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Quadric Extends Series C to $46M with Second Close led by World Bank’s IFC

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New investment links Quadric with the governments and industries building their own AI, and a market hyperscale datacenters can’t serve

Prior lead investors doubled down. Pear VC, Uncork Capital, and BEENEXT that led Quadric’s seed and its Series C first close increased their stakes as its design-win footprint expands.IFC is backing Quadric in its first AI chip investment as it will help reach markets that hyperscaler-dependent solutions cannot serve.$90 million raised. Funded to support today’s customers and win the incoming wave in humanoid robotics, wearables, and networking.

BURLINGAME, Calif., July 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Quadric announced the second close of its Series C as it accelerates deployment of its programmable AI chip platform. Designed to run any AI model directly on the device, Quadric’s technology supports a growing shift toward secure, locally controlled AI infrastructure.

Led by the International Finance Corporation, the round brings Quadric’s Series C to $46 million, with total capital raised reaching $90 million. The capital will expand Quadric’s support and go-to-market teams for existing customers in automotive, AI PCs, and enterprise, and incoming customers in humanoid robotics, wearables, and networking.

Existing investors increased their investment in this close: Pear VC, which led Quadric’s seed round; Uncork Capital; and BEENEXT, which led the round’s first close. Offline Ventures, co-founded by Facebook Platform creator Dave Morin and former Apple executive James Higa, joined as a new investor. The first close of Series C, announced in January 2026, followed a year in which Quadric product revenues more than tripled and the company reached profitability.

IFC has committed more than $3 billion to technology ventures in emerging markets. “Quadric addresses one of the most important structural gaps in the AI ecosystem today,” said Mohamed Eissa, Chief Investment Officer at IFC. “Powerful AI cannot remain the exclusive domain of hyperscalers if emerging markets are going to close the digital divide. Quadric’s programmable architecture fundamentally changes the economics: SMEs in emerging markets can now deploy AI on devices they own, without the per-token cloud bills that price them out. That productivity gain directly levels the playing field between small businesses in emerging and developed markets. And critically, building this class of efficient, programmable chips creates exactly the kind of high-value semiconductor and AI engineering talent that emerging markets like India need to compete globally.”

“A chip feature set is locked years before it ships, and AI models change every few months, so an operator-centric, fixed-function NPU arrives behind the models and only falls further back,” said Veerbhan Kheterpal, CEO and co-founder of Quadric. “Quadric is a living platform: because the stack is software, the same chip runs new models and gets faster long after it ships. That’s the difference between silicon that depreciates and silicon that compounds. Ask our customers.”

“Every NPU gets judged the day a new model drops,” said Daniel Firu, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Quadric. “We port new models to Chimera cores and our customers take them as a software update, no silicon change. That porting machine is the product: the same core runs models published years after the silicon was designed.”

“We’re excited to keep backing Quadric as it pursues a massive opportunity. AI is moving outside the datacenter, and chip companies need silicon that can run tomorrow’s models, not just today’s. Quadric is solving that, and the design wins are proving it out. We led Quadric’s seed round and doubled down in this round because, from day one, we’ve seen firsthand how innovative this team is, and how strong they are in both the technology and the execution it takes to win,” said Mar Hershenson, Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC, which led Quadric’s seed round.

Chimera Processors Surpass Conventional NPUs
The Chimera GPNPU scales from 1 to over 3200 TOPS in multi-chiplet configurations and supports an endless array of AI models, both convolutional and transformer-based, ranging from traditional computer vision to on-device LLM inference and emerging VLA world models. Chimera processors deliver a single programmable architecture that chip designers deploy once and adapt as AI model requirements evolve. Quadric’s software toolchain converts AI models into C++, as well as enabling SoC design teams to write code in Python or C++.

About Quadric
Quadric Inc. is the leading licensor of fully programmable general-purpose AI inference processor IP that runs both AI inference workloads and classic DSP and control algorithms. Quadric’s Chimera GPNPU architecture is optimized for on-device AI/ML inference, including automotive-grade safety enhanced versions. Quadric is headquartered in Burlingame, California. Learn more at www.quadric.ai.

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SOURCE Quadric, Inc.

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The Trade Desk Unlocks Activation of Convenience Store Retail Data for Digital Advertising in Japan

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Enabling integration of purchase data from approximately 28 million 7-Eleven App members on the DSP

TOKYO, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Trade Desk (Nasdaq: TTD), a global leader in advertising technology, today announced the integration of retail purchase data from SEVEN-ELEVEN JAPAN CO., LTD. (hereinafter “SEJ”) into The Trade Desk platform, enabling advertisers to programmatically activate SEJ’s retail purchase data across digital channels through The Trade Desk platform. The capability is now available to all advertisers in Japan. This represents one of the leading examples in Japan of integrating SEJ’s purchase data with a DSP.

This integration enables advertisers to activate high-quality data at scale across digital channels on the open internet, including over‑the‑top (OTT), connected TV (CTV), audio, and display, representing an important step forward in Japan’s retail media landscape.

Through this initiative, advertisers can seamlessly access and activate audience segments built from purchase data-driven insight based on the purchase behavior of approximately 28 million 7-Eleven App members directly within The Trade Desk platform. SEJ operates Japan’s largest convenience store network, with around 22,000 stores nationwide and approximately 20 million daily visitors.[1] The integration enables activation of always-on audience segments — including demographic and high-demand purchase-based audiences — built from a wide range of product categories. Audience segments are curated based on advertiser needs using up to one year of purchase history (ID-POS data), enabling more precise audience targeting across omnichannel campaigns.

This collaboration addresses a longstanding challenge in Japan, where access to high-quality retail data has historically been fragmented and operationally complex. Through API integration with the platform, SEJ’s data is regularly refreshed and made available within The Trade Desk platform, enabling advertisers to plan, activate, and optimize campaigns with greater efficiency and reduced operational complexity.

At the core of this integration is The Trade Desk’s AI-driven platform, which transforms retail purchase signals into structured, scalable audience intelligence — bridging the gap between data access and real-time activation across channels. This enables advertisers to not only identify the right audiences, but to continuously refine and optimize how those audiences are reached, driving performance across the open internet.

“Japan’s retail media ecosystem is entering a new phase,” said Kei Majima, General Manager, Japan, The Trade Desk. “We are excited to bring this initiative to market, expanding access to one of Japan’s most extensive retail data offerings for omnichannel advertising. As the industry evolves, the ability to programmatically activate high-quality data will be critical to driving performance and accountability in digital advertising. By integrating high-quality purchase data from SEJ, one of Japan’s largest convenience store chains, directly into our platform, advertisers can now engage audiences more precisely and efficiently across channels, helping to unlock the full potential of retail data for advertisers in Japan.”

Key Benefits for Advertisers

High-Fidelity Audience Segments: Access audience segments built on a wide range of product categories and up to one year of purchase history, enabling more precise demographic and purchase-based targeting.Custom Audience Capabilities: Collaborate with SEJ to build and activate audience segments tailored to specific brands for more precise targeting.Omnichannel Activation: Apply retail data across digital channels via The Trade Desk platform for flexible, scalable campaigns.AI-Powered Audience Activation & Optimization: Transform retail purchase data into scalable audiences that can be activated across channels and continuously refined using AI to improve campaign performance over time.

Advancing Retail Media Infrastructure in Japan
This initiative reflects a broader evolution in Japan’s retail data landscape—from fragmented, one-off data use to always-on, infrastructure-driven approaches that enable scalable and continuous audience engagement. Historically, retail data activation relied on custom integrations that limited continuous campaign execution. With this integration, SEJ’s data can now be continuously refreshed and activated in real time, enabling advertisers to improve audience targeting accuracy and advertising performance in a privacy conscious manner.

As global retail data evolves toward greater standardization, enabling secure, scalable data use has become a key industry priority. This data integration signals a growing focus in Japan on not only protecting data but also enabling its responsible and effective utilization. Through this initiative, The Trade Desk and SEJ provide a practical model for how high-quality retail data can be applied at scale, demonstrating how infrastructure and privacy-conscious design can support more effective retail data activation at scale.

[1] Figures as of the end of May 2026

About The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk™ is a technology company that empowers buyers of advertising. Through its self-service, cloud-based platform, ad buyers can create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Integrations with major data, inventory, and publisher partners ensure maximum reach and decisioning capabilities, and enterprise APIs enable custom development on top of the platform. Headquartered in Ventura, CA, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit thetradedesk.com or follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Media Contact

Jason Wang
PR@thetradedesk.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/the-trade-desk-unlocks-activation-of-convenience-store-retail-data-for-digital-advertising-in-japan-302824369.html

SOURCE The Trade Desk

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From Innovation to Impact: tesa Marks One Year of Debonding on Demand Laboratory in Singapore

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Supporting tomorrow’s industries – Developing next-generation adhesive solutions for evolving industry needsEnabling smarter, more sustainable products – Advancing Debonding on Demand technologies that support repairability, circularity and sustainable manufacturingAccelerating innovation through collaboration – Working closely with A*STAR and industry partners to bring research into real-world applications

SINGAPORE, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — tesa, an international manufacturer of innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive product solutions, today marks the first anniversary of its Debonding on Demand laboratory in Singapore. The laboratory serves as a strategic platform for advancing next-generation adhesive technologies that support repairability, circular product design and more sustainable manufacturing practices across industries including electronics and automotive.

Since July 2025, tesa’s Debonding on Demand laboratory has been conducting research in collaboration with A*STAR, Singapore’s lead public sector R&D agency, on developing new polymer concepts for the electronics and automotive industries, while reinforcing tesa’s global adhesive technology leadership and its Asia-Pacific presence alongside operations in Vietnam, Thailand and India.

Advancing innovation through strategic collaboration

The Debonding on Demand laboratory, established by tesa and developed in collaboration with A*STAR, is a dedicated tesa innovation facility that combines the company’s deep expertise in adhesive technologies with Singapore’s world-class research capabilities in advanced material science. The collaboration serves as a model for how industry and research institutions can work together to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into commercially relevant manufacturing solutions.

Over the past year, the partnership has made progress across key areas including polymer chemistry, adhesive formulation and coating technologies. Together, the teams are continuing to advance a pipeline of up to 20 Debonding on Demand concepts designed to help manufacturers address growing industry requirements for product repairability, component recovery, resource efficiency and circularity.

“Debonding on Demand technologies enable a rethinking of adhesive bonding from a lifecycle perspective. Our work in Singapore is focused on developing reliable adhesive solutions that perform during use and can be removed when needed — supporting repairability, recycling and more circular product design in demanding industrial application,” said Prof. Dr. Andreas Lendlein, Head of Technical Business Development & Science Office at tesa.

Driving future-ready industrial applications

Innovation is a key pillar of tesa’s long-term growth strategy, with the Singapore laboratory serving as an important innovation node within the company’s global product and technology development network. Beyond developing new adhesive concepts, the facility is helping to address some of the most pressing challenges facing manufacturers today, including product lifecycle management, resource efficiency, and the transition towards more circular production models.

Building on the momentum of its first year and aligned with Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 vision, the collaboration demonstrates how industry-research partnerships can strengthen the country’s position as a leading hub for advanced manufacturing and materials innovation. By connecting scientific research with real-world industrial applications, the laboratory contributes to the development of future-ready technologies that can be deployed across global supply chains.

“The Debonding on Demand laboratory reflects our long-term commitment to innovation in Asia-Pacific and supporting the evolving needs of manufacturers worldwide,” said Andreas Gunnestrand, President and Regional Manager, tesa tape Asia-Pacific. “The technologies and application insights developed in Singapore not only support regional customers, but also contribute directly to our global innovation roadmap. As industries place greater emphasis on repairability, circularity and sustainable product design, this laboratory will continue to play an instrumental role in shaping the future of adhesive solutions.”

About tesa SE 

As a multinational company, tesa develops innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive product solutions for various industries, commercial customers, and end consumers for more than 125 years. There are already more than 7,000 tesa adhesive solutions that help improve the work, products or lives of our customers. Today, the focus is on sustainability and energy-saving processes. tesa invests in the development of environmentally friendly products and solvent-free manufacture processes as well as in the use of renewable energy sources at its locations. 

tesa is active in 100 countries and operates plants in Germany, Italy, China, the USA, and in Vietnam. Around three quarters of the tesa Group’s sales (2025: EUR 1.7 billion euro) are generated by applications for industries. Together with its international clients, tesa develops innovations that are customized at product and process level. Already more than 130 tesa tapes may be installed in an electric car and over 70 in a smartphone. In the printing and construction industries, too, tesa is constantly penetrating new segments and countries with its special adhesive tapes. The company generates almost one quarter of its sales with products for end consumers and professional craftsmen. 300 applications, such as the legendary tesafilm®, make life easier or, when it comes to insect protection, even make it a bit more pleasant. tesa counts among the world’s leading manufacturers of adhesive solutions. Since 2001, tesa SE is an independent 100% affiliate of Beiersdorf AG (i.e., NIVEA, Eucerin, la prairie) with approx. 5,400 employees today.

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SOURCE tesa tape Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

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Corgi Insurance Expands Into Trucking, Modernizing Fleet Coverage With Industry Veterans

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Corgi Insurance announced its entry into the trucking insurance market, bringing its full-stack, AI-powered platform to one of the most operationally complex and underserved segments of commercial insurance. The move advances Corgi’s mission to modernize insurance infrastructure by delivering faster, more responsive coverage to businesses.

Trucking operators face persistent challenges, including long waits for coverage, drawn-out claims settlements, and inaccurate pricing driven by fragmented data. Corgi addresses these issues, along with delayed COIs, limited access to documents, and a lack of transparency, through a technology-first approach designed to simplify the insurance experience.

Through a single platform, Corgi offers auto liability, cargo, and physical damage coverage, often delivering same-day policies. Rather than relying on generic industry averages and lengthy underwriting timelines, fleets gain faster access to tailored solutions aligned with how they operate.

Backed by an underwriting team with more than three decades of trucking insurance experience, Corgi combines industry expertise with automation and real-time data to deliver faster decisions and more responsive coverage.

Corgi is also integrating its insurance offering with trucking platform AtoB, embedding coverage alongside factoring, payments, telematics, and brokerage solutions to serve as an in-house insurance solution for its network.

“Trucking is the backbone of the economy, yet the insurance experience has remained largely unchanged for decades,” said Drew Bregman, Head of Strategy at Corgi Trucking. “We’re bringing real-time data, automation, and modern infrastructure to a market that deserves faster decisions, better service, and fairer prices, including flexible per-load coverage that allows carriers to pay for exactly what they need, when they need it.”

With this new vertical, Corgi aims to deliver faster underwriting decisions, greater claims transparency, and a better experience for fleets of every size.

“I’ve spent my career working with fleets and know how outdated and frustrating the insurance process can be,” said Charles McGuire, Trucking Underwriter at Corgi. “What excites me about Corgi is the opportunity to combine decades of industry experience with technology that delivers a faster, simpler, and better experience for carriers.”

About Corgi Insurance

Corgi Insurance is the first AI-native insurance company. Backed by decades of insurance expertise, Corgi has raised $374 million since its founding, most recently at a $2.6B valuation.

Media Contact

Erika Lee
Erika@corgi.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corgi-insurance-expands-into-trucking-modernizing-fleet-coverage-with-industry-veterans-302824336.html

SOURCE Corgi

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