Highrise AI Introduces New Chief Technology Officer, Former Head of AI and R&D for the IDF Sigma Branch, Mark Mendelman

Veteran defense technologist and AI systems architect leading development of resilient, secure cloud infrastructure for mission-critical AI workloads

MIAMI, July 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Highrise AI ("Highrise" or the "Company"), an AI infrastructure platform and subsidiary of Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ, TSX: HUT), today introduced its new Chief Technology Officer, Mark Mendelman. A veteran defense technologist and AI systems architect, Mark leads the development of Highrise's cloud platform, which combines bare-metal performance with full-stack orchestration for AI workloads.

Mark joined Highrise following a 20-year tenure with the Israel Defense Forces ("IDF"), where he most recently served as Head of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research & Development (R&D) branch of Sigma, a specialist unit within the IDF's elite C4I Directorate. Sigma is responsible for developing and operationalizing advanced AI and computing technologies. As Head of AI and R&D, Mark directed cutting-edge AI research groups comprising data scientists, MLOps engineers, and domain experts, leading the IDF's work in multimodal foundation models, real-time sensor fusion, low-power edge inference, and training pipelines.

Mark has architected and deployed large-scale AI data platforms that ingest, label, and curate structured and unstructured data from dozens of classified sources. These platforms support rapid experimentation, scalable training, and secure data sharing with defense partners. His technical leadership shaped mission-critical systems such as Dror, a secure operational cloud platform that delivers natural-language battlefield intelligence contextualized across time and geography.

Mark is a graduate of Mamram, the IDF's legendary computer corps established in 1959, which has trained generations of Israel's top full-stack engineers, data scientists, and systems architects. Mamran alumni are currently entrepreneurs in approximately 25% of Israeli unicorns, with exits totaling approximately $1.9 billion in 2024. We believe Mark's deep roots in this ecosystem, particularly across Israel's advanced AI and cybersecurity sectors, will be instrumental in shaping Highrise's global innovation and partnership strategy. His work has been recognized with both the IDF Chief of General Staff Innovation Award and the Israel National Defense Prize, one of the country's highest honors for technological contributions to national security.

"In high-stakes environments, systems must be designed with the expectation that failure is not an anomaly but a constant variable," said Mark Mendelman, CTO of Highrise AI. "Engineering under that principle requires a focus on security, fault tolerance, and operational integrity. My mandate at Highrise is to apply that discipline to develop a differentiated AI cloud platform purpose-built for developers and enterprises operating in sensitive, performance-critical domains, who need systems they can trust to perform securely and predictably, even under pressure."

"Mark brings a proven track record of architecting large-scale, AI-driven platforms engineered for resilience, precision, and continuity," said Vince Fong, Co-Founder and CEO of Highrise AI. "He's worked at the front lines of operational AI in one of the world's most demanding environments, where uncompromising security is table stakes and system failure is not an option. As demand accelerates for performant, secure, and predictable AI platforms, we believe his experience positions Highrise to build a platform that sets a new standard for developers and enterprises who cannot afford compromise. We're thrilled to welcome Mark to the team."

About Highrise AI

Highrise AI is a cloud infrastructure platform purpose-built for artificial intelligence. Designed for developers and enterprises operating in performance-critical and security-sensitive domains, Highrise delivers bare-metal performance with full-stack orchestration to support the training and deployment of production-scale AI models. Highrise is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hut 8 Corp., an energy infrastructure platform integrating power, digital infrastructure, and compute at scale to fuel next-generation, energy-intensive use cases such as Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing.

About Hut 8 

Hut 8 Corp. ("Hut 8") is an energy infrastructure platform integrating power, digital infrastructure, and compute at scale to fuel next-generation, energy-intensive use cases such as Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing. We take a power-first, innovation-driven approach to developing, commercializing, and operating the critical infrastructure that underpins the breakthrough technologies of today and tomorrow. Our platform spans 1,020 megawatts of energy capacity under management across 15 sites in the United States and Canada: five Bitcoin mining, hosting, and Managed Services sites in Alberta, New York, and Texas, five high performance computing data centers in British Columbia and Ontario, four power generation assets in Ontario, and one non-operational site in Alberta. For more information, visit www.hut8.com and follow us on X at @Hut8Corp.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward–Looking Information

This press release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws, respectively (collectively, "forward-looking information"). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events, or developments that Hut 8 and Highrise expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including statements relating to Mark's impact in shaping Highrise's global innovation and partnership strategy, his experience helping to position Highrise to build a platform that sets a new standard for developers and enterprises, and other such matters is forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "allow", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "predict", "can", "might", "potential", "predict", "is designed to", "likely," or similar expressions.

Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management's expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events based on certain material factors and assumptions at the time the statement was made. While considered reasonable by Hut 8 and Highrise as of the date of this press release, such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, but not limited to, failure of critical systems; geopolitical, social, economic, and other events and circumstances; competition from current and future competitors; risks related to power requirements; cybersecurity threats and breaches; hazards and operational risks; changes in leasing arrangements; Internet-related disruptions; dependence on key personnel; having a limited operating history; attracting and retaining customers; entering into new offerings or lines of business; price fluctuations and rapidly changing technologies; construction of new data centers, data center expansions, or data center redevelopment; predicting facility requirements; strategic alliances or joint ventures; operating and expanding internationally; failing to grow hashrate; purchasing miners; relying on third-party mining pool service providers; uncertainty in the development and acceptance of the Bitcoin network; Bitcoin halving events; competition from other methods of investing in Bitcoin; concentration of Bitcoin holdings; hedging transactions; potential liquidity constraints; legal, regulatory, governmental, and technological uncertainties; physical risks related to climate change; involvement in legal proceedings; trading volatility; and other risks described from time to time in Hut 8's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Hut 8's recent and upcoming annual and quarterly reports and other continuous disclosure documents, which are available under Hut 8's EDGAR profile at www.sec.gov and SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

SOURCE Highrise AI