Professional Development
Power Moves

Abridge hires first chief financial officer following last year’s groundbreaking $250M raise

Plus, Aurora forms a new partnership to help it launch autonomous trucks later this year, Coeptis launches a tech division and more power moves.

Sagar Sanghvi is the new CFO of health tech startup Abridge (Courtesy of Abridge)

Forging partnerships and pivoting through change can help companies drive growth, even amid market challenges.

Sometimes, though, a flashy new hire will do, too. 

In this month’s Power Moves, startups like Aurora put those strategies into action by finding ways to overcome government hurdles, while others, like Coeptis, are trying out new niches hoping for innovative results.

Meanwhile, healthtech Abridge has taken a straightforward approach to building out its c-suite, most recently with the new hiring of a top financial leader. 

Read on below the chart for more on these developments, and other power moves.

Abridge hires experienced tech executive Sagar Sanghvi as CFO

Downtown-based health tech startup Abridge announced last week it had appointed Sagar Sanghvi as its first chief financial officer. Sanghvi brings nearly 15 years of experience as an operator and investor to the role, including six years at the grocery delivery company Instacart where he eventually rose to CFO and is credited with scaling the team from 300 to 1,500 employees, raising over $2 billion in financing.

The hire comes just a few months after Abridge, which offers an AI-powered platform for clinical conversations, raised $250 million in later-stage VC funding, making it the largest deal in the Pittsburgh region during the final quarter of 2024. The deal raised the company’s valuation from $2.2 to $2.5 billion. 

“Abridge needs agility and creativity to continue serving the needs of clinicians and patients across a diverse array of care settings, specialties, and languages,” Shiv Rao, CEO and founder of Abridge, said in a recent news release. “Sagar is a rare variant of a strategic CFO who has extensive experience working in highly dynamic markets like healthcare AI.”

Aurora partners to help it stay on track for driverless truck launch 

Autonomous vehicle company Aurora, headquartered in the Strip District, announced a partnership with chip manufacturer Nvidia and multinational automotive parts manufacturing company Continental to build self-driving trucks at scale. 

Continental will be responsible for making the hardware for Aurora’s self-driving trucks, powered by Nvidia’s Blackwell chip.

The strategic alliance was announced amidst a series of regulatory challenges for Aurora. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) denied the company’s request for an industry-wide hazards exemption on Dec. 31. Since autonomous vehicles cannot deploy flares or safety cones when pulled over, DOT ruled Aurora’s proposal of alternative warning beacons mounted to the vehicle did not meet the equivalent level of safety required for an exemption. 

In response, Aurora filed a petition on Jan. 10 against DOT, claiming the federal government lacks data to support its preference for human-placed warning devices over Aurora’s proposed system. 

In a blog post, Aurora President Ossa Fisher said the DOT ruling would not prevent the company from complying with the existing regulations when it plans to launch its fully driverless trucks in April 2025. Fisher did not explain how Aurora plans to comply with the regulations. 

Coeptis rebrands, recovers stock and expands into data security 

Wexford-based biopharmaceutical company Coeptis, formally known as Coeptis Therapeutics Holdings Inc., has undergone a dramatic rebrand since late last year. 

In early December, the company announced the launch of a new division called Coeptis Technologies, though it wasn’t immediately clear who would lead the branch. As part of the initiative, Ceoptis signed a binding letter of intent to acquire an unnamed risk mitigation software company with 10,000 customers in over 100 countries. The company also acquired the NexGenAI Affiliates Network platform, an AI-powered marketing software, shortly after. 

By early January, Coeptis announced the acquisition of NexGenAI had secured the company five new clients with a total contract value of $1.7 million. Since then, the company’s stock has more than doubled after a compliance rift with Nasdaq.

The company’s primary focus is pioneering cell therapy platforms for cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases, but the move indicated the company’s intent to enter the burgeoning data security market. 

Gather AI announces sales, finance hires and a tech partnership

Autonomous inventory startup Gather AI announced two key hires and a strategic partnership on Jan. 15. 

Chris Visnic joined Gather AI as head of sales, bringing experience in industrial automation, engineering software and scaling early-stage tech companies. Li Wu was appointed head of finance, with expertise in scaling high-growth technology businesses, particularly in AI and SaaS markets.

The partnership with New Jersey-based Made4net, a supply chain tech company, will integrate Gather AI’s deep learning and autonomous drones that scan and track inventory with Made4net’s cloud-based warehouse and supply chain management software. The companies already share multiple clients, helping them each expand their products to a wider customer base. 

More power moves: 

  • Logix Guru has promoted Ravi Ajmani to president after over a decade with the company, where he expanded operations internationally and drove 110% revenue growth while doubling the team size. He aims to double the Murrysville-based company's size again within the next three years.
Companies: Aurora / Abridge
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Donate to the Journalism Fund

Your support powers our independent journalism. Unlike most business-media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational contributions.

Trending

These 10 regions could be most impacted by federal return-to-office mandates

From Belgaum to Baltimore and beyond, this founder leaned on family to build a biotech juggernaut 

Philly vs. Kansas City: Who’s got the stronger tech economy?

How this Comcast director of product management is bringing heart to AI

Technically Media