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MustGrow Biologics Gains California Approval for Organic Biofertility Product, TerraSante

MustGrow Biologics Corp

MustGrow Biologics Chief Operating Officer Colin Bletsky joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share regulatory achievements for the company. MustGrow has received approval from the California Department of Food and Agriculture for its mustard plant-based TerraSante™, an organic biofertility product. Additionally, TerraSante™ has been granted organic certification specific to California requirements, supplementing its existing Organic OMRI Listed® certifications in Oregon and Washington State. Bletsky announced that with these approvals, TerraSante™ sales can now begin in California. These developments are crucial to MustGrow's strategy for commercializing its soil amendment and biofertility technologies in partnership with BioAg Product Strategies. The company, which already holds certifications in Oregon and Washington, plans to pursue further state-level registrations across the U.S. TerraSante™ is part of MustGrow's broader suite of solutions, which includes biocontrol programs targeting preplant soil fumigation, postharvest food preservation, and bioherbicides. These initiatives are advancing in collaboration with global partners such as Bayer, Sumitomo Corporation, Janssen PMP, and NexusBioAg, underlining MustGrow's commitment to sustainable agricultural practices worldwide. Contact Details Proactive North America +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

May 09, 2024 01:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Triomics automates oncology workflows with GenAI powered platform, raises $15M

Triomics

Currently, oncology staff must manually search thousands of patient health records to find the right trials or care pathways for their patients. Triomics is today announcing it has raised $15M to help cancer centers streamline these workflows and process oncology data at scale by applying their framework to build, institution-tuned large language models (OncoLLM™) and use case-specific software. The company has raised from several Silicon Valley firms making pioneering investments in generative AI and healthcare, including Lightspeed, Nexus Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Y Combinator. Manual chart review can take hours per patient, and many health systems face significant backlogs in completing key oncology-related workflows for thousands of patients. This workload leads to clinical delays, such as patients missing out on clinical trials or biomarker-driven treatments, lagging quality reporting, and provider dissatisfaction and turnover. Triomics co-founders Sarim Khan (CEO) and Hrituraj Singh (CTO) were college friends who later worked as an MIT biotech researcher and Adobe AI researcher, respectively. They knew software existed to quickly analyze the ~20% of medical data that is stored in a uniform, structured manner, like a patient’s demographics or laboratory values. However, they realized recent advances in generative AI created the possibility of similarly analyzing the ~80% of medical data that exists in an unstructured format, like a doctor’s free-text note. “Hrituraj and I decided to partner to build solutions leveraging the advances in the field of generative AI and LLMs to help hospital staff,” said Sarim Khan, CEO of Triomicss. “We want our solutions to reason and sound like experts in oncology.” After developing an OncoLLM™ with Medical College of Wisconsin researchers, Triomics found that, in just minutes, it found 90% of eligible patients for clinical trials, which would have taken days or weeks for qualified nurses. It also extracted structured data points from unstructured notes at similar or higher accuracy to proprietary models like GPT4 or Claude while being 40 times cheaper. Triomics recently also published the results of its information retrieval engine for oncology, which they found to be 1.5-2 times better than other state-of-the-art retrieval models. “Most of the solutions on the market today claim they use GenAI, but many lack published evidence. Triomics is setting themselves apart by taking a truly collaborative approach to co-developing these models,” said Bradley Taylor, Chief Research Informatics Officer at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Director of the CTSI Center for Biomedical Informatics. Anai Kothari, a surgical oncologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center added: “The ability to quickly and accurately convert complex cancer data into a format that can be used to improve patient care is crucial. Triomics has been a great partner in integrating our suggestions and rigorously studying their approach to ensure safety.” OncoLLM™ powers proprietary Triomics software that integrates with health system EHRs to complete specific clinical and administrative tasks. For example, Triomics Prism aids in patient-trial matching by prescreening oncology patients with upcoming appointments to find relevant clinical trials. Triomics Harmony curates EHR data to support quality reporting, cohort analysis and precision oncology. Hrituraj Singh, CTO at Triomics, commented: “Our investments in our core areas of focus have been deliberate. We have successfully merged expertise in two complex functional areas: our AI researchers, who are specialized in customizing language models to specific domains, and our clinical staff, who have decades of oncology-specific experience. As a result, our software can complement the strengths of these advanced models while also proactively addressing potential flaws, all with the intricacies of cancer research and care in mind.” Given the heightened importance of accuracy for oncology data, Triomics partners with leading academic cancer centers and researchers to develop generative AI performance and safety benchmarks and best practices. Partners include the Collaboration for Oncology-focused LLM Training (COLT), a consortium of leaders from a dozen NCI-designated cancer centers, and the Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC) Society. “We differentiate ourselves by building tailored models specifically for oncology and pairing them with GenAI native workflows,” said Sarim Khan. “While other solutions address some of the use cases we’re working on, like patient-trial matching, they are broad based solutions that use or modify legacy technologies that have proven not to have the scalability or ROI the industry is requesting.” Triomics next plans to publish additional data on OncoLLM efficacy across a diversity of settings and patient populations, and develop software that powers additional use cases. “Triomics is leveraging existing healthcare datasets and Generative AI to empower hospital staff to automate clinical trials and streamline cancer center workflows,” said Dev Khare, partner at Lightspeed. “We are excited to back Triomics in this important mission.” “With robust early results for their proprietary oncology specific LLMs and partnerships with leading cancer care and research centers, Triomics is well poised to deliver significant value to cancer care providers and patients in the U.S. and globally,” said Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director at Nexus Venture Partners. “We are thrilled to partner with Sarim and Hrituraj to help build a remarkably impactful company!" About Triomics Triomics uses generative AI to streamline workflows for cancer centers. Its oncology specialized generative AI model (OncoLLMTM) and use case-specific software help cancer providers process free-text health record data at scale, match patients to clinical trials, improve quality of care operations, deliver precision oncology and more. Based in San Francisco, the company has raised $15 million from leading VC investors. About Lightspeed Lightspeed is a global multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally including Affirm, Acceldata, Carta, Cato Networks, Darwinbox Epic Games, Faire, Innovaccer, Guardant Health, Mulesoft, Navan, Netskope, Nutanix, Rubrik, Sharechat, Snap, OYO Ultima Genomics and more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage $25B in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. About Nexus Venture Partners Nexus Venture Partners is a leading early-stage venture capital firm partnering with extraordinary entrepreneurs to build product-first companies. With $2.6 billion under management, Nexus operates as one team across the US and India. Nexus portfolio includes Apollo.io, Aryaka, Clover Health, Delhivery, Druva, FingerprintJS, Hasura, H2O.ai, Infra Market, Kaltura, Mezi, MinIO, Observe.ai, Postman, Pubmatic, Quizizz, Rancher, Sibros, Snapdeal, TileDB, Turtlemint, Unacademy, and Zomato. Contact Details Triomics Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.triomics.com/

May 09, 2024 01:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Release

Hempalta Acquires Majority Stake in Hemp Carbon Standard Inc., Boosting Carbon Credit Initiatives

Hempalta Corp

Hempalta CEO Darren Bondar joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has the completion of their acquisition of a controlling 50.1% interest in Hemp Carbon Standard. Recognized for its capability to absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide, industrial hemp has become a cornerstone in HCS’s pioneering efforts to produce carbon credits from the plant’s lifecycle. These carbon credits offer corporate buyers a way to obtain high-quality, high-integrity credits, enabling them to both measure and enhance their decarbonization strategies while promoting regenerative agricultural practices. HCS utilizes advanced remote sensing technology for precise CO2 sequestration measurement within the biomass of industrial hemp and its associated topsoil. This method ensures transparency, accuracy, and integrity in carbon accounting, helping corporations achieve their sustainability goals. In 2023, HCS expanded its monitoring operations to include 15 farms and 45 sites across 1,380 hectares in Canada, the United States, Ukraine, and Spain. This extensive monitoring has successfully sequestered 12,354 tonnes of CO2, marking significant progress in environmental sustainability efforts. Contact Details Proactive North America +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

May 09, 2024 01:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Release

Beyond Oil Celebrates New Milestone: Secures Major International Food Chain as Customer

Beyond Oil Ltd

Beyond Oil Vice President Robert Kiesman joined Steve Darling from Proactive to announce the successful integration of their innovative oil filtration product into one of the world's largest food chains, now officially a client. This comes after Beyond Oil completed joint pilot programs with franchisees of a major international food service parent company in Israel. Kiesman detailed how, after extensive multi-month trials and close collaboration with the corporate team of this renowned global fast-food chain, Beyond Oil has proven the effectiveness and benefits of their product. The trials have led to a comprehensive rollout across all the chain's outlets in Israel, marking a new operational standard for the franchise group. The innovative product developed by Beyond Oil includes a formula of food additives that, when used in a simple filtration process, slow down oil deterioration and allow for repeated use without loss of quality. The adoption of this technology has not only improved the quality of frying oil and food but also offered significant health benefits, contributing to environmental sustainability, employee well-being, enhanced guest experience, operational efficiency, and reductions in both food and labor costs. With this successful implementation, Beyond Oil is now strategically positioned to expand its technology across the global franchise network. Discussions are currently ongoing with multiple franchisees worldwide to integrate Beyond Oil’s technology into their operations. Contact Details Proactive North America +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

May 09, 2024 12:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Investments & Wealth Institute’s Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) certification added to NASAA Model Rule’s Series 65/66 Exam Waiver List

Investments & Wealth Institute

Denver, CO — Investments & Wealth Institute (“the Institute”), the leading credentialing body for financial advisors and wealth management professionals, is pleased to announce that the Institute’s Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) certification has been recognized by the North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") as a designation eligible for waiver from the Series 65 or 66 exams. These exams are administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and serve as minimum qualifications for new investment adviser representatives (“IARs”). “NASAA membership’s approval of the CIMA designation to the Series 65/66 waiver list represents a major step forward for CIMA certified professionals,” said Sean Walters, CAE®, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute. “We are exceedingly proud that our CIMA certification is the first new voluntary certification to be approved and added to NASAA’s model rule in 24 years. We are aware that NASAA’s primary mission is consumer protection, and we believe this addition of the CIMA designation is consistent with an adviser’s duty of care owed to its clients.” Walters noted that, in the year 2000, NASAA revamped the Series 65 exam from a knowledge of securities law exam to include extensive knowledge of investing in the securities markets. At the time, five professional designations were approved under the waiver section of the model rule. “Each state must still adopt NASAA’s amended rule for CIMA certification to automatically qualify as a waiver from the Series 65 or 66 exam requirement,” commented Rob Frankel, General Counsel and Managing Director of Certifications at the Institute. “We could not be more pleased that the curriculum and exam that fuels this certification have been recognized as an appropriate waiver under the states’ licensing requirements for IARs.” At the time of NASAA’s announcement, the Chair of the NASAA Exams Advisory Committee publicly noted that the amended rule was an enhancement to the evaluation and registration process for investment adviser representatives, while maintaining high standards within the financial services industry. The Institute’s CIMA certification already enjoys accreditation under a global personnel certification standard by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANSI/IEC 17024), the largest multi-disciplinary accreditation body in the western hemisphere. To qualify for certification, CIMA candidates must have three years, at minimum, of verified professional experience in financial services or a related industry at the time of certification. Candidates must successfully pass two background checks — at time of application and at time of certification. The CIMA curriculum is taught through Registered Executive Education partners, including programs offered by two of the world’s most elite business schools, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the Yale School of Management. Passing the exam is not easy. The average first time pass rate over the past two years is approximately 48 percent. CIMA-certified professionals often work in roles such as investment consultants, financial planners, portfolio managers, and investment analysts. The CIMA certification program covers a wide range of topics related to creating, managing, and evaluating portfolios for individual or institutional clients. CIMA certified professionals know how to evaluate model portfolios, target-date funds, ETFs, and index funds; and perform asset allocation, manager selection, and performance attribution. They learn to manage risk and return based on client objectives — including when and how to incorporate alternative investments into client portfolios — and how to build proper investment policy statements. CIMA certified professionals understand how to apply behavioral finance to address cognitive biases in client decision-making, and how capital markets and global macroeconomic trends affect portfolio design. In summary, they are equipped to prudently assemble, evaluate, and/or manage portfolios that meet client objectives and outcomes as fiduciaries. CIMA practitioners are required to exhibit knowledge of 89 topics, organized within 20 sections and five knowledge domains. The exam and curriculum were recently updated as the result of a professional job analysis. Approximately 3% of advisory professionals have earned and maintained the certification. However, more than 15% of teams or practices with $500M or more in AUM have at least one CIMA certified professional serving on the team. (Cerulli Associates, 2023) About the Investments & Wealth Institute Founded in 1985, the Investments & Wealth Institute is the premier professional association, education provider, and standards body for financial advisors. Through its award-winning events, publications, courses, and acclaimed certifications — Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®), Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®), and Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®) — the Institute delivers Ivy league-quality, highly practical education to more than 20,000 practitioners annually in over 40 countries. Members of the Institute include the industry's most successful investment consultants, advanced financial planners, and private wealth managers who embrace excellence and ethics in applying a broad set of knowledge and skills in their daily work with clients. Contact Details Allison Edmondson +1 303-850-3207 aedmondson@i-w.org Joseph Bish +1 303-850-3076 jbish@i-w.org Company Website https://investmentsandwealth.org

May 09, 2024 12:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Nuestro Stories and LatiNation Media Announce First-Look Co-Production Partnership Spanning Original IP, Digital Properties, Films, and Podcasts

Nuestro Stories

Nuestro Stories and LatiNation Media, two trailblazing Latino-owned media companies, have joined forces in an unprecedented first-look co-production and content distribution partnership. The alliance spans digital platforms, films, series, and audio content, representing a significant leap forward in elevating Hispanic voices and stories within the media landscape. The collaboration was unveiled during the prestigious 2024 IAB NewFronts, marking a pivotal moment in Hispanic media evolution. “This collaboration is the result of our profound mutual admiration for each other’s creative endeavors and and our shared belief that together, we can go farther, faster, and stronger,” said Angela Sustaita-Ruiz, Chairwoman of Brilla Media Ventures, the holding company of Nuestro Stories. “The fact that two iconic storytelling brands are uniting for some of their biggest ideas bodes well for creators and filmmakers, as well as for brands who encourage but rarely see Latino-owned companies like us collaborating like this.” The inaugural project for the partnership is the highly anticipated Entre2Mundos, an anime series rooted in Mesoamerican culture that is tailored to US Hispanic audiences. The profound affinity for Anime within Hispanic culture has been on the rise for decades. Today, as Gen Z consumers openly express their love and fandom for Anime, the genre is experiencing a surge in attention, captivating the interest of younger Hispanic generations. “LatiNation Media’s core ideology involves sharing impactful content with our audience that reflects their diverse and expansive lives. We are thrilled to partner with Nuestro Stories and bring Entre2Mundos to life – the first Anime series of its kind for Latino audiences on both national broadcast and streaming. This is an exciting initial step toward more fan-first programming for us,” said Bruno Ulloa, President of LatiNation Media. As Nuestro Stories and LatiNation Media embark on this shared journey of innovation and inclusivity, they reaffirm their commitment to championing diverse narratives and fostering authentic representation in media and entertainment. About Nuestro Stories Nuestro Stories is the flagship media brand of Brilla Media Ventures, and was founded with the premise of celebrating Latino heritage, history and origins every day. We provide engaging cultural content for multicultural marketers through our owned and operated platforms, Nuestro Stories and Brilla Latina. Our offerings also include programmatic advertising technology services for scalable media delivery, influencer marketing, creative studio services, and activations. Nuestro Stories is led by Angela Sustaita-Ruiz and Manny Ruiz, creators of Hispanicize, and trailblazers in the Hispanic media, social and influencer marketing industries, the Latino press release wire industry, and the first network of Hispanic print media companies online. About LatiNation Media LatiNation Media is a bilingual, multi-platform media company whose mission is to transform Latino representation in the modern media landscape by creating content that organically represents today’s Latino experience. We distribute across every platform including linear TV, streaming, the web, mobile, and social. Latination Media’s brands include Latino Alternative Television (LATV) linear and LATV FAST Network, LatiNation Digital, LatiNation Studios, and LatiNation Creative. Grounded in over two decades of creating award-winning bilingual content, its flagship linear channel LATV is seen in 81% of U.S. Hispanic Households and the top 47 U.S. DMAs. The company’s Digital Ad Network reaches over 68% of the U.S. population and has +189mm monthly uniques. LatiNation content emphasizes young Latino culture and Latina empowerment, as well as LGBTQ+ and Afro-Latino pride. For more information, visit www.latination.com. Contact Details Nuestro Stories Alex Hernandez +1 305-720-6313 alex@brillamedia.com Bolte Media hanna@boltemedia.com Bolte Media dina@dinawhitepr.com

May 09, 2024 11:35 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Locality Appoints Sandy Ashendorf as Executive Vice President, Law and Business Affairs

Locality

Locality, the industry’s preeminent local video advertising solutions provider, today announced the appointment of Sandy Ashendorf as Executive Vice President, Law and Business Affairs. In this role, Ashendorf will be responsible for identifying and advising on legal issues affecting all aspects of Locality’s operations, including ongoing and new businesses. She will also assist with developing and implementing strategies affecting the company's growth and support corporate initiatives and projects. Ashendorf will report to Keith Kazerman and Ann Hailer. Ashendorf brings over 35 years of experience in the media industry to Locality. During that time, she held leadership roles at several major media companies, including Viacom, EPIX and BBC Worldwide America, where she ran sales teams and was responsible for legal issues affecting content distribution. She has served as a consultant for numerous companies across a variety of media and at various stages of development. Sandy served on the Board of Directors of the T. Howard Foundation and was Chair of WP Theater. "We’re excited to welcome Sandy to the Locality team," said Ann Hailer, president of broadcast at Locality. "Her extensive experience in the media industry and her deep understanding of the legal and business challenges facing companies today will be invaluable to Locality as we continue to grow and expand our business." “This is an important strategic move forward for our company, as we continue to grow and evolve our solutions in the local market. We are thrilled to welcome Sandy aboard,” said Keith Kazerman, president of streaming at Locality. "After consulting at Locality for over a year, it’s wonderful to become a part of the company’s leadership,” said Ashendorf. “I am delighted to be part of an incredible team poised to transform the local ad sales industry across both traditional TV and streaming platforms, and to drive strategic growth for the company and our clients.” Locality is the industry’s preeminent local television solutions provider, committed to addressing the evolving needs of advertisers by unlocking the power of local and driving dollars to the local video marketplace. Formed through the union of CoxReps and Gamut, Locality brings together the best talent in both broadcast and streaming. With more than 11 locations in the US, Locality helps brands tap into the mindset of the local consumer and precisely reach optimal markets, nationally. Having served more than 1,500 ad agencies and 4,500 advertisers, to date, Locality offers the best premium inventory that the industry has to offer to help brands optimize their spend and target audiences at scale. For more information, please visit www.locality.com. Contact Details Mackenzie Sikora mackenzie@kitehillpr.com

May 09, 2024 11:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Nextech3D.ai Unveils Success of AI-Powered 3D Model Search Engine, Accelerating Production by 40%

Nextech3D.AI

Nextech3D.ai CEO Evan Gappelberg joined Steve Darling from Proactive to revealed the triumph of their proprietary AI-Powered 3D model search engine launched in Q1, 2024. This cutting-edge AI technology, powered by Nvidia's GPUs, revolutionizes the 3D modeling process by significantly enhancing speed and scalability. Using images as input, the AI search engine swiftly sifts through Nextech's extensive library of 3D models and meshes, recommending the closest match to the provided image. According to Gappelberg, the implementation of this AI search engine has led to a remarkable 40% increase in production, enabling the company to boost its output of 3D models significantly. Nextech3D.ai remains committed to advancing its proprietary technology and has plans to patent its breakthrough AI innovations tailored for the mass scale of 3D models, identifying this market segment as a key growth opportunity in 2024. Developed in-house by the company's team of AI engineers and scientists, the AI-powered search engine effortlessly scours Nextech's vast repository of over 200,000 3D models, matching colors, textures, and shapes to deliver precise results. This achievement underscores Nextech3D.ai's technical prowess and expertise in harnessing AI to drive innovation in the 3D modeling industry. Contact Details Proactive United States +1 347-449-0879 action@proactiveinvestors.com

May 09, 2024 10:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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SFAA Members Elect New Board, Honor Outgoing Chair at Annual Meeting

SFAA

The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan trade association representing all segments of the surety and fidelity industry, held its annual meeting this past week with more than 185 members and guests attending. Robert Murray, SFAA Chair, Executive Committee Member, Head of Surety, Zurich North America, and Ryan Work, SFAA president and CEO, presided over the event, providing updates on SFAA’s accomplishments and ongoing initiatives. SFAA members were on hand to celebrate outgoing SFAA Chair Robert Murray after his two-year term, in addition to congratulating him on his upcoming retirement. Murray will be succeeded as chair by Michael Keimig, president and CEO of Markel Surety Corporation. Keimig has been an active participant in the SFAA for over a decade, most recently as a Board and Executive Committee member. Videos celebrating SFAA’s accomplishments throughout 2023 and honoring the 2023 Surety Industry Awards winners were also shared. The SFAA Membership elected the following Board of Directors and Executive Committee in a unanimous vote. Officers and Executive Committee Members Michael Keimig Stephen Ruschak John F. Welch Rick Ciullo Timothy Mikolajewski Antonio C. Albanese Bryce Grissom Other Elected Board Members Ken Bearley John Guglielmo Stephen M. Haney James Kawiecki Matt Lubin, Robert Murray Alan Pavlic Sharon Sims Gary Stumper Larry Taylor Mike Zurcher The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan trade association representing all segments of the surety and fidelity industry. Based in Washington, D.C., SFAA works to promote the value of surety and fidelity bonding by proactively advocating on behalf of its members and stakeholders. The association’s more than 425 member companies write 98 percent of surety and fidelity bonds in the U.S. For more information visit www.surety.org. Contact Details Peter Roth +1 703-401-0676 proth@surety.org Company Website https://surety.org/

May 09, 2024 09:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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