BOSTON, Dec. 11, 2025 — OnCorps AI, a leading agentic AI platform for fund operations, has secured $55 million in growth capital from Long Ridge Equity Partners, a growth equity firm with deep experience in financial and business technology. The company will use the capital to accelerate product innovation, expand go-to-market teams, and scale infrastructure to support its rapidly growing customer base.

Founded in 2011, OnCorps AI delivers intelligent exception resolution for fund operations, primarily serving asset managers and fund administrators. Beyond detecting discrepancies in trade reconciliations and fund documentation, the platform autonomously investigates root causes, provides recommendations for issue resolution, and learns from patterns to prevent future breaks. 

“We’ve been running complex AI solutions in production for the world’s largest asset managers for several years, giving us a meaningful advantage in delivering tangible returns from AI,” said Bob Suh, Founder of OnCorps AI. “Every day, our systems close exceptions, reconcile trades, and oversee trillions in assets with high accuracy and low error rates. With Long Ridge’s investment, we can expand these capabilities across the broader industry.”

OnCorps’ specialized AI agents are trained on millions of real-world data discrepancies and exceptions across trade processing, fund accounting, and reporting workflows. This deep domain training, coupled with continuous learning from production environments, enables OnCorps to achieve accuracy rates and exception resolution times that general-purpose automation tools cannot match. 

Asset management operating margins have fallen in recent years, driven by surging transaction volumes, heightened regulatory requirements, and persistent fee compression. In an effort to drive efficiency, PIMCO, GMO, and other leading institutions – representing $13 trillion in assets – are turning to OnCorps to reduce manual effort and streamline their fund operations. 

In connection with the investment, Long Ridge Managing Partners Jim Brown and Kevin Bhatt will join the OnCorps AI Board of Directors.

“OnCorps AI has built the market-leading AI platform for fund operations,” said Jim Brown. “Their production-ready agents are trained on domain-specific data and workflows, delivering immediate operational value. We are excited to partner with Bob and the OnCorps team as they scale the business.”

The funding will enable OnCorps to expand into adjacent capital markets workflows where clients face similar challenges, including cash management, regulatory reporting, and complex trade processing.

Today, OnCorps provides customers with:

• AI-First Reconciliations: Leverages deep research agents to accelerate reconciliation processes by automating data matching, review, and investigation, reducing manual effort and cycle time.
• AI-First Reporting Reviews: Enables asset managers and service providers to automate and streamline the review of quarterly, semi-annual and annual financial reports, improving accuracy, consistency, and efficiency.

TD Securities served as OnCorps’ lead financial advisor. Altman Solon was the consulting partner. Goodwin Procter acted as legal counsel to Long Ridge, and Sidley Austin LLP served as legal counsel to OnCorps.

About OnCorps AI

OnCorps AI is a leading agentic AI platform for fund operations. The company delivers intelligent exception resolution for trade reconciliations, fund reporting, and related operational workflows. By optimizing the investigation and resolution of complex exceptions, OnCorps drives efficiency and risk reduction for asset managers and fund administrators. For more information, visit www.oncorps.ai.

About Long Ridge Equity Partners

Founded in 2007, Long Ridge Equity Partners is a private investment firm focused on the financial and business technology sectors. Leveraging deep sector knowledge and an extensive network of industry resources, Long Ridge serves as a value-added partner to high-growth businesses. Since its founding, Long Ridge has sponsored many successful growth companies in the financial and business technology sectors, providing founders and management teams with partnership, strategic resources, and capital to drive profitable expansion. Long Ridge manages over $1.75 billion of committed capital. For more information on Long Ridge Equity Partners, please visit www.long-ridge.com.

SOURCE OnCorps AI

HIRO Capital da la bienvenida a Sir Nick Clegg como socio general y lanza el fondo de capital de riesgo europeo HIRO III con un nuevo consejo asesor compuesto por líderes globales, incluido Yann LeCun

LONDRES, 10 de diciembre de 2025 — Sir Nick Clegg, Yann LeCun y otros se unen a HIRO III, un VC de múltiples etapas centrado en Reino Unido y Europa, centrado en IA espacial, robótica, longevidad, juegos, espacio y defensa.

HIRO Capital, firma de capital de riesgo liderada por sus fundadores, anunció hoy que Sir Nick Clegg, expresidente de Asuntos Globales de META y exviceprimer ministro del Reino Unido, se ha unido al Fondo como Socio General para el lanzamiento de HIRO III. HIRO III es un gran fondo multietapa con capacidad para invertir entre 5 y 50 millones de euros en cada uno de los proyectos innovadores más prometedores, cubriendo la brecha de capital para empresas de escalamiento en Reino Unido y Europa.

El equipo fundador de HIRO, compuesto por Luke Alvarez, Cherry Freeman y la leyenda británica de los videojuegos, Sir Ian Livingstone CBE, cuenta con una sólida trayectoria como emprendedores fundadores, con múltiples salidas a bolsa e IPO que suman más de 10.000 millones de euros. Esta trayectoria se ha cimentado en la experiencia técnica y el conocimiento de las empresas de crecimiento, fruto de décadas de desarrollo e inversión en empresas emergentes.

Las bases de HIRO como inversor en computación espacial lo posicionan perfectamente para la nueva era de la tecnología en la que veremos una creación de valor extraordinaria en toda Europa en áreas que van desde la IA espacial y la robótica hasta la defensa y la longevidad.

Sir Nick Clegg afirmó: “Me uní a HIRO porque comparto con los fundadores la creencia en el auge de la computación inmersiva y la IA espacial. Pasaremos de estar mirando internet a vivir en internet. Nos encontramos en las primeras etapas de ese cambio de plataforma con la convergencia de las tecnologías espaciales y la IA de modelos mundiales de próxima generación. A diferencia de otros fondos, HIRO se centra totalmente en estos temas, íntegramente en Europa”.

“Este es un momento de oportunidad increíble para el ecosistema tecnológico del Reino Unido y Europa. Contamos con algunos de los investigadores y universidades más destacados del planeta, además de grandes ingenieros y emprendedores. Nuestro problema no es la falta de innovación, sino la falta de capital a gran escala. Europa puede tener sus críticos, pero contamos con un vibrante panorama de empresas emergentes que ahora está listo para impulsar su crecimiento. Creo que el equipo de HIRO tiene el alcance geográfico y tecnológico único para contribuir a que esto suceda.”

Junto con este nombramiento, el equipo de HIRO se verá reforzado por el nuevo Consejo Asesor. Este consejo aporta una experiencia excepcional en cada uno de los cuatro temas centrales de la tesis de HIRO: IA Espacial y Nube, Autonomía y Robótica, Espacio y Defensa, y Aumento y Longevidad.

El profesor Yann LeCun afirmó: “Estoy encantado de unirme al Consejo Asesor de HIRO. Estamos entrando en una nueva fase de la IA: una era de sistemas capaces de comprender el mundo físico, con memoria persistente y capaces de razonar y planificar acciones complejas. La trayectoria de HIRO en inversiones en tecnologías espaciales, tecnología 3D, dispositivos portátiles y videojuegos la posiciona excepcionalmente bien para aprovechar esta nueva ola de oportunidades en Europa”.

La nueva junta incluye al profesor Yann LeCun, ex científico jefe de Meta y ganador del premio Turing por inteligencia artificial de aprendizaje profundo; Malcolm Turnbull, ex primer ministro de Australia y un importante inversor en tecnología; el mayor Tim Peake, científico, piloto de pruebas y el primer astronauta británico de la ESA; Laurent Solly, vicepresidente de Europa en META; el experto en seguridad y defensa, el profesor Deeph Chana de Imperial, Londres, director fundador de NATO DIANA y el Fondo de Innovación de la OTAN; Hannah Gladman, Estrategia y Proyectos Especiales en Google DeepMind; el Dr. Jack Scannell, inversor en biotecnología, fundador de longevidad, creador de la Ley de Eroom; Edward van Cutsem, presidente de Mercados Privados en Westerly Winds y ex director general de BlackRock; el profesor Paul Newman, profesor de Ingeniería de la Información en Oxford y fundador del Oxford Robotics Institute; Caroline Daniel, ex periodista y estratega del Financial Times; y Loredana Crisan, directora de diseño en Figma.

Luke Alvarez, socio director de HIRO, afirmó: “Me complace dar la bienvenida a Sir Nick a nuestro equipo, junto con Yann y los demás miembros de nuestro extraordinario Consejo Asesor. Hoy nos encontramos en las primeras etapas de una explosión cámbrica de nuevas tecnologías, impulsada por la creciente convergencia de la informática con el mundo físico, el cuerpo humano y los agentes autónomos. Todos compartimos la misma convicción en el potencial de Europa para estar a la vanguardia tecnológica y la misma pasión por contribuir al éxito de Reino Unido y Europa. Nuestro nuevo Consejo Asesor ha sido seleccionado por su visión, su experiencia tecnológica y sus redes a nivel mundial y europeo. Esperamos anunciar las primeras inversiones de HIRO III en 2026”.

Acerca de HIRO Capital  

HIRO Capital es una firma de capital de riesgo con sede en Londres y Luxemburgo, liderada por sus fundadores, que invierte en el futuro superabundante de la humanidad. HIRO invierte desde la Serie A hasta la Serie C (estrategias de expansión) en nuestros sectores temáticos especializados de IA, computación espacial, autonomía, robótica, longevidad, aumento de capital, videojuegos, simulación y tecnologías espaciales y de defensa. Nos centramos en emprendedores e innovadores de la amplia región Europa+, que incluye la UE, Reino Unido, Noruega, Suiza y Ucrania. Somos fundadores y líderes que apoyamos a líderes fundadores. Somos optimistas y futuristas. Creemos que Europa+ puede y debe ser un líder global en la próxima fase de la evolución humana, impulsada por la tecnología. Sabemos que la creatividad, la ambición y el emprendimiento de las personas construirán mejores sociedades humanas. https://hiro.capital/  

HIRO recibe su nombre del héroe en el que te conviertes cuando juegas un juego o deporte; del héroe que eres cuando creas una empresa; y rinde homenaje a Hiro Protagonist, el héroe hacker de Snow Crash de Neal Stephenson, que codifica el mundo digital 3D y salva a la humanidad contra todo pronóstico.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2842654/HIRO_Capital_Logo.jpg

LONDRES, 10 décembre 2025 — Sir Nick Clegg, Yann LeCun et d’autres personnalités rejoignent HIRO III, une société de capital-risque multiniveau axée sur le Royaume-Uni et l’Europe, qui se concentre sur l’IA spatiale, la robotique, la longévité, les jeux, l’espace et la défense.

HIRO Capital, une société de capital-risque dirigée par ses fondateurs, a annoncé aujourd’hui que Sir Nick Clegg, ancien président des affaires mondiales de META et ancien vice-Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni, avait fait son entrée dans le fonds comme associé général en vue du lancement de HIRO III. HIRO III est un grand fonds multiniveau capable de déployer entre 5 et 50 millions d’euros par niveau dans des innovateurs prometteurs, en ciblant le manque de capital des entreprises en croissance au Royaume-Uni et en Europe.

À l’origine de nombreuses sorties et introductions en bourse pour un total de plus de 10 milliards d’euros, les fondateurs de HIRO, Luke Alvarez, Cherry Freeman et Sir Ian Livingstone, Commandeur de l’Ordre de l’Empire britannique et légende des jeux vidéo au Royaume-Uni, sont des entrepreneurs au riche palmarès. Ces réussites sont le fruit de compétences techniques et d’un certain savoir-faire en matière de croissance d’entreprise, acquis au cours de décennies de création de jeunes pousses et d’investissement dans ces dernières. 

La base d’investissement de HIRO dans l’informatique spatiale positionnent parfaitement la société pour la nouvelle ère technologique, qui verra une création de valeur extraordinaire à travers l’Europe dans des domaines allant de l’IA spatiale à la robotique, en passant par la défense et la longévité.

Sir Nick Clegg a déclaré : « J’ai intégré HIRO parce que je partage avec ses fondateurs la conviction que l’informatique immersive et l’IA spatiale sont en plein essor. Nous allons cesser de regarder l’internet pour vivre dans l’internet. Avec la convergence des technologies spatiales et des modèles mondiaux d’IA de nouvelle génération, nous sommes au tout début de ce changement de plateforme. Contrairement à d’autres fonds, HIRO se concentre entièrement sur ces thèmes, exclusivement en Europe.

Il s’agit d’une occasion merveilleuse pour l’écosystème technologique du Royaume-Uni et de l’Europe. Nous disposons de chercheurs et d’universités parmi les plus remarquables de la planète, ainsi que d’ingénieurs et d’entrepreneurs de premier plan. Notre problème n’est pas un manque d’innovation, c’est un manque de capital à grande échelle. L’Europe peut avoir ses détracteurs, mais nous y avons de jeunes entreprises dynamiques qui sont désormais prêtes à passer au niveau supérieur, et je crois que la portée géographique et technologique unique de l’équipe de HIRO pourra les aider à sauter le pas. »

Parallèlement à cette nomination, l’équipe de HIRO sera renforcée par son nouveau comité consultatif. Celui-ci enrichira de ses connaissances exceptionnelles chacun des quatre domaines thématiques centraux de HIRO : IA spatiale et informatique en nuage, autonomie et robotique, espace et défense, augmentation et longévité.

Le professeur Yann LeCun a commenté : « Je suis ravi d’entrer au comité consultatif de HIRO. Nous sommes à l’aube d’une nouvelle phase de l’IA, une ère dans laquelle les systèmes seront capables de comprendre le monde physique, intégreront une mémoire persistante et pourront raisonner et planifier des actions complexes. Le bilan de HIRO en matière d’investissement dans les technologies spatiales, les technologies en 3D, les objets connectés et les jeux qualifie remarquablement la société pour tirer parti de cette nouvelle vague de perspectives en Europe. »

Le nouveau comité comprend les membres suivants : le professeur Yann LeCun, ancien directeur scientifique de Meta et lauréat du prix Turing pour l’IA d’apprentissage profond ; Malcolm Turnbull, ancien Premier ministre d’Australie et investisseur technologique de premier plan ; le commandant Tim Peake, scientifique, pilote d’essai et premier astronaute britannique de l’ESA ; Laurent Solly, vice-président de META pour l’Europe ; le professeur Deeph Chana, expert en sécurité et en défense de l’Imperial College de Londres, directeur fondateur de l’Accélérateur d’innovation de défense pour l’Atlantique Nord (DIANA) au sein de l’OTAN et du Fonds OTAN pour l’innovation ; Hannah Gladman, responsable de la stratégie et des projets spéciaux chez Google DeepMind ; Jack Scannell, investisseur en biotechnologie, fondateur du concept de longévité, créateur de la loi d’erooM ; Edward van Cutsem, président des marchés privés chez Westerly Winds et ancien directeur général de BlackRock ; Paul Newman, professeur d’ingénierie de l’information à Oxford et fondateur de l’Oxford Robotics Institute ; Caroline Daniel, ancienne journaliste et stratège du Financial Times ; et Loredana Crisan, directrice de la conception chez Figma.

Luke Alvarez, associé directeur de HIRO, a ajouté : « Je suis enchanté d’accueillir Sir Nick au sein de notre équipe, ainsi que Yann et les autres formidables membres de notre comité consultatif. Nous vivons actuellement les prémices d’un big bang de nouvelles technologies, alimentées par l’accélération de la convergence entre l’informatique et le monde physique, le corps humain et les agents autonomes. Nous partageons tous la même conviction que l’Europe peut être à la pointe de la technologie, et la même ambition de jouer un rôle dans la réussite du Royaume-Uni et de l’Europe. Notre nouveau comité consultatif a été sélectionné pour sa vision, ses compétences technologiques, son réseau aux niveaux mondial et européen. Nous sommes impatients d’annoncer les premiers investissements de HIRO III en 2026. »

À propos de HIRO Capital

HIRO Capital est une société de capital-risque basée à Londres et à Luxembourg, dirigée par ses fondateurs, qui investit dans l’avenir surabondant de l’humanité. HIRO investit de la série A à la série C, dans des entreprises en croissance relevant de nos secteurs thématiques de spécialité que sont l’IA, l’informatique spatiale, l’autonomie, la robotique, la longévité, l’augmentation, les jeux, la simulation et les technologies de l’espace et de la défense. Nous nous concentrons sur les entrepreneurs et les innovateurs de la grande région Europe+, qui comprend l’UE, le Royaume-Uni, la Norvège, la Suisse et l’Ukraine. Nous sommes nous-mêmes des fondateurs et des dirigeants qui soutenons des fondateurs dirigeants. Nous sommes optimistes et futuristes. Nous pensons que l’Europe+ peut et doit être un leader mondial dans la prochaine phase de l’évolution humaine, rendue possible par la technologie. Nous savons que la créativité, l’ambition et l’esprit d’entreprise de chaque personne peuvent construire de meilleures sociétés humaines. https://hiro.capital/

HIRO porte le nom du héros que l’on devient quand on joue à un jeu ou que l’on pratique un sport, du héros que l’on est lorsqu’on crée une entreprise. C’est un hommage à Hiro Protagoniste, héros du roman « Le Samouraï virtuel » de Neal Stephenson, un pirate informatique qui code le monde numérique en 3D et sauve l’humanité de l’adversité.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2842654/HIRO_Capital_Logo.jpg

Recent funding round, led by Hudson Bay Capital, fuels expanded capacity and commercialization of formulated intermediates across oil & gas, mining, agriculture and industrial & CPG markets

SOLON, Ohio, Dec. 10, 2025 — Locus Fermentation Solutions (Locus FS), a U.S.-based biotechnology company producing performance-enhancing bio-based additives, today announced the close of an oversubscribed $20 million investment in a convertible note round at an equity valuation of $100M led by Hudson Bay Capital, with the opportunity to up-size the round. The capital will be used to expand the company’s domestic biomanufacturing capacity, accelerate commercial activities and product development across four strategic sectors: oil & gas, mining, agriculture, and industrial/CPG formulations. 

This latest round brings total funding this year to over $40 million in growth capital and includes participation from company leadership.

“This funding signals strong confidence in the future of Locus Fermentation Solutions,” said John Uhran, CEO of Locus FS. “Building on strong double-digit growth, including the acquisition of over 50 new customers in 2025, we have the team, technology and the financial momentum to scale what we do best—formulate and manufacture better performing, cleaner and more effective alternatives to traditional chemistry using our proprietary biomanufacturing platforms and glycolipid molecules.”

Investing in the Future of USA-Made, Bio-based Chemistry

With increasing emphasis on domestic manufacturing and supply chain resiliency, Locus FS is uniquely positioned as the only U.S. producer of glycolipid biosurfactants with TSCA approval for commercial-scale volumes. These non-GMO, palm-free bio-based ingredients deliver powerful surface activity and improved performance, with dramatically lower toxicity and greater biodegradability than conventional surfactants, making them ideal for replacing petrochemical-based formulations across multiple industries.

The newly secured funds will support:

• Expansion of U.S. fermentation and downstream processing capacity
• Commercial growth and customer acquisition across key markets
• Acceleration of commercialization efforts and new product launches
• Leveraging the company’s deep patent portfolio to drive innovation
• Deployment of digital tools and analytics to optimize business performance

“We’re seeing a global push toward performance-based sustainability in formulations—and Locus FS is delivering exactly that,” said Matt Russell at Hudson Bay Capital. “The company’s glycolipids and microbials aren’t just ‘green’—they’re engineered to outperform conventional options and are already being used successfully at scale.”

Positioned for Scaled Impact

Locus FS has already achieved strong commercial traction and technical validation across its focus markets:

• In Oil & Gas, the company’s glycolipid-enhanced treatments have enabled operators to substantially boost production while complying with strict environmental regulations.
• In Mining, Locus biosurfactants deliver improved metal and mineral recovery while increasing efficiency in leaching and flotation operations.
• In Agriculture, the company’s biologicals & glycolipid-based treatments consistently boost crop yields and farmer ROI, with statistically significant results in eight top-growing crops.
• In industrial and CPG formulations, Locus glycolipids help formulators reduce surfactant load and enhance performance while meeting clean-label and ESG targets.

With the addition of this new funding, Locus FS will continue building on its market leadership by launching new products, expanding distribution and partnering with companies looking to replace traditional chemistries with bio-based, high-performance alternatives. For more information, visit Locusfs.com.

About Locus Fermentation Solutions (Locus FS)
Locus Fermentation Solutions (Locus FS) is a USA-based biotechnology company delivering high-performance specialty chemical formulations enhanced with novel glycolipids and microbial blends. Built on deep microbial expertise, the company develops bio-based additives that act as powerful formulation amplifiers—pushing performance beyond the limits of traditional chemistry across industrial, CPG, energy, mining and agricultural applications. With a proprietary biomanufacturing platform and science-first approach, Locus FS helps customers solve complex formulation challenges and accelerate the transition to smarter, more sustainable solutions. Visit Locusfs.com to learn more.

SOURCE Locus Fermentation Solutions

The independent program – backed by its technology partners Infineon and Intel – addresses the missing link of closer collaboration between startups and corporates to help European deep tech founders move faster from “Pre to B” – taking breakthrough innovation to breakout success.

• Europe’s missing link: an independent, multi-partner scale-up program connecting startups and corporates to bridge the continent’s deep tech growth funding gap.
• Founder-first and non-dilutive: enabling startups to scale faster without giving up equity.
• From Pre-Seed to Series B: focused on turning early-stage deep tech ventures into globally competitive scale-ups.
• Collective impact: built on collaboration between world-leading technology firms such as Infineon and Intel, and a network of 300+ senior industry mentors.
• Pan-European mission: strengthening Europe’s sovereignty across critical frontier technologies.

DRESDEN, Germany, Dec. 10, 2025 — Ignite Next today announced its launch as Europe’s new scale-up program for deep tech innovation, designed to bridge the gap between early-stage founders and industrial-scale success.

Created by the team behind the renowned Intel Ignite program and now independently operated, Ignite Next introduces a new collaborative model – bringing together the global leading technology players, including Infineon and Intel, to support the continent’s most ambitious deep tech founders.

Rather than operating as a traditional accelerator, Ignite Next positions itself as the missing link between startups and industry – a hands-on, non-dilutive program helping founders scale IP-heavy breakthrough technologies from Pre-Seed to Series B and beyond.

Its independent structure allows the team to work with multiple partners in even greater depth across a broad range of frontier technologies, from semiconductors, photonics, advanced manufacturing, robotics, AI, through to quantum computing.

A new model for Europe’s deep tech scale-ups:

Europe’s deep tech startups face a persistent challenge: strong scientific foundations and early funding, but limited industrial collaboration and scale-up support. Ignite Next directly addresses this gap between innovation and market success, enabling founders to reach commercial scale faster through direct access to relevant industry expertise and decision makers from strategic partners.

“We’re building the bridge that Europe’s deep tech founders have long needed,” said Markus Bohl, CEO and co-founder of Ignite Next. “Ignite Next brings world-class technology partners and founders together to turn scientific breakthroughs into successful businesses at scale – helping startups move faster from Pre to B, from inventions with potential to companies with global impact.”

Ignite Next’s non-dilutive, founder-first structure ensures startups can scale without sacrificing ownership, while its high-touch approach – guided by more than 300 senior industry mentors – gives founders direct access to technical expertise, market insight, and investor readiness support.

Dr. Daniel Schall, CEO, Black Semiconductor, commented: “Ignite Next enables deep tech founders to move faster and build strong momentum by pairing genuine technical expertise with hands-on leadership experience—delivering founder-level insight, focus, and connections.”

A virtuous circle of impact for startups, corporates and the deeptech community alike:

1. A clear north star: startup success – achieved through non-dilutive and high-touch support, and deep sector expertise.
2. Startups scale faster – attracting stronger investor interest and higher valuations.
3. VCs are recommending the program, leading to highly selective admissions.
4. Partners benefit through early access to technologies, talent, and collaboration opportunities.
5. The entire ecosystem strengthens – reinforcing Europe’s competitiveness in deep tech.

Nicolas Autret, Partner, Walden Catalyst, added: “Only 6% of global AI funding and 5% of quantum investment go to European companies – that’s the gap the Draghi Report warned about. Ignite Next tackles exactly this problem by helping Europe’s deep tech founders scale faster, without giving up equity. It’s the kind of competence and collaboration Europe needs to stay competitive on the global stage.”

Independence and collaboration – the next phase of Ignite:

Ignite Next builds on a proven blueprint of technical depth, senior mentorship, and focus on tangible commercial outcomes – now strengthened by its independent, multi-partner setup.

“We’re keeping everything that made Ignite successful – the technical depth, the selectivity, and the focus on the commercial impact – but with the ability to provide even more relevancy via our complementary, multi-partner set-up,” said Alois Eder, CTO and co-founder. “Independence means we can connect an even wider and stronger network of experts to our startups, offering broader and deeper technology coverage, better market access, and stronger outcomes for Europe’s innovation sectors.”

Each cohort is highly selective, typically drawing over 300 applications for just ten places. Startups are mostly referred to the program by leading venture capital investors and chosen for their potential to become Europe’s next scale-up success stories.

Alumni from the Ignite model include Black Semiconductor, Proxima Fusion, Corintis, Quantum Diamonds, Cerabyte, and Space Forge – each proving Europe’s outstanding capabilities in frontier technologies.

Dr. Francesco Sciortino, CEO of Proxima Fusion, added: “The Ignite Next team has been instrumental to Proxima’s journey from lab breakthrough to tangible traction. The team consistently had our back – combining technical guidance and company building advice with real industry access.”

Partners driving Europe’s deep tech future:

Ignite Next is backed by its core technology partners Infineon and Intel, who provide strategic industry expertise, infrastructure and technology access as well as technical and commercial mentorship. With technologies evolving faster and across more domains than ever, these partnerships give corporates early access to disruptive innovations, insight into emerging trends, and opportunities to influence technology roadmaps.

“At Infineon, we are committed to empowering Europe’s deep tech startups,” said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. “With Ignite Next, we are uniting leading technology partners to back the continent’s most ambitious founders and strengthen the importance of Europe as a world-class innovation hub. Together, we turn today’s European startups into tomorrow’s global tech champions.”

Additional corporate and institutional partners are set to join in the coming months, further strengthening Ignite Next’s value proposition to founders. All partnerships are long-term, offering startups sustained support while reinforcing a lasting commitment to Europe’s deep tech ecosystem and supply chain resilience.

Europe first – but globally connected:

While the pan-European program is closely connected to the 45 most important deep tech hotspots in Europe, Ignite Next deliberately chose to headquarter the program in Dresden, at the heart of Silicon Saxony. The region is not only home to one-third of Europe’s chip production, but with TU Dresden also the university producing the most patents in Germany. With this Ignite Next opens up unmatched collaboration opportunities for startups and investors alike within one of the continent’s most important, vibrant, and fastest growing semiconductor ecosystems.

Dirk Panter, Saxony’s State Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Climate Action: “It is testament to the strength and importance of the ecosystem in (Silicon) Saxony that an internationally renowned program with world-leading partners in the hightech industry will be based and run out of Dresden. We are happy to welcome Ignite Next and its deep tech startups in the heartland of Europe’s semiconductor industry – and are convinced that this is the right place to build and scale global deep tech category leaders.”

Its location underscores the program’s pan-European ambition: uniting industrial, academic, and venture networks to scale European innovation globally.

While Europe remains its core focus, Ignite Next welcomes startups from around the world. Each three-month cohort provides deep technical mentorship, commercial validation, and investor engagement, helping startups reach product-market fit, go-to-market readiness, and Series A and B funding faster.

Michiel Scheffer, President, European Innovation Council, commented: “I’m happy to see that Ignite Next is specifically designed to support European deep tech startups to reach the breakout stage. This is exactly in line with what the EIC and me personally are strong proponents of: we need to build scale-ups for Europe critical technologies that aim for global leadership positions in their field. In Europe, we have the talent, the IP, and the opportunity to achieve that if we manage to provide the right funding and industrial support for this. I’m convinced that Ignite Next will play a significant role in this.”

About Ignite Next:
Ignite Next is Europe’s scale-up program for deep tech innovation, founded by the former Intel Ignite leadership team and now independently operated. The program accelerates early-stage, high-impact startups developing breakthrough technologies in semiconductors, physical AI, advanced computing, and other frontier domains. Non-dilutive and founder-first, Ignite Next partners with leading technology companies – including Infineon and Intel – to connect startups with world-class technical and business expertise, turning breakthrough innovation into breakout success.

Media contact:
Harry Ashcroft | Perseid PR
[email protected]
+44 7429 108277

SOURCE Ignite Next

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2025 — Apple Tree Partners (“ATP”), a leading life sciences venture capital firm, has announced that on December 9, 2025, certain ATP affiliates filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Court”) in order to implement a restructuring plan to ensure its portfolio companies have the funding and resources required to continue their critical missions to research and develop novel breakthrough treatments for cancer, neurological disorders, infectious diseases, and other serious diseases. Since its inception more than 25 years ago, ATP has delivered an industry-leading DPI of 1x on $2.5 billion. The firm’s debut fund, ATP I, stands as the second-highest returning fund globally for its vintage (1999). Its most recent fund, ATP Life Science Ventures, has best-in-class performance over 12 years with a net TVPI of 2.7x and a net DPI of 1.0x.

ATP and its affiliates will continue to operate during the reorganization.

“We undertake this restructuring to serve the best interests of our limited partners, our portfolio companies, their employees and founders, the health care professionals and institutions who partner with us in researching and developing new medical treatments, and ultimately, the patients who stand to benefit from everyone’s invention, dedication, risk, and effort,” said Seth Harrison, M.D., founder and Managing Partner, ATP. “We have no doubt that the fundamentals underpinning our investments are strong, and that our portfolio companies have shown and continue to show great promise to deliver significant returns on investment and meaningful new treatments and cures.”

ATP has retained B. Riley as financial and restructuring advisor to the firm, with Perry Mandarino, Senior Managing Director of B. Riley, as Chief Restructuring Officer. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP and Potter, Anderson & Corroon LLP have been appointed general bankruptcy co-counsels.

About Apple Tree Partners

Apple Tree Partners (ATP) is a leader in life sciences venture capital. ATP creates companies starting at various stages, from pre-IP ideas to asset spinouts, investing in them from seed stage through IPO and beyond. The core of ATP’s strategy is providing flexible capital and access to a world-class team of venture partners and EIRs, to build sustainable, research-driven enterprises that deliver therapeutics to improve human lives. For more information, visit www.appletreepartners.com.

SOURCE Apple Tree Partners

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2025 —

• Pantera Capital leads the fundraising, joined by Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group (DCG)
• Surf raises $15 million to develop Surf 2.0, to serve the high demand of crypto insights from crypto traders, researchers and investors. Also to launch Surf Enterprise with SOC 2 compliance and data privacy
• Surf 1.0 already tops CAIA benchmark, outsmarting competitors by 4x https://asksurf.ai/home#benchmark 

Surf, the AI intelligence platform for digital assets, today announced it has raised $15 million led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and DCG. The funding will support the development of Surf 2.0, a more advanced version of the company’s domain-specific AI, and expand Surf’s enterprise offering.

Surf combines proprietary models built for digital asset analysis with industry-leading data, giving it a level of accuracy that general-purpose systems lack. Its first model, Surf 1.0, demonstrated this advantage: on CAIA, a benchmark that evaluates whether an AI model can perform the tasks of a junior human analyst, Surf outperformed competitors by up to 4x. The result highlights the limitations of general-purpose models and why investors are turning to specialized systems for consistent and reliable analysis. As interest in digital assets accelerates, both institutional teams and individual investors are looking for intelligence that can interpret market data reliably, without the inaccuracies of broad LLMs.

Surf’s platform uses a multi-agent architecture that analyzes social sentiment, onchain activity, and token and market behavior with advanced logic. Insights are delivered through a simple chat interface, giving users a single point of access without relying on manual, error-prone research.

Since launching in July, Surf has seen strong early adoption and consistent growth:

• Millions in Annual Recurring Revenue
• Generated over 1M research reports
• 50% growth month over month
• 80% of top exchanges and research firms use Surf

The funding will accelerate the development of Surf 2.0 and the company’s enterprise offerings. Surf 2.0 will introduce a more advanced model, expanded proprietary datasets, and new agents capable of executing multi-step workflows typically handled by experienced analysts. The enterprise offering will add enhanced security controls, dedicated infrastructure, and SOC 2 compliance to meet institutional requirements.

Teams at top firms already use Surf daily. A research associate at a global venture fund said, “Surf is an exceptional product. I use it daily, and increasingly find myself spending more time on Surf than on Perplexity.””When people make financial decisions, they want information they can trust. Generic AI tools aren’t built for that.” said Ryan Li, Co-founder and CEO of Surf. “We’re building Surf to give people something they can rely on, especially in a market that moves as quickly as crypto.”Added Nihal Maunder, Partner at Pantera Capital “Digital asset research has always required a level of context and detail that general LLMs don’t handle well. Surf is one of the first teams to take that seriously, and the traction they’ve shown tells us the market has been waiting for a tool like this.”

About Surf 

Surf is an AI intelligence platform for digital assets that delivers accurate, trusted insights through a simple chat interface. Using proprietary data and domain-specific models, Surf helps institutions and individual investors analyze projects, understand market conditions, and make informed decisions with confidence.

For individual users: Additional information is available at asksurf.ai/home

For enterprises: Additional information is available at https://asksurf.ai/enterprise

Contact
Kris Conesa
C-Suite Media Strategies
[email protected]

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2842671/Surf.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2842670/Surf_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Surf

Funding will support Quantum Art in reaching a 1,000-qubit commercial platform and global expansion

NESS ZIONA, Israel, Dec. 10, 2025 — Quantum Art, a developer of full-stack quantum computers based on trapped-ion qubits and a proprietary scale-up architecture, today announced that it has closed a $100 million Series A funding round. The investment accelerates the company’s path toward commercializing its systems, achieving quantum advantage, scaling its platform to enable quantum processors with thousands of qubits, and supporting Quantum Art’s expansion from early revenues into significant commercial scale.

Bedford Ridge Capital led the round alongside Battery Ventures, Destra Investments, Lumir Growth Partners, Disruptive AI, Harel Insurance, Karen W. Davidson, GTV, Yasmin Lukatz, Corner Capital, and Qbeat Ventures. 

Existing investors and stakeholders Amiti Ventures, which led the seed round, StageOne Ventures, Vertex Ventures, Entrée Capital, and the Weizmann Institute of Science continued participating in this round. The financing brings Quantum Art’s total funding to date to $124 million following a seed round in 2022.

The funding accelerates the development of Perspective, a 1,000-qubit multi-core system aimed at achieving quantum advantage, and supports prototyping of the company’s third-generation 2D architecture targeting thousands of qubits for high-impact, real-world applications.

“Investment support at this level reflects strong confidence in our technology and products,” said Dr. Tal David, CEO and co-founder of Quantum Art. “It reinforces the momentum behind our multi-qubit gate architecture and our path toward systems that scale from hundreds to ultimately thousands and millions of qubits.”

Quantum Art’s architecture uses reconfigurable, multi-core trapped-ion chains that preserve high connectivity as systems grow. Multi-qubit gates compress complex operations into a single step, while dynamic reconfigurable optical segmentation enables parallel computing regions within the same ion chain with optimal connectivity. Dense 2D arrays enable significant qubit scaling while preserving a compact system footprint. Together, these capabilities form a platform engineered for practical scalability and high-performance quantum algorithms.

The funding follows a period of rapid progression for Quantum Art. The company published a detailed and aggressive multiyear roadmap along with additional technical milestones including demonstrating the world’s longest fully controlled trapped-ion chain of 200 ions, underscoring both the scalability and stability of its architecture. The company released early results in a collaboration with NVIDIA’s CUDA-Q platform where circuit depth decreased by 10X and secured a joint project with Ayalon Highways to explore how quantum computing can improve traffic congestion.

“Quantum computing advances only when extraordinary people come together,” said Dr. Amit Ben-Kish, CTO and co-founder of Quantum Art. “Our team has turned ambitious ideas into state-of-the-art systems at remarkable speed. This funding lets us strengthen this team and deepen our strategic partnerships that will accelerate our path to commercial-scale machines.”

About Quantum Art
Quantum Art, an Israeli company founded in 2022 as spin-off from the Weizmann Institute of Science, is a full-stack trapped-ion quantum computing company developing systems and solutions for complex computational problems. Its architecture combines scalable hardware with software designed for real-world applications in optimization, simulation, and advanced computing. For more information, visit https://www.quantum-art.tech/

SOURCE Quantum Art

Channel3 provides developers and merchants with a universal product graph for the next generation of commerce

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2025 — Today, Channel3, the company building the connected database of every product on the internet, announced its $6 million seed round led by Matrix, with participation from Ludlow Ventures, Paul Graham, Sri Batchu (former CMO of TheRealReal) and Matteo Franeschetti (founder of EightSleep). The investment underscores growing momentum around agentic commerce, a new channel of AI-driven shopping experiences, and positions Channel3 to accelerate its mission of making every product on the web discoverable and actionable by AI.

The agentic AI race is redefining shopping, as companies compete to show that AI can deliver real value by helping consumers find, compare and buy products. Channel3 provides the underlying infrastructure for this emerging channel, giving developers and merchants AI-ready access to products across the internet. Today, Google, Amazon and ChatGPT own the agentic commerce channel because they own all the product data. Channel3 is changing that by building a comprehensive, real-time product database that’s accessible to every merchant and developer, thereby democratizing the foundation of AI-driven commerce.

“AI-driven shopping is only as powerful as the data it can act on,” said Alexander Schiff, co-founder and CEO of Channel3. “Developers building agentic commerce applications often get stuck on product data because collecting and maintaining it is too difficult and expensive. We handle the infrastructure layer, so developers can focus on building the best user experience.”

George Lawrence, co-founder and CTO, added, “Product data has always been a problem that no one has fully solved. Now, with multimodal AI models smart enough to understand products and inexpensive enough to operate at scale, Channel3 is making product data reliable, structured and actionable. This enables developers to build AI shopping experiences that are frictionless, intelligent and scalable.”

Channel3’s API provides access to a real-time product catalog that connects products, variants, images, attributes and merchant offers across the web. It allows any app or agent to search products, surface the best options and link users directly to merchants for purchase. Channel3 is neutral and storefront-agnostic, making discovery seamless across the web. The company’s technology uses multimodal AI models to match products across merchants, link variants, extract rich attributes and interpret product pages—ensuring AI agents can find the right products, regardless of how listings differ.

For merchants, Channel3 offers a frictionless way to participate in this new commerce channel. By syncing their catalog, merchants can make their products discoverable by the growing number of AI agents guiding consumer purchases with no technical work required on their end. Channel3 also ensures that product data is clean, structured and continuously updated so it can be surfaced on any AI platform even as standards, protocols and schemas evolve. Merchants also benefit from tracking and affiliate infrastructure, making it easy to attribute sales.

“The team at Channel3 is tackling a generational opportunity that we firmly believe will become the foundational layer for the agentic commerce era,” said Kojo Osei, Partner at Matrix. “We’re proud to partner with this team as they lead the charge in a massive, emerging market.”

Alexander Schiff and George Lawrence met at Duke University, where they co-founded their first startup together. Schiff led AI projects at Studio.com after working at Microsoft, and Lawrence, a former Palantir engineer, co-founded Channel3 to solve a growing pain point in AI shopping. Schiff first recognized the problem while building an AI tutor that could recommend products and earn affiliate revenue, realizing no existing solution could support this kind of agentic shopping. The company is also a Y Combinator alum.

Channel3’s catalog already includes 50 million products and continues to expand rapidly. The company will use the funding to expand its engineering team and further invest in the compute-intensive AI needed to process billions of tokens to understand every product online. To learn more, please visit trychannel3.com.

About Channel3: 
Channel3 is building the connected database of every product on the internet. The company provides developers and merchants with a real-time, universal product graph, enabling new AI-driven shopping experiences across the web. Channel3 is a Y Combinator alum and is backed by Matrix Partners, Ludlow Ventures, and notable angel investors including Paul Graham, Sri Batchu and Matteo Franceschetti.

About Matrix: 
Matrix is an early-stage venture capital firm investing from idea through Series A. As a close-knit team of former founders and company builders, Matrix partners with companies with deep technical expertise and a clear vision of the future. The firm has backed industry-defining companies including Apple, FedEx, Canva and Oculus.

SOURCE Channel3