BEIJING, July 19, 2023 — Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the “Company” or “Origin”), an agriculture technology company, announced today that it has been awarded a grant of RMB 2 million (approximately $280,000 USD) from the Xinjiang government. The grant aims to support Origin’s efforts to build a local Germplasm Bank in Xinjiang and the Company’s contract growing of Nutritionally Enhanced Corn (NEC) in the region.

Dr. Gengchen Han, Chairman of Origin Agritech, expressed his gratitude for the government’s support and endorsement of the Company’s efforts. “We are deeply grateful for this show of support from the Chinese government. This grant not only provides valuable resources for our work, but also serves as a significant validation of our efforts to modernize agriculture in China and contribute to regional food security,” Dr. Han stated.

The Company believes that the grant signifies the government’s commitment to modernizing the agriculture sector and signals the potential for future support for initiatives aimed at improving the agricultural landscape in China.

About Origin Agritech Limited

Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing, is a leading Chinese agricultural technology company. In crop seed biotechnologies, Origin Agritech’s phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive the Bio-Safety Certificate from China’s Ministry of Agriculture. Over the years, Origin has established a robust biotechnology seed pipeline including products with glyphosate tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits. For further information, please visit the Company’s website at www.originagritech.com. The company also maintains a twitter account for updating investors on company and industry developments, which is @origin_agritech.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements address expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and contain words like “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “will,” “would,” “target,” and similar expressions and variations. Forward-looking statements address matters that are uncertain. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions and expectations which may not be realized. They are based on management’s current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates but involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company’s control. Some of the important factors that could cause the company’s actual results to differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements are: failure to develop and market new products and optimally manage product life cycles; ability to respond to market acceptance, rules, regulations and policies affecting our products; failure to appropriately manage process safety and product stewardship issues; changes in laws and regulations or political conditions; global economic and capital markets conditions, such as inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; business or supply disruptions; natural disasters and weather events and patterns; ability to protect and enforce the company’s intellectual property rights; and separation of underperforming or non-strategic assets or businesses. The company undertakes no duty or obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of future developments, or new information or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

Joe Ramelli

VP of Business Development
Phone: 310-845-6238
Email: [email protected]

Kate Lang (Mandarin/English)
Phone: +86 186-1839-3368
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Origin Agritech Limited

Transactions allow iGo to build next-generation platform for home inspectors to unlock the full value of inspections for homeowners and single-family investors

 TYRONE, Pa., July 19, 2023 — InspectionGo (iGo), the leading provider of cutting-edge technology and services that helps independent home inspection companies be successful by unlocking the full value of home inspections for homeowners and real estate investors, today announced it has closed a $5.5 million Series A funding round. The company also announced the strategic acquisitions of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder, moving iGo closer to its vision of providing home inspectors with a seamless platform to manage their business and extending the value of a home inspection throughout home ownership.

The Series A was led by existing investor Wasatch Equity Partners. The acquisitions were all-stock transactions, reinforcing the confidence of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder’s investors in the partnership iGo has forged with the inspector community and the company’s long-term vision.

In addition to enhancing iGo’s service offerings to its growing community of home inspectors who perform an estimated one million home inspections annually, the capital raise and acquisitions will bring hundreds of jobs to Central Pennsylvania by 2026.

“We are thrilled to welcome Repair Pricer and HomeBinder to the iGo family. The addition of their product offerings accelerates our strategy of giving the inspection community the ability to provide homeowners with valuable tools for managing their home for as long as they own it,” iGo Co-Founder and CEO John Russell said.

Russell added, “We also couldn’t be more appreciative of the confidence that Wasatch and our other investors have placed in us. They not only share our vision for giving home inspection a new meaning, but they also are committed to bringing more employment and economic opportunities to our local community and putting Tyrone on the map as an emerging tech hub.”

Repair Pricer leverages artificial intelligence and national language processing to turn any inspection report into an accurate home repair estimate. Since 2016, homeowners in nearly 42,000 ZIP codes throughout the U.S. have used Repair Pricer to generate more than 1.1 million home repair estimates to gain assurance they are receiving a fair price on their home purchase.

Offered by a network of 9,000 professionals to more than 950,000 homeowners nationwide, HomeBinder is a residential home management platform that allows homeowners to manage their home at their fingertips. With HomeBinder, homeowners have a centralized location to store valuable home documents, set up home improvement projects and maintenance reminders, stay up to date on appliance recalls, access a network of recommended service providers and maintain records of their single largest asset.

As part of the acquisitions, iGo strengthened its leadership team. Repair Pricer CEO Christian Adams will serve as iGo’s Chief Revenue Officer and Jack Huntress, CEO of HomeBinder, joins the company as Head of Consumer Products. Both are newly created positions.

Since its founding in 2019, iGo has focused on building a community that empowers inspectors to operate more efficiently while ensuring that they offer buyers and their agents a better experience. The acquisitions of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder add to iGo’s comprehensive suite of existing solutions. These offerings include Keystone, a plug and play back-office platform; access to coaching, marketing and management resources through the iGo Community; and iGo Academy, which provides a steady stream of highly trained home inspectors to the inspector community.

“With this new series of funding we are unlocking new opportunities to impact a growing market in a unique way. Through these newly announced strategic acquisitions we anticipate an offering of services like never before seen in the space that captures AI technology and tools that brings home inspection services to the forefront of innovation for homeowners. Our commitment to the growth and future of the business remains stronger than ever,” Scott Stettler, Managing Director, Wasatch Equity Partners said.

The Series A raise brings iGo’s total funding to $10.3 million. In addition to Wasatch, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Allegheny Angel Fund, The West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust, Twenty Five Ventures, Mountain State Capital, and Hamilton Ventures have shown their commitment to iGo through early stage investments. Like Wasatch, they share iGo’s commitment to creating opportunities for underserved communities by bringing technology-based companies to the region.

About InspectionGo

Founded in Tyrone, Pa. in 2019, iGo is on a mission to revolutionize the home inspection experience by uniting and equipping the community of home inspection companies with a modern technology platform. Through strategic investments and acquisitions, iGo empowers home inspectors to deliver exceptional customer experiences and become industry leaders. Learn more at inspectiongo.com

Press Contact:

Janice McDill
312-307-3134
https://www.inspectiongo.com

SOURCE InspectionGo

New product line enables users to build unified customer profiles directly within the cloud data warehouse

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19, 2023 — Hightouch, the leading Data Activation company, announced today $38 million in additional funding to launch and grow its Customer 360 offering. The round, led by Bain Capital Ventures, was used to create a new Customer 360 Toolkit that enables data analysts to build unified customer profiles on top of their raw customer data without months of engineering effort.

For years, businesses have struggled to deeply understand their customers and communicate with them in a personalized way. One of the biggest challenges has been resolving a single identity in a sea of disorganized and disjointed data. Customer data is often incomplete and spread across multiple systems and dozens to thousands of tables.

With Hightouch Customer 360 Toolkit, the common work that data teams are tasked with is simplified and provides the ability to complete that work faster with built-in best practices. It works by sitting directly on top of data warehouses like Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, or Google BiqQuery and allows companies to quickly and easily prepare their customer data for activation. The new product is the first warehouse-native solution that lets analytics and marketing teams handle customer data preparation without engineering support. It includes:

• Visual schema builder to organize data with an intuitive visual UI
• Warehouse enrichment to add additional or missing attributes the business needs
• Identity resolution to transparently gather the data into actionable user profiles and write them back to the customer’s data warehouse

The product was born out of Hightouch’s rapid growth, supporting the data needs of enterprise customers like Chime, Petsmart, Warner Music, Spotify, and the NBA.

“Over the last three years, we’ve helped hundreds of large brands activate their customer data for sales and marketing. Along the way, we studied how companies clean, organize, and prepare their customer data for activation. In every industry, we found teams spending time on repetitive work, like identity resolution algorithms and data enrichment,” said Kashish Gupta, co-CEO of Hightouch. “This new funding allows us to build out the product and engineering team necessary to embark on this large endeavor and to shoot for the stars with a larger vision.”

More than 400 enterprise analytics and marketing teams now use Hightouch to quickly and efficiently activate their customer data. Many see this new capability as a game changer for their marketing initiatives.

“The Hightouch team just ‘gets it’ when it comes to customer data activation in the real world,” said Jason Feng at Zeplin. “The ROI from our partnership with Hightouch is the highest amongst our marketing and data investments. This new customer 360 capability is exactly what we need to move even faster on our data activation journey.”

The launch of Customer 360 Toolkit builds on a year of industry-leading product innovation. Hightouch recently launched its 200th connector for platforms like CRM, e-mail, customer support, and advertising. In the last six months, the company also launched a real-time Personalization API, a Match Booster advertising product, and an upgraded no-code audience builder product Customer Studio.

Bain Capital Ventures led this investment round, joined by existing investors ICONIQ Capital and Amplify Partners.

“As investors since the Series A, we’ve had front-row seats as Hightouch pioneered the Reverse ETL category, becoming in just a few years an essential component of modern data infrastructure,” said Kevin Zhang, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “Hightouch is taking their market opportunity to the next level with Customer 360 Toolkit. Even in a difficult market for software, we’ve seen exceptional customer adoption from business teams confident in Hightouch and eager to personalize and enrich campaigns without needing expensive, time-consuming integration work.”

Hightouch plans to use this additional funding to scale its engineering and go-to-market teams throughout 2024 and actively seeks additional teammates. Interested individuals are encouraged to view open roles and apply.

About Hightouch
Hightouch is a leading provider of Data Activation and Customer Data Platform (CDP) solutions, enabling marketing and data teams to activate customer data directly from their data warehouse to over 200 destinations like ad platforms and CRMs. Hightouch is used by leading organizations like Cars.com, Spotify, TripAdvisor, PetSmart, and GameStop to unlock a fast, flexible, and scalable CDP alternative by enabling them to activate audiences and other customer data points directly from their organization’s single source of truth – the data warehouse – out to the many business tools it is needed in.

SOURCE Hightouch

The investment will propel the OSO’s continued growth and development

DALLAS, July 19, 2023 — Smile Doctors, the largest and fastest-growing orthodontic support organization in the U.S., is excited to announce the successful completion of a capital raise of over $550 million. The capital, which was funded by doctors along with several large domestic and international healthcare investors, will support the network in continuing its industry-leading affiliation growth, enhance its strategic investments in technology, and continue to expand its support staff capabilities. This investment comes as the company has just completed a strong quarter, adding several new partnerships.

“We’ve generated significant growth over the last three years, and we’re excited to be at a point where we have partnered with such incredible and innovative doctors. We continue to attract new doctors and invest in technology that contributes to the patient-first culture we are committed to at our organization,” said J. Hedrick, CEO of Smile Doctors. “The strong reaction from the investment community – especially during the current economic environment – is an indication of the strength of our business, and through our capital partners and doctors, we believe can keep up the momentum and continue to shape the future of the orthodontic industry.”

Blackburn Family Orthodontics (Texas), Weaver Orthodontics (Arkansas), Smith Smile Orthodontics (Georgia), Weissman Orthodontics (Alabama), and Smiles of Ohio (Ohio) are the newest partners to join the Smile Doctors family. The Smile Doctors network now includes more than 400 affiliated locations.

Affiliated practices have access to a variety of services including human resources, onboarding, marketing, accounting and finance, revenue cycle management, supply chain, legal, and operations. They also benefit from Smile Doctors’ turnkey relationships with leading vendors and gain access to the latest cutting-edge technology, which will be enhanced across the patient and provider experience.

“Since starting my practice seven years ago, I’ve had awesome mentors help me along the way,” said James Blackburn, D.D.S., M.S.D. of Blackburn Family Orthodontics in Katy, TX, who became part of the Smile Doctors network in Q2.  “Over the past four years, each of my mentors has joined Smile Doctors. After numerous conversations, I realized that to take both my practice and my personal life to the next level, partnering with an OSO was the next logical step and it was very apparent that Smile Doctors was a perfect fit for me and my team.”

Smile Doctors is on a mission to positively impact the lives of their patients, their team members, and the communities they serve, one smile at a time. To learn more about becoming a Smile Doctors partner, visit smiledoctorspartners.com.

About Smile Doctors, LLC
Smile Doctors, LLC, is the largest ortho-focused dental support organization (OSO) in the U.S. The organization has the fastest-growing network of leading orthodontists. With more than 400 convenient locations in 28 states, Smile Doctors has a rich history of developing and growing affiliated practices by providing tools and technology that allow their orthodontists to focus entirely on patient care. Smile Doctors is the largest network of Diamond Plus Invisalign® providers. Smile Doctors’ orthodontists are proud members of the American Association of Orthodontists, and American Dental Association, and host for the Lecture Center for Orthodontic Excellence. Smile Doctors’ mission is to create confident smiles that inspire the best in their patients, each other, and the communities they serve. For more information, please visit: www.smiledoctors.com.

Contact:
[email protected]
The Zimmerman Agency

SOURCE Smile Doctors

“Imagine a world where data privacy, security, and trust are no longer concerns, where software supply chains are transparent and verifiable, and where a new generation of applications can harness the power of zero-knowledge computing to solve some of the most pressing challenges of the digital age. This is the promise of zero-knowledge computing and the reason we are investing in RISC Zero” – Bart Stephens, Founder and Managing Partner at Blockchain Capital

RISC Zero’s ZK Virtual Machine (zkVM) enables developers to build ZK-powered applications with the convenience of conventional programming languages such as Rust and C++. Utilizing advanced features such as continuations, RISC Zero’s zkVM can run programs of arbitrary complexity and scope while utilizing off-the-shelf computing platforms — a first in the blockchain industry.

“We’re honored to be supported by all of our incredible capital partners and the visionary leaders and teams that have signed on to help us build this revolution in computing capability. We’re excited to play our part in building a more open and trusted foundation for the future of the internet.” – Brian Retford, CEO & Co-founder

This funding round will enable RISC Zero to bring its Bonsai computing platform to market, supporting rapid application development and deployment in both cloud and decentralized environments. With Bonsai, developers can focus on writing their application instead of worrying about the complexities of proof orchestration and server infrastructure.

Bonsai will bring massively parallel ZK-proving functionality to any developer, in any language, on any chain.

RISC Zero is building a diverse, talented, and global team dedicated to exploring the frontiers of computing — join us at jobs.lever.co/risczero.com

SOURCE RISC Zero

Report findings reveal that, despite increased industry attention to DEI, investors continue to seek guidance on making effective and lasting change

OAKLAND, Calif., July 19, 2023 — Illumen Capital, an impact fund of funds addressing systemic inequity by reducing racial and gender bias in investing, released its Annual Impact Report today, as part of a larger effort to understand the influence of the firm’s bias reduction programming and stewardship efforts. Collected quantitative and qualitative data showcases the impact of the firm’s unique approach to supporting fund managers in their efforts to build a more optimal and inclusive asset management industry.

As the US financial markets experienced economic volatility over the past two years, prioritization in investing in funds and companies led by diverse managers has dwindled: financing for Black startup businesses fell by over 50% from 2021 to 2022¹. Further, startups with all-women teams received just 1.9% in venture funding, also down from the previous year². At the same time, Illumen Capital has deepened its strategy of investing in funds led by underrepresented people of color and women and supporting fund managers in scaling in a diverse and inclusive manner. As of the end of 2022, with over $169 million of capital committed across its portfolio, Illumen Capital’s portfolio has 9.5x women partners, 6x underrepresented partners of color, and 7x underrepresented women of color in venture capital compared to industry benchmarks³.

“As I reflect on the past few years and the strides we’ve made as a nation and an industry in tackling racial bias, I’m aware there is still much work to be done to achieve greater equity in asset management,” said Daryn Dodson, Managing Director of Illumen Capital. “By releasing the Annual Impact Report, we hope to hold a mirror to an evolving industry, allowing it to see that uplifting underrepresented people of color is not a checkpoint along our journey to a more optimal future but an ongoing commitment to addressing industry inefficiencies.”

Illumen Capital’s Annual Impact Report utilizes a novel approach of enriching quantitative portfolio reporting with qualitative survey data on the mindsets of portfolio fund managers and staff. This qualitative data allows Illumen Capital to contextualize portfolio demographic data on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) barriers and opportunities at both the individual and organizational level. Key takeaways include:

• Compared to 2021, there is an increasing alignment in the moral and financial reasons to improve the representation of underrepresented people of color (URPOC) in investing. This indicates a growing belief that DEI is not just the right thing to do, it’s also good for the bottom line;
• According to 55% of respondents, not knowing what to do was a top barrier to making progress on diversity of URPOC and women at investment firms;
• Despite increased attention to DEI and racial equity work since 2020, even when respondents indicate a want to contribute as individuals, they still do not feel either autonomy or power to act. This shows an increased need for customized training and support to empower effective institutional change at the individual and firm level;
• Lack of network access was identified by over half of respondents as contributing a great deal to disparities in URPOC recruitment by over 50% of respondents;
• Nearly 95% of respondents believe they should act to increase DEI at their firm, yet only 60% indicate they have changed their behavior to increase DEI in investing in the last year.

Led by Illumen Capital’s Joanna Kuang and Leila Mengesha, the firm uses a theory of change to remain thesis-driven in the firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion work. Unique aspects of the firm’s model include a proprietary toolkit of templates and examples to support fund managers in reducing individual and organizational biases in processes, such as hiring and promotion, and personalized coaching of fund manager staff and leadership. Illumen Capital uses data to inform how bias reduction programming is implemented and seeks to share best practices and learnings within the field to drive further DEI progress. Selected key learnings from Illumen Capital’s bias reduction partnership with portfolio fund managers include:

• There has been an increased focus on inclusion work, with a number of firms requesting support in building holistic firm changes, as well as addressing individual biases.
• Fund managers are leveraging their non-investment capital creatively to reduce bias in the ecosystem. Illumen Capital has seen an increased interest in diverse vendor suggestions from investors and managers alike, indicating a growing awareness and acknowledgement of the sphere of capital influence outside of traditional investments.
• Even with a growing portfolio, this is the first year that Illumen Capital has had each fund return complete and high-quality quantitative reporting, indicating an increased industry interest and expectation for demographic and impact reporting data.

Recently, Illumen Capital successfully raised a $168 million Fund II, allowing the firm to further scale these efforts. Additionally, the fund of funds has a long-standing relationship with Stanford SPARQ and has launched a new project to expand on their joint foundational study published in PNAS. Illumen Capital is excited to continue using their financial capital to create accountability and trust-based support for fund managers.

For additional information, or to view the full report, please visit https://www.illumencapital.com/.

ABOUT ILLUMEN CAPITAL
Illumen Capital is a Black-owned and led manager dedicated to achieving racial and gender equity across investing. Illumen Capital invests in venture, growth, and private equity funds, and then works closely with fund managers to install a set of strategies and tools designed to reduce racial and gender bias in the hiring, investment, and company support processes. This research-informed bias reduction program – supported by a strategic relationship with Stanford SPARQ – empowers fund managers to expand their investable landscape and better support entrepreneurs who have historically been overlooked and underestimated.

¹ Special Series: VC Dollars To Black Startup Founders Fell More Than 50% In 2022 /
² Women-founded startups raised 1.9% of all VC funds in 2022, a drop from 2021 | TechCrunch /
³ VC Human Capital Survey ,Women-founded startups raised 1.9% of all VC funds in 2022, a drop from 2021

MEDIA CONTACTS
Catherine Toor
5W Public Relations
[email protected]

SOURCE Illumen Capital

Verse’s Aria platform leverages generative AI to make buying and managing clean power simpler, faster, and more affordable for organizations

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19, 2023 — Verse, a company founded to help organizations everywhere unlock the benefits of clean power, today announced it has closed a $5.75 million seed funding round. Led by Coatue with participation from Twine Ventures, MCJ Collective, firstminute capital, Collaborative Fund, Future Positive, and Incite.org, among others, the investment will enable Verse to help organizations procure, manage, and report on carbon-free energy assets faster and more cost-effectively than they can today.  

“Reshaping the emission intensity of our electricity system is a key step in getting to net zero. At the same time, for organizations that have outlined net zero goals, there isn’t an easy or transparent way to procure electricity from renewable sources,” said Jaimin Rangwalla, Senior Managing Director at Coatue. “Verse has built a proprietary software platform to manage this process from end-to-end, which we believe is primed to redefine how businesses procure and manage clean energy. We are excited by the potential for Verse’s technology to support corporate sustainability and emissions reduction goals.”

Organizations across industries are increasingly committing to reducing their carbon emissions, not only to combat climate change but also to reduce costs and mitigate the risks associated with volatile wholesale power markets. But with a lack of dedicated tools and infrastructure, much of the process remains confined to spreadsheets that are ill-suited to making robust, data-driven decisions. Furthermore, the expertise and resources required to procure clean power are prohibitive and out of reach of all but the biggest organizations.

This month, Verse launched Aria, the enterprise platform for buying and managing clean power, to address these pain points. Leveraging generative AI, Aria will allow organizations to define their clean power goals, design and procure a portfolio of clean energy assets, manage those assets, and report on portfolio performance. By empowering companies to reduce costs, de-risk energy procurement, and expedite transactions, Aria will help accelerate and scale organizational adoption of clean energy.

Verse has also signed a customer agreement with Climeworks, a pioneering company offering high-quality carbon removal services via direct air capture (DAC) technology. Partnering with Verse will allow Climeworks to design and procure future-proofed, risk-optimized portfolios of clean energy assets to power their CO₂ removal operations.

“Widespread access to clean power is a fundamental need for our industry to deliver high-quality carbon removal at gigaton scale,” said Climeworks COO Douglas Chan. “As a global leader spearheading DAC technology, Climeworks looks forward to partnering with Verse for a new, easier approach to the process of buying and managing clean power.”

“We’re incredibly grateful to Coatue for leading this round, and to all our investors for supporting our efforts to help companies reduce their carbon emissions,” said Verse CEO Seyed Madaeni. “This funding enables us to further our mission of unlocking the benefits of clean power for organizations everywhere. We are also very excited to have signed our first commercial contracts, including with an industry leader like Climeworks. Clean power procurement will be a strategic imperative for every sector, and we look forward to helping Climeworks and other companies reduce the cost and complexity of buying and managing clean power.”

About Verse
Founded in 2022, Verse’s Aria software platform leverages generative AI to help companies quickly, easily, and cost-effectively transition to clean power. Aria empowers companies to define, design, manage, and report on optimal portfolios of clean energy assets to meet their financial and emissions-reduction targets. Verse was founded by Seyed Madaeni and Matt Penfold, who previously held leadership roles at Fluence, where they oversaw its digital business unit and played a central role in the company’s successful $5B+ IPO. Prior to Fluence, Seyed and Matt led AMS, where they pioneered and commercialized the world’s leading AI-enabled wholesale market bidding software for utility-scale clean energy assets. For more information, visit www.verse.inc.

SOURCE Verse, Inc.

Danny Trejo and Rebecca De Mornay Among Notable Talent Attached, Blending Hollywood Iconism and Dog-Centric Appeal for Wefunder Campaign

LOS ANGELES, July 19, 2023 — AKT Pictures is announcing newly attached A-list talent, including Danny Trejo and Rebecca De Mornay, for today’s launch of the second funding round for their film When I Was a Human, based on the critically acclaimed short film of the same title, written, and directed by Akemi Kozu Tosto. The Wefunder campaign is now open and accepting stakeholder investor contributions. A growing trend, filmmakers are finding enthusiastic partners around the globe interested in this model, different from traditional crowdfunding. Investors purchase a stake in the funding of the project to receive a share of the company’s profits, rather than a traditional return on their investment. This format is in response to the desire for fresh, original entertainment with substance – a void many feel in contemporary movie offerings. A study based on 3,000 titles shows the most profitable family films feature uplifting stories with dogs.

Building on the successful first round on Wefunder, the production now features name talent including Hollywood icon & rescue dog activist Danny Trejo (Machete, Spy Kids, Desperado), Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business, Backdraft, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle), Molly Quinn (We’re The Millers), Adam Hagenbuch (Fuller House), Alex MacNicoll (Transparent), and Ken’ichi Endo (voice of Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy in Japan). 

The short film version of When I Was a Human, also written and directed by Akemi, is currently available worldwide through Shorts International, the official short film distributor of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. Akemi is the first female filmmaker from Japan to have an original short film distributed by Shorts and is dedicated to continuing the pursuit of more diverse talent both in front of and behind the camera.

Akemi shares, “Investing in this project means supporting the importance of equality and inclusion in the world of production. This truly original independent film has built-in universal appeal and a dedicated fan base. Dogs are staples of family films, and it has been proven time and time again that movies with dogs in leading roles are not only successful but also enjoy popularity for a very long time.” 

Akemi has been involved in over 100 films and TV productions for over 20+ years since moving to the US. She’s also the first filmmaker from Japan to successfully raise capital on Wefunder for a film project.

In a similar vein to box office successes including Big, Freaky Friday, The Peanut Butter Falcon, 13 Going on 30, and Yesterday, classic examples of the “fish out of water” trope, and dog-centric films such as Air Bud, My Dog Skip, and A Dog’s Journey, When I Was a Human is the story of an adopted pup that magically turns into a young man and discovers himself and his love for his owner along the way.

A joint Hollywood/Japan production with existing distribution relationships, Akemi is partnered with Tyler Condon, founder of CinemaWays, with a career spanning work for Discovery, Nat Geo, Animal Planet, and Comedy Central. He joined Sneak Preview Entertainment, known for 500 Days of Summer, as Director of Development, co-producing films like the Valley Girl remake and The Prank. Maho Morita is Akemi’s trusted right-hand person and a producing partner in Japan. Maho had an early introduction to the film industry growing up as a favorite niece of world-renowned film director, the late Nagisa Oshima. Her networking skills and the work as a film journalist and critic are also essential to the film’s success. 

To learn more and get involved please visit: wefunder.com/wiwah

Media Contact:
Andrea McKinnon
818-415-9442
[email protected] 

SOURCE AKT Pictures

Expansion in Core Categories & New Product Lines Fuel Growth Strategy

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19, 2023 — Super7, the premier pop-culture design house and producer of lifestyle-oriented collectibles, toys and apparel, today announced an investment of up to $25M from The Newcastle Network. Newcastle made an initial investment of $12M with plans to invest more in support of Super7’s long-term strategy. The announcement is being made in conjunction with the start of San Diego Comic-Con where the collectibles producer will release 18 exclusive toys and launch a crowdfunded ThunderCats’ Cat’s Lair Playset campaign.

Born from the desire to fill a void in the marketplace, Super7 designs and produces collectibles that capture emotional connections to pop culture’s most loved brands and moments. Since launching in 2001, Super7 has achieved success with product genres including 80s & 90s pop culture, from designer vinyl to deluxe action figures inspired by comics, animation, video games, Hollywood, horror, music, monsters and more. With their strategic partnership with The Newcastle Network, Super7 will continue to focus on its core categories while expanding into new categories and developing new product lines unseen in the current market.

“Super7’s goal has always been to deliver the most unique and sought after high-quality toys, products and experiences, while making them available to as many people as possible,” said Brian Flynn, Founder of Super7. “When exploring investment to fuel our growth, the most important thing was that we stayed true to this ethos. The Newcastle Network is an ideal partner to help us achieve our goals for expansion into new categories for our loyal customers and introduce others to the exciting world of collecting across the globe.”

“Super7 provides a unique and unrivaled customer experience in the collectibles sector,” said Chris Casgar, Managing Partner at The Newcastle Network. “As true fans of pop culture and creative stewards of this explosive category, Brian and the Super7 leadership team are poised for continued growth. We’re thrilled to be their strategic partner, leveraging our expertise in data science, creator & social media marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship to help accelerate their ability to achieve these goals with this beloved business.”

Beginning tomorrow at San Diego Comic-Con (booth #2543), attendees will have access to 18 exclusive new toys including ReAction Figures™, Super Cyborg™ and ULTIMATES!™ Super7 is also kicking off an exciting early bird incentive for ThunderCats’ Cat’s Lair at Comic-Con. The goal is to reach 3,000 backers by July 30^th for fans to receive a Key to Thundera with their Cat’s Lair playset. A complete rundown of San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, pop up shops and activities can be found on Super7.com, @Super7 on Instagram / Threads, Super7 on Facebook and @Super7store on Twitter.

About Super7
Founded in 2001, Super7 is the premier pop-culture design house and producer of lifestyle-oriented collectibles, toys and apparel based in San Francisco. Led by designer Brian Flynn, Super7 has harnessed the graphics, aesthetics and energy of his youthful obsession with science fiction, giant monsters, comic books, punk rock, skateboarding, robots and rebellion to build a unique and innovative business that crosses all categories and is not bound by traditional manufacturing boundaries. In addition to its owned branded products, Super7 also designed, manufactured and distributed officially licensed programs for G.I. Joe, Transformers, Disney, Powell-Peralta and Peanuts as well as for music legends Iron Maiden, the Misfits, O.D.B, Beastie Boys, and more. For more information, visit www.super7.com.

About The Newcastle Network
The Newcastle Network is a private equity firm pushing the frontiers of collaboration with its partner companies. We are a passionate group of investors and operators with expertise in data science, creator and social media marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship that helps companies unlock new levels of growth. Focused on established and performing consumer businesses, we seek to partner with companies where we can provide meaningful value that realizes a team’s most ambitious visions.

SOURCE Super7