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NetScientific "well positioned for growth" when venture capital market turns

NetScientific PLC

NetScientific PLC (AIM:NSCI) CEO Dr Ilian Iliev speaks to Thomas Warner from Proactive after the investment and commercialisation group published its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023. Dr Iliev provides some context for the half-year results, saying that the company has been working hard and focusing on executing its strategy in what has been a "difficult period" for venture capital. He goes on to give an overview of the half-year results, saying that he's "happy to report strong progress in the first half of the year" and highlighting the realisation of "roughly £800,000 in profitable partial exists from the portfolio" during the period. He addresses how the challenges affecting the wider venture capital sector are playing out at NetScientific and expresses confidence in what the company calls its "evergreen" strategy, saying that its "well positioned for growth when inevitably the cycle turns around... we are not venture capital tourists - this is what we do on a daily basis and we are positioning ourselves for the inevitable turnaround." Contact Details Proactive UK Ltd +44 20 7989 0813 uk@proactiveinvestors.com

October 04, 2023 04:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Unwiring.org Takes Bold Steps to Reform Social Media For a Healthier, More Connected Future

Unwiring

Unwiring officially launches to empower individuals in the fight against social media's negative impacts and unethical practices. The organization is led by Saahil Mishra and a diverse team of passionate teens who’ve developed several initiatives to catalyze positive change within social media. “I worry about the impact of social media on my generation. A surge in social isolation, mental health issues, disinformation, and political polarization has challenged our connection on both an interpersonal and societal level,” said Saahil Mishra, founder and social media activist. Mishra also serves as a research assistant at Stanford Social Media Lab and writer for the Poynter Institute’s Media Wise. Earlier this year, Mishra participated in his first TEDx Talk event in San Francisco. Unwiring is educating and empowering young people to drive real, representative change within social media. The team curates timely educational resources including a series of self-produced online videos, curriculum on social media’s inner workings and impacts, and editorial pieces centered around the youth perspective on social media’s harms and possible solutions. Unwiring also is hosting a ReDesign challenge for youth to pose ideas for social media reformation this fall and a youth summit in 2024. United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a call for urgent action by policymakers, technology companies, researchers, families, and young people alike to gain a better understanding of the full impact of social media use. Recent research shows that adolescents who spent more than three hours daily on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety. “When we advocate for internal platform changes, business model regulations, major culture and paradigm shifts, we can together build a healthier more connected future,” adds Mishra. “We invite teens to join us in this important movement by sharing their stories with us.” Visit unwiring.org and engage on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X formerly known as Twitter: @unwiring_org. Contact Details Unwiring Anne Shanahan, Community Relations Liaison +1 562-810-3016 ashanahan@unwiring.org

October 03, 2023 08:05 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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News Release

Redsense Medical announces company has begun trading on the OTCQX under ticker 'RDSMF'

Redsense Medical

Redsense Medical CEO Pontus Nobreus joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share significant updates regarding the company's innovative Redsense System. This system plays a crucial role in monitoring and alerting healthcare providers in cases of blood leakage during hemodialysis treatments, addressing one of the most serious safety concerns in this medical field. The Redsense System comprises a patented fiber optic sensor designed for use with either a venous needle or central venous catheter, linked to an alarm unit. The system has been developed with a strong focus on meeting the stringent safety requirements of healthcare providers in the dialysis sector. Alarmingly, globally, 21 individuals lose their lives each week due to blood leakage during hemodialysis, making this technology a critical advancement in patient care. One major development for Redsense Medical is its recent listing on the OTCQX market under the ticker symbol 'RDSMF.' The United States is a pivotal market for the company, with 99% of its revenue in 2022 generated from the US. The company is actively planning to expand its presence in the US market, providing easier access for US investors to participate in their growth journey. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2023 and 2024, Redsense Medical has ambitious goals, including continued growth in the US market and raising awareness about the importance of monitoring devices in home dialysis. Additionally, the company is set to launch a new product called "The Clamp," which will further enhance patient safety during hemodialysis treatments. Overall, Redsense Medical's dedication to improving patient safety and healthcare outcomes in the field of hemodialysis positions it as a key player in the medical technology industry, and its expansion plans in the US market are poised to make a significant impact. Contact Details Proactive Investors +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

September 29, 2023 01:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Release

Spectral AI announces "single largest contract to date"

Spectral AI Inc

Spectral AI Ltd (NASDAQ:MDAI) founder and CEO Wensheng Fan speaks to Thomas Warner from Proactive after the medical-focused artificial intelligence company announced it has been awarded a new contract valued at up to $149 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The CEO describes the contract as Spectral AI's "single largest to date" and highlights that it represents an important step forward in its commercial efforts. The deal includes a base phase of $55mln for FDA clearance of "Deep View" in burn indication. The technology aims to assist ER physicians in determining whether burn patients should be transferred to specialized burn centers. With 1.1 million burns occurring in the US annually, the potential for Deep View's application in emergency rooms and trauma centers is vast. Additionally, the technology will play a role in the treatment flow of both burn and diabetic foot ulcers, further expanding its clinical utility. Fan explains that following Spectral's recent move from London's AIM to the NASDAQ, the contract signifies a pivotal moment in the company's history, cementing its commercial future and revealing more about its potential impact on the healthcare sector. Contact Details Proactive Investors +44 20 7989 0813 uk@proactiveinvestors.com

September 29, 2023 01:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Accelmed Files Transaction Statement on Schedule 13E-3 with Securities and Exchange Commission

Accelmed

Today Minerva Surgical, Inc. (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: UTRS), entered into a share purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) for the sale of an aggregate of 97,751,711 shares (the “Shares”) of its common stock (“Common Stock”) in a private placement (the “Private Placement”) by the Company to Accelmed Partners II L.P. (“Accelmed LP”), at an offering price of $0.2046 per share, for aggregate consideration of $20,000,000.07. In connection with a contemplated refinancing by the Company of its Loan and Security Agreement, dated as of October 8, 2021, by and among the Company, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and each other person party thereto, as a borrower from time to time, as amended (the “Loan and Security Agreement”, and such refinancing, the “Refinancing”), it is expected that potential lenders shall require as a condition to the Refinancing that the Company complete a equity financing of at least $20,000,000 prior to the Refinancing (the “Lender’s Refinancing Condition”). As of the date hereof, Accelmed LP owns 68.8% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock of the Company, based upon 177,573,152 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding on September 14, 2023, as reported by the Company in the Purchase Agreement. Upon the closing of the Private Placement, Accelmed LP will own 79.9% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock of the Company, based upon 177,573,152 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding on September 14, 2023, as reported by the Company in the Purchase Agreement. As the Private Placement may be viewed as a step in a series of transactions, which constitute a “going-private” transaction under Rule 13e-3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), Accelmed LP, Accelmed Partners II GP L.P., Accelmed Partners II, LLC and Uri Geiger (collectively, the “Filing Persons”) have filed a transaction statement on Schedule 13E-3 (“Transaction Statement”) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Filing Persons have previously disclosed that they are considering effecting a transaction pursuant to which (i) the Common Stock may be delisted from trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”); and (ii) the registration of the Common Stock under the Exchange Act would be terminated (a “Take Private Transaction”). In connection with such potential Take Private Transaction, Accelmed LP has previously disclosed that it is evaluating acquiring shares of Common Stock from existing stockholders in one or more privately negotiated transactions and may discuss such privately negotiated transactions with certain existing stockholders of the Company. The Private Placement is not being conducted in conjunction with any Take Private Transaction, but rather to satisfy the Lender’s Refinancing Condition. The closing of the Private Placement is subject to the condition that the terms of the Refinancing are acceptable to Accelmed LP, in its sole and absolute discretion, and other customary closing conditions. The closing of the Private Placement may not take place prior to October 28, 2023. No assurances can be made that the Private Placement will close, that the Refinancing will occur, or that any Take Private Transaction will be consummated. The Company’s stockholders and other investors are urged to read the Transaction Statement and the exhibits to the Transaction Statement carefully because they contain important information about the Private Placement, the Refinancing, any potential Take Private Transaction, and other transactions that may be deemed in furtherance of a “going-private” transaction. The Transaction Statement and the exhibits to the Transaction Statement can be found on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, copies of these documents can be obtained, without charge, by contacting Accelmed LP at Ugland House, South Church Street, PO Box 309, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. As of the date of this release, the Filing Persons have not entered into definitive agreements to effect a Take Private Transaction. If and when the Filing Persons determine to proceed with a Take Private Transaction and establish the terms thereof, the Transaction Statement will be amended at such time to disclose the terms of such Take Private Transaction, and the Company will file such amendment with the SEC and will prepare and cause to be mailed the amended Transaction Statement to its stockholders as required by law. In addition to receiving the amended Transaction Statement by mail, stockholders will be able to obtain the final Transaction Statement without charge, on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, copies of these documents can be obtained, without charge, by contacting Accelmed LP at Ugland House, South Church Street PO Box 309, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. SECURITYHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THESE MATERIALS AND OTHER MATERIAL FILED WITH OR FURNISHED TO THE SEC CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. This announcement is neither a solicitation of proxy, an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities and it is not a substitute for any proxy statement or other filings that may be made with the SEC should a Take Private Transaction occur. About Accelmed Accelmed is a U.S.-based private equity firm focused on acquiring and investing in U.S. commercial stage, lower middle market HealthTech companies. Since 2009, Accelmed has deployed over half a billion dollars into companies spanning medical devices, diagnostics, digital health and technology-enabled healthcare services. Accelmed seeks to accelerate value and scale innovation across the HealthTech field by bringing to bear the team’s industry experience, operational and financial expertise, and strong global relationships. For more information, please visit www.accelmed.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current assumptions and expectations of future events and trends, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the closing of the Private Placement and the Accelmed LP’s ownership of the Common Stock upon the closing of the Private Placement. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Actual results may differ materially from these statements and from actual or future events due to a variety of factors. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by law, the Filing Persons undertake no obligation to update or review any estimate, projection, or forward-looking statement. Contact Details Accelmed Steve Rubin +1 914-364-0284 steve@accelmed.com Company Website https://www.accelmed.com

September 29, 2023 11:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Voyageur Pharmaceuticals "sees a gap in the market" for domestically-produced barium

Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Proactive Research Analyst Daniel Appiah speaks to Thomas Warner from the Londons studio after publishing a new research note on Canadian medical imaging contrast media company Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd (TSX-V:VM) (OTC:VYYRF). Appiah gives an overview of the note and the company itself, explaining that contrast agents containing barium sulphate or iodine are consumed prior to x-rays or CT scans, aiding doctors in visualizing the interior of the body. Voyageur aims to leverage its own facilities and resources to establish an integrated value chain for these agents in North America. The company has already launched its first product in Canada, with plans to expand to the US post-FDA approvals. By 2025, Voyageur intends to source barium from its fully-owned Frances Creek Mine, potentially reducing raw ingredient costs significantly. Appiah explains that Voyageur is currently seeking funding to help support its development. Contact Details Proactive Investors +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

September 28, 2023 02:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Avingtrans in a strong cash position after "beating city expectations again"

Avingtrans PLC

Avingtrans (LON:AVG) CEO Steve McQuillan and CFO, Stephen King speak to Thomas Warner from Proactive London after the engineering company released its preliminary results for the year to 31 May 2023. McQuillan gives a brief overview of the company's unique way of doing business, which combines engineering with elements of the private equity model. He highlights that Avingtrans specialises in serving highly regulated markets such as nuclear, defence, aerospace, and medical. Their business approach, termed "Pinpoint, Invest, Exit," involves identifying struggling engineering businesses, acquiring them, revamping their operations, and subsequently selling them. King reports a revenue increase of 17.5% for the year ending May 31, 2023, which he suggests "beat city expectations again". The company also held £13 million in cash reserves at the end of the period, enabling it to undertake potential future acquisitions and investments. McQuillan says he was pleased with the resilience of the business during a year blighted by challenging conditions in the market. He also adds that the market is undervaluing the medical side of the business. Looking to the future, he suggests its more likely that Avingtrans will be divesting businesses over the next few years rather than acquiring any major new ones, not least because its still "digesting" two relatively recent acquisitions. Contact Details Proactive UK Ltd Proactive UK Ltd +44 20 7989 0813 uk@proactiveinvestors.com

September 28, 2023 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Tune Insight secures $3.4m as it pushes the boundaries from a data economy to a secure insight economy

Tune Insight

Despite the ever increasing data-dependance for all critical business decisions and the never ending need of data to feed machine learning, companies are prevented from collaborating on and valorizing sensitive data because of cyber risks, fear of losing competitive edge and regulatory constraints. Helping organizations to overcome this hurdle, Tune Insight is today announcing a $3.4m funding round as it helps them automate collective intelligence extraction, reduce data liability, streamline compliance, while re-enforcing data security and privacy. The oversubscribed seed funding round was led by 14Peaks Capital with participation of US-based Inflection.xyz, Debiopharm and Zurich Cantonal Bank. Existing investors Wingman Ventures also participated in the funding round. Tune Insight was founded in 2021 by Juan R. Troncoso Pastoriza, Frederic Pont, Romain Bouyé and Jean-Pierre Hubaux. The startup is a confidential collaborative analytics and privacy-preserving machine learning solution. The genesis of Tune Insight lies in 2016, when Swiss hospitals came to the founders (then researchers) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) asking if the latest progress in applied cryptography could help solve a challenge they could not overcome, but paramount for personalized healthcare: hospitals wanted to collaborate with each other, but without transferring or revealing their patient data to others. Today, Tune Insight is deployed at University Hospital Zurich, CHUV in Lausanne, Inselspital in Bern, Switzerland, and powers applications such as survival analysis for precision oncology and personalized reference ranges. The latter application enables practitioners to rely on up-to-date reference ranges for their patients, based on collective data of 9 million data points from over 250,000 patients, instead of outdated ranges from a less relevant population. For University Spital Basel, Tune Insight enables the secure training of dermatology machine learning models on skin images across jurisdictions. Tune Insight solutions also bridge the trust gap between payers like Groupe Mutuel with care providers for value-based healthcare (VBHC), and pharmaceutical companies with hospitals for streamlined access to real-word evidence (RWE). In other domains, Tune Insight’s solutions are used by actuaries to facilitate collective risk computations for insurances and in financial services for collective fraud detection, anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing of terrorism. In cybersecurity, Tune Insight works with managed security service providers (MSSPs) and Armassuisse, the procurement branch of the Swiss military, enabling collective cyber resilience to better defend against cyber attacks. The confidential computing operations supported by the Tune Insight platform range from private set intersection to advanced data analytics to secure federated learning on structured data, including images, which play an increasing role in healthcare and for predictive maintenance. Tune Insight is also working at extending support for privacy-preserving generative AI. Starting from secure data collaborations and privacy-preserving federated learning, Tune Insight is accompanying its customers towards data and model valorization. Juan R. Troncoso Pastoriza, co-founder & CEO of Tune Insight, has been working on privacy-enhancing technologies since 2005 commented: “The data economy falls short of its promise for very valuable, highly confidential or regulated data. In a data-driven world, protecting data not only at rest and in transit, but also in-use, is paramount. Combined with the increasing need for organizations to work together with others, both for collaborations and valorization, and progress towards more protections for citizens and customer data through regulations like GDPR, robust applied cryptography solutions that combine the best privacy-enhancing technologies are of greatest importance in all domains. At Tune Insight, our vision is to transform the paradigm of the data economy into an insight economy that better protects sensitive data, that is more secure, fair, and protective of privacy and confidentiality rights”. Tune Insight will deploy this funding round to strengthen its position for confidential collaborative analytics and machine learning in healthcare, financial services and cybersecurity, strengthen sales and marketing teams, and accelerate international expansion in Europe and the US. Edoardo Ermotti, Founder and Managing Partner of 14Peaks Capital, commented: “Tune Insight stands at the forefront of addressing a critical gap in the realm of confidential collaborative analytics. Their software, situated at the intersection of AI/ML, SaaS, and data security, offers compelling applications across industries, including financial services. This aligns seamlessly with the core values and strategic focus we have at 14Peaks Capital. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to contributing to Tune Insight's next phase of growth, continuing to revolutionize enterprise collaboration on sensitive and regulated data while mitigating the customary associated risks.” Alexander Lange, Founding Partner at Inflection.xyz remarked: “We believe that AI's bottlenecks won't be software development, tooling or algorithms but access to raw compute and high quality data sets. Tune Insight is making a breakthrough contribution to the latter by building an operating system for model training on confidential data without leakage. For the first time, adversarial stakeholders operating across multiple levels of a given value chain are economically motivated to collaborate. This will lead to significant efficiency gains and better products for their customers.” Pascal Mathis, Founding Partner, Wingman Ventures, added: “Tune Insight is the poster child of a Swiss startup on its way to global success: born on deep technology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, with a complementary team of experienced international co-founders, supported by the Swiss startup ecosystem, and signing as first customers Swiss companies that are world leaders in healthcare and financial services. Tune Insight is now ready to build on those early successes to accelerate towards becoming a global leader in secure collective data analytics and machine learning across industries. At Wingman, we are proud to have been Tune Insight’s first investor at pre-seed.” About Tune Insight Tune Insight provides confidential collaborative analytics and federated machine learning B2B solutions in healthcare, cybersecurity, financial services and beyond. Our vision is to transform the upcoming paradigm of the data economy into an insight economy that better protects the data, that is more secure, fair, and protective of privacy and confidentiality rights. https://tuneinsight.com About 14Peaks Capital 14Peaks is an early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies located in Europe and the US. Within SaaS, they invest across three core verticals; Fintech, Proptech, and Future of Work. They initially partner with founders from pre-seed to Series A and support them throughout their growth journey by providing capital, operational support, network access and strategic advice. https://www.14peaks.capital/ About Inflection.xyz Inflection is a global venture platform led by seasoned investors and entrepreneurs based in Boston, USA. The firm is pioneering the frontiers of computation by providing capital, networks and insights to outlier entrepreneurs. https://inflection.xyz/ About Wingman Ventures Wingman Ventures is Switzerland’s leading pre-seed fund, backing founder teams building tech companies with the potential to become global market leaders. Wingman has a track record of supporting exceptional founders in creating breakthrough companies and has the passionate conviction that the Swiss startup ecosystem is just starting to write its best success stories. https://www.wingman.ch/ About Debiopharm Debiopharm Innovation Fund, the strategic investment arm of Swiss biopharmaceutical company Debiopharm, provides funding and guidance for companies with an ambition to improve the patient journey and transform pharmaceutical R&D. Since 2017 Debiopharm has invested in 15 AI and digital health companies, typically leading the investment rounds. As of September 2023, Debiopharm Innovation fund is expanding its footprint through a new Seed financing activity. https://www.debiopharm.com/digital-health/ About Zurich Cantonal Bank Zürcher Kantonalbank is an independent public-law institution of the Canton of Zurich, incorporated under the laws of the Canton of Zürich. Its registered corporate domicile and principal place of business is in Zurich, Switzerland. It has received top ratings from the rating agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch (AAA/Aaa). With more than 5,000 employees, Zürcher Kantonalbank offers its clients a comprehensive range of products and services. The bank’s core activities include financing businesses, asset and wealth management, trading, capital market transactions, deposits, payment transactions and card business. Zürcher Kantonalbank provides clients and distribution partners with a comprehensive range of investment and retirement provision products and services. www.zkb.ch Contact Details Tune Insight Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://tuneinsight.com/

September 28, 2023 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Release

Valeo Pharma secures $5M credit facility agreement with Accord Financial

Valeo Pharma Inc.

Valeo Pharma CEO Steve Saviuk joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share details the company has entered into a credit facility agreement with Accord Financial for a total of $5 million. The credit facility, backed by a first-ranking lien on the company's short-term assets, carries interest at the prime rate plus an applicable margin. The capital secured through this facility will enable Valeo Pharma to sustain its rapid growth trajectory without resorting to share dilution, safeguarding the interests of its shareholders. Valeo Pharma is a dynamic Canadian pharmaceutical company with a dedicated focus on the commercialization of innovative prescription products in Canada. The company's emphasis on respiratory/allergy, ophthalmology, and hospital specialty products underscores its commitment to delivering essential healthcare solutions. The credit facility is a strategic move that positions Valeo Pharma to continue its expansion efforts and meet the rising demand for innovative pharmaceutical products while preserving the value for its shareholders. Contact Details Proactive Investors +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

September 27, 2023 01:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Healthcare

NetScientific "well positioned for growth" when venture capital market turns

Unwiring.org Takes Bold Steps to Reform Social Media For a Healthier, More Connected Future

Redsense Medical announces company has begun trading on the OTCQX under ticker 'RDSMF'

Spectral AI announces "single largest contract to date"

Accelmed Files Transaction Statement on Schedule 13E-3 with Securities and Exchange Commission

Voyageur Pharmaceuticals "sees a gap in the market" for domestically-produced barium

Avingtrans in a strong cash position after "beating city expectations again"

Tune Insight secures $3.4m as it pushes the boundaries from a data economy to a secure insight economy

Valeo Pharma secures $5M credit facility agreement with Accord Financial