Over the last 12 months, the platform’s initial product enabling global stablecoin liquidity has scaled from $0 to $3B in total processing volume (TPV) with institutional clients including Rail, Braza Bank, and more

NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 — Checker, a global network that enables financial institutions to plug into stablecoins and digital asset liquidity, cross-border payments, treasury, and credit via a single API, announced today that it has raised $8M in funding from Galaxy Ventures, Al Mada Ventures, and Framework Ventures. Additional participants include strategic financial institutions, such as Bitso and Airtm in Latin America, DFS Lab in Africa, and Onigiri Capital, SNZ Capital and Velocity in Asia. Additional investors include fintech operators from Stripe, Tala, Flutterwave, Mesh, ComplyAdvantage, Superstate, and more.

While stablecoins and tokenization promise faster, cheaper, and more reliable financial infrastructure, large-scale adoption will require solutions to liquidity fragmentation, operational complexity, and compliance hurdles. To access crypto and stablecoin markets, institutions are often stuck stitching together multiple providers as a makeshift solution, resulting in systems that are difficult to scale and maintain.

Enter Checker. Through the company’s single API, financial institutions can launch and scale products spanning trading, payments, treasury, and credit across markets worldwide. The network delivers access to global liquidity, fiat on- and off-ramps, and payment rails, eliminating the need to integrate multiple providers.

“Checker’s network has been instrumental to our business. Their plug-and-play infrastructure supercharges our trading and treasury plumbing,” said Bhanu Kohli, former CEO and Cofounder of crossborder payments company Rail, which was recently acquired by Ripple.

“We have spent our careers dealing with the existing financial plumbing inside 24/7 global financial institutions. We’ve experienced how broken it is, and know how much better it can and should be” said Jack Chong, Cofounder of Checker. “This funding allows us to accelerate our mission to enable financial institutions from Brazil and Kenya, to Hong Kong and the United States, to transform how foreign exchange, payments, trading, and investment products are built. We are incredibly grateful for our customers and investors’ trust.”

Over the past year, Checker has onboarded institutional clients including Rail (acquired by Ripple), Braza Bank in Brazil, and Belo in Argentina, as it scaled to $3B in total processing volume, accounting for around 1% of annual global B2B stablecoin payments volume. Checker’s stablecoin processing volume spans 30 customers, which are regulated financial institutions across the US, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The Checker network now covers 75 global currencies, powering foreign exchange, collections, payouts, virtual accounts, and trading products worldwide.

“Financial institutions globally are converging on stablecoins as core infrastructure, but fragmentation across liquidity, rails, and compliance slows adoption,” said Will Nuelle, General Partner at Galaxy Ventures. “Checker is building the connective tissue that brings market participants together into a unified platform.”

“The friction points in fiat on-ramps and off-ramps remain the hardest problem to solve. Checker addresses this with a novel orchestration layer that organizes fragmented stablecoin liquidity into a programmable, compliant network,” said Omar Laalej, General Partner at Al Mada Ventures. “With their customer bases growing rapidly across the emerging markets, especially Africa, we didn’t hesitate to back this exceptionally lean, top-tier founding team.”

With this funding, Checker plans to deepen its global payments coverage to replace traditional correspondent banking dependencies. The team also intends to build out embedded borrowing and lending capabilities that improve capital efficiency and reduce pre-funding requirements for its customers, fully utilizing the just-in-time settlement capabilities of stablecoins. Finally, the firm intends to launch AI-powered agents for treasury management, back-office operations, and predictive analytics, enabling financial institutions to hyperscale their operating efficiencies.

About Checker

Checker unifies the fragmented digital assets markets for financial institutions globally.

The network enables financial institutions to plug into stablecoins and digital asset liquidity, cross-border payments, treasury, and credit via a single API. More than 30 regulated financial institutions, from B2B payments providers, remittance companies, FX banks, to trading firms, now work with Checker to access global efficient and reliable stablecoin FX liquidity, named accounts, and payment rails without stitching together multiple providers.

Founded by operators with experience across trading, treasury, and financial infrastructure, Checker’s network coverage spans across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Checker is also backed by leading investors and financial institutions including Galaxy Ventures, Al Mada Ventures, Framework, Bitso, Airtm.

SOURCE Checker

• The round was led by Origin Ventures with participation from InnovateHealth Ventures, 25madison, Next Play Ventures, 2048 Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and strategic angels

• The Century Health Abstraction & Retrieval Model (CHARM) has achieved 97% accuracy compared to clinical expert judgment as it scales across life sciences
   
• Century Health’s data network and abstraction platform supply proprietary real-world clinical data; a critical resource for accelerating AI use cases in life sciences

NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 — Century Health, a pioneer in applying AI to real-world clinical data to accelerate research, today announced an oversubscribed $5 million seed round led by Origin Ventures, with participation from new investors InnovateHealth Ventures, 25madison, and Next Play Ventures, and continuing investors 2048 Ventures and Alumni Ventures. Strategic angel investors in the round include Zorba Lieberman, founder of Citeline, and clinicians across nephrology, neurology, and ophthalmology. The funding will be used to scale collaborations and use cases with pharmaceutical and life sciences partners, grow its specialty provider data network, and expand its AI-powered data curation infrastructure.

Century Health was founded to reimagine how clinical data is used to benefit patients. The company’s Century Health Abstraction & Retrieval Model (CHARM) is a tailored, AI-powered platform that automates the curation and enrichment of fragmented clinical data, creating high-quality real-world evidence (RWE) to accelerate therapeutic development and drive clinical outcomes.

Clinical research has long been constrained by the time and cost of manual data curation. While electronic health records (EHRs) contain rich longitudinal patient information, much of it remains locked in unstructured formats, such as clinical notes, radiology reports, and physician documentation. Century Health automates the data identification and abstraction process, creating high-quality, research-ready datasets.

CHARM now achieves 97% accuracy when validated against clinical expert judgment, the standard pharmaceutical and research partners apply when evaluating data for research and regulatory use.

The company grew its data network 60x over the past year, spanning leading provider groups across neurology, nephrology, ophthalmology, respiratory, metabolic, and immunology. Multiple “Top 5” pharma companies are among its partners.

A wave of AI investment flowing into life sciences has created new demand for proprietary clinical data. As drug developers and AI researchers push into trial design, patient stratification, and therapeutic development, the publicly available datasets that powered earlier biomedical models have largely been exhausted. High-quality, structured real-world clinical records are now a scarce input, and Century Health’s provider network and abstraction infrastructure are positioned to fill this gap.

“Century Health is accelerating medical breakthroughs by unlocking real-world clinical data across the entire drug lifecycle, creating a win-win for providers and life sciences companies,” said Prashant Shukla, Partner at Origin Ventures. “Upstream, it’s the fuel for AI models driving discovery, disease modeling, and patient stratification; downstream, it’s the evidence needed to demonstrate safety and effectiveness, differentiate their drugs, and win payer negotiations.”

“Structuring clinical data historically required extensive manual work that can now be automated and scaled, creating unprecedented opportunity for healthcare data infrastructure. Century Health operates with the speed the life sciences industry needs and the clinical rigor it demands. This funding lets us expand our network, go deeper into priority disease areas, and generate the critical evidence that shapes patient care,” said Vish Srivastava, Co-Founder and CEO of Century Health.

Century Health is continuing to expand its disease-specific registry network, deepen pharma collaborations, and advance CHARM’s capabilities for complex abstraction and data harmonization.

The company’s vision is to make real-world clinical data usable and reliable for every researcher, provider, and life sciences partner that are working to shorten the path to discovery and better treatments for complex diseases.

About Century Health

Century Health is a health technology company transforming how real-world evidence is generated from clinical data. With its AI-powered platform, Century Health unlocks rich, high-quality datasets from fragmented and siloed clinical information to fuel groundbreaking research and industry collaborations. By automating data curation and enrichment, the platform eliminates manual data entry while upholding the highest standards of patient privacy. Partnering with leading academic institutions, healthcare providers, and life sciences organizations, Century Health accelerates medical breakthroughs with the power of AI. For more information, visit www.century.health.

Media Contact
Rob Mazzini
Mazzini Public Relations
[email protected]

SOURCE Century Health

Mission-driven fund backed by more than $1 billion supports Rasa’s national impact expansion helping Americans clear eligible criminal records and connect to opportunity.

SALT LAKE CITY, May 19, 2026 — Rasa Legal, the legal technology company making it simple and affordable for eligible individuals to clear their criminal records, today announced that NextLadder Ventures has invested $1 million in the company as part of Rasa’s previously announced $5 million late seed funding round.

NextLadder Ventures is a newly launched initiative backed by more than $1 billion in capital focused on advancing NavTech solutions that expand economic opportunity through personalized, technology-enabled support. The investment supports Rasa Legal’s continued national expansion as the company scales its platform to help more Americans determine eligibility for criminal record expungement and sealing under state law.

Founded by attorney and access-to-justice advocate Noella Sudbury, Rasa Legal has helped more than 30,000 people access their criminal records and understand their eligibility options. The company has successfully cleared more than 5,000 records since launching its platform in 2022.

Ryan Rippel, CEO of NextLadder Ventures, said Rasa Legal aligned closely with the fund’s mission to expand economic opportunity. “More than 20 million Americans are carrying a criminal record that is eligible to be expunged — meaning according to the law the individual is eligible to have it removed and stop impacting their ability to get a job, find housing, and build a life,” said Rippel. “Rasa Legal provides an affordable and easily accessible path to clear their record after serving their time. Research shows the massive gains in wages and opportunities that this clean slate can deliver both to low income people and to the economy. That’s why we’re proud to back their efforts to expand their reach across the country.”

“We’re incredibly excited to partner with a fund that is deeply aligned with our mission and vision for expanding access to opportunity,” added Sudbury. “NextLadder understands that technology can play a transformative role in helping people navigate complex systems, remove barriers, and build better futures. Their support will help us scale our impact and reach more people across the country who deserve a second chance.”

Rasa Legal currently provides criminal record sealing and expungement services in Pennsylvania, Utah, and Arizona, with plans for continued nationwide expansion.

About Rasa Legal

Rasa Legal is a mission-driven legal technology company dedicated to making the process of clearing a criminal record simple and affordable for everyone. Through innovative tools and a streamlined legal process, Rasa’s lawyers provide criminal record sealing and expungement services in several states. For more information, or to check eligibility, visit rasa-legal.com.

About NextLadder Ventures

NextLadder Ventures is a time-bound venture with one goal: empower millions of Americans to reach their potential by 2040. Backed by over $1 billion in capital, the organization invests in breakthrough technologies that remove barriers to economic success and put people in control of their futures. NextLadder Ventures is trailblazing a new market for tech-enabled Navigation Technology tools that help people access the resources they need to navigate pivotal moments — offering flexible, risk-tolerant capital to entrepreneurs building these transformative tools today, while creating a pipeline of tech, talent, and capital for the long run.

SOURCE Rasa Legal

Funding will broaden manufacturing capacity, strengthen supply chain, and continue national expansion for the fastest-growing pasta brand in America

NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 — BRAMI, the Italian food brand bringing protein pasta to American kitchens, announced today that it has raised $33 million in Series B funding led by VMG Partners, a premier growth equity firm focused on high-potential consumer brands. VMG joins existing investors La Molisana, Pentland Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Gather Ventures. The investment will be used to further develop BRAMI’s supply chain and support continued growth in the United States.

Founded in 2016 by Aaron Gatti, a first-generation Italian American, BRAMI is rooted in the Italian tradition of letting quality ingredients speak for themselves. American consumers have been overwhelmed by fad diets and overly engineered foods, including those increasingly built on processed proteins. BRAMI believes the traditional Italian way of cooking with simple, whole ingredients is the modern answer to health and wellness.

“Our goal is for Americans to reconsider their relationship with Italian cuisine, starting with pasta. Italians eat significantly more pasta than Americans, and yet consistently rank among the healthiest populations in the world,” says BRAMI CEO and Founder Aaron Gatti. “The difference is in the quality. In Italy, ingredients are grown and selected with care, and food is treated as something to be savored, not engineered. BRAMI is redefining the US market with a healthy pasta that doesn’t compromise on authentic quality, taste, and texture. At its core, BRAMI is about uncomplicating people’s relationship with food, and getting back to the joy of a real meal with authentic ingredients.”

This approach to food has resonated with consumers and retailers. BRAMI has been the fastest-growing national pasta brand in America for three years running and is now available in more than 4,000 stores nationwide, including Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Safeway/Albertsons, Costco, and Sam’s Club. Driven by repeat customer demand for its product line, the brand continues to gain share at an accelerating pace: velocity is up 58% year over year, outpacing distribution growth by 30 points. (Source: Nielsen L52W Total FMCG w/e 4/18/26.)

“Our ability to deliver such an uncompromisingly authentic and elevated healthy pasta, at a value that everyone can enjoy daily, would not have been possible without the incredible partnership and support of the Ferro family and their company La Molisana,” says Gatti.

BRAMI uses only two old world ingredients: durum wheat semolina and lupini bean flour. These are among the most ancient and nutrient-dense staples of the Mediterranean diet. Lupini flour is the ideal ingredient to combine with traditional pasta flour because it’s easy to digest and has a natural umami flavor that enhances the pasta experience. This ingredient pairing, combined with the dedication to the craftsmanship of quality pasta-making of BRAMI and its partner La Molisana, delivers higher protein and fiber without compromising the time-honored taste and texture of traditional Italian pasta.

“BRAMI has been able to redefine the category in part because of their high standard for real ingredients and artisan manufacturing integrity,” says Wayne Wu, General Partner at VMG Partners. “The team at BRAMI is doing it the right way; they’re meticulously focused on ingredients, process, and quality. That is hard to do as you grow. Much of what our funding supports will be ensuring those practices are maintained and invested in as the business scales.”

BRAMI products are available at leading retailers nationwide and online at www.enjoybrami.com.

About BRAMI

BRAMI brings authentic Italian flavor and food philosophy to the modern table, proving that great taste and great nutrition don’t have to be a trade off. Made in Italy using time-honored methods, BRAMI’s products are crafted from old world ingredients, delivering a unique combination of high protein, high fiber, and great taste. Rooted in the belief that food should be uncomplicated, nutritious, and satisfying, BRAMI is on a mission to bring the Italian way of eating, and living, to everyday American life. Learn more at www.enjoyBRAMI.com.

About VMG

VMG Partners is a growth equity firm founded in 2005 to identify and support the growth of innovative companies into iconic brands that span generations. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm invests through its two core funds, Consumer and Technology, and is guided by the thesis that progress and innovation will prevail over the status quo. VMG specializes in enterprise and founder partnerships that drive successful investments, mergers and acquisitions across beauty and personal care, food and beverage, health and wellness, pet, and technology that powers operational excellence for consumer brands. For more information on VMG Partners, please visit www.vmgpartners.com.

About Category

BRAMI is operating at the center of a growing shift toward higher-protein, better-for-you pantry staples, as consumers increasingly prioritize foods that deliver both nutrition and everyday usability. The US pasta and noodles market represents an estimated $7.5 billion category that is growing at 1.4% year over year S1, while the North American protein-fortified pasta segment, led by US demand, is projected to grow at an annual rate of 4% through 2030, nearly three times the rate of the broader category S2. This momentum reflects a larger, sustained shift toward higher-protein eating habits, with over half of consumers actively seeking to add more protein to their diets (S3). At the same time, consumers are increasingly seeking foods that combine protein with other functional benefits, such as fiber. With nearly two-thirds of Americans now actively seeking to consume more fiber, driving continued innovation in nutrient-dense pantry staples, S4, BRAMI is set to deliver on consumer trends reshaping the pasta aisle.

Media Contacts

SOURCE BRAMI

Investment Accelerates Two Dice’s Slate of Original Live Event Franchises and Licensable IP

LAS VEGAS, May 19, 2026 — Two Dice, a live entertainment and media company founded by industry veterans George Kliavkoff and Jennifer Worthington, today announced a Series A strategic investment by Oak View Group (OVG), the global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services. With this investment, Two Dice will accelerate its development of scalable, IP-driven experience franchises across sports, music and culture.

The investment pairs Two Dice’s portfolio of original live event franchises and licensable intellectual property with OVG’s global venue platform, operating expertise, premium hospitality infrastructure and sponsorship sales capabilities. As part of OVG’s investment, Chris Granger, Oak View Group’s Chief Executive Officer, will join Two Dice’s Board of Directors.

Two Dice creates live experience platforms designed to deepen fan engagement, build community, and create lasting memories. Its model is built around passion-driven categories with the potential to scale across venues, media extensions, merchandise, sponsorship, licensing, and strategic partnerships.

“Oak View Group is one of the most innovative companies in live entertainment, and this partnership gives Two Dice access to a level of venue insight, operational sophistication and entrepreneurial creativity that is unmatched,” said Kliavkoff, Co-Founder and CEO of Two Dice. “Our ambition is to build the next generation of live experience franchises — formats that can operate within and adjacent to major venues, attract sponsors, generate media value and become durable IP.”

Worthington, Co-Founder and President of Two Dice, said, “We started Two Dice with the belief that people are seeking live experiences that feel bigger, more emotional and more connected to the communities they care about. Oak View Group’s investment allows us to move faster, think bigger and build formats designed to become recurring cultural franchises.”

Granger said, “Two Dice represents exactly the kind of premium, immersive live entertainment platform we believe in. George and Jennifer understand how to build experiences that are commercially compelling, emotionally resonant, and capable of scaling. We look forward to seeing Two Dice’s original concepts come to life in new and exciting ways.”

About Two Dice
Two Dice is a live entertainment and media company creating scalable, IP-driven experience franchises across sports, music, and culture. Two Dice develops original live event platforms designed to activate major venues, deepen fan engagement, build community, create lasting memories, and grow into durable, licensable entertainment properties. Visit TwoDice.com and follow on LinkedIn.

About Oak View Group
Oak View Group is the global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services, with a platform spanning venue development and end-to-end capabilities across venue management, hospitality, and sponsorship sales. Founded in 2015, the company serves a collection of world-class owned venues and a client roster of arenas, stadiums, convention centers, music festivals, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions across four continents. Visit OakViewGroup.com and follow OVG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

Media Contact:
Bella Carino
[email protected]

SOURCE Two Dice

APPLETON, Wis., May 19, 2026 — Global Alternative Investment Management (“GAIM”), an alternative investment platform focused on institutional-quality private market solutions, today announced that Robert C. Riedl, CFA, CAIA, has joined the firm as Managing Director, Head of Private Capital.

In this role, Mr. Riedl will lead the development of GAIM’s private capital platform, responsible for sourcing, evaluating, structuring, and executing private market investment opportunities across asset classes, while deepening relationships with institutional and high-net-worth investors.

Mr. Riedl brings over a decade of experience in capital markets and strategic advisory, including progressive roles at Wells Fargo Securities, as well as experience at KeyBanc Capital Markets and Piper Jaffray. He has advised financial institutions, including insurance companies, as well as select corporate clients and financial sponsors on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raises, and public offerings. His experience includes advising fintech and insurtech companies, as well as businesses integrating technology and AI into traditional models, providing insight into evolving business models and valuation approaches. His experience spans both buy-side and sell-side engagements across private markets. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science in Finance from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

“Robert brings a strong combination of transaction experience, technical expertise, and investor perspective,” said Prateek Mehrotra, Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer of GAIM. “His background advising financial institutions, corporate clients, and sponsors—along with his experience with technology-enabled business models—positions him well to lead and scale our private capital platform.”

“I’m excited to join GAIM at a pivotal stage in its evolution,” said Mr. Riedl. “The firm’s focus on delivering differentiated access to private markets—particularly across technology-enabled and evolving business models—is highly aligned with my experience. I look forward to helping build and scale the platform and delivering compelling investment opportunities for our clients.”

About Global Alternative Investment Management
GAIM is an alternative investment platform focused on providing access to private markets through direct investments, secondary market purchases, and co-investments across private equity, venture capital, private credit, real assets, and other alternative strategies. The firm provides tailored investment solutions for high-net-worth investors, foundations, and endowments. For more info see www.GlobalAlts.com.

Press & Investment Inquiries

Prateek Mehrotra, MBA, CFA, CAIA^®
Managing Member, Chief Investment Officer
[email protected]
920.785.6009

Robert C. Riedl, CFA, CAIA^®
Managing Director, Head of Private Capital
[email protected]
704.589.4068

Disclosures: GAIM relies upon the investment adviser registration of Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. (“EWM”) based on certain no-action letters issued to the American Bar Association in the past. The activities of GAIM’s investment advisory activities are subject to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the rules thereunder and is subject to examination by the Securities and Exchange Commission. EWM and its representatives are in compliance with the current registration filing requirements imposed upon SEC-registered investment advisors.

SOURCE Global Alternative Investment Management LLC

Seasoned manufacturing software executive elevated to lead commercial growth as Laminar accelerates global expansion

BOSTON, May 19, 2026 — Laminar, the only AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing — today announced Sanjay Rajan, Head of Go-to-Market, as Chief Revenue Officer. As CRO, Rajan will guide Laminar’s sales, go-to-market, partner, and marketing strategy as Laminar continues a trajectory of rapid global growth.

Rajan joined Laminar in 2025 as Head of Go-to-Market, where he shaped the company’s commercial strategy following a Series A fundraise, driving adoption of Laminar’s Chemical-Process AI among the world’s leading manufacturers. The company expanded its growth across midmarket and global enterprise companies in verticals including Food & Beverage, Health & Beauty, Consumer Packaged Goods, Adhesives, Pharmaceuticals, and Chemicals.

“The need for truly autonomous factories has never been greater as process manufacturers around the globe face increasing margin compression due to macroeconomic factors like rising input costs, loss of expertise, and geopolitical risk,” said Annie Lu, Laminar Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder. “Since joining Laminar in 2025, Sanjay has accelerated Laminar’s global footprint as we enable more customers to address their production capacity constraints and improve margins. By expanding Sanjay’s leadership to our entire revenue function, Laminar will be stronger and ready to meet this incredible market demand.”

Rajan brings more than 20 years of B2B software experience across manufacturing verticals, with deep expertise spanning manufacturing execution systems (MES), product lifecycle management (PLM), IoT, and AI/ML solutions. His career spans every wave of manufacturing technology innovation over the last three decades, experience that will benefit Laminar as the company is poised to revolutionize process manufacturing with its full stack solution, ML models, and advanced sensors.

“All of today’s Industrial AI focus is on Physical AI in discrete manufacturing — robots navigating space and automating human motion. But process manufacturing has a different challenge: continued reliance on human expert intervention to continuously interpret process conditions and manually correct operations in real time,” says Sanjay Rajan, Laminar Chief Revenue Officer. “Laminar’s Chemical-Process AI changes that by first sensing real-time fluid conditions, reasoning the optimal action, and then acting to ensure every cycle runs on the best conditions. I’m thrilled to step into this role as Laminar continues its mission to transform the industry with our first-of-its-kind AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing.”

Fueling Growth with $12.4M Series A 
In June 2025, Laminar (as H2Ok Innovations) announced a $12.42M Series A round of funding led by Greycroft, with participation from 2048 Ventures and Construct Capital. The funding accelerated Laminar’s ability to bring its technology to globally scale its Chemical-Process AI Platform that transforms manufacturing processes from clean-in-place to product changeovers.

Ongoing Recognition for Laminar’s Innovation

The company recently received the 2026 Edison Award’s Gold Award for the Manufacturing & Logistics category, was named AB InBev’s 2024 Cheers Award for outstanding startup partnership, and earned Unilever’s 2023 Supplier Startup of the Year. Laminar’s solution is also deployed in World Economic Forum Lighthouse factories — a select group recognized for their leadership in cutting-edge industrial technology.

Headquartered at Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA — North America’s leading cleantech community, Laminar is a woman-founded startup backed by top-tier investors, including Greycroft, Construct Capital, 2048 Ventures, and Flybridge Capital.

About Laminar

Laminar’s Chemical-Process AI Platform enables the world’s leading manufacturers to run self-driving factories with more sustainable, efficient operations. Our patented spectral sensors and complete library of ML models transform manual operations into self-driving processes that cut water, chemicals, and downtime in real time. Deployed in factories across six continents and trusted by global leaders like AB InBev, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, Laminar is building a new category of physical AI that will power the future of process manufacturing. Learn more at runlaminar.com

SOURCE Laminar

HOUSTON, May 19, 2026 — Veriten, a research, strategy and investment firm, today announced the initial close of its second flagship energy venture fund with over $105 million in capital commitments. Veriten develops an unbiased, long-term global outlook for energy, power, and technology and invests in companies addressing critical industry challenges and opportunities.

Fund II aims to capitalize on the success of the firm’s initial fund to accelerate scalable technology solutions for energy, power and industrial applications.  “We are super excited about Fund II and fortunate to have such great partners and supporters.  Our unique platform and team can deliver differentiated investment opportunities and value-added expertise in this exciting but rapidly changing and complex world.  When it comes to making capital allocation decisions and investments, we aspire to be the global partner and platform of choice” said Veriten CEO and founder Maynard Holt. 

Veriten’s investments are central to the mission of identifying and scaling reliable, sustainable, and economic solutions that address operating challenges or capitalize on growth opportunities.  Fund II will focus on investments that create broadly applicable solutions, which are aligned with our view of the future energy world, and have logical, multifaceted exit opportunities. Just as importantly, investments are centered on themes where Veriten and its network of leading energy, power and technology companies can provide meaningful strategic input and value.

Veriten’s overall strategy is critically supported by over 50 key strategic partnerships across the energy, power, industrial and technology complex, including upstream, midstream, downstream, chemical, oilfield and industrial services, water, nuclear, coal, fuel cell, trading, power generation, utility, hyperscaler, and other companies and organizations.

The announcement of Fund II drew support from leaders around the energy industry.

“Veriten continues to build a differentiated platform at the intersection of energy, technology and industry expertise,” said Jeff Miller, Chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company. “We were early believers in the team and their ability to identify practical solutions to real challenges across the energy value chain. As all industries increasingly adopt digital tools, automation and AI-enabled technologies to improve performance and execution, we are proud to partner with Veriten again to help accelerate high-impact solutions across the broader energy landscape.”

Mark Lashier, Chairman and CEO of Phillips 66 Company, also offered his support: “Veriten brings a thoughtful, industry-informed perspective to the technologies and businesses shaping the future of energy. Their network, market insight and strategic approach help surface solutions that improve safety, reliability, efficiency and stewardship across the broader energy and industrial value chain. We are pleased to partner with Veriten as they connect innovative companies with the operational priorities of large-scale energy businesses.”    

Christian Exshaw, Senior Executive Vice President & Group Head, Capital Markets at CIBC, added “We are at a pivotal moment in the energy markets, with increased volatility and artificial intelligence driving significant structural transformation. At CIBC, our priority is to deliver solutions that support our clients’ growth ambitions and help them manage risk against a quickly evolving backdrop. We greatly value the strategic, data-driven insights we gain from our investment in the Veriten Venture Funds.”

John Sommers, Partner, Investments at Veriten, added “Our differentiated network, research-driven process, and first principles approach to investing are having an impact across multiple verticals including traditional energy, electrification, and industrial technology. Fund II builds on that platform.  In this environment, the differentiator isn’t capital – it’s all about connectivity, deep sector expertise, and an economically-driven approach.  As new technologies and approaches develop at breakneck speed, the need for more reliable, affordable energy and power continues to grow dramatically.  The current backdrop accentuates the need for Veriten’s solution.”

About Veriten
Veriten is based in Houston, Texas and comprises 20 professionals with backgrounds drawn from investing, research, investment banking, public buyside, technology, industrial, and entrepreneurship. Veriten is employee-owned and hosts a weekly podcast called Close of Business Tuesday as well as a weekly energy thought piece entitled Super-Spiked. For more information, please visit www.veriten.com. 

Baker Botts L.L.P. served as legal counsel for Fund II.

Media Contact:
Joe Brettell
Forward Energy Public Relations
[email protected]
(571) 230-3411

SOURCE Veriten

Emerging as a foundational platform for Physical AI, the robotics engineering and hardware firm leverages an arsenal of IP to unlock on-edge computer vision for autonomous systems.

PITTSBURGH, May 19, 2026 — Hellbender, a Physical AI infrastructure company powering intelligent systems at the edge, today announced the closing of a $12.5 million seed funding round. The round was co-led by Magarac Venture Partners and Veredas Partners, with significant participation from Mana Ventures, Gaingels, Sum VC, and the Active Angels Network.

The new capital will expedite the rollout of Hellbender’s edge AI platforms, designed to bring real-time perception, reasoning, and decision-making directly into physical environments. The company will also scale its team across product, growth, and hardware manufacturing to meet rapidly surging demand.

Hellbender’s U.S.-based technology stack provides a secure safeguard against global supply chain fragility. As a result, industry-leading robotics companies are turning to Hellbender for their most challenging AI perception and edge computer vision problems.

“Hellbender has quickly become a critical backbone of Pittsburgh’s robotics ecosystem and an emerging national leader in domestic AI hardware,” said Jay Katarincic, Partner at Magarac Venture Partners. “They are one of the few companies globally offering a fully integrated solution — from initial ideation through scaled manufacturing — right here in the United States. As AI and robotics move from research to real-world deployment, the need for secure, onshore engineering and production has never been more important. Hellbender is uniquely positioned at the center of that shift. Their ability to nearly double revenue each year since founding reflects both strong execution and accelerating demand. We’re thrilled to lead this round and support their continued growth.”

Commercializing a Deep Technology Portfolio
Hellbender’s new AI hardware is built on a foundation of battle-tested intellectual property. After years of engineering custom edge AI computer vision systems for top-tier robotics companies, Hellbender is turning its field-proven solutions into universally accessible platforms. This launch marks a major evolution, shifting the company from a dedicated engineering and AI hardware manufacturing arm into a commercial provider of physical AI platforms.

“The market is in dire need of the edge computing solutions Hellbender is delivering,” said Vaibhav (Vai) Viswanathan of Veredas Partners. “Developers building the next generation of autonomous and industrial systems have been severely bottlenecked by a lack of accessible, intelligent hardware. Hellbender’s new line of physical AI cameras provides the exact depth perception, orchestration, and scalable infrastructure the industry is asking for right now.”

Embedding True Intelligence at the Edge
Designed to eliminate the immense friction of custom hardware integration, Hellbender’s new AI cameras allow software teams to focus purely on application development. Powered by Hailo AI accelerators and Raspberry Pi compute, they deliver low-power, high-TOPS processing directly to the edge. Today, the company is unveiling three new flagship products:

• Hellbender Stereo Camera: Delivering depth perception, open-access compute, and AI acceleration in a single, fully integrated package. Capable of operating in low-light and feature-poor environments as well as powering and controlling peripheral devices, the Stereo Camera can truly function as the centerpiece of an intelligent system operating on the edge. Currently in pilot with a major national utility provider.
• Hellbender Vine Camera System: Making distributed monitoring simple, scalable, and cost-effective. The Vine Camera System accommodates up to 64 cameras over hundreds of feet with seamless installation, backed by a native API that makes large-scale observation effortless for smart retail, inventory management, industrial monitoring, and other applications. Currently in pilot across a national convenience store chain and assisted living facilities.
• Hellbender Tadpole Camera: The simplest way to deploy powerful computer vision applications on the edge. The Tadpole Camera offers massive AI acceleration and computational capabilities in a remarkably small footprint, designed for seamless integration into your applications, custom OEM hardware, Insurtech, and advanced security deployments.

Pre-orders begin in June 2026.

Hellbender will be showcasing its new camera line live at Automate 2026 in Chicago, June 22-25, at Booth #3425.

For more information on Hellbender’s engineering services or to pre-order the new camera line, visit hellbender.com.

About Hellbender

Hellbender is a Physical AI infrastructure company powering intelligent systems at the edge. The company builds integrated perception platforms that enable machines to see, understand, and act in real time across complex, high-variance environments. Hellbender’s platforms combine edge-native AI with proprietary, high-performance hardware to deliver production-ready intelligence for mission-critical industries, including energy, logistics, agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare. By unifying advanced engineering, domestic manufacturing, and continuous improvement, Hellbender eliminates the fragmentation and latency of cloud-dependent architectures. All systems are designed and built in the United States, providing a secure, foundational layer for the next generation of autonomous and embedded systems.

Media Contact:
David Tusick
Chief Growth Officer
[email protected]

SOURCE Hellbender