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Edera Raises $5M Seed Round to Introduce the World’s Only Secure-By-Design Kubernetes and AI Solution

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Using type 1 hypervisor technology, Edera offers isolation at the container level, changing the way containers run and making container escapes impossible once and for all Companies both large and small can plug Edera in seamlessly and are poised to save millions in cloud costs From an all-female founding team to a diverse group of investors and a surprising set of technologies, Edera is anything but the status quo

SEATTLE, Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Edera, the world’s only secure-by-design Kubernetes and AI solution, today announced it has raised $5 million in a seed round led by 645 Ventures and Eniac Ventures with participation from FPV Ventures, Generationship, Precursor Ventures and Rosecliff Ventures. Angel investors include Joe Beda, Filippo Valsorda, Mandy Andress, Jeff Behl and Kleiner Perkins scout Nikitha Suryadevara, among others.

While Kubernetes turned 10 years-old earlier this year, running secure multi-tenancy workloads remains an unsolved problem that’s costing companies millions of dollars. Edera is introducing a diverse set of technologies with a diverse team of experts to solve what has been the decade’s defining enterprise security challenge.

Edera uses a type 1 hypervisor to offer isolation at the container level for the first time, enabling companies to realize the original promise of Kubernetes and to move quickly to run GPUs for emerging AI workloads. Instead of running containers in Linux namespaces, Edera’s platform treats a container like a virtual machine guest. There is no shared kernel state between containers, and a memory-safe Rust control plane further secures workloads. Edera can be used anywhere users run their containers (public cloud, private cloud and on-premise) and doesn’t require virtualization extensions or custom infrastructure. It’s simple, delivers peace of mind and saves companies millions in cloud costs. 

“Real innovation is rare. It’s more than a new application or gadget. Real innovation is born inside the brains of amazing humans who see a better way to do things, who crack the code and solve the puzzle,” said Hadley Harris, cofounder and general partner at Eniac Ventures. “That’s what is happening at Edera. They’ve assessed hypervisor technologies and new memory-safe principles and the Rust programming language to actually solve one of the biggest security challenges of this era. We couldn’t be more excited to support this work.”

While most enterprises today are using Kubernetes in production, nearly 70 percent have delayed deployments due to security concerns. Nearly 90 percent of those companies have reported at least one Kubernetes or container incident in the last 12 months and half have lost revenue and customers due to security incidents.

The evolution of the cloud and Kubernetes has resulted in security regressions that the industry has accepted as the norm. But as container adoption continues to grow, tools continue to sprawl and security incidents skyrocket, the wasted engineering time and tremendous cloud expense has become untenable.

“While companies have struggled for a decade to secure their Kubernetes workloads using a patchwork of tools and procedures that have never really worked, the answer has been sitting in front of us all along,” said Alex Zenla, CTO and co-founder at Edera. “Our product is built on proven technologies and introduces a memory-safe Rust control plane to radically change the Kubernetes security landscape. We’re incredibly excited to share what we’ve been able to build with our customers and the industry at large.”

Innovative vision will transform enterprise security and save millions of dollars industry-wide

Kubernetes security solutions today focus on detection after an attack occurs. Customers are layering tool upon tool, creating complexity on top of complexity with no real assurances in place. Edera runs containers securely from the start, eliminating the need for expensive, largely ineffective tools, and its paravirtualization mode removes the need for hardware virtualization support meaning you can run secure containers anywhere.

Edera is introducing the world’s only secure-by-design Kubernetes and AI solution to help security engineers eliminate vulnerability exploitation across clusters even before a vulnerability is reported and can become incidents that show up on a dashboard and to help CISOs gain the confidence that their organization won’t be the next one hit by attackers and splashed across social media. And by isolating critical infrastructure from container escapes, customers can finally be confident running real multi-tenancy environments, saving tens of millions of dollars in cloud costs.

“The original design goals for Kubernetes were for ‘soft’ multi-tenancy where there was a level of trust between users of a cluster. But as Kubernetes has found its way into more domains, the need for stronger security protections has become apparent,” said Joe Beda, angel investor in Edera and co-creator of Kubernetes. “Edera fills this gap by using virtualization to both reduce risks and, ultimately, reduce costs. It allows Kubernetes to go places it has never gone before!”

From an all-female founding team to a diverse group of investors and a surprising set of technologies, Edera is anything but the status quo.

Edera is founded by three female-identifying individuals:

Ariadne Conill, co-founder & Distinguished Engineer, creator of Wolfi and maintainer for Alpine LinuxEmily Long, co-founder and CEO, former COO at Chainguard and Anchore, among othersAlex Zenla, co-founder and CTO, an early contributor to the Dart programming language at 13 years-old and founder of the DSA IoT platform at 14

Emily Long comes from an operations and culture background, bringing to the position of CEO a people-centric view that is often lacking in early-stage startups. Eniac Ventures came in as a lead investor, in part, because of this background. Skills like recruitment, setting culture and conflict resolution are incredibly powerful in the earliest stages of a company and are not often skills that can be taught. This is in direct contrast to traditional VC-funded startups in which the CEO is usually a technologist that is believed can be “trained up” on people and leadership skills. History tells us that hardly ever works.

“We want to build something different at Edera, not just in the technology we deliver but in the way we build and deliver it. That means creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and contribute to our mission in a very direct way,” said Emily Long, CEO and co-founder at Edera. “We know diverse teams deliver better outcomes, and we’re here to represent that however many times it takes.”

With women, people of color and LGBTQIA+ among their founders and principals, 645 Ventures and Eniac Ventures round out Edera’s intentional focus on building a team that values diversity of thought, lived experience and technology backgrounds. The $5 million seed round will be used to build out the Edera team while supporting new customers and partnerships.

“What’s most exciting about Edera is the power of the technology itself. It can not only solve immediate, long-standing pain points like container escapes but can also be a game changer in the increasingly complex and changing world of securing and managing AI workloads,” said Mendy Yang, senior associate at 645 Ventures. “We are so excited to work with the team to build something truly revolutionary.”

Edera Protect Kubernetes is available to try now. Edera Protect AI is in development and accepting design partners. Edera also hosts Krata, a set of open source components written in Rust for secure hypervisor technologies. For more information, please visit: https://edera.dev/

About Edera  
Edera is changing the way containers are run and secured, making isolation a reality and fundamentally transforming computing in the process. It is an enterprise infrastructure company that delivers container isolation for the first time by using a type 1 hypervisor and a memory-safe Rust control plane. It enables security engineers to achieve multi-tenancy Kubernetes and AI workload security in a way that is secure from the start, simple and cost-effective. Edera is female founded and places the same value on soft and hard skills to create a balanced and innovative company and considers diversity of experience and thought a non-negotiable. For more information, please visit: https://edera.dev/

Media Contact for Edera
Jennifer Cloer
503-867-2304
jennifer@storychangesculture.com

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Lexmark Showcases New Printers and Technology Solutions for Retailers at NRF 2025

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NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Lexmark, a global imaging and IoT solutions leader, will showcase its cutting-edge, retail-ready printers and solutions at NRF 2025, Retail’s Big Show and Expo, Jan. 12 to 14, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York. The Lexmark showcase will be in booth #6321.

“Lexmark kicks off the year with a bang by showcasing our latest 9-Series family of A3 printers and MFPs at NRF for the first time,” said Tim Speller, Lexmark’s head of retail and manufacturing. “These sophisticated devices will usher in a new era of opportunity for retailers to maximize operational efficiency while increasing sales.”

Here’s what will be on display in Lexmark booth #6321:

New Lexmark 9-Series printers and MFPs are designed for challenging retail environments

Built by evolving Lexmark’s renowned A4 technology, the 9-Series delivers versatility, simplicity and sustainability. These solutions are easy to use and manage – perfect for any retail salesfloor or back office.

Key highlights of 9-Series:

Versatile and easy to use. The 9-Series offers a broad range of media size support (A6 to SRA3), high-volume duty cycles, a common set of modular paper-handling options, finishing capabilities and professional color features including PANTONE® calibration.Simple and easy to manage. The 9-Series’ intuitive interface streamlines workflows by providing simple instructions and prompts. For routine maintenance, toner cartridges can be replaced with one hand, easily understood visual cues are displayed, and serviceable areas are easy to access and identify.Sustainable and easy to feel good about. The 9-Series’ total post-consumer recycled (PCR) content is 56% by weight for all base-model MFPs and 73% by weight for the line’s base-model printer, based on IEEE calculation procedures. *Built to last. The 9-Series is designed and built to last seven years or more. Having few components helps reduce the likelihood of technical failure while also minimizing the service time required for repairs and maintenance. Experienced technicians can perform most common service actions, even highly complex tasks, in less than 15 minutes, according to Lexmark testing.

Lexmark Engagement Automation Platform (LEAP) helps retailers drive sales and foot traffic with hyper-local social media ads

LEAP automates one-to-one promotions that drive footfall to local stores. Store leaders can trigger hyper-personalized sale posts and boost ads based on individual store inventory conditions through loyalty program apps and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. With advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, LEAP provides the insights needed to measure success and make data-driven decisions.

Key highlights of LEAP:

Engagement: To engage shoppers, center promotions around customer buying patterns with an engagement automation platform that posts localized content – such as store-specific offers, events and locally grown produce initiatives.

Automation: Schedule and manage automatic localization and delivery of corporate promotional messaging with an engagement automation platform to reach consumers through social media with hyper-local content around each store or audience region.

Loyalty: Attract local customers with an engagement automation platform that sends store- and corporate-initiated offers to geo-fenced social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and loyalty program applications.

Supporting resources

Learn more about Lexmark’s booth at NRF 2025.

Read Lexmark’s NRF blog.

Schedule a booth meeting with our retail experts during NRF 2025.

Get more details about the Lexmark 9-Series.

Get more details about the Lexmark Engagement Automation Platform (LEAP).

Watch a video about LEAP.

Get the details on NRF 2025.

Follow us on LinkedIn for live NRF updates.

About Lexmark

Lexmark creates cloud-enabled imaging and IoT technologies that help customers worldwide quickly realize business outcomes. Through a powerful combination of proven technologies and deep industry expertise, Lexmark accelerates business transformation, turning information into insights, data into decisions, and analytics into action.

Lexmark and the Lexmark logo are trademarks of Lexmark International, Inc., registered in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

* PCR content measured in accordance with IEEE Std 1680.2a™ – 2017 Standard for Environmental Assessment of Imaging Equipment – Amendment 1 — which is the standard used by EPEAT.

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Pricer and Focal Systems Announce Strategic Collaboration to Drive the Next Step in Physical Store Digitalization

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Pricer, a global leader in digital shelf-edge solutions, and Focal Systems, a leader in shelf-edge AI, today announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate the digitization and optimization of the physical store for retailers worldwide.

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — This collaboration brings together Pricer’s innovations in dynamic pricing and shelf-edge communication with Focal Systems’ advanced computer vision and product availability solutions to maximize shopper satisfaction while optimizing retail operations.

As a pioneer in enabling dynamic pricing and digitizing shelf-edge shopper communication, Pricer has led the first step of the retail digitalization journey. Focal Systems has pioneered the application of computer vision to digitizing what products are available on-shelf or not in near real-time. Together, Pricer and Focal Systems will empower retailers to improve labor efficiency, reduce out-of-stocks, increase sales, and enhance shopper satisfaction like never before.

Enhancing the Shelf Edge Through Collaboration

By integrating Focal Systems’ AI-powered shelf vision cameras with Pricer’s leading electronic shelf label (ESL) platform, retailers will benefit from:

Real-Time Shelf Insights: Automated detection and alerting of out-of-stock or low items powering rapid replenishment and increased shopper satisfactionDynamic Task Automation: Streamlined workflows and prioritized tasks to improve operational efficiency for store staff.Patented Innovation: Camera-based out of stock detection and communication, flashing ESLs, alternate location communication.Seamless Integration: Standardized API connections that deliver out-of-the-box value, offering synchronized ESL flashes, messaging updates, and shelf-edge intelligence.

Together, Pricer and Focal Systems demonstrate that the combined offerings deliver measurable value for the retailers by enabling a fully digitalized shelf-edge ecosystem.

Strategic Collaboration for the Future of Retail

“We are proud to combine our leadership in ESL technology with Focal Systems’ AI-powered shelf vision,” said Chris Chalkitis, CDO at Pricer. “Both companies share a belief in the digitalization of the physical store. Pricer has been a pioneer in dynamic pricing and shelf-edge communication. With Focal Systems, we take the next step, digitizing what’s on the shelf – and what’s not – to drive greater efficiency and performance for retailers.”

Focal Systems’ AI technology transforms retail operations through real-time shelf monitoring and replenishment task optimization.

“Partnering with Pricer, a global leader with groundbreaking ESL technology and innovation, creates tremendous value for retailers,” said Kevin H. Johnson, CEO at Focal Systems. “Together, we deliver an integrated, data-driven solution that reduces operational complexity, automates workflows, and enhances the in-store experience. We look forward to demonstrating this powerful collaboration to retailers and their customers.”

Showcasing the Future at NRF 2025

The collaboration will officially debut at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show in January 2025, where Pricer and Focal Systems will showcase the integrated solution at Pricer’s booth. This marks the beginning of an exciting journey to redefine the shelf edge and set new standards for retail innovation.

For further information, please contact:
Chris Chalkitis, Chief Digital Officer, +46 70 4849812
Finn Wikander, Chief Product Officer, +46 705 233077
info@pricer.com

About Pricer

Pricer is a leading global provider of digital shelf-edge solutions, helping retailers optimize pricing, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the customer experience. With patented innovations like camera-based product identification by ESL, Pricer continues to set the standard for dynamic, intelligent shelf-edge solutions. For more information, visit www.pricer.com.

About Focal Systems

Focal Systems is a leading provider of AI-powered computer vision solutions, helping retailers automate operations and optimize product availability through real-time shelf monitoring. Its advanced technology delivers actionable insights that drive efficiency and profitability. For more information, visit www.focal.systems.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/pricer/r/pricer-and-focal-systems-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-drive-the-next-step-in-physical-store-d,c4090287

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Blue Owl Capital Expands Tennis Player Sponsorship to All Grand Slam Tournaments in 2025

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Blue Owl to place logo patches on dozens of athletes competing across the Australian Open,
French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open

Jordan Thompson named as Blue Owl’s dedicated athlete ambassador for the Australian Open

NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Blue Owl Capital Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE: OWL), a leading alternative asset manager, announced today a marquee sponsorship agreement to expand their presence at all Grand Slam tournaments in 2025 and become the exclusive financial services partner for professional tennis’ Player Patch Program.

Blue Owl’s logo will be featured on the shirt of select players competing across men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles competitions at this year’s Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open tournaments. In addition to Blue Owl’s presence on the courts, the firm will be featured in iconic Melbourne transit hubs, social media and digital media during the Australian Open in an effort to raise brand awareness within the country and the broader APAC market.

Blue Owl Chief Marketing Officer Suzanne Escousse said, “Just as Blue Owl is redefining alternative investing, we are supporting established and emerging professional players who are redefining the game of tennis. Tennis is a truly worldwide sport requiring peak performance in critical, high-pressure moments. This is the same ethos that underpins Blue Owl and allows us to focus on delivering results for our international client base. Following the success of our involvement with the Patch Program at the 2024 US Open, and given Blue Owl’s established presence within the country, Australia is the perfect place to kick off our presence across Grand Slam tournaments.”

Blue Owl has also partnered with Australian tennis professional Jordan Thompson, who will serve as the firm’s Athlete Ambassador at the 2025 Australian Open – January 12-26 in Melbourne. Most recently, Thompson won the men’s doubles at the 2024 US Open, where he was wearing a Blue Owl patch, and was a men’s doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2024. He has also registered victories over several top-10-ranked opponents in singles competitions and previously represented Australia at the Olympics and the Davis Cup. Thompson will be one of several competitors wearing Blue Owl’s logo throughout the tournament.

Jordan Thompson said: “Blue Owl is focused on delivering excellence for its clients, which makes it a great fit for a partnership with professional tennis players. Support from firms like Blue Owl is tremendously beneficial for players who are preparing for career-defining events, especially the four Grand Slams. Our shared core values, including striving for success in every step of our journeys, whether that be in the financial services industry or competing as a professional athlete, is a perfect match. Alongside my coaches, my doubles teammate(s) and tennis fans, Blue Owl will play a key role for me here in Melbourne at the 2025 Australian Open.”

About Blue Owl

Blue Owl (NYSE: OWL) is a leading asset manager that is redefining alternatives.

With $235 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2024, we invest across three multi-strategy platforms: Credit, GP Strategic Capital, and Real Estate. Anchored by a strong permanent capital base, we provide businesses with private capital solutions to drive long-term growth and offer institutional investors, individual investors, and insurance companies differentiated alternative investment opportunities that aim to deliver strong performance, risk-adjusted returns, and capital preservation.

Together with over 1,050 experienced professionals, Blue Owl brings the vision and discipline to create the exceptional. To learn more, visit www.blueowl.com.

Media Contact

Nick Theccanat
Principal, Corporate Communications & Government Affairs
Nick.Theccanat@blueowl.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-owl-capital-expands-tennis-player-sponsorship-to-all-grand-slam-tournaments-in-2025-302348626.html

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