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Sabin Receives Additional $21.8 Million From BARDA to Advance Marburg Vaccine

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Sabin Vaccine Institute today announced it is receiving an additional $21.8 million under an existing contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These funds advance development of a vaccine against Marburg virus disease, a virus that is related to Ebola Zaire which killed 2200 people during the last major outbreak that ended in 2020.

The Sabin Marburg vaccine is the only candidate currently slated for a Phase 2 clinical trial. Marburg is among the world's deadliest viruses, resulting in the death of approximately half the people the virus infects. Currently, there are no approved vaccines or treatments for the disease. As recently as July this year, two people in Ghana died after being infected with Marburg virus, reinforcing the urgent need for medical therapies.

The latest tranche of funds enables Sabin to conduct a randomized, blinded, placebo–controlled clinical trial among adults in the U.S. to further evaluate the safety and the efficacy of the Marburg vaccine candidate and advance non–clinical vaccine dosing studies. The Phase 2 clinical trial in the U.S. will begin after Sabin has initiated a same–stage trial in Africa, currently scheduled for 2023. Sabin will also undertake a non–clinical study on the vaccine candidate during this phase.

"Beginning Phase 2 clinical trials for the Marburg vaccine is a pivotal milestone for us and we appreciate BARDA's continued confidence in our work and support for this critical next step," says Sabin Chief Executive Officer Amy Finan. "Vaccines remain our best bet against death and disability from deadly viruses. I am hopeful that in the years ahead, we can offer this life–saving vaccine to every person who needs it."

In 2019, BARDA awarded Sabin a multi–year contract valued at $128 million to further the development of vaccines against two lethal viruses: Marburg and Ebola Sudan. With BARDA now exercising the latest option of that contract, Sabin's Ebola and Marburg Research & Development program, to date, has been awarded $98.6 million.

BARDA is part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under contract number 75A50119C000555.

Learn more about Sabin's Marburg and Ebola Sudan Program.

About the Sabin Vaccine Institute

The Sabin Vaccine Institute is a leading advocate for expanding vaccine access and uptake globally, advancing vaccine research and development, and amplifying vaccine knowledge and innovation. Unlocking the potential of vaccines through partnership, Sabin has built a robust ecosystem of funders, innovators, implementers, practitioners, policy makers and public stakeholders to advance its vision of a future free from preventable diseases. As a non–profit with more than two decades of experience, Sabin is committed to finding solutions that last and extending the full benefits of vaccines to all people, regardless of who they are or where they live. At Sabin, we believe in the power of vaccines to change the world. For more information, visit www.sabin.org and follow us on Twitter, @SabinVaccine.

About Ebola Sudan and Marburg

Ebola Sudan and Marburg are members of the filovirus family. Both can cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. No therapeutic treatment of the hemorrhagic fevers caused by filoviruses has been licensed to date. Marburg and Ebola viruses are transmitted to humans by infected animals, particularly fruit bats. Once a human is infected, the virus can spread to others through close personal contact or contact with bodily fluids. Isolation of infected people is currently the centerpiece of filovirus control.

Marburg was the first filovirus to be recognized in 1967 when outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever were reported in a few Europe–based laboratories including in the town of Marburg, Germany. Ebola was identified in 1976 when two simultaneous outbreaks occurred in northern Zaire (now the DRC) in a village near the Ebola River and southern Sudan. The outbreaks involved what eventually proved to be two different species of Ebola virus; both were named after the nations in which they were discovered.

Media contact:

Rajee Suri
press@sabin.org


EMGA advises on US$10M debt raise for Banco D-Miro

LONDON, Aug. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emerging Markets Global Advisory Limited (EMGA), the niche investment bank focused on emerging markets, announces a Senior Debt raise transaction in Ecuador that will allow Banco D–Miro to continue the expansion of its microcredit lending activities in Ecuador.

The US$10 million debt facility was originated, advised upon, and structured by EMGA with financing provided by U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the transaction is the first time EMGA has completed an operation in Ecuador.

Commenting on the transaction, Banco D–Miro's CFO Fabian Victores Baque said, "We appreciate the support of EMGA and DFC to finalize this important transaction. Having a strategic partner such as DFC will help us to meet our objectives of generating more financial inclusion and increasing financing to women microentrepreneurs."

Jim Polan, Vice President of DFC's Office of Development Credit, said, "DFC's investment in Banco D–Miro will expand access to financing, enabling low–income populations and women entrepreneurs in Ecuador to recover from the COVID–19 economic downturn. With a focus on small businesses, this transaction will advance long–term development and economic growth in Ecuador, a key goal for DFC."

Sajeev Chakkalakal, Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at EMGA, said, “It was a real pleasure for EMGA to have advised Banco D–Miro on this important transaction aimed at funding their small and medium enterprise loan portfolio with a particular focus on women–owned enterprises. Furthermore, closing yet another transaction with DFC demonstrates the strength of our relationship built across several years. Finally, we believe DFC's position as a pre–eminent development finance institution will add a new, strategic long term funding source for Banco D–Miro."

Jeremy Dobson, Managing Director of EMGA, added, "With this first transaction in Ecuador, EMGA adds to its operational footprint in Latin America, and we will continue to develop business in the country and the region."

Banco D–Miro: Banco D–Miro is an Ecuadorian bank specialized in microfinance and their vision is to be the bank that contributes the most to the reduction of poverty. The bank offers financial services to the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in Ecuador and especially those areas, where the poverty levels are higher, and the penetration of financial services is the lowest.

DFC: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) partners with the private sector to provide financing solutions that aim to address the problems facing the developing world. We invest across sectors including energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and technology. DFC also provides financing for small businesses and women entrepreneurs in order to create jobs in emerging markets. DFC investments adhere to high standards and respect the environment, human rights, and worker rights.

Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP, based in London, helps financial institutions and corporations seeking debt/equity capital. EMGA's team combines the decades of experience needed to complete transactions in emerging countries including Ecuador, which remains a key market. EMGA continues expanding and solidifying its place as a niche investment bank focused on emerging markets.

Jeremy Dobson

info@emergingmarketsglobaladvisory.com


Triller Completes Pre-Public Listing Financing Plans For Q4, 2022 NASDAQ listing:ILLR, Also completes Acquisition of Bare Knuckle Fight Championship

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Triller, the AI–powered open garden technology platform for creators, today announced it had completed a substantial pre–public financing in the form of debt and equity. This announcement comes on the heels of its filing its S–1 with the SEC, the document a company files prior to a public listing. The company has reserved the ticker symbol "ILLR" with the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Participants in the round include Total Formation Co, an affiliate of Fubon Financial, one of the largest financial institutions in Asia with ownership of Taiwan Mobile, Taipei Fubon Bank, Fubon Life, and many others, and was for the third straight year on Fortune Global 500's list of "The Top 500 most valuable Global Brands. Other investors included, Falcon Capital, Clearvue Partners and others.

"This was an important step for Triller to be properly funded entering the Public Markets," said Mahi de Silva, CEO and Chairman of Triller. "We are very pleased to have such strong market leaders as investors and look forward to bringing Triller to the world via a Nasdaq listing," he continued. "If the capital markets continue to be stable, we are targeting an early Q4 public listing."

Triller also announced that it concluded the acquisition of of Bare Knuckle Fight Championship (BKFC), a transaction it announced it had contracted earlier this year.

Bare Knuckle has quickly become a world–wide phenomenon with deals consummated or in negotiations across more than 20 countries, and an unprecedented growth in the United States. BKFC is the fastest growing combat sport with an anticipated 200,000 subscribers between the BKFC app and Triller's wholly owned Fite TV.

"Bare Knuckle Fight Championship has enjoyed never before seen growth, as it offers something that all fight audiences can connect with," said Mahi de Silva CEO and Chairman of Triller. "This acquisition is a game–changer for Triller, as it accrues numerous synergies across our entire platform and allows us to supercharge BKFC even further," continued Silva. "By leveraging our creator platform, combined with our social media infrastructure, ad–tech and mar–tech capabilities, influencer network, and FITE TV's streaming services currently enjoyed by five million paying households, makes this acquisition a no brainer for both parties."

The announcement comes in the wake of BKFC's most successful, largest event–to–date, held on August 22 at Wembley Arena in London. This past weekend BKFC had its most successful event to date at Wembley Stadium in London, and trended number 2 in the world on Twitter. As a result, the digital streaming, pay–per–view, and subscription service FITE.TV by Triller, now has over 200,000 subscribers.

"I started BKFC from scratch and it has become a way of life, and will forever change boxing and MMA," said Dave Feldman, Founder and CEO of BKFC. "We spent over a year working with Triller prior to the acquisition, getting to know their team, their plans and the way in which BKFC would be integrated into their ecosystem. What became clear is that Triller was the only home for us. They are not seeking to change BKFC but will help supercharge our growth, maximizing our marketing and monetization. I can say without hesitation there is no company out there that has both the ambition and the tools of Triller to change the ways people consume combat sports," Feldman concluded.

As the world of social media and the way in which brands market are changing dramatically, Triller has led the way to Web3 and decentralization with a "open–garden" ecosystem, helping creators gain ownership of their audiences, control their monetization and financial destiny. Triller saw over 750 million content interactions last quarter and looks at each interaction as an opportunity for monetization.

While the financial terms were not disclosed, the transaction involved a combination of cash and stock for majority ownership of BKFC.

Triller recently filed a confidential S1 with the SEC and expects to become publicly traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker "ILLR" during the 4th quarter of this year.

"Triller is now the only company in existence which owns and controls the entire pipe from beginning to end," said de Silva. "Starting with the content creators, which includes fighters, the events, the actual production, and broadcast to the users themselves through Triller's Fite Tv 5 million plus paying households and we believe quickly will become the most valuable brand in combat sports.

"We want to thank our partners, investors and supporters whom to date have helped supercharge Triller from a startup in 2019 to a household name today, having raised over $300 Million Dollars, supporting over 750 million monthly interactions and over 300 million users across all of its platforms. We have only just begun."

About Triller
Triller is the AI–powered open garden technology platform for creators. Pairing music culture with sports, fashion, entertainment, and influencers through a 360–degree view of content and technology, Triller encourages its influencers to post the content created on the app across different social media platforms and uses proprietary AI technology to push and track their content virally to affiliated and non–affiliated sites and networks, enabling them to reach millions of additional users. Triller additionally owns VERZUZ, the live–stream music platform launched by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland; Amplify.ai, a leading customer engagement platform; FITE, a premier global PPV, AVOD, and SVOD streaming site; and Thuzio, a leader in B2B premium influencer events and experiences.

About BKFC
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) is the first promotion allowed to hold a legal, sanctioned, and regulated bare knuckle event in the United States since 1889. Based in Philadelphia and headed by President and former professional boxer David Feldman, BKFC is dedicated to preserving the historical legacy of bare knuckle fighting while utilizing a specifically created rule set that emphasizes fighter safety. BKFC will hold all its bouts in a revolutionary circular four–rope ring, designed to encourage fast–paced and exciting bouts. The patented BKFC “Squared Circle” contains scratch lines, based on the Broughton Rules, which governed bare knuckle fighting in the 19th century, and which requires fighters to “Toe the Line”: start every round face to face, and just inches apart.

In BKFC, only those fighters who are established professionals in boxing, MMA, kickboxing, or Muay Thai will be allowed to compete. The referees and judges will also be required to have extensive professional combat sports experience. All fights will be held under the auspices and control of an Athletic Commission. Unlike other fighting organizations and combat sports internationally which claim to be “bare knuckle”, but require wraps, tape, and gauze; BKFC is true to its word as fighters are not allowed to wrap their hands to within one inch of the knuckle. This makes BKFC unquestionably the truest form of bare knuckle fighting. BKFC is dedicated to not just creating the safest, most exciting, and highest–level bare knuckle fighting organization in the world; it's also leading the way for a new, fully recognized professional combat sport. BKFC is truly the sport of the future.

No Offer or Solicitation
This press release shall not constitute a solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the proposed business combination. This press release shall also not constitute an offer to sell, the solicitation of an offer to sell or an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Forward–Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, certain of the matters discussed in this communication constitute "forward–looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, both as amended by Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "will," "should," "may," "could," "plan" and the negative of such terms and variations thereof and words and terms of similar substance used in connection with any discussion of future plans, actions or events identify forward–looking statements. Forward–looking statements are not statements of historical fact and reflect Triller's current views about future events. Such forward–looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the proposed business combination and other contemplated transactions (including statements relating to satisfaction of the conditions to and consummation of the proposed business combination, the amount, timing, terms or ultimate issuance of Triller's convertible notes, the expected ownership of the combined company, the expected trading value of the combined company's shares of common stock, the expected timing and likelihood of completion of the business combination, the expected value of Triller and of the combined company and opportunities relating to or resulting from the business combination), and statements regarding the nature and commercial success of Triller and the combined company, commercialization and marketing capabilities and strategy of Triller and the combined company, developments and projections relating to the industry, the parties' ability to protect their intellectual property positions, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of Triller and the combined company and the effects of having shares of capital stock traded on Nasdaq. No assurances can be given that the forward–looking statements contained in this communication will occur as projected, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Forward–looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and assumptions that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: risks relating to the completion of the business combination, including the need for stockholder approval, the satisfaction of closing conditions and the timing to consummate the proposed business combination; the completion of the offering of Triller's convertible notes; potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed business combination; the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully; the risk of litigation related to the proposed business combination; the success and timing of regulatory submissions; regulatory requirements or developments; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" in filings made with the SEC from time to time. Forward–looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management at the time the statements are made. Triller undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward–looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward–looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.


dWallet Labs Raises $5M in Pre-Seed Round As Odsy Network Comes Out of Stealth

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — dWallet Labs, a cybersecurity company specializing in blockchain technology, today announced it raised $5M in pre–seed funding led by Node Capital and Digital Currency Group (DCG), and joined by Amplify Partners, Lightshift Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, Collider Ventures, Lemnsicap, Heroic Ventures, Impatient Ventures, Zero Knowledge, Dispersion Capital, Token Bay Capital, Tykhe Block Ventures, Cerulean Ventures and Earl Grey Capital alongside founders and angel investors from Coinbase, Ethereum, Celo, AngelList, Alt, Spearhead, and others. With top cybersecurity experts and cryptographers, dWallet Labs is building solutions on top of the Odsy (pronounced Odyssey: od–uh–see) Network, a secure and programmable decentralized access control layer to all of web3. The funds will be used for building protocols and projects on top of the Odsy Network.

In its short lifetime, blockchain has already gone through several evolutions. The first phase began with the emergence of Bitcoin which introduced decentralized money. Ethereum ushered in the second phase which brought decentralized applications (dApps) to light with smart contracts. Through the implementation of dWallets, Odsy marks the beginning of the third phase, decentralized access control, bringing the industry back to true decentralization.

Web3 has a major access control problem. As the industry continues to grow, it becomes more fragmented with new protocols, assets, and chains, causing access to revert from being completely decentralized (holding the private key directly) to outdated, centralized ways that hold the assets or keys for users. Managing access to decentralized solutions in a centralized way undermines decentralization. This is where a new era of decentralized access control comes in.

dWallets

Dynamic Decentralized Wallets (dWallets) are the trustless access control solution for web3. dWallets are a new blockchain primitive that other projects can build upon and offer programmable access for any other blockchain. A dWallet on the Odsy Network is bound to Wallet Contracts, dedicated smart contracts that manage the access control and privileges for that dWallet.

The dWallet concept will transform how digital assets are stored, used, accessed, and connected to the real world by adding a fully decentralized layer of a dynamic and stateful access control. This will open the door to new possibilities including multi–chain DAOs, granular access sharing, and interoperable infrastructure for DeFi. dWallets will also allow for a full transfer of their ownership, which was impossible before.

“It is rare to witness a totally new decentralized infrastructure allowing many new use cases that were not possible before with the utilization of the dWallet concept,” said Amos Meiri, Founding Partner at Node Capital.

“We're always looking for novel primitives that will unlock new use cases for blockchain technology. Soon after meeting the dWallet Labs team, we recognized the potential for their dWallet ecosystem to change access control for the better. In turn, dWallets may offer new ownership and transfer capabilities for a more expansive set of complex cryptoassets. We're excited to support the team and help bring their vision to fruition," stated Matt Beck, Director of Investments at Digital Currency Group.

Odsy Network

The dedicated blockchain that supports dWallets is the Odsy Network. In the Odsy Network, standard blockchain actions can be done only through dWallets, establishing them as a single, multi–chain access point to all of web3.

"Custody is just the tip of the iceberg, trustless access control is the missing piece of crypto. dWallets and the Odsy Network will connect crypto to the real world with so many new use cases," says Omer Sadika, Founder and CEO of dWallet Labs, who has his roots in cybersecurity, where he developed the concept of API Security, and founded API Security unicorn, Salt Security. "Today, we find it trivial that we have the appropriate access control, whether that be for a note–taking app or a bank account. However, when it comes to crypto, we have to choose between poor access control we get from blockchains to centralized solutions that defeat the purpose of being decentralized in the first place."

The Odsy Network was founded by Omer Sadika, David Lachmish, Sean Lee and Yehonatan Cohen Scaly, with the Zug, Switzerland–based Odsy Foundation that will support and develop the wider Odsy ecosystem. dWallet Labs will provide professional services to the Odsy Foundation, and support for organizations building on the Odsy Network.

"The Odsy Network is built as a security–first decentralized network, and it will be governed by the Odsy community," says Sean Lee, previously CEO of the Algorand Foundation, who serves as Odsy Foundation's Executive Director. "We are building the Odsy Foundation to support a vibrant Odsy ecosystem with builders and strategic partners to evangelize dWallet use cases for the next 10 years and beyond. The most innovative dWallet applications will come from the community and we will work together to imagine what is possible for the future of web3."

To learn more about dWallets and the Odsy Network visit odsy.xyz.

ABOUT ODSY NETWORK & DWALLETS
The Odsy Network provides a secure, programmable, decentralized access layer to all of web3 through dynamic, decentralized wallets (dWallets). A dWallet is a signing mechanism paired to a public key and constrained by dynamic access control, that operates within a decentralized state machine (e.g. blockchain). dWallets can sign transactions on any blockchain network that leverages the universally adopted signing algorithms (e.g. ECDSA, EdDSA, etc.)

On the Odsy Network, dWallets are bound to Wallet Contracts, dedicated smart contracts that are stateful and Turing–complete, enabling the management of access control and privileges of the dWallets, and the implementation of any protocol on top of the Odsy Network. The Odsy Network is a security–first blockchain that allows for multi–chain interoperability with programmable and transferable wallets. Learn more about Odsy and dWallets at odsy.xyz.

ABOUT DWALLET LABS
dWallet Labs Ltd., based in Tel Aviv, Israel, a cybersecurity company specializing in blockchain technology, is building SingleWallet, the first interface to interact with dWallets on the Odsy Network. The mission of dWallet Labs is to build protocols and solutions on top of the Odsy Network. dWallet Labs will also provide professional services and support for organizations building on the Odsy Network. The team possesses deep knowledge and expertise in cybersecurity, cryptography and blockchain technology. Learn more at dwalletlabs.com.

Media Contact
David Goosenberg; david.goosenberg@serotonin.co

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d34d11e7–33dd–473c–bfac–11adb2e4ae59


Insilico Medicine Announces New Investment Led by Aramco-backed Prosperity7 Ventures, bringing total Series D Financing to $95 Million

New York, Aug. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — HIGHLIGHTS:

Insilico Medicine announces a closing of its Series D2 round, bringing the total Series D financing to $95 million, despite an uncertain market

The Series D2 round is led by Prosperity7, the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures, which is an investment subsidiary of Aramco, the world's leading integrated energy and chemicals company

Relying on Prosperity7's global network and generous resources, Insilico will expand its AI capabilities from drug R&D to multiple areas to support sustainable development

Insilico Medicine, a clinical–stage end–to–end artificial intelligence (AI)–driven drug discovery company, announced today that it has completed a second closing of its Series D round, led by Prosperity7 Ventures, the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures, bringing the total Series D financing to $95 million. Other global investors with expertise in the biopharmaceutical and life sciences sectors also participated.

The financing brought in Prosperity7 as a new investor, alongside current investors in the Series D round, including a large, diversified asset management firm on the US West Coast, B Capital Group, Warburg Pincus, BHR Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, Deerfield, Pavilion Capital, BOLD Capital Partners, and WS Investment Company. Insilico's founder and CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, also invested in the Series D round.

Aysar Tayeb, Executive Managing Director of Prosperity7 Ventures, said: "The deepening application of AI and machine learning for drug discovery has demonstrated a transformative positive impact on the pharmaceutical industry and we are delighted to embark on this partnership with Insilico Medicine, a frontrunner in this innovation. Backed by the breadth of Aramco's ecosystem across geographies and sectors, we look to support the company to scale up and expand its footprint globally, to drive biotechnology excellence, and to bring positive impact for greater wellbeing."

The new Series D capital will support the continued advancement of Insilico's pipeline, including its lead program which is currently in a Phase 1 study in New Zealand and in China, as well as several pipeline programs in IND–enabling studies. The proceeds will also fund other key strategic initiatives, including further development of its end–to–end Pharma.AI platform, the launch of a fully automated, AI–driven robotic drug discovery laboratory and biological data factory, and the establishment of regional centers.

The investment from Prosperity7 further diversifies the Company's investor base globally and brings a potential strategic partner with deep expertise in high–performance and environmentally friendly energy R&D. Relying on Prosperity7's global network and generous resources, Insilico will expand its AI capabilities from drug R&D to multiple areas, including sustainable chemistry, green energy, and agriculture to actively support sustainable development. Insilico had already leveraged the power of its platform to accelerate innovation in sustainable agriculture in a multi–year collaboration with Syngenta which validated that the platform's capabilities in AI–enabled multiparameter optimization could create substantial value.

"In 2022, Aramco became the world's most valuable company, and we are deeply honored to receive the investment from their venture capital arm, Prosperity7, which focuses on investment in "disruptive technology'," said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. "Our experience in expanding our reach into sustainable agriculture through our collaboration with Syngenta and others demonstrated the diversity of data and methods and unprecedented scale up allows us to improve our performance. I am certain that the collaborations with Prosperity7 in the field of sustainable and environmentally friendly chemistry and clean energy solutions will further expand our artificial intelligence capabilities. In addition, after spending time in Saudi Arabia, it is clear that the country is making a giant leap in technology. We would love to be part of this effort and help the country realize its vision using the latest advances in artificial intelligence."

Through a unique dual–CEO structure, Insilico Medicine is advancing its AI capabilities and drug research and development simultaneously. Recently, the Company promoted Dr. Feng Ren, Insilico's Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) to the position of co–CEO to drive the company's drug R&D platform. In addition to overseeing drug discovery and development, Dr. Ren will also guide the Company's growing clinical development and will play a leading role in driving business development. During his tenure, the Company has rapidly transformed its pipeline into a robust portfolio of novel, innovative drug candidates, targeting areas with highly unmet needs. Seven programs in its internal pipeline have progressed to IND–enabling studies, including a novel 3CL protease inhibitor for COVID–19 treatment, and two synthetic lethality programs targeting MAT2A and USP1 for oncology indications. It also successfully completed a Phase 0 microdose study in Australia and entered Phase I clinical trials with its first internally developed program targeting fibrosis in both New Zealand and China.

"We have the structure to be as an equal parts AI and drug development company," said Feng Ren, PhD, co–CEO and CSO of Insilico Medicine. "We also have a number of exciting initiatives in motion "" including an expanding global presence, a robotics lab in development, and significant progress in our internal pipeline programs. With this latest funding round, we will be able to scale up our capabilities, advance our internal programs, develop our AI, and align with partners in the Saudi region to develop new regional technology hubs."

Insilico has co–development and software licensing deals with a number of major pharmaceutical companies. Since the launch of its PandaOmics and Chemistry42 platforms in late 2020, nine out of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, as measured by 2020 revenue, have used Insilico's AI platforms. In 2022, Insilico signed multi–asset partnerships with Fosun Pharma and EQRX in January and March, respectively. Notably, Insilico achieved its first major milestone and nominated a preclinical candidate for the QPCTL program for cancer immunotherapy less than 40 days into the strategic collaboration with Fosun Pharma. Business development continues to remain a vital part of the company's strategy to demonstrate and unlock the value of its Pharma.AI platform.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a clinical stage end–to–end artificial intelligence (AI)–driven drug discovery company, is connecting biology, chemistry, and clinical trials analysis using next–generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques to discover novel targets and to design novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is delivering breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases and aging–related diseases.

For more information, visit www.insilico.com

For media inquiries, please contact media@insilicomedicine.com

About Prosperity7 Ventures

Prosperity7 Ventures is the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures, a subsidiary of Aramco, the world's leading integrated energy and chemicals company. The fund's name is derived from "Prosperity Well', the 7th oil well drilled in Saudi Arabia and the first to strike oil. Taking forward this pioneering history, we invest globally, with a long term–view, in breakthrough technologies and transformational business models that will bring prosperity and positive impact on a vast scale.

For more information, visit www.prosperity7vc.com


Asante Announces US$140M Forward Gold Purchase Agreement

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Asante Gold Corporation (CSE:ASE | GSE:ASG | FRANKFURT:1A9 | U.S.OTC:ASGOF) ("Asante" or the "Company") announces that effective July 15, 2022 the Company has completed the first US$100 million tranche of a US$140 million financing package from strategic financial institutions in Ghana (the "Financing Institutions").

The initial drawdown of US$100 million will be used to cover local operating costs and the Company's near–term broader funding and strategic objectives.

Repayment terms are to be 25% of the principal and interest in four equal installments of US$26.88 million, with the final payment due July 12, 2023. Settlement will be in US funds by delivery of gold at the financial institutions' designated gold refinery in Switzerland and sold at the then Bloomberg BGN XAUUSD spot market price less 7%. The annual interest rate of this gold forward facility is 7.53%.

The Company assumes no derivative risks from the transaction as the loan principal is denominated in US funds and repayments from gold deliveries will be made in US funds, thereby providing a natural currency hedge.

Through this facility Asante obtains an immediate and non–dilutive financing, repayable from gold production. The Bibiani Mine has completed its commissioning, with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022.

The Company thanks the Financing Institutions for their confidence and financial support as Asante continues to develop its production profile in Ghana.

The Company is also in advanced discussions on additional senior secured debt facilities to provide for ongoing sustaining capital.

About Asante Gold Corporation

Asante is a gold exploration, development and operating company with a high–quality portfolio of projects in Ghana. Asante is currently operating the Bibiani Gold Mine with forecast production of 175,000 oz of gold over the next 12 months, is completing the acquisition of the Chirano Gold Mine from Kinross Gold Corporation (the Chirano Acquisition), and is developing to production its Kubi Gold mine, all located on the prolific Bibiani and Ashanti Gold Belts. Asante has an experienced and skilled team of mine finders, builders and operators, with extensive experience in Ghana.

Asante is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Asante is also exploring its Keyhole, Fahiakoba and Betenase projects for new discoveries, all adjoining or along strike of major gold mines near the centre of Ghana's Golden Triangle. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.asantegold.com.

About the Bibiani Gold Mine

Bibiani is a historically significant gold mine situated in the western region of Ghana, with previous gold production close to 5 Moz. It is fully permitted with available mining and processing infrastructure on–site consisting of a 3 million tonne per annum mill and processing plant, and existing mining infrastructure. Mining commenced in late February with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022. The Company is targeting 175,000 oz of gold production over the next 12 months.

The Current Mineral Resource Estimate for Bibiani, as reported in the Technical Report on the Bibiani Gold Mine, Ghana, by Principal Author Ian M Glacken FAusIMM (CP), FAIG, CEng and Qualified Person Dan Bansah MSc, MAusIMM (CP), FWAIMM, MGIG, dated November 7, 2021, and filed on SEDAR, is Measured and Indicated 20.1 million tonnes at 2.71 grams of gold per tonne for 1.81 Moz of gold, plus Inferred 8.41 million tonnes at 2.78 grams of gold per tonne for 0.75 Moz of gold from an open pit mine. The Mineral Resource has been reported above a 0.65 g/t gold cut–off and has been depleted for both historical open pit and underground development as of August 31, 2017. The Bibiani Main Pit mineral resource has been prepared by Competent Persons (Optiro, 2017) using accepted industry practices and have been classified and reported in accordance with the JORC Code (JORC, 2012). There are no material differences between the definitions of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources under the CIM Definition Standards and the equivalent definitions in the JORC Code. The Satellite pit resource is an update completed in 2018 by Resolute Mining Limited. The Satellite pit resource is also reported above a cut–off grade of 0.65 g/t gold inside a pit shell defined at a gold price of US$1,950. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

About the Chirano Gold Mine

The Chirano Gold Mine is an operating open–pit and underground mining operation located in southwestern Ghana, immediately south of the Company's Bibiani Gold Mine. The Chirano Gold Mine was first explored and developed in 1996 and began production in October 2005. The Chirano Gold Mine comprises the Akwaaba, Suraw, Akoti South, Akoti North, Akoti Extended, Paboase, Tano, Obra South, Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao open pits and the Akwaaba and Paboase underground mines.

For further information please contact:

Dave Anthony, President & CEO: CAN+1 647 382 4215 or GH+233 55 879 3309, dave@asantegold.com
Malik Easah, Executive Director, malik@asantegold.com
Frederick Attakumah, Executive Vice President, frederick@asantegold.com
Alec Rowlands, Capital Markets Consultant, alec@asantegold.com
Valentina Gvozdeva, Manager IR, valentina@asantegold.com
Kirsti Mattson, Media Relations, kirsti.mattson@gmail.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward–Looking Statements

This news release contains forward–looking statements. Forward–looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward–looking statements, including statements regarding the timing of the completion of the balance of the US$140 million financing package, additional potential financing, the structure and terms of the Chirano Acquisition, timing for completion of the Chirano Acquisition, the ability of the Company to complete the Chirano Acquisition on the terms announced, anticipated synergies, the resources, reserves, exploration results, and development program at Chirano, Bibiani and Kubi, including timing of future mine development and the start of production. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward–looking statements include, but are not limited to, the inability to satisfy any condition required to complete the balance of the US$140 million financing package, the inability to satisfy any condition required to complete the Chirano Acquisition, termination of the share purchase agreement, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its planned activities, and the Company's inability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies. The reader is referred to the Company's public disclosure record which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward–looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except as required by securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward–looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
LEI Number: 529900F9PV1G9S5YD446.

Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.


Reinforcing Success – Fluidic Propulsive System™ Development & New Crowdfunding Initiative

EDMONDS, Wash., June 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Jetoptera announced the launch of their Regulation Crowdfunding raise via StartEngine. We are creating a transformative aerospace propulsion system and capability to evolve vertical takeoff and landing aircraft beyond propellers and rotors.

Jetoptera invites you to be the catalyst, a pioneer, and adventurer with us on this amazing journey to bring forth a safe, quiet multi–use method of propulsion which is focused on S/VTOL, small and medium helicopter replacement with missions spanning logistics, air ambulance, VIP transportation and commonplace aerial mobility, as well as on high–speed VTOL, and wing in ground effect maritime craft, that can scale to a vast array of sizes and applications.

"We are encouraged and enthusiastic about the extensive data we are collecting with the support of the US Air Force to refine the design of our new scalable prototype FPS based vehicles," said Founder and CEO Dr. Andrei Evulet. "Advancements in such a transformational capability as Fluidic Propulsive Systems and their integration into advanced airframe designs demands our attention, focus and determination to make FPS propelled vehicles in the air, land and sea commonplace in the years to come."

To learn more about your Jetoptera Crowdfunded investment opportunity, please go to https://www.startengine.com/jetoptera/

ABOUT JETOPTERA
Jetoptera is a propulsion system, drone, and aerial mobility startup with the vision to create a world where aerial mobility is commonplace. To that end, we have developed and demonstrated a unique Fluidic Propulsive System integrated with a novel airframe, protected by 60 granted and allowed patents and another 100+ pending. This has many advantages over other approaches: faster, simpler, quieter, more compact, and lower cost. Our distributed propulsion system lends itself naturally to our mission, to create vertical and short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft, with other applications such as wing in ground effect vehicles to enable unmatched speed, range, payload, and efficiency to transport cargo and people.

Contact
Todd Newton
Vice President
+1 (703) 589–3739
info@jetoptera.com

Facebook | LinkedIn


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8572130)

HYCU® Secures $53 Million Series B to Fuel Hypergrowth for New SaaS-based Service

Boston, Massachusetts, June 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — HYCU, Inc., a pioneering enterprise BaaS company specializing in hybrid cloud and multi–cloud data backup and recovery as a service, today announced its $53 million Series B led by Acrew Capital. All Series A investors returned, including Bain Capital Ventures (BCV). Strategic investors and innovation leaders Atlassian Ventures and Cisco Investments also participated in the round. Funding will help accelerate several key go–to–market initiatives to support significant demand in HYCU's multi–cloud data protection solutions across on–premises and public cloud environments, including bringing to market a new developer–led SaaS service.

With 92 percent of organizations rapidly adopting a SaaS–based multi–cloud model, there is a critical need for companies to deploy a new breed of solutions that serve as true multi–cloud data protection delivered as a service. With a mission of building a safer world by protecting critical data, HYCU will use the new funding to continue developing its solution to serve ever–evolving data and recovery needs. Over the past 12 months, HYCU has added 165 employees across go–to–market, sales, HR and engineering. The new funding will accelerate key positions in alliances, product marketing and customer success as well as advance some key innovation–focused solutions and services delivery.

"With an average of more than 130 data silos in use at today's enterprises, any solution to manage, protect and recover data should be easy to use and deploy," said HYCU Founder and CEO Simon Taylor. "HYCU fundamentally believes there is a better way to solve data protection needs, and we are on track to deliver a profoundly simple and powerful solution before the end of the year. Adding strategic investment from Atlassian Ventures and Cisco Investments, along with the on–going support from Bain Capital and Acrew is a testament to what the team has developed and is delivering to customers worldwide."

Theresia Gouw, cofounder of Acrew Capital, joins BCV Partners Enrique Salem and Stefan Cohen, and Simon Taylor on the HYCU Board of Directors. Gouw, a well–respected investor and strategic leader, currently serves on several SaaS boards, including SolvHealth, PredictHQ and Ketch. Her experience in the industry will help HYCU as it continues to enhance and grow its solution portfolio to meet customer needs.

"The rise of multi–cloud brings an insurgence of ransomware threats," said Gouw. "Amidst the current economic climate, the explosion of data assets and the high value of data, we've seen HYCU rise as the key way of simplifying the multi–cloud data protection experience including a powerful way to address ransomware protection and recovery. I look forward to being an active member of the HYCU Board of Directors and to help further position HYCU as the leading data backup and recovery solution for multi–cloud and SaaS solutions. This is only the beginning and it's an exciting time to be paving the way to the future of data protection."

In recent years, SaaS customers have begun to require answers to how their data is protected. As a result, organizations are identifying the need for data backup and recovery solutions. HYCU provides granular recovery capabilities, supporting individual file systems and networks that enable SaaS services to easily write an enterprise–grade data protection solution directly into its platform.

"In the hybrid world, customers expect to consume cloud delivered as–a–Service offerings. HYCU is applying this to backup and data resiliency with a cloud–native, storage agnostic solution," said Aleem Rizvon, vice president of Corporate Development for Cisco. "Through Cisco Intersight, we are working to transform many of the traditional IT functions into cloud services. That's why we are pleased to invest in HYCU as they bring this approach to the data resiliency space."

"At Atlassian, we believe in breaking down organizational and data silos across technical and business teams. Collaboration is about bringing these teams together, and HYCU does this by allowing customers to work together on a secure and reliable platform,” said Matt Sonefeldt, Head of Atlassian Ventures. "We're excited to welcome HYCU to the Atlassian Ventures family and believe its approach to data protection as a service creates immense potential for our 200,000+ cloud customers."

HYCU's Series B follows a $87.5M Series A led by BCV last year and brings the total investment to $140M in a little over a year. Building on year–on–year bookings growth of 150%, this announcement follows a successful first quarter close, with projections to achieve the same growth rate in 2022. The company also tripled revenue in the past 12 months, maintained a 135% net–retention rate, maintained a 91 net promoter score (NPS), the highest in the industry for data protection companies, and saw a 4x increase in valuation in the last year.

For more information on HYCU, visit: https://www.hycu.com, or follow @hycuinc and connect with HYCU on LinkedIn.

###

About HYCU

HYCU is the fastest–growing leader in the multi–cloud backup and recovery as a service industry. By bringing true SaaS–based data backup to both on–premises and cloud–native environments, the company provides unparalleled data protection, migration and disaster recovery to more than 3,100 companies worldwide. HYCU's award–winning, purpose–built solutions eliminate the complexity, risk and high cost of legacy–based solutions, providing data protection simplicity in a hyper–connected, multi–cloud world. Customers experience frictionless, cost–effective data backup and recovery, no matter where their data resides. Based in Boston, Mass., the company employs 300 people across the globe. Learn more at www.hycu.com.


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8568993)

Preql raises $7M to build the future of data transformation

NEW YORK, May 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Preql, a no–code data transformation solution, announced that it has raised $7 million in seed funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Felicis, and top founders in the analytics ecosystem including Taylor Brown from Fivetran, Keenan Rice from Looker, Tristan Handy from Dbt Labs, Eldad Fakash from Firebolt, and Benn Stancil from Mode. Preql's platform allows business users to structure data for reporting without having to write SQL or rely on specialized data talent.

Preql builds upon the innovation of tools like Snowflake and Fivetran, which have made aspects of the analytics workflow accessible to organizations without data engineering resources. The next evolutionary step in the modern data stack is to allow business users to manage their own logic for reporting "" something that's not possible today without advanced SQL and data transformation expertise.

Preql's Co–Founders and Co–CEOs, Gabi Steele and Leah Weiss, met while leading data teams at WeWork and went on to found a successful data engineering and visualization consultancy. During their time at WeWork, they experienced a disconnect between business users who need data for decision making and the data teams who structure and prepare data for analysis. Business users have to pass along definitions to data modeling specialists, who maintain logic in code but lack sufficient business context. Even with exceptional data talent, the result of this handoff is often lack of trust in data, frustrated data teams, and costly data investments without a clear path to ROI.

Preql's funding comes at a moment where companies of all sizes are now investing in data cloud data storage and ingestion tools. The cloud storage market is growing 22.3% each year. Despite these investments in modern infrastructure, few companies have the internal resources required to shape their data for analysis. "There's a misconception that simply storing data will help your organization become data driven. Data storage is necessary, but the hard part is agreeing on what you want to measure, how you want to measure it, and then translating that business logic into code," said Leah Weiss, Co–Founder. "Preql gives business users the ability to contextualize their data and customize definitions, but then abstracts away the complex work of data transformation."

Preql's technology sits on top of the data warehouse, predicts the data model required for your business, and then lets business users customize metric definitions. It compiles all of that logic and delivers reporting ready datasets back in your warehouse, something that previously took months of manual effort from highly skilled data teams. "We've seen first hand the pain business users and data teams experience while building out a central source of truth for reporting," said Gabi Steele, Co–Founder. "We are deeply committed to delivering a design forward and intuitive solution that business users will love and understand, and that more mature data teams are grateful for because it saves them so much back and forth."

"We're excited to partner with Preql to make data capabilities more accessible to organizations and verticals that are currently underserved," said Amit Karp, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "We were really impressed with the unique insight the founders bring to this problem and the clarity of their vision." Viviana Faga, General Partner at Felicis adds, "we couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Gabi and Leah, who are on a mission to change the way data is transformed and accessed, better serving the needs of business users at every company."

About Preql
Preql is building automated data transformation for business users. Its technology empowers business users to access analysis–ready data in minutes without having to learn SQL or rely on a data team. Preql is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Felicis, and several angel investors. Learn more at preql.com.

About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long standing companies. With more than 135 IPOs and 200 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer's global portfolio includes Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr and Toast and has $9 billion of capital under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Boston, Beijing and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer's storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti–Portfolio).

About Felicis
Founded in 2006, Felicis is a venture capital firm investing in companies reinventing core markets, as well as those creating frontier technologies. Felicis focuses on early stage investments and currently manages over $2.1B in capital across 8 funds. The firm is an early backer of more than 41 companies valued at $1B+. More than 91 of its portfolio companies have been acquired or gone public, including Adyen (IPO), Credit Karma (acq by Intuit), Cruise (acq by General Motors), Fitbit (IPO), Guardant Health (IPO), Meraki (acq by Cisco), Ring (acq by Amazon), and Shopify (IPO). The firm is based in Menlo Park, CA. Learn more at www.felicis.com.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/98753d0b–a231–4884–a213–3f20c212a9bf


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8560456)

Lighthouse Labs raises US$7M seed round, co-led by Accel, BlockTower and Animoca Brands, to build the open metaverse navigation engine

MONTREAL, May 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lighthouse, the company building the open metaverse navigation engine, today announces that it has raised a US$7 million seed round co–led by Accel, BlockTower and Animoca Brands. The round includes participation from White Star Capital, Sparkle Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, The Graph core developers StreamingFast, Tiny VC and angels including Patricio Worthalter (founder, POAP), Ryan Selkis (founder, Messari), Alex Svanevik (founder, Nansen), Thibault Launay (founder, Exclusible) and other high profile Web3 investors.

On the back of a year that saw virtual worlds like The Sandbox, Decentraland and Otherside sell hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of land and attract names such as Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger and Snoop Dogg, the metaverse has rapidly captured public interest. Many new worlds have emerged to empower creators and capitalize on a market opportunity estimated at US$680 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research). The ecosystem's rapidly growing level of fragmentation is making discovery an increasingly daunting experience for users and creators, who are now left wondering which world to explore and build experiences into.

Founded by Jonathan Brun and Justine Massicotte, Lighthouse seeks to solve this problem by simplifying discovery and mobility across the spatial web. Its platform, which will launch this summer, will enable users to search for places, events, creators, experiences, and even friends across and within virtual worlds. Beyond search, Lighthouse will offer a portal where users will be able to see trending activities, build groups of friends to explore the metaverse, see where their NFTs are usable and follow the work of specific brands and creators. Prior to launching Lighthouse, Jonathan Brun was Entrepreneur in Residence in White Star Capital's Digital Asset Fund while Justine Massicotte was in charge of the Query Suggest engine at Coveo, a publicly–traded enterprise search company with global operations.

"If you are curious about the metaverse and don't know where to start, Lighthouse will be the place to go," says Jonathan Brun, co–founder and CEO of Lighthouse. "Right now, discovery in the metaverse feels more like gaming, where you need to jump from one game to the next to find things, than the internet, where you can access everything from a single entry point. By building Lighthouse, we take the view that siloed worlds will eventually merge to become closer to the web. We've all seen how much standards and principles of openness propelled our digital lives with the internet. We are confident that Web3 virtual worlds will unite behind our vision of making the open metaverse a searchable place."

“Lighthouse has the exciting opportunity to build a part of the unifying infrastructure for the metaverse,” said Andrei Brasoveanu, Partner at Accel. “The power of the metaverse lies in making it discoverable to a broad range of users, creators, and brands. Jonathan and Justine have thought hard about the opportunity ahead and what it takes to enable everyone to immerse themselves in this increasingly fragmented virtual world. We're looking forward to partnering with the Lighthouse team on this journey!”

To power its platform, Lighthouse partners directly with the worlds for which it provides search capabilities. "Web search engines like Google or Brave use crawlers to discover publicly available web pages. However, because of the heavy and dynamic nature of 3D interactive media, powering real–time search across and within virtual worlds requires direct data integration. The open metaverse is still early, which gives us the opportunity to work hand–in–hand with projects to deploy standards that will ensure that the spatial web forms a cohesive unit," said Lighthouse's co–founder and CTO, Justine Massicotte.

Yat Siu, the executive chairman and co–founder of Animoca Brands, commented: "As a long–time builder and supporter of the open metaverse, Animoca Brands is well aware of Lighthouse's overall value proposition and in particular of the pain points that the company is working to solve. We believe that Jonathan and Justine have the right vision and expertise to execute and we look forward to providing our assistance as they expand the universe of worlds they partner with."

"As users will be spawning with their Avatars identity into many parallel virtual worlds in the open metaverse, we believe a new standard for a navigation system allowing for both content discovery and socialization layers will be needed, to aggregate metadata that facilitates connecting with your friends and communities across them and exploring content from one to another,” said Sebastien Borget, COO & co–founder of The Sandbox. “Lighthouse's vision just focuses on that and we are happy to be working closely with them at The Sandbox and look forward to continuing providing our support to make the future truly open, transparent and interoperable."

The funding will be used to grow Lighthouse's engineering and community teams, expand the universe of worlds it partners with and launch its platform in Summer 2022.

To stay up to date with Lighthouse, keep an eye on their Discord, Medium and follow them on Twitter.

About Lighthouse Labs
Lighthouse is an open metaverse navigation engine that enables the search for places, events, friends, creators, assets, and experiences across and within virtual worlds. Through its portal, Lighthouse empowers users to find trending activities, build groups of friends to explore the metaverse, see where their NFTs are usable and follow the work of specific brands and creators. Lighthouse powers its solution by directly integrating with the virtual worlds for which it provides searchability capabilities. For more information visit: https://www.lighthouselabs.xyz/

Lighthouse is currently looking to expand the universe of worlds it partners with. If you are building a virtual world and would like to collaborate, go to https://www.lighthouselabs.xyz/ to book an intro meeting with the Lighthouse team.

Media Contact
Cat Staffell
cat@serotonin.co


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8540265)