TBD Health Raises $4.4M Seed Round to Expand its Hybrid Sexual Healthcare Offerings Nationally

As Reproductive Rights are Defunded and Debated Nationally, TBD Health Aims to Democratize Access to Inclusive Sexual Care

NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2023 — TBD Health, a sexual healthcare provider revolutionizing the medical landscape through unparalleled digital and in-person clinical care, today announced a $4.4 million seed round led by Tusk Venture Partners, with participation from Springdale Ventures, Human Ventures, Expansion VC, Starbloom Capital, Hyphen Capital, and The Community Fund along with several strategic angels. With this new financing, TBD Health is expanding to all 50 states, democratizing access to its sexual healthcare offerings, consisting of at-home STD testing and emergency contraception available via telehealth or in-person in its Las Vegas Care hub.

“At a time when women’s rights are being challenged by our government, it was critical for us to build a sex-positive healthcare company that makes it easy for people to prioritize their health,” said Daphne Chen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of TBD Health. “As someone who has experienced firsthand the judgment that doctors and clinicians pass when it comes to sexual health, it’s our mission to create a safe space for people to seek inclusive, trauma-aware care, as well as treatment and resources on their own terms, regardless of where they live.”

Recent CDC data found that one in five people in the U.S. have an STD, almost half of all new STDs are among people aged 15-24, and numbers are continuing to surge. TBD Health takes a new approach to supportive sexual healthcare by making users feel empowered rather than embarrassed or uncomfortable, starting with an at-home STD screening kit that reduces all the stigma, anxiety, and inaccessibility that usually comes with it.

This investment enables the company to expand its hybrid model of treating clients through its physical care hub, where all clinicians are sensitivity trained and trauma-aware, and telehealth offerings. TBD Health provides end-to-end service with personalized clinician care, counseling, and actionable next steps following test results. Previously, TBD Health solely provided at-home testing services in Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts, Florida and Connecticut. After navigating clinical and regulatory hurdles that accompany operating in new states, TBD Health will now be able to provide a comprehensive care offering for the entire country.

“More and more we’re seeing local sexual health clinics nationwide shuttering due to lack of funding and resources. This leaves an immense strain on those who urgently need care,” said Stephanie Estey, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of TBD Health. “We seek to be a solution for those living in sexual health care deserts and beyond by offering a more accessible and approachable way to taking care of your sexual health.”

“Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, it’s critical people must have accessible options to reproductive and sexual healthcare,” said Bradley Tusk, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Tusk Venture Partners. “We are proud to back TBD Health as they establish new standards for care through its STD testing kits, availability of emergency contraceptives with next-day shipping nationwide, and an in-person care hub in Las Vegas.”

TBD Health is expanding offerings within sexual wellness and launching innovative partnerships with employers, universities, and other digital health companies in 2023. To learn more about TBD Health, visit https://www.tbd.health/

ABOUT TBD HEALTH:

TBD Health was co-founded by Stephanie Estey and Daphne Chen, two longtime friends, after they found comfort in one another after the countless questions related to sex, sexual health – and, too often, experienced judgment and stigma at the doctors. TBD Health is a hybrid sexual healthcare platform intended to offer sex-positive, supportive sexual healthcare, making it a routine, easy part of taking care of yourself. The company’s platform offers at-home and in-clinic screenings, emergency contraception, education and counseling, and has plans to expand offerings.

SOURCE TBD Health


Ballislife Locks In First $2.7M in Funding To Accelerate Business Both On and Off The Court

The company is known as the number one basketball lifestyle media brand in America

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 31, 2023 — Ballislife, a well-known basketball and lifestyle media company, today announced the completion of a $2.7 million round of fundraising. The Series A funding, led by Oakvale Sports Investco out of London, England, puts the company at a $20 million pre-money valuation. Traditionally Oakvale Capital takes an interest in businesses in the igaming industry. Still, Sanford Loudon, a partner at the investment group, said they took a chance on Ballislife because they saw the vision.

“Oakvale Ventures partnered with big names from the gaming industry like Johnny Hartnett, Paddy Power, and industry investors Amaury de Sadeleer of Mount Media and Gabriel Demirci of Growthbox Ventures,” said Loudon. “We’re excited about our investment into Ballislife as we believe it’s forged a unique position in the sports social media landscape with some of the highest quality content and event creation out there.”

Created in 2005 as a brand highlighting basketball players on its platform, Ballislife has grown from a “Mixtape” outlet to respected basketball apparel, media, and event management company. Hosting events like the annual Ballislife All-American Game, Ballislife Jr. All-American Camp, and the Eastbay Funk Dunk Contest, the Southern California-based company prides itself on creating unique in-person experiences for basketball fans across the country. With the new funding, company leaders look forward to adequately monetizing their existing and growing properties, like expanding their marketing partnerships and athlete influencer network. To propel their vision forward, Founder and CEO Matt Rodriguez said they’ve already built out their sales and creative team with crucial hires of Susan Jaget (Sales Director) and Victor Bernedo (Creative Director).

“My co-founder Arek Kissoyan and I started Ballislife with the help of our team literally from the ground up with no outside funding whatsoever,” said Rodriguez. “Now that the brand we’ve created has grown in popularity, we want to continue growing our team and building upon our legacy. I’ve always believed resources can help you make some good mistakes.”

Beyond the growth of company operations, Ballislife looks forward to garnering more success from its partnerships with other industry-leading brands like Nike, Red Bull, Amazon, Chime, and Adidas. As a result, the company saw a more than 940% year-over-year growth in revenue of partnership deals in 2022.

More About Ballislife

Founded in 2005, Ballislife has been the uncontested leader in producing high school basketball mixtapes. Expanding beyond content production and distribution, media, and event management, Ballislife is now the #1 basketball lifestyle brand in America. Ballislife’s social networks are followed by millions of fans, and has more than 5.8 billion views across all platforms. For more information, visit www.Ballislife.com.

Media Contact
Amber Weyers/ PR Account Manager
[email protected]

SOURCE ballislife, inc.


Sentra Raises $30 Million Series A Financing to Meet Growing Demand for Data Security in the Cloud

Standard Investments leads round with participation from Munich Re Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Zeev Ventures

Company also appoints two new board members

NEW YORK and TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 31, 2023 — Sentra, a cloud data security  company, today announced the completion of a $30 million Series A funding round led by Standard Investments with participation from Munich Re Ventures (MRV), Moore Strategic Ventures, Xerox Ventures and INT3 as well as existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Zeev Ventures. The new financing, secured just 18 months after the company was founded, brings the total capital raised to over $53 million. The company also announced that Standard Investments’ Peter Marturano, technology sector head, and MRV’s Oshri Kaplan, managing director, will be joining its Board of Directors.

Sentra enables security teams to gain full visibility and control of cloud data, as well as protect against sensitive data breaches across the entire public cloud stack. This funding will enable Sentra to increase its market presence, invest in its technology and partner ecosystem and, grow its team to meet the accelerating demand of Sentra’s cloud-native data security solution around the globe.

“With the growing complexity of securing information in today’s data-driven economy, Sentra’s experienced leadership team and impressive product innovation engine make them extremely well-positioned to address this urgent need at scale,” said Yaron Ben David, chief digital officer, Standard Industries. “We look forward to working with the Sentra team as they execute on the company’s mission to enhance data security for cloud-driven organizations around the world.”

“In the 18 months since its founding, Sentra’s clear vision and operational efficiency have quickly translated into real value for customers, making its security solution critical to the modern cloud data stack,” said Amit Karp, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “The need for Sentra’s solution is going to continue to grow as organizations further embrace digital transformation. As a long-time investor, we have the utmost trust in Sentra’s team to meet these challenges and lead the cloud data security space.” 

Raising the Bar for Data Security in the Cloud
By 2025, Gartner estimates that over 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms, up from 30% in 2021. Data overload and the adoption of cloud infrastructures have transformed the way engineers and applications interact with data, which often leads to moving, duplicating, or changing sensitive data assets. The majority of business leaders simply do not know where their organization’s sensitive data is, and the growth of the data attack surface leads to more sensitive data being exposed or leaked. Sentra allows businesses to regain control over their data vulnerabilities and shrink the data attack surface by finding all cloud data, classifying it according to sensitivity, and then offering actionable remediation plans for data security teams.

“As we help our customers understand and protect petabytes of data, this capital will help us accelerate our plans to enable organizations to get the most out of their data by keeping it secured at all times,” said Yoav Regev, co-founder and CEO of Sentra. “This is just the beginning for Sentra. I am extremely proud of what our team has accomplished to date and look forward to achieving our shared goals in 2023 and beyond.”

Fortifying Sentra’s Board
The addition of Marturano and Kaplan brings tremendous value and industry expertise to Sentra’s Board of Directors. Marturano leads Standard Investments’ efforts in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors across both later-stage private and public markets. Serving as one of the lead investors across the cyber and insurtech sectors at MRV, Kaplan has worked with numerous early stage companies in the boardroom, and has helped them scale through partnerships and high-value growth initiatives.

Created and led by experienced entrepreneurs and veteran leaders of the Israel Defense Forces’ Unit 8200, Sentra is a member of the Cloud Security Alliance and was recognized last year by Gartner as a Sample Vendor for Data Security Posture Management in the Hype Cycle™ report for Data Security 2022. For more information, please visit the website, read the company blog or follow on LinkedIn.

About Sentra
Sentra is a data security platform that helps organizations discover and remediate the top data security risks in their public environments. Sentra automatically detects if sensitive data is vulnerable due to misconfigurations, over-permissions, unauthorized access, data duplication or other security issues. The company was founded in 2021 and is co-headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv. For more information, please visit www.sentra.io.

Media Contacts:
Brianna McGarry
Bateman Agency for Sentra
[email protected]
+1-717-881-6123                                           

SOURCE Sentra


Enko Completes its $80M Series C to Progress Sustainable Crop Solutions for World Food Security

Additional raise co-led by Eight Roads Ventures, Nufarm, and others will advance Enko’s pipeline of leading crop health molecules

MYSTIC, Conn., Jan. 31, 2023 — Enko, the crop health company, today announced that it has raised additional funding from Eight Roads Ventures (a global proprietary investment firm backed by Fidelity), Nufarm, Endeavor8, and Akroyd LLC. This raise, which follows Enko’s initial close of $70 million in July 2022, brings the company’s overall capital raised to date to $150 million. Enko will use the new funds to advance the company’s product pipeline of novel crop protection chemistries and provide critical solutions for large scale global food security challenges.

“The cracks in our global food system are impossible to ignore, and ag-bio companies like Enko are at the leading edge of applying new digital tools to drive innovation and future proof our food supply,” said Dr. Prem Pavoor, Senior Partner, Head of India & Healthcare Investments, Eight Roads Ventures. “By investing in better crop protection, we can help improve yields, reduce waste, and create more sustainable food systems for our growing population in an increasingly unstable world. In challenging macroeconomic environments, we need to lean into essential systems like agriculture.”

Since its start in 2017, Enko has generated hundreds of leading molecules across all categories of crop protection through its ENKOMPASS™ technology platform, which combines DNA-encoded library screening with machine learning and structure-based design to quickly find new, better performing and more targeted chemistries. Enko’s product pipeline is currently led by a range of herbicides that are breaking cycles of weed and pest resistance and are being developed to reduce environmental load compared to current solutions.

“These funds will help us to amplify our efforts to bring effective new crop protection solutions to market,” said Jacqueline Heard, CEO of Enko. “Farmers worldwide are struggling with mounting challenges exacerbated by climate change. Enko is working to help growers cost-effectively adapt and mitigate key challenges to the food chain around the world: pesticide-resistant weeds, fungus, and pests.”

The additional funding follows a year in which Enko announced its Series C funding round, as well as continued partnerships with three of the largest agricultural companies in the world – Bayer, Syngenta, and Nufarm.

About Enko
Enko Chem, Inc. designs safe and sustainable solutions to farmers’ biggest crop threats today, from pest resistance to new diseases by applying the latest drug discovery and development approaches from pharma to agriculture. Enko (formally registered as Enko Chem Inc.), is headquartered in Mystic, Connecticut. For more information, visit enko.ag.

About Eight Roads Ventures
Eight Roads Ventures is a global proprietary investment firm backed by Fidelity, managing over $11 billion of assets across China, India, Europe, Israel, Japan and the U.S. Eight Roads 50-year history of investing includes partnerships with over 300 healthcare and technology companies globally. Some of Eight Roads Ventures’ global investments include Alibaba, Beam Therapeutics, Cipla Health, Denali Therapeutics, Immuneel Therapeutics, Innovent Biologics, Insilico Medicine, Laurus Labs, Medbanks, Semma Therapeutics and WuXi PharmaTech

Media Contacts
Mission North for Enko
[email protected]

SOURCE Enko


Guardz Launches to Secure and Insure Small Businesses from Rising Cybersecurity Threats

Emerging from stealth with $10 million seed funding, Guardz makes cybersecurity accessible with its holistic solution that protects small businesses 

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 31, 2023 — Guardz, the cybersecurity company building a safer digital world for small businesses, today launched from stealth to secure and insure small companies across the globe, filling an increasingly critical market gap amid a rising tide of cyberattacks. Guardz has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Hanaco Ventures, with participation from iAngels, GKFF Ventures, and Cyverse Capital. The funding will allow Guardz to expand its product, develop its cyber insurance line of business, and scale its go-to-market distribution channels.

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, creating countless jobs, supporting local communities, and providing crucial services. Yet these small companies seldom have access to the same cybersecurity personnel, expertise, and resources as large enterprises. Most available cybersecurity solutions are too cumbersome to deploy, too complicated to understand and maintain, and too costly to obtain. As a result, small businesses are often left unprotected and without cyber insurance, making them prime targets for malicious cyber actors. Recent years have seen 43% of cyberattacks aimed at small businesses with nearly $7 billion in reported losses, resulting in service disruption, reputational damage, and revenue loss, and often leading to the permanent closing of doors.

“Hackers are acutely aware of small businesses’ cyber vulnerabilities; nowadays, it’s not a matter of if they’ll be targeted, but when. Our complete solution helps companies with lean IT, as well as MSPs, to combat these rising threats, and we’ve already witnessed tremendous results with the hundreds of small businesses currently secured by Guardz,” said Dor Eisner, CEO and Co-Founder of Guardz. “We have worked tirelessly to create a solution that not only impacts the security and longevity of businesses, but helps protect the ecosystem at large, and we are eager to continue developing our offering to secure further companies across the globe.”

The Guardz all-in-one platform is purpose-built to provide real-time cybersecurity protection and insurance for small companies, many of whom sit in high-risk industries possessing sensitive data, such as law, healthcare, financial services, retail, and more. The accessible solution propels businesses from zero or low cyber protection to comprehensive security, defending against the top attack vectors including: cloud applications, web browsing, cyber awareness, devices, emails, and compromised data. The Guardz platform automatically monitors a company’s external and internal digital footprint to continuously analyze cybersecurity risks and remediate threats at the click of a button from one dashboard. Guardz also makes cyber insurance accessible to small businesses who were previously ineligible due to a lack of comprehensive cybersecurity protection.

“With the rise of Attacks-as-a-Service, the ongoing shortage of cyber talent, and the increasingly lucrative nature of targeting smaller businesses, the market is well-primed for a holistic cyber solution that addresses the unique challenges and imminent threats facing these companies,” said Alon Lifshitz, Founding Partner at Hanaco Ventures. “We are excited to take part in Guardz’s journey as it makes headway in addressing and alleviating the crisis of high cyber vulnerability for small businesses everywhere.” 

“The rise and democratization of ransomware and phishing attacks is hurting SMBs the most as they are currently the least protected, making this a huge and entirely underserved market,” said Shelly Hod Moyal, Founding Partner of iAngels. “With their first-hand experience building and commercializing successful cyber products, Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi are perfectly positioned to lead Guardz’s one-stop-cyber-shop for small businesses. We’re excited to partner with the Guardz team as they work to empower SMBs with the necessary tools to protect themselves.”

About Guardz

Guardz is a holistic cyber security and insurance solution designed for small businesses. Its all-in-one, affordable platform is on guard 24/7, and is easy to use for both in-house IT personnel and MSPs. With cutting-edge technologies stacked into a robust platform, Guardz’s solution continuously monitors businesses’ digital landscapes to protect their entire range of assets, enables them to react to cyber risks in real time with swift remediations, and provides cyber insurance for peace of mind. Guardz was founded in 2022 by Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi along with a team of cyber and insurance experts who combine innovation, experience, and creativity to create a safer digital world for small businesses.

For more information, visit the Guardz website: https://guardz.com/

Media Contact
Allison Grey
Headline Media
[email protected]
US: +1 323 283 8176
UK: +44 203 807 4482
IL: +972 53 820 2606 

SOURCE Guardz


Rysk Finance raises $1.4M to spearhead on-chain market making for DeFi derivatives

Funding comes as platform prepares for launch of Rysk Beyond, an advanced decentralized market maker protocol for options trading

LONDON, Jan. 31, 2023 — Rysk Finance, the on-chain market maker for DeFi derivatives, has successfully raised $1.4 million USD in a pre-seed funding round led by Lemniscap, with participation from Encode Club, Ascensive Assets, Starbloom, Yunt Capital, and Manifold Trading, as well as angel investors Hype.eth, Ivangbi, Windra Thio, among others.

The funding will be leveraged to enhance platform security, drive engineering and research efforts and expedite the launch of Rysk Beyond, an advanced decentralized market maker protocol for options trading. Rysk Beyond represents the next iteration of Rysk’s first product, the Rysk Dynamic Hedging Vault (DHV) Alpha.

Rysk DHV set out a framework for providing depositors and liquidity providers with unparalleled access to uncorrelated, competitive risk-adjusted returns in different market conditions, by trading options and interacting with any derivative with a trackable delta.

One of Rysk’s goals since inception has been to build innovative DeFi applications that offer an optimized, sophisticated user experience, while addressing systemic industry complexity around generating higher returns per unit of risk taken for liquidity providers.

Rysk Beyond will extend the scope of options trading considerably with a rich suite of innovative features, geared towards providing a tailored options AMM experience. Users will be able to leverage the protocol to buy and sell options on multiple expiries and strikes with tight bid/ask price and higher capital efficiency.

Users will also be able to construct bespoke options strategies in one transaction through Rysk’s novel contract architecture design, including call/put spreads, strangles and butterflies, but also engage in term structure plays, such as calendar spreads, which is new to DeFi. Rysk will be working with traders and other structured products protocols to build traction with this new infrastructure. The upcoming launch of Rysk Beyond will spur integrations with DeFi protocols, treasuries and instruments such as perpetuals, futures and options, as the platform aims to underscore its credentials as the most liquid on-chain market maker for DeFi derivatives.

Dan Ugolini, Co-Founder of Rysk Finance, said: “As DeFi natives who envision a future where finance is transparent and truly democratised, we aspire to actively contribute to a vast ecosystem of sustainable risk-adjusted yield products with various market conditions. Today’s announcement represents an important milestone in our journey to become the most liquid on-chain market maker for DeFi derivatives. We look forward to continuing to work hand-in-hand with strategists, developers, and other protocols who share our vision to advance DeFi maturity.”

Roderik van der Graaf, Founder of Lemniscap, said: “The team at Rysk has demonstrated an innate understanding of DeFi market dynamics, and with Rysk Beyond, is developing a category-leading solution that is set to redefine the parameters of DeFi risk innovation. We’re supremely confident in the capabilities of the team in charting a strong growth trajectory in the near and long term, and are firmly aligned with their bold vision to deliver on-chain market making for DeFi derivatives. We look forward to supporting their exciting pipeline of activity in the months ahead.”

To collaborate with Rysk or to find out more about the platform’s DeFi solutions and roadmap, please visit https://www.rysk.finance/.

About Rysk Finance

Rysk Finance is spearheading on-chain market making for DeFi derivatives, while resolving long-standing industry complexity around generating higher returns per unit of risk taken for liquidity providers. Rysk’s signature product, the Dynamic Hedging Vault (DHV) is a dynamic new self-governing options AMM, generating uncorrelated returns for liquidity providers by trading options. By leveraging its proprietary DHV solution, Rysk is on a mission to expedite DeFi risk maturity while expanding adoption levels of sustainable yields. For more information, visit: https://www.rysk.finance/

About Lemniscap

Lemniscap is an investment firm specializing in investments in emerging crypto assets and blockchain startups. Since its founding in 2017, Lemniscap has funded multiple investments in the crypto blockchain space, on the core belief that blockchain technology will upend traditional business models, resulting in profound changes in the world economy. The Lemniscap team consists of talented people with backgrounds in financial markets, PE/VC, technology and entrepreneurship. For more information, visit https://lemniscap.com/.

SOURCE Rysk Finance


China’s Leading Adult Interest Learning Service Provider QuantaSing Group Limited Successfully Listed on Nasdaq

SHANGHAI, Jan. 30, 2023 — On January 25, Beijing time, QuantaSing Group Limited, a Qiming Venture Partners portfolio company and China’s leading online adult interest learning service provider, successfully listed on Nasdaq. QuantaSing Group Limited (NASDAQ:QSG) offered at $12.5/ADS and closed at $12.52/ADS with a market cap of $690 million.

As an early investor, Qiming led QuantaSing’s Series C financing in 2018 and continued to invest in Series D and Series E financing, accompanying the company’s growth and expansion along the way. The successful IPO is also the first IPO Qiming has welcomed in 2023.

QuantaSing is a provider of online learning services targeting adults. With the help of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and mobile internet, it provides users with various courses in differed fields, based on diverse user needs, including financial literacy courses, personal interest courses and talent management services, marketing services for enterprises, etc. Its branches include knowledge sharing service platforms QiNiu Academy, JiangZhen and QianChi Academy.

Under a more mature digital society, the scale and user base of “paying for knowledge” have been increasing in recent years. As of November 30, 2022, the total registered users of QuantaSing were about 75.1 million. According to Frost & Sullivan report, QuantaSing is the largest online learning service provider for adult interest learning in China, and one of the top five service providers in adult learning market in China based on revenue in 2021.

Peng Li, Founder and CEO of QuantaSing Group Limited, said, “In China, ‘building a lifelong learning society for all people and a learning country’ is on the agenda, and we hope that QuantaSing will become an important boosting engine for the ‘learning society’, helping more people fall in love with learning and gain knowledge. We will always stick to our original mission and constantly improve the quality of courses and services, practicing ‘knowledge productivity’ and helping improve public literacy.”

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.

Media Contact

Chloe Kou
Tel: (86 21) 6101 6512 
[email protected]

SOURCE Qiming Venture Partners


New fintech education center, start-up incubator and student entrepreneur venture fund launched at University of Utah

$65 million transformational investment orchestrated by the Stena Foundation will bolster state’s international reputation as a hub for financial technology innovation

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 30, 2023 — University of Utah President Taylor Randall today announced a new donor initiative meant to supercharge the student entrepreneurial experience and Utah’s reputation for financial technology innovation and education.

The university, in partnership with the Stena Foundation and founders Steve and Jana Smith, will create the Stena Center for Financial Technology. The foundation has orchestrated total funds of up to $65 million over the next 10 years to support the center, including industry-sponsored labs, a start-up incubator, venture funds and fintech-focused degrees and certificates. Reinvestments from the venture funds are ultimately expected to fund the center in perpetuity.

Randall says pairing education with fintech is like putting chocolate with peanut butter—magic.

“The Stena Center for Financial Technology provides the ability to accelerate and incubate important advances in financial technology innovation and businesses that will continue to propel the fintech industry forward and cement Utah as a center of excellence,” Randall said. “This world-class center will leverage our unparalleled research and education with resources that provide critical hands-on experiences for students.”

The center will collaborate significantly with academic units on campus to develop programs and degrees, including the David Eccles School of Business, the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering and the S.J. Quinney College of Law, as well as the President’s Office. As part of the new financial technology center program, the university recently began offering a minor emphasis in fintech. Over the next four years, the U will also begin offering undergraduate and master’s degrees in fintech.

Randall continued, “We provide exceptional foundations in education, humanities, science, social and health sciences. The chance to put your ideas and knowledge to work in the real world, is the next step.”

Center initiatives will launch with an incubator—the fintechXstudio—and venture capital funds will be made available to qualifying student founders working in the field of financial technology. With six research-focused labs, industry-sponsored projects, an innovation hub and student-focused investment funds, the center aims to unite education and industry to accelerate financial innovation and inclusion in Utah and beyond. The center will be led by executive director Ryan Christiansen.

“The Stena Foundation is delighted to partner with the University of Utah and other leading financial technology organizations in the creation of the Stena Center for Financial Technology,” said Steve Smith, chairman of the Stena Foundation. “This progressive center, in alignment with its strategic partners, will build on the success of the fintech community in Utah and will become a major hub for ongoing financial technology innovation and real economic impact.”

Smith is the former chairman, CEO and co-founder of Finicity, and a founding member and current co-chair of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX). He and his wife Jana founded the Salt Lake City-based Stena Foundation as a way to strengthen economic prosperity through the fundamental building blocks of increased financial inclusion and access to quality education.

The fintechXstudio will start with an annual cohort of 10 student entrepreneurs and businesses working on financial technology innovation. Students will have access to expert faculty, office space, industry mentors, technology solutions partners, curated courses, prototyping tools and technology, venture capital and the university’s global education programs. Each year, the venture fund will invest a total of at least $1 million in 10 or more student-led fintech companies. A large portion of the carry earnings from those investments will be reinvested into the center.

“The Stena Center will blend Utah’s broad fintech industry experience with U students’ energy and creativity,” said Ryan Christiansen, executive director. “This unique partnership will connect financial technology leaders’ workforce skills and experience with students’ passion and ideas—accelerating innovation to place Utah at the forefront of global fintech excellence.”

Finally, the center will host an annual symposium—the fintechXchange at the University of Utah. The first symposium convenes on Jan. 30-31, 2023. Speakers will include:

  • Utah Gov. Spencer Cox
  • President Taylor Randall
  • Finicity founder Steve Smith
  • Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall
  • Jack Henry CTO Ben Metz
  • Galileo CEO Derek White
  • Tomo Credit CEO Kristy Kim

Speakers and sessions will focus on:

  • The future of banking – how fintech is influencing and changing the banking sector
  • Regulatory overview – a wide-ranging view of the various existing and developing regulations that impact the fintech sector
  • Financial inclusion – what the fintech industry is doing to expand financial services to the under and unserved
  • University research – presenting groundbreaking research on fintech

The Stena Center builds on existing entrepreneurial experiences already active on campus—including the 20-year-old Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, the Sorensen Impact Center, Doman Innovation Studio and the Kahlert Initiative on Technology.

For more information about the Stena Center, visit stena.utah.edu.

About Ryan Christiansen

Ryan is the executive director of the University of Utah Center for Financial Technology. In this role, Christiansen directs and coordinates the labs, incubator, academic focus of the Center.

Christiansen previously served as senior vice president of data access partnerships at Mastercard. In this role, Christiansen led the acquisition and management of consumer permissioned financial data. As an impassioned advocate for fintech, Christiansen also represented Mastercard in industry efforts, which included an instrumental role in the foundation of the financial data exchange (“FDX“).  Prior experience also includes serving as senior vice president of private banking at Zions Bank where he managed one of bank’s largest credit portfolios. 

About the Stena Foundation

The Stena Foundation celebrates community and is focusing initial efforts in the communities and regions closest to home. The Stena Foundation believes in providing critical thought leadership with the objective of inspiring others to act now by contributing to the creation of inclusive economic prosperity for all.

Current projects include a partnership with the University of Utah to create the Stena Center for Financial Technology, as well as cross-sector curriculum and degree programs in the Fintech space. The Foundation is also working with the Sorenson Impact Center, and Utah and Idaho state governments, and public universities, to research successful pathways to post-secondary education for students from rural and underserved communities. Steve and Jana, the co-founders of the Stena Foundation, believe that financial inclusion and quality education can be a catalyst for change, and can break the chains of generational poverty to lift individuals, families and local economies.

About the University of Utah

Located in Salt Lake City, an urban and high-tech industrial center, the University of Utah is the flagship university for the state of Utah and the higher education hub for the region. The U is a Tier 1 research school and a member of the Association of American Universities—an invitation-only, prestigious group of 65 leading research institutions marked by excellence in academic expertise and research impact, student success, and securing resources in support of core missions. In addition to its research focus, the university is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion; safety; health and well-being; academic freedom; and sustainability. The U was recently recognized as one of the top 5 universities in the country for entrepreneurship education.  It is also a member of the Pac-12, one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences.

SOURCE University of Utah


Ferguson and Lennar lead Greyter’s $10M Series B: A Big Step Towards Changes in Residential Water Conservation

DENVER, Jan. 30, 2023 — Greyter Water Systems Inc., provider of The Greyter HOME™, a residential greywater reuse system advancing the construction and building industry completed a $10m Series B round. Led by Ferguson Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm of Ferguson, a leading North American value-added distributor serving the built-world industry, and LENX, the investment arm of Lennar, one of the nation’s leading homebuilders, the investment offers Greyter the opportunity to scale its business to meet increasing demand from builders for sustainable and water efficient homes and communities.

The Greyter HOME is a revolutionary, award-winning appliance that meets the stringent NSF 350 standard for residential greywater reuse and can reduce indoor water consumption by as much as 25%. This first-of-its-kind, fully automated system captures water from showers and bathtubs, treats it to a near-potable quality, and provides clear, odor-free water to meet a home’s toilet-flushing demands.

Greyter, by teaming up with Ferguson Ventures and LENX, is poised to make great strides toward changing the way water is used in residential homes.

With increasing stresses on water supply, homebuilders and municipalities are working together to reduce water consumption within the home. Greyter has been steadily building momentum since its Series A closing in early 2020, when it subsequently began integrating the Greyter HOME solution into residential homes at greater scale.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve had an obsessive focus on developing a solution that manages water more efficiently because it makes no sense to flush toilets with drinking water,” said Mark Sales, co-founder and CEO. “By capturing and treating shower and bath water so that it can be reused to meet the demands of toilet flushing, the Greyter HOME offers builders and municipalities the single greatest water conservation solution for the home.

“Ferguson is committed to helping our customers design and build water-efficient communities,” says Blake Luse, Managing Director of Ferguson Ventures. “We invested in Greyter to accelerate the adoption of innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce water consumption. They have created a revolutionary product, and together we’ll help the industry build better, more environmentally friendly homes.”

“The importance of incorporating sustainable and logical environmental solutions into our homes and communities is front and center at Lennar,” said Eric Feder, President of LENX. “Greyter has been an extraordinary partner, and this investment underscores our continued commitment to accelerate the ability to bring sustainable, water savings solutions to our homeowners across the country.”

In 2022, Greyter teamed with Ferguson and Lennar to bring the Greyter technology to 29 homeowners at Lennar’s Red Hawk community located in Castle Rock, Colorado. “We commend the town of Castle Rock’s commitment to water conservation and its adoption of Regulation 86, which provided the framework for including the Greyter HOME solution within this community,” said John Bell, co-founder and CCO. The completion of Red Hawk marks the Greyter HOME’s third community with Lennar.

“We are extremely excited to see the industry helping to lead the charge on water conservation. Having investment from LENX and Ferguson Ventures continues to validate our innovative product and its importance to water sustainability efforts,” said Mark Sales co-founder and CEO, “This is also a strong signal that the industry is addressing water conservation by ensuring that homes and buildings are energy efficient as well as water-efficient – the perfect combination for a sustainable future.”

About Greyter Water Systems
With pressures on freshwater resources and with the rising costs of water, Greyter’s mission is to work with builders and municipalities to create water efficient communities. The Greyter HOME is an award-winning, NSF 350 certified water recycling system that can help reduce indoor water consumption in a family home. Greyter also offers industry proven water reuse solutions for multi-unit, commercial and industrial buildings. Greyter is a privately held business led by a team with many years of experience in offering innovative water resource management solutions to the commercial/industrial and residential marketplace. For more information on the Greyter HOME and Greyter Water Systems visit www.greyter.com.

About Lennar Corporation
Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation’s leading builders of quality homes for all generations. Lennar builds affordable, move-up and active adult homes primarily under the Lennar brand name. Lennar’s Financial Services segment provides mortgage financing, title and closing services primarily for buyers of Lennar’s homes and, through LMF Commercial, originates mortgage loans secured primarily by commercial real estate properties throughout the United States. Lennar’s Multifamily segment is a nationwide developer of high-quality multifamily rental properties. LENX drives Lennar’s technology, innovation, and strategic investments. For more information about Lennar, please visit lennar.com.

About Ferguson
Ferguson plc (NYSE: FERG; LSE: FERG) is a leading value-added distributor in North America providing expertise, solutions and products from infrastructure, plumbing and appliances to HVAC, fire, fabrication and more. We exist to make our customers’ complex projects simple, successful and sustainable. Ferguson is headquartered in the U.K., with its operations and associates solely focused on North America and managed from Newport News, Virginia. For more information, please visit www.corporate.ferguson.com or follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ferguson-enterprises.

About Castle Rock Water
Castle Rock Water is municipally-owned and provides three distinct water services – drinking water, wastewater and stormwater. Though a part of the City of Castle Rock, the water provider is funded solely through rates and fees. Having one water provider for all water service provides consistency and reliability for service with an integrated approach for efficiencies. For more information about Castle Rock Water, please visit www.crgov.com 

Media Contact:
Kate Peters
Greyter
[email protected]
(844)473-9837 xt.235

SOURCE Greyter Water Systems USA