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Apriori receives funding boost from CEPI to advance AI platform to protect against viral threats

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OSLO, Norway and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Biotechnology company Apriori Bio has been awarded US $1.1 million from CEPI to advance its biology-informed artificial intelligence platform Octavia™, aimed at protecting humanity against rapidly-evolving viruses by designing variant-resilient vaccines.

The Octavia platform works by characterising large libraries of viral variants on their ability to bind to cells in the human body and evade the immune response. Then using machine learning, Octavia generates maps to identify the mutations that have the greatest ‘escape potential’ and could therefore pose the greatest threat. These insights can guide how new vaccines are designed and how existing vaccines are updated so that they can protect against worrisome variants for years to come.

Experts can also use Octavia’s real-time variant insights to inform public health decisions and policies against some of the world’s most deadly diseases. Having this information ‘a priori’ – before things appear – can significantly enhance the world’s pandemic readiness and ability to respond to an outbreak in as little as 100 days.

In-Kyu Yoon, M.D., Executive Director of Vaccine R&D (Acting), CEPI, said: “The world was brought to its knees by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic where fast-emerging variants like Omicron outsmarted our medical defences, so we had to constantly play catch-up. To avoid being in this vulnerable position again, we need to shift our global mindset to one of preparedness. By focusing on the range of potential deadly viral variants that could emerge from deadly pathogens ahead of time, we could seriously speed up our response to a future outbreak.”

Lovisa Afzelius, Ph.D., MBA, Co-founder and CEO of Apriori, said: “We are honoured to be recognized by a global leader in pandemic preparedness who shares our commitment to better protecting humanity from rapidly-evolving viruses. With CEPI’s support, we will continue advancing our Octavia platform, focusing on viruses beyond coronavirus, to ensure the global community is better prepared to effectively address future outbreaks with precision and speed.”

Octavia uses both computational insights and experimental biological data to build and train its algorithms. This includes looking at evolutionary trees of viruses to identify the point at which viral variability is most likely to occur and exploring how mutations could affect each other.

Apriori has already explored how Octavia works on COVID-19 variants. The new seed funding from CEPI will focus on pandemic influenza strain H3N2, which has previously affected pigs, birds and humans.

This work is supported by CEPI’s new dedicated biosecurity department, which was established to reduce biosafety and biosecurity risks associated with CEPI research investments, and accelerate responsible AI for vaccine development.

CEPI and Apriori are committed to enabling equitable access to the outputs of their partnership, in line with CEPI’s Equitable Access Policy. Project results, including related data, will be published open access for the benefit of the global scientific community. This includes the potential to share learnings with CEPI partners so that they can quickly get to work using their data to advance their vaccine designs.

This is the second project to be announced as part of CEPI’s call for vaccine innovations that could be critical to helping the world better prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.

About CEPI 
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI has supported the development of more than 50 vaccine candidates or platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X. Central to CEPI’s pandemic-beating five-year plan for 2022-2026 is the ‘100 Days Mission’ to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days.

About Apriori Bio
Apriori is working to create a world where humanity is protected against viral threats. Our pioneering approach centers on a unique technology platform, Octavia™, which allows us to survey the entire fitness landscape of existing and potential viral variants to design new vaccines against the most threatening variants. Octavia can also inform public health policy in real time by predicting the impact of emerging variants. Apriori was founded in 2020 by Flagship Pioneering. For more information visit www.aprioribio.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Press Contacts

CEPI
press@cepi.net
+44 7387 055214

Apriori Bio
press@aprioribio.com

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Galloway Company Expansion Nearly Doubles United States Industrial Sweetened Condensed Milk Capacity

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NEENAH, Wis., Jan. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Galloway Company, a leader in premium dairy ingredients, announces the completion of a major expansion to its production capabilities. The addition of a custom-built evaporator will nearly double the United States’ total capacity for industrial sweetened condensed milk. The expansion comes at a critical time, relieving a highly constrained market for premium concentrated dairy ingredients in the United States.

The expansion will set new industry benchmarks in capacity, operational efficiency, and quality.

The expansion will allow the company to serve existing clients with the same premium quality ingredients they’ve come to rely on, while also welcoming new customers for the first time in four years.

“Over the last four years, we’ve seen growing constraints from the bakery and confectionery markets, with extended lead times and maxed-out production capacities,” said Mike Hasler, Director of Industrial Sales, Galloway Company. “This expansion ensures we can not only meet the demand of our existing customers but also welcome new business.”

With the addition of the second evaporator, Galloway Company is building redundancy into its production process, minimizing the risk of service interruptions for clients. The new system will also enable greater customization of products, allowing the company to meet the needs of clients of all sizes—from full tanker trucks to smaller batches packaged in totes and 5-gallon pails.

The expansion will set new industry benchmarks in capacity, operational efficiency, and quality. The upgraded system includes high-efficiency motors and precision-engineered valve systems, with a fully automated homogenization process, advanced lactose seeding technologies, and state-of-the-art cooling systems. These updates minimize energy consumption and reduce environmental impact while advanced quality control measures ensure consistent performance and accuracy. 

For more information or to place an order, please visit gallowaycompany.com or contact Mike Hasler at mhasler@gallowaycompany.com.

About Galloway Company

Galloway Company is the number one supplier of cream liqueur bases and sweetened condensed milk in the U.S. Located in Neenah, Wisconsin, Galloway specializes in producing unique formulations of condensed dairy blends and beverage bases. Classic Mix Partners, a subsidiary of Galloway Company, is the largest manufacturer of frozen dairy dessert mixes in Wisconsin, serving customers nationwide. For more information on our complete line of innovative dairy product mixes and bases, visit gallowaycompany.com.

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SOCi Scales its AI Agent Solutions While Bolstering Path to Profitability

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SAN DIEGO, Jan. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — SOCi, Inc., the leader in AI-powered marketing solutions for multi-location businesses, today announced initial results from its AI Agent strategy. In less than eight months, SOCi’s Genius AI™ solutions now account for more than 10% of the company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR). These results cap off a year of remarkable milestones for SOCi, including surpassing $100 million in ARR—a feat that places the company among the elite Centaur SaaS organizations globally.

In 2025, the company plans to continue to enhance and expand its advanced Genius AI™ technology, allowing SOCi’s AI Agents to take on even more local marketing tasks at scale and deliver unprecedented efficiency and value for SOCi’s nearly 1,000 multi-location customers. Additionally, SOCi is committed to accelerating its journey to profitability by strategically realigning resources to focus on high-impact areas with proven success. This reorganization is designed to enhance efficiency, drive scalability, and position the company for sustainable, long-term growth.

“We remain committed to revolutionizing the industry with our AI Agent innovation and Genius solutions, delivering the first digital workforce to drive unparalleled value for our customers,” said Afif Khoury, CEO of SOCi. “Simultaneously, we are focused on achieving sustainable growth by prioritizing financial stability and operational efficiency, solidifying our position as the leader in marketing innovation.”

Recently recognized as an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company for the seventh consecutive year, and named one of Fast Company Most Innovative Companies, SOCi continues to expand its reach into new high-growth markets with its cutting-edge local marketing solutions. Over the past two years, the company has forged partnerships with iconic enterprises such as Ford, Jersey Mike’s Subs, and Ace Hardware, while establishing a strong presence in the Financial Services and Insurance sectors with notable partners like Liberty Tax and Motto Mortgage.

About SOCi, Inc.
SOCi is the leader in AI-powered marketing solutions for multi-location businesses. With its proprietary Genius AI™ and suite of Genius Agents™, SOCi provides a first-of-its-kind, AI-powered digital workforce capable of handling the workload of 1,000 local marketers™, empowering brands to achieve unmatched digital visibility, strengthen customer engagement, and scale faster than ever before.

SOCi is recognized by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, and is trusted by nearly 1,000 top brands—including Ford, Ace Hardware, Kumon, Liberty Tax, and more—to automate and optimize local marketing tasks across all locations. Founded in 2012 and backed by leading strategic investors, SOCi is transforming how multi-location brands manage and scale their marketing efforts. Learn more at www.soci.ai or contact us at hello@soci.ai.

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Verdantas Acquires M-H-M, Inc. Expanding Water Services Throughout Northern California

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TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Verdantas, a leader in digitally enabled technical consulting solutions for the environment, water, and energy transition markets, backed by Sterling Investment Partners, is pleased to announce the acquisition of M-H-M, Inc. (MHM). The acquisition aims to enhance Verdantas’ expertise in the northern California water market and expand the services offered by both firms.

Based in Marysville, California, MHM brings invaluable expertise and experience to Verdantas, broadening the depth and range of services within the water, and land development markets with strong relationships with municipalities, public agencies, and private clients. The integration of MHM into Verdantas enhances its water service capabilities bringing valuable expertise in water supply and storage, distribution, irrigation, water master planning, flood control, storm drainage, as well as land development and surveying.

Jesse Kropelnicki, CEO of Verdantas, stated about the acquisition: “Integrating MHM into Verdantas will continue our growth strategy by further diversifying our business on the west coast, and by furthering our capabilities in the water market. This expansion enhances our expertise and ability to serve water clients more effectively in northern California. Additionally, MHM improves our land development and surveying capabilities, which will enhance other services we provide in the same geography. We look forward to providing their team with new opportunities for growth while they continue to contribute to our mission.”

California brings unique engineering design complexities. By partnering with Verdantas, we can now integrate robust in-house geotechnical and geological, structural engineering, and environmental expertise into our projects that we previously outsourced,” stated Sean Minard, President of MHM. “Our collaboration with Verdantas aims to expand our service offerings, providing comprehensive solutions in flood control, storm drainage, and water resource management as well as land development. This growth will add value to our current clients in Northern California, enabling us to deliver a more extensive suite of engineering and environmental solutions.”

James Soldano, Partner at Sterling, said, “We are proud to support Verdantas in this strategic acquisition of MHM. This move reflects our shared vision of growing Verdantas’ presence throughout the western United States and addresses the critical need for water-related expertise in a region facing challenges related to water resources and flood control.”

This acquisition is a vital component of the company’s sustainable service offerings objectives. By participating in significant projects, Verdantas plans to address critical water challenges, advocate for conservation, improve water quality, and encourage sustainable practices.

About Verdantas

Verdantas is a leader in digitally enabled technical consulting solutions for the environment, water, and energy transition markets. Blending balanced strengths in environmental and engineering expertise, we partner with clients and communities to create comprehensive solutions that contribute to a sustainable future. With a team of over 1,700 professionals nationwide, we harness diverse skills and innovative technologies to address complex challenges, protect vital resources, and foster resilient communities. For more information, visit www.verdantas.com.

About Sterling Investment Partners

Sterling Investment Partners is a leading private equity firm that has been building leading middle-market companies for over 30 years with a highly experienced, cohesive team of senior investment professionals. Sterling focuses on control investments in value-added distribution and business services, acquiring businesses that the firm believes have strong, sustainable competitive advantages and significant opportunities for value creation. Over its history, Sterling has completed over 230 transactions, representing over $31 billion in aggregate value, and was recently ranked a Top 10 performing middle market private equity firm globally by Dow Jones-HEC Paris. For more information, visit www.sterlinglp.com.

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SOURCE Verdantas LLC

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