April 4, 2023 – L' Observateur Burundi

April 4, 2023

Vytelle Closes $20MM in Series B Funding to Accelerate Genetic Progress in Cattle

LENEXA, Kansas, April 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vytelle, a precision livestock company, has raised $20MM in Series B funding to accelerate genetic progress in cattle. With this new investment, Vytelle will continue to expand its global operations, while delivering the most accessible, reliable, and predictable reproductive technology available to customers today.

The investment was led by Forage Capital Partners, a Calgary based growth equity fund that invests across the entire food and agriculture value chain. New investor, Mountain Group Partners, joins current investors, Grosvenor Food and Ag Tech, Open Prairie, Fulcrum Global Capital, Serra Ventures, and KC Rise to complete the round.

Forage Capital Partner, Jim Taylor said, “Vytelle has proven their ability to scale and deliver consistent results for the benefit of cattle producers aiming to accelerate genetic progress around the world. We are impressed with Vytelle’s track record of growth and delivery and are excited about what the future will bring.”

Vytelle’s integrated technology platform combines Vytelle ADVANCE, a breakthrough in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology, with Vytelle SENSE, an animal performance data capture system, and Vytelle INSIGHT, an artificial intelligence based genetic analytics engine.

As the fastest growing advanced reproduction company, Vytelle is easily accessible to more than 50% of the US cow herd. Combining this footprint, with Vytelle’s curation of the world’s largest multibreed efficiency database, provides the infrastructure to impact bovine genetic progress rapidly. Progressive cattle producers can use the technology to multiply the impact of elite livestock productivity and profitability, sustainably delivering more protein with fewer inputs.

“We are delighted to have secured this new investment; this is indicative of strong market interest in our products and services. Our mission is clear, and we are grateful for the support of our investors who join us on our journey to ensure meat and milk are viable food choices for future generations.” said Kerryann Kocher, CEO of Vytelle.

About Vytelle

Vytelle is a precision livestock company reshaping how cattle producers worldwide optimize their herds. Through Vytelle’s integrated technology platform, generations of genetic gains can be made in just a few years. This allows producers to sustainably deliver more protein with fewer inputs, helping to ensure meat and milk are viable, competitive food choices for future generations. For more information about Vytelle, please visit www.vytelle.com.

About Forage Capital Partners

Forage Capital Partners is Canada’s most experienced team of Ag & Food investors, having managed over $500 million in commitments to the industry over the last 18 years. Forage Capital Ag & Food Business Solutions Fund works to provide its portfolio companies with the stability and flexibility they need to expand and adapt their business models during these challenging times. The fund will invest with creative business owners that are looking to capitalize on new and innovative opportunities. For more information on Forage Capital Partners, visit www.foragecapitalpartners.com.

About Mountain Group Partners

Mountain Group Partners is a Nashville-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies predominantly in the life sciences, animal health and disruptive technology sectors.  The firm has invested in companies across animal health primarily in companion animals and technologies centered on improving protein production.  Mountain Group takes a hands-on approach to investing based upon its deep operational experience and currently has over $300 million in assets under management. For more information on Mountain Group Partners, visit www.mtngp.com.

Attachment

Vytelle Announces Series B Funding

Lisa Rumsfeld
Vytelle
lisa.rumsfeld@vytelle.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8801024

April 4, 2023

Decision Intelligence Leader & AI Innovator Quantexa Raises Valuation to $1.8 Billion With Completion of Series E Funding Round

GIC leads funding round of $129 million with Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital and other existing investors participating

Quantexa joins elite group of UK tech companies reaching breakout Unicorn status

LONDON and NEW YORK, April 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quantexa, a global leader in Decision Intelligence (DI) solutions for the public and private sectors, announced today that it has completed a $129 million Series E funding round. The latest investment round secures the British tech company’s unicorn status with a valuation of $1.8 billion and will accelerate the execution of its growth strategy within the *$230bn Decision Intelligence category.

The round was led by GIC, a global institutional investor, and existing investors also participated, including Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, British Patient Capital, Evolution Equity Partners, HSBC, BNY Mellon, ABN AMRO Ventures, and AlbionVC. This investment comes less than 18 months after Quantexa closed its $157 million Series D funding round in July 2021 and just weeks after its acquisition of Aylien, a Dublin-based leader in natural language processing (NLP) and advanced AI.

In what has been a difficult period for many tech companies, Quantexa continues to post impressive growth, having grown their ARR over 100% since closing their Series D round. In the same time period, Quantexa has seen robust growth in all regions, including a breakout performance in North America, with an increase in ARR of over 180%.

The success comes on the heels of Quantexa’s continued geographic expansion efforts which has seen the company grow from 500 to 650 employees over the past year and open new offices in New York City, the UAE, Amsterdam, and a new Technology and Analytics Hub in Malaga Tech Park, Spain, in November 2022. This new capital will ensure that Quantexa continues to grow its global presence and invest in its world-class engineering talent.

Quantexa also plans to use the funding to boost technology innovation efforts and strengthen its Decision Intelligence Platform capabilities in low-code data fusion, graph analytics, machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, Quantexa will increase focus on accelerating joint go-to-market efforts with its flagship partners which include Google, Moody’s, Accenture, KPMG, Deloitte, and EY.

Deployed in more than 70 countries, thousands of users across banking, insurance, telecoms industries, and within public sector, rely on Quantexa’s outcome-driven solutions to protect, optimize, and grow their organizations. Quantexa’s growing customer-base includes BNY Mellon, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Danske Bank, Vodafone, and The Public Sector Fraud Authority in the UK Cabinet Office.

Vishal Marria, CEO of Quantexa said, “After closing our Series D investment round, Quantexa has been on a transformational journey, accelerating the growth of our global software business and firmly establishing our leadership position in the emerging Decision Intelligence category. In a challenging market we have doubled our ARR, our user base, and continue to penetrate new markets and industries. This infusion of capital will fuel further innovation, diversification, and expansion, and opens exciting options for our future.

“It’s a real testament to our vision and trajectory to have such a significant contribution from our new investor, GIC and the majority of our Series D investors – in our latest round. We warmly welcome GIC and thank our existing investors for their continued confidence in our ability to generate growth and accelerate the path to profitability.”

*Total addressable market (TAM) estimate is based on Quantexa proprietary research with data from sources including IDC, Chartis, GreySpark (GS), Allied Market Research, and Inkwood Research.

About Quantexa

Quantexa is a global data and analytics software company pioneering Decision Intelligence that empowers organizations to make trusted operational decisions by making data meaningful. Using the latest advancements in big data and AI, Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence platform uncovers hidden risk and new opportunities by providing a contextual, connected view of internal and external data in a single place. It solves major challenges across data management, KYC, customer intelligence, financial crime, risk, fraud, and security, throughout the customer lifecycle.

The Quantexa Decision Intelligence Platform enhances operational performance with over 90% more accuracy and 60 times faster analytical model resolution than traditional approaches. Founded in 2016, Quantexa now has more than 600 employees and thousands of users working with billions of transactions and data points across the world. The company has offices in London, New York, Boston, Toronto, Malaga, Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxemburg, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, and the UAE. For more information, please visit www.quantexa.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About GIC

GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to secure Singapore’s financial future. As the manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves, GIC takes a long-term, disciplined approach to investing and is uniquely positioned across a wide range of asset classes and active strategies globally. These include equities, fixed income, real estate, private equity, venture capital and infrastructure. Its long-term approach, multi-asset capabilities and global connectivity enable it to be an investor of choice. GIC seeks to add meaningful value to its investments. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC has a global talent force of over 1,900 people in 11 key financial cities and has investments in over 40 countries. For more information, please visit www.gic.com.sg or follow on LinkedIn.

Media Enquiries 
C: Stephanie Crisp, Associate Director and Media Strategist, Fight or Flight
E: Quantexa@fightflight.co.uk

C: Adam Jaffe, SVP of Corporate Marketing
T: +1 609 502 6889
E: adamjaffe@quantexa.com
– or –
RapidResponse@quantexa.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000802066

April 4, 2023

Seychelles to host world’s largest salt-water floating solar plant

Work on a floating solar farm in Seychelles is expected to begin this year, following the signing of three agreements for the project on Tuesday.

Once completed, Seychelles will have built the world’s largest salt-water floating solar plant.

The project, which has been seven years in the making, will see the installation of a 5-megawatt photovoltaic system in the lagoon at Providence, on the eastern coast of Mahe, which will help Seychelles move closer to its zero-emissions target.

The agreements for the project were signed in a ceremony on board the Energy Observer, which is a floating photovoltaic laboratory, which is an official partner with French renewable energy company Qair.

In fact, of the three agreements signed; one between the Seychelles government and Qair for government support on the project and another two – a power purchase agreement and grid connection agreement – was signed between the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) and Qair.

“The government is determined to ensure energy security through the best investments and with the use of renewable energy in Seychelles,” said the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Energy, Flavien Joubert, in his speech after the signing of the agreements.

He added that “just seven months separate us from this agreement and having a plant in operation in Seychelles.”

On his part, the regional director of Qair, Olivier Gaering, said that despite the many international issues that threatened the project, it is great that it finally reached this point.

“Qair started looking into the Seychelles market back in 2015, seven years ago and I am very happy that we have managed to get these agreements signed so that we can move forward with the first independent power production project in Seychelles,” said Gaering.

Qair is an independent power producer (IPP), operating 860 MW of power generation assets exclusively from renewable sources.

The group is in the construction and financing phase for 800 MW and is also developing 16 GW of assets for future deployment in the heart of the 20 territories in which it operates.

For the Seychelles project, the majority shareholder is a Seychellois company, Vetiver Tech, owned by businessman Radley Webber.

Webber explained that originally the plant was meant to produce less electricity than has now been agreed, but through their meetings and discussion, they managed to find a way to produce more, through the partnership with Qair.

“We also had some issues when we originally announced the project, with inhabitants of the surrounding area expressing concerns about the impact it would have on marine life, but we were able to show that as these panels will be on the surface of the water, it would have no effects on the underwater species,” said Webber.

Gaering explained that all the necessary environmental impact assessments were completed to ensure the project poses no danger to the surrounding environment.

The agreements signed last for 25 years, with Qair funding most of the project, while they will also be the ones providing all the necessary maintenance on the panels.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

April 4, 2023

AfDB to assist Seychelles with $100m next year

Seychelles will receive more funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) next year to maintain its economic stability, said a top official of the bank on Monday.

The statement was made to reporters by the executive director of the AfDB, Jonathan Nzayikorera, after meeting with Seychelles’ President Wavel Ramkalawan.

He said that AfDB is discussing how to further assist Seychelles with “around $100 million for the next coming year, which will support the economy to keep developing.”

The bank has already provided resources of $78 million, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramkalawan thanked the AfDB for the continued assistance that it has provided in helping Seychelles forge ahead in its economic development and stability.

“The budget support that the AfDB provided helped us, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a challenging time but we managed to overcome the difficulties. We are committed to maintaining a diplomatic principle for the betterment and the goodwill of our nation. With all the assistance that the AfDB provides, we are sure to remain on the right track. Rest assured of our continuous support,” said Ramkalawan.

Nzayikorera commended the President for his leadership and Seychelles’ government for its top ranking in several aspects. These include being a fully vaccinated country that has set an example not only for Africa but also for the whole world, social governance, a well-based welfare protection programme for its citizens, and democracy.

Accompanied by the Seychellois senior adviser at the AfDB, Ronald Cafrine, told the press that he was in the country “as a representative of Seychelles on the AfBD Board of Directors to brief the authorities on the bank affairs and to seek guidance on strategic areas as the representative that I need to focus on.”

He added that the discussions with the President were quite impressive and he really appreciated the insights he received.

Another subject that was discussed was the economic diversification of the economy “as currently, Seychelles’ economy depends more on tourism and fisheries which are exposed to external shocks.”

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, heavily relies on tourism, which brought in a revenue of €221 million in the last three months of 2022.

The country began discussions to diversify its economy after a downturn in travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected the tourism industry.

A survey of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, conducted in 2021, showed that most businesses — 91 percent — reported operating on a partial basis or being temporarily closed. Fourty-nine percent reported operating partially with reduced capacity and 42 percent reported being temporarily closed.

Nzayikorera pointed out that there are many investment opportunities in Seychelles which include the digital economy and improving financial services, which will create jobs for the youth but also increase the value addition for local production.

He gave the example of tourists coming into the country and said: “They are not only staying in the hotel but also have some other opportunities so that their spending stays in the country.”

The AfDB has 81 member countries which include Seychelles and non-regional members such as the United States.

Source: Seychelles News Agency