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TRACT Secures $11.2 Million in New Funding to Accelerate Growth and Empower Sustainable Agriculture

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TRACT, a pioneering SaaS platform dedicated to enhancing sustainability in agricultural supply chains, has successfully raised $11.2 million in new funding. This round includes further investments from the company’s existing shareholders Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), and Olam, alongside new partners The Working Capital Fund and Rabo Investments, the captive investment arm of Rabobank.

AMSTERDAM, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — TRACT, a pioneering SaaS platform dedicated to enhancing sustainability in agricultural supply chains, has successfully raised $11.2 million in new funding. This round includes further investments from the company’s existing shareholders Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), and Olam, alongside new partners The Working Capital Fund and Rabo Investments, the captive investment arm of Rabobank.

“We believe in shaping increasingly sustainable agricultural supply chains for a better future. Partnering with The Working Capital Fund and Rabo Investments strengthens our independence as a company and shows confidence in our approach to creating positive impact in the agricultural sector.”

“We believe in shaping increasingly sustainable agricultural supply chains for a better future,” said Allison Kopf, CEO of TRACT. “Partnering with The Working Capital Fund and Rabo Investments strengthens our independence as a company and shows confidence in our approach to creating positive impact in the agricultural sector.”

Founded by global food and agriculture leaders, TRACT is transforming agricultural supply chains by simplifying data management and addressing the complexities of sustainability reporting. By aligning methodologies and metrics, TRACT enables companies to focus on creating measurable impact without the burden of managing complex data systems.

The Working Capital Fund, incubated within The Omidyar Group, expressed enthusiasm for the impact potential of TRACT. “Fragmented sustainability data is a pronounced pain point for corporations seeking to operate ethical and sustainable supply chains.” said Ed Marcum, Managing Partner. “TRACT solves for this by offering a one-stop-shop sustainability platform designed by and for industry leaders and unlocks the ability to navigate, oversee, and share sustainability data and catalyze supply chain transformation.”

“We are proud to welcome Rabobank and The Working Capital fund as new partners, securing additional funding to accelerate TRACT’s strategic growth plans as an independent entity, while further leveraging data to enhance the sustainability of the agricultural sector,” said Tim Harry, Board Member of TRACT and Global Head of Business Development at LDC.

Floris Onvlee, Director Corporate Venturing at Rabo Investments added, “We see TRACT being as best positioned to become the single go-to platform for sustainability data management and traceability across the agricultural supply chain. Our investment enables TRACT to accelerate its growth and launch more solutions to transition towards a more sustainable value chain.”

Rabobank, a leading global food and agri bank, will also collaborate with TRACT to offer sustainable finance to TRACT members. “Our partnership with TRACT highlights our commitment to supporting innovative solutions that enhance sustainable agricultural practices,” said Diane Boogaard, Board Member of TRACT and Head of Global Food System Transition at Rabobank.

“TRACT’s competitive advantage lies in its foundation, built by and for its customers,” noted Roel van Poppel, Board Member of TRACT and Chief Sustainability Officer from ofi (olam food ingredients). “Our aim is to see TRACT drive scalable impact in the agriculture sector through wider

industry collaboration. This growth in the investor base is therefore a significant milestone and opportunity for even more collective progress.”

The food and agriculture sector faces unprecedented challenges and calls for greater sustainability goals, amid more vulnerable supply chains to strict sustainability goals and increasing social and regulatory pressure for greater transparency. TRACT helps address these challenges and expectations by facilitating supply chain transparency and traceability – from origin to destination.

“The food and agriculture industry is under increasing public and legislative pressure for greater transparency to help manage environmental and social issues. At Cargill, we believe one of the only ways we can continue to build trust in the industry is through more transparency. That’s why we continue to invest in initiatives like TRACT, which will help accelerate food and agriculture system transformation by improving transparency from growers to retailers across food and ag supply chains,” said Carrie Johnson, Board Member of TRACT and Sustainability Analytics and Reporting Director at Cargill.

“Sustainability stands at the core of our company’s values, and we are thrilled to see the future expansion of TRACT’s unique SaaS platform,” said Kai-Uwe Ostheim, Board Member of TRACT and VP, Sustainability Portfolio, ADM. “Scaling this platform for the agricultural industry is crucial to enhancing sustainability within agricultural supply chains by improving the visibility and harmonization of sustainability metrics.”

TRACT is used by leading food and agriculture companies to reduce the burden of sustainability reporting, providing end-to-end due diligence and data sharing functionality. TRACT has published methodologies on Deforestation Assessment endorsed by companies such as Nestlé, Soya Hellas, Cargill, ADM, LDC, Olam Agri, and ofi, and has developed risk scores for human rights in partnership with Wageningen University & Research. The company is a market leader in EUDR, and the new funding will accelerate TRACT’s initiatives related to scope 3 emissions tracking and insights into farmer income, as well as work to support reporting related to CSRD and CSDDD.

About TRACT

TRACT is a leading provider of traceability and sustainability data solutions for the global agricultural supply chain. Our mission is to remove the burden of data management and resolve the debate on methodology so that companies can drive meaningful impact as they navigate their supply chains.

For more information about TRACT, visit https://www.tract.eco/

Media Contact
Kumiko Aoki, TRACT, 31 639368252, kaoki@tract.eco, www.tract.eco

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Stryker unveils Oculan Lighting Platform to enhance surgical visualization and illumination

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FLOWER MOUND, Texas, USA, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Stryker (NYSE: SYK), a global leader in medical technologies, unveiled the Oculan Lighting Platform, an innovative lighting solution designed to provide consistent, high-quality illumination, allowing surgeons to focus on delivering the highest standard of care.

In today’s operating rooms, where precision and accuracy are critical, even the smallest challenges may impact surgical outcomes – factors which may impede a surgeon’s ability to see clearly and work efficiently.

“The Oculan Lighting Platform was developed in response to real-world challenges faced by surgeons, as identified through extensive customer feedback,” said Caitlin Clark, vice president and general manager of Stryker’s Communications business. “This new solution is designed to improve the visualization experience, surgical performance and patient safety within the operating room.”

The Oculan Lighting Platform offers advanced features designed to enhance surgical precision and comfort:

Fly Eye technology within the optical architecture: This proprietary design ensures that instruments, hands, and the surgeon’s head do not create dim areas, providing even light distribution.

Consistent illumination: Allows surgeons to maintain a clear view and is designed to increase optical efficiency and reduce color ringing at the surgical site within procedures.

Auto lux and Microspot: Provides uniform brightness and pure white even in harder-to-reach areas such as a deep cavity or small incision procedures.

SHD Mode: Removal of perceived red is designed to improve contrast, tissue differentiation, and reduction of glare off instrumentation to improve the visual experience.

Heat minimization: Designed to produce less heat through heat dissipation, creating a cooler, more comfortable environment for lengthy surgeries.

Reduced glare and reflections: Helps surgeons stay focused and minimizes eye strain.

Ease of adoption: Suspension modularity allows for the Oculan Lighting Platform to be installed in operating rooms with existing Stryker surgical lights, causing minimal OR downtime.

“Clear visualization is one of the most critical aspects of surgical lighting,” said Dr. Shyamali Mallick Singhal, Chief Medical Officer of Apricity Health in California. “The ability to see clearly without shadows or dim spots is essential for precise work. The Oculan Lighting Platform excels in providing bright, even light in these hard-to-reach spaces, where surgeons need it most. Just as important are its enhanced contrast capabilities, which allow us to distinguish between different tissues and anatomical structures more easily, significantly improving our ability to identify critical details with greater accuracy and confidence. This level of visibility is essential for delivering safer, more efficient surgeries.”

Engineered for long-term performance, the Oculan Lighting Platform is designed to enhance functionality and durability. Its intuitive controls allow surgical teams to easily adjust settings to meet their specific needs. Emphasizing user-friendliness, the platform features multiple control points that streamline workflows and minimize disruptions. For more information about the Oculan Lighting Platform and Stryker’s full range of medical technologies, please visit here.

About Stryker
Stryker is a global leader in medical technologies and, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. The company offers innovative products and services in MedSurg, Neurotechnology, Orthopaedics and Spine that help improve patient and healthcare outcomes. Alongside its customers around the world, Stryker impacts more than 150 million patients annually. More information is available at www.stryker.com.

Media contact: 
Elizabeth Mortek
elizabeth@inprela.com
Inprela PR

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Trellis Launches Trellis AI to Revolutionize Trial Court Litigation

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Built on the industry’s largest US trial court database, Trellis AI delivers unparalleled insight and efficiency to legal teams

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Trellis launched Trellis AI, a powerful new legal productivity platform designed for the complex needs of trial court litigation. Built on Trellis’ industry-leading trial court data foundation—which is the most comprehensive database of its kind in the US—Trellis AI offers tools that empower legal teams to harness data and insights in transformative ways. By automating litigation tasks like motion drafting and case evaluations, Trellis AI transforms the way litigators approach case work with greater accuracy, efficiency, and strategic insight.

Trellis AI: A legal productivity platform tailored for trial court litigation, built on the leading trial court database

Trellis is an AI-driven legal research and insights platform offering access to the largest and most comprehensive US trial court database. This extensive database includes dockets, documents, rulings, judge, law firm, and company analytics, with unmatched coverage across states, counties, and courts.

Trellis AI leverages this extensive data foundation along with advanced language models to deliver precise insights that enhance decision-making, case preparation, and litigation strategy. Designed for legal professionals, it streamlines strategic work like case assessments and motion argument development while automating time-consuming tasks such as motion drafting, client updates, and discovery preparation. These efficiencies free up attorneys to focus on strategic decision-making and client advocacy.

“Trellis is uniquely positioned to support attorneys within the very court system where their cases are filed,” said Nicole Clark, CEO and cofounder of Trellis and a former litigator. “Trellis provides access to hundreds of millions of motions and briefs, representing millions of hours of attorney blood, sweat, and tears in research and drafting. It’s why Trellis AI stands as the only tool to offer one-click solutions to create work product backed by the entire court system and learnings from every trial court litigator who came before them.”

Unlocking New Litigation Strategies
Trellis AI is designed to support every stage of the case lifecycle, delivering impactful work product powered by Trellis’ extensive data. Its feature suite tackles common litigation challenges by automating routine tasks and providing strategic insights grounded in the nation’s most trusted court data.

For example, “Draft Arguments” is a powerful motion drafting tool that can save hours of work, allowing attorneys to focus on their strongest arguments. Trellis AI uses the details and facts of the case to create tailored draft motions, drawing from its extensive database of similar cases to suggest strategic, fact-supported arguments. Each draft incorporates insights from hundreds of thousands of successful trial court motions, offering attorneys an innovative solution that transforms how they approach motion drafting.

Another tool is “Case Assessment” which evaluates key case elements to guide strategic decision-making. Trellis AI examines case facts, legal claims, and defenses to provide detailed insights into potential outcomes, recommended actions, and risk factors. Each assessment delivers actionable intelligence and recommended next steps to inform decisions on case management, settlement strategies, and trial preparation. This empowers attorneys to keep their clients informed, offer strategic recommendations, and leverage an internal knowledge base of strategies and insights for each case.

The remainder of Trellis AI’s tools streamline important tasks like complaint analysis, defense strategy development, argument evaluation, timeline creation, citation extraction, and more. All tools were created and meticulously tested by Trellis’ teams of product attorneys and experienced litigators.

Precision and Security at the Core
Trellis AI is designed for ease-of-use without sacrificing security or accuracy. All uploaded documents are encrypted at rest, aligning with SOC 2 standards to protect sensitive information. Additionally, Trellis AI reduces the risk of errors or bias in its outputs, enabling legal teams to concentrate on insights rather than processes. It also provides options for easy verification and source checking, ensuring greater confidence and peace of mind.

“The potential for AI to transform the legal field depends on the quality and depth of data behind it,” said Alon Shwartz, CPO and cofounder of Trellis. “Our data foundation is the cornerstone of Trellis AI, providing a wealth of high-quality information that drives actionable recommendations and meaningful insights. By prioritizing data integrity and implementing rigorous security measures, we’ve built a platform attorneys can trust to streamline workflows and make strategic decisions confidently.”

For more information, click here to book a demo or to get started with Trellis AI.

About Trellis

About Trellis
Trellis is the leading provider of state trial court data and insights, serving tens of thousands of law firms and litigators daily with insights and coverage across 3,000+ courts in over 2,500 counties, spanning 45 states. Trellis offers an extensive suite of state trial court intelligence and productivity tools for litigators, including detailed judge bios and analytics, thorough case assessments, argument drafting and generation, litigation insights across both law firms and corporations, daily reports on new filings, customizable alerts, and much more. Explore more or book a demo at trellis.law.

CONTACT: Media Contact: Ignacio Ramirez, ignacio@switchpr.com

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Burkland Launches Dedicated Expert Team to Support AI Startups

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New specialty practice is dedicated to meeting the unique needs of AI startups.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Burkland, a full-service fractional CFO, HR, accounting, and tax provider for startups, today announces a new specialty practice team dedicated to meeting the distinct needs of AI startups. Burkland’s experts in accounting, finance, tax, and more are helping these AI companies scale with strategies tailored to their unique challenges.

“A founder’s focus is on building a solution, so this is precisely where Burkland’s fractional support teams can provide much-needed help,” said Jeff Burkland, founder and CEO of Burkland.

“Many of our clients are hard at work creating innovative AI solutions, with these startups using new technology to create even newer technology. A founder’s focus is on building a solution, so this is precisely where Burkland’s fractional support teams can provide much-needed help,” said Jeff Burkland, founder and CEO of Burkland. “There are several key roles like the CFO, accountant, and tax advisor, all of which play critical roles in helping AI startups anticipate and address challenges.”

Due to aspects such as the cutting-edge nature of an AI startup’s technology, rapidly evolving industry landscape, and heavy reliance on data and talent, an AI startup faces a unique set of challenges. Needs include the ability to navigate complex revenue recognition since an AI startup can have multiple revenue streams. Also important is an understanding of R&D tax credits and other tax opportunities, as well as how to manage large funding rounds and the associated due diligence.

“As the founder of a startup, there is a lot of pressure on your shoulders all the time,” said Burkland client Lin Qiao, Co-Founder & CEO of Fireworks AI, on Burkland’s Startup Success podcast. “You’re creating something from scratch that doesn’t exist. If you have a resource to tap into, it will be great because we’re always busy day to day.”

Burkland has served as an important resource for startups, from pre-seed through series C, for more than 20 years. Today, approximately 800 venture-backed startups, across multiple industries, are leveraging Burkland’s expertise. For more information, founders should read “The Smarter Startup” blog, listen to the “Startup Success” podcast, and learn more about Burkland’s fractional services and offerings.

About Burkland

Burkland is a full-service fractional CFO, Accountancy, Tax, and HR provider, serving more than 800 venture-backed startups across the United States. SaaS, AI, Healthcare, Fintech, Clean Energy, and Consumer startups rely on Burkland for smarter finance, accounting, People Operations, and tax guidance to grow with confidence. As a leader in market share in the industry, we pride ourselves on giving startups expertise that makes economic sense for all growth stages, ranging from Pre-Seed to Series C. Our on-demand CFOs, Accountants, People Partners, and Tax Experts give strategic guidance to ease a company’s growing pains and provide insight to scale. Learn more at https://burklandassociates.com.

For media inquiries or further information, please visit Burkland’s press page or contact Julie Fogerson at jfogerson@burklandassociates.com.

Media Contact

Julie Fogerson, Burkland, 1 4255033154, jfogerson@burklandassociates.com, https://burklandassociates.com

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