Drive Capital

Forrester Study Finds Financial Services Organization Saw $148M in Benefits After Adopting Udacity as its Digital Upskilling Solution

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital upskilling platform Udacity announced today a new commissioned research study conducted by Forrester Consulting, which examined the potential return on investment (ROI) and business benefits financial services organizations may observe by deploying Udacity's technical upskilling solution for enterprises.

Key Points:

To conduct the study and project this three-year analysis, Forrester interviewed a representative of a financial services organization who has experience using Udacity.
Prior to adopting Udacity, the organization that participated in this study used a combination of learning resources to facilitate skill-building for its technical and nontechnical workforce.
With the adoption of Udacity for upskilling needs, employees acquire new skills, allowing them to remain relevant and help the organization meet its business goals.
"We commissioned Forrester Consulting in Q3 2022 to gain a better understanding of the benefits that financial services organizations can expect from investing in Udacity.

Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot & World Business Chicago Welcome the First Ever "Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit"

Retrieved on:

Friday, October 7, 2022

CHICAGO, Oct. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot joins World Business Chicago and Gen Z VCs today to welcome more than 300 Gen Z VCs, investors, founders, and startup enthusiasts for a sold-out Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit. Today's event marks the first time this annual event is occurring in the Midwest. The summit is led by Gen Z VCs and World Business Chicago, with the support of more than 20 partners. Mayor Lightfoot also proclaimed October 7, 2022 as "Gen Z VCs Day" in Chicago.

Key Points:

300+ Gen Z VCs, founders, angel investors, startup enthusiasts, and aspiring VCs from the across the country are in Chicago today for this first-of-its-kind, global event
CHICAGO, Oct. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot joins World Business Chicago and Gen Z VCs today to welcome more than 300 Gen Z VCs, investors, founders, and startup enthusiasts for a sold-out Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit.
The summit is led by Gen Z VCs and World Business Chicago, with the support of more than 20 partners.
Gen Z VCs is a collective of 17,000+ young venture capitalists (VCs), angel investors, founders, startup enthusiasts, and aspiring VCs.
Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit 2022 is presented by World Business Chicago, the city's private-public economic development agency chaired by the Mayor.

Udacity Launches Cybersecurity for Business Leaders Program to Address Top Enterprise Threats

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

To address this growing skills gap, Udacity's Cybersecurity for Business Leaders Program will upskill leaders across functions in critical cybersecurity focus areas.

Key Points:

To address this growing skills gap, Udacity's Cybersecurity for Business Leaders Program will upskill leaders across functions in critical cybersecurity focus areas.
"Leaders should lean into discussions around cybersecurity - not shy away from them," said Gabriel Dalporto, CEO of Udacity.
Udacity's Cybersecurity for Business Leaders program enables strategic leaders to build a comprehensive framework for cybersecurity in their organization, preparing their businesses to respond to new threats and achieve successful outcomes."
To learn more about Udacity's Cybersecurity for Business Leaders Program or to sign up for the next cohort, please visit us here .

Voxel51 Raises $12.5M Series A to Bring Transparency and Clarity to Computer Vision Data

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Voxel51, a data-centric machine learning software company, announced today that it has raised a $12.5 million Series A funding round from Drive Capital, Top Harvest Capital, Shasta Ventures, and existing investors. The round follows the company's $2.875M Seed round from eLab Ventures, ID Ventures, and the University of Michigan.

Key Points:

With more than 150,000 monthly active users, Voxel51's open source technology empowers machine learning model builders to bring transparency and clarity to the datasets they use to build computer vision applications.
Without infrastructure for building high-quality data pipelines, engineers are often forced to misallocate their talents wrangling data.
Voxel51 is bringing transparency and clarity to the world's data.
We're building a fully-remote team of exceptional and diverse people who want to bring data-centric ML to the world.

Forge Biologics Announces $90 Million Series C Financing to Expand Client Offerings and Add Services to Enhance End-to-End Gene Therapy Manufacturing Platforms

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 12, 2022

Forge Biologics, a gene therapy-focused contract development and manufacturing organization, today announced that it has raised $90 million in a Series C financing, bringing its total funding raised to date to $330 million.

Key Points:

Forge Biologics, a gene therapy-focused contract development and manufacturing organization, today announced that it has raised $90 million in a Series C financing, bringing its total funding raised to date to $330 million.
The Company will use the funding to expand client offerings, including proprietary technologies, manufacturing systems, cell lines, and additional services to bolster its end-to-end manufacturing platform.
We believe that Forge is becoming an established leader in gene therapy manufacturing, consistent with Drive Capitals focus to build and support market-defining companies.
The Hearth is a custom-designed cGMP facility focused on AAV manufacturing and can host end-to-end manufacturing services to accelerate gene therapy programs from preclinical through clinical and commercial stage manufacturing.

Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot & World Business Chicago join Gen Z VCs to announce Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit 2022

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

CHICAGO, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and World Business Chicago, the city's economic development agency, join national organization Gen Z VCs to announce its national event, Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit 2022, will occur in Chicago on October 7.

Key Points:

The global collective of Gen Z VCs, founders, angel investors, startup enthusiasts, and aspiring VCs will convene in Chicago for their national event on October 7, 2022
CHICAGO, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and World Business Chicago, the city's economic development agency, join national organization Gen Z VCs to announce its national event, Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit 2022, will occur in Chicago on October 7.
"I'm thrilled to welcome the global Gen Z VCs community to our great city," said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot.
Gen Z VCs is a collective of 17,000+ young venture capitalists (VCs), angel investors, founders, startup enthusiasts, and aspiring VCs.
Gen Z VCs Future-of-Chicago Summit 2022 is presented by World Business Chicago, the city's private-public economic development agency, supported by a council of 200+ local leaders.

Udacity Expands Executive Leadership Team with Key Promotions

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Talent development is at the core of Udacity's offering, and this leadership team growth demonstrates the company's commitment to its mission of empowering life-long career development, with all three new appointees being promoted internally.

Key Points:

Talent development is at the core of Udacity's offering, and this leadership team growth demonstrates the company's commitment to its mission of empowering life-long career development, with all three new appointees being promoted internally.
Ayah Shashaa steps up as Chief Strategy and Business Operations Officer, after spending close to five years at Udacity as Global Vice President of Societal Impact.
In her new role, Shashaa will oversee the strategic direction of Udacity, aligning the planning, implementation, and execution of the company's growth mission.
Also joining Udacity's executive leadership team is Derrick Alesevich, the company's former Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

Udacity Strengthens Leadership with Sarah Reynolds as Chief Marketing Officer

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Udacity, the digital talent transformation platform, is pleased to announce the addition of Sarah Reynolds (they/them) as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to its executive leadership team. Reynolds officially joined Udacity's executive lineup in June 2022, and brings over a decade of expertise in modern marketing and inclusive, people-centric digital transformation to the company as it eyes growth across enterprise and government sectors.

Key Points:

The marketing veteran and diversity, equity, and inclusion advocate joins Udacity as CMO to drive global expansion in enterprise and government sectors
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Udacity , the digital talent transformation platform, is pleased to announce the addition of Sarah Reynolds (they/them) as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to its executive leadership team.
Prior to joining Udacity, Reynolds served as interim Head of Commercial Marketing at PTC, following their success as Vice President of Enterprise Marketing.
While at PTC, Reynolds led global marketing strategy and execution for the digital transformation software solutions provider, focusing on pipeline generation, value-driven messaging, marketing operations excellence, and talent development.
Prior to PTC, Reynolds was Vice President of Marketing for Salary.com, where they ran global marketing for the employee compensation data, software, and analytics company.

Planned Raises $18 Million as In-Person Corporate Events Return

Retrieved on:

Thursday, July 21, 2022

CEO, Series, Entrepreneurship, Glass, Restaurant, CPO, Drive Capital, COVID, Museum, Video game, Online shopping, Planning, Coronavirus

MONTREAL, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Planned, the all-in-one event planning platform that is simplifying the experience of planning corporate events, today announced the close of a successful Series A funding round with capital investments of $18 million. The round was led by Drive Capital, with participation from Outsiders Fund, THCAP, and N49P.

Key Points:

MONTREAL, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Planned, the all-in-one event planning platform that is simplifying the experience of planning corporate events, today announced the close of a successful Series A funding round with capital investments of $18 million.
Co-founders Marc-Antoine Bonin and Emeric Nol and the Planned team rebuilt the platform with the goal of making event planners' lives easier.
Invoice payments flow through Planned, allowing Planned to serve as the single vendor for a corporate event.
Planned helps in-person event planners book everything they need for their events while providing visibility and control to managers.

Nautical Commerce Raises $30M to Scale Multi-Vendor Marketplace Technology

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Nautical was purpose-built for multi-vendor commerce, giving each player in the marketplace buyers, sellers, and operators a curated experience.

Key Points:

Nautical was purpose-built for multi-vendor commerce, giving each player in the marketplace buyers, sellers, and operators a curated experience.
With Nautical, marketplace operators no longer need to assemble their platforms with a combination of plug-ins or spend millions on custom software.
Were impressed by what Nautical has already accomplished and are proud to enable them to deliver on their mission to democratize marketplace technology.
Nautical is a multi-vendor marketplace platform for brands, retailers, B2B companies, and startups to launch and scale an online marketplace.