceptional growth potential and forging unique partnerships between them and Allianz, Allianz X enables transformative collaborations, builds platforms, and unlocks value for the Group.

Stay connected with Allianz X on Medium, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter).

SOURCE Ledgebrook

-SPRIM Global Investments-backed company acquires asset from EuMentis Therapeutics-

– Phase 2 study planned for first half of 2027-

SAN DIEGO and SYDNEY, Oct. 7, 2026 — Mentara Therapeutics, a new neuropsychiatry company backed by SPRIM Global Investments, today launched with the acquisition of EM-221, now MTA-304, from EuMentis Therapeutics. MTA-304 is a highly selective, second-generation PDE10A inhibitor, and Mentara will take it into a Phase 2 study in levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) starting in the first half of 2027.

Levodopa is still the most effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease. However, 40–50% of patients on long-term therapy develop dyskinesia (involuntary, uncontrolled movements) within four to six years. Treatment options are limited, and amantadine extended release (ER) is currently the only FDA-approved therapy for LID. Amantadine ER’s side effects, such as hallucinations, dizziness and swelling, can limit its use, so patients and doctors are often forced to choose between controlling Parkinson’s symptoms and living with disabling dyskinesia.

MTA-304 has completed three Phase 1 studies in 86 subjects, which showed a favorable safety and tolerability profile. In a non-human primate model of LID, MTA-304 reduced dyskinesia by 40% without reducing levodopa’s benefit. In a rat model, it outperformed amantadine.

“People with Parkinson’s shouldn’t have to trade symptom control for dyskinesia,” said Frank Stonebanks, CEO of Mentara Therapeutics. “MTA-304 has a clean Phase 1 package and strong preclinical data in LID. With a dedicated company and initial investors behind it, we can move quickly to answer the question that matters to patients in Phase 2.”

“We are thrilled to back Mentara Therapeutics,” said Dr. Michael Shleifer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, SPRIM Global Investments. “They have the right people and the right product at the right time.”

Mr. Stonebanks led EuMentis as CEO for the past 18 months and has more than 25 years of experience in biotech operations and venture capital. He was previously Chairman and CEO of Renibus Therapeutics, where he raised more than $140 million, took the lead program into Phase 3 and acquired Phase 3 ready veverimer. He also founded and was CEO of Triphase, which was acquired by Celgene (BMS).                   

Mr. Stonebanks also held leadership roles at JJDC (J&J’s investing unit, including as a co-founder of J&J Internal Ventures, now J&J Innovation), IBM Ventures, Lumira Ventures and Novaquest Capital Management.

Under the agreement, EuMentis shareholders will become shareholders in Mentara. Financial terms were not disclosed.

About MTA-304
MTA-304 (formerly EM-221) is an investigational, highly selective, second-generation PDE10A inhibitor originally discovered by Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. PDE10A is an enzyme found almost exclusively in the striatum, the brain region where levodopa-induced dyskinesia originates. By blocking it, MTA-304 is designed to rebalance the striatal signaling pathways that levodopa overstimulates, reducing dyskinesia without weakening levodopa’s benefit.

About Mentara Therapeutics
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Mentara Therapeutics is focused on improving the health and well-being of all people affected by neuropsychiatric disorders. www.mentaratherapeutics.com 

About SPRIM Global Investments
Headquartered in Singapore, SPRIM Global Investments is a privately held life sciences venture capital firm founded in 2008 that specializes in clinical-stage therapeutics, digital health and R&D infrastructure. www.sprim.net 

About EuMentis Therapeutics
EuMentis Therapeutics was a San Diego-based clinical-stage biotech company. It licensed EM-221 from Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. of Japan after three Phase 1 studies had been completed and advanced the program toward Phase 2 development. EuMentis has been wound down now that the transaction has closed.

Media Contact
Media: Amy Conrad
Juniper Point
[email protected] 

Company: Mentara Therapeutics
www.mentaratherapeutics.com
[email protected]

SOURCE Mentara Therapeutics

ARPA-H’s CIRCLE program, short for Critical Illness Immunological Reprogramming and Control Point Learning Engine, targets the immune dysregulation that drives organ failure in critically ill patients; sepsis accounts for a substantial share of the roughly 4.6 million Americans who face potentially fatal critical illness each year. The program follows a measure-model-modulate framework: compiling real-time datasets on immune and inflammatory trajectories, building patient-specific computational models, and testing interventions that target immune control points before organ failure progresses.

Under the subaward, InflammaSense will deploy its VITAL^x-patch, a non-invasive wearable sensor, to measure autonomic and inflammatory signatures in up to 200 severely critically ill patients across three clinical sites. Data will feed the company’s Autonomic Research Core (ARC) cascade-endotyping classifier, which stratifies patients by immune trajectory and supports the CIRCLE program’s digital-twin modeling of critical illness. The work builds on InflammaSense’s core platform; it was built on UC San Diego-owned intellectual property covering neural signal detection of immune responses through cervical Autonomic Neurography or “ANG” measured with ventral cervical or anterior neck magnetoneurography and electroneurography.

“CIRCLE gives us a path to validate ANG at scale in the population it was designed to serve,” said Imanuel Lerman, MD, MSc, CEO and Founder of InflammaSense. “Sepsis hyperimmune and or immunoparalysis states are difficult to detect in real time with existing tools; this program will systematically determine whether continuous, non-invasive ANG monitoring can reliably flag that window early enough to act on it.”

About InflammaSense, Inc.

InflammaSense is a pre-revenue medtech company based in La Jolla, California, developing autonomic neurography (ANG) technology for real-time immune monitoring. Its lead indication is sepsis immunoparalysis and sepsis hyperimmune states, paired with matched and targeted therapeutics.

Media Contact:
Imanuel Lerman 
InflammaSense, Inc.
[[email protected]] | [619-786-7202]

SOURCE InflammaSense

Funding from European and US investors will accelerate product launch,
partner adoption and international expansion

LONDON, Oct. 7, 2026 — MintNeuro, a semiconductor company building specialised chips for neural devices from implants to wearables, today announces a $5 million investment round to drive its commercial scale-up. MintNeuro’s chips give device developers better performance than generic components, with less risk, lower cost and a faster route to market than custom chip design. The funding will accelerate product launch, expand delivery of pre-release silicon to partners and grow the company’s international presence.

The round was led by Odyssey Ventures, with participation from 33East, JSK Investments and Alumni Ventures, and returning investment from Empirical Ventures, Jumpspace Ventures and early investors. Bringing together deep tech, medtech and early-stage investors across Europe and the US, the round reflects global demand for the hardware needed to scale neurotechnology.

MintNeuro has already delivered working silicon and reached key integration milestones with research and development partners, including Motif Neurotech and Amber Therapeutics. Earlier this year, MintNeuro announced a partnership and multi-year commercial chip supply agreement with Motif, supporting the development of Motif’s minimally invasive neurostimulator initially targeting treatment-resistant depression. A growing number of neural device companies are now evaluating or integrating MintNeuro’s technology, alongside research teams building implantable systems that connect directly to the brain and nervous system.

MintNeuro will use the investment to grow its engineering and commercial teams, bring its products to market, support customers as they adopt its chips and strengthen its presence in the US alongside its UK and European base.

Neural devices are opening new ways to understand and treat conditions across neurology, mental health and beyond, from Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and depression to hearing loss and inflammatory disease. These technologies include brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), neuromodulation systems, sensory prostheses and bioelectronic medicines. Until now, progress across the industry has been held back by the lack of standard chips designed specifically for the extreme power, size, safety and signal-quality demands of these devices.

MintNeuro is closing that gap with a modular semiconductor platform purpose-built for core functions like neural sensing, signal processing and stimulation: listening to the body’s nerve signals, interpreting them, and delivering precise electrical pulses to treat disease or restore function. Instead of adapting generic components or funding years of custom chip design, developers can build on MintNeuro’s chips to create smaller, lower-power neural devices and move from research to clinical use sooner.

MintNeuro’s modular architecture provides the building blocks to combine sensing, processing and stimulation efficiently at the system level, supporting more integrated closed-loop interfaces with the nervous system.

Commenting on the investment, Dorian Haci, Co-Founder and CEO of MintNeuro, said: “Every neural device depends on the chips inside it. Today, most device and therapy developers still have to choose between generic components that were never designed for the body and years of custom chip development. We are building the chips that end that trade-off. This funding moves us from technology validation to commercial scale-up, with more customer programmes, faster product launches and our chips in the hands of many more developers. Our ambition is clear: to make MintNeuro the semiconductor platform the global neurotechnology industry builds on.”

Michelle Robson, Founding Partner at Odyssey Ventures, said: “Neural devices such as BCIs represent one of the most exciting frontier technology opportunities today, and significant value will accrue to those solving the foundational infrastructure challenges that stand between innovation and widespread adoption. MintNeuro has the technology, market pull and ambition to become a globally important semiconductor company, and we are backing this exceptional team as it scales from the UK into global markets, including Silicon Valley.”

Yiannis Eftychiou, Co-Founder and Partner at 33East, said: “What stood out to us is the sheer breadth of the hardware opportunity. MintNeuro is solving critical needs for neural implants today, with technology that can extend into wearables and beyond.”

Johnathan Matlock, Co-Founder and General Partner at Empirical Ventures, said: “We invested before the chips were in hand, and we are reinvesting now that MintNeuro has working silicon, deep customer traction and a clear path to becoming a category-defining semiconductor business.”

Professor Tim Denison, Chair of MintNeuro, added: “Neurotechnology is entering a phase where specialised hardware will determine how far, and how fast, the field can go. MintNeuro’s semiconductor technology is well-placed to remove the key obstacle to industry scale, which could dramatically accelerate the pace of innovation.”

About MintNeuro (www.mintneuro.com)

Founded as a spinout from Imperial College London, MintNeuro is building the semiconductor foundation for the next generation of neurotechnology. The company develops specialised chips that enable devices to connect with the brain and nervous system, helping innovators create new therapies for neurological and mental health conditions.

As neurotechnology moves from research labs into clinical and commercial deployment, MintNeuro is addressing one of the sector’s most critical challenges: providing a scalable semiconductor platform designed specifically for neural devices. By removing the need for custom chip development or adapted generic components, MintNeuro aims to accelerate innovation, reduce development barriers and help bring transformative neurotechnology products to market faster.

The company works with leading developers, researchers and medical device companies, with a long-term vision to become the industry-standard semiconductor platform powering the future of brain-computer interfaces, bioelectronic medicine and other technologies that connect humans and machines.

MintNeuro’s immediate focus is medical applications, where size, power, reliability and safety are critical. The same core technology has the potential to become the chip layer for any device that connects to the brain and nervous system, providing the interface between human biology and the digital world.

SOURCE MintNeuro

The investment in the Via Verde platform marks Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) entry into the Italian biomethane market, with a development pipeline of 20 biomethane projects.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 7, 2026 — Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its Advanced Bioenergy Fund II (ABF II), has reached final investment decision (FID) on Via Verde, an Italian biomethane platform. ABF II invests primarily in the development, construction, and operation of biogas plants across Europe, converting agricultural waste and other sustainable feedstock into biomethane.

Via Verde represents ABF II’s first investment and marks CIP’s entry into the Italian biomethane market. The investment will create local jobs and supply domestically produced biomethane, which will replace imported fossil gas, supporting both Italy’s energy independence and decarbonisation efforts.

Via Verde comprises a development pipeline of 20 projects strategically located across multiple regions of Italy, including Lombardy, Abruzzo, and Campania. Each plant is expected to process approximately 60,000 to 100,000 tonnes of agricultural waste annually.

Once the 20 projects are fully operational, the Via Verde platform will deliver approximately 1 TWh of biomethane annually, equivalent to the annual gas consumption of around 60,000 Italian households.

Andreas F. Brandt, Partner at CIP, says of the new investment: “Via Verde marks our entry into one of Europe’s most attractive biomethane markets, giving us a strong foothold as Italy scales towards its 2030 biomethane targets. CIP will leverage its advanced bioenergy expertise to support Via Verde’s experienced local team and substantial project pipeline, laying a strong foundation for long-term growth. We believe biomethane will play a key role in strengthening Italy’s energy independence and supporting its transition to a lower-carbon energy system.”

Supported by favourable market fundamentals and policy support mechanisms, Via Verde is expected to establish an early at-scale position in the Italian biomethane market and support the expansion of domestic renewable gas production.

Notes to Editors

Media Contact
E-mail: [email protected] / M: +45 2844 7756

About Advanced Bioenergy Fund II

Copenhagen Infrastructure Advanced Bioenergy Fund II (CI ABF II) started fundraising in summer 2025. The fund leverages the seed portfolio and the in-house capabilities that CIP has built over the past four years for CI ABF I, providing a financially attractive product to our investors, both in terms of returns and diversified risks.

About Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners

Founded in 2012, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (CIP) is a global fund manager and leading investor in energy infrastructure.

Through its funds, CIP invests in power generation (solar and wind), energy storage, transmission and distribution, advanced bioenergy, low-carbon fuels and carbon capture.

With 15 funds currently under management, CIP is trusted by over 200 of the world’s largest and most sophisticated institutions. CIP has projects in more than 30 countries, with presence on the ground through a network of more than 2,300 professionals.

For more information, visit www.cip.com.

Legal disclaimer

This release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any security. Any investment involves substantial risks including complete loss of capital. There can be no assurance that CIP will be able to implement the strategy described herein or, if implemented, that it will lead to successful results. Similarly, there can be no assurance that CIP will be able to maintain the advantages discussed herein over time or outperform third parties or the financial markets generally.

Certain information contained herein constitutes “forward-looking statements,” which can be identified by the use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” or comparable terminology.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, changes in economic conditions, political changes, legal and regulatory requirements, interest rate fluctuations, as well as changes in markets, prospects and competition. There can be no assurance that historical trends will continue. Some of the views expressed herein are the opinions of CIP and should not be construed as absolute statements and are subject to change without notice.

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

https://news.cision.com/copenhagen-infrastructure-partners-p-s/r/copenhagen-infrastructure-partners-invests-in-via-verde–italian-biomethane-platform,c4405433

Zcash Foundation joins Project Eleven to shape institutional custody infrastructure for the post-quantum and AI era as more than $1 trillion in digital assets remain at risk of attack by sufficiently powerful quantum computers.

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2026 — Project Eleven, the post-quantum security company for digital assets, today introduced Strongpoint, its flagship custody platform built for navigating the transition to post-quantum cryptography. Zcash Foundation joins Project Eleven as an initial development partner, helping shape Strongpoint’s institutional custody architecture.

Strongpoint is designed to give institutions a consistent control layer for securing and managing digital assets as networks change the cryptographic standards underneath them. Rather than rebuilding key-management, transaction approval, and audit infrastructure for each new signature scheme or network migration, institutions can maintain a common set of security controls while the underlying cryptography evolves.

“Institutional digital asset custody was built for a world where the cryptography underneath it rarely changed,” said Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven. “Quantum computing is upending that model. If every network adopts a different solution, institutions could be forced to rebuild their security infrastructure again and again. Strongpoint is built around crypto-agility, so the cryptography can change without the infrastructure changing with it.”

“Institutions holding shielded ZEC need custody infrastructure that respects Zcash’s privacy model today and can adapt as cryptographic standards change,” said Alex Bornstein, Executive Director of Zcash Foundation. “Project Eleven is building Strongpoint with the crypto-agility and technical foundation needed to support those requirements over time, helping strengthen custody infrastructure for the broader ecosystem.”

Zcash Foundation Joins as an Initial Development Partner
Zcash Foundation joins as an initial development partner for Strongpoint, bringing its expertise in privacy-preserving cryptography and protocol engineering to Strongpoint’s institutional custody architecture. Zcash’s privacy-preserving design introduces sophisticated key-management and transaction requirements, making it a valuable environment for developing custody infrastructure capable of supporting evolving cryptographic standards.

The collaboration will help inform how Strongpoint handles network-specific requirements while maintaining a consistent institutional control framework across assets and cryptographic schemes.

Post-Quantum Migrations Are Taking Different Paths
The digital asset industry’s post-quantum transition is becoming a coordination challenge. Among the networks represented by the 20 largest assets in CoinGecko’s Layer 1 (L1) category by market capitalization, Project Eleven found that only 10 have published a network-specific technical proposal, roadmap or implementation path for migrating transaction or account authentication to post-quantum cryptography.

Those approaches span at least six proposed post-quantum signature schemes and vary significantly in how they address account migration, key rotation and legacy-asset recovery. Even where technical roadmaps exist, operational readiness remains uneven, leaving institutions to navigate different standards and requirements across networks.

For institutions operating across multiple networks, that fragmentation means accommodating different cryptographic standards and migration requirements without losing a consistent security model. Strongpoint is designed to provide that common operating layer while allowing the cryptography beneath it to change independently.

Early Access and Deployment
Project Eleven targets production deployment in Q4 2026 and is working with a limited group of development partners ahead of general availability. Additional development partners and supported networks will be announced. Institutions interested in early access can request more information at projecteleven.com/strongpoint.

Founded in 2024 by Alex Pruden and Conor Deegan, Project Eleven raised a $20 million Series A led by Castle Island Ventures in January 2026, bringing its total funding to $26 million. The company recently acquired Riva Labs, a specialized engineering firm with deep expertise in post-quantum signatures, wallet infrastructure and blockchain cryptography, expanding Project Eleven’s in-house research and protocol-engineering capabilities.

Methodology: Project Eleven reviewed the 20 largest assets in CoinGecko’s Layer 1 (L1) category by market capitalization on September 25, 2026. A network was counted only where an official network organization, foundation, core development team or recognized protocol-improvement process had published a network-specific technical proposal, roadmap or implementation path for migrating transaction or account authentication to post-quantum cryptography. General research programs, statements of intent and post-quantum work that did not specify such a migration path were not counted. Draft technical proposals were included and do not imply network approval or adoption.

Alex Pruden and Conor Deegan are available for interview.

About Project Eleven
Project Eleven builds resilient infrastructure and tooling for the post-quantum era. The company develops scalable solutions that strengthen security across a rapidly evolving quantum threat landscape. With deep expertise in cryptography, blockchain, and financial systems, Project Eleven bridges advanced post-quantum research with real-world implementations that prepare the digital asset ecosystem for the future. For more information, visit www.projecteleven.com.

About Zcash Foundation
Zcash Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, builds financial privacy infrastructure for the public good, primarily serving users of the Zcash protocol and blockchain. With expertise in cryptography, protocol engineering, and open-source development, Zcash Foundation works to sustain and improve open financial networks that allow anyone to protect their own privacy, on their own terms. For more information, visit zfnd.org.

Media Contacts
Aubrey Strobel / Elena Nisonoff, Halcyon Communications
[email protected] 

SOURCE Project Eleven

Powering nearly 1,000 stores and processing $2B in GMV, Santé introduces autonomous AI sales tools to drive retail revenue

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2026 — Santé, a leading fintech and AI platform for the wine and spirits industry, today announced a $15 million Series A funding led by FINTOP alongside returning investors Bonfire Ventures, Operator Collective, Y Combinator, and Veridical Ventures. The funding comes 6 months after Santé announced its $7.6M seed, and during a period of immense growth where the business grew by 500%, serving nearly 1,000 retailers processing $2B in annual GMV.

The Problem: Regulatory Friction and Complex Inventory

Liquor and wine retailers face structural operational challenges that legacy and generic software does not handle, ranging from local tax compliance, strict state regulations and keg returns. Current market dynamics have made it more difficult than ever to run a liquor store. Between ongoing labor shortages and rising costs, these business owners are being squeezed on all sides.

Santé’s Solution: The First AI & Fintech Platform built for Wine & Liquor

Santé is taking a unique approach that is primed for the age of AI. The company’s platform covers every aspect of the liquor store business: in-store, eCommerce, delivery apps, marketing, subscriptions and more. Santé leverages the data across these products to fuel internal AI Agents that go to work for store owners; covering tasks across receiving and ordering goods, marketing to customers, SEO and employee scheduling.

Key Platform features include:

• AI Merchandising Agent: 25% of goods take 12+ months to turn a profit. Sante’s Merchandising Agents turns slow movers into cash flow with suggested pricing and promotional strategies based on item-level sales data for each store.
• AI-Powered Invoices: Scans distributor invoices and automatically updates inventory levels and unit costs in minutes, eliminating manual data entry.
• Marketing Agent: Segments customers based on purchase history to launch intelligent email and SMS campaigns to promote relevant products, events and discounts.
• Automated E-Commerce Cataloging: Generates SEO-optimized descriptions and images for thousands of wine, beer, and spirit SKUs instantly.
• Unified Delivery App Integrations: Aggregates orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Instacart directly into the POS system.
• Employee Scheduling Agent: Leveraging store-level sales patterns to schedule employees across each role so that stores are appropriately staffed based on consumer demand every day of the week
• Liquor-Specific Logic: Native tools built for bottle/keg tracking, vintage management, and complex mix-and-match case discounts.

“When we started Santé, our mission was to eliminate the operational headaches that plague independent wine and liquor retailers,” said Darren Fike, CEO of Santé. “Now that we’ve spent the last year showing that, we want to build a growth engine that proactively drives sales, re-engages lapsed customers, and actively boosts the bottom line of our customers.”

“It’s rare to find a founder and team at this stage that have both proven the solution is superior and are executing at an elite velocity in a massive, complex vertical,” said Brittani Roberts, the Director at FINTOP who leads the firm’s Vertical SaaS and Embedded Fintech thesis. “The team has built intuitive and practical AI back office workflows, with embedded fintech throughout the platform, so store owners aren’t simply getting another tool to track inventory. They’re getting an intelligent platform that directly expands their profit margins and operational scale.”

To learn more about Santé, visit www.santehq.com.

About Santé

Santé is the complete operating system for wine and liquor stores, with receiving, e-commerce, delivery app management, marketing, and more in one platform. Santé helps these entrepreneurs generate more revenue with an AI-powered operating system, built for the modern era of retail. The company is backed by leading investors including FINTOP, Bonfire Ventures, along with Operator Collective, Y Combinator and Veridical Ventures. Learn more at www.santehq.com.

Riley Munks
PR Advisor
Activate PR
https://www.activate-pr.com/
[email protected]

This release was issued through WebWire®. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com.

SOURCE Santé

Investment will expand the USI CDFI small business loan fund and bring capital, technical assistance, and pathways to ownership to entrepreneurs in five additional cities.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 6, 2026 — Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) announced they received a $1.5 million grant from Truist Foundation. USI is a national institution advancing people-centered, place-based strategies that strengthen families, build community wealth, and transform neighborhoods nationwide.

The grant will support the expansion of the USI Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), creating stronger bridges to capital, business growth, and wealth creation for emerging entrepreneurs in Memphis, TN; Fort Worth, TX; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; and Philadelphia, PA.

The new grant builds on a $1.5 million grant Truist Foundation awarded to USI in 2023 to advance similar work in Norfolk, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Fort Myers, FL.

Together, USI and Truist Foundation are working to change more than who has access to capital; they are helping change the systems that determine who have the opportunity to build, own, grow, and create wealth.

The grant funding will allow the USI CDFI to expand its loan fund, business support infrastructure, and application system to reach entrepreneurs who have faced barriers to traditional sources of capital. Business owners will have access not only to financing, but also to credit-building tools, technical assistance, knowledge, networks, and resources necessary to start, sustain, and grow thriving enterprises.

“Economic growth begins with opportunity. When entrepreneurs have access to the capital, support, and resources needed to bring their vision to life, the impact extends far beyond a single business,” said Don Terrell, Truist market president. “Through this work, Truist Foundation is supporting the people and communities that drive local economies forward. We are honored to be a part of this initiative that expands opportunity, encourages business growth, and helps create lasting prosperity in Memphis and communities across the country.”

Terrell joined USI Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Donovan Duncan to formally announce the grant during a community celebration and launch event at Epicenter in Memphis.

“We are deeply grateful to Truist Foundation for continuing this journey with us. This work is about more than access to capital; it is about ownership, economic power, and creating the conditions for people and communities to build wealth on their own terms,” said Duncan. “Entrepreneurs are not simply beneficiaries of neighborhood revitalization; they are builders, employers, innovators, and essential drivers of it. This investment allows us to put capital and infrastructure behind their ideas and aspirations. What we are launching in Memphis and these additional communities is part of a much larger movement toward community ownership and shared prosperity. And we believe this is only the beginning.”

For nearly five decades, USI has worked alongside families and communities to confront the systems and conditions that perpetuate poverty. Its work recognizes that neighborhood transformation cannot be measured solely by new buildings or physical investment. Lasting transformation requires families to be stable, residents to have economic power, entrepreneurs to have access to capital, and communities to participate in and benefit from the wealth being created around them.

Through this work, USI is investing in that broader vision: communities where residents are not displaced from opportunity but positioned to own, lead, build, and prosper.

USI CDFI

Since 2018, USI’s CDFI has raised and deployed nearly $12 million in financing to support affordable housing development and economic growth. These investments have contributed to the creation of 3,820 jobs and the preservation of nearly 2,315 units of housing nationwide.

USI has also supported more than 250 entrepreneurs through technical assistance. 

The USI CDFI is an extension of the institution’s broader commitment to economic mobility and community wealth building. By combining flexible capital, technical assistance, business infrastructure, and USI’s deep presence in communities, the CDFI is helping build an ecosystem in which entrepreneurs can move from ideas to enterprises, enterprises to employers, and economic participation to ownership and wealth. Learn more at www.usi-cdfi.org.

Urban Strategies, Inc.

Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) is a national nonprofit institution with nearly five decades of experience working alongside communities to build the conditions in which children, families, and neighborhoods can thrive.

Founded in 1978, USI has grown from a community-based organization into a national platform for people-centered, place-based transformation. Working at the intersection of housing, education, health, economic mobility, community leadership, and systems change, USI brings residents, public agencies, philanthropy, business, and community institutions together around a shared commitment to expanding opportunity and building stronger communities.

USI’s work is grounded in a simple belief: people should not merely survive neighborhood change; they should have the power, resources, and opportunity to shape it and prosper.

Today, USI is active in 63 communities across 19 states and two territories, partnering with more than 100,000 individuals, 30,000 families, and a network of more than 1,000 organizations.

Across its work, USI is helping move communities from programs to systems change, from access to ownership, and from managing poverty to building pathways toward prosperity and generational wealth. Learn more at www.usi-inc.org.

Truist Foundation

Truist Foundation is committed to Truist Financial Corporation’s (NYSE: TFC) purpose to inspire and build better lives and communities. The Foundation, an endowed private foundation established in 2020 whose operating budget is independent of Truist Financial Corporation, makes strategic investments in a wide variety of nonprofit organizations centered around two focus areas: building career pathways to economic mobility and strengthening small businesses to ensure all communities have an opportunity to thrive. Embodying these focus areas are the Foundation’s leading initiatives – the Inspire Awards and Where It Starts. Learn more at www.TruistFoundation.org.

SOURCE Urban Strategies, Inc

Three-year agreement brings Tyler robots to Northeast projects, multiplying skilled crews’ floor tiling capacity and reducing physical strain & injury

MORGANVILLE, N.J., Oct. 6, 2026 — Human Friendly Robotics (HFR) today announced a three-year robotic tiling contract worth up to $4 million with commercial subcontractor, Flooring Concepts of NJ. HFR will deploy its Tyler robots alongside Flooring Concepts’ installers across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the greater New York City metropolitan area.

A contract of this size for robotically installed flooring is a milestone first.

The installation capacity purchased represents at least 15%-40% of Flooring Concepts’ LVT tiling work over the next three years. HFR’s autonomous tiling robot, Tyler, is the flagship technology solution for accelerating commercial flooring buildouts.

“Tyler multiplies a tile setter’s efficiency and output,” said Shamoon Siddiqui, CEO of Human Friendly Robotics. “Our customers have more work than their crews can fulfill. We give skilled professionals a tool to complete their work 8X faster, and without tiring. Ultimately, we’re reducing physical strain and helping tile setters build longer careers in the trade.”

The agreement follows Starnet Commercial Flooring’s recent announcement welcoming HFR as their robotics service provider within its network. Their ~200 member subcontractors represent $4 billion or more in combined annual sales. Starnet announcement, network information.

Led by President John Pilot, Flooring Concepts is pioneering the adoption of robotic assistance across a substantial volume of commercial flooring work. Pilot and his crew have been working closely with the HFR team on various deployments with huge success.

“Growing our business starts with supporting our people,” said Pilot. “Tyler will help us expand capacity, improve scheduling and reduce some of the hardest physical demands on our crews. Thankfully, I can just pay per square foot of install instead of purchasing the equipment. It’s an investment in our workforce and our customers without undue capital expenditures.”

Meeting demand with the workforce already in place

An aging workforce and persistent recruiting challenges constrain installation capacity. In September 2026, AGC and NCCER reported that 42% of surveyed construction firms experienced project delays because of worker shortages. AGC/NCCER survey.

Flooring Concepts reports that its pipeline already includes significant work scheduled for 2028. Tyler helps existing crews address that demand with greater output and more predictable schedules.

Less strain, more sustainable careers

Tile installation involves repeated kneeling, bending, lifting and placement.

Tyler handles repetitive placement while installers retain responsibility for cuts, edges, finishing and quality control. With training, tile setters can operate Tyler without a robotics background. Tyler information.

The robot maintains production as workers tire toward the end of a shift and supports overnight or around-the-clock installation through staffed shifts where conditions permit. Operating Tyler also gives experienced tradespeople a less physically taxing way to apply their skills.

HFR reports that Tyler has already been deployed to dozens of jobsites in the New York City metropolitan area and Puerto Rico, including schools, malls and government buildings. The Flooring Concepts agreement turns that field experience into a sustained commercial commitment.

With demand exceeding available labor, HFR’s focus is on multiplying worker capacity. The company expects this agreement to be the first of many bringing robotic assistance into everyday flooring work.

About Human Friendly Robotics

Human Friendly Robotics develops robots that assist skilled tradespeople. Its Tyler robot multiplies a worker’s flooring installation capacity while reducing repetitive physical work. Visit https://www.humanfriendly.bot.

About Flooring Concepts of NJ

Flooring Concepts of NJ is a New Jersey-based commercial flooring contractor led by President John Pilot. Visit https://www.flooringconceptsinc.com.

Media contact: Don Skenderian, [email protected], 508-463-4753

SOURCE Human Friendly Robotics