Latest news with #Gimeno
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
From fan to champ, James Lichtenstein wins his first high diving gold at World Aquatics C'ships
SINGAPORE – Competing alongside rivals whom he idolises, James Lichtenstein earned himself a place in the pantheon on July 27 by clinching the high diving title at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) for the first time. The 30-year-old American, who was trailing leader Carlos Gimeno of Spain by 24.7 points heading into the final round of the men's 27m platform at Sentosa's Palawan Green, executed a clutch dive to claim the gold medal, which was also his country's first at the WCH after 17 days of competition. 'Amazing, incredible, a dream come true. I know I can dive well, but to put it together when it counts is a thrilling feeling,' he said. 'I've been looking up to those guys (his fellow competitors) for years, and I started only four years ago. 'That first year for me was the adjustment period, like 'I'm diving with these idols', but now, I know I can compete with the best of them.' James Lichtenstein in action in round 5 of the men's 27m platform at Sentosa. ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY Lichtenstein, who started competing in the high diving World Cup only in 2023, had never stood atop the podium previously, coming closest with a silver in the Bahrain leg of the 2024 World Cup. At WCH 2025, he topped the 14-strong field with 428.90 points after round 6, ahead of Gimeno (425.30) and Romania's Constantin Popovici (408.70). Executing five somersaults in the tuck position after a backward take-off, Lichtenstein scored a massive 143.10 points in the final round to surpass Gimeno's armstand 4½ tuck (114.80) and pip him to the gold by 3.6 points. Carlos Gimeno during the sixth round dive. ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY 'Not (feeling) so good man,' a sullen Gimeno said at the mixed zone after the final. '(From) being in first all the time for the whole competition… And at the end, just miss the gold by a little bit (three points).' Pointing to his heart, he added: 'That hurt a lot, you know, and that's something that I'm gonna remember, (because it) hit here. 'I guess God didn't want to give me this gold medal this time… But chin up because this sport is so difficult and so dangerous and I'm proud of myself, I put in my best performance.' The Spaniard had led through the first three rounds and again after the fifth, but as he prepared for his sixth and final dive, his hand wobbled while getting in position for his handstand. Gimeno added: 'Normally we have only four rounds of competition. Here we have six rounds, so when I did the handstand, I felt a little tired. But yeah, it's painful. Second place, not good.' But he is keeping a positive attitude and looking to bounce back at the high diving World Cup in Porto Flavia, Italy on Aug 30 and 31. 'It's another competition. So, yeah, that one… Yeah I'm going to win that one. I'm going to remove what I had inside (the pain) and I'm going to win that one.' Popovici, who topped the field after the fourth round, said of his performance: 'In round 5, I missed my back twist by a bit, just a slight short from vertical (entry). In training I did very well, but competition is competition, but I'm happy for third place, and of course, in the future, I wish for a shinier one.'
International Business Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- International Business Times
How Alberto Gimeno Sánchez Shaped the Future of Business Automation through Intelligent Document Processing
Alberto Gimeno is in a unique position today, as he stands in the middle of a technological change that promises to redefine how businesses handle their most tedious yet most critical operations. The Spanish mathematician-turned-entrepreneur has built his company, Invofox, into a powerhouse that processes millions of documents annually, transforming chaotic paperwork into organized digital information for over 100 companies worldwide. When Alberto Gimeno Sánchez relocated to San Francisco in June 2024, he carried with him more than just entrepreneurial ambitions. With him was the culmination of nearly a decade of technical experimentation, business failures, and hard-won insights about the persistent problem that plagues every modern office: the mountain of disorganized documents that required humans to decode. His company, Invofox, processes over 17 million invoices and documents annually across Europe and is rapidly expanding into North America, but the journey to this scale began with a simple observation about the inefficiency of manual data entry. "Just as Stripe transformed online payments and Twilio redefined communications by offering powerful APIs, Invofox is revolutionizing how businesses exchange document-based information online," Gimeno explains. The comparison is deliberate, as Stripe processes $1.4 trillion annually with a valuation exceeding $90 billion, while Twilio generates $4 billion in revenue with an $18 billion market cap. Gimeno sees document processing as the next infrastructure layer ripe for automation, and his company's trajectory suggests he might be right. The Mathematics of True Automation Alberto Gimeno's path to document processing began with dual degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. This academic foundation proved to be crucial when he co-founded his first startup in 2015, although it was the failures that he encountered that truly educated him about market realities. Before Invofox, he launched AlquilaLibros, a book rental service, and Whisper, a hardware security company focused on panic buttons. Each venture taught him something different about customer needs and market timing. The breakthrough came when Gimeno and his co-founder, Carmelo Juanes, recognized that artificial intelligence could finally solve what traditional Optical Character Recognition (OCR) had intended to but never fully delivered: truly intelligent document processing. While OCR systems read everything on a page, humans instinctively focus on what matters. Training AI to mimic this selective attention became Invofox's core innovation. The company's technology goes beyond simple text extraction, validating fields, autocompleting missing data, and catching errors that could cost businesses thousands of dollars per mistake. The technical architecture that Gimeno's team built handles the reception of millions of documents simultaneously, automatically splitting files, classifying document types, and scoring image quality. When a vendor fails to include their address on an invoice, Invofox automatically fills in the missing information. When tax calculations appear incorrect, the system flags potential errors before they propagate through accounting systems. This level of intelligence requires multiple AI models working in parallel, with the system determining which combination of technologies best serves each specific use case. Building the Appropriate Infrastructure for the Software Economy The business model Alberto Gimeno developed reflects his understanding that successful technology companies become an infrastructure rather than just an application. Invofox operates as an API-first platform, allowing software companies to integrate document processing capabilities directly into their existing workflows. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions use Invofox to automate accounts payable processes, while payroll companies leverage the technology to migrate customers from competing platforms by automatically parsing historical employee data from payslips. This infrastructure approach has attracted over 100 clients globally, including notable names like Aon, Cegid, and Holded. The company has raised $11.2 million from European and American investors, with annual recurring revenue exceeding $3 million and growing at more than 10 percent month-over-month. The financial metrics reflect a business that has found product-market fit in a substantial market, but Gimeno's ambitions extend far beyond current performance. The expansion into the United States represents more than geographic growth. American software companies operate at different scales and have different compliance requirements from their European counterparts. Adapting Invofox's technology and sales processes for the US market required a full year of preparation, but early customers like Scripta Insights, aACE, and Repositrak demonstrate that the localization efforts have succeeded. The American market offers the potential for exponential growth, given the larger scale of enterprise software adoption and the higher tolerance for automation investments. Where Humans Belong in Automation Despite building technology that automates human tasks, Alberto Gimeno maintains that Invofox creates rather than destroys employment opportunities. His observations from client implementations suggest that automation actually changes how people work rather than eliminating their roles entirely. With the help of correct automation, accounting professionals who had previously spent hours on repetitive data entry can now focus on advisory services and strategic analysis. The technology enables them to offer more sophisticated and focused services to their clients, creating a competitive advantage. "We've implemented our technology with success across many clients, and as far as we know, no jobs have been destroyed by implementing Invofox. Instead, people change how they work," Infovox cofounder Carmelo Juanes notes. This perspective reflects his broader philosophy about artificial intelligence as an augmentation tool rather than a fearful replacement. The most successful implementations occur when companies view AI as enabling human expertise rather than substituting for it. The global compliance requirements that Invofox meets across the European Union and the US are evidence of the complexity of building a truly international infrastructure. Different countries have varying regulations about data processing, document retention, and financial reporting. Gimeno's team has obtained certifications that allow multinational corporations to use Invofox across their global operations without worrying about regulatory compliance in individual jurisdictions. Major Strides That Only Signal the Beginning As artificial intelligence continues to develop, Alberto Gimeno sees document processing as just the beginning of a broader change in how businesses handle information. The same principles that make Invofox successful, such as selective attention, error detection, and automated completion, apply to many other forms of unstructured data. The company's success in processing tens of millions of documents annually provides a foundation for expanding into adjacent markets where similar problems exist. For Alberto Gimeno and his partners, the goal remains constant: building the infrastructure that allows software companies to focus on their core business rather than the tedious work of extracting meaning from documents.
Miami Herald
17-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Eli Lilly Co. to buy gene-editing startup Verve to develop cardiac drugs
June 17 (UPI) --Eli Lilly and Company said Tuesday it will buy out Boston-based Verve Therapeutics Inc. in a billion dollar deal with plans to advance Verve's new line of experimental cardiac health drugs. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly announced its definitive agreement to acquire Verge, a gene-editing startup, for up to $1.3 billion at $10.50 a share -- a premium of 67.5% at last closing -- with the goal to boost Verve's budding pipeline of medicine designed to target and treat a wide-range of cardiovascular-related health issues. "Lilly is eager to welcome our Verve colleagues to Lilly and continue the development of these promising potential new medicines aimed at improving outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease and addressing the significant unmet medical need in this space," said Ruth Gimeno, Lilly's group VP for diabetes and metabolic research and development. Under the agreement terms, the transaction will not be subject to any financing conditions and will include a nearly $1 billion upfront payout plus a further $300 million based on certain clinical milestones. The deal is expected to close by this year's third quarter subject to conditions. Verve's medical treatment program, according to a Gimeno, could "shift the treatment paradigm for cardiovascular disease from chronic care to one-and-done treatment." Meanwhile, stock shares in Verve jumped 76% to over $11 in premarket trading Tuesday morning while Lilly stock value fell 1%. A years-long study from 2010-2022 released in November revealed how the number of dead via cardiovascular disease had surged among adults ages 25 to 64 living in rural areas. Verve uses a next gen type of gene editing which erases and rewrites a specific gene letter. Lilly's Gimeno says the Verve-102 program, which is currently in its Phase 1b clinal trial study and fast-tracked for FDA approval, "has the potential" to be the first "in vivo" gene editing therapy deployed to treat a broad population of patients seeking treatment for cardiac issues. 102 may be utilized for patients seeking treatment for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), which is a subset of ASCVD affecting 1 in 250 people. On Tuesday, Verve's chief noted how in just seven years that the Verve team had progressed three in vivo gene editing products with two currently in clinics. "Verve was founded with one mission in mind: transform the treatment of cardiovascular disease from chronic care to a one-dose future," said Verve Therapeutics co-founder and CEO Dr. Sekar Kathiresan. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
UPI
17-06-2025
- Business
- UPI
Eli Lilly Co. to buy gene-editing startup Verve to develop cardiac drugs
Verve's medical treatment program could "shift the treatment paradigm for cardiovascular disease from chronic care to one-and-done treatment," one Eli Lilly official said. Photo by Julio César Velásquez Mejía June 17 (UPI) -- Eli Lilly and Company said Tuesday it will buy out Boston-based Verve Therapeutics Inc. in a billion dollar deal with plans to advance Verve's new line of experimental cardiac health drugs. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly announced its definitive agreement to acquire Verge, a gene-editing startup, for up to $1.3 billion at $10.50 a share -- a premium of 67.5% at last closing -- with the goal to boost Verve's budding pipeline of medicine designed to target and treat a wide-range of cardiovascular-related health issues. "Lilly is eager to welcome our Verve colleagues to Lilly and continue the development of these promising potential new medicines aimed at improving outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease and addressing the significant unmet medical need in this space," said Ruth Gimeno, Lilly's group VP for diabetes and metabolic research and development. Under the agreement terms, the transaction will not be subject to any financing conditions and will include a nearly $1 billion upfront payout plus a further $300 million based on certain clinical milestones. The deal is expected to close by this year's third quarter subject to conditions. Verve's medical treatment program, according to a Gimeno, could "shift the treatment paradigm for cardiovascular disease from chronic care to one-and-done treatment." Meanwhile, stock shares in Verve jumped 76% to over $11 in premarket trading Tuesday morning while Lilly stock value fell 1%. A years-long study from 2010-2022 released in November revealed how the number of dead via cardiovascular disease had surged among adults ages 25 to 64 living in rural areas. Verve uses a next gen type of gene editing which erases and rewrites a specific gene letter. Lilly's Gimeno says the Verve-102 program, which is currently in its Phase 1b clinal trial study and fast-tracked for FDA approval, "has the potential" to be the first "in vivo" gene editing therapy deployed to treat a broad population of patients seeking treatment for cardiac issues. 102 may be utilized for patients seeking treatment for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), which is a subset of ASCVD affecting 1 in 250 people. On Tuesday, Verve's chief noted how in just seven years that the Verve team had progressed three in vivo gene editing products with two currently in clinics. "Verve was founded with one mission in mind: transform the treatment of cardiovascular disease from chronic care to a one-dose future," said Verve Therapeutics co-founder and CEO Dr. Sekar Kathiresan.
