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Miami Herald
08-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Glide Raises $15M Series A to Power the Digital Transformation of Traditional Financial Institutions
Backed by Acrew, Pear, Pathlight, and fintech leaders from Stripe, Plaid, and Dropbox, Glide is building the modern OS for community banks and credit unions-replacing the fragmented legacy stack with a unified digital experience platform. NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 8, 2025 / Glide, the embedded fintech platform helping traditional financial institutions compete in a digital-first world, today announced a $15 million Series A funding round. The raise was led by Acrew Capital, with participation from Pear VC, Pathlight Capital, and strategic angels including Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe), Paul Williamson (former CRO of Plaid), and Arash Ferdowsi (co-founder of Dropbox). Banks are facing a turning point. Traditional financial institutions are the cornerstone of financial services in America. However, while they offer trusted financial products, their digital experience falls short. Many banks and credit unions juggle more than 30 separate technology solutions, each running on infrastructure that's nearly half a century old. Meanwhile, Gen Z has come to expect the seamless, instant banking experiences offered by neobanks. Glide helps them evolve-or risk being left behind. "We're building the infrastructure that helps local financial institutions stay competitive in today's marketplace," said Gautam Ajjarapu, co-founder and CEO of Glide. "Our mission is to arm traditional institutions with the modern tools they need to deliver fintech-grade experiences-without losing what makes them special." Glide's first product, Deposit Origination, reduces new account opening time from 20 minutes to under 3, and boosts onboarding conversion by 3x. It's also self configurable, supports all account types, and integrates seamlessly into the financial institution's existing systems. Glide replaces vendor sprawl with a single intelligent layer-ushering in the rebundling era of banking infrastructure. This isn't theory. In its first 12 months since launch, Glide signed 15 credit unions to multi-year contracts-all through founder-led sales. "Thanks to Glide, we've reduced application times and improved our ability to serve members quickly and effectively," said Elizabeth Thornton, VP of Member Experience at Gulf Coast Educators Federal Credit Union. "It's the digital transformation we needed." The new funding will accelerate Glide's product roadmap, scale its AI capabilities, and expand its world-class team across engineering, product, and go-to-market-learn more about open roles at As part of an oversubscribed Series A raise, Glide has brought in world-class operators across fintech, enterprise, and SaaS as investors and advisors. Mar Hershenson, Founding Partner at Pear VC, will also join Glide's board. "Glide has assembled a world-class team and built an industry leading platform that uniquely bridges fintech innovation with traditional banking infrastructure," said Hershenson. "They're transforming an industry long dominated by legacy providers." ABOUT GLIDE: Glide is the embedded fintech platform modernizing community banks and credit unions. From account opening and onboarding to lending and agentic staff tooling, Glide helps traditional financial institutions deliver modern, secure, and compliant digital experiences. Backed by Acrew Capital, Pear VC, Pathlight, and fintech leaders from Robinhood, Stripe, Plaid, and Dropbox, Glide is building the OS for the future of banking. Learn more at MEDIA CONTACT: Nina Pfister, MAG PR at nina@ SOURCE: Glide
Associated Press
10-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Synaptics Extends Edge AI Portfolio with High-Performance Adaptive MCUs for Multimodal Context-Aware Computing
NUREMBERG, Germany, March 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Synaptics® Incorporated (Nasdaq: SYNA) has extended its award-winning Synaptics Astra TM AI-Native platform with the SR-Series high-performance adaptive microcontroller units (MCUs) for scalable context-aware Edge AI. The series features three tiers of operation: performance (100 GOPS), efficiency, and ultra-low-power (ULP) always-on (AON) to deliver intelligence at every power level. Based on an Arm® Cortex®-M55 core and the Arm Ethos™-U55 neural processing unit (NPU), the SR-Series is supported by the AstraTM Machina Micro development kit and open-source SDK. It is optimized for multimodal consumer, enterprise, and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) workloads with accelerators and adaptive vision, audio, and voice algorithms. The small-form-factor MCUs have a rich set of peripherals—including multiple camera interfaces—to help minimize system cost, power, and footprint while enabling integration into a wide range of devices, such as battery-operated security cameras, sensors, appliances, point-of-sale, digital signage, and scanners. At EW2025? Join us in Booth #4A-259 to learn about our advances in Edge AI, wireless connectivity, and automotive display technologies. Email [email protected] for an appointment. Announced at EW2024 with the SL-Series MPUs, the Synaptics Astra AI-Native compute platform for the IoT combines scalable, low-power compute silicon for the device Edge with open-source, easy-to-use software and tools and Veros TM wireless connectivity. The platform was built upon Synaptics' foundation in neural networks, field-hardened AI hardware and compiler design expertise for the IoT, and refined, in-house support of a broad base of modalities. 'We believe we are at an inflection point in Edge AI where embedded developers have a unique opportunity to redefine human-machine interaction through multimodal processing and contextual awareness,' said Vikram Gupta, Senior Vice President and General Manager of IoT Processors, Chief Product Officer at Synaptics. 'Unlocking this potential requires a new class of embedded compute silicon. As part of our Astra family, the SR-Series extends our Edge AI processing roadmap with intelligence optimized for various power levels. It allows the development of cognitive IoT devices that seamlessly adapt to their surroundings, from ultra-low-power always-on sensing to high-performance edge inference.' 'Enabling ultra-low-power AI processing at the edge will revolutionize emerging applications across various markets, including retail and smart home, where we are seeing greater performance demands,' said Paul Williamson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IoT Line of Business at Arm. 'With the new SR-Series, built on the Arm compute platform, Synaptics is delivering the real-time intelligence and innovation needed to scale edge AI deployments.' 'Meeting the needs of future intelligent edge devices requires solutions capable of multimodal processing to achieve situational awareness,' said Jim McGregor, Principal Analyst at TIRIAS Research. 'Synaptics' SR-Series of AI MCUs offers a scalable solution that maximizes IoT device awareness while simplifying integration and optimizing power and performance.' Technical highlights The SR-Series comprises three MCUs, the SR110, SR105, and SR102, each with its respective features and benefits that cater to a range of multimodal application requirements. All three MCUs use a Cortex-M55 core with Arm Helium™ technology running up to 400 MHz. The SR110 also has a Cortex-M4 core and Arm Ethos-U55 NPU and is sampling now; the SR105 has an Ethos-U55 NPU; and the SR102 is a single Cortex-M55 device. Other SR-Series features include: The Machina Micro kit maintains Astra's signature 'out-of-the-box' AI development experience for beginners and experts alike. For more information: About Synaptics Incorporated Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) is driving innovation in AI at the Edge, bringing AI closer to end users and transforming how we engage with intelligent connected devices, whether at home, at work, or on the move. As a go-to partner for forward-thinking product innovators, Synaptics powers the future with its cutting-edge Synaptics Astra™ AI-Native embedded compute, Veros™ wireless connectivity, and multimodal sensing solutions. We're making the digital experience smarter, faster, more intuitive, secure, and seamless. From touch, display, and biometrics to AI-driven wireless connectivity, video, vision, audio, speech, and security processing, Synaptics is the force behind the next generation of technology enhancing how we live, work, and play. Follow Synaptics on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook, or visit Synaptics and the Synaptics logo are trademarks of Synaptics in the United States and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. For further information, please contact: Media Contact Patrick Mannion Synaptics +1-631-678-1015
