<p><strong></strong></p><p><strong> <b>Website-native architecture unifies video engagement with first-party web behavior, giving AI agents the context to build programs, create content, personalize experiences and turn engagement into pipeline</b> </strong></p><p></p><p>SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 26, 2026--</p><p> The webinar category was built to run webinars. Sequel.io believes its next chapter will be defined by what happens because of them. </p><p> Today at <b>Human Moments: Agentic Momentum</b>, Sequel announced the <b>Sequel Agentic Engagement Cloud</b>, a new platform layer that brings together first-party audience intelligence, AI agents, personalization and experience creation to turn the engagement created by webinars and video into action across go-to-market. </p><p> The launch represents a broader shift in Sequel’s ambition: from helping marketers run exceptional webinars to building the system that makes those human moments more valuable across the entire buyer relationship. </p><p> As the event technology market consolidates around broader suites, Sequel is taking a different path. Instead of organizing technology around the event itself, Sequel is building around the people who engage with it — and the context surrounding that engagement. </p><p> That difference starts with the website. </p><p> Unlike traditional webinar experiences that send audiences to a separate destination, Sequel runs live and on-demand video directly on the customer’s website. That means what happens inside a webinar can be understood alongside the first-party digital relationship already happening around it: what someone explored before registering, what they watched, the questions they asked, the polls they answered, the calls to action they clicked and what they did on the website afterward. </p><p> Individually, those are signals. Together, they create context. And in an AI-driven world, context is the advantage. </p><p> “Everyone is adding AI to webinar software. But an agent can only reason over what it knows,” said <b>Oana Manolache, co-founder and CEO of Sequel</b>. “If your system only knows what happened inside the webinar, AI can make that webinar workflow faster. Sequel has a fundamentally different foundation. Because the experience happens on the customer’s website, we can connect human engagement with the broader first-party relationship around it. That gives agents the context to help marketers decide what to create, who to prioritize, what to personalize and what should happen next.” </p><p> <b>From webinar software to an agentic engagement system</b> </p><p> For years, webinar technology has been optimized around a familiar workflow: create the event, register the audience, go live, measure attendance and send the recording. </p><p> Sequel believes running the webinar is now table stakes. </p><p> When a buyer spends 30 or 45 minutes with a company, they create something much more valuable than an attendance record. They reveal what holds their attention. They ask questions. They respond to ideas. They consume content. They signal what they care about. </p><p> The <b>Sequel Agentic Engagement Cloud</b> is designed to carry that understanding beyond the event. </p><p> At its center are <b>Sequel Agents</b>, agentic workflows designed specifically for webinar programs. There are an endless number of agents you can build inside of Sequel, but all Sequel customers can get started with three built-in agents — <b>Build, Scale and Convert </b>— available out of the box. </p><p> <b>Build</b> helps marketers move from strategy to execution by planning programs, creating events and experiences, connecting the required components and checking readiness before an event goes live. </p><p> <b>Scale</b> extends the value of the human conversation by transforming webinar content into additional assets that can fuel campaigns and channels long after the live session ends. </p><p> <b>Convert</b> uses engagement and audience context to identify the people and accounts showing meaningful interest, explain why they matter and help move the right audiences toward the next action. </p><p> Instead of treating every webinar as a new operational project, marketers can increasingly set the strategy while agents take on more of the repetitive execution surrounding it. </p><p> Sequel customers will also be able to extend that model through custom agents for their own workflows, while the <b>Sequel MCP Server</b> makes Sequel context and supported capabilities available inside external AI environments. </p><p> <b>The advantage is not simply better AI. It is what the AI knows.</b> </p><p> Agentic software is becoming easier to build. High-quality context is not. </p><p> The Agentic Engagement Cloud is grounded in Sequel’s proprietary Audience Insights, the same unified first-party data foundation Sequel has built by bringing webinars onto the customer’s own website. </p><p> <b>Sequel Intelligence</b> turns that behavioral context into buyer- and account-level intelligence, including engagement scoring, AI-generated summaries and recommended next steps. That intelligence can flow into the customer’s CRM so Marketing and Sales can act on Sequel context inside the systems where they already work. </p><p> That foundation also powers Sequel’s expanding <b>Personalization</b> capabilities, which use webinar engagement, website behavior, CRM context and audience intelligence to make owned digital experiences more relevant over time. Rather than showing every visitor the same resources and calls to action, Sequel is building toward experiences that adapt based on the relationship a buyer has already demonstrated with the brand. </p><p> <b>Human moments create the signal. Agents create the momentum.</b> </p><p> Sequel’s agentic strategy is grounded in a different view of AI’s role in marketing. </p><p> As AI makes it easier to generate emails, articles, campaigns and other forms of execution, Sequel believes genuine expertise, conversation, judgment and trust become more valuable — not less. </p><p> Webinars and video are where many of those human moments happen. </p><p> “The future of GTM is more human than you think,” said Manolache. “The goal of agents should not be to automate people out of marketing. People should have the idea, teach something worth learning, ask the better question and build the relationship. Technology should do far more with everything those moments create.” </p><p> That philosophy is reflected in the Sequel model: </p><p> <b>Video creates connection. Engagement creates intelligence. Agents create leverage. Sequel connects all three.</b> </p><p> <b>Turning intelligence into experiences</b> </p><p> The Agentic Engagement Cloud also expands how marketers turn intelligence into the buyer experience itself. </p><p> With <b>Experience Builder</b>, teams can create webinar and event experiences on their websites using modular components for speakers, agendas, supporting content, calls to action and video. <b>Brand Kit</b> helps those experiences remain consistent with the company’s visual identity. </p><p> Over time, those experience-building capabilities become another surface for agentic execution: marketers set the direction, while agents increasingly help create, manage and adapt the experiences around each program. </p><p> The result is a closed loop that traditional event technology was not designed to create: human engagement produces first-party understanding; understanding informs the next experience; and each new interaction makes the system more useful. </p><p> <b>Sequel Marketplace carries context across the GTM stack</b> </p><p> Sequel also announced the expansion of <b>Sequel Marketplace</b>, connecting webinar engagement, buyer intelligence, content and AI outputs with the systems Marketing, Sales, Web and Operations teams already use. </p><p> The Marketplace builds on Sequel’s existing CRM, marketing automation, CMS, API and webhook infrastructure and organizes an expanding ecosystem across CRM, CMS, Data, Media and Custom categories. </p><p> The objective is not simply to add more integrations. It’s to make Sequel’s first-party context portable. A buyer signal captured in a webinar should not remain trapped in the webinar platform. It should be able to enrich a CRM record, inform segmentation, activate a workflow, shape a website experience or give another AI system better context. </p><p> “The next generation of GTM technology will not win because it contains the most tools,” said Manolache. “It will win because it understands enough to make those tools work together intelligently. Marketplace makes sure the context Sequel creates can travel wherever our customers need to act on it.” </p><p> <b>A different direction for the webinar category</b> </p><p> The webinar market is at an inflection point. </p><p> Reliable video delivery is expected, AI features are becoming commonplace, and consolidation is creating increasingly broad event-management suites. </p><p> Sequel believes the next meaningful divide will be architectural. </p><p> An event-centric system can become better at operating an event, whereas a system built around the audience relationship can use every event to build greater understanding of the people engaging with a brand — and use that understanding across everything that comes next. </p><p> That is the direction behind the Agentic Engagement Cloud. </p><p> Sequel is not leaving webinars behind. It is asking more of them. </p><p> One conversation can become a library of content. One question can change how an account is prioritized. One interaction can make the next experience more relevant. What an audience consistently engages with can influence the next program. And agents can increasingly take what the system understands and turn it into action. </p><p> <b>The webinar isn't obsolete. The idea that webinar software should stop at the webinar is.</b> </p><p> <b>About Sequel</b> </p><p> Sequel helps B2B marketing teams run live and on-demand video directly on their own websites, connect video engagement with first-party website behavior, and use that context to create better content, more relevant experiences and more opportunities for growth. </p><p> By connecting human video, first-party audience context and AI agents, Sequel helps marketers turn webinars and video into a go-to-market engine. </p><p> <b>The future of GTM is more human than you think.</b> </p><p><img alt="" src="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&amp;sty=20260826643352r1&amp;sid=ventb&amp;distro=nx&amp;lang=en" style="width:0;height:0"><span class="bwct31415"></span></p><p id="mmgallerylink"><span id="mmgallerylink-phrase">View source version on businesswire.com: </span><span id="mmgallerylink-link"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826643352/en/" rel="nofollow">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826643352/en/</a></span></p><p> <b>Media Contact</b> </p><p> <b>K</b><b>athleen Booth </b><br><b>VP Marketing, Sequel.io </b><br><b><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:kathleen@sequel.io" shape="rect">kathleen@sequel.io</a></b> </p>

<p>OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 26, 2026--</p><p> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fformic.co&amp;esheet=54594197&amp;newsitemid=20260826975448&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Formic&amp;index=1&amp;md5=733a7457d510a5ff5e41aec691907b31" shape="rect">Formic</a>, a Full Service Automation provider for U.S. manufacturers, celebrated the grand opening of its new Oakland facility on August 19th. The company has taken over more than 13,000 square feet at 936 61st St., marking Formic's first West Coast location and its entry into the Bay Area, which is quickly becoming the center of gravity for physical AI, alongside efforts like Tesla's Optimus program and Amazon's Project Prometheus. </p><p id="news-body-cta">This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826975448/en/" rel="nofollow">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826975448/en/</a></p><div id="bwbodyimg" style="width: 480px; float:left; padding-left:0px; padding-right:20px; padding-top:0px; padding-bottom:0px;"><img src="https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20260826975448/en/2881831/4/OaklandOpenHouse_R52_2340.jpg" alt="A humanoid robot cuts the ribbon at Formic's Oakland facility grand opening on August 19, 2026, flanked by an industrial robot arm, as attendees look on."><p style="font-size:85%;">A humanoid robot cuts the ribbon at Formic's Oakland facility grand opening on August 19, 2026, flanked by an industrial robot arm, as attendees look on.</p></div><p> Hundreds of attendees joined Formic leadership for the celebration, including Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee. The opening builds on Formic's long-standing Bay Area presence, which has given the company access to deep manufacturing and engineering talent in the region. Formic will direct new capital toward accelerating humanoid deployment and expanding its automation fleet across the U.S. The Oakland facility strengthens that foundation, positioning the company to grow its presence with manufacturers throughout the region. </p><p> “In June, we expanded to a <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businesswire.com%2Fnews%2Fhome%2F20260617825951%2Fen%2FFormic-Opens-53000-Square-Foot-Chicagoland-Headquarters-to-Meet-Growing-Demand-for-Its-AI-Powered-Robotic-Automation&amp;esheet=54594197&amp;newsitemid=20260826975448&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=53%2C000-square-foot+production+facility&amp;index=2&amp;md5=72d051ea3647630dfa5b968a813519f0" shape="rect">53,000-square-foot production facility</a> in Chicagoland. Less than two months later, we’ve set up our second robot factory and R&amp;D center in the Bay Area,” Saman Farid, Formic Founder and CEO, said. “Oakland offers a rare mix of robotics talent and early adopters of automation in the manufacturing space, and we’re in good company alongside the new Tesla and Amazon facilities also driving forward progress in physical AI.” </p><p> <b>A Historic Opportunity for American Manufacturing</b> </p><p> Formic was founded on the belief that technology should serve the industries that need it most. American manufacturing businesses feed us, clothe us, house us, and build the things we rely on every day. Formic is working to make robots available to those businesses and to create abundance for the communities they support. </p><p> "That front line worker is our most valuable asset out there,” Patrick Henson, General Manager at <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fformic.co%2Fresources%2Fcustomer-stories%2Fwhen-leadership-and-employees-align-masters-gallery-automates-palletizing-to-make&amp;esheet=54594197&amp;newsitemid=20260826975448&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Masters+Gallery+Foods+Willows&amp;index=3&amp;md5=b2605b0ee8647a70c76ed250e74110a9" shape="rect">Masters Gallery Foods Willows</a>, said during the opening event. “We have to protect them, and automation is the way to do it. We are going to move them to a role where they feel more valued. If you aren't automating yet, you better start thinking of it, because it's where the world is going. And Formic is ahead of it." </p><p> Formic’s Oakland facility is one piece of a larger footprint still to come, with plans to expand into regions beyond the Midwest and West Coast. </p><p> <b>Humanoids at the Center of Formic Expansion</b> </p><p> Where Bolingbrook marked the scale of Formic's flagship robotic fleet, from palletizing to machine tending, Oakland marks the company's next chapter: humanoid development. </p><p> Every deployment, whether a palletizer on a production line or a humanoid on a shop floor, feeds data back into <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fformic.co%2Fmagic&amp;esheet=54594197&amp;newsitemid=20260826975448&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Cortex+and+Core&amp;index=4&amp;md5=28033cec148532daabe0a7c0f845a6da" shape="rect">Cortex and Core</a>, Formic's proprietary AI models for scoping, deployment, and real-time operation. That compounding data advantage is what has given Formic its decisive lead in physical AI, bringing it out of research labs into everyday, practical use. Formic has built and manages America’s largest independent deployed robot fleet, and continues to scale robots to new use cases and tasks. </p><p> "Humanoids change the calculus for what's automatable," Danijel Lolic, COO of Formic, said. "We've spent years proving the Robots-as-a-Service model works for highly complex, high-volume, specialized tasks. Oakland is where we start applying that same deployment excellence to more flexible, dynamic, high-variability tasks. This is just the beginning of what we'll announce out of this facility." </p><p> <b>The Formic Full Service Automation Model Scales with the Mission</b> </p><p> As Formic expands into humanoids and physical AI, the commitment to accessibility stays the same: no capital expenditure, one flat monthly rate, full service from deployment through ongoing maintenance, and contracted production performance. Every new system Formic brings to market ships with the same promise. </p><p> Formic was founded in 2020 to make automation accessible to every U.S. manufacturer, regardless of size. That mission has not changed; what has changed is the scope of what's possible and the scale of the operation behind it. </p><p> <b>About Formic</b> </p><p> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fformic.co&amp;esheet=54594197&amp;newsitemid=20260826975448&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Formic&amp;index=5&amp;md5=d5cef275c5c7f4b7674ce6687c619532" shape="rect">Formic</a> was founded in 2020 to accelerate the accessibility and ease of automation across American manufacturing by delivering the positive outcomes that robotic automation enables: more capacity, consistency, and reliability; less cost, downtime, and worker safety issues. </p><p> For $0 in capital investment, Formic's Full Service Automation model delivers the equipment and systems to do the job, the service and parts to keep it running, and the technology and software to measure real-time productivity and optimize performance, all for one flat monthly rate. </p><p> <b>Learn more at </b><a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fformic.co&amp;esheet=54594197&amp;newsitemid=20260826975448&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=formic.co&amp;index=6&amp;md5=77a97db2c4afe3f96617563febbe2ba9" shape="rect"><b>formic.co</b></a><b> or by emailing </b><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:hi@formic.co" shape="rect"><b>hi@formic.co</b></a><b>.</b> </p><p><img alt="" src="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&amp;sty=20260826975448r1&amp;sid=ventb&amp;distro=nx&amp;lang=en" style="width:0;height:0"><span class="bwct31415"></span></p><p id="mmgallerylink"><span id="mmgallerylink-phrase">View source version on businesswire.com: </span><span id="mmgallerylink-link"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826975448/en/" rel="nofollow">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826975448/en/</a></span></p><p> <b>Media Contact </b><br>Brooklyn Kiosow <br>Marketing Communications Manager <br><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:bkiosow@formic.co" shape="rect">bkiosow@formic.co</a> </p>

<p><strong></strong></p><p class="bwalignc"><strong> <i>New research finds that 97 percent of S&amp;P 500 companies discuss AI in their annual filings, while fewer than 1 in 5 document an AI-specific cyber-risk process and fewer than 1 in 20 describe a governed one</i> </strong></p><p></p><p>PARK CITY, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 26, 2026--</p><p> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fguardrail.tech%2F&amp;esheet=54594925&amp;newsitemid=20260826093157&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Guardrail+Technologies&amp;index=1&amp;md5=90fb73b371e9aabb1b49c942de94b219" shape="rect">Guardrail Technologies</a>, the leading provider of AI security and governance software for enterprises building with AI, today released <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fguardrail.tech%2Fthe-ai-cyber-disclosure-gap-report%2F&amp;esheet=54594925&amp;newsitemid=20260826093157&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=The+AI+Cyber-Disclosure+Gap&amp;index=2&amp;md5=5cdb7b8d29f0bc43a9211b144b1be1da" shape="rect"><i>The AI Cyber-Disclosure Gap</i></a><a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fguardrail.tech%2Fthe-ai-cyber-disclosure-gap-report%2F&amp;esheet=54594925&amp;newsitemid=20260826093157&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Report&amp;index=3&amp;md5=2d1fa1215382ba85378810948caff9f4" shape="rect"><i> Report</i></a>, the first study to measure how S&amp;P 500 companies describe their use of artificial intelligence against how they document managing its cybersecurity risk. The first of its kind, the report is what Guardrail intends to make an ongoing benchmark, revisited on a recurring basis as filings update and disclosure practice evolves. </p><p> Guardrail reviewed all 503 Form 10-K filings currently on file for S&amp;P 500 companies against the SEC's Item 1C cybersecurity disclosure requirement. The results were stark and consistent: 97 percent of companies mention AI somewhere in their annual report, but only about 16 percent document an AI-specific cyber-risk process at all, and fewer than 1 in 20 describe a governed one, meaning a named policy, program, or committee with a stated activity connected to cybersecurity controls. </p><p> Across every reading applied, including an independent human review, the distance between discussing AI and documenting a process for its cyber risk was at least 77 percentage points. </p><p> “Nearly every company in the S&amp;P 500 says AI matters to their business, but almost none can prove how they're keeping it under control," said T.J. Marlin, founder and CEO of Guardrail Technologies. "A policy written after a breach carries no weight with an investigator, and a control that only lived in someone's memory is no control at all. This report shows how few companies could survive that kind of scrutiny today.” </p><p> Even the most heavily regulated sectors, financial services, health care, utilities, energy, and real estate, don't close the gap. These 218 companies document an AI-specific process only slightly more often than the rest of the index: 18 percent versus 15 percent on the more generous reading. A sharper split appears within the group. Utilities, energy, and real estate, whose regulators oversee physical infrastructure, are read as treating AI as a specific cybersecurity risk in about 70 percent of filings. Financial services and health care, whose regulators oversee data, do so in only 37 to 48 percent, despite discussing AI just as heavily as everyone else in the index. </p><p> Guardrail plans to repeat this analysis on a recurring basis to track whether disclosure practice moves as the regulatory calendar advances and to give boards, insurers and investors a consistent benchmark rather than a one-time snapshot. </p><p> "Every board, public or private, should treat this AI security disclosure gap as urgent,” Marlin added. “If you're on a public company board, look at what you're already saying out loud about AI and make sure a documented, governed process backs it up. The alternative won't hold up." </p><p> <b>A Board Diagnostic for any public company</b> </p><p> Alongside the report, Guardrail is launching a Board Diagnostic for any publicly traded company. Using the same framework applied to all 503 filings in the study, Guardrail reviews a company's most recent cybersecurity disclosure and returns one of three verdicts: Green for a documented, governed AI risk process, Amber for a partial one, or Red for none. It's the same signal Guardrail already uses in AI Traffic Light™ to flag code and agent behavior, now applied to the disclosure itself. The verdict comes with an executive insights report showing exactly where the disclosure falls short, what a stronger one would say, and how it compares to peers, ready to bring straight to the audit committee. </p><p> Guardrail has identified the six critical questions every board should be able to answer about its AI lifecycle; the Board Diagnostic is built to guide the board to the deeper questions related to AI and support in identifying what needs to be addressed. </p><p> Companies interested in requesting a Board Diagnostic can do so <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2F40oxvm.share-na2.hsforms.com%2F2L5Aki_BWS4eDwlg5Pb4NBg&amp;esheet=54594925&amp;newsitemid=20260826093157&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=here&amp;index=4&amp;md5=ab71240f5e635d3ae22febc5cd17d141" shape="rect">here</a>. The full report, including sector-level findings and the technical appendix detailing the study's methodology, is <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fguardrail.tech%2Fthe-ai-cyber-disclosure-gap-report%2F&amp;esheet=54594925&amp;newsitemid=20260826093157&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=available+here&amp;index=5&amp;md5=46fab18769bcf9c3f8fe268f8f8a9e84" shape="rect">available here</a>. </p><p> <b>About Guardrail Technologies</b> </p><p> Guardrail Technologies is the leading provider of independent AI security and behavioral governance software for enterprises and the people building and deploying with AI. The company delivers defense in depth throughout the AI lifecycle, from the point of creation through operation, detection and incident response, through two core products: AI Traffic Light™, which scans AI-generated code and verifies the people behind it, and AI Command Center™, which provides centralized governance, behavioral controls and compliance audit trails for enterprise AI operationalization. Founded in Q2 2025 and headquartered in Park City, Utah, Guardrail Technologies holds three issued patents with six additional patents pending. For more information, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardrail.tech&amp;esheet=54594925&amp;newsitemid=20260826093157&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=www.guardrail.tech&amp;index=6&amp;md5=815cc10270628b2d78b657b0e0612cc5" shape="rect">www.guardrail.tech</a>. </p><p><img alt="" src="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&amp;sty=20260826093157r1&amp;sid=ventb&amp;distro=nx&amp;lang=en" style="width:0;height:0"><span class="bwct31415"></span></p><p id="mmgallerylink"><span id="mmgallerylink-phrase">View source version on businesswire.com: </span><span id="mmgallerylink-link"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826093157/en/" rel="nofollow">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260826093157/en/</a></span></p><p> <b>Media Contact: </b><br>Liz Whelan <br>312.315.0160 <br><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:info@guardrail.tech" shape="rect">info@guardrail.tech</a> </p>