Technology

Archistar Secures Contract with the City of Austin for Groundbreaking AI-Powered Automated Building Permit Assessment Platform

Published

3 hours ago

October 8, 2024

SYDNEY, Oct. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The City of Austin has entered into a landmark contract with Archistar for the deployment of its innovative automated building permit assessment software. This 5-year contract represents a significant step forward in leveraging AI to streamline the city’s building permit assessment processes.

Archistar, an industry leader in AI-driven property and planning solutions, has been at the forefront of digitizing planning and building codes for seven years. Originally based in Australia, Archistar has experienced overwhelming demand in North America, with Austin becoming the first U.S. City with a contract to fully implement Archistar’s AI-powered platform after a successful three month pilot. Over 30 cities globally are now piloting or using Archistar to improve their permit assessment process.

“We are thrilled to be working with the City of Austin, a recognized leader in innovation within the U.S.,” said Dr. Benjamin Coorey, Founder of Archistar. “Our AI technology will significantly improve approval times, reduce costs, and allow the city to focus on more complex evaluations, creating a more efficient and effective permit review process.”

About Archistar eCheck

Archistar’s eCheck technology plays a pivotal role in this transformation. The process begins when an applicant submits their design for a pre-check assessment before they apply for their permit. The eCheck platform reads the designs directly from the submitted drawings and evaluates the design against digitized planning and building codes. The outcome of this assessment is a comprehensive, standardised compliance report, which is then included with the permit application demonstrating compliance. This automated, data-driven process simplifies complex regulatory frameworks, enabling faster, more consistent decision-making for both applicants and city planning authorities.

Typical Challenges in Permitting

The process for reviewing and approving permits can be lengthy, especially when dealing with high volumes or complex projects. The permitting process continues to face a variety of challenges, including:

Inconsistency in Submission Completeness and Quality: Applications often vary significantly in their completeness and adherence to requirements, leading to delays and added complexity.Multiple Submissions Due to Non-Compliance: Applicants often need to re-submit their applications multiple times to address non-compliance issues, which adds further delays.Costly Delays: Delays in the approval process not only slow down project timelines but also add significant costs to applicants, including holding costs and project overruns.

Benefits of Archistar’s Platform

The pilot program proved the value of Archistar’s eCheck technology, particularly in addressing the complexities of zoning bylaws within the permit assessment process. The full platform deployment promises further benefits, including:

Faster approval times for permits, allowing the City to accelerate the pace of housing development.Reductions in requests for information and rework between city staff and the submitter, reducing friction between applicants and staff.A faster initial assessment means more bandwidth to process additional applications and a significant reduction in time to assess.An independent, standardised and thorough initial audit check using computerised systems.Standardise measurements and report on all submissions regardless of the quality of submission.Benefits to the wider property ecosystem including more transparency and certainty in the approval process and reduced timelines, holding costs and more effective supply chain management.Increased customer satisfaction and a better customer experience.

The City of Austin faces challenges including managing complex zoning by laws and ensuring timely compliance in its permitting process. “With Archistar’s platform, we will be able to provide faster and more informed feedback on building plans, and that’s crucial in our journey to improve the development process,” said José G. Roig, Director of Austin’s Development Services Department. “The eCheck technology will transform the building plan review process, helping us deliver a smoother process for applicants and better service to our community.”

The City of Austin continues to collaborate with Archistar, being one of ten cities to also participate in a pan-USA pilot focused on automating the International Building Code compliance review. This collaboration between key cities in the US, the International Code Council and Archistar is a project that will likely shape the future of building code permit assessment across the country.

Dr. Coorey added, “We’re excited to partner with the City of Austin, and the benefits will extend to developers, homeowners, and city staff alike. Our platform’s AI-driven capabilities are designed to not just streamline processes but to deliver a digital transformation resulting in more housing for the City.”

About Archistar:

Archistar is a global leader in AI-driven property technology, specializing in automating zoning and building code compliance, 3D generative building design, and providing data-driven insights for city planning and property development. The company operates globally with clients across Australia, the U.S., Canada, and the Middle East.

For more information, visit www.archistar.ai.

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SOURCE Archistar

Technology

Armentum Partners Makes Key Senior Hire in Andrew Fineberg to Expand Royalty Capabilities

Published

5 mins ago

October 9, 2024

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Armentum Partners, the leading investment bank focused exclusively on raising non-dilutive and structured financings for growth stage healthcare and technology companies, is delighted to announce the addition of senior banker, Andrew Fineberg, as a Managing Director. Andrew joins with a long history of successfully advising academic and not-for-profit institutions around the world on pharmaceutical royalty monetization and corporate clients on the full spectrum of non-dilutive and structured financing options. Andrew, who will be based in New York City, joins Armentum Partners from OrbiMed Advisors, LLC, where he was a Managing Director in the Royalty and Credit Opportunities Fund.

“We are excited to have Andrew join our team. Andrew has a unique and dominant position in the royalty space as one of the most active and well-respected advisors. We believe his experience will allow us to help our academic and corporate clients explore a wider range of non-dilutive and structured financing alternatives,” commented Chris Carthy, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Partner of Armentum Partners. The investment bank now covers all aspects of non-equity financings with a presence in Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

On joining, Andrew said “I am thrilled to join Armentum and get back to doing what I enjoy most, delivering royalty solutions to academic institutions and structured financings to companies. I was attracted to Armentum’s market leading position, stellar reputation with investors and clients, and their very experienced senior bankers.”

Andrew has previously held senior roles at SVB Leerink, MTS Health Partners, Torreya Partners, and Cowen & Company. Andrew is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

About Armentum Partners

Armentum is a full-service, independent financial advisory firm with over 150 years of combined experience in investment banking, commercial banking and lending, venture financing, private and public equity investing, and business development. While Armentum is full-service, its main focus is raising debt and non-dilutive capital raising solutions primarily for technology and healthcare companies. Armentum’s clients benefit from its sector focus and unique backgrounds in the healthcare and scientific fields, including team members with previous careers in engineering and research. Armentum’s managing partners have been working together over the last decade, bringing consistency to each process, and driving its goal of securing the best structure and cost of non-dilutive capital for clients to best meet their strategic growth needs. The firm has remained incredibly active, having raised $16 billion since inception across 350+ transaction, including $2 billion thus far in 2024. Armentum Partners’ employees are fully Registered Representatives of a FINRA member firm.

Media Contact: Kristina Mourlot, kristina@armentumpartners.com, 312-502-0793

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/armentum-partners-makes-key-senior-hire-in-andrew-fineberg-to-expand-royalty-capabilities-302270766.html

SOURCE Armentum Partners

Technology

Rob Renzi Joins Catalyst Solutions as Chief Growth Officer

Published

5 mins ago

October 9, 2024

Experienced Health Care Leader to Drive Growth

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Oct. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Catalyst Solutions, a leader in innovative solutions to Health Plans, has announced today that Rob Renzi has joined the company as Chief Growth Officer. Renzi brings more than 35 years of leadership experience in sales, business development, and account management in the healthcare industry.

Rachel Spilo, CEO of Catalyst, said, “I’ve known Rob for nearly 20 years. He is exceptionally well-known and well-regarded in our industry. Rob has a proven track record of building and leading sales teams and expanding customer relationships. His extensive knowledge of payer platforms, solutions, and partners will be a tremendous asset to our organization.”

Renzi joins Catalyst from Zelis, a healthcare financial management platform, where he was Senior Vice President of Business Development. Prior to Zelis, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at Welltok, a SaaS platform for healthcare consumer activation, and was instrumental in Welltok’s sale to Virgin Pulse (now Personify Health). In a 29-year career at TriZetto, one of the industry’s leading claims platforms, he held roles including President of New Business.

Added Renzi, “I love the healthcare technology industry and its commitment to improving people’s lives through innovative solutions, and I have an insatiable passion for being a part of making it better. I’m excited about the opportunity to help Catalyst, its clients, partners, and employees to achieve better health outcomes.”

Added Sas Mukherjee, President of Catalyst, “We are very excited to have Rob lead and accelerate our impressive growth. Rob has a track record of leading earlier waves of growth in adoption of platform and service innovation to health plans. So, it is a testament to the superior value proposition of the solutions from Catalyst that Rob has decided to join us to help Catalyst lead the next wave of innovation and transformation of the industry.”

In his role at Catalyst Solutions, Renzi will lead a team in the pursuit of new clients and securing strategic partnerships to help simplify the complex environment of health benefits and the technology supporting it.

About Catalyst Solutions: Catalyst Solution’s mission is to help health plans improve health outcomes, improve member and provider experience while reducing medical and administrative costs. We are passionate about making positive and measurable improvements on behalf of the clients we serve and the communities in which we live. With 25 years of deep expertise in outsourced health plan outsourcing, IT, and consulting services, Catalyst delivers comprehensive and scalable solutions that meet the unique needs of payers, and we are committed to exceeding customer expectations by providing unmatched service. To learn more, please visit www.catalystsolutions.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rob-renzi-joins-catalyst-solutions-as-chief-growth-officer-302270771.html

SOURCE Catalyst Solutions

Technology

AWAK Transforms into Vivance, Unveiling a New Brand Identity

Published

5 mins ago

October 9, 2024

SINGAPORE, Oct. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AWAK Technologies, a pioneer in innovative kidney care is excited to announce its rebranding to Vivance. The name, derived from ‘viva’ and ‘advance’, embodies vitality and progress – hallmarks of the company’s commitment to revolutionizing kidney health.

AWAK Technologies was founded with a groundbreaking idea: the development of a wearable dialysis device, Automated Wearable Artificial Kidney (AWAK). As the company continues its mission to transform kidney care, the portfolio has been expanded with products that aim to enhance patient outcomes and quality of life. To reflect this evolution and commitment to innovation, it has rebranded to Vivance – a name that captures its dynamic and forward-thinking approach in managing kidney health.

Suresha Venkataraya, CEO of Vivance, said, “This rebrand reflects how far we’ve come, and where we’re heading. Building on the foundation of our wearable dialysis device, we’ve made significant strides by expanding our portfolio to include cost-effective home modalities and complementary digital offerings. This rebrand reinforces our ultimate mission of treating patients in the comfort of their homes.”

Abel Ang, Chairman of Vivance, added, “We are excited to introduce Vivance to the world. Building on two breakthrough device designations from the FDA, our rebranding accelerates our mission to revolutionize healthcare. This exciting new chapter for the company will see us take patient-centric dialysis from a dream into reality.”

Looking Ahead

As Vivance, the company will continue to refine its brand strategy, product positioning, and approach to market entry, ensuring a strong and strategic alignment with industry needs. The wearable dialysis device is progressing through clinical trials, while additional innovations, such as point-of-care PD fluid generation system, remote monitoring tools and AI prediction models, are in advanced stages of research and development. These products are poised to enter their clinical phases in the near future, reinforcing Vivance’s mission to drive meaningful disruption in the kidney care sector.

Media Contact:

Priyanka Arya
Senior Marketing Manager
+65 6950 5011
priyanka.arya@awak.com

About Vivance

Vivance, formerly AWAK Technologies, is a pioneering, patient-centric medical technology company with a mission to enhance the lives of people with kidney disease and their caregivers by providing solutions to deliver better outcomes and improve their quality of life.

Headquartered in Singapore with offices in Los Angeles, United States and Bengaluru, India, the company is dedicated to the research, development and marketing of novel technologies in kidney care.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2516325/Vivance_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/awak-transforms-into-vivance-unveiling-a-new-brand-identity-302269606.html