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Mezo, Thesis’ BitcoinFi Project, Completes $7.5M Strategic Round lead by Ledger Cathay Fund

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Ledger Cathay Fund’s investment on BitcoinFi with Mezo commits to supercharging the evolution of the global Bitcoin Finance ecosystem Strategic investment plus prior funding led by Pantera Capital brings Mezo’s total amount raised to $30M

NEW YORK, July 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Thesis, one of the longest-standing venture studios funding and building brands on Bitcoin, today announced its strategic funding round led by Ledger Cathay Fund, Ledger and Cathay Innovation’s early-stage venture fund, for Mezo, its permissionless Bitcoin Economic Layer. This brings total funding for Mezo to $30M following its launch in April 2024. Other investors in the strategic round include ArkStream, Aquarius Fund, Flowdesk, GSR, Origin Protocol and Bybit ecosystem project, Mantle’s EcoFund.

Mezo will use this investment to accelerate technology development and grow the BitcoinFi ecosystem. This includes focus on integrating other ecosystem partners, like the recently announced integration of yield protocol, Acre, and wallet partners to enable a fulsome BitcoinFi experience, like the recently announced ability for Mezo users to “log in” with Bitcoin using both hardware wallets and web wallets like Unisat, OKX, and Xverse. Ledger plans to integrate Mezo directly into its suite of products with further details on integrations to be disclosed in the near future.

Matt Luongo, CEO of Thesis & Founder of Mezo, commented on today’s news: “Ledger Cathay Fund’s support for Mezo is a strong testament that BitcoinFi is the future of ownership, that Mezo is the leader in building the technology behind this future. Today is a tremendous milestone in our work with investors and peers to expand the Bitcoin network, bringing on-chain a circular economy that empowers people worldwide to put BTC to work.”

Mezo, built by Thesis, amplifies Bitcoin‘s infrastructure by facilitating cheap, efficient transactions. In turn, it preserves the Bitcoin network’s foundational principles, including security, dedication to open-source development, and a BTC-first HODL mentality. Distinct from other Bitcoin L2s, Mezo provides users access to applications usable in the real world. Features include Thesis-built tBTC, which allows for trust-minimized bitcoin bridging to numerous ecosystems, plus staking with stBTC, supported by Acre, Thesis’ recently launched Bitcoin-in, Bitcoin-out staking platform.

Mezo serves as a venue for users to maximize Bitcoin‘s full potential beyond being a store of value. Users can leverage applications to transact securely with Bitcoin without roadblocks like fragmented user experience and high gas fees. To date, Mezo has $124.5M in total volume locked and 2,152 Bitcoin deposited in the protocol.

Thesis, one of the longest standing Bitcoin builders, founded in 2013, has supported multiple brand launches of projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem including Mezo, Acre, tBTC, and Fold – who recently announced its plans to go public as the first pureplay financial services company powered by Bitcoin.

Investor Quotes:

Pascal Gauthier, Chairman and CEO of Ledger: “At Ledger, we are Bitcoiners and we believe Bitcoin is the  event. But the landscape of Bitcoin is changing. People want to do more with their Bitcoin, and we need to not only support these new developments in Ledger products, but actively support the future of Bitcoin development. We are therefore thrilled to invest in Mezo, a groundbreaking Bitcoin project that we believe will significantly impact the Bitcoin ecosystem. This investment signals our confidence in Thesis and their project, Mezo, based on their long standing track record of building successful brands in the Bitcoin ecosystem.”

Marguerite de Tavernost, Investment Director at Ledger Cathay Fund: “We really believe in Mezo’s unique vision to supercharge Bitcoin to become an economic layer. Thanks to all the synergies created by their Thesis incubator, Mezo can be the core element of this ecosystem, and create network effects from their decentralized bridge with tBTC to their consumer app with Fold. We were truly impressed by this unique positioning, combined with the very impressive execution capabilities of the Mezo team.”

David Toh, Managing Partner of Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund’s operator: “Investing in Mezo perfectly aligns with Mantle’s vision of supporting and scaling innovations in the Bitcoin ecosystem. We have confidence in Mezo and the synergistic projects led by the Thesis team. We look forward to fostering Mezo’s growth through potential strategic collaborations with projects within the Mantle ecosystem, such as Ignition ($FBTC) and Mantle LSP (Mantle’s Liquid Staking Protocol).”

About Ledger Cathay Fund:

Ledger Cathay Fund is an early-stage venture fund that provides capital to emerging startups in the Web3 ecosystem, while delivering at the same time unique value added to founders. The fund invests at Seed and Series A in companies across the globe  both in equity and tokens.

The fund is the alliance of market leader Ledger for digital assets custody and of global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation. This initiative provides founders with the benefits of the industry support of Ledger together with the long-term investment practice of Cathay Innovation.

About Ledger:

Celebrating its 10 year anniversary in 2024, Ledger is the world leader in Digital Asset security for consumers and enterprises. Ledger offers connected devices and platforms, with more than 6M devices sold to consumers in 180 countries and 10+ languages, 100+ financial institutions and commercial brands. Over 20% of the world’s crypto assets are secured by Ledger.

Ledger is the digital asset solution secure by design. The world’s most internationally respected offensive security team, Ledger Donjon, is relied upon as a crucial resource for securing the world of Digital Assets. With over 14 billion dollars hacked, scammed or mismanaged in 2023 alone, Ledger’s security brings peace of mind and uncompromising self-custody to its community.

Don’t buy “a hardware wallet.” Buy a LEDGER™ device.

LEDGER™, LEDGER LIVE™, LEDGER RECOVER™, LEDGER STAX™, LEDGER FLEX™ and LEDGER FREE FROM COMPROMISE™ are trademarks owned by Ledger SAS

Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Ledger is under license. E Ink® is a registered trademark of E Ink Corporation.

About Mezo: 

The market has been dominated by technology-first approaches that often overlook the economic needs of users. As the world’s first Bitcoin Economic Layer, Mezo introduces a pivotal shift, designed to amplify Bitcoin‘s infrastructure while adhering to its foundational principles to serve its holders. Mezo is Bitcoin native, facilitating cheap and fast transactions for a variety of relevant use cases. This not only enhances the network’s resilience but also ensures it serves the broader economic ambitions of Bitcoin holders. Mezo is the place where we can unlock the full potential of Bitcoin. This is your invitation to create your own economy. Learn more about Mezo’s initiatives and unique features on their blog here.

About Thesis:

Thesis is a venture production studio, funding and building brands on Bitcoin. Thesis has supported multiple successful brands including the launch of Mezo — a new leading Bitcoin L2 — as well as Acre, tBTC, Fold, among others. Thesis has also garnered investments from leading Venture Capital firms including a16z, Polychain Capital, ParaFi, Fenbushi and more. To learn more, please visit: https://thesis.co/

Media contact: thesis@mgroupsc.com 

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SOURCE Thesis

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

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New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry 

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry. 

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedInXFacebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-expand-industrial-gas-supply-for-samsung-electronics-next-generation-semiconductor-fab-in-south-korea-302757497.html

SOURCE Air Products

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