Pioneer of The Healthy Skin Movement™ to present its patented technology platform and $5 million SEED capital opportunity at the Global Capital Network Investor Conference on October 15, 2026.
DALLAS and FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 14, 2026 — Hi-TECH Beauty Labs, Corp. (HTBL) announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 12,642,834 B2 for B3 Technology®, a 100% natural botanical innovation designed to address problem skin without benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, adapalene or retinol.
Built at the intersection of Silicon Valley high technology, skin cell science, and botanicals, HTBL is advancing skincare innovation through its brand SkinKick® and a proprietary technology platform.
100% Natural
HTBL will present its commercialization strategy and capital opportunity at the Global Capital Network Investor Conference on October 15, 2026, in Newport Beach, California.
From Silicon Valley to Skincare
Founded by Matthew J. Schirle, a former international semiconductor executive and Chemical Engineer, HTBL applies engineering principles and root-cause analysis to skincare challenges. Chief Science Officer, Dr. D. William Provance, PhD, is the inventor of HTBL’s technologies, including B3 Technology®.
Their exclusive SkinViNO™ Process Innovation — Vitamins, Nutrients and Omegas — guides ingredient selection through a focus on skin-cell biology.
SkinKick® brings this approach to consumers with its CLEAR + RENEW + PROTECT philosophy for skin and barrier care.
B3 Technology® — A Patented Botanical Platform
Issued June 2, 2026, U.S. Patent No. 12,642,834 B2 protects B3 Technology®, incorporating Black Willow Bark (Salix nigra), Cat’s Claw (Uncaria tomentosa) and Dragon’s Blood (Croton lechleri).
The HTBL technology platform supports alternatives to harsh acid-based formulations for problem skin and aging skin enabling potential licensing opportunities with established beauty companies.
Pioneering The Healthy Skin Movement™
“We didn’t enter the beauty industry to create another harsh acid-based skincare brand. We entered to challenge conventional thinking and deliver outrageously effective and natural products” said Schirle. “We treat your skin like a garden and not a test ground for a chemical factory”.
“My semiconductor background taught me to identify root causes, challenge assumptions and develop better solutions. Dr. Provance’s inventions bring that vision to life.
“We recognized and leveraged the fact that the architecture of a semiconductor memory cell is nearly identical to that of a human skin pore which led to the 2-Step Acne Model Innovation.
“This first patent is an important milestone, but our vision is bigger: pioneering The Healthy Skin Movement™ and challenging the belief that “pain is gain” in skincare.
“Our mission is to Replace Pain with Performance™ and deliver Self-Esteem in a Bottle™.”
Technology, Commercialization and Growth
HTBL plans to scale SkinKick® while licensing proprietary technologies to beauty and personal-care companies.
The company is pursuing a $5 million SEED Round to accelerate digital commerce, distribution and technology commercialization.
Schirle will present HTBL’s investment opportunity on October 15, 2026, at the Renaissance Newport Beach Hotel.
The Global Capital Network conference connects emerging companies with investors and capital providers.
ABOUT HI-TECH BEAUTY LABS
Born in Dallas, Texas, Hi-TECH Beauty Labs, Corp. (HTBL) is pioneering The Healthy Skin Movement™ with its technology platform built at the intersection of Silicon Valley high TECHNOLOGY, skin cell SCIENCE, and natural BOTANICALS.
Powered by its proprietary SkinViNO™ Process and patented B3 Technology®, HTBL is reimagining skincare through Naturally Smart® innovations that are replacing industry-standard harsh AHA acids and harmful chemicals — including industry darlings benzoyl peroxide and retinol — with clinically studied, outrageously effective, 100% natural botanical technologies.
Its flagship brand, SkinKick®, embodies BEAUTY REIMAGINED — they CLEAR acne-prone skin, RENEW aging skin, and PROTECT the skin barrier – all at the same time. Developed for all generations, including those with sensitive skin and the emerging “Sephora Kids” gen alpha audience, SkinKick® delivers Self-Esteem in a Bottle™ — because healthier skin inspires the confidence that changes lives.
Global Capital Network (GCN) connects entrepreneurs and emerging companies with angel investors, venture capital firms, family offices and other capital providers through investor conferences and networking opportunities.
Funding will accelerate development of Horizon, which helps frontier AI labs train and evaluate models, and Recursion Managed Agents, which enables enterprises to deploy agents that improve through experience.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 2026 — Labelbox, the AI platform powering reinforcement learning for frontier models and managed agents for enterprises, today announced it has raised more than $100 million in Series E financing, including equity and a credit facility. The round was led by Infinitum Partners, with participation from Wipro Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), B Capital, Tau Ventures, Snowpoint Ventures, and others.
Labelbox raises $100M+ to advance reinforcement learning and enterprise AI agents.
Labelbox works with more than 400 customers, including over 90% of leading U.S. AI labs. The company reached profitability in 2026 while growing more than fivefold year over year.
As AI models become capable of performing increasingly complex tasks, the next challenge is enabling them to learn from experience and reliably execute work in real-world environments. Labelbox is addressing this opportunity through two core products: Horizon, which provides reinforcement learning environments and evaluation infrastructure for frontier AI labs, and Recursion Managed Agents, which enables enterprises to deploy fleets of agents that work inside existing business applications and improve with every run.
“Every company will soon run on AI systems that learn from their own work. Getting there takes innovation at every layer, from sandbox infrastructure and the agent harness to reinforcement learning post-training. Labelbox brings those layers together in one platform, and this funding lets us push each one further, so that frontier labs and enterprises can build AI that gets better with every run,” said Manu Sharma, CEO and co-founder of Labelbox.
Advancing AI from training to execution
Horizon: Reinforcement learning for frontier AI
Horizon provides reinforcement learning environments, expert feedback, and evaluation infrastructure that help AI labs train and improve frontier models. Its environments simulate complex, multi-step work across coding, research, and other demanding tasks, enabling models to practice, receive feedback on their performance, and improve through reinforcement learning. Labelbox works with leading AI labs and hyperscalers on post-training programs.
Recursion Managed Agents: AI agents for enterprise workflows
Recursion Managed Agents enables companies to deploy fleets of AI agents inside the applications their teams already use. Agents can initiate work in response to schedules, alerts, tickets, and other triggers, coordinate across tools, and have their output evaluated against defined standards. Each run can inform the agent’s memory, helping it improve how it approaches future tasks.
Labelbox already uses more than 50 agents internally across functions including engineering, research, product, sales, marketing, and finance. Earlier this month, the company opened Recursion Managed Agents to enterprise customers, extending its approach to continuous improvement beyond AI research labs.
Investing in the next phase of AI
The Series E financing will support continued research and engineering across Horizon and Recursion Managed Agents, as well as expansion of the teams bringing these products to customers.
Labelbox combines agent infrastructure, sandbox environments, and reinforcement learning post-training systems to support the development and deployment of AI systems. By innovating at every layer, the company aims to help both frontier labs and enterprises build systems that learn from their own work and improve over time.
Labelbox provides the data, reinforcement learning infrastructure, and managed agent platform that help AI systems learn and perform real work. Its products support frontier AI labs developing more capable models and enterprises deploying AI agents across their operations. Labelbox serves more than 400 customers, including leading AI labs, hyperscalers, startups, and Fortune 500 companies.
Partnership provides growth capital to accelerate acquisitions, geographic expansion and investment in the E.A. Buck platform while existing ownership retains control
NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2026 — Republic Capital Group (“RCG”), a middle-market investment bank specializing in M&A, capital markets and private investments for wealth and asset management firms, entrepreneurs and private companies, today announced that it served as financial advisor to E.A. Buck Financial Services (“E.A. Buck”) in connection with a strategic minority investment from LNC Partners (“LNC”).
Strategic Investment
E.A. Buck is a second-generation financial services organization led by Chief Executive Officer Katie Buck and an experienced executive leadership team. The investment provides the firm with additional capital and strategic resources to accelerate its established growth strategy, which centers on continued mergers and acquisitions, geographic expansion, advisor growth and further investment in its people, technology, platform and capabilities. The Buck family retains control of the company, and E.A. Buck’s existing executive leadership team will continue to lead the organization.
“E.A. Buck is a great example of what’s possible when a firm takes the time to build the right foundation before bringing in outside capital,” said John Langston, founder and CEO of Republic Capital Group. “Katie and her team were clear from the start about what mattered most to them: a partner that believed in their vision and could add meaningful resources without asking the client to give up control. LNC was the right fit, and we’re proud to have helped bring this partnership together.”
Founded in Honolulu in 1980, E.A. Buck has built an integrated platform designed to serve clients across the full arc of their financial lives, from an employee making a first contribution to a workplace retirement plan through wealth accumulation, retirement and private wealth management. The firm’s capabilities span wealth management and private wealth advisory services, retirement and financial planning, workplace 401(k) and retirement plan services, federal employee benefits, and accounting and tax services.
“Five years ago, we set out with an ambitious vision: to build a national financial services platform capable of attracting some of the best advisors and firms in our industry while preserving the personal relationships and entrepreneurial spirit that have defined E.A. Buck for decades,” said Katie Buck, Chief Executive Officer of E.A. Buck Financial Services. “Since then, we have invested deliberately in our people, leadership, infrastructure and capabilities to build an organization that can scale. This partnership with LNC is an important next step in accelerating that vision.”
LNC Partners has managed over $1 billion of capital since 2012 across a family of investment funds focused on supporting the growth of lower middle market businesses, and is often the first institutional capital partner to founder-led companies.
“We are thrilled to partner with E.A. Buck,” said David Schmoeller, Principal at LNC Partners. “With an exceptional management team and a proven track record of organic and inorganic growth, E.A. Buck is well-positioned to continue building a best-in-class financial services platform for its clients and advisors.”
“Katie and her team at E.A. Buck are first class,” Langston added. “I have no doubt that, with the support of LNC Partners, they will continue to make their mark on the industry.”
About Republic Capital Group
Republic Capital Group is a middle-market investment bank specializing in M&A, capital markets, and private investments for wealth and asset management firms, entrepreneurs, and private companies. Since 2022, the firm has completed transactions representing approximately $300 billion in assets under management. The firm was named “Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year” by M&A Advisor and was recently recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the Best Workplaces and Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America, reflecting its ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation.
Republic Capital Group is headquartered in New York, with additional offices in Dallas, Chicago, Winter Park (FL), and Houston. Securities are offered through Republic Capital Group Holdings, LLC, a member of FINRA (www.finra.org)/SIPC (www.sipc.org). Learn more at www.republiccg.com.
The awards referenced may not be representative of the experience of all past or future customers, and these awards should not be construed as a guarantee of future performance or success.
About E.A. Buck Financial Services
Founded in Honolulu in 1980, E.A. Buck Financial Services is a second-generation financial services organization providing integrated financial guidance and services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions across multiple regions of the United States. Through its “Retirement Made Simple” philosophy, E.A. Buck seeks to make sophisticated financial guidance easier to understand and more accessible while maintaining the personal relationships at the center of financial advice. For more information, visit eabuck.com.
About LNC Partners
Since 2012, LNC has managed over $1 billion of capital across a family of investment funds focused on supporting the growth of lower middle market businesses. Often the first institutional capital partner to founder-led companies, LNC provides customized capital solutions and strategic support across control and minority equity investments (as well as debt), while maintaining a disciplined focus on sectors with stable demand drivers and sustainable profitability. More information on LNC Partners can be found at www.LNC-Partners.com.
Media Contact
Allie Mazzapica Vice President, Communications Republic Capital Group [email protected] | 212.862.5050
Uma Valeti, UPSIDE CEO, Among the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs at 2026 Builders and Innovators Summit
EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 14, 2026 — Today, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is recognizing UPSIDE Foods CEO Uma Valeti, M.D., as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2026 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.
Goldman Sachs selected Valeti from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event.
Uma Valeti founded UPSIDE Foods because he loved meat but couldn’t reconcile it with the animal suffering involved in producing it. That dilemma launched a decade of innovation in cellular agriculture. What began as an audacious idea to grow real meat directly from animal cells has become an American food technology company driving breakthroughs in science, engineering and advanced manufacturing. Today, UPSIDE is pioneering a new way to make real meat without slaughter, expanding consumer choice, strengthening food security, and inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs to see food and agriculture as exciting frontiers for innovation.
“I started UPSIDE because I love meat and believed we could make it without killing animals,” said Uma Valeti, M.D., Founder and CEO of UPSIDE Foods. “A decade later, we’ve proven the science, and now we’re bringing it to scale through American ingenuity and manufacturing. But our ambition goes well beyond one product. The world needs more ways to produce great food, not fewer. I’m incredibly proud of our team and what we’re building to give people more choice and help create a stronger, more resilient food system.
“We are pleased to recognize Uma Valeti as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs of 2026,” said David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. “As AI reshapes the global landscape, the leaders at UPSIDE Foods are proving that agility and vision can be the ultimate competitive advantages. They are not simply building a great enterprise; they are redefining what is possible in their industry.”
In its 15th year, Goldman Sachs’ Builders and Innovators Summit is the can’t miss gathering for Founders and CEOs of hypergrowth companies. Previous honorees have gone on to successfully lead multi-billion dollar companies, both in the private and public markets. In addition to honoring the most exceptional entrepreneurs each year, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars.
About Uma Valeti, M.D. Valeti is a cardiologist by training, but an entrepreneur at heart. During his cardiology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, he was using patients’ stem cells to regenerate damaged heart tissue when he had a lightbulb moment. What if he could use a similar approach and grow real meat from animal cells without killing animals? After proving the science was possible over the following years, Uma left his cardiology practice to found the world’s first cultivated meat company (UPSIDE Foods) and pioneer a new industry with one mission in mind: make meat right.
About UPSIDE Foods UPSIDE Foods is the world’s first cultivated meat company, founded in 2015 with a bold ambition: to give everyone the choice to eat real meat without killing animals. Rethinking meat from the source, the team pioneered advanced methods for growing real meat directly from animal cells. Its Chicken Filet was the first cultivated meat product green-lit by both the FDA and the USDA and made available for sale in the U.S. The company has raised more than $600 million from a diverse portfolio of investors including Cargill, Softbank, Temasek, Tyson and Whole Foods. For more information about how UPSIDE is on a mission to make meat right and build a more sustainable and scalable food system through cellular agriculture, please visit www.upsidefoods.com.
About Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.
Press related questions about UPSIDE, please contact Erin Santy at [email protected]. Press related questions about the Summit or Goldman Sachs, please contact Michael Bruen at [email protected].
Founded by veterans of TikTok’s AI and music teams, Sonilo is developing proprietaryAI-native music and sound models that adapt to the pacing, emotion and story of each video
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 2026 — Sonilo, a generative audio company building proprietary video-native music and sound models, today announced an $11 million funding round led by B Capital, with participation from Redpoint. The funding will be used for compute infrastructure to scale model performance, go-to-market expansion across creator and developer platforms, and grow its music licensing.
At the core of Sonilo’s platform is its Sound World Model, a proprietary multimodal AI system that connects video understanding, audio generation, and temporal alignment. Rather than treating music and sound effects as isolated assets, the model reads the timing, movement, and emotional arc of a scene to generate audio that belongs to that specific story. Creators can generate a synchronized, commercially-ready soundtrack by dropping in a video, describing what they want in text, or combining both. Sonilo’s model development is built around the creator’s actual workflow rather than industry benchmarks, a philosophy the team developed over years of building recommendation and generation systems at platform scale.
“Almost every audio-generation experience starts with a text prompt. You have to describe the music you want, line it up to the exact moments in your videos, and find the perfect sound effects which can take hours for one piece of content,” said Shawn Song, CEO and Co-Founder of Sonilo. “We built Sonilo to understand the visual story. You give us the footage, and Sonilo understands what’s happening frame by frame, including the pacing, emotion, and story, and generates music and sound effects that naturally fit the scene. We believe the future of video isn’t just about generating better pictures but making those worlds feel real through audio that fits perfectly.”
Building a video-native sound workflow requires more than audio generation. It takes multimodal AI research, music licensing expertise, and products designed around how creators work. Sonilo’s founding team brings these capabilities together. CEO Shawn Song, a CMU-trained researcher and former multimodal AI tech lead at TikTok, and CTO Alex Yin, who holds a PhD in Computer Music from the University of York and worked alongside Song at TikTok, bring expertise in multimodal understanding and audio generation. COO Keli Li, who built and led global music at TikTok, brings deep experience in music licensing and industry partnerships. CMO Trista Taylor has helped incubate consumer AI apps featured in a16z’s Top 50 rankings and leads Sonilo’s product and go-to-market strategy.
“We believe generative audio will become an essential part of the AI-native video stack. Sonilo stands out because its multimodal technology gives creators two ways to generate music and sound effects: describe what they want in text, or provide a video and let the model create audio that fits the scene,” commented Daisy Cai, General Partner at B Capital. “That model-native approach, combined with Shawn’s deep expertise in multimodal music generation and the team’s focus on the creator workflow, gives Sonilo the opportunity to define a new category in generative media. We’re excited to support the team as they build the audio layer for the next generation of video.”
Sonilo’s platform generates music and sound effects directly from footage or text for short-form and short-drama creators, developer platforms building AI video workflows, and enterprise production teams. The platform also offers AI dubbing with synchronized lip-syncing, enabling short-drama and content studios to localize video across languages without manual post-production. Early distribution partners include TapNow, an AI creator aggregator, and ComfyUI.
The company is also building its commercial music infrastructure around licensed source material, with Shutterstock as an early licensing partner. Sonilo’s models are trained on licensed music datasets, with licensing fees and revenue share flowing to rights holders and artists. Sonilo is finalizing master recording and publishing deals with major rights organizations, with agreements expected to close in the coming weeks. Sonilo plans to launch a consumer app in Q4, bringing its video-to-music generation technology directly to individual creators.
About Sonilo
Sonilo builds video-native generative audio models for creators, developers, and media platforms. Its technology generates music and sound effects directly from footage or text, creating soundtracks built for each video’s story rather than pulled from a library. Sonilo is building a future where every video can have its own soundtrack, because when music truly fits a story, people don’t just watch. They feel. Sonilo is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by B Capital. Learn more at sonilo.com.
About B Capital
B Capital invests globally in extraordinary founders and businesses shaping the future through technology. With more than $9 billion in assets under management and dedicated stage-based funds, the firm focuses on seed to early- and late-stage venture growth investments, primarily in the technology, healthcare and resilience tech sectors. Founded in 2015, B Capital has an integrated, global team across nine locations in the U.S. and Asia. The firm’s value-add platform, together with the consulting expertise of its strategic partner, The Boston Consulting Group, provides entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to scale quickly and efficiently, expand into new markets and build market-leading businesses.
More than 700 startup CEOs, investors, innovators, and healthcare industry leaders from across the U.S. and around the world will convene in Chicago on October 20 for the region’s flagship startup and industry innovation conference.
CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2026 — World Business Chicago (WBC) today announced the keynote speakers and initial program for the inaugural Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health, taking place October 20 in Chicago’s Fulton Market District. The first Chicago Venture Summit dedicated to healthcare and life sciences will convene more than 700 startup CEOs, investors, innovators and industry executives from across the country and around the world to examine the technologies, companies and investment driving the future of health—and Chicago’s growing role in shaping it.
Logo: World Business Chicago presents Chicago Venture Summit, Future of Food, 2025
“Healthcare and life sciences are industries where Chicago has a clear right to win,” said Abin Kuriakose, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at World Business Chicago. “We have the talent, research institutions, healthcare systems, corporate leaders, and capital to turn breakthrough ideas into companies that grow and scale. The Chicago Venture Summit brings those pieces together—connecting entrepreneurs and investors while showcasing why Chicago continues to attract investment and drive innovation across the sector.”
Together, these leaders bring distinct perspectives from across healthcare, life sciences, investment, and innovation – and each underscores why Chicago is an important place to build, invest, and shape the future of health.
The Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health will bring together senior leaders shaping the future of healthcare, technology, and innovation — spanning Chicago’s healthcare and business communities and our global connections, including leaders from World Business Chicago board companies Health Care Service Corporation and Bank of America:
Dr. Omar Lateef, President & CEO, Rush University System for Health & Rush University Medical Center, in conversation with Tim Little, Midwest Region Executive, Bank of America.
Derek J. Robinson, MD, MBA, FACEP, CHCQM, Divisional Senior Vice President & Chief Health Officer, Health Care Service Corporation, and David Mao, Divisional Senior Vice President, AI and Transformation, Health Care Service Corporation.
Claire Kennedy, Consul General of Canada in Chicago.
The Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health reflects the strength of an ecosystem built on collaboration — connecting healthcare, research, business, investment and global partners. Leaders across that ecosystem share why Chicago has both the talent and the opportunity to help shape the future of health and healthcare:
“Chicago has a remarkable opportunity to shape the future of health by bringing together world-class research, clinical expertise and a growing community of entrepreneurs and innovators,” said Rush President and CEO Dr. Omar Lateef. “The Chicago Venture Summit Future of Health reflects the power of that ecosystem and our shared commitment to turning breakthrough ideas into solutions that improve health, advance equity and strengthen communities.”
“Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) is committed to supporting the innovators who are reimagining how we deliver and experience health care,” said Dr. Opella Ernest, President, HCSC, and World Business Chicago board member. “Innovation is essential to improving health outcomes and expanding access to care for people of all ages, and Chicago is uniquely positioned to lead that work. By bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, health care leaders and the broader business community, we can help turn bold ideas into solutions that make a meaningful difference for people and communities.”
“Canada and the American Midwest share a deep commitment to innovation and an extraordinary concentration of talent, research and entrepreneurial energy,” said Claire Kennedy, Consul General of Canada in Chicago. “By strengthening connections between our health care, research, investment and startup communities, we can accelerate the development and commercialization of new ideas across North America. The Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health is an important opportunity to build those connections and demonstrate what is possible when Canadian and Midwestern innovators work together.”
The Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health is part of World Business Chicago’s broader innovation and venture strategy, which also includes programs such as Startup Chicago, Chicago Day at SXSW, ThinkChicago, and previous Chicago Venture Summits, including the Future of Food, Future of Climate Tech, and Future of Logistics. Led by World Business Chicago and supported by our official partners, the October 20, 2026, summit is invite-only. To learn more, please email Helena Gittelman, Director of Innovation, World Business Chicago, at [email protected].
In collaboration with the Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC), World Business Chicago serves as an official Supporting Partner for the Midwest BioBuilder’s Summit on November 12, 2026. Led by the CBC, the Summit connects academics, entrepreneurs, and startups with investors, operators, and industry leaders who can help advance their innovations. With a pronounced emphasis on life sciences and biotechnology investment, the BioBuilders Summit echoes the Midwest’s industrial spirit, highlighting companies and platforms dedicated to translating breakthroughs into market-ready products and building the infrastructure needed for the next era of biotechnology. You can learn more at www.chicagobiomedicalconsortium.org.
In collaboration with WBC board member University of Illinois System, the Grainger Engineering Tech Startup Challenge, hosted by The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will be held during the Chicago Venture Summit on October 20. Bringing together engineering-powered startups from leading universities across the Midwest and beyond, the competition provides entrepreneurs with a live stage to pitch their ventures to prominent investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders in Chicago’s thriving tech ecosystem. Participants compete for significant funding while gaining direct exposure to networks and capital. The Challenge reflects The Grainger College of Engineering’s commitment to translating cutting-edge research into real-world impact and to positioning the Midwest as a hub for the next generation of deep tech innovation. You can learn more viahttps://landuyt.illinois.edu/programs/tech-startup-challenge.
As part of the Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health, World Business Chicago collaborated with Summit Innovation Partner APCO on a new economic-development perspective examining a critical challenge facing health innovation: why proven solutions can still struggle to reach the people and markets they are designed to serve.
TechNexus Venture Collaborative, a WBC board member
Women-in-Bio Chicago
Venture Partners include:
2Flo Ventures
7wire Ventures
Enterprise Ireland
Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network
Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator
Orrick
Pace Healthcare Capital
University of Chicago Medicine Ventures
Valtruis
ABOUT WORLD BUSINESS CHICAGO World Business Chicago (WBC) is the city’s public-private economic development agency, driving growth, attracting investment, and creating jobs across Chicago and the greater Chicagoland region. In partnership with the City of Chicago and a network of civic and business leaders, WBC advances initiatives that help companies expand and innovate and serves as the lead organization for the Greater Chicagoland Economic Partnership (GCEP)—a seven-county collaboration aligned to compete—and win—globally with a unified regional strategy. For the latest news, data, and insights shaping business in Chicagoland, visit worldbusinesschicago.com.
Proprietary Hamlet model powers in-call coaching with live suggestions in under 500 milliseconds; customers include Microsoft, Capital One and Lyft
NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2026 — Othello, an applied AI lab building AI models for live sales calls, today announced $8 million in seed funding from a16z speedrun, Owl Capital and Long Journey Ventures. Angel investors include DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf, Sentry co-founder David Cramer, Writer co-founder Waseem AlShikh, Axonius co-founder Dean Sysman, Deel co-founders Alex and Philippe Bouaziz and TransDigm CEO Kevin Stein. Its real-time AI sales coaching guides reps while buyers are still on the line. Learn more at othello.ai.
Othello overlays on top of your meetings, providing subtle pop-ups above any dialer or video calling platform.
Othello co-founders Jared Zelman (left) and Raphael Assor (right).
Gartner predicts that by 2028, 60% of B2B seller work will be executed through conversational user interfaces, up from less than 5% in 2023.
“There is a ton of technology before the conversation and way too much after it ends, but not a single tool that affects how you perform during the call,” said Jared Zelman, co-founder and CEO of Othello. “That’s not a software problem. It’s an AI problem. The only way to give smart recommendations in real time, with the full context of a deal, is to train AI models just for that.”
How Othello’s real-time coaching works during a call
Othello runs on Hamlet, a proprietary model built for live sales calls. A desktop app starts when a call begins and shows live pop-ups in any online meeting, without joining as a participant. During each call, Othello’s in-call coaching delivers live suggestions and live meeting prompts that tell reps:
What discovery question to ask next
Which MEDDPICC, Challenger or playbook steps they’ve missed
How to answer product and technical questions
How to handle objections
How to stand out against competitors
Which case study to share
When the buyer is ready to move forward
Rapid enterprise adoption
Othello is deployed at over 50 large enterprises, including several Fortune 500 companies. Othello adds several new multinational enterprise customers weekly. Customers include Microsoft, Capital One, Lyft, a top 10 accounting firm and a top 10 asset manager.
Othello serves customers across a wide range of industries, including insurance, accounting, financial services, asset management, enterprise software, cybersecurity, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. Its real-time AI sales coaching helps sales teams across these industries improve performance during live customer conversations.
Licensed reps adopt Othello within a week of downloading the app, and reps use it on 95% or more of their calls.
Othello is an applied AI lab building AI models for live sales calls. Its proprietary model, Hamlet, powers real-time coaching with live suggestions in under 500 milliseconds. Othello is headquartered in New York and is backed by a16z speedrun, Owl Capital and Long Journey Ventures. Follow Othello on LinkedIn, X (@Othello_AI) and Instagram (@othello.ai).
CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2026 — West Madison Foods, Inc. (“West Madison“), a Brynwood Partners portfolio company and the manufacturer and marketer of Dean’s Dips and Marie’s salad dressings, announced today that it has acquired The Flavor of California, LLC (“Flavor of California” or the “Company“), the holding company of the Bob’s Big Boy Salad Dressings & Dips (“Bob’s Big Boy“) license, from the ownership group comprised of the current CEO, Julie Pantiskas, and Salt Creek Capital. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Flavor of California was formed in 2018 to acquire the Bob’s Big Boy Salad Dressings & Dips business, which is licensed from Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC (the “Licensor“). The restaurants are not included in the transaction scope.
The Company owns the license to manufacture and market the full line of Bob’s Big Boy premium products throughout the Western U.S. and Mexico, including its Bleu Cheese, Country Ranch, Roquefort, and Thousand Island dressings and dips, as well as the Red Relish from the iconic Original Double-Deck Hamburger. Bob’s Big Boy products are distributed through mass retail and grocery channels and, like West Madison’s products, are merchandised in the refrigerated case. With a rich 90-year history, the iconic Bob’s Big Boy brand is rooted in the restaurant business and will complement the impressive legacies of the Dean’s and Marie’s brands.
Concurrent with the acquisition, West Madison entered into an amended license agreement with the Licensor that expands the brand’s licensed territory and provides a strong foundation to grow distribution and retail presence.
“We are pleased to add Bob’s Big Boy salad dressing business to the West Madison Foods portfolio,” said Henk Hartong, Chairman and CEO of Brynwood Partners. “This acquisition strengthens our position in the refrigerated salad dressing space. We are also excited to now expand the Bob’s Big Boy availability to the entire US as we have expanded our territory concurrent with this transaction. This will enable us to begin selling the Bob’s Big Boy items in states like Michigan and Ohio where the brand has a rich history.”
“I’d like to express my gratitude, both personally and on behalf of Salt Creek Capital, to Brynwood and West Madison for their partnership in bringing this transaction to fruition,” said Julie Pantiskas, CEO of the Company. “We are delighted to have found such an exceptional home where the Bob’s legacy can continue to thrive.”
The Brynwood Partners portfolio includes West Madison Foods, Carolina Beverage Group, Hometown Food Company and Miracapo Pizza Company. The portfolio generates more than $2.5 billion in annual sales with more than 3,700 employees across 11 manufacturing facilities in the United States.
West Madison was represented by Winston Taylor on legal matters, and Flavor of California was represented by UB Greensfelder on legal matters.
About Brynwood Partners:
Based in Greenwich, CT, Brynwood Partners is an operationally-focused private equity firm that has been making control investments in North American-based lower middle market companies since 1984. The firm targets non-core brands and companies operating in the consumer sector. Brynwood Partners currently manages more than $1.7 billion in assets for its limited partners, which include U.S. and international pension funds, fund-of-funds, endowments, foundations, high net worth family offices and other financial institutions. For more information on Brynwood Partners, please visit www.brynwoodpartners.com.
About Salt Creek Capital
Salt Creek Capital is a San Francisco Bay Area-based private equity firm that partners with experienced operating executives to acquire profitable companies with up to $150 million in revenue. Salt Creek Capital takes a long-term approach to investing in lower middle market businesses and seeks to create value by working closely with management teams to accelerate growth and improve operating efficiencies. For more information, please contact Tyler Romrell at [email protected] or visit www.saltcreekcap.com.
Former Google One Head of FP&A joins Firstup to support the company’s next phase of AI- driven growth
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 2026 — Firstup, the pioneer of intelligent communication and engagement platforms for the workforce, today announced that Ian Winkler has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Winkler brings deep Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and strategic finance expertise from high-velocity SaaS and AI companies, including building Google One’s finance function from pre-launch to a multibillion-dollar business.
As CFO, Winkler will lead Firstup’s finance, legal, and IT teams and serve as a member of the company’s executive leadership team. In the CFO role, he will help shape the company’s corporate strategy, capital allocation, and priorities. He will also drive the use of AI across finance and back-office operations, helping the company make faster, data-driven decisions to fuel profitable growth.
“Ian joins Firstup at an important point in our journey. We are excited about the strategic perspective, financial rigor, and strong business partnership he will bring as we pursue our next stage of growth and continue building a company of consequence,” said Bill Schuh, CEO of Firstup.
Most recently, Winkler was Senior Vice President of Finance at Medable, an AI-driven life sciences technology company, where he focused on enterprise value creation, strategic FP&A, and disciplined capital allocation. Previously, Winkler spent more than eight years at Google, including five years as Head of FP&A for Google One. As the business’s first finance hire, he built and led the finance team that helped grow Google One into the highest-grossing app on the Google Play Store. Before that, he led financial planning for Google’s legal and trust and safety teams.
“Firstup has a strong leadership team, a product customers clearly value, and a big opportunity at the intersection of employee experience, enterprise communications, and AI,” said Ian Winkler, Chief Financial Officer at Firstup. “I’m excited to join Firstup at this transformative moment and look forward to contributing to the significant opportunity ahead.”
Winkler’s appointment follows a strong first half of 2026, in which Firstup delivered 60% more capability to customers than a year earlier. Firstup’s platform reaches millions of employees in more than 180 countries.
About Firstup
Firstup is the leading platform for intelligent communication and engagement that powers meaningful business outcomes. As a true “mission control” for workforce communications, Firstup is built for organizations with critically important frontline employees, delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. The platform enables hyper- personalized, data-driven journeys across channels (email, mobile, intranet, digital signage, and more), bringing alignment, clarity, and engagement to every level of the organization.
With integrations to core HR, IT, and business systems, Firstup reduces digital noise, surfaces actionable insights, strengthens employee experience, and helps clients maximize productivity and retention. Trusted by large enterprises worldwide, Firstup transforms internal communication into measurable impact. Learn more at www.firstup.io.
