Condense – the world’s first company to deliver the power, connection and immersiveness of live, real-world events into the metaverse – has raised a $4.5 million round led by LocalGlobe, 7percent Ventures and Deeptech Labs, alongside angels including a platinum-selling grime artist, former England footballer and sports presenter, Tom Blomfield (Monzo), renowned music manager Grace Ladoja MBE and Ian Hogarth (Song Kick).

Founded in Bristol in 2019, Condense is the only company in the world with the end-to-end capture and streaming technology to live stream real-world events like music and sports events into 3D applications. The company uses cutting-edge computer vision, machine learning and proprietary streaming infrastructure to capture and embed live 3D video (Video 3.0) into any metaverse game, mobile app or platform created with Unity or Unreal Engine.

This means true-to-life live performances can be streamed directly into the virtual worlds and games platforms used by billions of people worldwide – without the need for VR headsets. Because the events are streamed live as three-dimensional “real-world” video, every player’s perspective is as unique and dynamic as if they were at a physical live event – and their experience just as memorable.

In addition to the funding announcement, the company has also opened the world’s first metaverse studio in partnership with Watershed – Bristol’s cultural cinema and creative technology venue – to give established artists and emerging talent access to the technology. The studio is a “metaverse-first” event space, and can also accommodate a live audience. In partnership with another organisation, a London studio will open soon followed by other studios internationally.

With Condense, broadcasting live in three-dimensions to the metaverse is as natural and easy as performing in front of a conventional camera, with no need for green screens or post-production, allowing for an immediate connection with the audience in real-time.

• Check out a video of Grove performing live, captured and streamed by Condense in Video 3.0, here: https://youtu.be/bEmO1rrqOtI

Bristol-based vocalist and producer Grove, who was among the first artists to pioneer Condense technology, said, “The minds behind the technology are pushing the boundaries of tech-informed performance sharing. This is great for accessibility and opens up exciting new opportunities for fans to connect with their favourite artists.”

Video 3.0 gives fans completely new experiences online. Audiences can attend gigs or sporting events with friends, with the freedom to move among the virtual crowds and get up close to the action. Because performances are live, fans can interact with the artist – a digital step forward from holding a banner at a gig – and artists can respond in real-time, giving shout-outs, answering questions or performing a requested track.

Condense harnesses the feelings of connection you get from seeing your favourite band, artist, team or sports star perform live, while introducing an unprecedented level of access, participation and inclusion never before seen – all while providing artists, rights holders and metaverse platforms the opportunity to create completely new revenue streams.

Grace Ladoja MBE, co-founder of METALLIC INC and renowned artist manager said: “Culture and community are what drives music forward. It’s how we connect with where we’ve come from and where we want to go. Condense’s technology is opening up a new platform for these communities and cultures, diversifying the voices in the metaverse by making it live and accessible. It’s got the potential to inspire and empower a new movement of artists and fans. This is both exciting, and significant.”

Ziv Reichert, partner at LocalGlobe (recently ranked the UK’s number one seed investor by Dealroom) said: “Hundreds of millions of people are hanging out in immersive 3D platforms like Roblox, Rec Room, Fortnite, Sandbox, Decentraland and VRChat; attending virtual events, socialising and being creative. At the same time, player demand for live entertainment inside these virtual worlds has never been greater. Condense has built the infrastructure to connect the two – now music artists, sports stars and creatives can perform and play live in the metaverse, to the largest stadium audience imaginable.”

Andrew Gault, founding partner of 7percent ventures said: “When I invested in Oculus nearly 10 years ago, the dream was to deliver experiences that seamlessly merge the digital and the physical. Condense has now made that possible inside all video games and platforms, without the need for VR headsets. What they have built is already a reality and it’s going to change the way the whole world engages online.”

Miles Kirby, CEO of Deeptech Labs said, “The metaverse requires a new infrastructure, much of it breaking new ground and requiring next-generation machine learning and machine vision. Condense has the deeptech experience and vision to make the metaverse the number one destination for live events.”

Condense’s CEO and co-founder Nick Fellingham said, “The Bristol scene has long been a world-renowned melting pot of different cultures and music and, in the last few years, it’s become a hub for games development too. Now we’re going to put Bristol on the map once again with the world’s first metaverse live streaming studio to bring together the energy of live events with the massive scale of the metaverse. The Video 3.0 infrastructure we’ve built takes out the technical complexity of streaming live into the metaverse, so people are free to put their creativity in. Video 3.0 is going to change not just how we experience live events online, but fundamentally how we engage with each other.”

The original press release can be found on Business Wire.

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PriceLabs a leading provider of dynamic pricing and revenue management solutions for the short-term rental industry, today announced a $30 million minority growth investment from Summit Partners. This funding represents the first financing for the profitable business and will support PriceLabs’ continued commitment to building leading revenue management solutions and fuel global team growth.

PriceLabs was founded in 2014 to bring sophisticated AI and analytical tools to owners and managers of vacation homes and short-term rentals. The idea was born from co-founder Richie Khandelwal’s frustrations while managing personal rental property and the inability to efficiently adjust prices based on changes in demand. Teaming up with friends Anurag Verma and Sana Hassan, the group built a solution designed to address the similar challenges faced by the thousands of small business owners operating in the short-term rental market.

Today, PriceLabs powers over 150,000 listings in more than 100 countries. The company has been growing steadily since its founding, with an offering that has resonated with vacation rental businesses of all sizes, from single-property owners to large property managers. Recently, PriceLabs won SaaSBoomi’s 2021 Bootstrapped Startup of the Year award after having grown nearly 3x in 2021.

“Pricing can be the single biggest growth lever when running any business, particularly in the hospitality space, where most businesses still use archaic methods and static pricing that can leave anywhere from 10 – 40% of revenue on the table,” said Richie Khandelwal. “We purpose-built PriceLabs from the ground up to serve the needs of short-term rental operators, offering an easy-to-use and highly configurable solution that allows operators to combine our AI and algorithms with their own unique knowledge of the local market and property.”

PriceLabs’ automated dynamic pricing solution is designed to continuously analyze historical and forward-looking hyper-local data to sense changes in demand and recommend optimal daily pricing tailored to each property’s unique characteristics. The company’s comprehensive software provides users with data and tools to monitor and research local market conditions and adjust prices to suit the needs of the property and operations. Prices update automatically through direct integrations with over 70 property management software solutions, helping property owners efficiently manage their operations and maximize the profitability of their listings.

“Our product democratizes powerful tools that, historically, have only been available to large hospitality businesses,” said Sana Hassan, co-founder of PriceLabs. “From an individual host seasonally renting their apartment in Paris to a multi-thousand unit vacation rental manager in Florida, we’ve built a solution that is easy to use, affordable, and integrates seamlessly with the software they’ve already adopted.”

“Consumer preference has continued to shift in favor of alternative accommodations across every demographic, which has led to rapid growth in the short-term rental industry and over 8 million unique listings on Airbnb and Vrbo alone. We see PriceLabs as ideally positioned to serve this growing market with an intuitive, easily customizable and comprehensive solution designed to deliver ROI to owners and managers almost immediately,” said Colin Mistele, Managing Director at Summit Partners, who has joined the PriceLabs Board of Directors. “We believe this deeply experienced team has a significant opportunity to capitalize on a substantial unpenetrated market as they continue to develop and launch innovative products.”

“At PriceLabs, we believe every business in the accommodation space should have access to data-driven pricing and associated capabilities. We’ve been at the forefront of innovation – from building a pricing solution that can be used worldwide to building an industry-first minimum stay recommendation engine,” said Anurag Verma, co-founder of PriceLabs. “With the support and growth-oriented resources that Summit offers, we are excited to continue our mission of delivering innovation to the short-term rental market and accelerate our global hiring.”

PriceLabs is hiring professionals globally with a passion for the short-term rental industry to join our remote team. If you’re interested in learning more about careers at PriceLabs, please visit our career center.

About PriceLabs

Headquartered in Chicago and founded in 2014, PriceLabs is a leading provider of innovative and easy-to-use dynamic pricing and revenue management solutions for the accommodation industry. PriceLabs provides a data-driven approach, automation rules, and customizations to manage pricing and stay restrictions that help the owners and managers of vacation rentals increase revenues with efficiency and ease. With over 70 integrations and a growing list of channels and property management systems, PriceLabs’ automated revenue management solution is built to serve the needs of everyone from large property managers to single-property owners. Learn more at www.pricelabs.co.

About Summit Partners

Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $39 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 550 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or Follow on LinkedIn.

The original press release can be found on Summit Partners’ website.

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The idea of corporate gifting to maintain client relationships isn’t a novel concept. In fact, there’s a cottage industry of “gifting-as-a-service” startups that promise to streamline the task, ranging from companies such as Reachdesk and &Open to Sendoso and Goody. Vendors claim their industry is a profitable one (worth an estimated $258 billion) because the evidence suggests corporate gifting works. One study found that 66% of people who received a promotional product or gift could recall the brand that sent it, and 79% would be likely to do business with the company again.

But according to Rabi Gupta, the co-founder of Evabot, there’s “a lot of clutter” in the corporate gifting space. He argues that many vendors do little more than send company-branded swag like T-shirts and thermoses, which don’t exactly foster loyalty. In one recent survey, companies cited the inability to purchase from multiple brands, managing inventory and storage, and the limited range of products as their top challenges where it concerned gifting.

Evabot itself is a vendor. But Gupta asserts that the company’s AI-driven approach, which uses a chatbot to poll potential gift recipients about their likes, preferences and lifestyles to personalize presents, is more effective than most.

Investors agree. Today, Evabot announced that it raised $10.83 million in a funding round led by Comcast Ventures with participation from Alumni Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, Forefront Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Gupta said that the proceeds will be used to scale Evabot’s operations, product development and growth, as well as its investments in AI to build “fully automated” gifting experiences.

“Every enterprise wants to really ‘know’ their customers and employees so as to be able to create thoughtful experiences and touch points. Every enterprise cares about building relationships but they need to do that at scale,” Gupta told TechCrunch via email. “Since most of us are remote now, businesses need a better way to connect with their customers and employees.”

Gupta co-launched Evabot, which previously went by the name Vizzi, in 2016 with Satwick Saxena, Ashish Kumar and Akshay Gupta shortly after they immigrated to the U.S. Prior to Evabot, Rabi Gupta, Kumar and Akshay Gupta worked together at India-based iCouchApp, a social app for discussing TV shows and channels.

Like other corporate gifting platforms, Evabot provides an array of gifting services ranging from holiday and birthday gifts to employee onboarding items. To autofill details like names and contact information, Evabot connects to customer relationship and HR systems like Salesforce and Workday. Once recipients finish a questionnaire sent via the aforementioned chatbot, Evabot automatically selects and mails the gift — complete with a handwritten note.

Evabot rival Alyce uses AI, too, to plug into various apps and track relationships to personalize gift recommendations. But Rabi Gupta says that Evabot leverages AI in a variety of ways, not just for gift suggestions.

“[Gifts are] picked by our AI based on the data collected and attributes like past gift ratings, weather in a location, gift budget, and more,” Rabi Gupta said. “[To create the] personalized note that’s added to every gift, we use the data collected by our AI and the natural language generation tool GPT-3. Evabot also collects birthdays from the gift recipients, and then data like this becomes a trigger for the sender to send another gift or a thoughtful note or email.”

Rabi Gupta tells TechCrunch that the business model is a combination of software-as-a-service subscriptions and per-gift revenue. It’s pricing that’s proven attractive — Evabot has shipped more than 125,000 unique gifts to date for over 1,000 customers, including health services giant Cigna. Most of the gifts come from “artisanal” direct-to-consumer brands and local vendors, Rabi Gupta says.

But what of future growth? The corporate gifting market had a rosy outlook as of 2020, when a poll found that 54% of companies planned to increase their investment in gifting over the next two years. Despite Rabi Gupta admitting that he’s seen a “slowdown,” Evabot’s co-founders believe the company is in a position to perform despite the headwinds.

“There is definitely some short-term slowdown [in the corporate gifting space] since companies are slowing down hiring … But overall, we are seeing very strong interest from enterprises who care about long-term relationship building,” Rabi Gupta said. “Before raising our Series A, we were profitable. Right now, we have two years of runway, and the idea is to get to profitability and scale 4x within the next 18 months.”

Evabot has raised a total of $13.83 million in capital to date, which includes a previously undisclosed $3 million seed round. The company employs 60 people across offices in San Francisco, Dallas, and cities in Canada and India, a headcount Rabi Gupta intends to grow to 70 by the end of the year.

The original article can be found on TechCrunch.

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But the effective practice of organizational learning can be difficult and expensive, especially since it requires the proper creation, retention, and transfer of knowledge. Each step is vital but requires a lot of time and resources to perfect, particularly if done manually.

That is where organizational learning technology comes into play. The evolution of technology and the workforce has created a greater demand for managers and executives to deliver effective learning experiences for their employees. Moreover, it must all be easy to use, understand, and manage to truly be effective.

However, despite the rise of technology and increased demand, it can be difficult to show the impact of learning technology on an organization. According to the IAB and Columbia Business School, 87% of executive decision-makers agree that capturing and sharing the right data is important to effectively measure their company’s return on investment (ROI). Yet, 39% admit they cannot turn their data into actionable insights.

Because the impact is so difficult to see, decision-makers often turn to learning and development experts with questions like:

• Why is corporate training essential for our company?
• What are the ramifications if we don’t engage in some sort of corporate training?
• Why does it need its own (and often increasing) budget?

The questions put a degree of strain on the learning and development department because it has to show results, just like any other department at a company. If it doesn’t, the department is likely to receive less attention or be discontinued.

In many instances, the main problem isn’t the process of organizational learning. Instead, training teams struggle because existing technology isn’t able to properly connect the data to tangible outcomes. Thus, even if positive results exist, they might not be noticed.

Companies that miss out on such results and do not properly implement organizational learning stand to miss out on a lot of benefits. That includes the aforementioned satisfaction, leadership development, and productivity. There are also decreased turnover rates, increased adaptability, and even higher profits and efficiency.

With so much on the line, companies cannot afford to forgo organizational learning, which is heavily dependent on effective learning technology. So, why are some unable to show real ROI with their current tools, and what can be done to change things?

The answer depends on the organization, with each having its own unique circumstances, tools, and potential deficiencies. The solution is to use prescriptive analytics to identify gaps in learning technology strategy, as seen with Administrate’s Scalability Index Assessment.

John Peebles, CEO at Administrate, comments, “There are many terrific learning tools and software out there, but the very practical challenge is that none of them were really created to work together – yet, they will be required to work together within your organization. Often, this creates tremendous manual labor for training teams, the labor they often do not have. That is where adopting a learning technology infrastructure with a consistent data model becomes a game-changer. Training teams remain able to select and use the learning technologies that best serve their organization’s learning and development needs while also maintaining an enduring learning tech environment that will connect with other crucial business systems, like HRIS or Finance.”

Identifying the unique circumstances of a business and selecting the right learning technologies to use is vital. Moreover, having the proper infrastructure to do so without excess labor makes a massive difference.

But there are plenty of ways to implement an effective learning technology strategy, which include optimizing training reports, automating communications to shareholders, and leveraging customized reports to show impact across departments. In general, automation is incredibly effective, implementing learning technology to improve various aspects and training operations.

In addition, upskilling the team’s data literacy is effective because it is a critical but often underdeveloped skill across organizations. In the same vein, improving data accuracy using training operations is highly important. Ensure that daily tasks are optimized to make the captured data more accurate.

Evaluating existing learning technology for agility is also effective. Identify the characteristics of highly resilient training software and explore how a unified tech stack might provide additional resilience. That is where a platform like Administrate comes into the picture.

Administrate allows all enterprise training operations to occur on a single platform. It is not only configured to a company’s individual needs but scalable and efficient, which are vital to a growing organization.

Implementing learning technology like Administrate allows for integration across business systems, insights on training needs, and the support needed to not only make training a success but a visible one. It is the existence of technology like this that puts companies without learning technology at such a severe disadvantage.

In fact, without the proper learning technology, a company will likely face difficulties scaling its training operations. They might even try filling the increasing deficiencies with additional staff and an ever-expanding team. However, doing so will be not only costly but also potentially ineffective. The true solution is investing in system infrastructure, and every day counts.

The post Why Companies That Wait to Implement Learning Technology May Never Catch Up appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Conservation efforts are vital to protecting nature and the future of the planet, and these efforts come in many different forms. It can be as simple as going green and trying to recycle, or it can be something much grander, such as the “America the Beautiful” campaign, which wants to restore and conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters.

The campaign seeks to make significant changes by 2030, restoring ecosystems and putting measures in place to protect them in the future. And it is all being done with a localized approach, where local experts will be a part of the efforts.

Clearly, it is something important that a lot of people care about, but it is not always the easiest thing to do, especially in and around cities where people live. Humans have complex needs, and convenience often trumps everything else. That is where conservation communities show incredible value.

Conservation communities are a combination between real estate and conservation, which provides beautiful protected landscapes with the necessary convenience and thoughtfulness to make living comfortable. Such communities strike a delicate balance between human settlement and protected wildlife and tend to make a big difference in local greenery.

In fact, while conservative communities provide a beautiful place to live, their primary goal is to save large parcels of land from ecological degradation. They are tailored to different regions and protect various ecosystems depending on the development plans and using low-impact infrastructure.

An example of a conservation community is Lagoon Valley, the Bay Area’s first conservation community. The community recently announced the homebuilders responsible for making the community’s plans a reality after 20 years of designing and planning.

Lagoon Valley is focusing on sustainable design principles, in line with what conservation communities strive to achieve. These sustainable practices will be part of every facet of the homes built on the land, ensuring they are low-impact while also being generational homes for those who buy them.

Lagoon Valley even seeks to exceed the standard set by the Greenbelt Alliance, which is a Bay Area organization dedicated to protecting important open space lands.

The homes in Lagoon Valley are a short walk away from many conveniences, including neighborhood shops, restaurants, and workplaces in the 750,000-square-foot Ascend Business Village. It is all surrounded by open space and recreational areas, with three-quarters of the 2,400 acres to be dedicated to open space.

Included in the open area are a 400-acre public park, a 71-acre wetland preserve, and 1,300 acres for hiking and mountain biking trails. The space will go hand-in-hand with the sustainability practices that strive to be eco-friendly and meet energy-saving mandates.

The overall goal of conservation communities like these is to sit communities within nature, integrating them to preserve and protect the areas around them. Moreover, it is not limited to residential areas like Lagoon Valley.

Other types of conservation development include private clubs and small-scale industrial activity constructed to ensure the protection or ecological restoration of an area.

Overall, conservation communities offer a way for residential and other areas to be designed and built in a way that is low-impact and actually helps rebuild and protect ecological systems. Energy, land, and other resources are used more efficiently, renewable energy is in abundance, and pollution is reduced to protect wildlife.

These are things that America desperately needs, especially as it enacts its “America the Beautiful” campaign, which seeks to take a more local approach. After all, it doesn’t get more local than creating a community dedicated to building and living in a way that promotes conservation every day. And if it can be done in a way that is diverse and suited for anyone and everyone, that’s even better.

The post Why America Needs More Conservation Communities appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Bryte, Inc., the leader in restorative sleep technology, announced today a $20 million strategic investment round led by Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX), the company synonymous with innovation in the mattress industry. Additionally, the two companies intend to collaborate on future products, services, and technology. ARCHina Capital and other existing Bryte investors also participated in the funding round.

“Our mission is to empower lives through restorative sleep, which starts by reaching as many people as possible, with the most technically advanced products and first-rate services at a complete range of price points. There is simply no company in the world with a more complete and desirable portfolio of brands than Tempur Sealy, and we couldn’t be more excited about their investment,” said Luke Kelly, CEO, Bryte.

“It has long been clear to us that meaningful innovation improves sleep outcomes for millions of people. With Bryte we have invested in a company that is committed to innovation with an elegant, seamless integrated product that we believe fits our long-term brand strategy. We are excited to form a relationship with their talented team,” said Scott Thompson, Tempur Sealy Chairman and CEO.

Bryte is best known for its flagship product The Restorative Bed, which is popular with celebrities and top CEOs alike, and can be found in the suites of luxury hotels such as The Four Seasons Beverly Hills, Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Park Hyatt NYC, as well as Rosewood locations, among others.

Bryte’s in-bed technology measures, learns, tests, and applies what each sleeper needs to optimize their restorative sleep through real-time in-bed personalized comfort adjustments and relaxation experiences and services. Furthermore, the technology is purpose-built as a platform of hardware, software and AI services that can be seamlessly integrated into the product lines of select mattress brands, in service of reaching and benefiting more sleepers, more quickly.

“We founded Bryte with the vision to integrate the latest technology and sleep science into delightful experiences that truly deliver impactful restorative sleep products & services. With Tempur Sealy, we have an amazing investor that shares our vision. We are excited to develop technologies and capabilities to lead the industry in creating breakthrough products and experiences together,” said Ely Tsern, Co-Founder and CTO of Bryte.

About Bryte

Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, Bryte is the Restorative Sleep Technology platform powering the future of sleep through licensing to leading mattress manufacturing partners, supplying hotels and selling direct to consumers. Prior to this round, the company has raised over $30M with investors including ARCHina Capital, 10x Group, Evolution VC Partners and more. For more information, visit Bryte.com.

About Tempur Sealy International, Inc.

Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX) develops, manufactures, and markets mattresses, foundations, pillows and other products. The Company’s products are sold worldwide through third party retailers, its own stores, and online. The Company’s brand portfolio includes many highly recognized brands in the industry, including Tempur®, Tempur-Pedic®, Sealy® featuring Posturepedic® Technology, and Stearns & Foster®. World headquarters for Tempur Sealy International is in Lexington, KY. For more information, visit http://www.tempursealy.com or call 800-805-3635.

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Paragon, a startup building a platform that integrates and aggregates various software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps for enterprise clients, has raised $13 million in a series A round led by Inspired Capital, alongside previous investors FundersClub and Garuda Ventures. CEO and co-founder Brandon Foo said that the tranche will be put toward “scaling” and expanding Paragon’s team across the engineering and go-to-market teams.

Paragon, a part of Y Combinator’s winter 2020 cohort, is designed to allow software products to integrate with third-party apps without disrupting existing workflows. Companies can use the platform to build SaaS integrations into their products that are then provided to their end users, with features such as fully managed authentication and prebuilt integration interfaces.

Foo founded Paragon in 2019 with Ishmael Samuel, a former Uber engineer. Paragon is Foo’s second venture after Polymail, an email app focused on collaboration.

“While building Polymail, we had to spend months becoming experts in the different vendor-specific authentication methods, APIs, and documentation for every integration we built. It felt like we were reinventing the wheel every time. Yet customers kept asking for more integrations, which quickly made it impossible to keep up, let alone maintain all these integrations we’d built,” Foo told TechCrunch in an email interview. “I later realized that this is a problem that every SaaS company faces today. When Ishmael and I started Paragon, we sought to solve a never-ending problem we’d experienced firsthand as software developers.”

Foo says that Paragon currently supports around 45 prebuilt integrations with SaaS apps, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack and Shopify. Recently, the company launched an integration builder that allows customers to create their own custom integrations on Paragon with public SaaS APIs without needing to write code.

Paragon offers two versions of its service: cloud-hosted and on-premise. Both store and manage end-user authentication credentials so that companies don’t have to manually build and maintain authentication for each app integration individually. They both also store integration data for logging and observability purposes.

“Software companies must offer integrations in order to stay competitive in the market — it has simply become an expectation of SaaS buyers … However, building integrations from scratch requires tremendous engineering resources — not to mention the work it takes to maintain integrations as SaaS APIs constantly change,” Foo said. “Paragon provides a simple, productized solution that abstracts the complexities of every SaaS integration into a single software development kit, which can be natively embedded in any product to provide a seamless end-user experience.”

Foo claims that Paragon is currently servicing about 100 million requests per month across its customer base. That’s an auspicious start, but the challenge will be maintaining growth as rival products emerge. While not tackling exactly the same problem, Pipedream offers an integration platform for building workflows and connecting cloud apps and services. With an eye toward financial applications, Stripe recently launched App Marketplace, a collection of scripts and tools incorporating third-party SaaS apps that work alongside Stripe’s payment processing.

Foo says, though, that the slowdown in tech has been unexpectedly fortuitous (minus the layoffs).

“It’s actually been an accelerant for Paragon, since engineering efficiency has become more crucial than ever before. Software companies need to do more with less, yet can’t afford to continue losing valuable deals by not meeting their customers’ integration requirements,” he said. “The top challenge Paragon solves for is engineering resources. To spend in-house engineering resources focused on external integrations takes valuable time away from building their core product.”

To date, Paragon has raised $16.5 million in capital.

The original article can be found on TechCrunch.

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Unstoppable Domains, the leading platform for Web3 digital identity with more than 2.5 million registered NFT domains, today announced it has closed $65 million in Series A funding at a $1 billion valuation. The round was led by new investor Pantera Capital with participation from Mayfield, Gaingels, Alchemy Ventures, Redbeard Ventures, Spartan Group, OKG Investments, Polygon, CoinDCX, CoinGecko, We3 syndicate, Rainfall Capital, Broadhaven, EI Ventures, Hardyaka, and Sound Media Ventures, along with previous investors Boost VC and Draper Associates. Unstoppable Domains will use the funding to fuel product innovation and grow our partnerships in the web3 space as we continue to build a platform for user-owned and portable digital identity.

“Unstoppable Domains is rapidly defining a new category of decentralized identity that will change the internet as we know it,” said Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital. “We’re proud to back Matt and the rest of the team who are making this vision a reality.”

Founded in 2018, Unstoppable Domains offers NFT domains that give people full ownership and control of their digital identity. The company has registered 2.5 million domains, which people can use to log into more than 150 Web3 applications, replace lengthy crypto wallet addresses on more than 80 wallets and exchanges, create decentralized websites, and build their web3 identity. Unstoppable Domains has built more than 300 partnerships with leading web3 companies like Polygon, Blockchain.com, MoonPay and more. Unstoppable Domains has generated more than $80 million in sales since launching in 2019.

“For too long, companies have controlled people’s digital identities, and Unstoppable Domains is putting that power back into the hands of people,” said Matthew Gould, Founder and CEO of Unstoppable Domains. “As the digital economy becomes a larger part of our lives, it’s time for people to own their identity on the internet. We’re thrilled to partner with Pantera and other investors who share our vision of onboarding billions of people onto Web3 through NFT domains that unlock user-owned, private, and portable identities.”

Unstoppable Domains is a fully remote company and was recently named one of America’s Best Startup Employers by Forbes.

ABOUT UNSTOPPABLE DOMAINS

Founded in 2018, Unstoppable Domains is an NFT domain name provider and digital identity platform working to onboard the world onto Web3. Unstoppable Domains offers NFT domains minted on the blockchain that give people full ownership and control of their digital identity, with no renewal fees. With Unstoppable Domains, people can replace lengthy alphanumeric crypto wallet addresses with a human-readable name and log into and transact with apps, wallets, exchanges and marketplaces. The company was named by Forbes as one of America’s Best Startup Employers in 2022.

ABOUT PANTERA

Pantera Capital is the first institutional investment firm focused exclusively on bitcoin, other digital currencies, and companies in the blockchain tech ecosystem. Pantera launched the first cryptocurrency fund in the United States when bitcoin was at $65/BTC in 2013. The firm subsequently launched the first exclusively-blockchain venture fund. In 2017, Pantera was the first firm to offer an early-stage token fund. Pantera Bitcoin Fund has returned over 32,000% in nine years and has returned billions to its investors. Pantera manages $4.7bn across three strategies – passive, hedge, and venture.

The original press release can be found on PR Newswire.

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Seedtag, the leader in contextual advertising in EMEA and LATAM, has today announced that it has raised over €250M in funding from private equity investor Advent International.

The company intends to use the funds to further scale its Contextual AI technology, LIZ©, as well as for innovation and worldwide operations, advancing its expansion into the US, the world’s largest advertising market, and providing additional firepower for further M&A activity as Seedtag embarks on its next phase of international growth. Growth in the United States is a key strategic focus, with Albert Nieto, co-CEO and co-founder of Seedtag relocating, and offices in New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles now established.

Over the past eight years, Seedtag has built a privacy-first advertising solution, pioneering the use of AI and machine learning to create the best contextual product in the market. Seedtag’s solution is currently the leading contextual solution in Europe and Latin America, with its AI and programs such as Seedtag LAB providing advertisers with a much deeper understanding of user interest without the use of personal data.

Seedtag aims to continue moving forward on its mission to become the global contextual advertising partner for brands and publishers. This investment represents a large step forward, following the outstanding success during the past year. This includes the acquisition of French adtech company KMTX (previously Keymantics), a leading French company specialized in building AI models to optimize and automate performance marketing campaigns, and securing funding from Oakley Capital last year.

As part of the transaction, Seedtag’s core existing institutional investors – Oakley Capital, Adara and All Iron Ventures – will remain investors, supporting the company in its next phase of growth.

Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto, co-founders and co-CEOs of Seedtag, will continue as investors, leading the business from both its Spanish and US headquarters.

Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto, co-founders and co-CEOs of Seedtag, stated: “We’re very excited about this partnership with Advent. This investment will massively accelerate our US expansion, boost our growth and reinforce our team and the development of our technology. This move further supports our mission of building the global leading platform for contextual advertising, offering an effective solution for cookieless advertising on the open web.”

Gonzalo Santos, Managing Director at Advent International and Head of Spain, said: “Seedtag has established itself as a leading player in Europe and Latin America in the very dynamic contextual advertising sector. We are delighted to partner with Jorge and Albert as they continue to build on this momentum. With our international presence and deep sector expertise, Advent will work with the Seedtag management team to further expand the business internationally. We look forward to supporting this hugely exciting business to grow and scale-up and to taking it to the next level.”

LionTree acted as exclusive financial advisor to Seedtag. Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor to Seedtag. Uria and Citigroup acted as advisors to Advent.

About Seedtag

Seedtag is the leading Contextual Advertising Company that creates highly impactful and engaging solutions for relevant premium visual content, powering targeting and returns for top publishers and the finest brands. The company’s contextual A.I. allows brands to engage with consumers within their universe of interest on a cookie-free basis.

Seedtag was founded in Madrid in 2014 by two ex-Googlers who wanted to get the most out of editorial images and to this day it is a global company that more than 300 employees and an important international presence with offices in Spain, France, Italy, UK, Benelux, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Chile and the US.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in over 395 private equity investments across 41 countries, and as of March 31, 2022, had €68.6 billion in assets under management. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of 270 private equity investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; health care; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. For over 35 years, Advent has been dedicated to international investing and remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.

Advent is an experienced investor in the media, marketing and digital transformation sectors, with deep expertise and global experience. Relevant investments in this space include Ansira, a Leading data-driven, technology-enabled marketing solutions provider, specializing in the integration of local and national marketing programs; CI&T, the leading provider of digital transformation services in Brazil; Encora, a global digital engineering services company specializing in software product development; Nielsen IQ, a comprehensive data, analytics and insights company for global retailers and brands and Tag, an omnichannel content production partner.

Advent began investing in Spain in 1990, making it one of the first international private equity firms to operate in the Iberian Peninsula and has invested over €900 million in the country in total to date.

The original press release can be found on PR Newswire.

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This goal will be done using the NEAR Protocol, a secure decentralized application (dApp) platform that is easy to use. But it has more going for it than user-friendliness, with the protocol offering affordable and inclusive operational costs. Moreover, the carbon-neutral technology and ethical community align well with Primordia DAOs mission.

But the protocol is not the only thing that looks to make the process easier. The structure of DAOs is also helpful in the social impact and social justice pursuit by adding transparency and democracy to all of the organizations involved. With DAOs, collective governance is the focus, making it ideal for the social justice as an organization movement.

Of course, the movement and Primordia DAO still have a way to go to reach their goal by the end of 2022, with only 30% of the 100 DAOs currently onboarded. Among them are DAOs that include Lowkey Giant DAO, a US DAO that focuses on NFT and crypto creativity and culture. There is also Verse Gallery, Scandinavia’s first physical NFT gallery, which looks to help people bridge the existing knowledge gap where NFTs and blockchain are concerned.

Among the other DAOs are a number of organizations looking to make a serious social impact with various approaches and specializations. And the diversity is only expected to grow as more DAOs join the mission to better the world using blockchain and the unique governance structure it offers through DAOs.

Additionally, Primordia DAO will act as the DAO of DAOs, giving the communities onboarded and involved with the mission the ability to become a significant part of the project. It does this by including the new communities in the council of the Primordia project.

As for the project chosen as part of the Primordia DAO mission, the focus is on those that deal with the social, psychological, economic, and ecological state of the world. It is through finding solutions to those challenges that Primordia DAO and The Kin DAO behind it hope to truly make a social impact on the world.

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