WASHINGTON, May 8, 2023 — MPOWER Financing, a mission-driven fintech firm and a leading provider of non-cosigned loans to promising students from around the world, announced that it recently closed a $150 million revolving asset-backed warehouse facility with Goldman Sachs.

“We are thrilled that Goldman Sachs is supporting the MPOWER team as we contribute to the important mission of making higher education and socioeconomic mobility accessible to the millions of international and DACA students studying in North America,” said Manu Smadja, CEO and Co-founder of MPOWER Financing. “91% of our students say that an MPOWER loan is instrumental to their ability to study abroad, so this funding will enable us to further democratize access to higher education.”

The funding will be used to expand MPOWER’s rapidly growing portfolio of student loans issued to international and DACA students attending one of 400+ leading colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada. In 2022, both the U.S. and Canada reached record levels of enrollment for new international students.

“Goldman Sachs has an established track record of raising and providing capital to innovative fintechs and we believe MPOWER’s growth trajectory, portfolio performance and global ecosystem supporting students around the world aligns with previous relationships in the sector,” said Christopher Zaki, head of capital markets at MPOWER Financing.

This financing facility accompanies another financing facility which MPOWER closed with Deutsche Bank AG, New York Branch in 2022. Additionally, in 2021 the company raised $100 million in equity capital from a consortium of investors, including Tilden Park Capital Management and King Street Capital Management.

About MPOWER Financing 
MPOWER Financing, headquartered in Washington, D.C., and with employees worldwide, is a mission-driven fintech company and the leading provider of global education loans. Its proprietary algorithm analyzes overseas and domestic credit data as well as future earning potential to serve promising international and DACA students. MPOWER works with over 400 top universities across the U.S. and Canada to provide financing to students from over 200 countries. The MPOWER team consists of former international students and provides students with personal financial education and career support to prepare them for life after school.

MPOWER is a Certified Great Place To Work, one of the best fintechs to work for, and the best tech workplace for diversity. The company is hiring for various positions worldwide.

Media Contact
Mo Shafroth 
Peaks Strategies 
(720) 470-3653 
[email protected] 

SOURCE MPower

Funding will support the commercial launch of two medical food products

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 8, 2023 — Solarea Bio, a clinical stage biotechnology company based in Cambridge, MA developing food-derived microbial-based solutions to aid human health, announced today a first closing of $15m in a Series B financing led by S2G Ventures with continued participation of Bold Capital Partners, Viking Global Investors, and GG 1978 SICAF SIF. A total of up to $25 million is targeted for this round of financing. The funds will be allocated to the commercial launch of two medical foods designed for the dietary management of bone health and rheumatoid arthritis, respectively.

Solarea developed its platform to characterize beneficial microbes that naturally colonize fresh fruits and vegetables, developed them into rationally designed synbiotic consortia called Defined Microbial Assemblages^TM (DMAs^TM) and validated their efficacy in several disease models. The first product, SBD111, a medical food designed to aid in the dietary management of bone loss in postmenopausal women demonstrated significant bone maintenance in a mouse model of postmenopausal osteoporosis and results were published in a peer-reviewed journal. The product demonstrated a safety and tolerability profile comparable to placebo in healthy subjects, and a large efficacy study is ongoing to demonstrate its effects on maintaining bone mass in postmenopausal women. The second medical food product, SBD121, is designed to aid in the dietary management of rheumatoid arthritis and will enter a human study this year.

“We are very excited to see the rapid progression from our founding hypothesis: that microbes from fresh fruits and vegetables have health benefits, to the clinical validation stage, and the upcoming commercial launches. I thank our amazing team for their hard work and dedication to execute on our lofty goals. A big part of the company’s success has been the role our outstanding investors played partnering with a great team at Solarea, and we are looking forward to continuing successes as we transition to a commercial stage by launching our medical food products to the market,” said Gerardo V Toledo, CEO and co-founder.

Solarea Bio is building a pipeline of other products leveraging the deep understanding of the interactions of DMA^TM products with the immune system. Scientific rigor is one of the company’s cores values and it is manifested in the caliber of the data, team, advisors, and collaborators.

“Solarea Bio embodies attributes S2G Ventures seek in the companies we invest,” says Matthew Walker, Managing Director, and board member. “These include a an incredibly dedicated team, a clear vision to create products with a positive impact in our society, and a path to commercialize them.”

Neal Bhadkamkar, General partner at Bold Capital Partners and board director commented: “It is heartening to see the evolution of Solarea Bio from its beginnings at the Illumina Accelerator. Bold Capital looks forward to the launches of Solarea’s first two products over the coming few years. Looking farther out, the company’s rich database and strain library positions it to introduce a stream of future products addressing other important health conditions.”

About Solarea Bio 
Solarea Bio is a clinical stage biotechnology company based in Cambridge, MA mining the untapped microbial diversity of fresh fruits and vegetables to develop novel solutions for managing inflammatory diseases and enabling people to enjoy long, healthy lives. Solarea has built a best-in-class strain catalog of bacteria and fungi, a database of their genomes, and a computational platform to mine them to develop products across a range of categories including supplements, medical foods, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture.

Contact:

Eric Schott
[email protected]
[email protected]

SOURCE Solarea Bio

LONDON, May 5, 2023 — nChain, a world leader in Web3 and Blockchain technologies, today announces that it is investing $2.4 million and taking a 20% equity stake in Asset Layer, a complete digital asset platform powered by blockchain.

Digital assets combine files and data with an ownership mechanism enabling users to manage ownership on the Internet. Verticals from gaming, to supply chain to healthcare utilize digital assets and Asset Layer is the first purpose-built complete solution that simplifies digital asset creation and trading.

nChain and Asset Layer are leading the transition to Web3 by providing next-gen apps with efficient and interoperable digital assets. Asset Layer’s platform enhances customer engagement for brands by allowing non-technical teams to effortlessly create interoperable digital assets that can serve multiple branding purposes, such as loyalty programs and community engagement. 

nChain and Asset Layer are focused on providing utility and value to users while maintaining efficiency, simplicity, and affordability. Asset Layer is a pioneering Digital Asset as a Service solution and partnering with nChain offers an opportunity to serve larger enterprise customers. Asset Layer currently has 14 active apps, a catalogue of over 5 million digital assets created and has recorded over 12 million on-chain transactions.

Christen-Ager Hanssen, nChain Group CEO, said that “Asset Layer is a fantastic addition to our ecosystem. Asset Layer is the right product for several projects nChain is currently leading. Together we are transforming legacy tools to be relevant in Web3.”

By leveraging nChain’s robust Web3 and Blockchain IP portfolio, the partnership will enhance Asset Layer’s offering and drive the adoption of the platform. nChain provides the core blockchain infrastructure behind Asset Layer’s solution, which is affording customers interoperability, security, and scalability.

“nChain is spearheading the world’s transition from Web2 to Web3. Our platform’s easy-to-use toolset not only helps simplify that transition, but it also helps turn Web3 apps into a Web3 ecosystem by enabling application interoperability,” added Jackson Laskey, Asset Layer CEO. “With nChain’s IP, tech, and team as a catalyst, not only can Asset Layer reach its potential but so can the wider Web3 world.”

Currently, the global Digital Asset Management market size is expected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2023 to $8.7 billion by 2028. This collaboration between nChain and Asset Layer is enabling innovation and powering the creator economy.

About nChain

nChain is a leading provider of global blockchain technology, IP licensing and consulting services. We serve clients globally to power several industries, including gaming, supply chain, and finance. nChain offers Web3 solutions provider defined by a purpose-driven team that has come together to address some of the global challenges and make a social impact, transforming the world from Web2 to Web3. nChain currently has almost 2,800 granted and pending patents and is the developer behind the Bitcoin SV Node software, Teranode, Kensei and more. Recently voted one of the Top 100 most innovative firms in the world.

About Asset Layer Inc.

Asset Layer delivers interoperable digital assets for web3 applications. Developers and creators can leverage our powerful API and no-code tools to create and manage all of their digital assets and easily share them across applications, all available with affordable and predictable SaaS pricing.

For more information contact: 
To learn more visit assetlayer.com.

Contact:

Haris Khan
+44 (0)7503 581563
[email protected]
Mobile: +44 (0) 7503 581 563

SOURCE nChain

SHANGHAI, May 5, 2023 — The 2023 Forbes Midas List, a prestigious industry list of world’s best venture capital investors, was unveiled. Qiming Venture Partners Managing Partner Nisa Leung and Founding Managing Partner Duane Kuang made the list.

The Midas List, which was launched in 2001, is named after the Greek mythology figure King Midas, who could convert anything he touched into gold. Thus, the list is also known as the “Golden Touch List” and regarded as one of the most recognized awards in the VC sector.

Nisa Leung has become a Forbes Midas Lister for the fifth year in a row, placing 41st this year. She has consistently ranked first among Chinese healthcare investors over the last five years. She was also named Forbes China’s Best Female Venture Capitalist in 2022, topping the list.

Nisa and her team have demonstrated a strong commitment to identifying startups that contributes to China’s healthcare system while meeting global unmet medical needs. She oversees a portfolio of nearly 200 healthcare companies, including Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, Zai Lab, CanSino Biologics, New Horizon Health and Venus MedTech.

Duane Kuang made the Forbes Midas List for the fourth time, ranking 70^th this year. Duane co-founded Qiming in 2006 and led investments in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) sector.

With more than 30 years of experience in corporate management and investing, Duane is a seasoned investor who remains active in the VC space over the past years. His key investments included Roborock, WeRide, UBTech, UniSound, Hesai Technology, CYG Intelligent Automation, Chaitin Tech, and Qiniu Cloud among others.

In 2022, Qiming invested in more than 90 companies and welcomed 40 IPOs in the last 24 months.

About Qiming Venture Partners

Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.4 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.

Since our debut, we have backed over 480 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 180 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or by other means. There are also over 70 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn status.

Many of our portfolio companies are today’s most influential firms in their respective sectors, including Xiaomi, Meituan, Bilibili, Zhihu, Roborock, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, Tigermed, Zai Lab, CanSino Biologics, Schrödinger, APT Medical, New Horizon Health, Venus MedTech, Sanyou Medical, AmoyDx, Berry Genomics, SinocellTech, Yuanxin Technology, Caidya, Belief BioMed, WeRide, Biren Technology and UBTech among many others.

SOURCE Qiming Venture Partners

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. , May 5, 2023 — Veteran Ventures Capital’s (“Veteran Ventures”) Veteran Fund I is proud to announce an investment in Vantage Robotics (“Vantage”). With their advanced drone and enabling technologies, Vantage Robotics is revolutionizing the way the military and national security agencies collect and analyze critical data in field.

Veteran Ventures’ Founder and Managing Partner, Derren Burrell, stated, “Veteran Ventures is thrilled to partner with Vantage Robotics, a leading dual-use unmanned aircraft system (UAS) company in the United States. With increasing demand for drone-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), Vantage is ideally positioned to continue expanding their portfolio of technologies to government and commercial customers.”

Vantage has been awarded over $20 million in research and development (R&D) contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense, including the Defense Innovation Unit, U.S. Army, and the U.S. Air Force. Vantage has also been selected by the U.S. Army to develop the next generation nano drone, competing for the $100M Soldier Borne Sensor production contract. Vantage’s nano drone offers a palm-sized unmanned aerial system and situational awareness tool, providing soldiers an organic “quick look” capability for near-time video feeds of larger, complex, and restrictive environments during day, night, and reduced visibility conditions. This capability is intended to be deployed at the level of the Army’s 7,000 squads. Other national security agencies have expressed early interest in this innovative platform as well.

Vantage’s executive and management teams combine a powerful pedigree of successful founders in hardware and software technologies and experienced veteran leadership in government sales. Collectively, the Vantage executive team has overseen the stand-up of 14 successful companies, filed over 100 patents, and designed and developed over 61 products. Vantage leverages this expertise and experience towards rapidly growing the business, identifying opportunities for innovation and differentiation, and a relentless focus on user-centric design.

Veteran Ventures is excited to join Refinery Ventures and Silicon Valley investors with this investment.

About Veteran Ventures Capital, LLC

Veteran Ventures is a veteran-owned investment firm focused on investing in national security technologies and veteran entrepreneurs and leadership. Veteran Ventures recognizes the value of military experience, training, and character providing success in all aspects of business growth and operations. For more information, please visit: www.veteranventures.us.

About Vantage Robotics

Vantage Robotics designs, builds, and sells UAVs and enabling technology that support national security, aid public safety, and maintain critical infrastructure. For more information, please visit: https://vantagerobotics.com/.

Contact: Craig Jaques
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Veteran Ventures Capital

– Funds will be utilised to acquire long-term licenses of international fashion and lifestyle brands and expand company’s proprietary technology stack

BENGALURU, India, May 5, 2023 — ace turtle, new India’s leading technology-native retail company spearheading the retail industry’s next phase of transformation, today announced that it has raised USD 34 million as part of its Series B funding. The fundraise demonstrated significant interest from existing and new investors. The Series B round was led by new investors Vertex Growth, SBI Investment Co. Ltd., Farglory, Lesing Nine, Stride Ventures, Tuscan Ventures and Trifecta Capital. The existing investors Vertex Southeast Asia & India and InnoVen Capital also participated in this round.

Commenting on the funding, Nitin Chhabra, CEO, ace turtle said, “Our aim is to lead the next phase of retail in India and scale it to new heights through vertical commerce. The funds will be utilised to develop cutting-edge technological tools that ensure seamless omnichannel operations, acquire licenses for new fashion and lifestyle brands, and recruit skilled talent across all levels to support the aggressive growth plans. This will help us to expand our brand portfolio and solidify our competitive edge in the market.” 

ace turtle grew significantly in the financial year 2022-23 by doubling its revenue and becoming EBITDA-positive. ace turtle aims to sustain this impressive growth trajectory in the coming years. Its portfolio of licensed brands currently comprises Lee®, Wrangler®, Toys”R”Us® and Babies”R”Us®.  

James Lee, General Partner of Vertex Growth said, “We are delighted to be a part of India’s massive consumer upgrade story. We are fully committed to partnering with exceptional and promising organisations that are on the brink of growth. The asset-light approach of ace turtle, their deep domain expertise in product supply chain and utilisation of data-driven insights in understanding consumer behaviour and demand, present significant opportunities for the integration of cutting-edge omnichannel tech solutions into brand operations, thereby facilitating substantial growth in the foreseeable future.”

Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman and President of SBI Investment said, “One of the key investment themes for us has been Asia’s domestic consumption. We believe India will be a leading source of global growth in the decades ahead, supported by positive demographics, a growing middle class and deepening internet penetration. This investment in ace turtle builds on our program to provide long-term capital to innovative companies transforming industries at scale. We look forward to supporting ace turtle’s efforts in enabling the growth of India’s retail market through technology.” 

Bengaluru and Singapore-based ace turtle is vertically integrated from design, local manufacturing and marketing to reach consumers directly. ace turtle is powered by its proprietary technology which uses data science from design to fulfilment to meet ever-evolving consumer expectations.

About Vertex Growth:

Vertex Growth is dedicated to partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs and promising companies on the cusp of growth. The firm provides the expansion capital to realise the companies’ vision of creating a category champion that is enduring and transformational. Vertex Growth is part of Vertex’s global network of venture capital funds comprised of affiliates in China, Israel, Southeast Asia and India, and the US. Through the Vertex network, Vertex Growth accesses opportunities emerging from the leading innovation hubs across the world and drive significant value by working closely with the Vertex ecosystem of portfolio companies and partners.

About SBI Investment Co., Ltd.

SBI Investment Co., Ltd. is the major VC arm of SBI Holdings. Over the last 20 years, it has invested in over 1000 companies and has 190+ exits. SBI Investment invests from USD1–20m in various sectors including Fintech, AI, Consumer tech, SaaS, B2B commerce and supply chain, deep tech, etc. SBI Holdings is a financial services company group based in Tokyo, Japan. The group’s businesses and companies are held primarily at SBI Holdings. The company provides financial services in various categories, including securities, asset management, banking and insurance and has formed an Internet-based financial conglomerate. The group also has a biotechnology-related business line which develops cosmetics, health foods and drug discovery. Furthermore, the group operates the business school SBI Graduate School. SBI is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange.

About Farglory: 

Founded in 1969 by Chairman Teng-Hsiung Chao, Farglory has earned a reputation of excellence for its dedication to ambitious international projects distinguished by quality craftsmanship and modern, sustainability-minded design. The Taiwan-based company operates across diversified industries that spread to construction, insurance, finance, hospitality, entertainment and medical care. A trusted developer with over 600 completed projects comprising over 200 million square feet, Farglory is transforming landscapes and shaping lives, one landmark at a time.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2070507/Nitin_Chhabra.jpg

SOURCE Ace Turtle

Global Tier 1 Supplier Gains Exclusive Business, Innovation, Technology Access

DETROIT, May 5, 2023 — American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AAM), (NYSE: AXL), a leader in driveline and metal forming technology, today announced a $10 million investment in the Global Strategic Mobility Fund (GSMF), a venture capital fund managed by EnerTech Capital. As a strategic partner, AAM gains access to EnerTech’s vast network of business alliances and emerging technology, all supporting mobility innovation that can help enhance AAM’s products and operations.

“AAM is committed to continuing our leadership as a Tier 1 global mobility supplier,” said David C. Dauch, AAM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working with EnerTech and its global alliances to support AAM’s mission of bringing the future faster and developing the next generation of mobility innovation.”

EnerTech, founded in 1996, has a long history of working with corporate strategic investors like AAM and is dedicated to providing companies across the mobility landscape with investment capital expertise, and strategic support. EnerTech’s GSMF supports the vision and ingenuity of those driving creation and positive change, specifically as it relates to emerging mobility innovations and growing global decarbonization targets.

AAM’s investment in GSMF provides the company with access to new startup and fully vetted high-tech companies that are advancing automotive technologies in the electrification, connectivity, autonomy and digitization sectors. This includes exposure to academic research, market intelligence, new business development opportunities and data from public-private coalitions accelerating innovation in the clean mobility space. 

About AAM: As a leading global Tier 1 Automotive and Mobility Supplier, AAM (NYSE: AXL) designs, engineers and manufactures Driveline and Metal Forming technologies to support electric, hybrid and internal combustion vehicles. Headquartered in Detroit with over 80 facilities in 18 countries, AAM is Bringing the Future Faster for a safer and more sustainable tomorrow. To learn more, visit aam.com.

About EnerTech Capital: EnerTech Capital is a globally recognized venture capital firm that has been investing and partnering with innovators since 1996, empowering entrepreneurs to build transformative technology companies. EnerTech’s current platform has a significant focus on emerging opportunities in the mobility space across electrification, connectivity, autonomy, and digitization sectors. The firm has a long history of working with corporate strategic investors and providing value added insights and partnership opportunities to support growth and innovation objectives. To learn more, visit EnerTechCapital.com. 

SOURCE American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.

The round was co-led by defy.vc and LDV Partners 

SEATTLE, May 4, 2023 — Genemod, a cloud-based workspace collaboration software for biopharma R&D teams, today announced it raised $4.5 million in seed funding, co-led by defy.vc and LDV Partners, with participation from Dolby Family Ventures and Vulcan/Cercano Ventures.

In the past year, Genemod has expanded into the biopharma R&D space working with teams from startups to enterprise companies including AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers, Merck, and more. Working across siloed spreadsheets, updating data in real time and collaborating on projects in disparate geographical locations are just a few examples of how teams using Genemod are able to eliminate busywork and other barriers so they can focus on developments in biopharma. 

“We believe that scientists must be empowered with tools to discover and develop medicines and ultimately get them to market faster than ever before,” said Jacob Lee, CEO and Co-founder of Genemod. “That’s why we built Genemod – to transform the way biopharma companies operate.”

Legacy R&D software and other traditional methods are decentralized, disorganized and inefficient, ultimately resulting in higher healthcare costs. Genemod is working to be the solution to this problem by building a dynamic cloud-based research platform designed for research teams to house their entire R&D lifecycle: from data acquisition and project documentation to inventory management and reporting. The intuitive interface allows users to easily visualize their data and track progress and updates – including what changes are made by whom.

“Genemod aims to be the go-to standard for research scientists just as how designers use Figma and engineers use Jira,” said Jin Choe, Co-founder at Genemod.

Genemod is also working to solve the “reproducibility crisis”: an ongoing phenomenon that continues to plague research scientists. Reproducibility is the ability to recreate the same experiment to achieve the same results. While this might sound simple in theory, disorganized data and a chronic lack of cloud-based organizational tools (among other issues) mean that experiment results continue to be inconsistent – costing the US government and researchers billions per year.

Discovery and clinical translation are no longer driven from siloed one-off experimentation but rather are compounding from accelerating gains in scale of data, reproducibility, and fidelity of experiment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has played a pivotal role in accelerating Genemod’s innovation and development, with Genemod playing an important role in aiding pandemic-related research. The pandemic overall led to collaboration between an increasing number of companies and research teams in a variety of industries. This includes the pharmaceutical and biotech business, which are leaning into dynamic, market-driven solutions in order to meet ever-increasing global healthcare and environmental challenges. 

“Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing industries in existence, and the software that powers efficiency and communication in labs has the potential to radically transform the world,” said Neil Sequeira, Founder and Partner at defy.vc. “Genemod is positioned to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems in the coming decades, from pandemics and other diseases to climate change. We are pleased to be investing in this great team and company and look forward to partnering with them as they continue to scale and grow.”

About defy.vc 
Founded in 2016, defy.vc is a Silicon Valley based early stage venture capital firm. Defy was founded to invest in entrepreneurs and companies looking to solve complex problems. Defy’s focus is to help early stage companies mature and scale into companies ready for growth capital. The firm’s team has more than 50 years of venture experience, successful operating backgrounds and actively helps successful entrepreneurs grow companies from inception through exit. Connect with defy at https://defy.vc/ and @defyvc.

About LDV Partners 
We chose to name our firm LDV Partners in honor of Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci mastered and combined multiple disciplines to create groundbreaking innovations. We believe that technologies can only disrupt markets by combining multiple disciplines. Based in Silicon Valley, the LDVP team seeks to partner with talented entrepreneurs working on deep technologies and innovative business models to build a world-class company.

LDV Partners is a team of experienced company builders, industry leaders and anchor investors. We provide experience, insights and connections needed to find and support visionaries who are changing the world.

Media Contact
[email protected]

SOURCE Genemod

The Unique Strength Training Workout Strengthens its Presence in Key Markets

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2023 — [solidcore] celebrated a major milestone today — opening its 100^th studio in Santa Monica, CA — on the heels of securing new strategic funding from leading private equity firm Kohlberg & Company (“Kohlberg”). This investment, coupled with the continued support of existing investors VMG Partners and Peterson Partners, will catapult [solidcore] across the map to expand in new cities.

“We are thankful for our partners who continue to see [solidcore] as a leader within the fitness industry and a brand that’s making a lasting impact,” said Bryan Myers, President & CEO. “With this new strategic investment, it reinforces [solidcore]’s strength, especially since there has been no other premium-boutique fitness player to receive this type of investment in a post-pandemic environment.”

Building upon the 100^th studio opening, [solidcore] is focused on even further growth in 2023 to meet the demand of the brand’s rapidly growing clientele with plans to open ~[25] total studios this year and 250+ studios globally in the next three to five years, including potential expansion into international markets.

“We are excited to partner with VMG and Peterson to support Bryan and the [solidcore] team as they continue to execute at an exceptional level,” said Eric Bilmes, Partner & Head of Strategic Equity of Kohlberg. “[solidcore] has truly differentiated itself as a proven national leader in the boutique fitness industry, and we are delighted that Kohlberg’s strategic equity investment can help the company to continue to grow its footprint and serve its loyal membership base.”

“We’ve been thrilled with how [solidcore] has performed since we first invested just over two years ago. All the credit for that goes to Bryan and the [solidcore] team for how they’ve executed,” said McConnell Smith of VMG. “We’re really fortunate to be able to partner with Kohlberg and for the complementary experience they bring. There’s so much opportunity ahead of the business and we couldn’t be more excited to continue supporting [solidcore] through this next stage of growth.”

[solidcore] is a high-intensity, low-impact workout on a one-of-a-kind Pilates-inspired reformer called sweatlana. The rapidly growing 50-minute full-body workout has made its mark as an industry pioneer by way of encouraging clients to create the strongest version of themselves. [solidcore] is for those who want to be pushed to their limits and want to find joy in the work. The workout utilizes slow and controlled movements scientifically designed to break down muscles to failure so they build back stronger, leaving those who come to class feeling mentally and physically stronger.

“In 2023, the goal is to meet consumers where they are, in all senses of the phrase,” said Myers. “This means bringing new studios to communities where the workout doesn’t have a presence yet, tailoring the experiences for current clientele, optimizing packages and memberships to what clients are looking for, and innovating the workout to meet the needs of an even broader consumer set who can create the strongest version of themselves,” said Myers.

For more information about [solidcore], visit https://www.solidcore.co/.

About [solidcore]

[solidcore] is a 50-minute, full-body, strength-training workout that uses slow, controlled movements to break down the slow-twitch muscle fibers so that they build back stronger and leaner. [solidcore] differentiates itself by bringing different levels of intensity and efficiency to the workout and the overall experience – attracting those who believe that the joy is in the work, and that there is always work to be done. With a focus on empowering [communities] and creating a space where everyone feels inspired, included, and seen, [solidcore] is on a mission to help people create the strongest version of themselves.

About VMG Partners:

VMG Partners (https://www.vmgpartners.com/) is focused on partnering with entrepreneurs and managers to support the growth and strategic development of leading branded consumer products and services. Since its inception in 2005, VMG has provided financial resources and strategic guidance to drive growth and value creation in more than 40 companies.

About Kohlberg & Company

Kohlberg is a leading U.S. middle market private equity firm based in Mount Kisco, New York. Over the firm’s 35 year history, the firm has organized eleven private equity vehicles totaling in aggregate over $14 billion. Since inception, the firm’s private equity investments have generated over $10 billion in realized returns with no realized losses since 2007. The firm invests in leading middle market businesses that are identified through its rigorous White Paper Program in its six core practice areas.

About Peterson Partners 

At Peterson Partners, our mission is to help great people build great businesses. We roll up our sleeves in supporting exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams in building enduring enterprises and have invested across industries in more than 300 companies, including Allbirds, Packsize, Lucid Software, SmartAsset, Rails, and Glowbar. Typically, Peterson Partners provides the first equity capital in a business, and we participate for a chapter of growth, usually 5-10 years, during which we work hard as a trusted coach and advisor in driving growth and building brands, systems, and human capital. Peterson Partners is an independent investment firm with more than $2.0 billion under management across Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Search strategies. To learn more about Peterson Partners, please visit https://petersonpartners.com.

CONTACT: Kristin Adomaitis, [email protected]

SOURCE [solidcore]