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eMerge Americas and SmartGateVC Launch HIVE — A Healthcare Syndicate Built to Move Industry Capital into Vetted Innovation

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The Healthcare Innovation Venture Ecosystem (HIVE) unites executives from leading U.S. healthcare institutions to co-invest in and accelerate vetted HealthTech startups — with speed, credibility, and structural alignment.

MIAMI, April 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — eMerge Americas, in partnership with SmartGateVC, today announced the public launch of the Healthcare Innovation Venture Ecosystem (HIVE) — a first-of-its-kind healthcare syndicate connecting leading health systems, payers, Med tech and Bio-pharma institutions with high-potential Healthcare startups. HIVE made its public debut at eMerge Americas 2026, where “finalist startups” pitched before an exclusive audience of healthcare executives and investors during the consortium’s inaugural in-person gathering.

Unlike traditional venture syndicates or corporate innovation funds, HIVE is built around active industry institutional participation. Member executives bring healthcare specific procurement authority, clinical validation capacity, and real-world deployment pathways — assets that transform a startup’s trajectory far beyond what capital alone can accomplish.

“Capital is not the problem. Ambition is not the problem. The problem has always been structural — the absence of a coordinated mechanism that puts the right institutions, the right capital, and the right startups in the same room and turbocharge innovation and adoption. HIVE ends that fragmentation. The 20+ institutions already involved are not a promise of what’s coming. They are evidence of what’s already here.”
— Jack Topdjian, Advisor, eMerge Americas | Venture Partner, SmartGateVC | Chief Convener, HIVE 

Built on Structure, Not Goodwill

HIVE operates with the rigor of a venture firm. Its structural pillars include senior executive representation with real decision rights, a neutral governance body ensuring strategic alignment across members, flexible at-will investment participation with incentives for shared risk, and AI-powered infrastructure for deal tracking, knowledge sharing, and portfolio analysis. The result is a consortium designed to act — not just convene.

Membership Is a Competitive Advantage

HIVE members gain first-look access to deal flow emerging from the combined portfolios and pipelines of fellow member institutions — before those opportunities reach the broader market. This early visibility, combined with shared due diligence and coordinated value offers ranging from clinical pilots to investment commitments, gives members a structural edge in identifying and backing the next wave of healthcare innovation while optimizing their investment commitments and focusing on the most promising startups.

The Right People Are Already Aligned

The health system leaders, innovators, and operators who participated in the HIVE experience at eMerge Americas 2026 — including committee members from Orlando Health, Tampa General Hospital, and Cleveland Clinic — are deeply integrated into the consortium’s deal flow and selection process, lending both strategic depth and real-world clinical perspective to every investment decision.

“Healthcare innovation only matters when it solves real clinical problems. Through HIVE, strategic partners submit pre‑validated technologies, so we’re able to focus our time on solutions with demonstrated potential. That cuts through the noise and lets health systems pressure‑test or invest in only the opportunities that have a credible path to impact.”
— Anthony Mango, Senior Manager of Product Development & Commercialization | HIVE Committee Member

“At Tampa General, our most important standard for innovation is whether the idea addresses a true need for our organization and the patients we serve. Our hope is that HIVE will give us a seat at the table from the earliest stages of healthcare innovation — allowing us to proactively infuse the perspectives of our team members and providers at the front end to shape outcomes rather than react to them.”
— Rachel Feinman, SVP of Innovation, Ventures & Digital Solutions, Tampa General Hospital | HIVE Committee Member

“Cleveland Clinic is committed to translating innovation into patient impact. It’s important for us to be able to connect with startups aligned with real clinical needs. This also gives us an opportunity to deploy our expertise and resources in ways that go beyond a check.”
— Linda Li, Partner, Cleveland Clinic | HIVE Committee Member

How Startups Participate

HIVE accepts only startup nominations from member institutions from seed to late Series A. Typically these are already institutional portfolio companies or startups in completed or active due diligence. Selected finalists are invited to pitch before the full membership in a structured session, during which members indicate value offers — such as clinical pilots, mentorship, or investment commitments — matched to each startup’s specific needs. Top companies through this year around process are then invited to present at eMerge Americas, where the HIVE Awards formalize those commitments publicly: members announce on stage which startups they have chosen to back and why.

“eMerge Americas was built to be the place where the future of healthcare, technology, and capital converge. HIVE is the natural next step — turning that convergence into coordinated action. We are proud to anchor this alongside SmartGateVC and the institutions who have chosen to lead.”
— Melissa Medina, CEO, eMerge Americas

About HIVE
HIVE (Healthcare Innovation Venture Ecosystem) is a curated co-investment syndicate that brings together senior executives from leading U.S. healthcare institutions to identify, validate, and accelerate vetted HealthTech startups. Members contribute not only capital but active institutional engagement — clinical validation, procurement pathways, and strategic alignment — creating a uniquely powerful launchpad for early-stage companies solving real problems in healthcare delivery. HIVE was launched at eMerge Americas 2026 in partnership with SmartGateVC.

About SmartGateVC
SmartGateVC is a Southern California-based venture capital firm investing at the earliest stages in Physical AI / Robotics, Brain-Computer Interfaces / Neurotech, and Cybersecurity. The firm’s portfolio companies originate from leading innovation engines including Harvard, MIT, EPFL, Meta, NASA JPL, and Bosch — and have attracted follow-on and co-investment from Nvidia, Dell, Cisco, Bessemer, AI Fund, and other prominent strategics and venture firms. Learn more at smartgate.vc.

About eMerge Americas
eMerge Americas is a strategic convener and catalyst for innovation, bringing together global enterprises, startups, investors, and government leaders to accelerate advancements in AI, finance, health, and national security. Through year-round programming and its annual global tech conference and expo in Miami, eMerge Americas connects capital, talent, and ideas to drive impactful progress. Since 2014, the conference has attracted 20,000+ attendees annually from over 50 countries and catalyzed billions in venture investment. Learn more at emergeamericas.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emerge-americas-and-smartgatevc-launch-hive–a-healthcare-syndicate-built-to-move-industry-capital-into-vetted-innovation-302750177.html

SOURCE eMerge Americas

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Southwire Shares Fourth Annual Inclusion Report, Showcasing Inclusion in Action

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CARROLLTON, Ga., Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Our Future Is Powered by Inclusion.

At Southwire, inclusion is more than a commitment. It is one of our core values and a key part of how we build worth for our team members, customers, communities and shareholders.

We’re proud to share our 2025 Inclusion Report, highlighting the progress we’ve made in advancing an inclusive culture and strengthening our impact across six key focus areas: People Leaders, Inclusive Workforce, Employee Resource Groups, Reputation and Community, Equity and Governance, and Value and Supply Chain.

Last year, our Inclusion Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) reached 70, an increase of 17 points since 2021. We also invested $1 million in inclusion-focused initiatives, contributed more than 4,800 volunteer hours in support of nonprofit organizations, and spent $890 million with small and certified-owned suppliers.

From bringing together more than 2,000 team members at Include Summit to earning recognition as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® and one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Inclusion, we continue to create opportunities for people to contribute, grow and lead.

As we look ahead, our focus remains clear: embedding inclusion into how we lead, operate and grow. When every team member is empowered to contribute, we create stronger ideas, better decisions and greater value for all our stakeholders.

We invite you to explore the full Inclusion Report to learn more about the people, programs and partnerships helping power our future.

Please also visit our social media channels and Inclusion website to help us share our story.

Together, we will continue Building Worth for generations to come.

For more Southwire news, visit www.southwire.com/newsroom.

About Southwire
Southwire Company, LLC is North America’s leading wire and cable company. The $9.7B organization is made up of more than 9,000 team members across the globe who unite as ONE Southwire each and every day to serve each other, their customers and their communities. Southwire and its subsidiaries provide solutions including building wire and cable, metal-clad cable, utility products, portable and electronic cord products and OEM wire products. In addition, Southwire offers electrical products, engineered solutions and a variety of field support services. For more on Southwire’s products and solutions, its community involvement and its vision of sustainability, visit www.southwire.com.

© 2026 Southwire Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Contact: Ashley Bush
Senior Director, Communications
Phone: (678) 684-7634
ashley.bush@southwire.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/southwire-shares-fourth-annual-inclusion-report-showcasing-inclusion-in-action-302872756.html

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ZAGENO Earns Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 North American Life Sciences E‑Commerce Company of the Year Recognition

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Honored for transforming life sciences procurement through digital innovation, automation, and a customer-first platform

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Frost & Sullivan has recognized ZAGENO with its 2026 North America Life Sciences E-Commerce Company of the Year Recognition for helping transform life sciences e-commerce beyond traditional online purchasing into a unified procurement orchestration platform. By serving as a single entry point into scientific procurement, ZAGENO enables scientists, procurement teams, suppliers, and enterprise systems to operate within one connected workflow—reducing procurement friction while improving governance, visibility, and operational efficiency across research organizations.

As life sciences organizations embrace increasingly digital, automated, and globally distributed research operations, procurement has become a strategic function requiring greater visibility, governance, and integration. Rather than navigating fragmented supplier portals, distributor systems, and punch-out catalogs, organizations increasingly need a single platform that orchestrates the entire procurement lifecycle. ZAGENO delivers that capability by unifying sourcing, ordering, approvals, supplier management, spend visibility, tracking, and payment into one governed workflow.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ZAGENO has built one of the industry’s largest procurement ecosystems, providing access to more than 50 million laboratory products from over 5,000 suppliers. Serving as a single entry point into scientific procurement, the platform centralizes sourcing, ordering, approvals, tracking, and payment while integrating directly with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Procure-to-Pay (P2P), and accounting platforms such as SAP, Coupa, and Oracle NetSuite. Researchers can search by product name, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number, or chemical structure, compare pricing, availability, and delivery timelines in real time, and consolidate purchases from multiple suppliers into a single purchase order and invoice. At the same time, procurement teams maintain governance, supplier oversight, and spend visibility through configurable approval workflows operating seamlessly in the background.

“ZAGENO continues to redefine digital procurement by extending life sciences e-commerce beyond an online marketplace into a procurement orchestration platform,” said Ana Dominguez, Best Practices Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Its ability to unify supplier networks, enterprise systems, governance, and intelligent automation within a single workflow helps reduce procurement friction while enabling researchers and procurement teams to operate more efficiently. Investments such as the company’s expanded engineering hub in Bangalore have further accelerated innovation and enabled faster delivery of customer-driven enhancements aligned with evolving research needs.”

The platform reduces longstanding procurement inefficiencies by orchestrating suppliers, enterprise systems, and purchasing workflows through a single interface. Scientists save an average of 6.5 hours per week sourcing and ordering laboratory materials, while procurement teams benefit from configurable approval workflows, supplier governance, real-time spend visibility, automated three-way matching, and streamlined reconciliation that can reduce invoice processing time by as much as 40%. Together, these capabilities improve compliance, increase operational efficiency, and enable researchers to spend more time focused on scientific discovery.

ZAGENO continues to advance AI-powered capabilities that improve search precision, surface supplier and fulfillment insights, automate repetitive procurement tasks, and support smarter purchasing decisions across the procurement lifecycle. Combined with one of the industry’s largest supplier ecosystems, deep enterprise integrations, and a customer-driven innovation model, these capabilities position ZAGENO as a trusted procurement infrastructure partner helping life sciences organizations navigate increasingly complex research environments.

“We’re honored to receive this recognition from Frost & Sullivan. As research organizations become more connected and more complex, procurement has evolved far beyond purchasing. Our vision has always been to simplify that complexity by bringing scientists, procurement teams, suppliers, and enterprise systems together through a single procurement orchestration platform. We’re proud to see that vision recognized, and even more excited about what’s ahead for our customers,” said Florian Wegener, CEO & Co-Founder, at ZAGENO.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan honors one company with its Company of the Year Recognition, awarded to organizations that demonstrate exceptional growth, innovation, and customer value. The selection process includes rigorous research, competitive benchmarking, and in-depth industry analysis.
Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards recognize companies worldwide for excellence in leadership, technology innovation, customer service, and strategic execution—highlighting those that are shaping the future of their industries.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Lindsey Whitaker
P: +91- 9953764546
E: Lindsey.Whitaker@frost.com

About ZAGENO

ZAGENO is the procurement orchestration platform for life sciences, connecting scientists, procurement teams, suppliers, and enterprise systems through a single, governed workflow. With access to more than 50 million laboratory products from over 5,000 suppliers, ZAGENO helps research organizations simplify procurement and accelerate discovery. Talk to the ZAGENO team to learn more: https://go.zageno.com/request-a-demo.

Contact:
Ivana Visnjic-Lynch
P: +1 508 524 5206
E: ivana.visnjic-lynch@zageno.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zageno-earns-frost–sullivans-2026-north-american-life-sciences-ecommerce-company-of-the-year-recognition-302872724.html

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

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Shutterstock Appoints Three Accomplished Business Leaders to Board of Directors

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Timothy Adams, Matthew Salzberg, and Michael Thompson bring extensive financial, operational, investment, and technology expertise to Shutterstock’s Board

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), a family of brands delivering scalable creative and GenAI solutions to help customers fuel great work, today announced the appointment of Timothy Adams, Matthew Salzberg, and Michael Thompson to its Board of Directors.

The appointments add three accomplished executives and investors with deep experience across technology and emerging markets, investment and capital allocation, building and scaling businesses, and public-company finance and governance. Their collective expertise further strengthens the Board as Shutterstock remains focused on creating long-term value for the Company and its shareholders.

“The caliber of leaders joining our Board speaks to both the strength of Shutterstock and the opportunity ahead,” said Jon Oringer, Executive Chairman of the Board at Shutterstock. “Tim, Matt, and Michael have each built impressive careers leading, investing in and advising companies through periods of growth and transformation. They bring deep financial, operational, governance, and technology expertise, along with the independent perspective that comes from having successfully navigated complex business environments. We are thrilled they have chosen to bring that experience to Shutterstock.”

Timothy Adams is a seasoned financial executive and board director with more than 20 years of leadership experience across public and private technology companies. He currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Validity Inc. and previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Rapid7, Inc., and BitSight Technologies, Inc. Adams also served on the Board of Directors of Model N, where he chaired the Audit Committee. Throughout his career, he has led and advised on IPOs, M&A transactions, capital raises, and strategic financings, bringing extensive experience in public-company governance, financial discipline, and investor relations. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Murray State University, and an M.B.A. from Boston University.

Matthew Salzberg is a CEO, investor, and founder with extensive experience building, scaling, and transforming technology-enabled businesses. He is co-founder and Chairman of Unlimited, an alternative investment manager, and co-founder of Embark Veterinary and Coldcart. Salzberg founded Blue Apron in 2011 and served as CEO for its first six years, growing the company from an idea into a nationally recognized consumer brand with approximately $910 million in annual revenue and more than 5,000 employees. He led Blue Apron’s 2017 initial public offering and later served as Chairman of its Board. Salzberg also founded venture capital firm Material, and previously served as CEO of Ambr Group. He holds an A.B. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Harvard College, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Michael Thompson has served as Managing Partner of Reinvent Capital, a private investment fund focused on technology companies, since 2017. Previously, he founded and served as Managing Partner of BHR Capital, a New York-based hedge fund. Thompson has invested in and advised numerous innovative technology companies throughout his career, with particular experience across aerospace, advanced energy, emerging technologies, and AI applications in the physical world. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Joby Aviation, Oklo Inc. and American Banknote Corporation, and is an advisor to Xona Space Systems. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Finance from the Honors Program at the University of Georgia.

About Shutterstock
Shutterstock is in the business of turning ideas into impact. Powered by a global network of millions of creators and our cutting-edge technology, we provide businesses, creatives, and brand leaders with the essential, universal ingredients to make their work more effective. Shutterstock offers access to one of the world’s largest and most diverse collections of high-quality licensable assets, specialized training datasets, evaluation tools, and end-to-end strategic partnerships for the full model training lifecycle, as well as advertising and distribution solutions, exclusive editorial content, and full-service studio production—delivering unparalleled resources to fuel great work.

Discover our impact at www.shutterstock.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube.

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SOURCE Shutterstock, Inc.

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