Partnership pairs ISU’s lithium sulfide and specialty-chemical production with Ares’ closed-loop AI framework for application-driven formulation

PLANO, Texas and SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ISU Specialty Chemical, a lithium sulfide producer and member of Korea’s ISU Group, and Ares Materials, a materials-AI company based in Plano, Texas, and Guadalajara, Mexico, said Wednesday they will jointly develop polymer materials for solid-state batteries, along with the AI tools used to optimize them.

Under the agreement, Ares will develop the polymer formulations and the AI framework used to tune them against cell-level battery test data. ISU will contribute its specialty-chemical and lithium sulfide manufacturing and lead production and commercial supply.

Developing polymers for solid-state cells typically requires building and cycling test cells for each change to a formulation. Battery makers have cited the length of that cycle, and the difficulty of attributing a result to a specific ingredient or process step, as a constraint on commercialization timelines. Cell specifications also continue to change as the technology matures, so a formulation qualified against one target is often re-opened when the target moves.

AI tools for materials fall broadly into two categories: discovery, which screens candidate molecules to identify new materials, and formulation optimization, which adjusts the composition and processing of a chosen chemistry until it meets targets in a working device. The partnership covers the second. According to Ares, its framework is trained on measured device-level performance and decomposes each test result into the contribution of individual formulation and process variables, then uses that model to select the next set of experiments. The companies said the performance data and models generated in developing the first material will carry forward into the next generations of the product, so that each one starts from an existing performance model rather than from scratch.

“The combination of AI-based materials intelligence and established specialty-chemical manufacturing can help address a key industry challenge: developing and commercializing better materials with fewer iterations and less time,” said Liz Lee, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research. “As battery and electronics manufacturers seek improved performance, partnerships connecting predictive materials design with industrial-scale expertise could become an important source of competitive advantage, particularly for next-generation battery materials where quality, cost and scalability are critical.”

ISU Specialty Chemical, a member of Korea’s ISU Group, reported 2025 revenue of approximately ₩411.5 billion (about US$290 million). It produces molecular-weight regulators, including TDM, NOM and NDM, and completed a commercial lithium sulfide plant this year. ISU Group, headquartered in Seoul, dates to the founding of ISU Chemical in 1969; its three listed affiliates reported combined 2025 revenue of more than ₩3 trillion (about US$2.2 billion).

“Lithium sulfide gives us a position in the solid-state supply chain. This partnership is about what sits next to it,” said Lyu Seung-Ho, CEO of ISU Specialty Chemical. “Each generation we develop this way makes the next one faster, and that is the kind of capability our customers in Korea, Japan and the United States are asking us for.”

Ares Materials develops polymers and the closed-loop AI infrastructure used to formulate them against real-world performance. It has been selected for the Apple Impact Accelerator and the Amazon Climate Tech Accelerator.

“Every materials supplier in this space knows the pattern: you hit the spec, the spec moves, and you start over,” said Dr. David Arreaga, CEO of Ares Materials. “What we’re building with ISU is meant to break that cycle. When a model already knows how each formulation variable drives device performance, a new target is an adjustment, not a restart.”

Media and Partnership Inquiries
Contact: Regina Coronado
Email: regina@aresmaterials.com 
Phone: (+1) 844.925.2737

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SOURCE ISU Specialty Chemical

Recognition highlights Coretek’s leadership in helping organizations operationalize, secure, and scale AI through managed services and Microsoft Cloud innovation.

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Nov. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Coretek, a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP and leading AI and cloud solutions provider, today announced it has been named to the inaugural 2026 AI Innovators list by CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company.

CRN’s AI Innovators list recognizes North American solution providers advancing AI adoption through innovative solutions and services. Coretek’s inclusion reflects its commitment to helping organizations move beyond AI experimentation to enterprise-wide adoption, with the strategy, infrastructure, security, and ongoing management needed to deliver measurable business value.

“Organizations are moving quickly to adopt AI, but deploying the technology is only one part of the equation,” said Brian Barnes, Chief Technology Officer at Coretek. “The real challenge is making AI work securely and effectively across the business while maintaining visibility, governance, and control. At Coretek, we’re helping clients build the foundation for AI, operationalize it across their organizations, and continuously manage and optimize their investments. This recognition reflects the work our teams are doing to make enterprise AI practical, scalable, and sustainable.”

Helping Organizations Operationalize AI at Scale

As a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP, Coretek combines deep Microsoft Cloud expertise with consulting, cybersecurity, and managed services to help organizations accelerate AI adoption and modernization.

Coretek’s approach extends beyond implementation. Through its AI Managed Services (AIMS) offering, Coretek helps organizations manage the full AI lifecycle, from strategy and readiness through deployment, governance, ongoing optimization, and support.

This approach enables organizations to:

Accelerate AI adoption: Identify and implement AI use cases aligned with business priorities and measurable outcomes.Establish secure, scalable foundations: Prepare cloud, data, and security environments to support enterprise AI.Operationalize AI: Integrate AI agents and intelligent automation into everyday business processes.Maintain governance and control: Establish oversight for AI security, performance, compliance, and responsible use.Optimize AI investments: Continuously monitor, manage, and improve AI environments as business needs evolve.

Coretek brings firsthand experience to this approach. By deploying AI throughout its own operations, the company has developed practical insights into enterprise adoption, governance, security, and performance. With 24 AI agents in production across eight departments, Coretek is demonstrating how AI can create measurable operational efficiencies while informing the strategies and services it delivers to clients.

The AI Innovators recognition adds to Coretek’s continued industry recognition, including its inclusion on CRN’s 2026 MSP 500 list.

About Coretek
Coretek is a leading Microsoft AI Cloud Partner and Azure Expert MSP helping organizations modernize, secure, and transform their businesses through cloud, cybersecurity, managed services, and AI innovation. Combining deep technical expertise with a business-first approach, Coretek helps organizations accelerate adoption, reduce risk, and realize measurable value from their Microsoft technology investments. Through its AI Managed Services offering, Coretek helps businesses securely deploy, govern, manage, and optimize AI at scale. Learn more at coretek.com.

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SOURCE Coretek

Digital asset management pioneer launches institutional-grade stablecoin yield strategy designed for risk-conscious investors, delivered on-chain

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Qapture Investments Ltd., a Bermuda-based digital asset management firm led by Frederick Pye, founder of 3iQ Corp., today announced the launch of the Qapture Safe Haven Vault (QHVN-USD), a strategy managed by Qapture Investments (BVI) Ltd. QHVN-USD gives qualified high-net-worth, professional and institutional investors a new way to earn a return on their USD-backed stablecoin holdings, available through Qapture’s vault platform or, for eligible U.S. clients, through an SEC-registered investment adviser.

With over a three-year track record, the QHVN-USD strategy seeks to generate consistent returns by providing liquidity to stablecoin liquidity pools in decentralized finance (DeFi), powering how people swap digital assets in a decentralized way. It is designed to serve as an income strategy for treasuries and risk-conscious investors, investing in liquidity positions in major USD stablecoin pairs on established DeFi protocols, within defined risk limits.

“DeFi needs regulated, professionally managed investment products for greater investor adoption. To address this, we started QHVN-USD to bring the optimal strategy to investors — an attractive risk-conscious yield product built on high-quality USD stablecoins. Now we’re bringing it to investors in the right way: a low-friction, easy-to-access wrapper, simplifying access to institutional-grade DeFi yield,” said Brendan MacNeil, Head of DeFi at Qapture.

Qapture Vaults

QHVN-USD is offered through a new category of investment technology – a vault. The QHVN-USD Vault combines the operational efficiency of DeFi with the governance standards and compliance framework required by regulated investment managers. The first QHVN-USD Vault is offered as a separately managed account (SMA) under an investment management agreement with Qapture Investments (BVI) Ltd., accessed through Qapture’s new vault platform.

A vault is a set of smart contracts through which Qapture manages assets on behalf of investors, according to a defined strategy. Investors can see what the vault holds and how it’s performing at all times, but they don’t manage it themselves; the strategy runs under detailed rules that can’t be changed without investor knowledge. The investor’s holdings are calculated and published daily. Qapture cannot move investor assets on its own or send them outside an approved list of addresses. Investors can request a withdrawal at any time, processed under the redemption terms of their investment management agreement.

QHVN-USD is the first offering on Qapture Vaults, a simple platform where Qapture will bring future strategies to market on-chain. The Qapture Vaults platform runs users through a KYC/KYB onboarding flow, and access to products is only available to verified eligible investors. The platform is where Qapture will deliver institutional-grade strategies on-chain, as it aims to become a global on-chain investment management platform.

“As our first vault offering, QHVN-USD sets our standard for risk-managed on-chain yield,” said Daniel Pye, President of Qapture. “Institutional investors moving on-chain need a flight to quality — a baseline above idle stablecoin holdings. Every strategy we bring to Qapture Vaults from here builds on the same standard of compliance and risk management, giving institutions and qualified investors a professionally managed platform to put on-chain treasuries and capital to work.”

How QHVN-USD Vault is used

QHVN-USD was designed for three types of eligible investors:

Family Offices & High-Net-Worth Investors. For investors new to digital assets, QHVN-USD is designed as a risk-conscious yield source for an income portfolio. For DeFi-native investors, QHVN-USD is a place to park USD-stablecoins between opportunities and earn a competitive return, without managing on-chain positions manually.

Treasuries and Institutional Investors. For treasuries and funds sitting on idle stablecoin reserves, QHVN-USD offers highly liquid institutional-grade DeFi yield for a portion of those reserves or for pod allocations.

Platforms and Earn programs. For regulated fintech and Web3 platforms that want to offer their users a way to earn on their stablecoin holdings, where their own licences or registrations and applicable law permit it, offering DeFi yield as a new income-generating opportunity.

U.S. Access through an SEC-Registered Investment Adviser

QHVN-USD launches in collaboration with Protocol Wealth, which may make the strategy available to its eligible advisory clients in the United States. Protocol Wealth, LLC is a Denver-based SEC-registered Investment Adviser (RIA). Through its advisory platform, Protocol Wealth will evaluate QHVN-USD for clients seeking stablecoin yield exposure, subject to its standard suitability and diligence process, making Protocol Wealth one of the first RIAs to bring an on-chain vault to its clients, offered within the trusted advisory relationship they already have.

“U.S. investors are increasingly seeking access to on-chain strategies, but they need structures that align with institutional standards. Our collaboration with Qapture allows us to evaluate QHVN-USD for eligible clients and, where appropriate, provide access within an SEC-registered advisory relationship,” said Jason Leupold, Chief Investment Officer, Protocol Wealth.

Institutional Infrastructure

QHVN-USD is backed by a multi-layered institutional infrastructure stack:

Vault Technology — Midas & 1Token

Midas (Aegis Labs) provides the white-label vault infrastructure powering QHVN, including token issuance, Oracle-based NAV pricing, and mint/redeem mechanics. Midas’s platform supports over US$1 billion in assets across various institutional vault products and a total of over US$4B in total assets minted.

1Token provides the institutional-grade portfolio reporting and NAV accounting system required to support QHVN’s daily NAV pricing. 1Token supports over $20B in asset monitoring globally.

“Transparency is critical for institutional on-chain vaults, but the data behind a strategy often spans both on-chain and off-chain sources. 1Token helps Qapture bring that data together into a consistent portfolio accounting and NAV framework, supporting reliable daily vault pricing and investor reporting. This gives investors a clearer view of how the strategy is performing and gives managers the infrastructure to operate institutional-grade DeFi products at scale,” said Damon Xu, Co-Founder and CEO of 1Token.

MPC Wallet Infrastructure — Fordefi

The vault is built on Fordefi’s institutional-grade MPC wallet platform, using multi-party computation to protect investor funds and a policy engine that enforces how assets can move within the strategy mandate. Fordefi secures more than $64 billion in monthly transaction volume for over 350 institutions.

“Institutional adoption of on-chain vaults requires more than secure wallet technology. It requires clear transaction intent, enforceable policies, and governance that can scale across organizations. Fordefi’s MPC infrastructure, policy engine, and approval groups allow QHVN-USD to maintain clear custody boundaries while ensuring sensitive actions are reviewed by the appropriate quorum. This combination of self-custody, control, and operational clarity gives institutions the foundation they need to execute on-chain strategies at scale,” said Josh Schwartz, co-founder and CEO at Fordefi.

Disaster Recovery & Key Management — Nemean Services

Nemean Services serves as a Trusted Third Party holding backup key material for the vault’s disaster recovery process, designed to help restore access to investor assets in adverse events.

“Institutional digital asset infrastructure cannot rely on a single organization, system or individual remaining available at all times. True resilience requires an independent recovery layer that sits outside the day-to-day operational environment. Nemean provides that layer for QHVN, securely protecting the recovery capability and ensuring that, should the unexpected happen, there is a robust and independently controlled path to restore access to investor assets. Combining strong primary wallet security with independent disaster recovery creates the multi-party resilience institutions should expect from on-chain financial products,” said Oliver Cummings, COO, Nemean Services.

Real-Time Risk Monitoring — Hypernative
Hypernative provides real-time monitoring and threat detection across the vault’s on-chain activity and underlying protocols, helping Qapture identify emerging risks and respond rapidly to potential security incidents.

“Institutions evaluating on-chain yield are no longer asking whether DeFi works. They are asking who is watching it. Hypernative provides that layer for QHVN, monitoring vault activity and protocol-level risk continuously so Qapture’s team sees emerging threats early enough to act rather than react,” said Gal Sagie, Co-Founder & CEO at Hypernative.

About Qapture Investments

Qapture Investments Ltd. is the Bermuda-based digital asset management arm of the Pye family office. Founded by Frederick Pye — the Canadian pioneer behind 3iQ Corp, who bridged BTC and ETH into public markets through early exchange-listed products — Qapture Investments Ltd. operates as a proprietary trading firm, and investment management is conducted through Qapture Investments (BVI) Ltd., a BVI company approved by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission as an Approved Investment Manager. Qapture Investments (BVI) Ltd. is the investment manager of Qapture Digital Asset Fund Ltd. (QDAF), a private fund registered with the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and of the QHVN-USD separately managed accounts. For more information, visit www.qapture.io.

IMPORTANT NOTICE / DISCLAIMER

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or any other financial product. The Qapture Safe Haven Vault (QHVN-USD) is offered as a separately managed account (SMA) managed on a discretionary basis by Qapture Investments (BVI) Ltd. Participation is available only to eligible professional, accredited and institutional investors in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and QHVN-USD is not available to retail investors. Qapture Investments Ltd. does not provide investment management services to QHVN-USD investors. In the United States, QHVN-USD is available only to eligible advisory clients of Protocol Wealth, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser that remains the investment adviser to its own clients and is responsible for their onboarding and suitability. Midas, 1Token, Fordefi, Nemean Services and Hypernative provide technology, reporting, wallet, recovery and monitoring services and do not provide investment management services for QHVN-USD. This press release is not directed at, and QHVN-USD is not offered to, any person in any jurisdiction where such offer or access would be unlawful. Returns are not guaranteed, and withdrawals are subject to the terms of the applicable investment management agreement. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Digital assets and DeFi protocols involve significant risk, including the potential loss of principal. This material is subject to change without notice.

Forward-looking statements. This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements about the expected returns, liquidity and risk profile of QHVN-USD, the availability of the Qapture vault platform and future strategies, access through Protocol Wealth, and the services of third-party providers. They are often identified by words such as “seeks,” “expects,” “aims,” “intends,” “will,” “may” or similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the performance and security of decentralized finance protocols and smart contracts, the stability of stablecoins and their reserves, market liquidity, the performance of third-party service providers, changes in laws and regulations, and the timing and outcome of any required regulatory approvals. Undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. They speak only as of the date of this press release, and Qapture undertakes no obligation to update them, except as required by law.

SOURCE Qapture Investments