Latest news with #MarkPearson
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Read the Pitch Deck This Climate Tech Company Used to Raise $4M
Climate technology firm 51toCarbonZero has raised $4 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Fuel Ventures. 51toCarbonZero is a carbon-management platform that specializes in media, marketing, and advertising. The firm helps companies measure and reduce climate-warming emissions while maintaining business outcomes. Adtech firms Innovid, Magnite, PubMatic, Mediavine, and agency Dept have all worked with 51toCarbonZero to reduce their emissions. The platform also has a partnership with ad industry group the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) to help support the association's members' efforts to measure their carbon footprints. While some efforts to demand companies reduce their carbon emissions have stalled due to the political environment in the U.S., regulations in the EU will require companies operating within Europe to disclose emissions starting as early as 2028. The rules were initially set to go into effect in 2026, but the EU Parliament voted in early April for a two-year delay to give companies more time to adapt. Inside the Pitch Deck AI Customer Research Firm Conveo Used to Snag $5.3M With the influx of cash, which also includes funding from angel investors, 51toCarbonZero plans to expand its footprint across the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. It will also invest in artificial intelligence to improve clients' experience on its platform. 'We're poised to extend our reach and enhance our platform's capabilities, particularly through AI integration,' Neil Woodcock, cofounder and executive chairman of 51toCarbonZero, said in a statement. The company's mission is to simplify the path to net zero, he continued, in order to reduce global emissions by 500 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions. 'Our continued investment in 51toCarbonZero underscores our confidence in their mission and the impressive progress they've made since our previous investment,' Mark Pearson, founder of Fuel Ventures, said in a statement. He added that the platform 'not only addresses the urgent need for emissions management but also empowers companies to take actionable steps towards sustainability. We're excited to support their expansion into new markets and industries.' Check out the pitch deck below. 51ToCarbonZero – Presentation Deck (2) (2)Download 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
Reuters
24-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Equitable to use funds from reinsurance deal to boost AllianceBernstein stake
Feb 24 (Reuters) - Equitable Holdings (EQH.N), opens new tab will announce on Monday it aims to raise its stake in money manager AllianceBernstein Holding (AB.N), opens new tab after striking a new reinsurance deal that will unlock more than $2 billion of cash, the insurer's executives said. The moves will help Equitable double down on higher growth businesses such as asset management. Equitable will unveil later on Monday that about 75% of its in-force individual life business is being reinsured by Reinsurance Group of America (RGA.N), opens new tab. The block consists of active policies where policyholders pay premiums periodically. The capital released by the reinsurance deal will be used to support Equitable's tender offer to purchase up to 46 million units of AllianceBernstein, which could be worth as much as $1.8 billion. New York-based Equitable will offer $38.50 per unit, representing a 7.8% premium to Friday's closing price. If the tender offer is successful, the deal will help Equitable - which already controls about 62% of AllianceBernstein - boost its holding in the company to as much as 77.5%. The RGA transaction will also help Equitable fund $500 million of incremental share repurchases on top of existing buyback programs. "With this freed-up capital, we have the opportunity to really support our growth strategy, and where we're really focusing on, which is retirement, wealth management and asset management," Mark Pearson, CEO of Equitable, told Reuters. Should Equitable's tender offer be fully taken up by AllianceBernstein unitholders, Equitable would generate roughly 60% of its cash flow from asset management, compared to about 17% when it was spun out of French insurer AXA ( opens new tab in 2018, Pearson added. The RGA transaction is the latest in a series of deals that have been struck in recent years by insurers to reinsure or divest books of existing business to free up capital. This includes Equitable's sale in 2020 of certain run-off and closed-block businesses to Heritage Life Insurance Company. Moreover, the insurance and asset management industries have been increasingly converging, as financial services firms attempt to combine complementary capabilities to boost earnings. Having an integrated insurance and money-manager model allows Equitable to benefit financially through the life of a product, from distribution fees earned when selling it at the beginning, to fees from managing the assets through time, according to Equitable's finance chief Robin Raju.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Key panel deadlocks over making exception to ban on child marriage
Feb. 18—A key House committee deadlocked over whether to recommend support or political death for carving out an exception to the ban on child marriage to allow a 17-year-old to wed when one of the partners is serving in the military. The House Children and Family Law Committee split 7-7 on separate motions to recommend passing or killing the narrow carve-out to the child marriage ban that went into effect Jan. 1. New Hampshire is now one of 11 states that doesn't allow without exception anyone under 18 to get married. State Rep. Charles McMahon, R-Windham, joined all the Democrats present on the committee against the bill that sparked passionate debate for and against the measure during a hearing last month. Chairman Mark Pearson, R-Hampstead, said the bill (HB 433) will go to the full House with "no recommendation," a stalemate common during the previous two years when the House was as closely divided by party as it has been in the past 150 years. In November, Republicans picked up 20 more seats in the House and Pearson's committee has nine Republicans and seven Democrats on it. Reps. Kim Rice, R-Hudson, and Amy Malone, D-Rochester, were absent for Tuesday's executive session vote on the bill. The bill would permit a 17-year-old to be married if one of the pair was in the military and if the minor gets consent from a parent or legal guardian. "I just feel this would create an opportunity for good solid families," said Rep. Debra DeSimone, R-Atkinson. Rep. Alicia Gregg, D-Nashua, said the Legislature came together in a bipartisan fashion last year to pass the ban so the state would "not be a beacon for this" (child marriage). Rep. Heather Raymond, D-Nashua, said now was not the time to reverse course. "The testimony we had from women who were married off at young ages to such specific painful experiences; I just can't possibly support this," Raymond said. Rep. Lori Korzen, R-Berlin, said society is hypocritical about sexual intercourse and the sanctity of a couple vowing to share a life together. "It's okay for a minor to have sex but we are not okay with letting them get married; to me that makes no sense," Korzen said. Rep. Cassandra Levesque, D-Barrington and now 25, said she's worked on the issue since she was 15 and helped lead the campaign that convinced lawmakers in Massachusetts to ban child marriages there in 2022. "We are sending young girls who are unprepared into a forced marriage," Levesque said. klandrigan@
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Legislation calls for system to restore competency to criminal offenders
Jan. 29—Leaders in the judicial branch and mental health community endorsed creating a system for restoring competency to criminal offenders who had been found incompetent to stand trial. House Children and Family Law Committee Chairman Mark Pearson, R-Hampstead, predicted if his legislation becomes law, it will lead to a much higher percentage of accused offenders who a judge concludes are competent. New Hampshire's current law merely states that one year after someone is judged to be incompetent, if the offender is not restored then the criminal charges against him or her are dropped. Last year, the national average was 81% of those once found incompetent were later restored. In 2019 — the most recent date for which date was available — only 44% had their competency restored in New Hampshire. "This gives closure to the alleged victims by having a court issue a decision one way or the other," Pearson told the House Judiciary Committee. "It also gives closure to the alleged perpetrator since some of those individuals will be found not guilty. Sometimes, the (criminal) sentence given out is less than the time that person is bouncing around in the mental health system." Bill would create two-year pilot program Pearson offered an amendment to his study bill (HB 480) that would create a two-year pilot program in the court system in Merrimack County or Strafford County. The state would hire a forensic liaison who would be in charge of ensuring that the accused offender attends meetings and hearings in his or her case. The same individual would also report to the state on the status of the cases. The program would operate not out of the court system but within the state Department of Health and Human Services. "We don't want this to be seen as a criminal matter; we want it to be considered a behavioral health issue," Pearson said. Holly Stevens, policy director with the National Alliance of Mental Illness of New Hampshire, said many of the offenders can be restored to competency with treatment. "Many individuals who raise competency have psychotic conditions and once they get medication they are restored," Stevens said. Erin Creegan, general counsel for the judicial branch, said for many years this has been an "intractable issue." Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, credited Pearson with bringing all stakeholders to the table to come up with this compromise language. klandrigan@
