Tag Archives: VEN

PR Newswire

Tonik secures USD 100 million in Consumer Deposits within 8 months of launch

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MANILA, Philippines, Dec. 9, 2021 — Tonik, the Philippines’ first digital-only neobank, continues to blaze a trail in the local banking industry by surpassing P5B (US$100M) in consumer deposits. The development comes within only 8 months of the neobank’s launch of commercial operations and comes on the heels of Tonik’s prior achievement of another first in the banking history in the Philippines by securing P1B (US$20M) in consumer deposits within a month of going live last March.  

PH neobank Tonik secures USD100M in Consumer Deposits within 8 months of launch
PH neobank Tonik secures USD100M in Consumer Deposits within 8 months of launch

Tonik’s deposit achievement was supported by unique, accessible, flexible, and inclusive products, including industry-leading deposit interest rates of up to 6% per annum for time deposits, and unique saving features such as its Solo Stash and Group Stash products that can earn up to 4% and 4.5% per annum, respectively.

"We built Tonik to accelerate financial inclusion to more Filipinos, who deserve to have the fully-digital ease and convenience in their banking experience," shares Greg Krasnov, Tonik CEO and Founder. "We are very grateful that we’re now a closer to reaching this goal with the overwhelming support that we are receiving from our customers. To make this holiday season sweeter, and further accelerate on customer acquisition, we are launching welcome bonus and referral programs that will enable our customers to earn upon joining or by inviting their friends to start a neobanking romance with us."

Tonik also recently launched its first lending product called "Quick Loan" – a game-changing all-digital loan product designed to serve the vast unbanked and underbanked Filipino middle class with a quick and affordable bank loan proposition in under 15 minutes.

Tonik holds the first private bank digital bank license in the country, is supervised by the BSP, and its deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). With US$44M raised to-date, Tonik is among the best funded fintechs in Southeast Asia. Its unique cloud-based solution is powered by global financial technology leaders such as Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, and Finastra.

Learn more about this story and other updates from Tonik via https://tonikbank.com.

About Tonik

Tonik is the first digital-only neobank in the Philippines, providing loan, deposit, payment, and card products to consumers on a highly secure digital banking platform. The neobank operates on the basis of the first private digital bank license issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Tonik is led by a team of retail finance veterans who have previously built and scaled multiple retail banks and fintechs across the global emerging markets. It is backed by top international venture capital funds. Tonik operates out of hubs in Singapore (HQ), Manila, Chennai, and Kyiv.  

PR Newswire

SecondLive Raises at $30M Valuation in the Seed Round to Build Social Metaverse

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SINGAPORE, Nov. 3, 2021 — SecondLive the Binance Smart Chain(BSC)-based metaverse platform has secured funding from BSC’s $1B Growth Fund along with Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubator of Binance to scale the platform for mass adoption and drive its growth globally.

SecondLive is a diversified metaverse focused on building social networks and supporting creator economic activities. Within the metaverse, users can craft their own digital lives — creating their own avatars and choosing spaces to stay and to live. In different spaces like virtual exhibitions, personal spaces, art galleries, game rooms, and concert rooms, users can complete different tasks with avatars. These avatars help creators and users make their own content and profit from their own creations.

"Through the spaces on SecondLive, users can experience strong social interactions, space sharing and participation in various real-life experiences, allowing them a second, parallel life in SecondLive," said Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director of Binance Smart Chain (BSC) Accelerator Fund. "SecondLive is one of the first projects to receive funding from the $1 Billion Growth Fund. We believe in the long-term potential of metaverse projects, and have paid close attention to what SecondLive has enabled and plan to support it further," she added. 

With the funding, SecondLive will accelerate the growth of the platform and support the BSC ecosystem by advancing its metaverse’s functionalities. The project will scale to acquire masses of general users, gamers, and crypto-enthusiasts.

Investment Director of Binance Labs, Chase Guo, said: "Just like the internet tore down barriers and connected users online to create content and get incentivized for it; we believe that metaverse will enable the next generation of the Web will accelerate the growth of the entire crypto space."

Along with BSC and Binance Labs a few notable market players like ArkStream Capital, Bullet Labs, GBV Capital, LucidBlue Ventures, Magic Ventures, Multiplex Ventures, Old Fashion Research, Pow Rise Capital, SEJO Asset, and Yuanyuzhou Ventures have also provided support in terms of funding to SecondLive.

PR Newswire

Posture360 Receives Venture Capital to Drive Growth in Healthcare Industry

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Industry Leader in Smart Wearables Taps Venture Capital For Strategic Growth

NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2021 — Posture360, an industry leader in smart wearable technologies, has received an investment from Legendary Ventures as it is set to launch PostureSense®, the next-generation Smart Shirt that tracks, monitors, and analyzes physical activities (with real-time bio-feedback) through its SaaS platform to improve people’s posture. The PostureSense® Smart Shirt helps individuals develop better posture habits through its embedded fabric AI sensors (which collects behavioral data when worn), enabling people to change their posture, and correct for any misalignment on-the-fly.

Today, backpain adds a substantial socio-economic burden to millions of people everywhere. "Incredibly, backpain is the most common symptom that people suffer from in their daily lives. Our all-in-one digital health platform seamlessly integrates into our daily activities in non-evasive ways to boost overall health and wellness," says William Choi, Founder & CEO of Posture360.

Studies have shown that backpain is the leading cause of disability (and poor performance) worldwide, especially for young working professionals. "The need for a dynamic posture-correcting system has become essential as businesses and consumers shift towards a more passive aggressive post-pandemic work-life balance," says Ryan Shuler, Managing Partner of Legendary Ventures.

Legendary Ventures is a US-based venture capital firm that fuels consumer, retail, and technology ("CRT") companies. Other notable investors in Posture360 include Samsung Ventures, C&V Partners and nTels Ventures. "We’re very excited to support Posture360 deliver disruptive consumer MedTech products across the next-generation of lifestyle industries such as eGaming and eSports," says Jayson Kim, General Partner of Legendary Ventures.

About Posture360

Posture360 is a smart wearable company that provides effective interventions for pain management worldwide. Its ergonomic products are embedded with sensors to track, monitor, and analyze daily movements to improve health and wellness. For more information about the company, or its products, please visit www.posture360.com.

About Legendary Ventures

Legendary Ventures is a venture capital partnership that accelerates value creation for emerging companies operating across the CRT markets. For more information about the firm, or its funds, please visit www.legendary.vc.

Contact:

Public Relations
Anoushka Gungadin
Posture 360 Public Relations
pr@posture360.com

Investor Relations
Rachel Wu
Legendary Investor Relations
investors@legendary.vc

Related Links :

https://posture360.com/

PR Newswire

Mach49 Expands Singapore Hub to Further Advance Corporate Venture Building in Asia

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Mach49 appointed as a venture studio of the Corporate Venture Launchpad, a programme by the Singapore Economic Development Board

SINGAPORE and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 1, 2021 — Today, Mach49, the growth incubator for global businesses, announced its appointment as a venture studio on the Singapore Economic Development Board’s (EDB) Corporate Venture Launchpad (CV Launchpad). The CV Launchpad is a S$10 million pilot programme designed to help large, Singapore-based companies build new ventures in growth areas beyond their existing core businesses. It was established by EDB New Ventures, the corporate venture building arm of EDB, to advance the venturing ecosystem across companies in Singapore. 

"Mach49’s appointment as a venture studio underscores EDB’s trust in our experience with Global 1000 companies and our unique approach to the venture building process — we’re focused exclusively on execution and have a robust, scalable, and repeatable method for bold, game-changing venture creation. If companies want to disrupt before they’re disrupted, it’s imperative that they build their own Growth Engines, capitalizing on their resources, ideas, talent, and customer base to beat start-ups at their own game," said Linda Yates, Founder and CEO of Mach49. 

As an appointed venture studio, Mach49 will partner with large and established Singapore-based companies to incubate fresh business ideas with the speed and nimbleness of a start-up, while leveraging the unique competitive advantages of its parent company. The result is a pipeline of ventures that generates meaningful growth and continues to propel Singapore forward as a global business hub. Mach49 is established in the region with an office in Singapore and a growing base of APAC clients, including TDK Corporation; Schneider Electric; Mitsubishi Electric; Hitachi; LIXIL; among others. 

"Asia’s large corporates are uniquely positioned to produce the region’s next generation businesses — Mach49’s methodology, pace, connections, and team of successful entrepreneurs, VCs, and C-Suite executives can help create them. Mach49’s global team has collectively created over $50 billion in market value in companies we have invested in, created, managed, or built. With a wealth of experience under one roof, we not only understand how to design and manage world-class venture factories producing multiple ventures, but we are devoted to refining the art and science of the venture-building process," added Amos Manasseh, Mach49’s Head of Venture Building and Delivery, APAC. 

"Our partnership with venture studios is integral to the Corporate Venture Launchpad, as they bring best-in-class expertise and experience in ideation, incubation and venture-building. By tapping on the capabilities of our appointed venture studios like Mach49, participating corporates can build new ventures and scale them to become globally competitive businesses from Singapore. We welcome Mach49 as a valued partner on this programme, and look forward to building new ventures together," said Mr Choo Heng Tong, Executive Vice President, New Ventures and Innovation, EDB.

With a 100 percent focus on execution and a 90 percent success rate, Mach49 has incubated over 50 businesses globally, empowering companies to create new markets, new categories, and new products by helping them build and launch ventures generated from within, do corporate venture investing, engage in strategic partnering with start-ups, and augment their venture building with startup-company M&A. In Singapore, Mach49 is currently supporting Schneider Electric’s incubation vehicle, which has already incubated three ventures. Mach49 also designed a new corporate venture fund for 86-year-old company, TDK. Since launching in 2019, TDK Ventures has had three exits and recently closed its second fund for $150 million, which is triple the size of TDK Ventures’ first fund.

About Mach49

Mach49 partners with global businesses to disrupt markets and create new growth opportunities. Mach49 focuses on execution, with a unique approach to venture building and investing fueled by decades of Silicon Valley operating experience and success. Mach49 was founded in 2014 by Linda Yates and is based in Silicon Valley, with offices in Singapore, London, Amsterdam and Boston. Learn more about Mach49 at www.mach49.com.

Logo – https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1082800/Mach49_Logo.jpg?p=medium600  

Related Links :

http://www.mach49.com

PR Newswire

China Money Network Unveils Corporate Brand Upgrade As FutureLogic

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FutureLogic will fold numerous business units under its umbrella including China Money Network, Caishen.co, China Money Podcast and more

HONG KONG, Sept. 29, 2021 — China Money Network Limited today unveils its new corporate brand as FutureLogic.

FutureLogic, a premier intelligence, data and media platform bridging the Asian and global innovation economy, will fold numerous business units under its umbrella including its core asset, China Money Network, a platform tracking China’s venture capital, fintech and technology sectors since 2011.

Caishen.co, which uses natural language processing to provide market intelligence on China’s secondary market, will be part of FutureLogic as well.

The FutureLogic brand will also encompass other related media, intelligence, and data assets including China Money Podcast, a weekly podcast featuring China’s venture capital and tech sector news; and Reports, which produces research reports related to the Asian and the global tech ecosystem.

"By upgrading our brand to FutureLogic, we are conveying a new approach to our expert areas: to leverage our knowledge in the Asian tech space in a global context, and to broaden our horizon to help the global tech community in deciphering the future," says Nina Xiang, founder and managing editor of FutureLogic.

China Money Network was founded in 2011 in Shanghai, and is headquartered in Hong Kong and operates from satellites in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. The company is independently owned by its founding team and employees.

With a massive and deep database covering the Asian venture capital, fintech and tech sector over the past ten years, China Money Network has been a leading intelligence and data service provider to many leading global and Chinese corporations. The platform also boasts a global high-end user base spanning North American, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

"Going forward, FutureLogic will aim to provide unique insights, news, and intelligence rooted in our expertise in Asian tech to a wider global audience as the world’s tech space enters a highly uncertain future amid geopolitical tensions," says Nina Xiang. "FutureLogic aims to be the place where executives turn to for real intelligence on the Asian tech space."

For more information, please visit http://www.thefuturelogic.com 

About FutureLogic

FutureLogic is a media, intelligence and data conglomerate bridging the Asian and global innovation economy.

It encompasses a number of media and data assets, including China Money Network, a platform tracking the Asian venture capital and technology sectors since 2011; and Caishen.co, which uses natural language processing to provide market intelligence on China’s secondary market.

FutureLogic’s asset matrix also includes China Money Podcast, a weekly podcast featuring China’s venture capital and tech sector news; and China Money Reports, a think tank producing reports related to the Chinese and the global tech ecosystem.

FutureLogic was founded in 2011 in Shanghai, and is headquartered in Hong Kong and operates from satellites in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. It is an independent company owned by its founding team and employees.

PR Newswire

SIMBA Chain Raises $25 Million in Series A Funding

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SOUTH BEND, Ind., Sept. 4, 2021 — SIMBA Chain , the technology company that eliminated the complexities of blockchain app development and reduced energy usage, thus opening the door to a world of users, has closed a $25 million Series A funding round led by Valley Capital Partners. The round received additional participation from the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, Elevate Ventures, Stanford Law School Venture Fund, and individuals affiliated with Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, SpaceX, Gap, Estee Lauder, AppLovin, Microsoft, Moelis & Company, Stanford University, the Golden State Warriors, the founders of Lightspeed Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates and other individual investors.

SIMBA Chain, a startup incubated at the University of Notre Dame, offers a simple, time- and energy-efficient method for deploying blockchain technology in the most secure and complex environments. Its state-of-the-art technology autogenerates a robust family of APIs that support permissioned and public blockchains, allowing customers to launch blockchain applications without hiring costly consultants or consuming valuable tech expertise. And because SIMBA Chain allows users to select from a wide range of blockchain technologies, with portability across these chains, the company provides a level of flexibility and customization that traditional blockchain approaches cannot support.

Joel Neidig, SIMBA Chain CEO and co-founder, stated, "Demand for our Web3 smart contracts platform has accelerated across all of our markets much quicker than we anticipated. Users across multiple spectrums have embraced and validated the SIMBA Chain model, which simplifies development of smart contracts. The market has also responded positively to our support of multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, RSK, Stellar, and many others, making SIMBA Chain-based applications simple, highly portable and sustainable." SIMBA Chain’s technology is currently used by Fortune 500 companies and other multi-billion-dollar organizations.

Steve O’Hara, managing partner at Valley Capital Partners of Menlo Park, California, said, "Since its founding in 2017, SIMBA Chain has distinguished itself by solving the incredibly hard problem of making blockchain technology, which is inherently complex and difficult to master, accessible to literally anyone who wants to realize the advantages blockchain has to offer. Thanks to the intellectual depth and insatiable curiosity of its team, SIMBA Chain has succeeded in establishing impressive beachheads in the defense and enterprise markets – a rare thing to see in emerging frontier technologies like blockchain. We are excited to support SIMBA Chain at this pivotal time."

With the additional funding, SIMBA Chain plans to scale sales, marketing, and development, and to dedicate resources to emerging enterprise-level opportunities such as non-fungible tokens. SIMBA Chain expects business enterprises, academic institutions, and others will use its software to manage and monetize digital and physical assets as well as to launch business models that don’t exist today.

"This is one of the more exciting blockchain companies I’ve seen in a while," observed Joseph Grundfest, a Stanford Law School professor, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission and member of Stanford’s Center for Blockchain Research. "SIMBA Chain solves a very big problem: most companies don’t know how to adopt or manage blockchain technology. SIMBA Chain makes that easy and cheap, so it’s a bit like Stripe for the blockchain. Also, by writing on energy-efficient blockchains, SIMBA Chain’s ‘green solution’ responds to concerns that some blockchains contribute to global warming." 

Despite the past year’s economic disruptions, SIMBA Chain has remained laser-focused on unleashing blockchain’s potential for enterprise, government, and education as the first examples of what will certainly be numerous use cases. Over the last 18 months, SIMBA Chain has achieved the following milestones:

  • Grown revenue by 360%.
  • Closed paid programs with Fortune 500 and other multi-billion-dollar organizations to develop secure, immutable, blockchain-based solutions.
  • Secured contracts with more than 30 institutions of higher learning in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia that are using the SIMBA Chain platform in their schools of business and law.
  • Surpassed 6,000 users.
  • Developed a digital marketplace using non-fungible tokens for a major university.

Joining the SIMBA Chain Board of Directors are Steve O’Hara, Valley Capital Partners; Phil Koen, former CEO of Savvis and Intermedia, and former president of Equinix; and Mike Lempres, former EIR at Andreessen Horowitz, and former chief legal and risk officer and Board of Directors member, Coinbase.

Said Neidig, "The entire SIMBA Chain team is elated by this new investment and what it represents. We are grateful to everyone who has recognized our potential, and we look forward to the future."

About SIMBA Chain, Inc.
SIMBA Chain’s cloud-based enterprise platform enables universities, industry, governments, and individual programmers to quickly develop and deploy Web 3.0 distributed applications (dApps) across many blockchain platforms. SIMBA Chain was founded in 2017 through a DARPA grant awarded to the University of Notre Dame and ITAMCO and has received multiple awards, including a 2020 U.S. Small Business Administration Tibbetts Award, TechPoint’s 2019 Mira Award for New Product of the Year, and 1st Source Bank’s 2019 Commercialization Award. SIMBA Chain’s eco-friendly, energy-efficient platform supports Avalanche, Ethereum, Consensys Quorum, Binance Smart Chain, RSK, Stellar, Hyperledger, and other blockchain protocols. Learn more.

Media Contact:

Joel Neidig

Phone: +1 574 914 4446

Email: info@simbachain.com

Related Images

co-founders.png
Co-founders
Joel Neidig (CEO and Co-founder) and Ian Taylor (CTO and Co-founder)

simba-chain-team.png
SIMBA Chain Team
SIMBA Chain Team

Related Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqJG80mcyZU

PR Newswire

TradeUP Acquisition Corp. Announces the Separate Trading of its Common Stock and Warrants, Commencing September 7, 2021

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NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2021 — TradeUP Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: UPTDU) ("TradeUP Acquisition" or the "Company") announced today that, commencing September 7, 2021, holders of the Units (the "Units") sold in the Company’s initial public offering ("IPO") and the over-allotment of 4,430,000 Units may elect to separately trade the shares of common stock and warrants included in the Units. Any Units not separated will continue to trade on the NASDAQ Capital Market ("NASDAQ") under the symbol "UPTDU". Any underlying common stock and warrants that are separated will trade on the NASDAQ under the symbols "UPTD" and "UPTDW," respectively. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole warrants will trade. Holders of Units will need to have their brokers contact the Company’s transfer agent, VStock Transfer, LLC, in order to separate the holders’ Units into common stock and warrants.

The Units were initially offered by the Company in an underwritten offering. US Tiger Securities, Inc. acted as the lead book running manager in the offering. EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments, LLC and R.F. Lafferty & Co., Inc. acted as joint book running managers. R.F. Lafferty & Co., Inc. also acted as a qualified independent underwriter.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and became effective on July 14, 2021. The offering was made only by means of a prospectus, copies of which may be obtained, when available, by contacting US Tiger Securities, Inc., 437 Madison Avenue, 27th Floor, New York, New York 10022; email: IB@ustigersecurities.com. Copies of the registration statement can be accessed through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About TradeUP Acquisition Corp.

TradeUP Acquisition Corp. is a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The Company’s efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region, although the Company intends to focus a search for a target business in the technology industry.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, risks and changes in circumstances, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company’s registration statement, as amended from time to time, and prospectus for the offering filed with the SEC. The Company expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

 

PR Newswire

Litmaps closes $125K in seed-stage investment from Quidnet Ventures

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2, 2021 — Litmaps, a Science software company based in Wellington, New Zealand has received NZ$125,000 in funding from Quidnet Ventures, a New Zealand-based venture capital fund with operations in Auckland, NZ, San Francisco and New York. Litmaps has built a research navigation platform that allows scientists, engineers, and other experts to more rapidly and deeply navigate peer reviewed research and patent literatures, accelerating breakthroughs and allowing them to work more effectively in R&D teams. The total size of Litmaps’s seed round was $1M NZD, and was led by Icehouse Ventures.

Tools like Google Scholar and Scopus allow for basic academic search, but what Litmaps allows is domain experts such as scientists and engineers to dive into their field of expertise, and use data visualisation and network science tools to understand the full picture: how the research is evolving, what they might have missed, and where breakthroughs and commercial opportunities might exist. Litmaps helps accelerate research breakthroughs – from medicine to policymaking to space travel – with more efficient discovery of 200+ million published and peer-reviewed studies.

Quidnet Ventures is a seed and series-A fund that mentors and invests in early-stage startups based in New Zealand that aspire to have global impact. Quidnet’s team consists of a group of experienced investors and advisors that can leverage their knowledge set to support Litmaps. Litmaps joins Quidnet Ventures’s portfolio, consisting of Aider, Dawn Aerospace, Winely and MaramaLabs.

"With my original training in physics I can really appreciate the problem that Litmaps is solving. Both the world of academic research and that of industrial R&D will benefit from the company’s solution," states Mark Bregman, Founder and General Partner of Quidnet Ventures.

Kyle Webster, CEO of Litmaps, states, "It’s fantastic to have Quidnet on board. Litmaps sees real value and excellent strategic alignment in Quidnets expertise in R&D intensive companies and access to both North American, and other international markets."

Litmaps’s research platform combines interactive citation maps, modern search tools, and models of a researchers’ existing knowledge to create a more efficient research discovery experience to help accelerate scientific breakthroughs. Over 30,000 researchers worldwide, from public research organisations to development teams in science-heavy companies, have already used Litmaps.

Quidnet Ventures brings years of experience and a network of experts that are well aligned with Litmaps’s strategic direction. Quidnet Ventures is capable of providing guidance on building Litmaps’s product, and opening access to networks in the global R&D market for its newest portfolio company. Quidnet Ventures’s involvement will accelerate the growth of Litmaps in the next phase of its journey.

About Quidnet Ventures: Quidnet Ventures is a seed and series-A fund investing in New Zealand-based founders building impactful companies. Quidnet Ventures focuses on taking New Zealand innovation to the world and takes an active role in helping its portfolio companies succeed by leveraging its team’s global, multi-sector network as its portfolio companies position themselves to enter international markets. Quidnet Ventures provides unrivaled access to a global network across academia, government affairs, venture capital and industry. The Quidnet Ventures team has worked in Europe, Japan, China, India and Australia; and 20+ years in New Zealand. Our partners and analysts have 150+ years of total experience in the international technology industries. The Quidnet Ventures team prides itself in leveraging its extensive experience to help its entrepreneurs work through many of the issues that the members of the team themselves have experienced.

About Litmaps:
Litmaps has built a next-generation research platform that empowers scientists, engineers, and other researchers to explore and better understand academic and patent literature. It launched an early access product in November 2020 with rapid uptake by a global user base. It has received extremely positive feedback from researchers and has been featured on the front page of both product hunt and hacker news. Having recently closed its seed round Litmaps is focused on expansion of the user base and exploring how its technology can deliver value for high performing research teams in R&D intensive companies.

Contact:
Skye Grayson
Quidnet Ventures
skye@quidnetventures.com

Related Links :

http://www.quidnetventures.com

PR Newswire

Epson Partners with Runway to Drive Digital Transformation & Build an Innovation Ecosystem

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SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 27, 2021 — Seiko Epson Corporation (referred to below as Epson) is working with San Francisco-based Runway Innovation Hub to foster an innovation mindset, identify cutting-edge technology startups for piloting and partnership, and build strong relationships with the global innovation ecosystem.

Photo by ThisIsEngineering from Pexels
Photo by ThisIsEngineering from Pexels

Epson is on a mission to address unmet customer needs through its Open Innovation Program. As an experienced partner in corporate innovation consulting and startup engagement, Runway was selected to translate global trends into business opportunities and scout startups.

"Our partnership with  Runway has given us the opportunity to understand the Silicon Valley mindset and efficiently gain exposure to innovative startups," stated Junkichi Yoshida, COO of Epson’s Printing Solutions Division.

Yoshihiro Nakami, General Manager Epson DX Strategic Planning described, "Runway plays an important role in Epson’s worldwide innovation network. Their expertise in creating an innovation process for Epson and breadth of startup connections has accelerated our speed to pilot. We look forward to continuing our partnership." 

Runway’s team of seasoned  analysts and technology researchers have nurtured Epson’s startup partnership pipeline throughout the pandemic. Despite the global events of 2020, Runway and the Epson DX Open Innovation team have achieved strong results, including:

  • 78 startups scouted, analyzed, and evaluated
  • 22 startup meetings & demos sessions from over 6+ countries around the globe
  • 11+ partnership discussions

"Epson and  Runway have established a trusted partnership. We work very closely with the Runway team and they understand our strategic business goals. Together we are transforming step-by-step the internal mindset along with Epson’s future business." – Akihisa Obara, Epson Senior Expert and DX Project Management Lead.

One successful example is the collaboration with Avatour, a startup developing a remote collaboration platform designed to conduct meetings including for training, inspections, and other site-specific meetings. The company’s software allows users to share a real place where they can see the entire environment at 360° and interact with each other, thereby enabling remote users to effectively participate in site meetings and save time and money.

Jack Rieger, Director Digital Innovation Epson America explained, "We recognize that we don’t have good visibility to everything that is out there, so working with a firm like Runway introduced us to unknown possibilities.  We look specifically for startup or corporate partners that can help us open up new markets, enhance the value proposition of our product, and grow our business in a significant way".

Epson is seeking collaborations with innovators to co-develop solutions for remote work, distance learning, digital collaboration, stay-at-home and remote manufacturing to support its current and future customers as the world is forever impacted by the global pandemic.

Epson and Runway are continuing a strong partnership into 2021 and look forward to sourcing high-quality startups and technologies for successful piloting and business unit integration. If you’d like to collaborate, please use the links below to learn more.

About Epson:
Epson is a Japan-headquartered manufacturing company which provides printing solutions, visual communications, wearable products, and industrial solutions. Since 1942, Epson’s DNA has continued to embody the idea of efficient, compact, precision technology, and now their IoT hubs enable customers to access this whenever and wherever you are. Epson is helping their customers in education, tourism, healthcare, and disaster prevention tackle the challenges. By providing timely solutions to issues, they create customer-centric long term relationships, offering continuous support in solving social issues. Learn more at https://openinnovation.Epson.com/en/ .

About Runway:
Runway is a Silicon Valley innovation company accelerating the success of global corporate innovators and technology entrepreneurs.  Runway has worked with 40+ global corporations to drive innovation results by uncovering new trends and opportunities, scouting cutting-edge startups for strategic partnership, investment or acquisition, and successfully piloting new business concepts. Alongside its consulting practice, Runway incubates early stage startups across 20+ industries. Runway’s 350+ startups have done extremely well – they’ve raised a combined $2.5B in VC money and 53 have successfully exited. Learn more at https://runway.is/corporate-innovation/ .

Photo – https://techent.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/epson-partners-with-runway-to-drive-digital-transformation-build-an-innovation-ecosystem.jpg

Related Links :

https://runway.is

PR Newswire

Rey Announces $10 Million in New Series A Funding to Expand Access to Mental Health through Digital Capabilities

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Led by Optum Ventures and Oxford Sciences Innovation, new funding will propel Rey’s launch of a tech-enabled, on-demand mental health clinic in response to growing demand for high-quality care in an increasingly resource constrained market

AUSTIN, Texas, July 31, 2021 — Rey, a new mental health and wellness company integrating immersive tools and digital interventions with teletherapy, today announced $10 million in new funding, increasing their Series A to a total of $26 million with the round led by Optum Ventures and Oxford Sciences Innovation.

Deepak Gopalakrishna CEO & Founder / Mike Desjadon, Chief Commercial Officer. Photo courtesy of Rey
Deepak Gopalakrishna CEO & Founder / Mike Desjadon, Chief Commercial Officer. Photo courtesy of Rey

The new funding will help Rey expand its consumer reach and provide more people with access to care through personalized services and leading-edge technology. Rey will also absorb OxfordVR and bring to market clinically validated virtual reality (VR) and digital treatments for Phobias, Psychosis, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Social Avoidance.

"Mental and behavioral health care is rapidly becoming destigmatized, which is great. But that means there is a growing need and reliance on providers to provide this care, which may drive up costs," said Mike Desjadon, chief commercial officer of Rey. "Through our innovative digital care approach, we can flip the script and provide more personalized care at an affordable price to treat a variety of mental health needs."

Launched in April 2021, Rey is working to improve mental health and wellness by combining cognitive behavioral therapy, talk therapy, medication, and clinically validated tech tools, such as VR, to care for people in new ways.

OxfordVR, was founded in 2017 by Dr. Daniel Freeman, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford University. Dr. Freeman pioneered the use of VR in severe mental illness for more than two decades and is the senior scientific advisor to Rey for development of new automated therapeutics. Potential future treatments include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Substance Use Disorder.

"With a big focus on the expansion of online mental health services, the challenge now is for companies to meet the demand," said Deepak Gopalakrishna, founder and chief executive officer of Rey. "We’re integrating validated and innovative therapeutic tools with well-trained providers to ensure people have access to the high-quality care they need while keeping costs low and preventing provider burnout."

To learn more, visit www.getrey.com.

About Rey

Rey is a membership-based, on-demand mental health company on a mission to revolutionize mental health and wellness by improving access to personalized services through technology. Rey combines proven therapeutic interventions, like cognitive behavioral therapy, with clinically validated tools, like virtual reality, to care for a wide range of member needs in new and novel ways. Powered by OxfordVR, a spin-out of Oxford University and a leader in leveraging technology to deliver proven treatment tools in immersive environments, Rey is arming care teams with the tools they need to bring world-class treatments directly to members’ homes. To learn more visit www.getrey.com.

About Optum Ventures

Optum Ventures is the independent venture fund of Optum, a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. Optum Ventures invests in digital health companies that use data and insights to help improve consumers’ access to health care services and how care is delivered and paid for, and that make the health care system more reliable and easier to navigate. For more information, visit www.optumventures.com.

Oxford Sciences Innovation 

Oxford Sciences Innovation is a science business builder. We build world-changing businesses, bringing Oxford science to the world faster. Since 2015, we have worked with over 200 of Oxford’s leading academics to build a portfolio of more than 100 companies, worth over $2 billion, all based on Oxford science, created +1,500 new jobs and added +55,000 square-feet of laboratory and startup space; building on Oxford’s renowned research legacy to create a leading science ecosystem. A place where scientific breakthroughs become world-changing businesses. Our portfolio of companies spans four sectors, Life Sciences, Deep Tech, Health Tech and Software & AI, tackling challenges like the diagnosis and treatment of devastating rare diseases and cancer, sustainability, nuclear fusion, quantum computing and cyber-security. For more information, visit www.oxfordsciencesinnovation.com. 

Media Contact:
Meredith Good-Cohn
meredith@oxfordvr.org  
(443) 797-2996

 

Related Links :

https://getrey.com/