NEW YORK, June 7, 2023 — Tiburon Subsea Inc. (New York, NY), an underwater robotics company, is pleased to announce its partnership with Dr. Sylvia Earle, preeminent marine biologist, ocean conservationist, environmental advocate, and National Geographic Explorer in Residence. Tiburon Subsea is building a data infrastructure platform for the blue economy and is focused on manufacturing specialized autonomous underwater rental vehicles (AUVs) for use in ocean exploration and data collection.

“This is truly a generational shift in how we collect data, provide greener solutions, and create increased access to our world’s oceans. We are overcoming a litany of barriers that are preventing us from effective stewardship of the ocean resources. We are excited to be partnering and sharing our long-term ocean ethics and vision with Dr. Sylvia Earle,” states company founder and CEO, Tim Taylor.

“It is more important than ever to have timely information and place it in the hands of those who can effect change. I’m very excited to be involved with Tiburon Subsea and share in Tim Taylor’s vision to help democratize access to ocean data and help protect and heal the ocean. Tim is an advocate for conservations and accomplished ocean explorer,” states Dr. Earle.

Tiburon Subsea is disrupting current legacy methods of acquiring data with its platform approach and revolutionary new designs. Their latest technology advancement is an evolution in hydrodynamic efficiency and redundancy that allows autonomous underwater vehicles to operate in all dimensions. This gives vehicles the ability to traverse any environment, hover, scan, stabilize and carry larger payloads and more power. It solves multiple shortcomings of current vehicles while offering payload developers numerous capabilities that can be incorporated into new unique payload solutions.

“Our mission in making autonomous vehicle technology with AI and machine learning available on a global scale and generate tremendous opportunities and growth in numerous ocean frontiers. Renewable energy, climate change remediation, marine fisheries, and weather, coastal engineering will all benefit from access to this technology,” states Taylor. “I am dedicated to providing access to the latest technologies.”

Tim Taylor is an award-winning ocean explorer, conservationist, and entrepreneur. He has helped pioneer long range AUV development and mapping since 2007. His discoveries and expeditions span multiple disciplines and include working around the world with climate change experts, archeologists, US Navy, and scientists. He was recently awarded the US Navy’s highest civilian award the “Distinguished Public Service Medal” for his groundbreaking work in underwater exploration. 

Parties Interested in utilizing this technology as well as Investors inquires can be sent to [email protected].

Media Contact:
Chris Dennison
917-423-1369
[email protected] 

SOURCE Tiburon Subsea, Inc. New York, NY

— Mission-Based Healthcare Pioneer Doubles Number of Partnering FQHCs, Reaching 150,000 Patients —

NEW YORK, June 7, 2023 — Yuvo Health, a leading technology-enabled administrative and managed-care solution for community health centers, today announced it has raised an oversubscribed $20.2 million Series A round of financing. Led by Mastry Ventures, with participation from previous investors including AlleyCorp, AV8 Ventures, and New York Ventures, and new investors including HLM Venture Partners, Route 66 Ventures, VamosVentures, and Social Innovation Fund, the latest round brings their total funding to $27.5 million, combined with their $7.3 million seed round announced in January 2022.

“Yuvo Health supports FQHCs, which are the only primary-care access point for millions of underserved Americans today. As an ecosystem and infrastructure partner, Yuvo provides FQHCs a technology, operational, and admin platform that unlocks value-based care, reduces medical costs, and increases quality care,” said Fatima Husain, Co-Founder and General Partner for Mastry Ventures, who joins Yuvo Health’s Board. “We are bullish on the critical role this industry pioneer will play in driving health equity forward.”

Yuvo Health will leverage the new investment to further scale its successful infrastructure, expanding from New York to Ohio, while transitioning to accept full-risk arrangements on behalf of their FQHC and community health center partners. In conjunction with the funding news, Yuvo Health has added several new FQHCs, doubling their original number announced in May 2022, which reach more than 150,000 patients.

“Community health centers, and the patients they serve, have been left out of the value-based care conversation for far too long,” said Dr. Brenton Fargnoli, General Partner at AlleyCorp and member of Yuvo Health’s Board of Directors. “Yuvo uniquely focuses on the needs of underserved communities, and continues to make enormous strides in bringing community health centers successfully into value-based care.”

Based in New York City, Yuvo Health launched in early 2021 by a fully BIPOC founding team that has experienced firsthand the power of quality care for underserved communities. The industry leader partners with community health centers to leverage new payment systems, scalable infrastructure, and partnerships for a meaningful seat at the table within the value-based care ecosystem. In doing so, community health centers gain the freedom — and the incentives — to provide compassionate care for their entire community.

“We are delighted to announce our $20.2 million investment, which serves as a testament to the amazing work of FQHCs to keep our communities healthy,” said Cesar Herrera, CEO and co-founder of Yuvo Health. “With our latest financing, we can leverage our success in New York and now scale to new markets with more sophisticated revenue models, enabling us to serve even more FQHCs and extend their commitment to their communities.”

To learn more about Yuvo Health’s FQHC partners, click here.

About Yuvo Health: 
Launched in January 2021, Yuvo Health was founded in New York City by a fully BIPOC team with shared first-hand experiences of the power of quality care, and a common goal to bring fair, quality care to underserved communities. The entire Yuvo Health team is now on a shared mission to ensure every health center can provide compassionate care to their entire community. Yuvo Health is an industry-leading partner to health centers, supporting them every step of the way as they extend their reach, while continuing to deliver the highest quality of care. With Yuvo Health addressing their unique needs, health centers can leverage sustainable payment systems, scalable infrastructure, and partnerships for a meaningful seat at the table within the value-based care ecosystem. Currently, the company serves community health centers and independent physician associations (IPAs) in the Northeast and Midwest, with plans to expand to more markets soon.

About MASTRY Ventures: 
MASTRY Ventures is a venture capital firm that leads early-stage investments. Our promise at MASTRY Ventures is to be a lot more than capital. Our network includes 100+ of the most impactful public and private company founders and CEOs, the brightest operators with deep technical and industry expertise, a roster of Midas List VCs, and the most progressive athletes and influencers shaping today’s world. We leverage our unique network to bend the risk curve for our companies. We develop partnerships, create distribution advantages, help build people strategies, and provide true rolled-up-sleeves support to help our founders succeed. And it doesn’t end there. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is a MASTRY Ventures cornerstone. We are building a unique playbook to ensure access to diverse capital, governance, and talent for our portfolio companies from day one. Our past portfolio includes Zoom, Pager Duty, Datadog, Robinhood, Carta, Coinbase, GOAT, Uber, Dapper Labs, Levels Health, Hippo, Madison Reed, Acorns, Papa, Pachama, Nurx, Hims, and Shef, to name a few.

SOURCE Yuvo Health

Funding round follows 100% YoY customer growth

ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 7, 2023 — Blumira, a leading provider of detection and response technology, announced the launch of its XDR platform to provide enterprise-level security for small to medium businesses (SMBs). The company also announced that it had raised a $15M Series B financing round led by Ten Eleven Ventures and joined by RPS Ventures, Mercury Fund, HPA, and Duo Security co-founder Jon Oberheide.

Blumira’s XDR platform combines SIEM, endpoint visibility, and automated response to help organizations with lean IT teams consolidate tools, reduce complexity, integrate broadly to provide insight across their entire environment, and use automation to speed up response.

“We are excited to announce the launch of our open XDR platform for small and medium-sized businesses alongside our Series B fundraising announcement. Security remains a significant manual lift for small teams. We think there’s a huge opportunity to deliver simplified security for the SMB market, reducing reliance on people to complete manual security tasks to help companies achieve faster time to security,” said Blumira CEO Jim Simpson and former Director of Product Management, Duo Security. “We meet customers where they are by offering a full range of detection and response options, from our Free SIEM to our all-in-one XDR solution, which eliminates redundancies and provides full hybrid coverage.”

Blumira’s XDR platform saves IT teams time and effort in threat response. Automated host isolation enables them to immediately contain an endpoint threat until they can investigate it further. Brian Johnson, president of 7 Minute Security, a cybersecurity services firm, said, “If system administrators are unavailable during a critical incident, host isolation would cut off communication until they can get their hands to the keyboard, preventing headaches for IT administrators everywhere.”

Most XDR solutions on the market today are built for larger enterprises with more resources, time and security expertise. In a recent whitepaper, Blumira shared that it is harder than ever for small or medium-sized businesses to deal with ransomware and data breaches. According to consulting firm SMB Group, in the last twelve months, 42% of SMBs said their company has experienced a data breach and 26% have experienced a ransomware attack (Directions For the Future of Work, SMB Group 2022).

From inception, the Blumira team has been focused on improving ease of use and measurable security outcomes for lean IT teams. “With their talent, experience, customer base, laser focus, and Duo background, this is the team and technology that will open up security for small and medium enterprises in a totally new way,” said Megan Dubofsky, Operating Partner, Ten Eleven Ventures. “We’re thrilled to support them on this journey and are pleased to be joined by an experienced set of co-investors in this new round, who we know will all be helpful to the Blumira team during the next chapter.”

Blumira has seen tremendous momentum over the past year with 100% year-over-year customer growth, including an 8x growth in the MSP channel, with customers in every vertical, including manufacturing and healthcare industries, as well as credit unions, colleges, universities, and municipalities.

With today’s announcements, Blumira is ushering in a new era of security for small and medium businesses worldwide. The company is poised to continue its impressive growth trajectory as more companies realize how enabling security is mission-critical for their business operations, regardless of size or budget constraints.

About Blumira
Blumira’s open XDR platform makes advanced detection and response easy and effective for small and medium-sized businesses, accelerating ransomware and breach prevention for hybrid environments. Time-strapped IT teams and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can do more with one solution that combines SIEM, endpoint visibility, and automated response. Meet compliance with one year of data retention and extend your team with Blumira’s 24/7 SecOps support. G2 recognized Blumira as a Momentum leader, ranked as ‘Fastest Implementation,’ ‘Easiest to Use,’ and ‘Best Results’ in the G2 Spring 2023 Grid® Reports.

About Ten Eleven Ventures
Ten Eleven Ventures is the original cybersecurity-focused, global, stage-agnostic investment firm. The firm finds, invests, and helps grow top cybersecurity companies addressing critical digital security needs, tapping its team, network, and experience to help build successful businesses. Since its founding, Ten Eleven Ventures has raised over $US 1 billion and made over 40 cybersecurity investments across stages worldwide, including KnowBe4, Darktrace, Axis Security, Twistlock, Verodin, Cylance, and Ping Identity. For more information, please visit 1011vc.com or follow us on Twitter @1011vc.

SOURCE Blumira

Funding supports clinical development of first therapeutic candidate and pipeline expansion

Marie-Claire Peakman, PhD, Partner, Pfizer Ventures, and Jasmina Marjanovic, PhD, Director AbbVie Ventures, to join Mozart’s Board of Directors

SEATTLE, June 7, 2023 — Mozart Therapeutics, a leading developer of CD8 Treg Modulators for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, today announced it has raised $25 million from new investors in a Series A extension, bringing the total raise to $80 million. The proceeds will be used to advance the company’s lead candidate, MTX-101, into first-in-human clinical trials and to support pipeline expansion.

New investors Pfizer Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, Ono Venture Investment and UPMC Enterprises participated in the round. They join existing Mozart investors ARCH Venture Partners, Sofinnova Partners, Eli Lilly & Company, MRL Ventures Fund (the early-stage therapeutics-focused fund of Merck & Co., Inc.), Leaps by Bayer, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments. In association with the financing, Marie-Claire Peakman, PhD, Partner of Pfizer Ventures, and Jasmina Marjanovic, PhD, Director AbbVie Ventures, will join Mozart’s Board of Directors.

Mozart is developing a portfolio of CD8 Treg Modulators including MTX-101, a bispecific autoimmune checkpoint inhibitor, for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The company anticipates filing an IND and initiating a Phase 1 clinical trial for MTX-101 in early 2024. An additional cytokine based CD8 Treg network Modulator is in preclinical development.

“We are proud to be developing first-in-class CD8 Treg Modulators with the support of high-quality investors who share our commitment to transform the treatment paradigm for patients with autoimmune diseases,” said Katie Fanning, President and CEO of Mozart Therapeutics. “We have made significant progress toward our mission of developing disease-modifying therapeutics that restore immune balance, and this additional capital will help support the advancement of our lead candidate, MTX-101, into the clinic while also funding expansion of our pipeline.”

“Pfizer Ventures is pleased to support Mozart’s mission to develop next generation therapies and to deliver potential benefits to patients suffering from autoimmune diseases,” said Marie-Claire Peakman, PhD, Partner Pfizer Ventures. “We look forward to the company’s emerging data demonstrating the promise to bring forward novel CD8 Treg modulators with broad therapeutic potential.”

“We are excited about the science and approach Mozart is taking to restore immune balance across a spectrum of autoimmune mediated diseases,” said Jasmina Marjanovic, PhD, Director AbbVie Ventures. “There remains significant unmet need for new treatments that are safe and effective, and we look forward to supporting the company through its next phase of growth.”

About MTX-101

MTX-101 is a bispecific autoimmune checkpoint inhibitor targeting CD8 and KIR2DL to selectively restore the cytolytic function of CD8 Tregs for selective elimination of pathogenic immune cells and to reestablish immune balance in disease.

About Mozart Therapeutics

Mozart Therapeutics is focused on developing disease-modifying therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that work by targeting a novel regulatory CD8 T cell network. The company is headquartered in Seattle, WA. For more information visit www.mozart-tx.com and follow the company on LinkedIn @Mozart-tx.

Media Contact:
Julie Rathbun
Rathbun Communications
[email protected]
206-769-9219

SOURCE Mozart Therapeutics

• Company has built leading edge tissue-targeted Lipid Nanoparticle (ttLNP) technology to enable a new generation of highly targeted genomic medicines
• Participating venture investors include Mass Ave Capital, 5Y Capital, and HIKE Capital
• Advancing groundbreaking scientific research program for systemic delivery of mRNA to multiple targeted tissues in pre-clinical models, including first-ever data demonstrating highly efficient systemic delivery of nucleic acid cargo to pulmonary basal cells

WOBURN, Mass., June 7, 2023 — Hopewell Therapeutics, a biotechnology company with a differentiated lipid nanoparticle platform harnessing unique ionizable lipid chemistry, today announced a Seed Financing of up to $25 million to support its operations and growth. These funds will enable the Company to advance the development of genomic medicines based on its differentiated ttLNP platform through both internal pipeline programs and external partnerships.

The Seed Financing has been supported by scientific focused venture investors including Mass Ave Capital, 5Y Capital, HIKE Capital, BOPU Capital, IMO Capital and WS Investments. The Seed Financing has been conducted across multiple tranches, with a majority of funds received by the Company to date in addition to further commitments from existing investors. The Company established operations in 2021 with Scientific Founder Qiaobing Xu, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University and Chief Technology Officer at Hopewell, and is led by Louis Brenner, M.D., an experienced biotech industry executive, who serves as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Hopewell holds exclusive licenses to its ttLNP intellectual property estate from Tufts University for use in a broad field of clinical and commercial applications and has established multiple research relationships with leading industry partners.

“Hopewell Therapeutics seeks to redefine the non-viral delivery space for novel genomic medicines by designing systemically-administered LNPs to specifically target extrahepatic tissues and cells throughout the body. The groundbreaking research and intellectual property in LNP design and delivery established by Professor Xu over the last decade provide a solid foundation for Hopewell to develop our own internal pipeline, initially targeting diseases of the lung, while concurrently exploring the potential of our ttLNP platform for patients with unmet needs in oncology, infectious diseases, rare genetic diseases, and neurological disorders,” said Dr. Brenner. “We will also continue to pursue industry partnerships that leverage the full potential of our unique ttLNP platform technology.”

“I am delighted with the support we have received from our scientific venture investors who recognize the promising data demonstrating the ability of our ttLNPs to overcome the limitations of existing LNP approaches, including allowing for highly targeted systemic delivery and sustained expression with repeat dosing,” said Professor Xu. “I began designing novel LNPs for genetic drug delivery during my post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Professor Robert Langer at MIT and carried it forward as I built my own research group at Tufts. We continue to innovate and expand our ttLNP platform, as we develop LNPs with the potential to bring next generation genomic medicines to patients with high unmet medical needs.”

“It has been gratifying to support the establishment and evolution of Hopewell including the coming together of foundational IP, high impact scientific publications, Company-generated data, strategic investment and experienced management, all catalyzed by the Seed Financing. Hopewell’s ttLNP platform and robust portfolio of ionizable lipids have the potential to change the treatment paradigms of multiple diseases,” said Howie Rosen, Chairman of the Board of Hopewell Therapeutics.

Technology Platform

Through a decade of peer-reviewed publications, Hopewell’s ttLNPs have been shown to deliver a variety of high impact genomic cargoes, including mRNA, siRNA, DNA, gene editing and gene-writing apparatus, to organs, tissues, and cells throughout the body, with the potential to impact multiple areas of medicine. The Company is developing its proprietary chemistry to create ionizable lipids that can overcome the drug delivery limitations of current LNP approaches in terms of organ and tissue targeting, biocompatibility, and sustained expression with repeat dosing.

Research conducted by Hopewell and industry partners in progressive animal models, including non-human primates (NHP), have demonstrated high translatability for systemic delivery to targeted tissues across species. Hopewell intends to focus its initial internal pipeline efforts on developing therapeutics for diseases of the lung, having recently demonstrated high transfection efficiency for systemic delivery to multiple epithelial cell types in the lung alveoli in multiple species. Furthermore, results from multiple studies of systemic delivery of Hopewell’s LNPs have shown first-ever high transfection of genetic cargoes in the basal epithelial cells of the lung and trachea. Reaching these pulmonary progenitor cells with genomic medicines may unlock the potential to treat a variety of challenging lung diseases.

In addition to its pulmonary programs, Hopewell’s LNPs have shown promise in multiple pre-clinical disease models. Its lymphoid organ-specific LNPs exploit a scientifically validated strategy for developing the next generation mRNA vaccines for cancer immunotherapy. Early preclinical data has demonstrated the LNP-mRNA elicited robust CD8+ T-cell responses to encoded antigens, exhibiting notable protective and therapeutic effects in cancer models. Recent NHP experiments with our LNP-mRNA encoded Bispecific T-cell Engager (BiTE) have demonstrated dose-dependent protein expression and long-lasting and deep B-cell depletion effects, suggesting alternative approaches to injectable antibodies and CAR-T cell therapy to treat B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. Hopewell’s ttLNPs have also been used to deliver multiple therapeutic cargo types including mRNA, oligonucleotides, proteins, and small molecules to the central nervous system via both systemic and local delivery.

Management

Hopewell is led by a team of seasoned executives with expertise spanning all stages of the drug discovery and development process, as well as deep experience in drug delivery systems and building biotech companies.

• President and Chief Executive Officer – Louis Brenner, M.D.
• Founder and Chief Technology Officer – Qiaobing Xu, Ph.D.
• Chief Scientific Officer – Kate Zhang, Ph.D.
• Chief Operating Officer – Tom Hennessey, Jr.
• Chief Business Officer – Geoffrey Swire

About Hopewell Therapeutics
Hopewell Therapeutics is discovering, synthesizing, and developing the next generation of tissue-targeted lipid nanoparticles (ttLNPs) to bring genomic medicines to patients. Hopewell is pursuing opportunities to redefine the non-viral delivery space for novel genomic medicines by designing systemically administered LNPs to specifically target extrahepatic tissues and cells throughout the body. Hopewell has built a robust intellectual property portfolio with an expansive library of ionizable lipids and has established partnerships with several industry leading companies. Hopewell is developing its own internal pipeline, initially targeting diseases of the lung, while concurrently exploring the potential of its ttLNP platform for patients with unmet needs in oncology, infectious diseases, rare genetic diseases, and neurological disorders. For more information, visit www.hopewell-tx.com.

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. served as legal advisor to Hopewell Therapeutics for its Seed Financing.

Contacts:

Investors/Media
Argot Partners
[email protected]
212.600.1902

SOURCE Hopewell Therapeutics

Digital Health Solutions Provider, Significo, Embarks on Expansion Journey with Funding Round and Strategic Executive Appointments

AUSTIN, Texas, June 7, 2023 — Significo, the provider of secure and reliable digital health solutions, proudly announces the successful closure of a $12 million Series A funding round, fueling its mission to scale personalized health recommendations as a service.

Led by esteemed investor Doug Blough, a long-standing advocate of founders Rick McCartney and Chris Koha, the funding round marks a pivotal moment for Significo’s growth trajectory. The influx of capital will empower the company to enhance its offerings and deliver a more human-centered experience in the digital health realm.

Recognizing the importance of a robust team, Significo has strategically welcomed several key executives to fortify its expansion and innovation efforts. The company proudly embraces the expertise and vision of these new hires, who will play integral roles in shaping Significo’s future success including Michael Robin as VP of Marketing; Gary Rust, Executive VP of Sales: and Daniel Schuster as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis. The team has also added a few key members to their US based team and will be adding several more in the coming year.

“We are thrilled to build upon our strong foothold in the German and US markets, delighting our loyal customer base, and amplifying our capacity to provide a personalized digital health experience,” affirms Rick McCartney, the CEO of Significo.

“Our recommendation engine, driven by advanced algorithms and data analytics, leverages each individual’s unique health profile, lifestyle, and aspirations to offer tailored insights and recommendations. This breakthrough technology represents a significant leap forward in empowering individuals to take charge of their well-being, and we eagerly anticipate the positive impact it will have on our users’ lives.”

Looking ahead, Significo harbors ambitious plans to propel growth and spearhead innovation in the industry. The company’s roadmap includes an expansion of product offerings, acquisition of new customers, and an unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional value to its clients.

About Significo:

Significo envisions a world where health technology catalyzes transformative change in people’s lives and revolutionizes the industry while prioritizing the human experience. As an international company with hubs in Austin, TX, Berlin, Germany, and Spain, Significo creates digital products and technologies that elegantly solve complex health challenges, leaving a lasting impact on individuals’ well-being. With its steadfast dedication to creating meaningful solutions, Significo is reshaping the digital health landscape and inspiring positive transformations in the lives of its users. With Significio, health meets humanity.

CONTACT: Michael Robin, [email protected]

SOURCE Significo

Clark Landry has joined Hawke Ventures as their newest General Partner.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 6, 2023 — Clark is an experienced operator/investor, who comes to Hawke Ventures with a deep background in the martech and adtech verticals. He is a 4x entrepreneur and angel investor with 100+ private company investments, including 20+ prominent exits such as Trade Desk ($35B market cap), Scopely (acquired by Savvy Games Group, $4.9B), EdgeCast Networks (acquired by Verizon, $390M) and Adconion (acquired by SingTel, $235M). Other significant investments include AngelList, Crexi, 15Five, Tebra, and more. Clark was named 2019 Angel Investor of the Year (TechFire) and “Top 50 Angel Investor for Female and Diverse Founders” (BetaBoom).

Clark will be investing out of Hawke Ventures Fund 2, an early-stage venture fund with check sizes ranging from $50k – $2M in MarTech, AdTech, and E-Commerce Tech companies. The fund focuses on growing pre-seed or seed-stage companies that have gained quantifiable traction in their market. Hawke Ventures co-invests alongside prominent angel and venture capital lead investors. General partners of Hawke Ventures include the founders of Hawke Media, Erik Huberman & Tony Delmercado, Drew Leahy, and now Clark Landry.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Hawke Ventures,” said Landry. “The team has an impressive track record of selecting winners in their target sectors, and of providing their portfolio companies with assistance and support through its close relationship with Hawke Media. I’m excited to continue to build on the success that Hawke Ventures has had to date.”

The DNA of Hawke Ventures has always been about being highly operationally proficient when working with founders and their teams. One of the biggest reasons the Hawke team is excited Clark is joining the firm is that he is an operator turned investor who fully understands the founder’s journey, from start to finish. From balance sheets to fundraising, go-to-market, and product, Clark can truly assist Hawke Ventures’ founders and investments in becoming the best they can be.

Hawke Ventures has the strategic ability to attract and develop world-class entrepreneurs in commerce enablement and marketing technology. Between Hawke Media’s client base (400+ monthly brands) & growth marketing expertise (200+ employees), the fund can effectively select and accelerate technology companies in the Hawke Ventures portfolio.

CONTACT: Alyssa Mosher, 3104517295, [email protected]

SOURCE Hawke Ventures

Earmarks up to USD 80 Million for M&A
Plans To Accelerate Growth Through Acquisitions In Complementary Assets And Deep Tech Startups, Absorbs AI Deep Tech Incivus Into Its Fold

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 6, 2023 — Analytics & AI solutions company, Course5 Intelligence, announced today that they have successfully completed their round of funding of USD 53 million with second close led by Nuvama Crossover Series of funds, managed by Nuvama Asset Management Limited. The second close also saw participation by Carnelian Asset Advisors Pvt Ltd. and affiliates. This funding follows the first close done with 360 ONE Asset Management Limited (formerly known as IIFL Asset Management Limited) in May 2023. This funding will be augmented by the company’s own cash reserves and cash accruals to provide for an M&A war chest in the range of USD 80 million.

Ashwin Mittal, Chairman and CEO of Course5 Intelligence, said, “The data and AI revolution is finally here and the scope and scale of AI deployments across global enterprises are going to rapidly increase in the coming years. Recent advances in Generative AI, natural language and computer perception have completely removed the boundaries of what is possible. We want to ensure we maintain our leadership position amongst AI & Analytics solution providers by adding strategically to our portfolio to maximize our value proposition to global corporates.” Mr. Ashwin further added, “We are pleased to have on board Nuvama as an investor, someone who has a track record of partnering with sector leaders and is aligned to our vision.”

The penetration of advanced analytics & AI in enterprises is at a very nascent stage globally and recent advances in technological innovations may be the tipping point for wide-spread, democratic adoption across industries and one that will likely see consistent growth over the next decade. Partnering with Course5 to capitalize on this opportunity is a natural fit for Nuvama Private Equity’s Crossover fund strategy, that has over time successfully identified and invested in leaders across sectors with structural growth, and in companies with established business models and seasoned management teams. 

Pranav Parikh, Managing Partner, Nuvama Private Equity, said, “Increase in complexity, type and usage of data across the world and significant advancement in technologies including AI is driving adoption of data driven intelligence through enterprises like never before across the globe. We see this as a structural long-term trend, and strongly believe that Course5 is very well-placed to benefit from this wave of acceleration, given its marquee client base, industry domain expertise and its effective delivery model. We are excited to partner with Ashwin and the Course5 team to accelerate the growth trajectory for the company and build a sustainable strong global enterprise in our domain.”

Commenting on the investment, Vikas Khemani, Founder, Carnelian Asset Advisors Pvt Ltd, said, “Data Analytics and AI is a big revolution ahead of us and growing at a rapid pace transforming and disrupting businesses. Course5 is well placed to capture this huge opportunity over the next decade. We are very excited to be part of this growth journey and believe Course5 will create superior value for all its stakeholders in years to come.”

Course5 Intelligence has a structured M&A agenda, looking at synergistic assets in the US, the UK and India, each in the range of USD 10 million to USD 20 million in revenue as well as smaller deep tech AI startups. This growth funding round will fortify Course5’s inorganic growth plans and allow the company to leverage the synergies by adding new intellectual property (IP), capabilities, talent, and/or key client relationships.

Course5 has also absorbed Incivus, an AI-based Ad creation and optimization technology startup. Incivus provides a precise, objective and granular evaluation of all creative variables of an Ad and predicts the likelihood of success with technologies like Computer Vision, Computer Audition, Generative AI, and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Generative AI, in particular, extends Incivus’ capabilities to generate new ad creatives and modify existing ones. The Incivus platform helps marketing teams optimize the effectiveness of their digital ads before launch, helping them improve their ROI, speed to market, and create advertisements that resonate most effectively with target audiences.

ICICI Securities and JM Financial acted as the exclusive financial advisors to the Company.

Course5 is currently in talks with five companies and plans to complete two acquisitions, over a period of 12 months. In addition to mergers & acquisitions, Course5 plans to use the investor funds for further innovation in specific areas of applied AI such as deep learning, computer perception, natural language, and Generative AI via Course5’s AI Labs.

About Course5 Intelligence Limited

Course5 Intelligence Limited (“Course5”) focuses on helping organizations drive digital transformation using artificial intelligence (“AI”), advanced analytics, and insights. Course5’s AI-driven products and solutions and IP-led solutions are supported by industry-specific domain experience and the latest technologies and aim at enabling organizations to solve complex issues relating to their customers, markets, and supply chain at speed and scale. Course5 combines a multi-disciplinary approach to data integration across structured and unstructured data sources to help businesses grow through informed decision-making.

Course5 caters to some of the world’s largest enterprises, including many Fortune 500 companies. The company’s clients span Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT), Pharma & Lifesciences, CPG, Retail, and other sectors. Course5 Intelligence has been recognized by leading industry analysts like Gartner and Forrester for its Analytics and AI capabilities and proprietary AI-based platforms.

About Nuvama Private Equity

Nuvama Private Equity is part of the Asset Management business of the Nuvama group – one of India’s leading wealth management firms with client assets of over ~ INR 2,25,200 Cr (~USD 27 bn), servicing ~10,87,564 affluent individuals & HNIs and ~2,945 of India’s wealthiest families as of Q4 FY23. Nuvama’s investment expertise and high-touch services span major asset classes and a suite of wealth management solutions, including investment advisory, estate planning, investment management, securities and broking for individuals and institutions, CXOs, professional investors and family offices. PAG, one of the leading alternative investment firms focused on Asia Pacific, holds a majority stake in a partnership with Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd, one of India’s leading diversified financial services companies, to form our company Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd.

About Carnelian Asset Advisors Pvt. Ltd

Carnelian is fast growing boutique asset management firm focused on investing in high quality companies operating in emerging / high growth sectors in the Indian markets. Carnelian’s unique investment approach of finding promising companies at an early stage has generated superior risk adjusted investment returns for its clients over the years. Carnelian manages USD 300 mn across various strategies for leading Indian Family Offices, HNIs and Partners’ Capital.

Media Contact:

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2094053/Course5_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Course5 Intelligence

RESTON, Va., June 6, 2023 — LeaseAccelerator, the leader in the Enterprise Lease Accounting and Lease Lifecycle Management software market, announced today that PureLease Marketplace, a global bidding platform that makes competing equipment leases simple, fast and easy, has sourced over $1.5 billion USD in lease financing. PureLease Marketplace saves clients an average of 7% on equipment costs by competing their equipment leases.

The PureLease bidding platform includes buy-side services for equipment users (lessees) and sell-side services for equipment leasing companies (lessors):

• PureLease Marketplace  –  the first dedicated, competitive lease financing marketplace, where lessees get the lowest rates and best value for equipment leases.
• Global Lessor Network  – a network of over 500 equipment lessors in 80 countries. Approved leasing companies gain access to prequalified leasing deals with committed equipment lessees with strong credit quality, resulting in more opportunities, shorter sales cycles, and lower cost of sales.

PureLease clients gain access to a suite of tools to automate, streamline, and control their equipment leasing process:

• Lease vs. Buy analysis
• Intelligent lessor matching
• Request for Proposal (RFP) preparation and distribution
• PureDocs: standardized lease documents
• Proposal analysis and ranking
• PureData: abstracted, reconciled deal data ready for booking directly into your lease accounting software.

“With this major volume milestone, PureLease Marketplace proves its long-term value for lessees, reducing the time spent building lessor relationships by 25% and managing RFPs by 40%,” said Michael Keeler, CEO at LeaseAccelerator. “With PureLease, anyone can improve their lease financing for significant economic and operational savings,”

To start a sourcing event, contact PureLease at https://purelease.net/.

About PureLease:
PureLease from LeaseAccelerator provides competitive lease sourcing services for equipment lessees that reduce the cost of financing and improve free cash flow, connecting lessors with prequalified lessees in a simple, fast, and easy process. Using standardized contracts and automated RFP creation, each bid is matched to best-value bidders in our network of 500+ lessors. PureLease has run sourcing events in over 26 countries valued at over $1.5B that saved an average of 7%.

About LeaseAccelerator
LeaseAccelerator provides enterprise lease lifecycle automation software that ensures long-term compliance, improves operational efficiency, and frees up cash. Thousands of users rely on our secure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform to manage and automate 900,000 real estate and equipment leases valued at $150 billion across 2 million assets in 142 countries, generating 8 billion journal entries.

SOURCE LeaseAccelerator, Inc.