KeaBabies survey finds 96% of parents experience less stress with hands-free babywearing as caregivers use carriers to tackle household tasks, work and everyday moments

ENCINO, Calif., Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- KeaBabies, the baby and parenting brand focused on practical essentials for modern families, commissioned a national consumer survey of 250 parents with children ages 2 and under that reveals just how valuable a few extra minutes can be for parents. For parents of young children, the day is a constant exercise in switching gears: feeding and soothing a baby, getting dinner on the table, answering work emails, helping an older child and trying to find a moment for basic self-care. The challenge isn't a lack of things to do. It's finding the time and free hands to do them while caring for a baby.

KeaBabies Original Wrap Carrier may be helping parents close that gap. Nearly half (47.6%) of parents surveyed say babywearing saves them at least one hour on a typical day, while 83% estimate it saves them at least 30 minutes. That time doesn't just disappear back into the day. Parents are putting it to work, using those hands-free moments to prepare family dinners, tackle work responsibilities, care for older children and carve out small moments for themselves.

And for many parents, getting some of that time back may also mean feeling less overwhelmed. Ninety-six percent of parents surveyed report experiencing less stress with hands-free babywearing, highlighting how even small pockets of freedom throughout the day can make a meaningful difference in the realities of early parenthood.

Key Survey Findings: How Hands-Free Babywearing Gives Parents Time Back

The following data comes from KeaBabies' Fall survey of parents and guardians of children ages 0-2, conducted in September 2026.

Babywearing Saves Parents Measurable Time Every Day

- 47.6% of parents say hands-free babywearing saves them at least one hour on a typical day

- 83% estimate hands-free babywearing saves them at least 30 minutes on a typical day

What Parents Get Done While Babywearing Hands-Free

When asked what they have been able to accomplish while babywearing hands-free, parents reported:

- 72.4% prepare a full family dinner

- 54.4% clear an inbox or work on a major project

- 42.4% participate in a video or phone call

- 38% manage an older child's meltdown or homework session

Parents Are Making Time for Themselves, Too

When asked how they use hands-free babywearing time for themselves, parents reported:

- 72% take a quick walk outside

- 61.6% eat lunch without interruption

- 61.2% scroll, read, or take a mental break

- 60% enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with two hands

Hands-Free Time Means Less Stress

- 96% of parents report experiencing less stress with hands-free babywearing

A Word From The Brand

"Parenthood can make even the simplest task feel like something you need to schedule around your baby," said Jane Neo, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of KeaBabies. "Babywearing gives parents the freedom to keep their baby close while still being able to move through their day. Whether it's making dinner, getting through a work call or just stepping outside for some fresh air, those little pockets of hands-free time can make a busy day feel much more manageable."

Why Parents of Young Children Are Running Short on Time

The early years of parenthood are defined by constant demands on a parent's attention. Parents of young children are continually switching between feeding and soothing a baby, keeping up with the house, caring for older children, getting work done and fitting in basic self-care. For many parents, the challenge is not a lack of things to do but the difficulty of doing anything else while caring for baby.

Babywearing allows parents to keep their baby close while using their hands for the everyday tasks that keep a household running. The KeaBabies survey shows that those hands-free moments add up to meaningful time, with 83% of parents gaining back at least 30 minutes a day and 96% reporting less stress. For KeaBabies, the findings underscore the importance of designing baby essentials around the realities of modern parenthood, giving parents practical ways to care for their babies while still making space for everything else life requires.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much time does babywearing save parents?

According to a survey commissioned by KeaBabies, 47.6% of parents say hands-free babywearing saves them at least one hour on a typical day. 83% of parents estimate babywearing saves them at least 30 minutes each day.

Does babywearing reduce stress for parents?

Yes, according to parents surveyed by KeaBabies. 96% of parents report experiencing less stress with hands-free babywearing.

What can parents do while babywearing?

Parents surveyed by KeaBabies reported preparing a full family dinner (72.4%), clearing an inbox or working on a major project (54.4%), participating in a video or phone call (42.4%) and managing an older child's meltdown or homework session (38%) while babywearing hands-free.

Can babywearing help parents find time for self-care?

Yes. Parents in the KeaBabies survey have used hands-free babywearing time to take a quick walk outside (72%), eat lunch without interruption (61.6%), scroll, read or take a mental break (61.2%) and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with two hands (60%).

Why do parents of young children feel like they never have enough time?

Parents of young children are constantly switching between feeding and soothing a baby, household tasks, caring for older children, work and basic self-care. A baby often needs attention at the same moment another task needs to get done. Hands-free babywearing helps parents keep their baby close while using their hands for other responsibilities.

Who conducted the survey?

The survey was commissioned by KeaBabies, the baby and parenting brand focused on practical essentials for modern families.

About KeaBabies:

KeaBabies is a family-owned brand founded in 2017 to make everyday parenting easier—so parents can focus on what matters most. From newborn essentials to toddler milestones and beyond, KeaBabies thoughtfully designs products to simplify parents' lives and support families through every stage of parenthood. Championing positive parenting, the brand believes in the power of bonding moments to make the journey more meaningful.

Today, KeaBabies serves a global community of millions of parents. Discover more at keababies.com and follow the brand on Instagram @keababies.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE KeaBabies

Share this article

New protocol combines frequent Family-Based Treatment (FBT) sessions, daily meal supervision, and wrap-around care from a dedicated multidisciplinary team

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Equip, a leading provider of virtual, evidence-based eating disorder treatment in the U.S., today announced Equip Transition Track: an enhanced care protocol that allows medically stable patients with caregiver supports (ages 6–24) to step down from inpatient care directly to their home environment. By delivering intensive, structured clinical care virtually, the protocol gives patients who would otherwise be candidates for residential, PHP or IOP care a direct path home.

How Transition Track Works

Grounded in FBT, the gold standard in youth eating disorder care, Transition Track surrounds families with high-touch clinical support during the first several weeks after hospital discharge—the highest-risk window for relapse and readmission. The protocol pairs frequent therapy, daily virtual meal supervision and hands-on caregiver coaching, then transitions into continuous care with the same multidisciplinary team for a total of 12 months.

Guidelines across major professional organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), backed by peer-reviewed research, clearly recommend outpatient treatment supported by families, including FBT, as the first line of care for any medically stable patient.

"Having gone through recovery myself, I know firsthand how hard it is to take the skills you learn in a hospital and apply them to real life at home, which is why relapse happens so often," said Kristina Saffran, CEO and Co-Founder of Equip. "Transition Track meets patients where recovery actually happens: in their own homes, around their own dinner tables. Practicing those skills in daily life right after leaving the hospital gives families the best shot at lasting recovery."

For many, the shift from structured clinical facilities back to daily life presents the highest hurdle to sustainable recovery—a challenge that helped inspire the development of Transition Track.

"When I was 14, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder. Ever since then, I had been in the system of inpatient and outpatient treatment," said a former Equip patient. "Inpatient…I feel like it was helpful, but it was always like a bubble, and when you come out of the bubble, you're in the same environment, and it's hard to keep doing it. But with Equip, it didn't really feel like that. It was home, and I still had pretty much the same level of support that I would have had in an IOP. Right away, I was like, 'OK, this is a good next step.' It felt like a gradual return to the rest of the world."

Equip's Clinical Effectiveness

Transition Track builds on Equip's proven track record of treating medically stable patients with severe eating disorders1, having supported nearly 6,000 of those patients over the past two years.

- Over 90% of these patients see sufficient improvements at home to avoid discharge from Equip to higher levels of care

- Three in four achieve minimal or subclinical levels of eating disorder, anxiety and depression symptoms within six months;

- Eight in 10 of these patients and families report high overall treatment satisfaction.

Key Features of Transition Track

- Real-World Skill Building: Empowers patients to practice recovery tools during family meals, social events and school routines.

- Multidisciplinary Team Continuity: Unifies specialized disciplines, including a licensed therapist, registered dietitian, medical provider, and coaches, under one coordinated care plan.

- Front-Loaded Clinical Intensity: Increased frequency of FBT therapy, including twice the standard FBT therapy frequency, live nutrition support and daily supervised meals.

- Targeted Caregiver Coaching: Pairs parents and guardians with a caregiver coach with lived experience, providing hands-on training, in-session and asynchronous skills curricula and support groups before and after hospital discharge.

About Equip

Equip is a leading virtual, evidence-based eating disorder treatment program on a mission to ensure that everyone with an eating disorder can access treatment that works. Created by clinical experts in the field and people with lived experience, Equip builds upon evidence-based treatments to empower individuals to reach lasting recovery. All Equip patients receive a dedicated care team, which may include a therapist, dietitian, physician, and coaches with lived experience. The company operates in all 50 states and is partnered with most major health insurance plans and a growing number of Medicaid plans. For more information, visit equip.health.

________________________________

1 *Defined as those who either step down directly from inpatient care or meet strict APA criteria for PHP-level care.

SOURCE Equip

Share this article

Strategic partnership brings automated review generation and real-time patient feedback to Castle Connolly's national network of Top Doctors, Top Dentists, and Top Hospitals.

NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Castle Connolly, a trusted source for identifying the nation's top healthcare providers for more than 35 years, and rater8, a leader in healthcare reputation management, today announced a partnership to help hospitals and healthcare practices capture authentic patient feedback, strengthen their online presence, and drive growth.

"Castle Connolly was founded on a simple, vital principle: providing trusted, third-party validation in healthcare," said Steve Leibforth, Managing Director of Castle Connolly. "Today, standing out requires more than clinical credentials alone. Practices must maintain an active, positive presence everywhere prospective patients evaluate their options. Partnering with rater8 allows us to bridge that gap, pairing peer-nominated clinical validation with patient feedback tools that elevate their reputation and drive long-term growth."

Through this strategic partnership, Castle Connolly is expanding its portfolio to offer the rater8 Visibility Engine (raVE) to hospitals, group practices, doctors and dentists nationwide. The collaboration combines Castle Connolly's trusted legacy of independent, peer-nominated provider recognition with rater8's automated review solution, helping organizations with recognized providers stand out everywhere prospective patients search for care.

As patient search behavior evolves, authentic patient reviews and structured online profiles have become essential to provider discovery in an increasingly AI-driven landscape. According to rater8's 2026 Patient Choice Report, 47% of patients have used AI to research or find a healthcare provider, up 16 percentage points from 2025. This partnership empowers healthcare organizations to seamlessly collect post-visit patient sentiment and share real patient experiences.

"Patients are making healthcare decisions with more information at their fingertips than ever before, and a provider's online reputation plays an increasingly important role in that process," said Evan Steele, Founder and CEO of rater8. "Castle Connolly has spent decades building trust around recognizing exceptional providers, while rater8 helps those providers continuously capture authentic feedback from the patients they serve. Together, we're helping healthcare organizations build a more complete online presence that reflects both the quality of care they deliver and the experience patients can expect."

By combining Castle Connolly's independent, peer-nominated recognition with rater8's patient feedback tools, the partnership helps medical institutions ensure their reputation reflects both the confidence of their peers and the experience of their patients.

About Castle Connolly

With over 35 years' experience researching, reviewing and selecting Top Doctors, Castle Connolly is a highly trusted and credible source. A study published in the Journal of Medical Research found that across several specialties evidence indicates that Castle Connolly's peer-reviewed directory is methodologically more reliable than sites that just relied on patient reviews when it came to identifying quality care. Our mission is to help people find the best healthcare by connecting patients with best-in-class healthcare providers. For more information, visit https://www.castleconnolly.com.

About rater8

Founded in 2015 and based in the United States, rater8 is a leading provider of healthcare reputation management. Built exclusively for healthcare, the raVE (rater8 Visibility Engine) platform delivers serious reputation, visibility, and insights that empower providers to put their online reputations to work. raVE gathers authentic patient feedback to strengthen healthcare organizations' local and AI-driven search discoverability, and offers a clear view into the patient experience to identify operational improvements. Recognized for its award-winning customer service, rater8 is committed to providing meticulously intelligent reputation management that scales healthcare organizations from the inside out. For more information, visit https://rater8.com/.

Media Contacts

Caroline Baron

Senior Director

[email protected]

(212) 367-8400

Erica Camilo

Connexa Communications for rater8

C: 610.639.5644

[email protected]

SOURCE Castle Connolly

Share this article

Written for anyone taking a GLP-1 medication, considering one, or stuck in cycles of weight gain and food noise, the new book challenges the idea that weight struggles are a failure of willpower. Banayan draws on her clinical practice and her own experience with GLP-1 therapy to offer a practical roadmap for using these medications responsibly and making lifestyle changes that stick.

NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Bracha Banayan, RN, FNP, founder of telehealth practice Hello Dose, today released her new book, "Why Are You Still Hungry?" The paperback is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and BookBaby, and the eBook is available through Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and BookBaby's Bookshop.

Banayan walks readers through the biological factors that can make weight management so challenging, including insulin resistance, the body's set point and "food noise," the persistent, intrusive thoughts about food that many people describe. She explains in plain language how GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonist medications, such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, act on both the gut and the brain.

Rather than presenting medication as a shortcut, the book frames GLP-1 therapy as one tool that works best alongside behavior change. Banayan introduces her DROP™ Method, a four-part framework built around Dosing, Real-time feedback, Owning your habits and the Pause factor. She also covers side-effect management, working with a provider on appropriate dosing, and the stigma and shame that often surround weight-loss medications. Later chapters explore the psychological and emotional side of healing one's relationship with food.

Banayan came to the subject as a skeptic. She once gave patients the familiar advice to eat less and move more, until she gained roughly 20 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic and spent nearly two years unable to lose it through diet and exercise alone. She eventually tried semaglutide under appropriate medical care, and the experience reshaped how she practices. At the same time, she was seeing widespread confusion among patients, from people taking higher doses than they needed to people starting treatment without addressing the habits underneath.

The book carries an endorsement from Amy Shecter, former CEO of CorePower Yoga and Glamsquad, who credits it with bringing clarity to the science behind GLP-1s and giving patients a practical roadmap in a space crowded with misinformation.

"So many people have been made to feel that their weight is a character flaw, and it isn't. It's biology, and asking for help takes courage," said Banayan. "But these medications aren't magic, either. They open a window, and what you do with that window matters. I wrote this book to give people a clear roadmap for working with their provider, rewiring their habits and building a healthy life that lasts well beyond the prescription."

The book is intended for educational purposes and does not replace individualized medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. GLP-1 receptor agonists are FDA-approved prescription medications for specific medical indications, should be used only under the supervision of a licensed healthcare provider, and are not appropriate for everyone. Individual results vary.

More About Bracha Banayan and Hello Dose

Bracha Banayan, RN, FNP, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and healthcare entrepreneur based in New York City. She is the founder and CEO of Hello Dose and IVDrips, and brings more than a decade of clinical experience in emergency medicine and infusion therapy. Banayan has drawn on her clinical GLP-1 experience with more than 1,000 patients and has been featured on CBS News and in The Wall Street Journal. She personally trains and selects the Nurse Practitioners who care for Hello Dose patients.

Hello Dose is a clinician-led telehealth medical weight management practice offering personalized, medically supervised programs that may incorporate GLP-1 therapy, clinical monitoring, behavioral and lifestyle guidance and ongoing patient education, based on individual needs and clinical appropriateness. Hello Dose offers telehealth services to eligible patients nationwide, subject to provider availability and applicable state regulations. For more information, please visit www.hellodose.com.

Media Contact

Bracha Banayan, RN, FNP

Hello Dose

(607) 638-3948

https://www.hellodose.com

SOURCE Hello Dose.

Share this article

HoneyBaked® launches new Deluxe Sandwiches and Protein Cups, bringing more of its signature meats into everyday occasions.

ATLANTA, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Honey Baked Ham Company is turning up the protein, and this time it's coming stacked, sliced and ready to grab-and-go. The brand long celebrated for its hand-carved meats is giving guests even more ways to enjoy the protein they love with the launch of its new Deluxe Ham and Turkey Sandwiches and Protein Cups, bringing the brand's signature meats into even more convenient, everyday occasions.

Protein has always been at the heart of HoneyBaked's menu, and the new offerings build on that legacy. From sandwiches stacked high with bold flavor to convenient Protein Cups featuring 6 oz. of ham/turkey, the new options make it even easier to get more of the protein guests already know and love from HoneyBaked.

"While protein may be having a moment, it has always been at the heart of what we do at HoneyBaked. These new offerings build on that legacy, giving guests even more delicious ways to enjoy the high-quality meats they know and love." said Chef Tim Ziga, Culinary Director, The Honey Baked Ham Company. "From our Deluxe Sandwiches to convenient Protein Cups, we're taking the quality and flavor guests already know and love and making it even easier to enjoy HoneyBaked throughout the day."

Meet Your New Protein Go-Tos:

Deluxe Ham and Turkey Sandwiches: HoneyBaked's classic Ham and Turkey Sandwiches just got a serious glow up. The Deluxe Ham Classic features 50% more Honey Baked Ham®, extra Swiss cheese, mayonnaise, Hickory Honey Mustard, lettuce and tomato on a buttery croissant. The Deluxe Turkey Classic features 50% more roasted or smoked Honey Baked™ Turkey, extra Swiss cheese, mayonnaise, Hickory Honey Mustard, lettuce and tomato on a soft Baker's Roll. The ham sandwich delivers 45 grams of protein, while the turkey sandwich delivers 51 grams of protein.

Protein Cups: Available in ham and roasted or smoked turkey, each Protein Cup features 32 grams of protein for ham or 38 grams for turkey, offering a convenient way to enjoy HoneyBaked's signature meats on the go.

The new offerings also give guests more ways to experience HoneyBaked beyond traditional holiday occasions, highlighting the brand's everyday menu of signature meats and sandwiches.

The new offerings are available beginning Oct. 5 at participating HoneyBaked locations nationwide.

For more information, visit honeybaked.com/lunch.

About The Honey Baked Ham Company:

For more than 65 years, The Honey Baked Ham Company has provided customers and their families with delightful food to enjoy for all of life's special moments. HoneyBaked's origins began when founder Harry J. Hoenselaar patented a spiral-slicing ham machine, making way for the first HoneyBaked® Store in Detroit, Michigan. Since that momentous opening in 1957, the company has grown to more than 400 locations nationwide, serving its signature spiral-sliced Honey Baked Ham with sweet and crunchy glaze, premium turkey breast, heat and serve sides, desserts, sandwiches, and more. Offering convenient meals using the best ingredients, HoneyBaked will make every occasion a little more memorable, whether you're dining in store, picking up or ordering online. For more information visit www.honeybaked.com and connect on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok.

SOURCE The Honey Baked Ham Company

Share this article

Iconic chocolatier brings nearly 175 years of expertise and quality to a beloved everyday treat

SAN LEANDRO, Calif., Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, the iconic San Francisco Bay Area based brand with nearly 175 years of chocolate craftsmanship, is bringing new excitement to the cookie category with the launch of Ghirardelli Crispy Cookies. Expanding the brand's portfolio, the new packaged cookie line debuts with two varieties that bring the quality and delicious chocolate consumers know and love from Ghirardelli to an everyday favorite.

Ghirardelli Crispy Cookies pair premium Ghirardelli chocolate with quality ingredients to elevate the classic cookie experience. Each cookie delivers a satisfying crunch, golden-tan toasted edges and rich chocolate in every bite.

"At Ghirardelli, we've always believed that everything tastes better when made with Ghirardelli," said Bobby Oliver, Vice President, Head of Marketing at Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. "Cookies are one of those simple, familiar treats people reach for every day, and we saw an opportunity to make that experience distinctly Ghirardelli by bringing the quality and delicious chocolate taste consumers know and love to the cookie aisle."

The Ghirardelli Crispy Cookies lineup includes:

- Classic Chocolate Chip Crispy Cookies: 10 Cookies in a 6.3 oz. (180g) package. Made with Ghirardelli chocolate chips as the #1 ingredient, these classic chocolate chip cookies balance buttery cookie notes with vanilla and brown sugar sweetness.

- Double Chocolate Crispy Cookies: 10 Cookies in a 6.3 oz. (180g) package. Crafted with Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips and a blend of Ghirardelli cocoa powder and chocolate in the dough, these decadent cookies deliver the ultimate cookie experience for chocolate lovers.

"Entering the cookie category marks an exciting new chapter for Ghirardelli and an important step in how we continue to grow the brand and be a part of consumers' lives," added Oliver.

Ghirardelli Crispy Cookies are now available online at Ghirardelli.com and will roll out at Kroger beginning October 11 and Walmart beginning October 24. The line will expand to additional retailers nationwide beginning January 2027.

Follow @Ghirardelli for more cookie inspiration and ways to make everyday moments A Bite Better™.

About The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

Ghirardelli is passionate about quality bean-to-bar chocolate and all the ways its fans enjoy it. Founded in San Francisco in 1852, the company takes pride in producing premium chocolate products with the highest quality ingredients. Ghirardelli is one of the few large-scale U.S. chocolate companies that controls the entire manufacturing process, from cocoa bean sourcing and production to finished product. This approach, combined with Ghirardelli's proprietary bean blend and unique methods of roasting and processing, ensures customers are rewarded with the highest quality and richest products. Ghirardelli makes life A Bite Better™! For more information, visit https://www.ghirardelli.com/about-ghirardelli.

Media Contact

5W Public Relations

[email protected] 

SOURCE Ghirardelli

Share this article

Company validates continuous production of its proprietary AP-SALD technology at speeds exceeding 100 m/min, advancing the commercial future of recyclable high-barrier paper packaging

WATERLOO, ON, October 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nfinite, the advanced materials company developing next-generation high-barrier paper packaging, today announced the successful completion of a major manufacturing milestone, demonstrating the continuous roll-to-roll production of its proprietary Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (AP-SALD) technology at industrially relevant speeds.

Paper has long been viewed as one of the most promising alternatives to flexible plastic packaging. Despite significant advances in fiber-based materials, however, paper has struggled to replace plastic in many food and consumer goods applications because it cannot deliver the barrier performance needed to protect products throughout their shelf life.

Atomic layer deposition has long been recognized as a promising solution. By depositing transparent ultra-thin ceramic layers measured in nanometres, the technology can deliver exceptional water- and oxygen-barrier properties. Yet, until now, ALD has remained largely confined to industries such as semiconductors and electronics because of the challenge of adapting it to continuous roll-to-roll high-speed manufacturing on flexible substrates.

Nfinite has now demonstrated that this barrier can be overcome.

Using its pilot manufacturing platform in Waterloo, Ontario, the company successfully coated a continuous 24-inch-wide paper web over 100 meters while operating at a production speed of 100 meters per minute. The company is working towards coating thousands of meters in continuous length by the end of the year.

The demonstration validates that Nfinite's proprietary AP-SALD platform can operate continuously under industrial manufacturing conditions, representing a significant milestone on the path toward commercial production. Further, by demonstrating excellent coating uniformity across the web with moisture barriers achieving less than 0.2 g/m2/day in tropical conditions, the company has proven it can deliver paper with projected shelf-life equivalent to metalized plastic films. Achieving shelf-life parity is a key requirement to enable brand owners to move away from non-recyclable metalized film and towards 100% curbside recyclable paper.

"This milestone demonstrates that our vision is becoming an industrial reality," said Miguel Galvez, Chief Executive Officer of Nfinite. "For years, the industry has recognized the potential of spatial atomic layer deposition for packaging, but questioned whether it could ever be scaled for continuous manufacturing. We have now demonstrated that it can."

Nfinite's technology enables recyclable paper packaging with barrier performance that rivals or exceeds today's high-performance flexible plastic packaging. By delivering the protection required for demanding food and consumer goods applications, the technology gives brands a practical pathway to transition away from conventional multilayer plastics without compromising shelf life, product quality, or manufacturing compatibility.

"This achievement reflects years of innovation across our coating technology, equipment design, and process engineering," said Jhi Yong Loke, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Nfinite. "Maintaining atomic-scale coating precision while paper moves continuously through a production line at more than 100 metres per minute is an extraordinary engineering challenge. Demonstrating that capability validates both our technology and our manufacturing platform."

The milestone further supports Nfinite's strategy to scale production through its first commercial manufacturing facility and supply high-performance barrier paper to global packaging markets.

"The packaging industry doesn't need another promising laboratory technology. It needs solutions that can be manufactured reliably at industrial scale," said Guillaume Stal, Chief Operating Officer of Nfinite. "This demonstration shows that our technology is designed not only to deliver the performance brands require, but also to be manufactured continuously using processes compatible with commercial production."

The demonstration was completed at Nfinite's pilot manufacturing facility in Waterloo, Ontario, using the company's proprietary roll-to-roll AP-SALD platform.

About Nfinite

Nfinite is commercializing high-performance barrier paper enabled by its proprietary Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (AP-SALD) technology. A spin-off from the University of Waterloo, the company is scaling its roll-to-roll manufacturing platform to enable recyclable paper packaging that can replace conventional flexible plastic packaging across food and consumer goods markets.

SOURCE Nfinite

Share this article

Critical Materials Group Acquires Rocky Mountain Scientific Laboratory, Adding Travis Swanson as Chief Science Officer

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 7, 2026/PRNewswire/ -- Critical Materials Group (CMG), a privately owned U.S.-based manufacturing company modernizing domestic energetics production, today announced it has acquired Rocky Mountain Scientific Laboratory (RMSL), a national security research and rapid solutions laboratory for military and law enforcement agencies.

Travis Swanson, CEO and Co-Founder of RMSL, will serve as CMG's Chief Science Officer. Swanson co-founded CMG while already leading RMSL, and now will bring the two organizations together under one entity. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The acquisition brings energetics research, formulation and testing together with CMG's production platforms inside a single organization. New energetic materials frequently stall between the laboratory and the factory floor, where scale-up, qualification and safety engineering are often handled by separate organizations working from separate data.

"Energetics programs lose most of their time in the handoff between the people who develop a material and the people who have to produce it at volume. Bringing RMSL into CMG puts that work in one place, with Travis leading the science and our platforms built to manufacture what his team develops," said Kevin Capozzoli, CEO and Co-Founder of Critical Materials Group.

Pairing RMSL's development and test work with CMG's modular, automation-ready manufacturing shortens that path, and adds domestic capacity alongside the government-owned and prime contractor facilities that carry most of the energetics workload today.

"The time is now to invest in the development and production of energetic materials and munitions. This merger brings both sides of the problem under one roof: RMSL researches and develops the materials, while CMG manufactures them safely at scale, so a material can move from concept to qualified production faster than the current system allows," said Travis Swanson, CSO and Co-Founder of Critical Materials Group.

About Critical Materials Group (CMG):

Founded in 2025, Critical Materials Group, Inc. (CMG) is a privately held, Texas-based manufacturing company modernizing energetics production facilities critical to national security. CMG delivers modular, automation-ready production platforms and integrated techniques that embed safety into every stage of the manufacturing process, enabling resilient, scalable, and responsible domestic energetics production. Led by industry experts from laboratory and operational backgrounds, CMG is committed to safely and responsibly enabling lethality at scale to support allied defense readiness.

Media Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Critical Materials Group

Share this article

The company will demonstrate MAC-BESS™, its battery-agnostic technology that cuts battery project costs by half and optimizes how power flows through data centers and the grid

ANN ARBOR, Mich., October 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Volt Harbor, the Ann Arbor–based software-defined energy startup that publicly launched in May, will exhibit at The Battery Show North America 2026 hosted at Huntington Place in Detroit, October 12–15. Volt Harbor will be at Booth #6212, demonstrating how its MAC-BESS™ platform is a solution for the entire front-end power stack, from the grid to the data center, in a single battery-agnostic system.

Grid resilience depends less on how much storage gets built than on how intelligently power moves through it, and the layer with the most untapped potential is the power electronics. Unlike traditional energy infrastructure, which requires expensive hardware overhauls to adapt to new needs, Volt Harbor's platform uses software changes to adapt Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) dynamically. This supports any input or output, including new battery chemistries and "second-life" EV batteries, inside a single unified system. The result is roughly 40-50% lower capital and operating costs, 50% less physical footprint, and ultrafast energy response with no single point of failure.

This year's Battery Show comes at a pivotal moment for storage project economics. Today, a storage project is a fifteen-year asset bought through a day-one procurement process, and the architecture chosen determines almost everything that follows. Systems that manage their batteries as a single block age at the pace of their worst modules. This is why most projects that hold up, and those that get written down, were effectively decided long before commissioning. MAC-BESS™ takes a different approach: it manages every battery module independently, extending usable life while needing fewer batteries and letting operators augment or replace with whatever supply is available at the time, and making units swappable without taking the system offline.

"The Battery Show is where the people actually building the next generation of battery supply, infrastructure, and end-use storage systems come together, which makes us excited to be on the show floor," said Dr. Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, CEO of Volt Harbor. "The industry has spent a decade optimizing the batteries themselves. The layer that almost nobody has really touched is the power electronics architecture, and that is where the next step-change in cost, flexibility, and project life actually comes from."

Volt Harbor's platform is deploying a utility pilot in 2027 with DTE Energy, Michigan's largest utility, where second-life EV batteries will buffer high-power EV charging events that exceed local grid capacity. The same architecture is being readied for data center deployments, where AI loads swing energy facilities from 30% to full rated capacity within milliseconds and back. The legacy power stack was never designed to absorb this pattern, and it's part of why grid interconnection queues in major data center markets now run past four years. Storage and power electronics that absorb those spikes let the grid supply the average, which means more compute for every megawatt of existing interconnection, or a smaller interconnection that clears the queue sooner.

Visit Volt Harbor at The Battery Show North America 2026 at Booth #6212, October 12–15 at Huntington Place in Detroit. To book a meeting with the Volt Harbor team at the show or learn more about MAC-BESS™, visit voltharbor.com/contact.

About Volt Harbor, Inc.

Founded in 2024 by MIT alumni and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Volt Harbor is a software-defined energy company transforming traditional energy management through advanced power electronics, battery energy storage, and intelligent control. Its MAC-BESS™ platform delivers the entire front-end power stack, from the grid to the data center, in a single, battery-agnostic hardware system that supports both new chemistries and second-life EV batteries. Volt Harbor is backed by MFV Partners and DTE Energy. For more information, visit voltharbor.com.

SOURCE Volt Harbor

Share this article

Certification brings AI-powered capture and proposal work inside a government-grade security boundary for contractors and federal agencies

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Sweetspot, the AI capture and proposal platform for government contractors, today announced it has achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Class C Certification in partnership with Knox Systems (Knox), the largest, longest-running federal managed cloud. With this certification, federal agencies now have access to Sweetspot's AI capture and proposal platform that enables government contractors to identify new, relevant opportunities, track awards and recompetes, and write proposals.

Most government contracting teams are juggling SAM.gov, GovWin, Microsoft Word and SharePoint, and a handful of AI tools. Intelligence lives in one system, the pipeline in another, and the proposal in a third, with people moving data between them by hand. Proposals take weeks, institutional knowledge sits locked in past submissions, and teams miss opportunities they should have seen coming. Additionally, contractors handle their government customers' most sensitive work and the tools they use are part of that risk. AI has become a normal part of government contractor operations, however those tools commonly ask for contractors and agencies to take security on trust, which can result in those tools being blocked by security teams and primes or used in ways nobody has reviewed.

Sweetspot allows contractors to address both challenges. Its platform replaces that patchwork approach to proposal development with one continuous workflow from discovery through award, in a familiar Word-like editor teams adopt without retraining. With FedRAMP Class C Certification, the full platform now runs inside the authorized Knox boundary. Agencies can adopt Sweetspot by reusing the existing authorization rather than running their own review, and contractors can bring the pursuits they were holding back, including work involving agency data, into the same platform they use for everything else.

"Government contractors lose bids because the work is scattered across a dozen tools and nobody has a full picture of a pursuit until it's too late," said Sachin Subramanian, CEO of Sweetspot. "Sweetspot is where the whole pursuit lives, from finding the opportunity to submitting the proposal, and it handles some of the most sensitive data a contractor has. That's why we built it to the government's own security standard. FedRAMP Class C Certification, alongside our CMMC Level 2 certification and SOC 2 Type II, means a contractor's security team and their agency customers can trust the AI platform their capture and proposal work runs on."

Knox eliminated the FedRAMP authorization bottleneck for Sweetspot, significantly reducing compliance timelines and costs. As a result, Sweetspot now has FedRAMP Class C Certification and a C3PAO-issued CMMC Level 2 certification, making it independently assessed across both frameworks federal buyers ask about. The platform is backed by zero data retention for AI, FIPS 140-validated cryptography, U.S.-only infrastructure, and U.S.-based personnel and support.

"Until now, Sweetspot was a commercial product. Agencies couldn't use it and contractors had to keep their most sensitive pursuit work – especially work involving agency data – out of it," said Irina Denisenko, CEO of Knox Systems. "With its FedRAMP Certification, Sweetspot can help contractors securely utilize AI, consolidate their capture and proposal work onto a single platform, and, ultimately, win more government work."

Contractors can learn more about Sweetspot's AI capture and proposal platform at sweetspot.so. To learn more about FedRAMP Certification via Knox, visit knoxsystems.com.

About Sweetspot

Sweetspot is a cloud-based, multi-tenant AI platform that enables federal agencies, government contractors, and enterprises to configure, run, and manage complex workflows using their data, institutional knowledge, people, and connected systems. For government contractors, Sweetspot automates work across the business development and bid lifecycle, including opportunity discovery, federal market research, teaming, pipeline and capture management, compliance and capability matrix development, and proposal drafting, with configurable human review and approval steps. Native Microsoft 365 integrations support workflow execution and collaboration across Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

About Knox Systems

Knox Systems operates the largest managed federal cloud, trusted by top agencies and partners across defense and civilian sectors. Built for speed, resilience, and compliance, Knox delivers FedRAMP authorization in 90 days – turning the biggest bottleneck in government IT into the fastest path to modernization. Knox proudly serves Adobe, Celonis, OutSystems, Armis, BigID, and more AI and SaaS providers, accelerating secure innovation across the federal landscape. Learn more at knoxsystems.com.

Media Contact:

SOURCE Knox Systems, Inc

Share this article