NYSE Content Update: Lumilens Tops $5.5 Billion Valuation After Latest Funding

NYSE issues a pre-market daily advisory direct from the trading floor.

NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) provides a daily pre-market update directly from the NYSE Trading Floor. Access today’s NYSE Pre-market update for market insights before trading begins. 

Kristen Scholer delivers the pre-market update on August 11th

• ICE Brent Crude approaches $90 a barrel as investors navigate the latest uncertainties in the Middle East.
• Lumilens CMO Mark Weiner will join NYSE Live to discuss how the AI infrastructure connectivity platform will capitalize on fresh funding.
  • Announced Series C raise of more than $700 earlier this month.
  • Latest funding brought its capital raised to over $900 million.
• JERi co-founders Ross Yellowlees and Emily Ward will join NYSE Live to explain how their new platform is designed to disrupt the status quo.

Opening Bell

GXO Logistics (NYSE: GXO) celebrates the 5^th anniversary of its IPO

Closing Bell

The Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce empowers women and girls

For market insights, IPO activity, and today’s opening bell, download the NYSE TV App: TV.NYSE.com

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Metabolon Launches Peak Science Grant Program to Advance Breakthrough Metabolomics Research

Quarterly grant program provides researchers with no-cost access to Metabolon’s industry-leading metabolomics platform, scientific expertise, bioinformatics tools, and data interpretation resources

MORRISVILLE, N.C., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Metabolon, Inc., the global leader in metabolomics solutions advancing life sciences research, diagnostic, therapeutic, and precision medicine applications, today announced the launch of the Metabolon Peak Science Grant Program, a competitive quarterly grant designed to help researchers advance high-impact science through access to Metabolon’s industry-leading metabolomics platform, analytical services, bioinformatics tools, data resources, and scientific expertise.

The Peak Science Grant Program reflects Metabolon’s commitment to accelerating transformative research by empowering investigators with high-quality metabolomics data and expert scientific guidance. Each quarter, Metabolon will select three finalists and award one winning project a fully funded metabolomics study.

The program is open to researchers seeking to use metabolomics to uncover new biology, strengthen an existing study, support translational discovery, generate preliminary data for future funding, or inform scientific decision-making. Applications are encouraged from researchers in academia and industry working across disease biology, translational research, population health, microbiome research, nutrition, environmental health, and related life science disciplines.

“Metabolomics has the power to reveal biology that other technologies can miss, providing a direct view into phenotype, function, and biochemical activity,” said Rohan Hastie, CEO of Metabolon. “Through the Peak Science Grant Program, we are helping researchers bring metabolomics into promising studies that can advance discovery, strengthen scientific decision-making, and open new paths for understanding health, disease, and biological systems.”

The selected project will receive a Metabolon-supported metabolomics study at no cost. The grant award includes consultation with Metabolon scientists on study design and statistical power, metabolomics analysis of up to 100 qualified samples, comprehensive project deliverables including a standard interpretation report and supporting datasets, access to the Metabolon Integrated Bioinformatics Platform for data analysis and visualization, and scientific guidance for biological interpretation and downstream data analysis.

Finalists will be invited to discuss their proposed project with Metabolon’s scientific and business development representatives to confirm feasibility, timelines, sample requirements, and other study details before the final grant award winner is selected. Finalists will also receive a 10% credit for a future Metabolon project.

Applications will be evaluated based on scientific impact, feasibility, and innovation. Reviewers will consider whether the proposed study has the potential to uncover new insights, advance biological understanding, improve scientific decision-making, and demonstrate a creative or novel use of metabolomics. All applications will be reviewed by a panel of senior scientific leaders from Metabolon’s R&D, lab operations, and Discovery & Translational Sciences teams.

The submission deadline for the current quarter is September 30, 2026, and for the fourth quarter, December 31, 2026. Applications will be reviewed promptly following each submission deadline.

To learn more or apply for the Metabolon Peak Science Grant Program, please visit https://www.metabolon.com/metabolomics-grant/

About Metabolomics

Metabolomics, the large-scale study of all small molecules in a biological system, is the only omics technology that provides a complete current-state functional readout of a biological system. Metabolomics helps researchers see beyond individual genetic variation, capturing the combined impact of genetic and external factors, such as drugs, diet, lifestyle, and the microbiome, on human health. By measuring thousands of discrete chemical signals that form biological pathways in the body, metabolomics can reveal important biomarkers, enabling a better understanding of a drug’s mechanism of action, pharmacodynamics, and safety profile, as well as individual responses to therapy.

About Metabolon 

Metabolon, Inc. is the global leader in metabolomics, with a mission to deliver biochemical data and insights that expand and accelerate the impact of life sciences research and complement other ‘omics’ technologies. With more than 25 years of experience, 15,000+ projects, 4,000+ publications, and ISO 9001:2015, CLIA, and CAP certifications, Metabolon has developed industry-leading scientific, technological, and bioinformatics techniques. Metabolon’s Global Discovery Panel is powered by the world’s largest proprietary metabolomics reference library. Metabolon’s industry-leading data and translational science expertise help customers and partners address some of the most challenging and pressing questions in the life sciences, accelerating research and enhancing development success. The company offers scalable, customizable multiomics solutions, including metabolomics and lipidomics, that support customer needs from discovery through clinical trials and product life-cycle management. For more information, please visit www.metabolon.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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9Spokes Launches Pulse: Configurable Data & Insights for SMB Customers of Financial Service Providers

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 9Spokes, a leading global data platform, announced the launch of Pulse, a new intelligence layer within its SMB Financial Hub platform that delivers small business customers answers they cannot get from their bank app, accounting software, or merchant terminal alone. With AI raising the bar for how people expect to consume data, SMB owners now want plain-language answers, not static dashboards — they want insights that explain what their data means and what to do about it. Pulse is built for that shift and for financial service providers who are not yet ready to implement customer-facing AI solutions but who recognize the shift.

Pulse synthesizes consented data from connected banking, accounting, merchant, payroll, marketing, and other business sources into key insights organized to answer SMB’s business questions: “Can I pay my bills?”, “Is my business growing?”, “Is one site/store over- or underperforming?”, “Is sales revenue better or worse for this same time period YOY?”, “Has performance improved on social channels for this time period YOY?” and much more. It gives small business owners a clear picture of where they stand, what to do next, and where their business is headed, in one place.

When an SMB connects its bank accounts, Pulse immediately surfaces cash insights that address the questions every owner asks: cash runway, cash direction, burn rate changes, and unusual transactions. When accounting data is added, outstanding invoices and bills surface as actions, and Pulse computes cross-source insights that neither tool can produce alone. When merchant data is connected, Pulse adds the growth picture — revenue pace versus last year, average order value, transaction volume, and site performance.

“Bank data is a great first step but adding further sources can tell you what to do about it — for instance, collecting $8,000 in overdue invoices extends runway from 14 to 22 days. Add merchant data and you get richer insights on whether the business is growing,” said Marty Montague, CEO at 9Spokes. “SMBs use Pulse because the value compounds with every source they connect and financial institutions get that connected intelligence flowing back to them, as well.”

Every source an SMB connects flows back to the FI as structured intelligence — financials, cash position, multi-bank relationships, and merchant activity — useful for lending signals, relationship conversations, and identifying wallet-share opportunities, all without document requests.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Configurable, with FIs controlling which insights surface, at what thresholds.
• Embeds into existing digital banking experiences
• Provides banking insights: cash runway, cash gap, spending shifts, and unusual payments
• Delivers accounting-enriched insights: overdue invoices and bills mapped against current cash position
• Surfaces growth signals from merchant data: revenue pace versus last year, average order value, transaction volume, and per-site performance
• Highlights combined-source insights, e.g., “Collecting $8,000 in overdue invoices extends runway from 14 to 22 days,” or “Revenue pacing 18% above last year — Downtown site +28%.”

Contact 9Spokes for a demo today!

About 9Spokes

9Spokes is a global data platform that supports financial institutions and fintech firms worldwide. By aggregating consented business data from a variety of sources, 9Spokes helps businesses harness powerful tools for better financial management and strategic decision-making, driving transformation within the financial sector.

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AI’s Growth Reveals a Hidden $4.63 Trillion Problem: Outdated and Unmanaged Enterprise Content

The cost of content debt is greater than the GDP of Japan, the fourth-largest economy in the world

NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — New research from Storyblok, in collaboration with FT Longitude (part of The Financial Times), uncovers the true cost of content debt: content that is outdated, poorly structured, not optimized for search or AI discovery, and difficult to update and publish efficiently. According to a survey of organizations with at least $1 billion in annual global revenue, content debt is costing enterprises $4.63 trillion worldwide, based on spend devoted to fixing it and revenue at risk from it.

AI search made a bad problem even worse

Content debt has always been buried in Google searches, but companies ignored it because they didn’t feel the impact. Now that AI is using that outdated content in its answers, many brands are either being misrepresented or left out entirely.

The business impact of content debt is significant:

• $663.4 million – Average content debt per company in the survey
• 5.9% – Average annual revenue at risk from content debt
• $4.8 million – Average amount spent fixing content debt (34% of total content spend)
• 105.4 – Average hours spent each week maintaining existing content

Executives realize they have a content problem

After decades of letting brand inconsistencies spread online, executives understand that their bad content habits have to change now.

• 89% say improving the quality, structure, and governance of their content would deliver measurable business value for their organization
• 78% say their organization carries more digital content than it can realistically keep accurate, relevant, and up to date
• 69% say outdated or inconsistent content is making it harder for customers to find, trust, or act on their information
• 69% say the lack of visibility they have of their content is a compliance risk for their organization
• 67% say poor content quality or structure is weakening their visibility in search and AI-driven discovery

Content debt is a technical problem that can be solved

69% of executives agree that improving their content strategy is more of a technical challenge than a creative one, which suggests that teams are being held back by their CMS and tech stack, not their abilities. Those with the most content confidence are less likely to have their systems and workflows limit their responsiveness (38% vs. 59%), and more likely to exceed their financial targets (64% vs. 46%) than those with lower content confidence.

Dominik Angerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Storyblok, said: “For decades, publishing as much content as possible, hoping it ranks in search, and letting the content and platforms decay has been a business strategy. It felt good at the time, just like loading up a credit card with a bunch of impulsive purchases and not thinking about the true cost of the debt. But now AI has exposed the scope of the problem and it can’t be ignored anymore. The bill is past due.

“In the same way that consumers need to develop a plan to pay off debt, brands need a content debt recovery plan that helps them eliminate the content and tech debt that is a burden to their business. The fact that they’re already spending so much time and money maintaining content and it isn’t decreasing the overall effects of content debt in a meaningful way proves that what they’re doing isn’t working.

“The companies that audit all of their content, implement new ways of managing it, and measure the results will have confidence that their content is accurate, optimized, visible, and driving revenue in AI and every channel that’s important to them.”

The research findings are based on a survey of 550 senior leaders across the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands, conducted between May 16 and June 8, 2026. The respondents worked at organizations with at least $1 billion in annual global revenue, or in the local currency equivalent, and at least 1,000 employees globally. Their organizations operated in one of the following sectors: ecommerce, education, finance, manufacturing, retail, or technology.

Resources

• Download the research report produced in collaboration with FT Longitude – Content Debt: A $4.63 Trillion Business Liability: https://www.storyblok.com/lp/ft-longitude-content-debt-report
• Use this calculator to discover the total cost of your content debt: https://www.storyblok.com/lp/content-debt-calculator
• Download the Content Debt Recovery Plan to learn how to eliminate content debt and gain Content Confidence: https://www.storyblok.com/lp/content-debt-recovery-plan
• Register to attend JoyConf and learn more about Content Confidence: https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf
• Learn more about Storyblok: https://www.storyblok.com
• See case studies: https://www.storyblok.com/case-studies
• View Storyblok’s press kit: https://www.storyblok.com/press
• Follow Storyblok on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyblok

About Storyblok

Storyblok is a headless CMS that enables marketers and developers to create with joy and publish with confidence. It empowers you to deliver structured and consistent content everywhere: websites, apps, AI search, and beyond.

Legendary brands like Virgin Media O2, Oatly, and TomTom use Storyblok to make a bigger, faster market impact.

Press Contact

Brandon Watts 

Director of PR and Communications 

brandon.watts@storyblok.com

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IBM and Together AI Sign Multi-Year Agreement to Scale Open-Source AI Inference with NVIDIA AI Infrastructure on IBM Cloud

First large-scale inference cluster with Together AI on IBM Cloud using NVIDIA HGX B300 systems to help enterprises run AI workloads, designed for fast and efficient production

ARMONK, N.Y. and SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a collaboration with Together AI to deliver IBM and NVIDIA AI infrastructure. Under a multi-year $240M agreement between IBM and Together AI, IBM is positioned to deploy a large cluster of NVIDIA HGX B300 systems on IBM Cloud with expected availability in Q1 2027. Together AI will use this cluster to provide open-source model inference. This deployment is the first dedicated, large-scale cluster built for inference on IBM Cloud using HGX B300 systems and NVIDIA Spectrum–X^TM Ethernet networking. According to NVIDIA, it is built to deliver 30x more AI factory output compared to prior generations.

This collaboration aims to enable Together AI to deliver better performance and token economics to enterprises as they look to efficiently scale their AI deployments. Together AI is built on the principle that open-source models are essential for the future of AI and developers should be able to build using open, modular stacks. The company recently raised an $800M Series C financing round at an $8.3B valuation to expand its AI Native Cloud and its platform spans capabilities across inference, training, fine tuning, and agentic workflows. The company reports that it has seen significant momentum for its inference product, now serving 400 trillion tokens monthly.         

Together AI selected IBM with NVIDIA because of their innovative product roadmaps and their ability to deliver GPU capacity at the pace required for rapid AI scaling and lowest token cost. Building on IBM’s expertise in delivering enterprise-grade cloud capabilities, this collaboration aims to help Together AI to continue its expansion into the enterprise space while making open-source AI more accessible to developers and enterprises around the world.

“Enterprises want the performance of the best frontier models without the closed-model price tag, and that only works if the infrastructure underneath is fast and reliable at scale,” said Vipul Ved Prakash, CEO at Together AI. “Working alongside IBM with NVIDIA gives us that foundation. This cluster lets us bring production-grade inference to more companies, faster, and it’s a big step in our push to make open-source AI the obvious choice for enterprises.”

IBM and NVIDIA Expand Collaboration to Power the Next Wave of AI Innovation

“Enterprises are in a race to adopt agentic AI at scale to drive real business outcomes,” said Alan Peacock, General Manager of IBM Cloud. “IBM and NVIDIA are delivering scalable, economical, enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that can help Together AI accelerate innovation for the next generation of AI infrastructure.”

“AI factories are becoming essential enterprise infrastructure—like electricity and telecommunications—turning compute and data into intelligence,” said Dion Harris, Senior Director, HPC and AI Infrastructure Solutions, NVIDIA. “With NVIDIA HGX B300 systems and NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking on IBM Cloud, IBM and Together AI will deliver an accelerated computing platform to help enterprises deploy open-source AI with the performance, efficiency and scale required for real-time AI services.”

This work is the latest example of a larger collaboration between IBM and NVIDIA, who continue to work together to advance AI across infrastructure and software, to deliver performance and efficiency for enterprise and startup clients. A hybrid environment on IBM Cloud powered by NVIDIA GPUs connected with NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking and Together AI’s inference platform gives organizations a reliable foundation to build, deploy and scale AI systems. Additionally, IBM and NVIDIA recently announced progress across GPU-native data analytics, unstructured data extraction, on-premises and cloud infrastructure, and consulting services. These advancements are designed to help organizations operationalize AI at scale. For more information about the IBM and NVIDIA collaboration, visit www.ibm.com/products/gpu-ai-accelerator/nvidia.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain a competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

About Together AI

Together AI is the AI Native Cloud, combining state-of-the-art open-source models, high-performance infrastructure, and frontier research in AI efficiency and scalability. Founded in 2022, Together AI powers over a million of developers and some of the world’s most demanding AI workloads, delivering production-scale inference, training, and reinforcement learning for the next generation of AI-native companies.

Media Contact

Kate Gazzillo 

kate.gazzillo@ibm.com

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Bracco Marks Major Global Milestone with U.S. FDA 510(k) Clearance and Health Canada Authorization for VueJect®, the First Dedicated Ultrasound Contrast Delivery System to Support Cardiology Imaging

VueJect^® strengthens Bracco’s integrated CEUS ecosystem by enabling more standardized, efficient contrast administration in cardiology imaging

MILAN, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bracco Imaging today announced that VueJect^®, its first dedicated ultrasound contrast delivery system engineered to support cardiology imaging specifically, has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and authorization from Health Canada. These regulatory milestones represent the first step in Bracco’s broader global commercialization strategy for VueJect, reinforcing the company’s long-term commitment to advancing contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). VueJect will initially be available in the United States and Canada, with additional regulatory submissions planned in other markets.

VueJect expands Bracco’s growing CEUS ecosystem by providing a dedicated contrast delivery solution designed to:

• Improve workflow efficiency through a streamlined contrast administration process
• Reduce operator variability leading to consistency during contrast administration
• Enable continuous administration of ultrasound contrast agents to support more consistent enhancement during cardiac imaging procedures.

“VueJect represents a significant strategic milestone for Bracco as we continue investing in innovations that advance contrast-enhanced ultrasound worldwide,” said Fulvio Renoldi Bracco, Vice Chairman and CEO, Bracco Imaging. “Beginning with regulatory approvals in the United States and Canada, VueJect further advances our integrated ultrasound portfolio and reflects our commitment to expanding access to innovative diagnostic solutions around the world.”

“VueJect is a defining addition to our CEUS ecosystem, adding a dedicated injector to our Ultrasound-Enhancing Agent portfolio that is able to administer Lumason/SonoVue in dilution in Echocardiography procedures,” said Luca Frazzoli, Global Head of Ultrasound, Bracco Imaging. “As we bring this technology to more markets, we expect it to change what sonographers and physicians come to expect from contrast administration, setting a new standard for consistency and confidence in everyday practice.”

“FDA clearance and Health Canada authorization mark an important milestone for clinicians across North America,” said Robert Mitchell, MBA, Director, Ultrasound Platform, Americas. “VueJect provides cardiac sonographers with a more standardized approach to contrast administration, helping deliver more consistent CEUS examinations, day in and day out.”

Following these regulatory milestones in the United States and Canada, Bracco is preparing for commercial launch while advancing plans for future regulatory submissions in additional global markets. VueJect marks the latest step in Bracco’s investment in contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

VueJect has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. FDA and is licensed by Health Canada under Medical Device License No. 115637. For complete operating instructions, warnings, precautions, and other important safety information, refer to the instructions for use.

About Bracco

Bracco Group, founded in 1927, is a global leader in diagnostic imaging, committed to advancing healthcare and improving people’s lives by shaping the future of prevention and precision medicine.

The company operates in the healthcare sector across more than 100 countries with a workforce of over 4,000 employees and consolidated annual revenues of approximately €2 billion, 88% generated by international markets.

With a strong commitment to innovation – investing around 9% of its reference turnover in Research & Development – Bracco develops and provides a broad portfolio of pharmaceutical products for diagnostic imaging, including contrast agents for X-ray, Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), as well as microbubbles for Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS), and Molecular Imaging through radioactive tracers and novel PET imaging agents, alongside AI-based solutions. It is also a global market leader in advanced contrast management technologies for cardiovascular angiography and radiology imaging.

Discover more at www.bracco.com.

VUEJECT is a registered trademark of Bracco Imaging S.p.A.

Media Contact Global:

Alessandra Vulpiani

Bracco Imaging, Senior Marketing Communication Manager

Alessandra.Vulpiani@bracco.com

Media Contact Americas:

Monica Rentschler

Bracco Imaging, Assoc. Director, Marketing Communications, Americas

T +1 609.514.2382

BDIMediaContact@diag.bracco.com

CA-VJECT-2600001 8/26

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Green Cabbage Announces the Launch of the F&I (Finance & Insurance) Market Data Spend Cube

New Spend Cube Enables Global Companies to Negotiate Smarter Deals with F&I Suppliers

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Green Cabbage, the leading procurement intelligence partner for 2,600+ organizations across North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM, today announced the launch of its F&I (Finance & Insurance) Market Data Spend Cube.

The F&I Spend Cube arms finance, procurement, and legal teams with independent market intelligence to identify spending patterns, eliminate overpayment, and unlock negotiation leverage across three critical spend categories: Market Data & Information Aggregators, Insurance & Financial Services Technology, and Financial Services Operations & Analytics.

“This is what speed and client value looks like,” says Eric Cunningham, CEO of Green Cabbage. “Our clients asked for this, and it went directly into product in weeks, not quarters. This is a massive opportunity for CFOs. Finance & Insurance is one of the largest, most opaque spend categories on their balance sheet, and most have zero visibility into whether they’re getting market rates. The F&I Market Data Spend Cube represents Green Cabbage moving at the pace our clients expect: fast, focused, and ready to help finance and procurement teams unlock real value and negotiate from a position of market strength.”

The F&I Market Data Spend Cube provides deep benchmarking across three strategic procurement categories:

Market Data & Information Aggregators

Capital markets data, industry research, macroeconomic intelligence, and alternative data platforms represent significant annual commitments for many organizations. The F&I Market Data Spend Cube benchmarks data license fees, identifies overlapping subscriptions across trading, research, and analytics functions, and evaluates supplier pricing against actual utilization.

Insurance & Financial Services Technology

Policy administration systems, wealth management platforms, mortgage origination tools, and trading order management systems are mission-critical and often poorly managed. The F&I Market Data Spend Cube evaluates platform licensing fees, identifies consolidation opportunities, compares total cost of ownership across competing solutions, and surfaces pricing gaps relative to transaction volume and user adoption.

Financial Services Operations & Analytics

Credit data, KYC/AML compliance platforms, actuarial and risk analytics, and collateral valuation services are essential operational tools. The F&I Market Data Spend Cube benchmarks operational data costs by volume and service tier, evaluates compliance platform fees against regulatory requirements, and identifies overlapping analytics platform subscriptions across business units.

According to Don Addington and Jim Florentine, key Executive Advisory Board members at Green Cabbage, “Our EAB represents some of the largest companies in the world, and all are seeing the same challenge: procurement and finance teams negotiating blind, renewing policy administration platforms because they don’t understand competitive alternatives, or overpaying for various data sources because they have no market reference point. This gives finance leaders the visibility and control they need to identify millions in hidden value, benchmark their actual F&I costs against peers, and drive meaningful bottom-line impact. The F&I Market Data Spend Cube closes that gap overnight.”

The F&I Market Data Spend Cube enables companies to:

• Benchmark capital markets and alternative data subscriptions against peer institutional spend and usage volume
• Identify and eliminate redundant platform licenses across finance, treasury, wealth management, and operations
• Evaluate technology platform costs on a total-cost-of-ownership basis, including implementation, integrations, and support
• Assess operational data and analytics platform contracts for scope creep and renegotiation opportunities
• Negotiate data redistribution rights, user seat terms, and enterprise license structures with concrete market leverage

About Green Cabbage

Green Cabbage, Inc. is the global leader in procurement intelligence, addressing AI, Technology, Third-Party Labor, Marketing, Travel & Expense, MRO, Employee Benefits, and Finance & Insurance spend through our Harvest Platform. Green Cabbage delivers real, tangible outcomes with market, commercial, and supplier intelligence in as little as 24 hours. Green Cabbage services 2600+ clients globally in enterprise, mid-market, private equity, and consulting firms on pricing strategy and licensing to negotiation, audit defense, legal advisory, training, and more.

For more information about Green Cabbage’s Finance & Insurance Spend Cube, contact Seth Benson at seth.benson@greencabbage.com or visit www.greencabbage.com.

Media Contact: Sheena Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, sheena.smith@greencabbage.com www.greencabbage.com

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Chandigarh University Students’ ‘Green Heart’ Wins NASSCOM’s Best Startup Award, Bags ₹5 Lakh Grant to Transform Farming with AI, Satellites & IoT

From Campus Innovation to AgriTech Breakthrough: Chandigarh University Students’ ‘Green Heart’ Wins NASSCOM’s Best Startup Award

CHANDIGARH, India, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A Chandigarh University student startup has secured the Best Startup Award, along with a Rs 5,00,000 grant for its Al-driven smart agriculture technology platform ‘GreenHeart’ at ‘Neovation 2026’ (ThingQbator), a prestigious innovation and startup incubation initiative organized by NASSCOM, the apex body representing India’s $250-billion technology sector.

Founded by three Chandigarh University students including Garvit Saluja (Founder), Aditya Bhandari and Prakhar Nautiyal (both Co-Founders), all final-year students of B Tech in Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML)), this tech-enabled platform ‘GreenHeart’ has been designed to improve farm productivity and sustainability using data-driven insights, reduce water, fertilizer, and pesticide usage and detect crop stress and diseases. Besides winning Neovation 2026, this Startup also represented Chandigarh University as a finalist in the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025.

Besides using real-time sensors for environmental monitoring and data collection with IoT and 5G integration, this platform processes satellite data to provide personalized recommendations for crops, fertilizers, and pest detection. This platform features a user-friendly, multilingual interface to ensure it is usable for farmers across different regions.

“Our startup is a kind of research lab for AI and hardware research. We are currently working on multiple products including a soil analysis device to measure key soil parameters including NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) levels, soil fertility, electrical conductivity, and soil sensitivity for helping farmers make informed decisions to improve crop productivity. Our water quality monitoring device evaluates critical water parameters including heavy metal concentration, turbidity and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). We have also designed an autonomous submarine system designed to operate in canals. It moves independently through the water and detects micro plastics present in the canal, helping monitor water pollution. We are among the first companies in India to develop such a system. Prototype of these products has been developed and successfully tested in real-world or field conditions,” Garvit Saluja said.

Green Heart Co-Founder, Aditya Bhandari said Green Heart is undertaking a pilot project to test its hardware products in agriculture fields. “Besides testing our products in multiple locations, at present we are working on a pilot project with 50 farmers in Ropar and Ludhiana to test Green Heart hardware devices. We collect the data from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites which are part of the Copernicus program (ESA) and provide free, open-access satellite data via APIs like Sentinel Hub or Google Earth Engine. From Sentinel-2 (optical imagery with 10-meter resolution), we compute vegetation indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to monitor crop health and vegetation density. Additionally, from Sentinel-1 (SAR radar), we obtain backscatter data that helps estimate surface soil moisture and works reliably even under cloud cover, which is critical for continuous monitoring in agricultural regions. This satellite data provides spatial, large-scale validation and continuous crop condition monitoring, which complements point-based sensor data and ultimately improves the overall accuracy of agricultural decision-making,” Aditya Bhandari said.

“After that, we use our own AI models to analyse this combined data and generate detailed reports for farmers, recommending which crops are best suited for their soil and environmental conditions. We also perform weather prediction and provide farmers with actionable recommendations with the help of multiple data sources, including satellite imagery, sensor data, and historical weather patterns. So, if a farmer is currently growing a certain crop, our system may suggest an alternative crop that is better suited to the field conditions. By following these recommendations, farmers can potentially increase their crop yield and profit margins by approximately 15 to 20%. Our startup 4 to 5% from that profit farmers make on their total investments in a field on the basis of our recommendations,” he added.

Prakhar Nautiyal, Co-Founder Green Heart, said, “We chose AgriTech as our major focus because agriculture plays a very significant role in India. More than 50% of India’s population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, making it one of the most important sectors in the country. The AgriTech market in India, valued at around $450 million, is growing rapidly and offers huge opportunities for innovation.”

“As a student of Chandigarh University, we used to participate in hackathons which introduced us to the startup ecosystem. As we were competing with startups that were already generating revenue of around Rs 1.5 Crore, this inspired us to build a Startup of our own. Then we received support from a government-backed MeitY seed fund of Rs 7 lakh, which became the starting point of our startup journey. Since then, it has been around one year and we have been continuously developing in multiple sectors, including AgriTech and logistics. For this, we always got the encouragement from all our teachers and higher management of the university,” said Garvit Saluja.

Congratulating Garvit Saluja, Aditya Bhandari and Prakhar Nautiyal,  Deepinder Singh Sandhu, Senior Managing Director, Chandigarh University said, “Chandigarh University’s promotes the culture of creating the jobs by nurturing entrepreneurship skills among students. The participation of these students in NEOVATION (ThingQbator), organized by NASSCOM, marked a significant milestone in their entrepreneurial journey. The achievement of securing the Best Startup Award, along with a Rs 5 lakh grant, highlights their innovation, execution capability, and startup potential. It’s even more satisfying that these students have founded Startup for developing Al-driven smart agriculture technology and contributing meaningfully to the innovation landscape at both national and global levels.”

“As a Research-Intensive University, Chandigarh University remains focused on research and innovation by fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem which encourages its students for innovating new technologies and unlock boundless opportunities for growth. Ever since the inception of the Chandigarh University, CU students have created over 250 Start-Ups. Chandigarh University’s Technology Business Incubator (CU-TBI) is mobilising Rs 5 crore to catalyze growth in the startup ecosystem at CU,” Sandhu added.

Chandigarh University

Chandigarh University is a NAAC A+ Grade University and QS World Ranked University. This autonomous educational institution is approved by UGC and is located near Chandigarh in the state of Punjab. It is the youngest university in India and the only private university in Punjab to be honoured with A+ Grade by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). CU offers more than 109 UG and PG programs in the field of engineering, management, pharmacy, law, architecture, journalism, animation, hotel management, commerce, and others. It has been awarded as The University with Best Placements by WCRC.

Website address: https://www.cuchd.in/

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Octillion Power Systems Opens Third India Manufacturing Plant, Expanding EV Battery Capacity in Gujarat

New 13,000-square-meter facility built in under eight months adds more than 3 GWh of annual battery capacity, reinforcing India’s electric mobility supply chain across passenger, commercial truck/LCV, and bus segments

RICHMOND, Calif., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Octillion Power Systems (“Octillion”), a global Tier 1 supplier of electric vehicle (EV) battery systems, today announced the opening of its third manufacturing plant in India, located in Halol, Gujarat. The facility, spanning more than 13,000 square meters, was transformed from an empty structure into a fully operational battery manufacturing plant in less than eight months — further strengthening India’s EV supply chain and expanding Octillion’s global production footprint.

At full capacity, the Gujarat plant will produce more than 48,000 battery systems annually, contributing over 3 GWh of energy storage capacity each year. Combined with Octillion’s two existing India facilities, the company’s annual production in the country is expected to exceed 150,000 battery systems and approximately 9 GWh of battery capacity in India alone — supporting the passenger vehicle, trucks/LCVs, and bus segments that are driving India’s electrification push.

“India is one of the most important growth markets in the global transition to electric mobility, and this facility reflects our long-term commitment to building capacity where our customers need it most,” said Paul Beach, Global President of Octillion Power Systems. “Delivering a fully operational plant in under eight months is a testament to the discipline of our team and our ability to execute at speed without compromising the quality standards our customers depend on.”

India’s E-Mobility Market Is Accelerating Across Every Segment

The Halol facility comes online as India’s EV market enters a period of rapid, broad-based growth. According to JMK Research, India’s EV sales rose 43% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, reaching more than 1.54 million units and pushing overall EV penetration past 11%. Electric passenger cars led the surge, up 83% year-over-year in the same period, while electric buses climbed 42% on the strength of large-scale deployments under the government’s PM E-Bus Sewa and PM E-DRIVE programs — which allocated more than 4,200 e-buses in June 2026 alone, coinciding with the highest-ever monthly e-bus sales on record. Electric trucks, still an early-stage segment, posted the fastest relative growth of all, with cumulative sales up more than 300% year-over-year as logistics, e-commerce, and industrial fleets pursue decarbonization and total-cost-of-ownership gains.

That momentum is underpinned by ambitious national targets: India aims for EVs to account for 30% of private car sales, 70% of commercial vehicle sales, 40% of bus sales, and 80% of two- and three-wheeler sales by 2030, supported by programs such as PM E-DRIVE and the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Production-Linked Incentive scheme. For battery suppliers, that trajectory translates directly into sustained demand across every vehicle class Octillion serves in the country.

Building a More Resilient Battery Supply Chain in India

Manufacturing capacity is only part of the equation. India remains heavily dependent on imported lithium, cobalt, and nickel for battery production, and net localization for high-value components such as cells, motors, and controllers remains below 20% for many manufacturers, according to research from the International Institute for Sustainable Development. Closing that gap is now a national priority: the government’s National Critical Minerals Mission is funding domestic exploration and processing capacity, customs duties have been eliminated on 25 critical minerals, and a dedicated battery mineral processing policy is expected to be finalized in the coming months to build a complete local value chain for battery-grade materials.

Against that backdrop, Octillion’s approach to the Gujarat facility — and to its broader India footprint — is designed to go beyond assembly. The plant integrates the company’s standardized production process, extensive thermal modeling, and fully integrated battery management systems directly into the local supply base, reducing lead times, improving responsiveness to customers, and building the kind of redundant, in-country capacity that OEMs increasingly require as they de-risk their sourcing strategies.

“A resilient EV supply chain in India can’t just mean more square footage — it means depth: local sourcing, local quality control, and local engineering talent working side by side with our global standards,” said Nikhil Parchure, SVP at Octillion Power Systems. “That’s what we’ve built in Halol. As India moves toward its 2030 electrification targets across cars, trucks, and buses, our customers need a partner who can scale with them without exposing them to global supply chain volatility, and that is exactly the role we intend to play.”

Today, Octillion is the leading supplier of EV battery packs in India across passenger vehicles, buses, and commercial trucks. The addition of the Halol facility further expands the company’s ability to support the country’s growing transportation electrification efforts, while reinforcing the redundancy and scale required to serve a market moving toward mass adoption across every vehicle category.

Building for the Future

The rapid completion of the Gujarat facility demonstrates Octillion’s ability to execute large-scale manufacturing projects efficiently while maintaining the quality, safety, and operational standards required for advanced battery production. More importantly, the facility represents an investment in the future — supporting the continued growth of electric mobility, creating new opportunities across the EV value chain, and helping meet increasing demand for battery systems both in India and globally.

As demand for electrification continues to grow worldwide, Octillion remains focused on expanding manufacturing capacity, supporting customers closer to their markets, and delivering the advanced battery systems that power the global energy transition.

A video of the Gujarat facility’s transformation is available to view alongside this release.

About Octillion Power Systems, Inc.

Octillion, headquartered in Richmond, California, is a Tier 1 supplier of advanced high-density energy storage systems focused on the electrification of cross-sector electric mobility — spanning passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, transit buses, marine craft, and heavy industrial machinery. With 9 global manufacturing facilities, Octillion has delivered more than 2.7 million batteries to the global EV market, over 45 billion kilometers driven on its systems, and 24 GWh of annual production capacity in 2024. Octillion is a turnkey battery supplier for the transportation market, providing its customers with a bridge from design to mass-scale manufacturing. Octillion products undergo a robust design process, including extensive thermal modeling, fully integrated battery management systems, and a standardized production process that offers a customized-package solution. Learn more at www.octillion.us.

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ISPP and Cheistha Kochhar Foundation Celebrate Behavioural Innovation at the Inaugural Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards 2026

New Delhi, Aug 11: The Indian School of Public Policy, in partnership with the Cheistha Kochhar Foundation, hosted the inaugural Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards 2026. The event brought together policymakers, behavioural scientists, academics, social entrepreneurs, and public leaders to celebrate innovative applications of behavioural science that address real-world public policy and development challenges across India.

The Awards honour the life and legacy of Cheistha Kochhar, a dedicated public policy professional committed to using behavioural insights and evidence-based policymaking to drive change. Through this annual initiative, ISPP and the Cheistha Kochhar Foundation seek to recognise and encourage scalable, practical behavioural nudges, interventions rooted in psychology and economics, that simplify decision-making, improve citizen outcomes, and preserve individual choice.

The ceremony was graced by Dr. Ashok Lahiri, Hon’ble Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog, as the Chief Guest, alongside Guests of Honour Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retd.), former Chief of the Army Staff and former High Commissioner of India to Seychelles, and Prof. Dr. Pulkit Khanna, Dean, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences.

Reflecting on the role of behavioural science in policymaking, Dr. Ashok Lahiri said,

 “India’s next frontier in public policy is not merely designing better schemes, but designing schemes around how citizens actually behave. Nudges can help bridge this gap by subtly changing the way choices are presented without taking away individual freedom.” He highlighted the potential of behavioural audits, field experiments and digital public infrastructure to test, measure and rapidly scale interventions that work, making governance more citizen-centric, outcome-oriented and fiscally efficient.

Speaking about Cheistha’s legacy, Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag Retd. remembered her as

“God’s child, a wonder child and an angel,” whose energy, warmth and intellect left an impression wherever she studied and worked. “What she achieved in just 33 years, most of us cannot achieve in a lifetime. She has left a legacy behind,” he said, adding that while Cheistha may not be physically present, “she is within our hearts.”

Emphasising the human dimension of behavioural science, Prof. Dr. Pulkit Khanna said,

 “Before you try to change behaviour, please try a little more to understand it.” She observed that a good nudge is “not necessarily the most clever one or the smartest one, but one that is grounded as much in empathy as in evidence.” Looking ahead, she said the future of behavioural science lies in bringing together “evidence, empathy, ethics and impact,” while remembering that “behind every data point there is a human being.”

The evening opened with welcome remarks by Luis Miranda, Chairperson and Co-Founder of ISPP, followed by a special address by Lt. Gen. Dr. S. P. Kochhar, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India , reflecting on Cheistha’s life, values, and vision.

The Future of Nudging

A panel discussion titled “The Future of Nudging: Behavioural Economics and Public Impact in India”, moderated by Dr. Sujoy Chakravarty, Professor of Economics, JNU, featured Biju Dominic, Chief Evangelist, Fractal Analytics & Chairperson, FinalMile Consulting; Ruby Sinha, Founder, sheatwork.com & President, BRICS CCI Women’s Vertical; and Rama Shankar Pandey, CEO, Work With Dignity Foundation.

The panel explored the expanding role of behavioural architecture in modernising service delivery, citizen engagement, and administrative efficiency in India.

Celebrating the Award Winners

The Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards 2026 recognised three impactful initiatives, presenting each with a cash prize of ₹10 lakh to support their continued innovation:

• ThinkZone, represented by Binayak Acharya: PRAKASHAK: A government-embedded digital parental engagement programme in Odisha that delivers bite-sized, curriculum-aligned micro-learning activities to rural, low-income parents via WhatsApp, SMS, and automated calls to boost foundational literacy and numeracy.
• NammaKasa, represented by Jyothish V.M.: A frictionless, public civic-tech platform in Bengaluru that changes the default of civic reporting from private to public accountability, enabling citizens to report uncollected waste in under 30 seconds without downloading an app or creating an account.
• Project Mumbai, represented by Shishir Joshi: Plastic Recyclothon: A large-scale community recycling movement across Maharashtra that bridges the intent-to-action gap by establishing clear, scheduled plastic collection drives and turning recycled waste into public amenities such as park benches and bins.

Driving the Future of Policy

By spotlighting evidence-backed, citizen-centric innovations, the Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards aim to serve as a catalyst for mainstreaming behavioural science in governance, public policy, and social development across the nation, carrying forward Cheistha Kochhar’s legacy of thoughtful, evidence-based public service.