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B. Riley Securities Adds Senior Banker to Expand Technology, Media and Sports Advisory

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Michael Masiuk joins as Managing Director, focused on growth capital and deal origination

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — B. Riley Securities, Inc., a leading full-service investment bank, today announced that Michael Masiuk has joined the firm’s Investment Banking team as Managing Director, based in New York.

Michael Masiuk joins B. Riley Securities as Managing Director to Expand Technology, Media and Sports Advisory

Mr. Masiuk expands B. Riley Securities’ growth and private capital, M&A advisory, and proprietary deal origination capabilities, deepening coverage of corporate and financial sponsor clients in the sports, media, and technology sectors.

“Michael brings deep relationships with founders, operators, and institutional investors, along with extensive experience across public and private capital markets,” said Andy Moore, CEO of B. Riley Securities. “His expertise in sports, media, and technology further fortifies our platform, and his addition reflects our commitment to adding senior talent across high-growth sectors.”

Mr. Masiuk brings over 25 years of experience across investment banking, hedge funds, and the entertainment industry, with specialized expertise in sports, media, and technology. He possesses a strong track record of originating and executing transactions across public and private capital markets, including growth equity, crossover rounds, and buyouts. His work bridges private growth-stage capital and public market execution, and he has built a proprietary pipeline through long-standing relationships with key industry stakeholders and institutional backers.

“Companies across the sports, media, and technology landscape increasingly need a partner who understands both private growth capital and the public markets,” said Mr. Masiuk. “B. Riley Securities’ institutional platform enables us to take relationships with founders and investors from first conversation through execution, whether a growth round, a crossover, or a path to the public markets.”

Throughout his career, Mr. Masiuk has advised public and private companies on equity, debt, and hybrid financings, and his advisory work spans multiple professional sports leagues and franchises, public and private media companies, and growth-stage technology businesses transitioning to the public markets. He joins from Clear Street, where he was a Managing Director focused on proprietary deal origination, and previously served as a Managing Director at Cantor Fitzgerald and as a partner at The Schottenfeld Group. He holds a B.A. from Saint Anselm College.

For more information about B. Riley Securities’ investment banking services, visit www.brileysecurities.com/investment-banking.

About B. Riley Securities, Inc.

B. Riley Securities, Inc. provides a full suite of investment banking and capital markets services to corporations, financial sponsors, and institutional investors across all industry verticals. Services include initial and follow-on offerings, debt and equity-linked solutions, institutional private placements, merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory, corporate restructuring, and liability management. Widely recognized for its thematic proprietary equity research, B. Riley Securities offers clients an extensive network, deep industry expertise, and proven execution capabilities through its end-to-end platform. For more information, visit www.brileysecurities.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Jo Anne McCusker | B. Riley Securities | press@brileysecurities.com 

 

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SOURCE B. Riley Securities

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MassPay Adds Paymode Virtual Card and Premium ACH to Its Platform

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MassPay customers can now pay U.S. vendors securely through Bottomline’s Paymode® network.

MassPay is embedding Paymode’s virtual card and Premium ACH capabilities directly into its platform.Customers can pay vendors through a secure payment network without adding another system to manage.Organizations can reduce exposure to payment fraud while gaining more control and visibility over vendor payments.

LAS VEGAS and PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bottomline, a leading provider of business payments solutions, today announced a partnership with MassPay, a payment orchestration and global financial platform, to embed Paymode’s virtual card and Premium ACH capabilities directly into the MassPay platform. MassPay customers can now pay U.S. vendors through Paymode’s secure network alongside the payments they already run on MassPay.

As payment fraud targeting businesses continues to rise, finance teams need vendor payment methods that protect both sides of the transaction. The integration gives MassPay customers access to Paymode’s wide network of enrolled vendors and adds virtual card and Premium ACH as secure vendor payment options. Businesses can reduce fraud risk, keep better control over who gets paid and how, and manage it all on the platform they already use. For organizations still paying some vendors by check, it also offers a simple path to secure electronic payments.

“Security is at the center of every payment our customers make,” said Ran Grushkowsky, Co-Founder and CEO of MassPay. “Adding Paymode’s services gives our customers secure ways to pay vendors, backed by a trusted network, without adding another system to manage.”

“Finance teams are under pressure to protect against fraud while doing more with fewer resources,” said Gunita Bindra, Vice President, Partnerships and Business Development at Bottomline. “MassPay has built a strong platform for moving money across a wide range of payment scenarios. Together, we’re making it easier for their customers to automate vendor payments securely and move away from paper checks.”

The partnership expands Bottomline’s embedded payments ecosystem that extends access to Paymode through strategic partners who helps businesses pay and get paid digitally. Paymode capabilities will be available to MassPay customers starting November 2026.

About MassPay

MassPay is a payment orchestration and global financial platform that helps businesses move money efficiently and securely. Through a single integration, MassPay connects platforms to local rails, stablecoins, mobile wallets and real-time payout methods in 180+ countries, with built-in compliance and recipient account verification. MassPay processes tens of billions of dollars a year, with no contract lock-in and fees only on successful transactions. We care about your people getting paid, everywhere.

About Bottomline

Bottomline helps businesses transform the way they pay and get paid. Businesses and financial institutions worldwide rely on Bottomline’s solutions for business payments, cash management, fraud and risk management, and financial process automation. Paymode®, Bottomline’s B2B payments network, helps organizations drive efficiency, reduce costs and modernize vendor payments through secure electronic payment solutions.

Media Contact:
Kris Conesa
C-Suite Media Strategies
Kristopher Conesa
kconesa@csuitepr.com
305-975-5934

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SOURCE MassPay

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Suvoda makes Sofia AI assistant available for clinical trials to drive faster answers and action

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Key Takeaways

Clinical trials require guard railed AI that’s purpose built for the regulated industry that has high human stakes and required audit trails.Sofia helps make complex, fast-moving trial data more accessible to study teams who manage large volumes of time-sensitive work.Study teams can get faster answers and take confident action. Sofia goes beyond information retrieval and can execute authorized system actions on behalf of busy users while maintaining the permissions and audit trails required in clinical trials.

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Suvoda, a global clinical trial technology company, today announced that Sofia, its AI assistant on the Suvoda Platform, is ready for all new clinical trials using Suvoda RTSM/IRT or Suvoda eCOA. Sofia gives sponsors, CROs, and sites faster access to trial data and the ability to act on it—through AI built for regulated clinical research.

“Sofia handles the routine operational work so that sponsors, CROs, and sites can focus on the decisions that require their judgment,” said E.K. Koh, Chief Product Officer, Suvoda. “We built it with the rigor clinical trials demand because in this environment there is no room for a wrong answer.”

Clinical trial teams manage high volumes of time-sensitive work. They track drug inventory, review shipment details, monitor patient visit schedules, and manage questionnaire compliance across global sites. Checking those data streams can pull attention away from patients and judgment-intensive decisions. Sofia is designed to change that equation. The goal is to make complex, fast-moving trial data more accessible so teams can focus their attention where human expertise matters most.

Sofia launched first with early adopter companies that helped shape it before today’s expansion to all new Suvoda RTSM/IRT and eCOA trials.

“As an early adopter, we were impressed by how quickly our teams incorporated Sofia into their daily workflow,” said Dawn Sorenson, Director, IRT Center of Excellence, Daiichi Sankyo. “The platform’s ability to summarize documentation and answer operational questions makes information more accessible and reduces the time spent navigating systems or pulling reports. Tasks that once required multiple steps can now be addressed through a simple conversation, creating meaningful efficiency gains across study operations.”

Built differently than general-purpose AI

Some AI tools apply a large language model to a problem and hope the output is accurate. Sofia is built differently. Conversational AI maps each question’s intent to Suvoda’s validated knowledge space, where subject matter experts have translated expert guidance into validated skills. Those skills execute against live study data within a governed framework that protects the study blind and creates the audit trail clinical trials require. Today, Sofia supports more than 40 topics and is expanding continuously.

From information to action

Sofia does not stop with just answering questions. For authorized users, Sofia can execute system actions on their behalf in a single conversation. Before acting, Sofia summarizes what it will do and asks for confirmation. Every action is attributed to the requesting user, governed by existing roles and permissions, and captured in a full audit trail.

Sofia recently received the PM360 Innovation Award in the Artificial Intelligence category, reflecting the pragmatic yet innovative approach Suvoda took to create Sofia. Early adopters were instrumental to creating a system that really works for what study teams need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does Sofia handle data privacy and security?
A: Sofia operates with a zero-data retention policy, never uses customer data to train public models, and scopes every user’s access to exactly what they are already authorized to see within the Suvoda Platform.

Q: How is Sofia different from a general chatbot?
A: Sofia is a purpose-built, deterministic AI assistant that executes Suvoda-authored expert instructions against live clinical trial data within a governed framework, and it can also take authorized system actions on a user’s behalf after obtaining confirmation from the user.

Q: What languages does Sofia support?
A: Sofia responds in the language of the question, supporting global sponsor, CRO, and site teams operating across time zones and regions.

Media Contact:

Robin Abadía

Director, External Communications, Suvoda 

marketing@suvoda.com

For more Suvoda news, visit our newsroom.

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SOURCE Suvoda LLC

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AppWork Acquires Paraspot AI, Expanding into AI Vision-Powered Inspections

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RAMSEY, N.J., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — AppWork, the maintenance operations and risk management platform built for multifamily property operators, has acquired Paraspot AI, the industry’s first ever video-based AI inspection platform.

Paraspot’s technology is the first in the industry to guide both residents and on-site teams through an inspection using AI that can see and understand what it sees and hears. It can automatically detect damage like cracks, stains, broken and missing items, through its video and voice intelligence models.

At move-out, the system pulls up the unit’s original move-in inspection and lines it up side by side, so it can detect what changed. The result is a complete inspection report with time-stamped photos, clear descriptions, and estimated repair costs. That level of detail gives operators the documentation to back up security deposit charges, so residents are only billed for damage they’re responsible for.

Paraspot AI brings proven experience to AppWork trained on millions of data points from thousands of multifamily, single-family, and student housing inspections. This massive dataset makes AppWork even more comprehensive and precise, giving property managers a reliable tool they can trust from day one. Some Paraspot clients have already shifted their entire inspection and security deposit process to a centralized accounting team, freeing site staff to focus on other priorities.

AppWork plans to rebuild Paraspot’s technology directly into its own system and architecture, with a release planned later this year. That will bring video based AI-guided inspections fully into the AppWork platform property teams use daily.

“We believe visual intelligence is going to be central to how multifamily operates moving forward, not just for inspections, but for due diligence, security, inventory management, asset tracking, vendor work verification, and even marketing,” said Sean Landsberg, CEO of AppWork. “When I first saw Paraspot, I thought it was a gimmick, that AI wasn’t advanced enough to trust with something like this. I was wrong, and this acquisition is us betting on how far that trust can go.”

Paraspot’s founders worked closely with AppWork following the acquisition to support the transition of the company, its customers, and technology. Yakir Saadia, co-founder and CEO of Paraspot, will continue working alongside AppWork as the technology is integrated into the AppWork platform as its new head of computer vision. “For the last five years we’ve been pushing what’s possible, building the technology that helped define what AI-powered property inspections can be,” said Saadia. “Joining AppWork means that work can now become part of a broader platform property teams already rely on every day.” Nathan Herz, co-founder and COO of Paraspot, added: “Building Paraspot from an idea into a technology used across thousands of properties in the U.S. and Europe has been an incredible journey, We saw early that advances in computer vision and AI could fundamentally change how physical assets are inspected and managed, and we built a product and business around that conviction. I’m proud of the company we built, the customers and partners who believed in us, and the outcome we achieved. With the transition now complete, I’m excited to take everything I’ve learned building, scaling, and ultimately selling Paraspot into what comes next.”

The acquisition adds improved inspection technology to a platform that already handles the rest of the maintenance workflow, from Work Orders through unit turns and compliance documentation. It also positions AppWork at the forefront of compliance standards, satisfying state requirements like California’s AB 2801, which sets new documentation standards for inspections, a direction more states are expected to follow. Inspection data will flow directly into features property teams already use, including the Make Ready Board, so inspections will connect to the workflow instead of sitting apart from it. AppWork looks forward to sharing more on how the technology will be implemented into the software in the coming months.

About AppWork

AppWork is a maintenance operations and risk management platform built for multifamily property operators. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Ramsey, New Jersey, AppWork gives maintenance teams and property managers one place to manage Work Orders, unit turns, inspections, and compliance, backed by real technician adoption data, AI-powered AppWork Intelligence on every Work Order, and daily Insight Reports. AppWork is SOC 2 Type II certified. Learn more at appworkco.com.

About Paraspot AI

Paraspot AI provides AI guided, automated property inspections for property managers and operators across multifamily, single family, and student housing. Its platform detects damage and produces automated, evidence-backed inspection reports. Learn more at paraspot.ai

Media Contact:
Diana Di Dia
Director of Growth, AppWork
dianad@appworkco.com
512-552-5798 appworkco.com

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SOURCE AppWork

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