Hi Anzu Partners Community,

This is Jimmy Kan, a partner focused on hardware and advanced materials investments at Anzu Partners. I’m thrilled to highlight a major milestone for Anzu portfolio company EnCharge AI, which recently announced an oversubscribed $100M Series B led by Tiger Global Management. This funding will enable the productization of EnCharge AI’s in-memory computing technology that delivers breakthrough efficiency to companies developing AI applications – achieving significant energy efficiency and performance gains as compared to leading AI chips on the market.

How does the future change? Simply put: If EnCharge succeeds, companies developing advanced AI applications will see their fundamental economics improve dramatically as cost-per-inference plummets. This will unlock the ability to develop and deploy a much wider range of AI-driven applications that benefit humanity—whether in education, healthcare, industrial automation, or beyond.

By delivering radical efficiency gains without requiring costly infrastructure overhauls, EnCharge is making it possible for AI to scale sustainably and reach more people, in more places, at lower cost.

Joining this funding round include investors with a focus on semiconductors and consumer electronics, such as Samsung Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Samsung, and HH-CTBC, a partnership between Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and CTBC VC. The round also included notable strategic investors in defense and industrial technology, reflecting the broad applicability of EnCharge’s innovations across industries. In-Q-Tel (IQT), the not-for-profit strategic investor advancing technologies for the U.S. national security community and America’s allies; RTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of RTX, a leading manufacturer of aerospace and defense systems and technology solutions; and Constellation Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of clean, emissions-free, reliable energy, all participated in the round. This cohort of investors not only bring valuable industry insights, but offer further validation of the market need EnCharge is addressing.

Before Anzu invested in EnCharge AI, leading their Series A in 2022, we saw an opportunity beyond the Big Data-driven AI trend. We called this “Small Data.” We focused on innovations that were moving data processing closer to its source, significantly reducing the burden on central data centers by cutting down energy use, compute resources, and the need for extensive infrastructure. The innovators at EnCharge were developing a solution to address this growing demand for massive data transmission and energy-hungry computation. Today, as a Board Member, alongside Anzu Board Observer Cathryn Paine, we’ve seen first-hand how the team at EnCharge AI is set to transform AI computing:

• Breakthrough Efficiency: EnCharge AI's noise-resilient analog in-memory computing delivers radical efficiency gains by lowering power consumption, infrastructure and operational costs over today’s leading GPUs. Systems that employ EnCharge AI’s technology can fundamentally improve the economics for cost-per-inference (or $/token).
• Enabling AI Beyond the Data Center: With EnCharge’s products, advanced AI applications are moving away from the cloud and can now run on personal devices like laptops, phones, tablets, and industrial systems – enabling faster, more private, and more cost-effective AI. This funding will accelerate EnCharge AI’s portfolio roadmap, which includes advanced technology nodes.  
• Exceptional Leadership & Scalable Innovation: Led by Naveen Verma (CEO), Dr. Kailash Gopalakrishnan (CTO), and Dr. Echere Iroaga (COO), the experienced team at EnCharge has cultivated a culture of excellence and built a solution that is scalable, manufacturable, and ready for real-world deployment.

This Series B round brings EnCharge AI's total funding to more than $144 million, which will progress the commercialization of its products in 2025 and drive its future product roadmap. The news was covered by Fast Company, TechCrunch, MSN / Reuters, Business Insider, Venture Capital Journal*, and Tech Funding News.

We’d also like to congratulate EnCharge CEO Dr. Naveen Verma for being recognized with the esteemed Edison Patent Award for computing innovation! Check out the announcement video here. You can also hear more from Naveen on a recent episode of the Automotive News Shift podcast.

Anzu is a proud investor and partner - please join us in celebrating the team at EnCharge!

Thank you,

Jimmy Kan

*Article access requires a paid subscription

PORTFOLIO COMPANY UPDATES

Niron Magnetics Awarded $52 Million to Advance US Rare-Earth-Free Magnet Manufacturing

Niron Magnetics, a leading manufacturer of high-performance rare-earth-free permanent magnets, was awarded a $52.2 million tax credit under the Section 48C Advanced Energy Project tax credit program to advance the construction of the world’s only manufacturing facility of these magnets in Sartell, Minnesota. This award follows a competitive process led by the Departments of Energy and Treasury, which evaluated the technical, commercial, and environmental merits of over 800 projects nationwide.

The Section 48C program, originally created in 2009 and expanded under the Inflation Reduction Act, is designed to accelerate US-based energy manufacturing. Niron’s full-scale manufacturing facility to be built in Sartell, announced on October 1, 2024, is among the 140 projects selected in the program’s second round, which allocated $6 billion in tax credits to support critical manufacturing and industrial decarbonization projects across more than 30 states.

The news was covered by MinneInno and The St. Cloud Times.

South 8 Technologies Awarded $1.6M U.S. Army Contract to Prototype Military Battery Packs for Extreme Climates

South 8 Technologies, the developer of LiGas®, a liquefied gas electrolyte for advanced lithium-ion batteries, announced that the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) C5ISR Center has awarded a $1.6 million contract to a team of companies led by South 8 to demonstrate standardized lithium-ion battery packs for defense applications. South 8 is partnering with a battery cell manufacturer and a leading vendor of battery packs to deliver prototypes that will offer a broad operating temperature range and high performance in extreme cold environments to the U.S. Army.

The standardized battery pack will contain 24 of South 8’s Arctic™ LiGas 18650 cells. South 8’s LiGas is a liquefied gas electrolyte that dramatically improves the energy performance, safety, charging speed, and cost of Li-ion batteries, providing high performance in extreme cold weather. Since LiGas alleviates many common concerns associated with Li-ion batteries, the prototype battery packs will be more capable than traditional packs and ideal for various military applications including radios, communication systems, and night vision goggles in any extreme climate.

The news was covered by Batteries News.

NTx Announced Full Commercial Availability of NTxscribe to Broadly Enable RNA Therapies and Appointed a Vice President of Global Government Programs

Nature’s Toolbox (NTx), a life sciences company developing next-generation platforms for RNA and protein manufacturing, announced the full commercial availability of NTxscribe®, a benchtop, continuous flow RNA in vitro transcription (IVT) and purification system that brings cost effective and scalable RNA manufacturing to the market. Traditional RNA production methods are costly and complex. This slows clinical innovation, makes it hard to scale production to meet demand, and makes it nearly impossible to produce affordable personalized medicines. NTxscribe solves these challenges with a benchtop system that produces high-yield, high-integrity RNA in continuous flow and can scale seamlessly from small research doses to commercial volumes.

If you are interested in NTxscribe, you can learn more or place an order for a system here.

The news was covered by New Mexico Inno.

NTx also appointed William (Bill) Doak as Vice President, Global Government Programs. In this role, Mr. Doak will guide NTx’s global government programs in the biomaterials and life sciences manufacturing sectors and oversee compliance and strategic risk management. He most recently spent eight years with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as Global Partner Leader, Professional Services, and served as the Head of Professional Services, Public Sector, Asia-Pacific & Japan for AWS in Singapore where he built a brand new multi-million public sector business that served government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations.

BioFlyte Awarded SBIR Phase I Contract by U.S. Air Force to Advance its Aerosol Chem/Biothreat Detection and Identification Technology for Critical Infrastructure

BioFlyte, a chemical and bioaerosol surveillance firm with a disruptive new class of fieldable chemical and biological threat collection, detection, and identification solutions, has been selected by AFWERX for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract focused on its BioTOF™ z200 dynamic threat monitoring solution to address challenges within critical infrastructure protection.

The goal of the program is to demonstrate the ability of BioFlyte’s aerosol threat detection and identification technology to protect both military personnel and infrastructure from known and emerging biological and chemical threats. BioFlyte’s BioTOF z200 is the first dynamic threat monitoring solution that is capable of early warning detection, analysis, and confirmatory identification across both the chemical and biological threat landscape. BioTOF has been proven to detect and identify all classes of particulate threats, including bacteria, viruses, biotoxins like anthrax and ricin, and pharmaceutical-based agents like fentanyl. Each test, from collection to alarm, is completed within approximately 5 minutes.

The news was covered by New Mexico Inno, Defense Post, and Military Embedded Systems.

6K Additive and EOS Awarded America Makes Project to Analyze Sustainability and Environmental Benefits for Additive Manufacturing

6K Additive, a division of 6K, announced that the company has been selected, along with project lead EOS, for the America Makes sustainability and environmental benefits project for Additive Manufacturing. Other organizations included on this project include Texas A&M University, 3Degrees, Wichita State University, and the National Institute for Aviation Research. The proposal directly addresses sustainable production of aerospace and defense products via additive manufacturing.

The project call, awarded through the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering’s Manufacturing Technology Office, totals $2.1M in funding, under “Topic 6.” The primary objectives of Topic 6 are to develop and demonstrate sustainable AM practices and products through design, material selection and development, material handling, and/or recycling. These objectives are aligned with the mission and core competencies of 6K Additive.

The news was covered by 3D Printing Industry, MTD CNC, TCT Magazine, Metal AM and more.

BioSkryb Genomics Launched ResolveSEQ MRD: A Next-Generation Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) Discovery Solution

BioSkryb Genomics, a pioneer in single-cell and ultra-low input multiomics, announced the launch of ResolveSEQ MRD, an innovative service offering designed to empower further classification and characterization of the MRD cells for hematologic malignancies. ResolveSEQ MRD integrates seamlessly with established flow cytometry protocols to provide unparalleled single-cell genome and transcriptome characterization, offering deeper biological insights to drive greater discoveries in precision oncology.

“The detection of MRD has become a standard for the management of most hematologic malignancies, as the prognostic value helps clinicians guide patients to the optimal treatment intensity for their disease risk while reducing unnecessary exposure to toxic therapies,” said Charles Gawad, MD, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of BioSkryb Genomics. “What has been missing is a way not just to detect the MRD, but also to understand the unique features that enable those cells to survive when the vast majority of the other cancer cells have been eradicated. This is what we are providing with our ResolveSEQ MRD approach, where researchers can now get the highest quality paired genome and transcriptome data from each MRD cell to ask why the chosen therapeutic approach didn’t work on those cells. I anticipate that this will result in discoveries that will eventually allow us to further personalize therapy for patients based on specific biological features of their persistent disease.”

The news was covered by GenomeWeb and The Clinical Trial Vanguard.

Nirrin Technologies Establishes Scientific Advisory Board with Seasoned Leaders in Biomanufacturing and Advanced Therapeutic Development

Nirrin Technologies, a developer of analytical tools poised to transform bioprocess analysis, announced the founding of its Scientific Advisory Board, with key experts in diverse fields across biomanufacturing and advanced therapeutic development joining as inaugural members.

Inaugural members include:

• Aaron B. Cowley, Ph.D., MBA is the Chief Scientific Officer at ReciBioPharm (formerly Arranta Bio), the biologics division of ReciPharm.
• Bryan Hassell, Ph.D. is the founder and Chief Technical Officer at Nirrin Technologies.
• Tom Ransohoff, MS is a Principal at RTI Consulting and an Operating Partner with Keensight Capital.
• Daniel C. Smith, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientific Officer and M&A Advisor at That’s Nice

ANZU PARTNERS UPDATES

Upcoming Events

Anzu representatives plan to attend the following events:

• Disruptive Defense – March 7-9, Austin, TX
• Tectonic Defense Summit – March 10-11, Austin, TX
• Manifest: Demo Day – March 17, Washington DC
• ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit – March 17-19, Washington DC
• Battery Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference at the International Battery Seminar – March 18-19, Orlando, FL

• SuperReturn Energy North America - March 18-19, Miami, FL

  • Managing Partner David Michael will participate on a Panel Discussion around the U.S. data center boom on March 19 at 11:30am ET

Please reach out to info@anzupartners.com if you’re interested in meeting with us at any of these events.

ADDITIONAL ANZU & PC MEDIA COVERAGE

• Niron Magnetics was the subject of this local CBS broadcast feature in Minnesota, as well as these pieces in Motor Trend and Chemical Engineering. Niron’s new Chief People Officer Becky Schneider was also covered by HR Today.
• AM Batteries CEO Lie Shi shared his predictions for battery manufacturing in 2025 with Powder Bulk Solids.
• e-Zinc was recognized by the Cleantech Group on the 2025 Global Cleantech 100 List for the fourth year in a row. The news was also covered by BetaKit and Decoder.
• CytoTronics was named a finalist in the SLAS 2025 New Product Awards for its Pixel Octo.
• BioSkryb Genomics co-founder and CSO, Chuck Gawad, MD, PhD, contributed to a trends piece in GEN on multiomics.
• GelSight CEO Youssef Benmokhtar was featured in a Digital CXO piece about humanoid robotics and tactile sensing.
• XGS Energy CTO Axel-Pierre Bois was interviewed by Energy Capital HTX on the company’s Houston expansion.
• OTI Lumionics was featured in a UBC Science announcement regarding Canadian federal funding for a project it is collaborating on with a UBC chemist.

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ABOUT ANZU PARTNERS

Anzu Partners is an investment firm that focuses on industrial and life science technology companies with the potential to transform their industries. Anzu works with entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize technological innovations by providing capital alongside deep expertise in business development, market positioning, intellectual property, global connectivity, and operations. For more information, please visit https://anzupartners. com/.