Latest news with #Claira
ABC News
2 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Warragul mother calls for inclusive playground after autistic daughter's near-accident
Late last year, Elysha Clarke was watching her two children at the local playground when the unthinkable happened. Her eldest daughter Claira, who has autism, slipped from her care and ran away from the playground towards a dog on the other side of the park — right next to a busy road. Ms Clarke strapped her one-year-old Lily into the pram as fast as she could and raced after her older daughter, catching up just as she reached the street. An accident was averted, but it was a close call. "That was the moment I thought, 'I can't do this anymore,'" Ms Clarke said. Thirty years ago, her brother, who is also autistic, ran off at another playground into a nearby lake. "Thirty years later, we're still dealing with the same issue," Ms Clarke said. She sprang into action and started a petition calling on Baw Baw Shire Council to build fencing around Warragul's Civic Park playground, a popular spot for families and the site of her brother's mishap. The petition attracted more than 500 signatures and a second petition on the council's platform got almost 200 backers. But at a meeting in late May, the council rejected the petition. Council officers reported that the installation of full fencing around the playground was not supported because it had been designed to allow children to freely enter and exit the area to enjoy the surrounding environment. Councillors instead agreed they would look into the feasibility of constructing an all-abilities inclusive playground elsewhere in the shire. While Ms Clarke said the decision to reject her petition was disheartening, she was encouraged by their interest in an all-abilities playground instead. "In some ways, I feel that I have achieved something because it started the discussion and it brought to everyone's attention that this is something we need," she said. "[But] it's going to take years, and that's not something that my children are going to benefit from as much as I would have liked." She hoped the council would engage with parents like her to design the playground so it reflected what the community wanted and needed. Almost 300,000 Australians are autistic, and that number is rising. In 2017, Autism Awareness Australia noted that wandering, or elopement, was common amongst autistic children and that 58 per cent of parents had reported it as the most stressful behaviour they had to deal with. Ms Clarke said she and her family had travelled more than an hour from their home in Baw Baw Shire to find a fenced, safe and engaging playground for her children, often ending up at all-abilities spots. Justine Perkins is the co-founder of the Touched by Olivia Foundation, which builds inclusive playgrounds called Livvi's Places across the country. "There is something there for everyone," Ms Perkins said. "There are active spaces, there are sensory spaces. "It's blending it all together with a very deliberate design." There are 52 now open around Australia, including nine in Victoria. Each one is different, but they typically include disability-friendly play equipment, sensory-friendly areas, fencing and accessible toilets. She said parents were overjoyed when they found Livvi's Places. "They're just in tears of joy, or exhilaration, that finally their voices are being heard," Ms Perkins said. "Particularly parents of children with disability or kids who are neurodiverse who need different kinds of configurations to ensure they feel safe, that they're not overwhelmed." She believed when planning destination playgrounds, councils should ensure they were accessible and inclusive. "We're not there yet in ensuring everyone is included, and inclusion really needs to be part and parcel of our everyday lives," she said. Play Australia CEO Robyn Monro-Miller said there were no Australia-wide standards for playground fences because every playground was different. "Fences don't necessarily make a playground safer, they give an illusion of safety," she said. "Children still need to be supervised when using play equipment, and that's really important regardless of their ability or their age." She said Play Australia supported playgrounds that were inclusive for all children, considering visible and invisible disabilities and differing ages or ability levels. "It takes some thoughtful planning, but it's actually more cost-effective and more appropriate for us to do that," she said. Baw Baw Shire's director of community infrastructure, Ben Wood, said planning for an all-abilities inclusive playground would be part of the shire's upcoming Playground Strategy, which would begin after its Open Space Strategy was finalised by the end of the year.
Finextra
25-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Barclays and Citi lead $7 million investment in deal intelligence platform Claira
Barclays and Citi have co-led a $7 million seed funding round in deal intelligence platform Claira. 0 Claira brings smart automation to an area of the market which has traditionally seen an over-reliance on manual processes and workflows. Claira's technology embeds AI into deal workflows, accelerating due diligence and providing easy access to historical deal data and insights. 'Firms are sitting on a trove of proprietary research which they are not leveraging,' says Eric Chang, CEO of Claira. 'Claira is the first platform to both streamline the work and systematically capture and apply institutional investment knowledge to future transactions.' He says the firm will use the funding to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, deepen partnerships with top financial institutions, and further develop its AI capabilities tailored to the nuances of capital markets.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Claira Raises $7 Million in Seed Funding to Revolutionize Deal Intelligence for Financial Institutions
NEW YORK, June 24, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Claira ( an AI-powered Deal Intelligence platform for financial institutions, announces a successful close of $7 million seed funding round. The round was co-led by Barclays, Citi, and Reimagine Tech Ventures, with additional participation from Activant Capital, KDX, and OPCO Ventures. Claira is transforming the way private credit funds and financial institutions approach deal analysis and management. By integrating purpose-built, domain-native AI directly into deal workflows, Claira empowers banks, lenders, and investment professionals to scale more effectively, expanding their deal flow through accelerated due diligence, deeper insights, and more time spent on high-conviction opportunities. By centralizing deal analysis, Claira enables easy access to historical deal data and insights, driving smarter decision-making and more predictive future analysis. Investment analysis and decision-making for private credit and other private market investments remain antiquated, often relying on humans to remember past lessons. "Firms are sitting on a trove of proprietary research which they are not leveraging," said Eric Chang, CEO of Claira. "Claira is the first platform to both streamline the work and systematically capture and apply institutional investment knowledge to future transactions." "We're excited to back Eric and his team as they apply technology to an area of the market which has traditionally seen an over-reliance on manual process and workflow" said Kester Keating, Head of US Principal Investments at Barclays. "Claira fits into existing systems and enables more granular, efficient deal analysis," said Neil Agarwal, Founding Partner of OPCO Ventures. "What excites me most is where they're heading—by being tied into the nuanced processes of institutional investing, Claira is uniquely positioned to build foundational technology for the next generation of financial infrastructure, enabling agentic AI that cuts through complexity, automates workflows, and ultimately drives better investing." Claira plans to use the funding to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, deepen partnerships with top financial institutions, and further develop its AI capabilities tailored to the nuances of capital markets. ABOUT CLAIRA Claira empowers financial institutions to make smarter decisions faster through our purpose-built AI. We transform the way institutions collect, analyze and manage their deals and supercharge their investment and trading processes. Our customers are financial institutions who believe the Claira platform gives them a competitive advantage in their investment decisions. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts For media inquiries, please contact mediarelations@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
24-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Claira Raises $7 Million in Seed Funding to Revolutionize Deal Intelligence for Financial Institutions
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Claira ( an AI-powered Deal Intelligence platform for financial institutions, announces a successful close of $7 million seed funding round. The round was co-led by Barclays, Citi, and Reimagine Tech Ventures, with additional participation from Activant Capital, KDX, and OPCO Ventures. 'Firms are sitting on a trove of proprietary research which they are not leveraging,' said Eric Chang, CEO of Claira. Claira is transforming the way private credit funds and financial institutions approach deal analysis and management. By integrating purpose-built, domain-native AI directly into deal workflows, Claira empowers banks, lenders, and investment professionals to scale more effectively, expanding their deal flow through accelerated due diligence, deeper insights, and more time spent on high-conviction opportunities. By centralizing deal analysis, Claira enables easy access to historical deal data and insights, driving smarter decision-making and more predictive future analysis. Investment analysis and decision-making for private credit and other private market investments remain antiquated, often relying on humans to remember past lessons. 'Firms are sitting on a trove of proprietary research which they are not leveraging,' said Eric Chang, CEO of Claira. 'Claira is the first platform to both streamline the work and systematically capture and apply institutional investment knowledge to future transactions.' 'We're excited to back Eric and his team as they apply technology to an area of the market which has traditionally seen an over-reliance on manual process and workflow' said Kester Keating, Head of US Principal Investments at Barclays. 'Claira fits into existing systems and enables more granular, efficient deal analysis,' said Neil Agarwal, Founding Partner of OPCO Ventures. 'What excites me most is where they're heading—by being tied into the nuanced processes of institutional investing, Claira is uniquely positioned to build foundational technology for the next generation of financial infrastructure, enabling agentic AI that cuts through complexity, automates workflows, and ultimately drives better investing." Claira plans to use the funding to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, deepen partnerships with top financial institutions, and further develop its AI capabilities tailored to the nuances of capital markets. ABOUT CLAIRA Claira empowers financial institutions to make smarter decisions faster through our purpose-built AI. We transform the way institutions collect, analyze and manage their deals and supercharge their investment and trading processes. Our customers are financial institutions who believe the Claira platform gives them a competitive advantage in their investment decisions. For more information, visit
