Category Archives: News

Apheon combines Millbio with Cain Foods to create a global champion in clean-label bakery solutions

Apheon

Apheon, a pan-European private equity investor, is pleased to announce the landmark acquisition of Cain Foods (“Cain”) and the creation of a global champion in clean-label bakery solutions through the combination with Millbio, its portfolio company.

Millbio, a leading player in functional clean-label bakery ingredients, and Cain, a U.S.–based value-added manufacturer of clean label ingredients for industrial bakeries with a focus on natural preservation systems, today announce the creation of a fully vertically integrated global platform in natural bakery solutions, best positioned to capitalize on the strong underlying market’s growth driven by sustained consumer demand and stricter industry requirements for clean label ingredients.

The combined group will have operations spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia, representing a highly synergistic match between Millbio’s fermentation know-how and R&D expertise and Cain’s manufacturing, R&D and logistics capabilities, which are primarily located in the Americas. As a combined platform, the group will have a strengthened position as the preferred supplier to industrial bakeries that seek clean-label solutions on a global scale.

Cain’s shareholders, including top management and founding family members, will reinvest significantly alongside Apheon and Millbio’s team, ensuring strategic continuity and growth alignment. Apheon will retain control and continue supporting the group’s international development.

Alessandro Boggiani, Founder of Millbio, commented, “This partnership marks a key step forward in our mission to become a global leader in natural, clean-label bakery solutions. By combining Millbio’s fermentation and technical know-how with Cain’s reach and client intimacy in the Americas, we can now offer a truly integrated value proposition — from raw material to finished formulation and distribution — broadening our market access and customer proximity.”

Tom McCurry, CEO and shareholder of Cain Foods, added, “We are thrilled to join forces with Millbio and Apheon. The alignment across our values, product philosophies, and commitment to technical excellence is strong. Together, we will be able to serve customers more effectively and uniquely position ourselves in the market as a fully integrated global partner for clean-label baking solutions”.

Riccardo Collini, Partner at Apheon, commented: “We are excited to open a new chapter in Millbio’s growth journey. Since our initial investment, we have worked closely with Alessandro and his team to expand Millbio’s international footprint and accelerate innovation. This strategic combination with Cain, that will double the size of our company, represents a natural next step, and we look forward to supporting the Group as it scales globally and continues to lead in clean-label innovation”.

About Millbio
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Italy, Millbio develops natural functional ingredients for the food industry, with special focus on bakery. Its products — including natural mold inhibitors, sourdough, enzyme-based improvers, botanical extracts and healthy innovative solutions — help industrial bakeries improve shelf life, texture, flavor and nutritional profile with simplified ingredient lists. Millbio operates fermentation, production, blending and R&D facilities in Italy and China, serving customers across Europe, Asia Pacific and Americas. For more information, visit www.millbio.com.

About Cain Foods
Established in 1971 in Dallas, Texas, Cain Foods is a value-added manufacturer of clean label ingredients and custom mixes to commercial bakeries across the Americas. Its portfolio includes natural mold inhibitors, dough conditioners, shelf-life extenders and custom ingredient systems. Supported by an in-house innovation center, Cain Foods focuses on label-friendly formulations and technical assistance to replace artificial additives. For more information, visit www.cainfoods.com.

About Apheon
Apheon is a pan‑European mid‑market private equity firm managing more than €3 billion in assets from select global institutional investors and families. Known for a “patient and friendly capital” approach, Apheon partners with entrepreneurs and management teams, offering industrial expertise to prepare companies for future growth. Through its European presence, the firm serves as a gateway into Europe for companies in the mid-market. Since its founding in 2005, Apheon has raised more than €3.5 billion in capital, invested in ~40 companies across Europe and completed ~200 add-on acquisitions for a total aggregate transaction value in excess of €7 billion. Apheon’s current portfolio consists of 21 companies across its target sectors, representing ~€3 billion sales and more than 20,000 employees. Apheon is advised by Apheon Advisors which has offices in Brussels, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Munich and Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.apheon.com.

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Apheon
John Mansvelt, COO, Apheon
jm@apheon.com
T: +32 2 213 60 90

Natalia Yek, Head of Investor Relations, Apheon
ny@apheon.com
T: +32 2 213 60 90

 

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Altor divests Retta to Adelis Equity Partners

September 1, 2025. Altor Fund IV (“Altor”) has entered into an agreement to divest Retta Oy and Retta AB (“Retta”) to Adelis Equity Partners (“Adelis”).

Altor invested in Retta, previously Realia Group, with the ambition to build a high-quality real estate management company. During Altor’s ownership, Retta has made significant digital investments, launched new service lines to offer a full lifecycle offering for real estate owners, and successfully expanded to Sweden. Today, Retta has established itself as one of the Nordic leaders in the B2B property management sector.

“We have worked closely with management to build a group with high quality services and a strong customer satisfaction. Many milestones later and with a strong market position, our partnership is now coming to a close. We want to thank the management team and applaud them for their hard work over the years. We look forward to seeing them grow in their next chapter with Adelis” said Bengt Maunsbach, Partner at Altor.

About Altor

Since inception, the family of Altor funds has raised more than EUR 12 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in more than 100 companies. The investments have been made in medium-sized companies predominantly in Nordic and DACH with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. Among current and past investments are Silo AI, Mandatum, Eleda, Kaefer and Toteme.

About Retta

Retta is the leading provider of B2B real estate management and other real estate services, serving institutional investors, real estate investors, property owners, and other commercial clients in Finland and Sweden.

About Adelis Equity Partners

Adelis is a growth partner for well-positioned companies in the Nordic and DACH regions. Adelis partners with management and/or owners to build businesses in growth segments and with strong market positions. Since raising its first fund in 2013, Adelis has been one of the most active investors in the Nordic middle-market, making 49 platform investments and more than 270 add-on acquisitions. Adelis manages approximately €4.5 billion in capital. For more information, please visit www.adelisequity.com.

Press contact

Karin Åström

Head of Communications

karin.astrom@altor.com

+46 707 64 86 59

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Atlas Holdings Announces Sale of Saxco

Atlas Holdings

GREENWICH, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Atlas Holdings (“Atlas”) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Saxco International, LLC (“Saxco”) to Novvia Group (“Novvia”), which is backed by Kelso & Company (“Kelso”). The transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. Terms were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Fairfield, California, Saxco is a leading value-added distributor of rigid packaging, focused on the beverage market. Founded in 1936, Saxco serves a loyal customer base of more than 5,000 wineries, brewers, distillers, and specialty food and beverage manufacturers across North America. With a strong heritage in glass, Saxco is today known for its eco-friendly and sustainable packaging solutions. Now servicing customers for almost a century, Saxco enjoys deep customer relationships that span more than 50 years. With an exceptional Leadership Team, Saxco experienced tremendous growth since Atlas’ acquisition in December 2019, strengthening its sourcing capabilities while growing and diversifying its customer base of premier brands.

“We want to congratulate CEO JB Berry and his superb team at Saxco. We are immensely proud of the transformation we drove together in our five-year partnership with Saxco,” said Atlas partner Sam Astor. “Saxco is a textbook example of a core Atlas competency – recognizing a business with a clear reason to exist and working in partnership with the Leadership Team to seize on the opportunity to return it to a position of market leadership. Saxco has diversified its supplier network and expanded the scope of services available to customers, deepening its already strong industry relationships while gaining traction with new end markets through innovation and a commitment to reliability. We wish them much continued growth in the years ahead.”

“It has been an honor to lead Saxco alongside the Atlas team. Together, we built an exceptional business and we’re looking forward to what lies ahead,” said Saxco CEO JB Berry.

About Atlas Holdings

Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut and founded in 2002, Atlas and its affiliates own and operate 26 companies, which employ more than 50,000 associates across 350 facilities worldwide. Atlas operates in sectors such as automotive, building materials, capital equipment, construction services, food manufacturing and distribution, metals processing, packaging, paper, power generation, printing, pulp, supply chain management and wood products. Atlas’ companies together generate approximately $16 billion in revenues annually.

 

About Saxco

At Saxco International, LLC, our mission is to “package customers’ dreams.” With more than 80 years of industry experience providing a broad range of packaging solutions and supply chain services to the wine, spirits, beer and food industries, Saxco offers a broad range of packaging products including glass, metal, and plastic containers, capsules, closures, custom packaging and mold development. Headquartered in Concord, California, Saxco has a vast network of customer support and fulfillment centers operating throughout the United States, Canada and Asia and was just awarded the Best Bottles Supplier in the nation from Spirited Magazine’s annual Reader’s Poll.

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Ardian arranges financing for Carlyle Tech’s investment in leading software provider Ingentis

Ardian

Ardian, a world-leading private investment firm, has arranged a unitranche financing for Carlyle Tech (Carlyle Europe Technology Partners) to support its acquisition of Ingentis. Headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, Ingentis is a leading software provider enabling organisations to visualise, design, analyse, and plan current and future workforce and organisational structures.

Existing investor Maguar Capital Partners is selling its stake in Ingentis to Carlyle Tech, with equity for Carlyle’s investment provided by CETP V. As part of the transaction, members of the existing Ingentis management team are substantially reinvesting, forming part of the shareholder structure.

Founded in 1997, Ingentis is an innovative software provider whose platform allows organisations to boost efficiency and performance through data analytics, serving 2,000 customers and hundreds of blue-chip enterprises worldwide, including many Fortune 500 and DAX-listed companies. The company’s solutions allow clients to better visualise their internal structures and empower them to enact strategic improvements. Its flagship platform, Org.Manager, integrates with over 60 HCM systems, aiding its growing popularity across multiple countries.

The financing provided by Ardian is structured to support future growth initiatives, as well as strategic M&A opportunities, allowing Ingentis to follow its ambition of becoming a global category champion in the fast-growing organisational charting, design and analytics market.

This transaction is emblematic of the Private Credit team’s history of collaboration with Carlyle Tech and track record of jointly supporting businesses in the enterprise software space, such as SER, GBTEC and now Ingentis. Ardian also has a long-standing presence and experienced investment team in the DACH region.

“We are excited to partner once again with software specialist Carlyle Tech. Ingentis represents an exciting investment opportunity in a high-growth market. It has a very strong financial profile, and its innovative product suite has a truly global appeal. This transaction serves as a strong testimony of our track record supporting fast-growing mid-market companies in the DACH region and our deep sector understanding.” Lukas Stepanek, Head of Private Credit DACH & Managing Director, Ardian

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment firm, managing or advising $180bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,850 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors. Private Wealth Solutions offers dedicated services and access solutions for private banks, family offices and private institutional investors worldwide. Ardian’s main shareholding group is its employees and we place great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 1,050+ employees, spread across 19 offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Middle East are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility.
At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.

ardian.com

Media Contacts

ARDIAN

HEADLAND

ardian@headlandconsultancy.com

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Cove Raises an additional $16 Million to ExpandAI-Native Insurance Platform and Offer Strategic Exit Options to Agency Partners

Bgv

San Francisco, CA – August, 2025 – COVU, the AI-native operating system for insurance, today announced it has raised $16 million in new capital, including equity and growth financing. This brings the company’s total funding to around $50 million to date, fueling its mission to transform how insurance is delivered, serviced, and experienced through agencies and partners.
The funding will accelerate platform development, expand operational infrastructure, and offer independent agency partners more options: whether they want to scale their operations or step away through a structured, supported transition.

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“We’re not here to sell software,” said Ali Safavi, CEO of COVU. “We’re building the infrastructure that powers the future of insurance. Our goal is to help agencies operate with more intelligence, more efficiency, and more care, while preserving the advisor relationship that customers trust.”
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A Modern Operating System for Independent Insurance

COVU supports insurance agencies with a full-service platform that combines AI-native technology, licensed support staff, and centralized customer operations. This allows agencies to streamline servicing, boost profitability, and modernize their customer experience without building infrastructure on their own.
The platform includes:

  • AI-powered customer support and automation.
  • End-to-end servicing delivered by licensed professionals
  • Direct carrier access and appetite matching
  • Compliance, staffing, and operational oversight
  • Growth and M&A enablement for partners ready to expand or exit

COVU’s role is not to replace agencies, but to power them. The company operates behind the scenes, delivering outcomes instead of tools, and protecting the advisor-customer relationship at every step.

Acquisition as a Continuation of Partnership

COVU has completed seven agency acquisitions to date. Each one originated as a servicing partnership. When a partner chooses to exit, COVU offers a seamless, non-disruptive path that ensures continuity for clients, staff, and carrier relationships.

“We believe deeply in the agency model,” Safavi added. “We help our partners grow and evolve, but we also support them when they’re ready for a transition. That flexibility is critical to modernizing this industry with care and respect.”

Accelerating the Future of Insurance Operations

With this capital, COVU will continue to expand its AI-native platform and servicing infrastructure, onboard new carrier partners, and support both organic and M&A-driven growth for agencies across the country.
As the industry faces growing complexity and capacity constraints, COVU provides agencies and carriers with a clear path forward. A modern insurance experience, delivered with technology, trust, and operational excellence.

About COVU

COVU is the AI-native operating system for insurance. Built for independent agencies, the platform provides licensed servicing staff, centralized operations, embedded AI workflows, and access to top carriers. Whether growing, operating, or exiting, agencies trust COVU to simplify insurance, protect their customer relationships, and power their future.
Media Contact:

Sumukh Lohani
press@covu.com
COVU, Inc.

548 Market St, PMB 24487, San Francisco, California 94104

covu.com/press

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Endeit Capital Leads €12.5M Investment in Deftpower to Accelerate Europe’s Smart Charging Future

Endeit

Deftpower

Investment round led by Endeit Capital with participation from Proeza Ventures, 4impact Capital, Rethink Mobility, and business angel Jan Fredriks.

Arnhem, Friday 29th 2025 — Deftpower, the fast-growing European provider of AI-powered electric vehicle charging solutions, has raised €12.5 million in a round led by Endeit Capital. Existing investors Proeza Ventures, 4impact Capital, Rethink Mobility, and business angel Jan Fredriks are participating in the round. The funding will accelerate Deftpower’s European expansion and further develop its AI-driven smart charging technology.

Smart charging for a cleaner, more stable grid

Deftpower’s mission is clear: make EV charging cheaper, cleaner, and smarter for EV drivers and charge point operators, while easing pressure on Europe’s congested power grids.

Unlike other EV charging platforms, its scalable infrastructure can handle millions of transactions transparently and efficiently, cutting operational costs and reducing customer frustration.

Deftpower’s AI-driven smart charging gives it a unique advantage: the platform can anticipate charging needs even before an EV is plugged in. By shifting charging to times when renewable energy is abundant and prices are low, customers save money while Co2 emissions and grid strains are reduced. Two-thirds of charging can potentially be moved from peak to off-peak hours, an essential step in building a resilient, renewable-based energy system. 

Strengthening the highly burdened grids

Europe’s grids face unprecedented congestion, costing society hundreds of billions in lost economic activity and forced grid upgrades. Building more grid infrastructure alone cannot keep pace with rising demand from electrification. Deftpower tackles the problem at its source: by adjusting demand to match renewable energy production instead of the outdated approach of ramping production to meet demand.

When using Deftpower’s platform, two-thirds of charging potentially shifts from peak to off-peak hours, easing strain on grid infrastructure and maximizing the use of clean, low-cost electricity. This is a win for consumers, energy providers, and grid operators alike.

Proven scale and growth

Deftpower’s white-label eMobility Service Provider (eMSP) already serves more than 40 clients across 10 European countries. Designed to handle millions of transactions with full transparency, it supports the industry’s next stage: seamless smart charging and readiness for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.

Despite employing just 70 people, Deftpower has been growing fast since the start.

Collaboration between Endeit Capital and Deftpower

Endeit has been investing for more than 20 years in the best founding teams in Europe. Endeit recognises Deftpower as the most innovative and ambitious scale-up in the European EV market. 

Endeit Capital’s perspective: “As a lead investor, we see Deftpower as uniquely positioned to be the backbone of Europe’s EV charging future, one where cost savings, carbon reduction, and grid stability go hand in hand. Their AI-driven approach is exactly what the energy transition needs at scale.” – Sara Resvik, Partner Endeit Capital. 

“As a lead investor, we see Deftpower as uniquely positioned to be the backbone of Europe’s EV charging future.”

Sara Resvik, Partner
Partner Endeit Capital. 

“We know charging your EV is both too expensive and too complicated today and the aggregator role we foresee for the MSP will tie the room together as it should. All players, including EV drivers, charge point operators and grid operators benefit financially from Deftpower’s charging platform,” says Deftpower CEO Jacob van Zonneveld.

About Deftpower

Deftpower is an Arnhem and Berlin-based technology company, founded by Jacob van Zonneveld, Marc Diks, and Remco Tjeerdsma. Deftpower is building the most advanced AI-powered charging platform for electric vehicles in Europe. Through white-label solutions for eMobility Service Providers, Deftpower enables millions of EVs to charge at the best times for consumers, the environment, and the grid. www.deftpower.com.

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Doubling down on our investment in Framer: the best way for companies to design, publish and scale their websites

Atomico

Hillary Ball, Partner, Atomico

Over a decade ago, all personal websites were built in HTML, which meant it was a relatively time-consuming endeavour that required developer support. Then came visual website builders, like Wix and Squarespace, with easy-to-use and templated solutions which made it possible for anyone to build a website without knowing code. Now, almost all personal websites are built with these visual builders, which has opened up website building for mass consumers.

For the same shift from code to visual builders to take place for professional websites, it requires a visual builder that can handle the complexity of professional websites, while also still delivering the design-flexibility that the best designers demand. Framer has built this platform: a fully flexible visual design canvas, with all the product depth, high control, and features that a scaling company needs, from a powerful CMS, to A/B testing, to enterprise security and beyond. With Framer, a designer can ship a full-scale production website, with no developer resourcing required.

This is enabling Framer to usher in a market shift worth tens of billions of dollars where professional websites can now be built with a visual builder. This makes it easier, faster, and less expensive to ship & host your company’s beautifully designed website. Global leading companies today, such as Miro, Perplexity, Mollie, and Bird, are customers who use Framer as the fastest way for them to design, publish and scale their entire website presence.

Building a platform with this level of capability has been made possible by remarkable product velocity at Framer. The team is always shipping – new features, higher performance, and new ways for creators on Framer to earn, which also let users build faster.

Hillary Ball, Partner, Atomico

Building a platform with this level of capability has been made possible by remarkable product velocity at Framer. The team is always shipping – new features, higher performance, and new ways for creators on Framer to earn, which also let users build faster. This has made it stand apart in the broader competitive landscape as the website builder that is truly loved by designers, while being capable of supporting complex enterprise use cases.

Today, Framer is powerful enough to support websites and companies of any size. Framer is also uniquely positioned to continue to capitalise on the AI opportunity for professional use cases – making professional generated sites work, with brand guidelines, enterprise-grade collaboration and continuous optimisation.

Atomico first partnered with Framer in 2018, when we led the company’s Series B round. Co-founders Koen and Jorn have deep backgrounds in product design, sold their first company to Facebook in 2011, and have worked together for the past two decades. Seeing Koen and Jorn work for the past 7 years has been a remarkable example of a founding team that is able to combine vision with relentless execution. There are a number of exceptional qualities about this team, but there are a few that have continued to stand out to us over the years:

  1. Talent magnets: Koen & Jorn have attracted ambitious talent into the team and built a culture of high agency that has enabled them to achieve remarkable scale with high efficiency. People who work at Framer have high standards and they get things done. The majority of the executive team at Framer has been there for over 6 years, growing with the company through a pivot journey. Everyone in the team deeply understands their product and customer.
  2. Product velocity: The team is always shipping. This is fueled by a deeply ingrained designer community they have fostered and built feedback loops with, which informs the product direction. They have maintained an unparalleled pace of product velocity that keeps the product always at the cutting-edge, and makes Framer the platform that designers are proud to bring to their teams.
  3. A team that skates where the puck is going: Based on their own deep experiences in product design, and the close engagement that they have built with the design community, the team knows how to build for the future of design. They see a few moves ahead of everyone else in terms of how a new technology or feature will shift designers’ needs or create new workflows, and they build for that, and they have a product velocity that enables them to do it successfully.

All of these qualities have enabled the Framer team to reach their incredible scale today and are the qualities that are going to continue to propel them into this next phase as the category winner for companies to design and run their websites.

We could not be more thrilled to be doubling down on our partnership with Framer by co-leading the company’s $100m Series D round at a $2 billion valuation alongside Meritech, and for all that’s still ahead for Framer.

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Gimv partners with Novicare to drive innovation and sustainable growth in specialized healthcare services.

GIMV
  • Novicare was founded in 2008, and now employs around 250 healthcare professionals delivering specialized medical and paramedical services to elderly and disability care institutions.
  • Gimv is pleased to support Novicare in response to the growing demand for specialized care services. Meeting this need requires the adoption of innovative, effective, and efficient solutions, while upholding the highest standards and quality of care, which are cornerstones to the Novicare model.
  • Gimv and Novicare will further invest in people and (digital) solutions, contributing to a resilient and sustainable Dutch healthcare system.
  • This transaction is part of a growth plan with the management team, who will continue to lead Novicare.

Novicare (novicare.nl) provides specialized medical and paramedical (geriatric) services to elderly care homes and disability institutions. With about 250 staff serving over 70 institutions and 4,500+ patients, Novicare stands out for its use of telecare, digital tools, and a “stepped care” model, enabling professionals to deliver efficient, high-quality care in collaboration with local partners.

At the core of Novicare is the healthcare professional. To support these professionals, Novicare provides a safe working environment with a strong focus on personal development and flexibility. Furthermore, Novicare is active in the education of new professionals. Thereby Novicare better retains scarce healthcare professionals and actively contributes to training the next generation.

As pressure on the Dutch healthcare system grows, Novicare plays an important role by helping to maintain care access, quality, and continuity through its stepped care model and local partnerships. Gimv will support Novicare’s continued growth to ensure optimal service for clients/ patients both now and in the future.

The partnership with Gimv aims to advance Novicare’s development of care models and its supportive and inspiring work environment for professionals. In line with IZA agreements, we will reinforce sustainable, locally embedded operations in collaboration with (local) sector stakeholders. This to ensure efficient and accessible care being delivered at the right place.

Jet Wiechers and Wencke van der Meijden, CEO and Deputy CEO, state: “Novicare is dedicated to supporting the healthcare sector through a focus on innovation and quality while striving to maximize our impact. Gimv is an ideal partner in this respect, given its strong track record in these areas.”

Elderd Land and Thomas Goudriaan, Partner and Principal in Gimv’s healthcare team in the Netherlands, declare: “We are excited to support Novicare in its mission to making specialized care available to everyone. Novicare uses technology and innovation to help healthcare professionals deliver more efficient and effective care. The company’s unique approach ensures that patients receive the right level of care at the right time, tailored to their specific needs and ultimately leads to optimal outcomes for patients by enhancing continuity, accessibility, and quality of care. This strongly aligns with Gimv’s ambition to support leading innovative companies to the benefit of society.”

Gimv will acquire a majority stake in Novicare from Gilde Healthcare. The investment is aligned with the Gimv ambition of investing in sustainable businesses together with talented management teams. The transaction is subject to customary (regulatory) approvals including works council approval.

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Maisa: Why We Invested

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Forgepoint

I’m excited to share that Forgepoint Capital International is investing in Maisa’s $25M Seed funding round led by Creandum, with participation from existing investors NfX and Village Global. We are thrilled to partner with the team at Maisa, innovators in trustworthy agentic AI transforming business process automation (BPA) at enterprise scale. 

Untapped process automations and the unfulfilled potential of agentic AI 

BPA and knowledge work automation are ripe for disruption. Existing BPA is cumbersome and costly, requiring substantial human intervention to manually define processes and encode automations.  

Recent advancements in agentic AI have driven a surge of interest in AI-enabled BPA. However, there is far more hype and ‘AI washing’ than substance in the market. Buyers are more likely to see products like AI assistants, RPA tools, and chatbots branded as agentic AI than substantial agentic capabilities.  

Enterprise AI adoption also remains sluggish. Trust in AI is a core issue, with persistent concerns around AI hallucinations and output explainability. Many businesses struggle to equip their workforce with the necessary expertise and skills to support AI implementations.  

These intersecting challenges have resulted in a dearth of AI-driven automation. Many businesses eschew BPA in favor of human-centered business process outsourcing (BPO), while those that pursue AI automation find limited success: 88% of AI pilot projects fail to progress beyond a proof-of concept.  

Maisa: Flexible and trustworthy AI agents unlocking BPA at scale 

Maisa enables AI automation for complex business tasks with ‘digital workers,’ AI agents that eliminate BPA cost barriers, address AI explainability and trust challenges, and alleviate AI expertise requirements.  

Maisa’s digital workers are hallucination-resistant, auditable, and enterprise-ready. Knowledge workers without IT, coding, or AI expertise can develop and deploy digital workers thanks to Maisa’s Human Augmented LLM Processing (HALP) approach, a novel framework in which AI agents learn through interactions with humans. Employees simply use natural language commands to train digital workers for specific automation use cases. This dramatically reduces training time, increases trust, and reduces costs to unlock BPA at scale. 

Maisa’s innovative architecture, the Knowledge Processing Unit (KPU), acts as a reasoning engine built for cognitive work. The KPU enhances Large Language Models (LLMs) to manage complex processes and orchestrate computational calculations, memory, data flows, and external tools- a critical capability in complex enterprise environments. 

Tangible trust from day one 

At Forgepoint, we believe AI will open the door to previously impractical or impossible process automations, particularly in large enterprises. Agentic AI is particularly interesting to us given its potential to redefine enterprise BPA.  

Successfully deploying AI agents is an exercise in trust- in AI implementations, reasoning, and outcomes. As investors, we look for AI companies that prioritize trust while developing differentiated technologies, validated approaches, and strong teams with the vision to scale globally. That’s precisely what Maisa brings to the table.  

Maisa has unique and valuable technology with trust at the core of its products and operations, led by a driven and proven team of AI experts- a rare combination of advantages. Maisa’s KPU not only enables agentic AI-driven automations; it delivers a highly traceable and auditable record of agent logic, execution, and workflows to reduce hallucinations, ensure verifiable outcomes, and build customer trust.  

This winning approach can be traced to Maisa’s exceptional co-founders, CEO David Villalon and Chief Scientific Officer Manu Romero. We first met David in 2023 prior to Maisa’s founding, while he was the Chief AI officer at AI infrastructure firm Clibrain AI. When David and Manu- the former Chief Scientific Officer at Clibrain AI- launched Maisa in early 2024, we immediately saw the potential in their complementary track records, with David’s product leadership acumen and Manu’s software engineering expertise. 

Since then, Maisa has made exceptional progress in a remarkably short amount of time. Following a $5M pre-seed funding round, the Maisa team has quickly scaled to meet emerging enterprise customer needs around AI governance and trust.  

Maisa’s momentum hasn’t gone unnoticed: the company was recently featured in Gartner’s AI Hype Cycle and Future of Work Hype cycle reports. Maisa’s customers- large global businesses across financial services, banking, energy, and automotives- are finding immense value in Maisa’s adaptable AI-enabled automations. Enterprises plan to use Maisa’s digital workers to unlock new automations including supply chain monitoring, invoice processing, fraud detection, and regulatory monitoring.  

Automating knowledge work and closing the AI adoption gap 

As we look ahead, we are confident that Maisa can disrupt enterprise BPA and play a significant role in the $7B+ Agentic Process Automation (APA) market, expected to grow to $41B+ by 2030, with its novel approach to agentic AI reliability, accountability, and accessibility. The company has the potential to bridge the enterprise AI adoption gap, unlock a massive number of untapped automations, and lay the foundation for responsible AI governance, robust data management, and transparent decision-making across the enterprise. 

We look forward to working alongside David, Manu, and the Maisa team as they innovate AI agents to redefine complex process automations. 

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Why we invested in Treefera

Endeit

Treefera founders

An interview with Sara Resvik, Partner Nordics at Endeit Capital 

We recently invested in Treefera, as part of its $30 million Series B round led by Notion Capital. Treefera is the leading AI-enabled data fabric for supply chain resilience. The London-based company helps organisations monitor and manage environmental risks deep within their supply chains, starting with the so-called “first mile,” where raw materials are sourced. The funding will support Treefera’s global expansion and continued product development. 

As part of our climate tech focus, we see Treefera as a category-defining platform built for transparency, compliance and long-term sustainability. We spoke with Sara Resvik, Partner at Endeit Capital, about why this investment matters now, and what makes Treefera stand out.

Climate tech is an important segment for Endeit. Where does Treefera fit into this? 

Sara: “The climate transition creates enormous opportunities. We see this in broad areas, such as energy, but we’re also focused on targeted solutions. Treefera is one of those. They offer a precise, data-driven platform that addresses a critical piece of the sustainability puzzle.”

Treefera helps companies understand risks in their nature-based supply chains. They collect data from satellites and on-the-ground sources, then apply AI to generate actionable insights. Sara adds: “The platform provides a scalable and holistic solution – a data fabric of the world. It enables customers to track land use, ownership, and environmental impact in real time.”  


Sara Resvik – Partner Endeit Capital

Why is the first mile such a valuable space to invest in right now? 

Sara: “There are two main reasons. First, large enterprises must transition to more environmentally sustainable ways of working, which requires a deep understanding of their supply chains. Second, the effects of extreme weather are becoming impossible to ignore: land is being damaged, and yields are suffering. Treefera helps companies stay ahead of these challenges.” 

The first mile is also where the most risk lies, and where the least structured data has historically been available. Treefera enables companies to assess supply risk at ecological, geopolitical and environmental levels, and to do so at scale.

What stood out when you first met the Treefera team? 

“The founders immediately stood out. Jonathan Horn (CEO) has decades of experience in risk analysis and data from major financial institutions. Caroline Grey (CRO) has helped scale a company from startup to IPO. That’s a unique founder combination: scientific depth and commercial execution,” explains Sara. 

Furthermore, Treefera is only two years old, but has already achieved strong growth and secured serious funding. This reflects the quality of the team and the strength of their vision. 

What makes Treefera’s data platform so relevant today? 

Sara: “It’s the combination of high-resolution satellite data with historic, ground-based insights. In some regions, people have collected this kind of data for over a hundred years. That adds incredible depth. But what’s most important is making this data useful.” 

Treefera’s AI-enabled software translates raw data into clear, business-ready insights. Their clients don’t need to be experts in satellite imaging or ecology. They just get answers to the questions that matter: what is growing where, who owns the land, or is it being used responsibly?  

How does regulation influence the investment case? 

Regulations, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, which takes effect in December 2025, will require companies to demonstrate that their products are not linked to deforestation. Failure to do so may result in fines or loss of market access. 

Sara: “Treefera is ahead of the curve here. They’ve built a platform that can help companies prepare for these rules and stay compliant. That’s a major competitive advantage.” 

What excites you about Treefera’s next chapter? 

Sara: “I’ll be joining the board of directors, which is a great opportunity to support their next stage of growth. The foundations are in place. Now it’s about scaling across regions and sectors, and we’ll be closely involved in that process. Also, the company is ready to grow its customer base across food, consumer goods and agriculture as well as within financial services and insurance. The timing is right, and the momentum is building.” 

What impact do you hope Treefera will have? 

“They have the potential to become the standard for first-mile data. That would be transformative, not just for compliance, but for the entire sustainability landscape. The first mile is where the most risk lies, and where the least data is available. That’s what Treefera is changing. We believe their platform will be essential in building future-proof supply chains,” elaborates Sara.  

Treefera joins Endeit’s growing Climate Tech portfolio, where data, compliance and impact go hand in hand. As the regulatory landscape sharpens, platforms like Treefera will become not just useful, but essential. 

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