While Finance teams have been slow to adopt AI for fear of errors or hallucination, Stampli’s AI has been successfully deployed in one of Finance’s most sensitive functions for years.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 3, 2023 — Stampli, a leader in AI-powered accounts payable automation, today announced that it has raised $61 million in a Series D venture funding round led by funds managed by Blackstone, with the participation of existing investors Insight Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta, and NextWorld Capital. This latest funding round takes the total amount raised by the company to over $148 million. 

Accounts Payable automation and B2B payments represent a massive and largely unpenetrated market. Put simply, every business has to pay bills, which means every business has an accounts payable function. Sizing the market opportunity, Deutsche Bank Research estimated in 2021 that AP automation and ePayments combined represent ~$70bn in US revenue opportunity, not including the international opportunity, which they estimated could be ~3-5x larger.

Launched in 2015, Stampli is today one of the fastest-growing providers of accounts payable automation and ePayment services. In August alone, Stampli processed more than 1 million invoices totaling a collective value of more than $5 billion.

A model for AI in sensitive financial applications
Stampli’s 1,300 accounts payable automation customers trust its AI with invoice capture, expense allocation, approval routing, fraud detection, and more.

These activities are the final checkpoint before money is released, which means there’s zero tolerance for errors or hallucinations.

This safe and effective use of AI is significant because today’s CFOs feel immense pressure to embrace AI for faster workflows, lower costs, and fewer mistakes. But AI is infamous for issues with data security and unpredictable outcomes. Stampli’s success demonstrates that AI can succeed even in finance. Stampli also provides a blueprint for CFOs to maintain human validation of critical data as well as to ensure rank-and-file team members accept AI as a partner.    

“Before we brought on Stampli, our AP team was nervous that the AI would be a threat rather than an asset to their jobs,” says Amanda Brown, Controller of Wenspok Companies, a $150M+ Wendy’s franchisee that operates 67 restaurant locations in 10 states. “But with Billy the Bot now performing such time-consuming manual tasks as coding invoices to the correct general ledger accounts, the AP team has seen their responsibilities shift to projects that add much greater value to the business. Today, we think of Billy as a team member, not an AI. Honestly, we love Billy the Bot and frequently refer to it by name.”

Stampli’s core promise: Implementation without disruption
The efficiency and cost benefits of accounts payable automation are widely known. For CFOs, the overriding concern in choosing a provider is minimizing the disruption of implementation to existing processes and the ERP systems, and ensuring the fastest time to value.

Stampli’s solution is designed specifically to eliminate implementation risk. Stampli builds its ERP integrations in-house to support the full range of native functionality, allowing customers to implement without reworking their ERP, changing their existing processes, or engaging expensive consultants; in addition, it reduces deployment time to days instead of months. Stampli’s adaptability makes it especially well-suited for complex multi-entity corporate structures, highly regulated industries such as healthcare, and businesses that have already automated their AP but are disappointed with their current provider.

“Stampli has reduced our invoice processing time by 75%, which has a strategic impact on cash flow management,” says Brown. “With a more accurate picture of our operating costs, Wenspok leadership can schedule major operational projects with confidence in budgeting and timing of cash flow requirements. At the tactical level, Stampli has created efficiencies across the board — not just on the AP team, but for all our operating team members outside of finance that we consult to validate the bills we receive. The average invoice approval time has dropped from 16 days to 2 days, and we think we will bring that number down even further.”

Stampli offers its fast implementation for more than 70 different ERPs, including systems from Sage, Oracle, Microsoft, QuickBooks, SAP, Acumatica, IBM and many others. Beyond Accounts Payable, Stampli offers an integrated suite of FinTech products, including Stampli Credit Card and Stampli Direct Pay.     

Blackstone’s focus on AI and strategic finance
This investment in Stampli highlights Blackstone’s thematic focus on investing in businesses driving the digitization of the economy, as well as those enabling and benefitting from AI adoption. In Stampli, Blackstone sees a company that is well positioned at the intersection of these trends.

With stakes in more than 230 companies and 12,600 real estate assets, Blackstone uniquely understands the strategic necessity to automate legacy processes with the benefit of AI technology, and it is excited to partner with Stampli as it continues to work to ensure that its portfolio is equipped with the right tools and technologies needed to succeed.

Additionally, Blackstone has been an industry pioneer in its commitment to invest significant resources to streamline procurement across its portfolio and then garner strategic insights across spend categories from that data. Stampli stands to benefit from Blackstone’s reach and scale as it builds a best-in-class offering.

Quotes
Eyal Feldman, CEO and Co-founder of Stampli, said, “In this macroeconomic environment, where companies have to be more careful with their spend and their cash, Stampli became the solution of choice due to our superb user experience, super-fast implementation and deep ERP integration capabilities. We chose Blackstone as our partner because of our shared vision and experience driving operational efficiencies through best practices, technology and AI. I am honored that they see a similar fit in our company. Together, we will make Stampli one of the largest FinTech companies in the world.”

Yifat Oron, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone and head of the firm’s office in Israel, said, “In today’s environment, building a digital-first modern finance organization is a top priority for CFOs and controllers. While we are still in the early innings of AP automation, Stampli stands out as a transformative leader in this extremely large, underpenetrated market. Stampli’s best-in-class team has built a product loved by customers and differentiated by its ease-of-use and out of the box integration. We are thrilled to have Stampli join our growing portfolio of innovative companies.”

Praveen Akkiraju, Managing Director at Insight Partners, said, “Stampli continues to provide a differentiated accounts payable automation platform by building deep ERP integrations and best-in-market AI/ML features that bring enterprise-grade functionality to the midmarket. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Stampli as they expand and grow.”

MARKET DATA SOURCE: Deutsche Bank Research. “Understanding the B2B Payments Sector.” Published 6 October 2021.

About Stampli
Stampli is a complete AP automation platform that brings together accounts payable communications, documentation, and payments in one place. By centering communications on top of the invoice itself, AP departments collaborate and communicate better with approvers, vendors, and anyone involved with purchases, allowing approvals to happen 5x faster. Stampli’s AI, Billy the Bot, learns an organization’s unique patterns to simplify GL and costing-related coding, automate approval and verification flows, identify duplicate invoices, and reduce time spent on manual data entry. Stampli’s flexible platform fits seamlessly into any existing processes and integrates with financial systems, including NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and more. For more information, visit stampli.com.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $1 trillion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, private and liquid credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, public securities and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. 

SOURCE Stampli

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2023 — Strategic Cyber Ventures, a leading cybersecurity-focused venture capital firm, is excited to announce a $1 million dollar investment into Evo Security’s latest funding round. Evo Security builds enterprise-grade identity and access management products tailored for IT Managed Service Providers (MSPs). This strategic investment reinforces our commitment to national security by supporting early-stage cybersecurity companies and fostering innovation that secures our nation.

“The first time I met Chris and Hank at Strategic Cyber Ventures, I knew I wanted to partner with them. Their depth of knowledge, experience, and overall astuteness on all things cyber was an obvious value add,” says Michael Roth, Evo Security’s Founder & CEO. “I was also impressed with their industry advisors, who were already starting to help us craft ways to up-level before SCV even invested. I’m incredibly grateful and excited for the opportunity to build Evo Security with a security-focused partner like SCV.”

Identity and Access Management is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing segments of cybersecurity in the MSP-focused channel given the plethora of compliance, insurance, and regulatory requirements. It is also a core component of almost every cybersecurity framework and certification to ensure proper authentication and access control is managed and verified across critical MSP, and MSP client systems. MSPs are not only challenged with protecting their clients from the most common breaches related to social engineering but are also challenged with protecting themselves.

“We are excited to support Evo Security in their mission to help MSPs make their identity and access management safer,” said Hank Thomas, Founder & CEO at Strategic Cyber Ventures. “Their innovative approach to cybersecurity aligns perfectly with our investment strategy, and we believe this partnership will yield significant advancements in the IAM industry.”

Strategic Cyber Ventures is thrilled to be a part of Evo Security’s journey in being the industry’s most trusted IAM company dedicated to developing enterprise-grade, 100% channel focused IAM solutions exclusively for MSPs. We are committed to working closely with the Evo Security team to continue to support their growth and innovation in the cybersecurity industry.

About Strategic Cyber Ventures:
Cybersecurity is national security, and we are a D.C.-based venture capital firm on a mission to find cutting-edge startups that help us make an impact. We go beyond the check to help our founders win by leveraging our industry connections and experience as cybersecurity veterans to fuel their companies from inception to exit.

For more information about Strategic Cyber Ventures and our investment strategy, please visit https://www.scvgroup.com. Connect with us on Twitter @SCV_Cyber to be part of our mission in shaping the future of cybersecurity.

About Evo Security:
Based in Austin, Texas, Evo Security is an identity and access management cybersecurity company that builds enterprise-grade identity and access management products with the MSP in mind. Evo offers two products for MSPs. Evo Secure Login is a product built for both the MSP and their end user clients that offers Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Single Sign On (SSO) for Windows and Mac endpoints, web applications, and network devices. Evo Elevated Access is a product built for the MSP use case that allows their service delivery team to access their client devices as an administrator without the need to copy/paste administrative credentials from third party tools.

For more information about Evo Security, please visit https://www.evosecurity.com/ or book a demo here.

SOURCE Strategic Cyber Ventures

Geometry Engine is the First Step to Modernizing Hardware Design Tools

Announces $5M Series Seed Financing Led by Venrex Partners

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3, 2023 — KittyCAD, the world’s only company to develop advanced tools for hardware design, announced today the release of first-ever geometry engine capabilities on their API. The KittyCAD API builds a bridge between hardware design, modern software, and machine learning, allowing others to build on top of these capabilities and develop solutions for their own visions.

Launched in July 2022, KittyCAD’s API enables customers to develop fully integrated suites of hardware design products. In addition to KittyCAD’s API, the company develops open-source applications on top of its own API, which are used by customers as starting points for their own application development. Three of these open-source applications are being built in public by KittyCAD alongside the release of the API’s geometry engine capability: the KittyCAD Scripting Language (KCL), used to programmatically generate hardware designs, the KittyCAD Modeling App (KCMA), a first of its kind GUI for simultaneously interacting with hardware designs through both code and visually in a single environment, and the KittyCAD diff viewer for visualizing differences in CAD files.

“KittyCAD allows modern software development to integrate with hardware design. Our API allows our customer’s software to talk to hardware designs, letting anyone develop hardware design tools on top of us that have never-before-seen capabilities,” says Jordan Noone, KittyCAD’s co-founder and Executive Chairman, who also led Relativity Space’s technical development as CTO and co-founder for five years.

“We’ve seen the power of our own API by developing our own open source applications on top of it, and have surprised ourselves even with how quickly we can develop applications that could not exist before our API,” says Jessie Frazelle, KittyCAD’s co-founder and CEO, who was previously Chief Product Officer at Oxide Computer Company and long-time infrastructure engineer.

Earlier this year, KittyCAD closed a $5M Series Seed financing led by Venrex Partners, a UK-based Venture Capital firm. The round also included participation from USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, Gaingels, Kelvin Beachum, Matt Terrell, Undeterred Capital, Liquid 2, Tom Preston-Werner’s Family Office, Madrona Venture Group, Bernie Lagrange, and Nat Friedman. The financing series will allow KittyCAD access to funds to continue hiring engineering talent to develop advanced hardware design tools and infrastructure.

ABOUT KITTYCAD 
KittyCAD develops advanced hardware design tools and infrastructure. KittyCAD was incubated within Embedded Ventures with additional investors including Venrex Partners, USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, Gaingels, Kelvin Beachum, Matt Terrell, Undeterred Capital, Liquid 2, Tom Preston-Werner’s Family Office, Madrona Venture Group, Bernie Lagrange, and Nat Friedman. KittyCAD is led by co-founders Jordan Noone, Jenna Bryant and Jessie Frazelle.

For more information:
KittyCAD, [email protected]
Erin Haworth, High10 Media for KittyCAD, erin@high10media.com

SOURCE KittyCAD

Company to apply for FDA clearance, expand clinical programs for additional indications and scale manufacturing

LOS GATOS, Calif., Oct. 3, 2023 — Akura Medical, a Shifamed portfolio company focused on a differentiated approach to effectively address the major challenges of venous thromboembolism (VTE), announced today the closing of its $35M Series B financing. The funds will be used to apply for FDA 510(k) clearance for the Akura Mechanical Thrombectomy Platform, support clinical trials for additional indications, and scale manufacturing capabilities. The financing was led by The Capital Partnership (TCP) and Cormorant Asset Management, with significant participation from the PA MedTech VC Fund, AMED Ventures, Lilly Asia Ventures, Unorthodox Ventures and Shifamed angel investors.

“Despite the proliferation of mechanical thrombectomy devices, significant challenges remain. The low-profile Akura platform is designed to remove soft and hard clots. Additionally, the system’s continuous monitoring of hemodynamics will allow physicians to assess physiologic changes when a substantial clot has been removed,” said Gautam Kainth, Managing Director, The Capital Partnership. “We are pleased to lead this round and look forward to working with the Akura team to bring this much needed solution to market.”

The Akura Mechanical Thrombectomy Platform is designed to be an easy-to-use, smaller bore system. The low-profile, steerable sheath allows physicians to bring the tip of the catheter directly to the proximal end of the clot without having to cross the clot. The platform’s integrated aspiration and maceration technology, incorporating intersecting jets, aims to enable efficient removal of mixed morphology clots. Additionally, pressure sensors provide real-time hemodynamic data, reducing the guesswork around case progress.

“The Akura thrombectomy platform is designed to provide large-bore catheter performance with a user-friendly system that will change how physicians approach thrombus removal in a clinically meaningful way,” stated Murali Srivathsa, President and Chief Executive Officer, Akura Medical. “We thank our investors for their strong, ongoing support as we continue to execute and deliver on our commitment to advance our differentiated solution for VTE.”

VTE occurs when a blood clot, often formed in a deep vein in the leg, severely restricts or blocks blood flow to the lungs, which can be life-threatening. As many as 900,000 people are affected annually in the US. Estimates suggest that 60,000-100,000 Americans die of VTE per year.¹

About Akura Medical, Inc.
Akura Medical, a privately held portfolio company of Shifamed LLC, is focused on a differentiated approach delivering an effective solution to address the major challenges of venous thromboembolism (VTE). To learn more about Akura Medical, please visit www.akuramed.com.

The Akura Medical mechanical thrombectomy platform is in the research and development phase and is not FDA cleared, CE Mark approved nor approved for sale worldwide.

About Shifamed, LLC.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Amr Salahieh, Shifamed is a highly specialized medical innovation hub focused on developing solutions that accelerate time to market, reduce risk, increase impact, and forge a path toward a world where patients are able to lead longer, healthier lives. To learn more about Shifamed, please visit www.shifamed.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennie Kim
SPRIG Consulting, LLC
[email protected]

References:

1. Centers for Disease Control, Data and Statistics on Venous Thromboembolism

SOURCE Akura Medical, Inc.

Partnership with Vista reinforces TRG Screen’s leadership in enterprise subscription spend and usage management; capital will accelerate growth initiatives to address an increasingly complex market data and information environment

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2023 — TRG Screen, the leading provider of enterprise subscription spend and usage management software, today announced a strategic growth investment from Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a leading global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data, and technology-enabled businesses. TRG Screen will use the capital to accelerate product innovation, talent, and go-to-market functions to meet the growing demand for transparency, compliance, and control of market data and information consumption.

TRG Screen also announced that Leigh Walters has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Walters, who will succeed Steve Matthews, has previously served as both President and Chief Operating Officer of TRG Screen since joining in 2017. As part of this planned transition, Matthews will assume the role of Executive Chairman after serving as CEO for the past nine years. He will continue to partner with Leigh and the company’s executive team in driving strategic growth.

“This investment from Vista comes following the tremendous success TRG Screen has achieved in providing our customers with leading subscription spend and usage management capabilities; it will also further accelerate our software and managed service offerings in response to the market’s demand for best-in-class solutions,” said Leigh Walters, CEO of TRG Screen.

“Following a successful investment with Pamlico Capital, we are excited to partner with Vista to continue our mission of delivering integrated customer solutions to optimize subscription spend and usage. Vista’s team of investors, operators, and technologists understand the unique opportunity of a company like TRG Screen, and we look forward to working with them in our next phase of growth,” added Steve Matthews, Executive Chairman of TRG Screen.

Driven by an ever-increasing demand for data and information, the subscription landscape continues to grow in both size and complexity, with financial market data alone representing $37.3 billion annual spend in 2022.¹ TRG Screen’s modern solutions provide actionable insights into spend and consumption patterns, providing customers with complex and expensive subscriptions with clear visibility into their spend, usage, and compliance, against a backdrop of increased cost pressure. TRG Screen currently serves more than 500 financial services organizations, law firms, and global enterprise customers that jointly manage over $8.5 billion in subscription spend.

“The proliferation of subscription-based services has made controlling costs, monitoring usage, and managing access a top priority for leading financial services organizations, law firms, and global enterprises. TRG Screen’s platform is mission-critical, providing customers with the visibility to make impactful business decisions. We congratulate Steve on positioning TRG Screen to define the future of subscription spend and usage management and are excited to partner with Leigh and the rest of the team to support TRG Screen’s long-term growth and success,” said Martin Taylor, Co-Head of Vista’s Foundation Fund and Senior Managing Director.

“We truly enjoyed working with Steve, Leigh, and the entire TRG Screen team. They are talented operators, and we are thankful to have had the opportunity to help them achieve their vision for the business,” said Walker Simmons, Partner at Pamlico Capital.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Vista, Raymond James served as financial advisor to Vista, and Oliver Wyman served as commercial diligence advisor to Vista. Alston & Bird LLP served as legal advisor and William Blair & Company and Truist Securities served as financial advisors to Pamlico and TRG Screen.

Additional financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

About TRG Screen
TRG Screen is the leading provider of enterprise subscription management solutions. Founded in 1998, TRG Screen is uniquely differentiated by its ability to monitor both spend and usage of data and information services including market data, research, software licenses, consulting and other corporate expenses. TRG Screen’s solutions provide its customers with full transparency into their vendor relationships and their subscription spend and usage, enabling them to optimize their enterprise subscriptions. TRG acquired Priory Solutions in 2016, Screen Group in 2018, Axon Financial Systems in 2019, Market Data Insights in 2020, and Jordan & Jordan’s Market Data Reporting (MDR) business in 2021 and with these acquisitions is now positioned as the global market leader in the financial, legal, and professional services markets. TRG Screen’s product portfolio includes subscription spend, usage, enquiry and compliance solutions. For more information visit trgscreen.com. Follow TRG Screen on LinkedIn, @TRG Screen, and on Twitter, @trgscreen.

About Vista Equity Partners
Vista is a leading global investment firm with more than $100 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023. The firm exclusively invests in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled organizations across private equity, permanent capital, credit and public equity strategies, bringing an approach that prioritizes creating enduring market value for the benefit of its global ecosystem of investors, companies, customers and employees. Vista’s investments are anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions and proven, flexible management techniques that drive sustainable growth. Vista believes the transformative power of technology is the key to an even better future – a healthier planet, a smarter economy, a diverse and inclusive community and a broader path to prosperity. Further information is available at vistaequitypartners.com. Follow Vista on LinkedIn, @Vista Equity Partners, and on Twitter, @Vista_Equity.

About Pamlico Capital
Pamlico Capital is a private equity firm founded in 1988 that invests in growing middle market companies in North America. Pamlico Capital seeks control-oriented growth equity investments of up to $200 million alongside founders and proven leaders in its target industries: communications, healthcare, services and software. The firm, based in Charlotte, NC, has assets under management of almost $3.5 billion. For additional information, please visit www.pamlicocapital.com.

Media Contact
For TRG Screen
Roel Mels
[email protected] 
+31 73 6122 940

For Vista Equity Partners
Brian Steel
[email protected] 
(212) 804-9170

For Pamlico Capital
Gillian Rhew
[email protected] 
(704) 414-7126

¹ Source: Burton-Taylor Financial Market Data/Analysis Global Share & Segment Sizing 2022

SOURCE TRG Screen

Round will enable scaling of nationwide network for spray drone services in agriculture 

IOWA CITY, Iowa, Oct. 3, 2023 — Rantizo, the leading operator network for spray drone services, announced today an expansion of its oversubscribed Series A funding round. Led by Leaps by Bayer, with Fulcrum Global Capital and Innova Memphis, this round will allow the new executive team to lean into a new growth strategy for Rantizo.

“Our vision is to build a service network that puts autonomy to work in ag, starting with spray drone services. We are excited to expand our nationwide operator network, deploy our work management and as-applied map software, and continue our exponential growth in acres treated,” said CEO Mariah Scott. 

Rantizo has more than doubled the total acres flown YoY, with operators in 30 states. Rantizo operators currently fly and apply with more than 20% of the Top 50 ag retailers, using spray drones to provide timely, local and precision application services for crops ranging from Arkansas rice to Iowa corn to Oregon hops and Idaho potatoes, enabling ag retailers to expand their services to growers. 

“A common mantra you hear across agriculture is ‘we are going to have to do more, with less.’ We believe that autonomy is the future of modern agriculture, and the Rantizo best-in-class software platform, deep drone operator network, and experienced management team provide acceleration not only for the emerging ‘spraying-as-a-service’ industry but the entire agriculture automation sector as well,” said Kevin Lockett, Partner at Fulcrum Global Capital. 

Up to 60% of ag retailers say their number one challenge within their operations is workforce availability. Another top five item on that list is the adoption and use of new technology. Rantizo provides a solution for both with a nationwide operator network, leading drone service and support, and job management software. 

“The way Rantizo addresses farmers’ problems by seamlessly integrating drone services into existing workflows is a perfect fit for our FarmTech focused fund,” said Jan Bouten, Partner at Innova Memphis.

“Rantizo has been a great partner in servicing our grower customers. The drones utilized by Rantizo allow us to provide crop inputs on acres that otherwise may miss an application or go untreated due to poor or wet conditions. We look forward to building upon our current successes and growing this partnership across more of our geography,” says Jordan Hart, Regional Operations Manager, Simplot.

This year, Rantizo more than tripled the acres treated for Simplot, a result of the new strategy introduced by CEO Mariah Scott. She joined the company in April, after leading Verizon Robotics and the successful acquisition of Skyward, a drone management company, by Verizon. At Rantizo, she strengthened the executive team, bringing in leaders with extensive experience in software, service operations, agricultural sales and marketing, aviation, drones and finance. 

“We are excited about the new leadership team at Rantizo. They bring the deep and diverse experience across drones and agriculture required to effectively deploy the service and deliver on the strategy” said PJ Amini, Sr. Director, Leaps by Bayer. 

About Rantizo 
Rantizo connects demand and supply for agricultural spray drone services with a turnkey service platform. We enable industry leading drone applicators by selling drones, support, software and training, and our service platform connects demand for acres to be sprayed to local operators. Rantizo operators fly and apply in 30 states, providing qualified, licensed, and insured precision application services. Look for us in a field near you or learn more at www.rantizo.com. For media inquiries please contact Brady Eilers. 

SOURCE Rantizo

FARMINGTON, Conn., Oct. 2, 2023  — Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN) (“Horizon”), a leading specialty finance company that provides capital in the form of secured loans to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and sustainability industries, today announced it has provided a $40 million venture loan facility to Elligo Health Research^®, Inc. (“Elligo”), of which $25 million has been initially funded.

Elligo is revolutionizing clinical research with its innovative technology platform, which empowers clients to seamlessly utilize non-traditional clinical trial sites, significantly increasing clients’ access to untapped trial participants. Its data-driven clinical trial recruitment and workflow automation solutions optimize and streamline workflows, while providing users with an integrated and diverse network of relevant clinical trial sites, patients and their own physicians with which to engage. Elligo is backed by premier investors including Morgan Stanley, Ally Bridge Group, Norwest Venture Partners, Piper Sandler, Noro-Moseley Partners and Hatteras Venture Partners. The company will use the loan proceeds for general growth and working capital purposes.           

“Elligo’s cutting-edge technology has the potential to solve the patient accessibility issue that has consistently impacted the clinical trial market,” said Gerald A. Michaud, President of Horizon. “With upwards of 95% of physicians and patients not able to participate in clinical trials, Elligo’s platform presents a compelling opportunity to accelerate clinical research, which is a win for the entire healthcare ecosystem. We are pleased to support Elligo in their ongoing efforts to improve the clinical trial system.”    

“We are excited to have Horizon’s support as we continue to make great strides in enhancing our adaptive engagement model,” said John Potthoff, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Elligo. “Our unique workflow automation feature, IntElligo^®, in tandem with Elligo’s data capabilities, enables us to facilitate access to more patients and more efficient and cost-effective trials, thus accelerating new therapies and devices to market, which is critical to improving healthcare for all.”

About Horizon Technology Finance

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN), externally managed by Horizon Technology Finance Management LLC, an affiliate of Monroe Capital, is a leading specialty finance company that provides capital in the form of secured loans to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and sustainability industries. The investment objective of Horizon is to maximize its investment portfolio’s return by generating current income from the debt investments it makes and capital appreciation from the warrants it receives when making such debt investments. Horizon is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut, with a regional office in Pleasanton, California, and investment professionals located throughout the U.S. Monroe Capital is a $17 billion asset management firm specializing in private credit markets across various strategies, including direct lending, technology finance, venture debt, opportunistic, structured credit, real estate and equity. To learn more, please visit horizontechfinance.com.

About Elligo Health Research^® 

Elligo Health Research accelerates clinical trials through direct access to known, diverse patients from more than 115 hospitals and major health systems, 200 healthcare-based sites, and 100 research-based sites, leveraging EHR data and utilizing our proprietary IntElligo technology. Our PatientSelect^® model engages our network of networks to optimize the intersection of healthcare and research and bring more patients clinical research as a care option. Elligo’s SiteSelect model and Research Partner Services enable sites to seamlessly participate in trials, further advancing the development of new pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device and diagnostic products.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements included herein may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future performance, condition or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Horizon undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement made herein. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

Contacts:

Investor Relations:
ICR
Garrett Edson
[email protected]
(860) 284-6450

Media Relations:
ICR
Chris Gillick
[email protected]
(646) 677-1819

SOURCE Horizon Technology Finance Corporation

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 2, 2023 — Piccolo Medical, Inc. (Piccolo) today announced the close of a $5.5M Series B financing led by Event Capital Strategies, a medical technology-focused investment fund based in New York. Funding from the Series B will support the further development and commercialization of the Company’s catheter guidance technology, including the next-generation SmartPICC® cathether tip location and navigation system that received 510(k) approval from the FDA in January 2021.

“Now it is time to execute,” said CEO Augustus (Augie) Shanahan who has led the organization since 2022 and has overseen both the development of the long-term strategy of Piccolo and the raising of the additional capital. “With crucial funding in place, we can now deliver Piccolo’s disruptive technology to patients and healthcare providers.” Over 8M central venous access devices are inserted into patients in the U.S. each year and catheter malpositioning can lead to ineffective delivery of life saving drugs as well as thrombosis, cardiac dysfunction and other significant health complications.

Chris Yamamoto, Managing Partner of Event Capital Strategies, has joined Piccolo’s Board of Directors alongside Drs. Mark Healy and Dan Burnett, the founder of the Theranova medical device incubator. 

According to Dr. Burnett, “Augie has stepped up and delivered. For a first-time CEO to enter this fundraising climate and secure a multi-year runway is impressive. With his background in engineering, he has the crucial experience needed to develop and launch this technology, and with the SmartPICC® we have the opportunity to make a real difference in patients’ lives. Augie has a long tenure in leadership roles in the Medical Device space. Over the past 15 years, he has brought advanced technologies to the market in vascular access, respiratory care, and orthopedics.”

Dr. Healy added, “We are thrilled that we now have the capital needed to bring this technology to market. This team continues to impress me, most of all, by focusing on helping providers improve patient care. It’s only a matter of time before they demonstrate the true clinical value of the SmartPICC® technology in identifying optimal catheter placement based on ionic dilution.”

About Piccolo Medical:
Piccolo Medical Inc. was spun out of the Theranova medical device incubator in San Francisco, CA. It has been funded by private investors as well as prestigious Phase I and II grant awards from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Aging. Piccolo received 510(k) clearance for the SmartPICC® System in 2021. Theranova has spun out several other successful medical device companies with products in the US, EU and CN markets.

Contact Info:
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.piccolomedical.com/

SOURCE Piccolo Medical

Leading social AI platform Chai empowers the community to create and experience the world’s most entertaining chat AI.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 2, 2023 — AI platform Chai today announced that it has closed a strategic investment with CoreWeave, a specialized cloud provider of large-scale GPU-accelerated workloads.

The deal caps Chai’s valuation at $450 million and follows several months on from Chai’s pre-seed round in which it raised $2 million to further the company’s mission of creating a more open and democratic AI platform.

CoreWeave’s strategic investment in Chai will go towards powering one of the first large-scale AI language model competitions, where competitors submit language models to compete for user engagement in Chai’s popular entertainment app. Winners in the competition are rewarded with cash prizes and the prestige of the title.

Chai has also deployed its service on top of CoreWeave’s infrastructure, meaning every message sent on the platform goes through CoreWeave’s cloud.

“CoreWeave has the best insight into the inner workings of our business out of everyone”, said Chai CEO William Beauchamp. “As our user base continues to grow, so will our demand for CoreWeave’s infrastructure offerings”.

For more information visit, https://www.chai-research.com/ or https://twitter.com/chai_research

Press Contact:

Joe Nelson
+1 (626) 594-8966

SOURCE Chai