• doctorly GmbH (“doctorly”), is an innovative provider of comprehensive practice management software based in Germany.
• WELL Ventures, the venture capital arm of WELL, is leading an investment round in doctorly alongside Horizons Ventures and a syndicate of leading venture capital firms.
• As part of the investment and strategic alliance agreements, the Ocean platform, created by WELL’s wholly owned subsidiary, CognisantMD, will be used as the exclusive booking and practice engagement platform for doctorly. This will be WELL’s first commercial launch into the European market.

VANCOUVER, BC, March 1, 2023 – WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCQX: WHTCF) (Frankfurt: W7V.F) (“WELL” or the “Company“), a company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare providers and their patients globally, is pleased to announce it has made a strategic investment, through its wholly owned subsidiary, WELL Ventures, in doctorly GmbH (“doctorly“), a medical practice management software provider based in Germany. WELL Ventures is investing as part of a syndicate of investors including of some of the world’s most renowned venture capital firms such as Horizons Ventures, The Delta Force AG, Speedinvest, UNIQA Ventures, Calm Storm and Seedcamp.

doctorly was founded in 2018 to overhaul the highly regulated medical practice software industry. doctorly’s home market of Germany still heavily relies on software built in the 1980’s and lags behind global competitors. Antiquated software and a lack of innovation has led to material inefficiencies. According to the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung’ (“KBV“), the regulator for state practicing doctors in Germany, medical practices spend an average of 61 working days per year on administrative tasks. doctorly has built a modernized operating system that has successfully reduced the time dedicated to administrative tasks within practices cut in half. doctorly is currently the only venture capital backed start up in Germany with regulatory approval to sell and distribute practice management software, giving the company a unique opportunity for growth.

“There are two key firsts with this important event. This is our first co-investment with our friends and partners at Horizons Ventures and our first investment and collaboration agreement in Europe” said Hamed Shahbazi, CEO and Founder of WELL. “WELL and doctorly operate on the same principle of tech-enabling health care practitioners to improve patient outcomes. A key part of this important investment is the opportunity to secure the exclusive rights to launch our very popular and growing Ocean platform for online patient bookings in Germany with a strong and upcoming practice management tool in a market many times the size of Canada.”

Proceeds from the investing round will be used to invest in accelerating its growth in Germany. This will involve developing new features and functionality to reduce administrative costs and free up more time for healthcare professionals to focus on delivering healthcare.

WELL and doctorly will also work together on future projects within the German healthcare market following this investment round. The first of which involves the Ocean platform that was created by WELL’s subsidiary CognisantMD. The Ocean platform will be used as the exclusive booking and practice engagement platform for doctorly.

“Since inception, we have worked very closely with doctors and healthcare professionals to build an operating system that works for them” said Samir El-Alami, CEO and Founder of doctorly. “Our relationships have enabled us to build a practice management system that is modern, easy to use, secure and connects with other modern technologies. This commitment to improving the lives of our practitioners has led to excellent customer feedback, early sales traction, and now this investment round with pre-eminent investors and a strategic partner with WELL. This investment round makes doctorly the first company with regulatory approval to sell its software in Germany to receive VC funding.”

WELL Ventures’ mandate is to invest in and advance the digitization and modernization of healthcare in Canada and around the globe through venture-style investments in early-stage digital health companies. WELL Ventures’ graduates include Circle Medical and Insig; while current portfolio companies include Phelix.ai, Bright, Twig Fertility, Focus Mental Wellness, and Pillway. 

WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Per: “Hamed Shahbazi” 
Hamed Shahbazi
Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director

About WELL Health Technologies Corp.

WELL is a practitioner focused digital health company whose overarching objective is to positively impact health outcomes to empower and support healthcare practitioners and their patients. WELL has built an innovative practitioner enablement platform that includes comprehensive end to end practice management tools inclusive of virtual care and digital patient engagement capabilities as well as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and data protection services. WELL uses this platform to power healthcare practitioners both inside and outside of WELL’s own omni-channel patient services offerings. As such, WELL owns and operates Canada’s largest network of outpatient medical clinics serving primary and specialized healthcare services and is the provider of a leading multi-national, multi-disciplinary telehealth offering. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “WELL” and on OTCQX under the symbol “WHTCF“. To learn more about the Company, please visit: www.well.company.

About doctorly

Doctorly is a European based digital health-tech startup with a company mission of ‘enabling people to live healthier lives’. With an initial focus on Europe’s largest market, Germany, doctorly has built a brand new, fully regulated practice management software to redefine how medical practices work. As an all-in-one solution, doctorly provides a fully centralised, cloud powered, GDPR compliant, medical practice operating system that dramatically reduces the time & effort doctors & medical assistants spend on day-to-day administrative tasks. Doctorly is the only VC backed startup to ever have the regulatory approval to sell this software in Germany, and with over 110,000 medical practices live in the market, have big ambitions to support a large percentage of the doctors & medical professionals in modernising how they work. To learn more about doctorly please visit: www.doctorly.de.

SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.

Partnership with experienced software investor to support LOGEX’s mission to turn data into better healthcare in Europe

AMSTERDAM and LONDON, March 1, 2023 — LOGEX, a European healthcare analytics provider, today announced an investment from Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm. LOGEX’s existing shareholders, the company’s founders, and Summa Equity will remain invested with the business and will work closely with Thoma Bravo and the executive committee to support LOGEX’s European growth and further drive innovation in healthcare analytics.

LOGEX is a leading healthcare analytics provider which uses data to help healthcare providers and hospitals make better decisions and deliver optimum health outcomes for patients while reducing costs. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Amsterdam, LOGEX is currently active in ten countries with the ambition to further expand across Europe. 

“Our mission is to turn data into better healthcare. There is an urgent need for stronger, more resilient, and more accessible health systems in Europe. We are already active in 10 European markets and we know we can play a meaningful role in evolving healthcare in Europe and making systems interoperable for improved international collaboration if we can expand further. Thoma Bravo, with their deep technical knowledge and their expertise in operational excellence, will be a fantastic partner to help us achieve that goal,” said Philipp Jan Flach, Chief Executive Officer at LOGEX.

Thoma Bravo is an active investor in Europe, having deployed $11 billion of equity across 11 transactions there in the last 12 years. To further support the firm’s expansion in Europe, Thoma Bravo opened an office in London in September 2022 to grow the firm’s presence and investment activity. This marks Thoma Bravo’s inaugural investment by its Europe-based team.

“With its best-in-class software solutions that optimise the delivery and quality of care, LOGEX has a real-world impact on patients. We are excited to partner with LOGEX and its talented team to drive continued innovation and advance its mission to improve European healthcare. We look forward to leveraging Thoma Bravo’s demonstrated software and operations capabilities to help the company deliver on its plans,” said David Tse, a Vice President at Thoma Bravo.

Jefferies LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to LOGEX and Allen & Overy served as legal counsel. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Thoma Bravo and Harris Williams & Co. Ltd served as Thoma Bravo’s exclusive financial advisor.

About LOGEX

LOGEX is leading the way in healthcare analytics in Europe. By turning data into actionable insights, LOGEX helps solve the complex healthcare challenge of managing costs whilst improving clinical outcomes. Headquartered in Amsterdam and with an international team of over 450 members, LOGEX helps over 700 of public and private healthcare providers make data-driven decisions that level up patient outcomes everywhere and make the best possible care more affordable for everyone. For more information about LOGEX, its solutions and its partnerships, visit www.logex.com.

About Thoma Bravo

Thoma Bravo is one of the largest software investors in the world, with more than $120 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2022. Through its private equity, growth equity and credit strategies, the firm invests in growth-oriented, innovative companies operating in the software and technology sectors. Leveraging Thoma Bravo’s deep sector expertise and strategic and operational capabilities, the firm collaborates with its portfolio companies to implement operating best practices and drive growth initiatives. Over the past 20 years, the firm has acquired or invested in more than 420 companies representing over $235 billion in enterprise value.¹ The firm has offices in Chicago, London, Miami and San Francisco. For more information, visit Thoma Bravo’s website at thomabravo.com and Twitter @ThomaBravo.

¹ Includes control and non-control investments.

SOURCE Thoma Bravo

CHICAGO, March 1, 2023 — Angeles Investors – the angel investor community finding, funding and growing the most promising Hispanic and Latino/a ventures – is pleased to announce its recent seed investment in MasPanadas, a Rockville, Maryland-based business that makes a modern, American-palate-friendly empanada. Angeles Investors co-led the investment with Union Kitchen Ventures. The deal was led by Angeles Investors member, Louis Caldera, an experienced corporate director.

MasPanadas was founded by Margarita Womack, Ph.D. in 2020. While the business started as a food services operation, it more recently has emerged as a booming frozen packaged food line expanding rapidly into 1,000+ natural and organic retailers, including Whole Foods Market, as well as in hotels, country clubs, and event venues. Margarita was recognized in 2022 as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Mid-Atlantic region) and was named Top CEO of the Year (small business leader) by the Washington Business Journal.

This investment is a monumental moment for Angeles Investors as it accomplishes two goals: 1) giving more Latina founders access to venture capital, and 2) creating more opportunities for Latinas to join corporate boards.

“I founded Latin Goodness Foods/MASPANADAS with a mission to offer Better Food for working families and also to provide Better Jobs that enable Better Lives for our employees, the majority of whom are fellow immigrants from Latin America,” said Margarita Womack Ph.D., MasPanadas Founder. “I am thrilled to partner with Angeles Investors, Inc., who offer the resources, experience, and unique insight needed to continue to grow our business and who share my commitment to engaging and positively impacting Hispanic/LatinX communities.  Together, mas is better!”

Monica Hernandez, Founder of Mas Global Consulting, a provider of agile software development and technology services with teams in the United States and LATAM, and recognized as a top 3% Women Owned Business per American Express, will be serving on MasPanadas’ Board of Directors.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the MasPanadas Board. MAS Global and MasPanadas have more than a name in common. Our company missions go beyond making a financial impact and extend deeply into impacting our communities,” said MAS Global Founder, Monica Hernandez. “Our higher purpose and sense of community have brought us together by way of Angeles Investors. By combining the knowledge, ganas and connections of our investor community, we will help MasPanadas reach their full potential.”

“We believe the MasPanadas team, combined with its truly unique approach, will unlock the full potential of the U.S. consumer market,” said Angeles Investors CEO, David Olivencia. “Our firm’s investment philosophy is all about finding the most exciting startups, funding the most disruptive and fastest growing business models and growing the impact of Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy. With MasPanadas, we have discovered the perfect match.”

We look forward to partnering on more deals that create growth opportunities for our Hispanic and Latinx communities.

For more information, contact Dahlia Majirez.

SOURCE Angeles Investors

Fueled by the investment, Savant Labs Innovates on Self-service Analytics Automation in the Cloud with a Unique Drag-and-Drop No-code, Low–code Approach

SAN MATEO, Calif, March 1, 2023 — Savant Labs (savantlabs.io), the automation platform for data analysts, announces $11 million in seed funding led by Cota Capital – a leading investor in enterprise technologies – with participation from WestWave Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Uncorrelated Ventures, Handshake Ventures and several angel investors.

As digital transformation matures, organizations are rapidly adopting modern SaaS applications and modern data platforms. This makes access to data much easier for businesses. But when it comes to running analytics on this data and supporting day-to-day business decisions, data analysts and business operations teams are left relying on complex, code-intensive tools. According to IDC, 78 million data workers are advanced spreadsheet and SQL users and they spend an average of 37% of their time weekly on repetitive, error-prone data and analytic tasks. From demand forecasting, price sensitivity analysis and revenue leak analytics, to tax and accounting, marketing and HR analytics, thousands of hours are spent on manual work costing businesses billions of dollars both in growth and efficiency loss.

“We believe deeply in the combined power of automation technologies and analytics to transform modern businesses,” said Chitrang Shah, founder & CEO of Savant Labs. “This unique approach is finally making it possible to automate repetitive manual analytic tasks and reach insights at business speed. With Savant, analysts can have hundreds of data sources at their fingertips, create and automate analytics workflows in minutes and publish insights to the dashboard or business application of their choice.”

Savant’s end-to-end analytics automation lets users easily create dataflows, analytics workflows and leverage analytics bots to automate repetitive tasks. This introduces a breakthrough way to automate analytics across data sources while delivering results to modern dashboards and applications. Analysts can now drag-and-drop no-code, low-code analytics widgets to access, clean, prep, process and analyze data, and then deploy RPA bots to automate data delivery – all without coding or complex data engineering lift. The Savant Analytics Automation Platform supports bot-driven access to 200+ data platforms, cloud data warehouses and business applications, 300+ drag-and-drop analytics widgets to speed automating analytics, and bot-driven delivery of insights to 100+ business applications and dashboards.

“Savant’s automation solution has been a game-changer for us. Our team uses the platform every day to automate end-to-end dataflows and activate insights inside our business apps at lightning-fast speeds – without burdening our data engineers,” said Alex Schwarm, VP Data & Analytics at Arrive Logistics. “The power of Savant’s analytics workflow and bots alone saves us over 400 hours of manual analytic work every month.”

Modern leaders at companies like MariaDB, Arrive Logistics, Moogsoft and F5000s that can’t be named publicly are using Savant to automate data-driven workflows and eliminate thousands of hours of manual work. All while improving their operational efficiency and reducing the data infrastructure costs & complexity.

“Savant’s approach to automating analytics for modern data sources is unique and fills a major gap in the market for analysts who are dependent on IT/engineers for access to data,” said Bobby Yazdani, founder and partner, Cota Capital. “We are excited to be part of Savant and to get their platform in the hands of marketing, sales, finance HR and customer teams while accelerating innovation.”

The Savant founding team has deep experience in analytics through their entrepreneurial journey at multiple successful companies including Lattice Engines (acquired by D&B), Drawbridge (acquired by LinkedIn), Clearwell (acquired by Symantec), DataDomain (acquired by EMC), 3Par (IPO) and Hyperion (acquired by Oracle).

The funding allows Savant Labs to continue to scale their teams and innovate on delivering the simplest drag-and-drop analytics automation experience for business analysts to answer questions from data captured in the modern data stack and modern SaaS applications. To learn more about Savant visit https://www.savantlabs.io or start your no-obligation free trial at https://app.savantlabs.io/en/login/

About Savant Labs

Founded in 2021, Savant Labs empowers analysts to expedite answers from modern data sources and modern SaaS applications with drag-and-drop no-code, low-code analytics automation. The analytics automation is visualized in an intuitive workflow that combines dataflows and analytics flows and uniquely combines analytics bots. Organizations can leverage Savant’s pre-build analytics automation apps or build their own. Savant Labs, based in San Mateo, California, is funded by Cota Capital, WestWave Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Uncorrelated Ventures, Handshake Ventures, and several angel investors.

Press Contact:

Chitrang Shah
408-838-2341
http://www.savantlabs.io

SOURCE Savant Labs

Capital will expand and finance decarbonization projects nationwide, further develop BlocPower’s proprietary SaaS analytics platform, and fund green economy workforce development programs in “Justice 40” communities

Rebranding represents new chapter of growth, maturity and continued momentum for the company

NEW YORK, March 1, 2023 — BlocPower, a leading climate technology company focused on greening America’s buildings, today announced a fundraising round of $150 million, including over $24 million of Series B corporate equity led by VoLo Earth Ventures and $130 million of debt financing led by Goldman Sachs. Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Credit Suisse, Builders Vision, New York State Ventures, Unreasonable Collective, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Gaingels, Van Jones, Kapor Capital, My Climate Journey, Tale Venture Partners, and NBA superstar and entrepreneur Russell Westbrook also joined the equity round. To date, BlocPower has raised over $250 million of capital to finance building decarbonization in low income communities.

The investment round will drive BlocPower’s mission by expanding heat pump and building electrification programs across the U.S. BlocPower will further develop its highly differentiated, proprietary BlocMaps SaaS analytics platform; grow its financing and administrative capabilities; and broaden its Civilian Climate Corps green workforce initiative, focused on training and hiring at-risk individuals in vulnerable communities. Notably, the round comes at a time when Black startup founders in the United States raised just 1% of VC funds last year—an estimated $2.25 billion out of $215.9 billion—nearly half of what they raised in 2021 ($4.34 billion).

“Since 2014, BlocPower has focused on decarbonizing America’s urban core, developing the green economy’s workforce, and bringing climate justice to underserved and vulnerable communities. We are fighting the climate crisis while improving quality of life for city residents. Series B equity and working capital financing from Goldman Sachs will allow us to accelerate building decarbonization across America. We will help low-to-moderate income communities to access the benefits of President Biden’s once in a lifetime green economy investments,” said Donnel Baird, CEO and founder of BlocPower.

Since its 2020 Series A, BlocPower has demonstrated 4,000% revenue growth, including signing city-scale decarbonization projects in Ithaca, NY and Menlo Park, CA, and large-scale projects in Denver, CO; San Jose, CA; Buffalo, NY; Denver, CO; Atlanta, GA; and San Luis Obispo, CA. The company completed hundreds of green energy upgrades across the country, bringing the total number of completed projects to more than 5,000 apartments, homes, houses of worship and commercial buildings. BlocPower has also added several new American geographies to BlocMaps, which is now being used by municipalities and utilities in New York City, Ithaca, San Luis Obispo, Chicago and other cities to develop and implement equitable, data-driven decarbonization strategies.

In 2022, BlocPower’s Civilian Climate Corps was awarded a two-year, $108 million contract from New York City Mayor Eric Adams to train 3,000 city residents for clean energy jobs and to help reduce gun violence as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ Precision Employment Initiative. The new contract expanded upon a $37 million contract from 2021, which launched the NYC Civilian Climate Corps. To support that growth, BlocPower opened two new training facilities  in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and raised $130 million of debt from Goldman Sachs. The program trains next generation green economy workforce from communities with a high risk of gun violence, focusing on the use of cutting edge software to install clean energy hardware.

“BlocPower has proven that the right combination of technology, finance, industry know-how and determination can help tackle some of the world’s most difficult challenges, and we are excited to support the company as it embarks on its next phase of expansion,” said Kareem Dabbagh, Managing Partner at VoLo Earth, who will be joining BlocPower’s Board of Directors. “At VoLo Earth, we dig deep to source companies with the right combination of technology, scalability, climate and social impact, winning economics, and tremendous long-term growth potential. BlocPower is emblematic of this mix, and we look forward to leveraging our operational expertise to help contribute to the company’s future success.”

Baird concludes, “Whenever someone wants to make a change, or do something new, nothing is guaranteed to turn out according to best laid plans. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. You can’t renovate a home without dust and mess, and, sometimes, lead, mold, and asbestos. We go into low income communities to finance and upgrade 100 year old buildings–and sometimes we run into 100 year old surprises lurking in the walls, or hiding in the basement. But I’m proud that at BlocPower, we always finish what we start, and we clean up messes. The biggest mess of all is the climate crisis. We are pleased that VoLo Earth and other climate focused investors like Microsoft, Credit Suisse, New York State Ventures, Goldman, and Builders Vision are investing in building decarbonization as an immediately actionable way to combat climate change. We hope that our momentum will be a catalyst for further investments in other green startups, and startups founded by women and people of color, which have historically received less than 3% of venture capital.”  

In addition to the new fundraising round BlocPower launched its corporate rebranding, representing a new chapter of growth, maturity and continued momentum for the company. BlocPower’s new, modern brand aims to convey the intensity and energy that fuels BlocPower’s vision for the future: that every home and building in America can be an engine of opportunity, and that all the climate, health, and economic benefits flowing from the green economy should be accessible for everyone.

In recognition of its work to date, BlocPower is being honored as an Emerging Leader by Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C. at the Vice President’s residence. The Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that 40% of climate infrastructure investments impact “Justice 40” communities, which are communities that have a history of excess pollution, disenfranchisement, and underinvestment.

Home and building owners can complete an instant project assessment to get started with BlocPower. Individuals looking to invest in the company’s work can learn more here.

About BlocPower
BlocPower is the U.S. climate technology leader rapidly greening American cities. Since its founding in 2014, the company has completed energy projects in more than 5,000 households, commercial buildings and houses of worship. BlocPower utilizes its proprietary software for analysis, leasing, project management, and monitoring of clean energy projects. The company is backed by the world’s top investors, including VoLo Earth, Goldman Sachs, Kapor Capital, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Salesforce, the NY State government, Exelon, the American Family Life Insurance Company Institute for Social Innovation, Accelr8, and others. In 2022, Fast Company named BlocPower the #4 Most Innovative Company in the World.

About VoLo Earth
Founded in 2020 by a purpose-built team of experienced founders, investors, and company strategists, VoLo Earth invests in climate solutions that address the root causes of emissions. The firm seeks to accelerate the new energy economy and deliver superior investment returns by addressing the planet’s climate crisis at its roots and providing first-in funding and hands-on leadership to early-stage climate tech companies. For more information, please visit: www.voloearth.com/.

Contacts:
SparkPR for BlocPower
[email protected]

SOURCE BlocPower

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., March 1, 2023 — cultivate(MD) Capital Funds LP, funds that are focused on investments into early-stage healthcare companies with innovative technologies, announced today that one of their portfolio companies, Grand Rapids-based SPDx has hired Julius Heil in the role of CEO. Mr. Heil brings over 30 years’ experience in healthcare and logistics with deep expertise in supply chain management, operations and asset management. Most recently, Mr. Heil served as President and CEO of Intalere, a leading national group purchasing organization (GPO). 

SPDx is creating a network of purpose-built facilities to provide surgery centers and hospitals with off-site sterilization and logistics services that are powered by world class technicians, IT systems, and the latest sterilization technologies and methods. Their services are expected to increase revenue and asset use for facilities while lowering costs, as well as reducing risks of healthcare-acquired infections for patients.

Julius Heil said, “Every patient deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare close to home. I am very excited to join SPDx because its business model facilitates expansion of the healthcare ecosystem, thereby providing patients with a larger choice of safe environments in which to receive care. The skills and experience of the board of directors and the management team already in place created an opportunity I knew I had to be part of and should not pass up. Expansion of this business to more cities across the US is just good for everyone SPDx serves.”

Scott Lancaster, Chief Investment Officer of The 4100 Group, Inc. said, “We partner with teams—founders and those who surround them—where there is a clear indication of a match between the expertise and experience set and the problem they are going after. SPDx is no exception. With veterans of the medical device and logistics arenas, SPDx complements hospitals, ASCs and OEMs through a proprietary system of services that support the quadruple aim.”

SPDx Board Member Michael Chaney said, “We are pleased with the progress of SPDx and the opening of our first facility to provide patients with safer and more affordable health care. Julius’ extensive experience, skills, and excellent leadership make him a great addition to the current strong team. This positions us to accelerate our expansion to other markets to serve more patients and expand this exciting new business model.”

SPDx is entering the market with their first facility operating in Phoenix, AZ in Q1 of this year.

About SPDx (Sterile Processing Express):

SPDx is a company specializing in centralized sterile processing serving Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Hospitals and OEM Suppliers. SPDx’s unique approach changes the way in which sterile processing is handled, with benefits of increased revenue, efficient case turns, improved compliance and service for facilities that specialize in surgical procedures. Patients benefit from reduced risk of healthcare-acquired infections and lower costs. To learn more about SPDx, please visit us at https://sterileprocessingexpress.com/

About cultivate(MD) Capital Funds

As a medical device venture capital fund, cultivate(MD) is dedicated to bringing emerging health care innovations to market, with a special focus on medical device and orthopedic technologies. cultivate(MD) is focused on investing in early stage healthcare companies with innovative technologies that have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness. For more information, visit: https://genesisinnovationgroup.com/

SOURCE cultivate(MD)

Node Capital, Arrington Capital, Maelstrom, Version One Ventures, and Purpose Investments also back staking protocol to address issues of centralized staking markets.

LONDON, March 1, 2023 — ether.fi, a liquid staking protocol designed with decentralization at its core, announced today that it has completed a USD$5.3m funding round co-led by investors North Island Ventures (NIV,) Chapter One, and Node Capital, with participation from Arrington Capital, Maelstrom, Version One Ventures and Purpose Investments.

ether.fi addresses existing ETH staking issues around centralization and composability. As a decentralized non-custodial staking solution, ether.fi allows stakers to retain control of their keys while delegating validator operations to a node operator.

ether.fi brings a new platform approach to the staking market. Minting an NFT representation of every validator generated through its protocol, to allow for the storage of validator metadata, ether.fi intends to unlock new use cases and long-term value creation for developers building on staking infrastructure.

Enabling trustless node operation and a services layer on which others can build, ether.fi’s solution serves as a building block for Web3 infrastructure. Ethereum stakers depositing a minimum of 32 ETH will hold the NFT, which represents the economic interest in the validator. Once the NFT liquidity pool and the protocol treasury management contracts are implemented and launched, ether.fi will enable fractionalization via the launch of its eETH Liquid Staking Derivative token, for liquidity pool individual stakers with more than 0.1 ETH. Additionally, stakers and node operators will benefit from ether.fi’s decentralized protocol by providing them with economic exposure to revenue derived from services built on the staking infrastructure.

Commenting on the launch, Mike Silagadze, Founder & CEO said, “ether.fi was established as a direct remedy to common issues facing Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs) surrounding custody and risk. Thanks to our investors, we are excited to be launching the ether.fi platform as the LSD market enters a pivotal phase. The staking market serves as a gateway to a $10 billion ecosystem of blockchain products and services. Offering a new way to earn yield on crypto assets, the LSD market has increased significantly in recent months. The upcoming Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade is expected to further accelerate the market by enabling ETH staking withdrawals that can be used across DeFi, without giving up the staking yield.” 

Travis Scher, Managing Partner at NIV said: “We believe that Ethereum‘s transition to proof-of-stake is a generational technological milestone, enabling the network to support applications and experiences that could not previously exist. ether.fi is building foundational, decentralized infrastructure to push Ethereum forward, and we’re thrilled to support its world class founding team in pursuit of their big vision.”

Jack Lipstone, Investment Partner at Chapter One added, “ether.fi’s decentralized approach to ETH staking could not be arriving at a better time while all eyes are on regulatory actions against centralized entities. At its core, Ethereum block validation will reach its potential through the full-stack approach that ether.fi is building towards that includes transparent staking and a node services layer. We are so beyond excited to support ether.fi and grow alongside the founding team because we see this community bringing a lot of value to the overall Ethereum ecosystem.”

To support ether.fi’s validator operations at launch, the protocol will be partnering with leading node operators Kiln, Finoa, DSRV, and Allnodes. Responsible for fostering the adoption of multi-operator validation as a use case for Distributed Validator Technology (DVT), Obol will serve as ether.fi’s official DVT partner.

Launching on 4th March 2023 at ETHDenver, the world’s largest Web3 #BUIDLathon for Ethereum and other blockchain protocol enthusiasts, designers and developers, ether.fi aims to have 100,000 ETH staked by mid-2023.

The latest funding round will support ether.fi as it looks to increase its hiring across the next six months, and to build out partnerships with a variety of channels that will feed into the protocol, including custodians, centralized exchanges, crypto wallets, and hardware wallet apps.

About ether.fi

ether.fi is a liquid staking protocol that allows stakers to retain control of their keys while delegating validator operations to a node operator. Formed under a shared vision of what DeFi should be, ether.fi offers stakers a decentralized, non-custodial staking solution that can serve as a building block for web3 infrastructure.

SOURCE ether.fi

NEWARK, Del., Feb. 28, 2023 — The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is pleased to announce approximately $1.7M in planned project activities through the Institute’s Global Health Fund (GHF) Project Call 6.1G for three new projects focused on the development of in vitro potency assays for vaccines being produced by mRNA and/or viral vector technologies. 

These projects were selected to best align with key focus areas identified by NIIMBL and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to address industry needs. The Global Health Fund was established by NIIMBL with funding contributed by BMGF to develop and implement innovative technologies for vaccine and biological manufacturing that will accelerate development timelines and lower the cost of manufacturing, all in furtherance of BMGF’s charitable objectives.

“NIIMBL is looking forward to adding these key projects to our GHF portfolio. These projects will allow us to further advance innovation in vaccine manufacturing, particularly around potency assays that are important for characterization of key quality aspects of vaccines,” says Chris Roberts, Associate Institute Director. “The recent pandemic highlighted several needs for vaccine development and manufacturing across multiple potential vaccine targets. These projects will make significant advances for vaccine manufacturing,” adds Roberts.

NIIMBL has awarded approximately 142 technical, workforce development, and Global Health Fund projects through the Project Call process with a total project investment of over $111M since 2017 when the Institute launched. The NIIMBL community is comprised of more than 200 members from academia, industry, government, and non-profit organizations. They all share the common goal of advancing biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

For a description of each project and to learn more about NIIMBL, visit the Project Call 6.1 website.

6.1 Project List

Project:
Versatile Platform for Speed and Simplicity in mRNA Potency Testing Draft
Lead: InDevR, Inc.

Project:
Advanced FISH Assay and Mechanism Hybrid Surrogate to Improve mRNA Vaccine Potency
Assessment and Prediction Draft
Lead: Northeastern University

Project:
Optimization of a mRNA Vaccine Potency Assay Platform for Global Use
Lead: PATH Center for Vaccines Innovation & Access

*All funding is subject to project agreement negotiations. 

About NIIMBL

The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry. NIIMBL is part of Manufacturing USA®, a diverse network of federally sponsored manufacturing innovation institutes, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce with significant additional support from its members. 

Contact:
News Media
Maria X. Chacon
Director of Marketing and Communications
302-831-2337
[email protected]

SOURCE National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL)

STOCKHOLM, 28 février 2023 — Swedish Biofuels AB a annoncé aujourd’hui avoir reçu un investissement de la part de Mitsubishi Corporation afin d’accélérer conjointement le déploiement commercial de carburants renouvelables propres grâce à la technologie ATJ (Advanced Alcohol to Jet) de Swedish Biofuels.

Cette technologie permet de produire du carburant aviation durable entièrement formulé (fully formulated sustainable aviation fuel, FFSAF) à partir de diverses matières premières biogènes. Le FFSAF de Swedish Biofuels est différent des autres carburants aviation durables, car il ne s’agit pas d’un mélange de composants, mais d’un véritable carburant aviation prêt à l’emploi. Le FFSAF a été testé avec succès par des fabricants de moteurs dans le cadre des programmes DARP et FAA américains et du programme FMV suédois.

Swedish Biofuels ouvre désormais la voie grâce à la première technologie ATJ avancée au monde, avec pour objectif le remplacement total du kérosène fossile par le FFSAF.

Angelica Hull, directrice générale de Swedish Biofuels, a déclaré que la société était honorée par la décision d’investissement de Mitsubishi Corporation, qui fournit un partenariat stratégique exceptionnel à Swedish Biofuels, y compris l’accès aux matières premières, le soutien aux ventes, le marketing et les opérations commerciales. Grâce à ce partenariat, la société prévoit d’accélérer le déploiement de sa technologie avancée ATJ sur son marché national et au-delà.

À propos de Mitsubishi Corporation

Mitsubishi Corporation est une entreprise commerciale intégrée mondiale qui développe et exploite des entreprises dans pratiquement tous les secteurs, notamment le gaz naturel, les matériaux industriels, les solutions pétrolières et chimiques, les ressources minérales, les infrastructures industrielles, l’automobile et la mobilité, l’industrie alimentaire, l’industrie de consommation, les solutions énergétiques et le développement urbain.

À propos de Swedish Biofuels

Swedish Biofuels est une société basée à Stockholm qui s’efforce de contribuer à la sécurité mondiale en proposant une technologie innovante et de pointe pour fabriquer des produits respectueux de l’environnement, durables et de haute qualité répondant aux exigences et objectifs réglementaires.

Swedish Biofuels est à l’origine de la technologie ATJ originale, brevetée en 2004 Aujourd’hui, la société fournit des solutions sur mesure pour sa technologie ATJ avancée, avec pour objectif un rendement maximal des produits de carburant pour l’aviation et le transport terrestre.

www.swedishbiofuels.se

Contact

Sal Passanisi
Responsable du marketing et des projets
[email protected]
+46 703 573 800

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2010369/Swedish_Biofuels_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Swedish Biofuels AB