DataCore Secures US$60 Million in Funding to Accelerate Growth and Innovation

Vistara Growth’s backing highlights DataCore’s role in shaping the future of data ecosystems through AI-powered advancements across core, edge, and cloud deployments

FORT LAUDERDALE, USA – July 16, 2024 – DataCore Software, an industry leader in the data infrastructure and management space, has achieved a significant milestone by raising US$60 million in a financing round led by Vistara Growth, a provider of flexible growth capital to innovative technology companies. This investment will enable DataCore to expand its technology offerings and operational agility, ensuring the company can effectively meet the evolving demands of modern data environments and infrastructure stacks. By broadening its market reach to tackle emerging use cases, DataCore aims to support its customers and ensure their success across core, edge, and cloud environments.

With data volumes, complexities, and cyber threats on the rise, organizations are grappling with unprecedented challenges in data management. DataCore is set to leverage the infusion of new capital to advance its suite of storage solutions, with a concentrated effort on enhancing infrastructure and data resilience. The investment will fuel the integration of AI technologies, enabling businesses to extract actionable insights and streamline complex workflows through smart automation. Moreover, a continued focus on cybersecurity frameworks will help DataCore customers counter evolving threat vectors, providing more robust data protection safeguards.

John O’Donoghue, who led the investment for Vistara Growth, said, “As a pioneer in data storage and infrastructure solutions, DataCore is well positioned to capitalize on the increasing data volumes generated by corporate digital transformations. We have seen first-hand how DataCore’s customers depend upon their flexible, hardware-agnostic solutions for critical, high-availability storage workflows, and we are excited to partner on their next phase of growth. DataCore’s track record of delivering cutting-edge infrastructure solutions is supported by 25 years of R&D and innovation further enhanced by strategic acquisitions.”

“This pivotal funding marks a new chapter in our commitment to our customers and partners, enabling us to deliver greater value through collaboration and innovation,” said Dave Zabrowski, CEO of DataCore Software. “With the strong support of Vistara Growth, we are poised to accelerate the development of intelligent and resilient solutions in the areas of new-age data infrastructures that not only address today’s data challenges but also pave the way for future advancements. Our goal is to empower businesses with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly complex digital landscape, driving long-term success and creating sustainable impact.”

As DataCore embarks on this new chapter, the company is focused on fueling product innovation with transformative AI and cyber resilience solutions, pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This forward-thinking strategy positions DataCore as a catalyst for progress, enabling organizations to modernize and futureproof their digital infrastructure and IT systems.

About DataCore

DataCore Software delivers the industry’s most flexible, intelligent, and powerful software-defined storage solutions for the core, edge, and cloud. With a comprehensive product suite, intellectual property portfolio, and unrivaled experience in storage virtualization and advanced data services, DataCore has helped over 10,000 customers worldwide modernize how they store, protect, and access data. For more information, visit datacore.com.

Kyndryl announces its acquisition of Skytap to accelerate hybrid cloud adoption and help customers modernize mission-critical infrastructure platforms

NEW YORK, May 13, 2024 – Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, today announced that it has acquired privately held Skytap, a leading specialized workload services provider.

“The acquisition of Skytap reflects the proactive steps we’re taking to invest in our mission-critical capabilities where our global alliance partnerships and innovation enable us to help our customers transform and grow,” said Dave Simpson, Global Practice Leader for Cloud at Kyndryl.

Kyndryl’s acquisition of privately held Skytap will expand the company’s hybrid cloud services portfolio. Skytap’s innovative technologies will be combined with Kyndryl’s expertise in helping customers utilize cloud native services to accelerate the adoption of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and development, security and operations (DevSecOps). Skytap is recognized as having particularly strong capabilities for transitioning complex workloads to support hyperscaler environments. Skytap’s technologies enable customers to move and run their mission-critical systems in the public cloud with minimum change.

Additional portfolio optimization

Kyndryl also announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to divest its transaction processing platform for the securities brokerage industry in Canada, known as Securities Industry Services (SIS), to Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. Kyndryl intends to provide managed services and capabilities to Broadridge related to SIS following the divestiture.

Revenues generated by both Skytap and SIS over the last twelve months were less than 1% of Kyndryl’s annual revenue. While Kyndryl expects to record a transaction-related gain (excluded from its adjusted results) in conjunction with the SIS divestiture, the transactions have no impact on Kyndryl’s fiscal year 2025 outlook, which was provided on May 7, 2024. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the two transactions for general corporate purposes.

Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Closing of the SIS transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals.

About Skytap

Skytap is a cloud service purpose-built to natively run traditional systems in Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. As the best cloud service to support AIX, IBM i, and Linux on IBM Power together with x86, Skytap makes it easy to evolve traditional workloads by rapidly migrating them to the cloud. Enterprises around the world like IBM, Honeywell, CA Technologies, and Okta use Skytap for production workloads, disaster recovery, virtual training labs, and application development. Skytap’s cloud environment simplifies management, reduces IT costs, speeds up application development, and allows organizations of all sizes to modernize at the pace of their business.

About Kyndryl

Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, serving thousands of enterprise customers in more than 60 countries. The company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com.

Brim Financial Secures $85 Million in Series C Funding to Fuel Global Expansion

Significant investor interest fueled by Brim Financial’s robust revenue growth and momentum across its customer portfolio from enterprise wins

TORONTO, April 3, 2024 – Brim Financial (“Brim”), a leading fintech infrastructure company transforming the credit card platform and payment automation space, today announced the closing of an $85 million Series C funding round on the back of strong revenue growth, rapidly increasing market share and expansion into the business and commercial segments.

Led by Export Development Canada (“EDC”), this round included strong participation from Vistara Growth alongside return investors White Owl Group, Epic Ventures, and Zions Bank. This landmark financing will fuel Brim’s U.S. expansion strategy, including extending its market reach, accelerating product development and forging strategic alliances.

Brim’s modular platform and highly scalable product suite fully empowers financial institutions, fintechs and large international brands to run and evolve their product platforms to meet their customer and market needs. Brim’s leading technology enables these partners to significantly decrease time to market while reducing the cost and challenges associated with building and maintaining advanced capabilities independently.

“This funding will accelerate Brim’s growth and fuel our international expansion,” said Rasha Katabi, CEO and Founder of Brim. “We will continue to execute on our robust product roadmap, focus on platform automation, and integrate open banking capabilities. Brim aims to redefine the credit card and payment infrastructure landscape and empower our customers to succeed in a rapidly changing environment.”

Since successfully closing the firm’s Series B funding round, Brim has:

• Entered into a transformational partnership with Mastercard, including integration of its open banking capabilities to modernize credit card infrastructure in the U.S.
• Formed a strategic partnership with TrueNorth to deliver Credit Cards-as-a-Service platform to financial institutions and fintech customers in North America.
• Successfully rolled out credit-card-as-a-service (PaaS) to banks, credit unions, and major international brands, including Laurentian Bank, Affinity Credit Union, CWB, and Air France-KLM.
• Expanded strong momentum in the U.S. market with middle-market U.S. banks.

“Brim has all the elements for success – an innovative product, rapid growth and a visionary management team,” said Guillermo Freire, Senior Vice-President, Mid-Market Group, EDC. “With EDC’s investment, Brim will continue to be positioned as a market leader and drive its growth into new markets, bringing proven solutions to financial institutions and enterprises.”

The company intends to significantly ramp up hiring across all functions to support product and customer growth. To learn more, please visit brimfinancial.com.

About Brim

Brim Financial is one the fastest growing enterprise technology companies, according to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50™ in North America. Brim’s Credit-Card-as-a-Service has been recognized as best-in-class for product capabilities by Aite-Novarica Group in their analysis of global Credit-Card-as-a-Service providers. Brim’s robust platform and feature-rich products deliver a broad suite of payment solutions for Businesses and Consumers as well as comprehensive Enterprise Workflows for issuers. To learn more, visit www.brimfinancial.com.

Nordic Capital acquires Zafin, a leading provider of SaaS Core Modernization and Transformation solutions

• Investment made in partnership with Zafin’s founders and management, with the intention to accelerate the Company’s growth and product / platform roadmap
• As a leading technology investor, Nordic Capital will leverage its expertise, experience and resources to further support Zafin’s commitment to simplify bank core modernization and create tangible business results for banks globally

VANCOUVER, B.C., Feb. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Nordic Capital has signed an agreement to acquire a majority share in Zafin, a leading provider of SaaS core modernization and transformation solution for financial institutions around the world. The investment is made in close partnership with Zafin’s founders and management, who will reinvest in the company alongside Nordic Capital. Zafin is recognized as an industry leader for its innovative approach to bank core modernization. Zafin’s core SaaS platform extracts product and   pricing from multiple core systems, enabling users to work collaboratively to design and manage relationship pricing, products, and packages, including personalized propositions. The platform allows banks to dynamically respond to changing customer and market needs across their entire bank core system footprint, all while ensuring regulatory compliance, transparency, and operational control. As a result of these benefits, such as faster time to market, increased revenue opportunities, lower operating costs, and reduced operational risks, Zafin is recognized as a preferred partner for banks globally. Zafin is a global organization serving a diverse base of customers including Wells Fargo, US Bank, HSBC, Truist, ING, CIBC, PNC, and ANZ.

Al Karim Somji, CEO, Zafin, said: “This partnership is an absolute game-changer for the Zafin team and our customers. We have been powering the modernization and transformation of banks and futureproofing their banking technology investments for years. With Nordic Capital’s scale, technology expertise, and deep market understanding, this partnership enables us to become a global leader in banking technology solutions.”

Mohit Agnihotri, Partner Nordic Capital Advisors, said: “Nordic Capital has been a keen observer of bank IT modernization efforts and has been highly impressed with Zafin’s innovative approach to helping its customers react to a constantly changing business landscape. The Company’s exceptional track record of success and resoundingly positive customer feedback are a testament to the entire Zafin team and product they have built. We firmly believe that Zafin will emerge as a gold standard in bank IT modernization efforts. Nordic Capital looks forward to partnering with Zafin management on the next phase of the company’s growth, including leveraging our seasoned inhouse operational team, deep expertise and expansive relationships in the sector.”

Nordic Capital has over 30 years of experience accelerating the growth of innovative technology companies. As a leading specialized technology investor globally, Nordic Capital has to date made 29 technology investments with an aggregate enterprise value of close to EUR 24 bn. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Completion of the transaction is expected during Q1 2024 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Zafin and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP served as legal counsel to Zafin.

About Zafin

Founded in 2002, Zafin offers a SaaS product and pricing platform that simplifies core modernization for top banks worldwide. Its platform enables business users to work collaboratively to design and manage pricing, products, and packages, while technologists streamline core banking systems. With Zafin, banks accelerate time to market for new products and offers while lowering the cost of change and achieving tangible business and risk outcomes. The Zafin platform increases business agility while enabling personalized pricing and dynamic responses to evolving customer and market needs. Zafin is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with offices and customers around the globe, including ING, CIBC, HSBC, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Truist, PNC, and ANZ. For further information about Zafin, please visit www.zafin.com.

Kore.ai, A Leader In Enterprise Conversational And Generative AI Platform Technology, Closes $150 Million Funding Round

Round led by FTV Capital, with participation from NVIDIA, Vistara Growth, and other existing investors. Funding to further solidify leading position in explosive advanced AI markets

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Kore.ai, a leader in enterprise conversational and generative AI platform technology, today announced $150 million in funding. The strategic growth investment was led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor with a successful 25+ year track record investing across enterprise technology, along with participation from NVIDIA and existing investors such as Vistara Growth, Sweetwater PE, NextEquity, Nicola and Beedie. The new funding will accelerate Kore.ai’s market expansion and continuous innovation in AI to deliver tangible business and human value at scale.

Poised to seize market momentum around putting AI to work

The AI market has seen rapid growth and disruption driven by advancements in technology and shifting user expectations. Gartner estimates the conversational AI market to reach $377 billion in revenue by 2032, up from $66 billion in 2023. This reflects an exponential demand for enhanced customer experiences, streamlined business operations and innovative GenAI applications addressing specific business tasks.

Kore.ai provides an enterprise-grade no-code platform to help companies of all sizes power business interactions with AI safely and responsibly while driving significant revenue and cost savings. From conversational virtual assistants to generative AI (Gen AI) applications, Kore.ai’s differentiated platform offers purpose-built workflows, highly configurable tools and a flexible, open architecture that are recognized as the leading approach by customers and analysts. This gives teams the ability to craft custom solutions or deploy pre-built, domain-trained virtual assistants across multiple industries such as banking, healthcare and retail and across a variety of functional roles such as IT, HR and others, to accelerate time-to-value.

“We have been working with advanced AI for a decade now – our deep technology expertise and market understanding put us in a prime position to take advantage of the momentum and to do AI right in order to meet growing customer needs,” said Raj Koneru, founder and CEO of Kore.ai. “Sitting above the infrastructure layer and LLM chaos, our open approach grants businesses freedom of choice with built-in guardrails for effective AI implementation. As we look to enhance our Gen AI-powered innovations and drive wider adoption across a variety of market segments, we are pleased to have the backing of FTV Capital, a firm that has significant experience in our space and invaluable connections across the enterprise to augment our exciting growth trajectory.”

“We’ve spent significant time examining the landscape and evaluating advanced-AI platforms, and Kore.ai clearly stood out with its proven enterprise-grade platform capabilities, visionary leadership, strong R&D focus, established global customer base and clear path to profitability,” said Kapil Venkatachalam, partner at FTV Capital. “We’re excited to partner with such an experienced and high-caliber team that consistently delivers world-class innovations, and we look forward to leveraging our deep knowledge and network to catalyze Kore.ai’s success.”

Market understanding and expertise across diverse use cases

Today, several Fortune 2000 companies across a variety of industry verticals leverage Kore.ai to enhance their customer, employee and contact center agent experiences and drive measurable ROI. Customers include leading financial institutions, such as PNC Bank and large global banks, as well as major brands such as AT&T, Cigna, Coca-Cola, Airbus and Roche.

Over the past several years Kore.ai has consistently demonstrated triple-digit year-over-year growth in revenues. The company automates 450 million interactions a day for about 200 million consumers and two million enterprise users worldwide. In addition to domestic growth, Kore.ai’s growth has been fueled by rising demand from emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Europe, LatAm and the Middle East. As a result, Kore.ai has added new Global 2000 enterprise customers across major verticals.

Kore.ai has been recognized as a leader and an innovator by top analysts, including being named a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Conversational Al Platforms twice in a row.

About Kore.ai

Kore.ai is a leading provider of advanced AI technology with a decade of experience in helping enterprises realize business value through the safe and responsible use of AI. The company’s innovative platform, no-code tools and solutions are used to deliver end-to-end customer and employee experiences from automated to human assisted and to build generative AI enabled applications. Kore.ai takes an open approach allowing companies to choose the LLMs and infrastructure that best meet their business needs. Trusted by over 200 partners and 400 Fortune 2000 companies, Kore.ai helps them navigate their AI strategy. The company has a strong patent portfolio in the AI space and has been recognized as a leader and an innovator by top analysts. Headquartered in Orlando Kore.ai has a network of offices to support customers including in India, the UK, Middle East, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. Visit Kore.ai to learn more.

Algo Raises $20 Million Funding From Vistara Growth To Accelerate Global Expansion And AI Solution Delivery

Investment to expedite the growth strategy and ambitious roadmap centered around delivering an ai-powered supply chain insights platform

TROY, MICHIGAN, January 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Algo, a leading provider of SaaS AI-based solutions for supply chain and demand planning in retail, CPG and manufacturing, announced today the closing of funding from Vistara Growth.

“We have witnessed how Algo’s product suite provides their customers with a game-changing shift in how they manage their supply chain demand planning, inventory allocation and in-store optimization,” said Noah Shipman, Partner at Vistara Growth. “We are excited to partner with the company’s CEO, Wayne Sim, and the entire Algo team as they further consolidate the fragmented supply chain software industry, expand their offerings and onboard additional retailers and merchants looking to modernize their operations.”

The $20 million capital raise will accelerate the company’s global expansion plans and most notably help further develop and expand Algo’s AI-powered product portfolio, which optimizes forecasting, merchandising, and downstream supply chain operations. Clients such as Microsoft, Meta, JB Hi-FI, Walmart and many others choose Algo to power their planning and inventory workflows.

Retailers and manufacturers need to act smarter and faster with their inventory planning for the year ahead, to ensure they protect margins and achieve revenue targets. Leading retailers that use Algo’s smart supply chain solutions utilize a leading demand planning and forecasting engine that incorporates holistic data inputs for instant business insights. Algo solutions generate highly accurate forecasts that drive smarter decision making, improve operational efficiencies, and maximize profits.

“We appreciate Vistara Growth’s support of our recent merger and in our continuing success,” said Algo CEO, Wayne Sim. “AI-driven forecasting and demand planning is changing the way that leading retailers are running their supply chain operations. We are excited to pursue our growth and partner with company leaders who recognize that our solutions are enabling them to make informed, insightful decisions, to drive their future success.”

About Algo

Algo is a leading AI supply chain SaaS provider that uses technology to transform information into opportunity, breathing new life into supply and demand for global organizations. Algo enables retailers, suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers to gain insight into their demand planning and inventory optimization processes, to supercharge their supply chains. Combining AI and machine learning with deep domain expertise, Algo’s omnichannel SaaS platform helps suppliers and retailers plan, simulate, and execute more efficient supply chains through smart automation, actionable analytics, and digital twin technology. Visit www.algo.com to learn more.

Impact Analytics Raises $40 Million After Stellar Year to Pave Way For Global Expansion

World’s fastest-growing, AI-powered retail planning and merchandising software platform provider receives its largest-ever funding to capitalize on new partnerships and accelerate its worldwide market penetration.

LINTHICUM HEIGHTS, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)—Impact Analytics™, provider of the industry’s most innovative retail-, grocery-, CPG-, and supply chain-focused planning and merchandising software suite—complete, fully integrated, and built with native AI—today announced it has closed $40 million in growth financing. This funding round was led by Sageview Capital with additional support from long-time partner Vistara Growth. As part of this transaction, Jeff Klemens, Partner at Sageview Capital, and Prashanth Palakurthi, Senior Advisor at Sageview Capital and founder and former CEO of Reflexis Systems, will join the company’s board of directors.

The company will use this funding to:

• Expand its sales, marketing, and customer service organizations in the U.S. and abroad;
• Ensure its technology platform and AI capabilities continue to lead the industry;
• Deepen its strategic partnerships; and
• Strengthen its balance sheet in anticipation of future growth opportunities.

Impact Analytics clients grow profitably through actionable, data-driven insights and automated operations across full-lifecycle categories including demand forecasting, pricing optimization, assortment alignment, inventory management, and financial planning. Founded in 2015 as an AI company, Impact Analytics remains a startup committed to technology innovation and customer success.

Company highlights in 2023 included:

• A fast-growing roster of leading brands, securing Impact Analytics’ ranking as an America’s Fastest-Growing Company, by The Financial Times—for the fourth straight year
• Continued development of GenAI and other innovative technologies, contributing to the company’s rating in the top 100 of America’s Most Innovative Companies, by Fortune—the youngest company in that group and the only one from the retail analytics space
• Three separate partnerships with Google Cloud: Product availability on its Marketplace; an agreement to share GenAI technologies; and recognized status as a Google Cloud Supply Chain ISV Partner
• Continued, unwavering customer satisfaction, leading to 300+ worldwide retailers voting Impact Analytics the #1 Targeted Solution Vendor in the 2024 RIS Software LeaderBoard report
• A growing market foothold in EMEA, APAC, and LATAM

“Sageview Capital partners with proven companies that leverage disruptive technologies and that have an intimate understanding of their customers’ business challenges and objectives,” said Jeff Klemens at Sageview Capital. “Impact Analytics clearly excels in all these regards as a pioneer in their space and we look forward to a fruitful and exciting partnership.”

“We are thrilled to continue and expand our partnership with Impact Analytics,” said Neil Kenley, Principal at Vistara Growth. “Under the leadership of Prashant Agrawal, the company’s founder and CEO, we have seen true dedication to customer success and technological innovation, driving meaningful growth and opportunity. The market has recognized Impact Analytics as a leader in its category and we see the company developing into an industry juggernaut.”

In addition to Sageview’s and Vistara’s support, Palakurthi will be investing personally. He expects Impact Analytics will continue to transform merchandising and the supply chain operations dramatically—much as his prior company, Reflexis Systems, transformed retail and consumer goods labor planning. “Impact Analytics’ AI-driven technologies and techniques have tangibly boosted profitability across its customer base,” said Palakurthi.

“This funding round could not have come at a more propitious moment, we could not have imagined better partners than Sageview and Vistara, and adding Palakurthi and Klemens is especially satisfying as they have both been there, done that,” said Impact Analytics founder and CEO Prashant Agrawal. “Impact Analytics technology is unassailably the best, our client loyalty is truly humbling, and our strategic partnerships are strong and growing stronger. With Sageview and Vistara at our side, we’ll ride this tide to bring our solutions to an ever-widening audience.”

Needham & Company served as the exclusive financial advisor, and Cooley LLP served as the legal advisor to Impact Analytics. Gunderson Dettmer served as the legal advisor to Sageview Capital.  Barnes & Thornburg served as the legal advisor to Vistara Growth.

About Impact Analytics

Impact Analytics is a proven leader in Retail, CPG, Manufacturing and Supply Chain focused enterprise AI SaaS solutions. Its suite of products for planning, forecasting, merchandising and end-to-end lifecycle pricing is empowering leading retailers to make smart data-based decisions, transform their businesses, and achieve substantial business benefits. Impact Analytics’ unique engagement model allows for quick implementations to be executed in a cost-efficient manner with lower TCO. To learn more, visit impactanalytics.co.