Pulse 2.0

Disney Makes $1 Billion Investment In OpenAI As Companies Sign Licensing Agreement For Sora

IBM Buying Confluent In $11 Billion Deal

Ninety: Interview With Founder & CEO Mark Abbott About The Business Operating System

Integrated Partners Adds $200 Million Firm Morrison Nordmann Wealth Management To Expand Michigan Presence

Measurabl: Maureen Waters Named As CEO As Matt Ellis Shifts To Executive Chairman

Mercer Acquires $130 Million Firm McConnell Financial Advisors To Expand Presence Across Boise And Sun Valley

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 9:12 AM

Mercer Global Advisors, Inc., operating as Mercer Advisors, said it has acquired McConnell Financial Advisors, a Boise, Idaho-based boutique financial planning firm with approximately $130 million in assets under management. The deal expands Mercer Advisors’ footprint in Idaho, including its reach across Boise and its growing client base in Sun Valley, and builds on the firm's existing presence in both markets.

Osaic: Shannon Reid Named As President And Head Of Advisor Growth And Engagement

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 9:09 AM

Osaic said Shannon Reid will join the firm as President of Osaic and Head of Advisor Growth and Engagement, taking on the President role on Jan. 12, 2026, and reporting to CEO Jamie Price. Price had been serving as President alongside his chief executive duties.

Empromptu: $2 Million Pre-Seed Closed To Build Self-Managing AI Context Engine For Enterprise Software

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 9:03 AM

Empromptu AI, a San Francisco-based startup focused on helping enterprises shift from static SaaS products to self-improving AI-native applications, has raised an oversubscribed $2 million pre-seed round to accelerate development of what it calls its Self-Managing Context Engine. The company said the technology is designed to allow AI features to manage, train, and improve themselves in production environments, with the broader goal of making AI deployments more reliable and maintainable at scale.

Bioxodes: €5.5 Million Series A Extension Raised To Advance BIOX-101 Toward Pivotal Hemorrhagic Stroke Trial

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 9:00 AM

Bioxodes SA, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for thrombotic and inflammatory diseases, has raised a €5.5 million Series A extension to continue preparations for a potentially registrational Phase 2b trial of BIOX-101 in intracerebral hemorrhage. The company said it plans to initiate the pivotal Phase 2b study in 2027 and believes the program could support BIOX-101 reaching the market as early as the second half of 2030.

Boats Group: $600 Million CPP Investments Commitment Secured In Growth Deal With General Atlantic

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 8:57 AM

Boats Group, a global operator of online marketplaces for boats and yachts, has announced a strategic growth investment from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, commonly known as CPP Investments, and General Atlantic. CPP Investments has committed $600 million and will take a co control interest in Boats Group as part of the transaction.

Allink Biotherapeutics: $47 Million Series A Extension Raised To Advance Two ADC Programs And Expand Multispecific Platforms

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:53 AM

Allink Biotherapeutics, a Shanghai-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing antibody drug conjugates and multi-specific antibody therapeutics for oncology and immunology, has completed extension rounds of its Series A financing, raising $47 million. The company said the extension rounds were led by existing supporter Legend Capital and new investor Meituan Long Z Investment, with participation from additional returning and new investors including Lanchi Ventures, Yuanbio Venture Capital, 5Y Capital, Lapam Capital, and Runzhang Venture Capital, among others.

Hexagon Acquires IconPro To Add Industrial AI For Remote Asset Monitoring And Predictive Metrology Maintenance

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:50 AM

Hexagon AB has agreed to acquire IconPro, a German industrial AI solutions provider focused on intelligent asset maintenance, as Hexagon looks to expand AI driven monitoring and analytics across its manufacturing install base.

Senzing Acquires Placekey To Expand Open Standard For Location Data Interoperability

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:35 AM

Senzing, a provider of real-time entity resolution technology, has acquired the Placekey service and technology, bringing the open, community-supported identifier standard for places data under Senzing’s ownership. The companies said the transaction aligns with Senzing’s goal of making data more interoperable and easier to connect across organizations and datasets.

VisIC Technologies: $26 Million Round B Second Closing Led By Global Chip Leader As Hyundai Motor And Kia Join

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:31 AM

VisIC Technologies, a Ness Ziona, Israel-based developer of gallium nitride power semiconductors for electric mobility, said it has completed the second closing of its Round B financing, bringing in $26 million. The company said the round was led by a global semiconductor leader and included Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, together referred to as HKMC, as a strategic investor.

Navier: $5.6 Million Seed Funding Raised To Launch Agent-Driven Engineering Platform For Hardware Teams

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:56 AM

Navier, a San Francisco-based startup developing autonomous engineering teams for hardware design and development, has raised $5.6 million in seed funding and launched from stealth. The round included participation from GV (Google Ventures), HCVC, and Y Combinator, as the company positions its technology as a new productivity layer that automates repetitive work between design and engineering groups.

Octane: $100 Million Series F Raised To Fund Expansion And Product Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:41 AM

Octane (Octane Lending), a fintech focused on digitizing the purchasing and financing experience for recreational and specialty vehicle categories, has closed a $100 million Series F equity financing. The company said the round includes primary capital to support growth initiatives, as well as proceeds from secondary share transfers, and follows Octane’s continued originations growth as it looks to deepen its product offering and expand into additional markets.

Skyblue Analytics: Strategic Funding Closed To Expand Global Coverage And Accelerate AI Product Roadmap

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:39 AM

Skyblue Analytics, a fintech infrastructure company focused on helping brokers, banks, and financial institutions build modern investment platforms, has raised a strategic investment round led by a group of industry partners and regional market participants. The round, announced December 15, 2025, included Merchant Seven, A3 Mercados, Matba Rofex, PrimaryX, and Draper Angels LATAM, with the company aiming to expand regional coverage and accelerate development of AI-enabled investment experiences.

Cofactor Genomics Secures Strategic Investment From Labcorp And Ascension Ventures

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:36 AM

Cofactor Genomics has received strategic investments from Labcorp and Ascension Ventures to accelerate nationwide expansion of its OncoPrism® immunotherapy response diagnostic and broaden patient access across U.S. cancer care networks.

HASI And KKR Add $1 Billion Commitment To CarbonCount Holdings 1

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:35 AM

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (HASI) and global investment firm KKR have agreed to increase their capital commitment to CarbonCount Holdings 1 LLC (CCH1) by a combined $1 billion, adding $500 million each to expand the co-investment vehicle’s capacity to finance sustainable infrastructure projects across the United States.

Jordan Partners Backs Vanguard Claims Administration With Strategic Growth Investment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:31 AM

Jordan Partners has made a strategic growth investment in Vanguard Claims Administration, Inc., a third-party administration and independent adjusting platform serving the property and casualty insurance market, as Vanguard looks to expand its national footprint and deepen its technology and reporting capabilities.

Mirelo: $41 Million Seed Funding Raised To Bring AI Soundtracks To Video, Gaming, And Visual Media

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:26 AM

Mirelo, a Germany-based foundation model company focused on sound for videos, has raised a $41 million seed round led by Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Atlantic.vc and TriplePoint Capital also participated, along with notable angel investors: Yariv Adan, Alex Berriche, Léon Bottou, Burkay Gur, Thomas Hofmann, Antoine Le Nel, Coco Mao, Arthur Mensch, Laura Modiano, Jakob Uszkoreit, and Thomas Wolf.

Iconic: $13 Million Seed Round Raised To Build On Device AI For Interactive Entertainment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 12:07 AM

Iconic disclosed that it has raised a $13 million seed financing round to advance its on-device AI technology for what it calls a new category of interactive entertainment. The round was co-led by Kindred Ventures and Northzone, with participation from Google AI Futures Fund, Conviction, Deepwater Asset Management, Sequoia Capital scouts, and a group of angel investors.

QuantumDiamonds Announces €152 Million Investment For Building Quantum-Sensing Chip Test System Production Facility In Munich

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 11:59 PM

QuantumDiamonds announced a €152 million investment plan to establish the world’s first production facility for advanced chip testing systems based on quantum sensing. The facility will be located in Munich, Germany, and is intended to support the company’s scale-up from research and proof-of-concept work into global production.

WSP To Buy TRC For $3.3 Billion To Build Top U.S. Power And Energy Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 11:55 PM

WSP Global has agreed to acquire TRC Companies, a U.S.-based engineering and consulting firm known for its Power and Energy franchise, in an all-cash deal valued at US$3.3 billion. WSP said the transaction would expand its capabilities across the full infrastructure lifecycle and elevate the combined business into the largest engineering and design firm in the U.S. by revenue, with roughly 27,000 employees nationwide following closing.

PayPal Files To Launch Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank To Broaden Small Business Lending and Add Savings Accounts

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 11:49 PM

PayPal Holdings has submitted applications to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seeking approval to establish PayPal Bank. This proposed Utah-chartered industrial loan company would deepen the fintech giant’s role in small business financial services in the United States.

Ritten: $35 Million Series B Closed To Expand AI Platform For Behavioral Health Providers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:32 PM

Ritten, an AI-powered system of record for behavioral health providers, has raised a $35 million Series B funding round led by Five Elms Capital, with participation from existing investors Threshold Ventures, 8VC, Bienville Capital, and others. The Philadelphia-based company said the financing will support expansion across mental health and addiction treatment providers spanning all levels of care.

OnCorps AI: $55 Million Closed To Scale Agentic Fund Operations Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:30 PM

OnCorps AI, an agentic AI platform focused on fund operations for asset managers and fund administrators, has raised $55 million in growth capital from Long Ridge Equity Partners as it looks to accelerate product development, expand go-to-market capacity, and scale infrastructure to support a growing customer base.

Realm.Security: $2 Million Strategic Investment Raised From Presidio Ventures

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:25 PM

Realm.Security, a Boston-based cybersecurity company building what it calls the industry’s first AI-native Security Data Pipeline Platform, has secured a $2 million strategic investment from Presidio Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Japan-headquartered Sumitomo Corporation. The company said it will use the funding and Sumitomo’s global network to accelerate expansion across Asia-Pacific through channel partners, while continuing to strengthen its executive leadership as demand grows for tools that help security teams manage the rising volumes of telemetry data and the costs of storing and processing it.

iRobot Agrees To Be Acquired By Lender And Supplier Picea In Chapter 11 Process

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:24 PM

iRobot Corporation, the maker of Roomba consumer robots, said it has entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement with its secured lender and primary contract manufacturer, Shenzhen PICEA Robotics Co., Ltd. and Santrum Hong Kong Co., Limited, collectively referred to as Picea, paving the way for Picea to acquire iRobot through a court-supervised process.

Sobi To Acquire Arthrosi For Up To $1.5 Billion, Adding Phase 3 Gout Asset AR882

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:22 PM

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB has signed an acquisition agreement to buy Arthrosi Therapeutics in a transaction valued at up to $1.5 billion, Viva Biotech said. Under the terms disclosed, Sobi will pay $950 million upfront at closing, subject to customary adjustments, plus up to $550 million in contingent consideration tied to future milestones. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2026.

Axion: $37 Million Series B Raised To Expand AI Platform For Manufacturing Product Quality

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:19 PM

Axion Ray, which operates as Axion, has raised a $37 million Series B funding round led by Salesforce Ventures with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures, and other existing investors. The New York-based company said the financing will support the expansion of its AI-powered product quality platform for manufacturers and accelerate product development as it scales deployments across industries.

Baker McKenzie: Adele Harrison Hired As London Data And Cyber Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:16 PM

Baker McKenzie has hired data and cyber specialist Adele Harrison as a partner in its London-based Data & Cyber team, strengthening the firm’s capability in cybersecurity, data privacy, and regulatory investigations as client demand grows in the wake of escalating cyber risk and enforcement activity.

Duke Nicholas Institute Launches Dashboard Ranking Power Sector Competitiveness Across 12 Southeastern States

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:15 PM

Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability has launched a new interactive resource designed to help stakeholders compare the competitiveness of the power sector across the Southeast, offering a state-by-state view of policies and market features that shape how utilities, regulators, producers, and consumers interact.

Purdue University: Campuswide AI Graduation Requirement Approved

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:14 PM

Purdue University unveiled a sweeping artificial intelligence strategy on Friday, Dec. 12, anchored by a new graduation requirement that will make “AI working competency” a core expectation for all undergraduate students at the university’s main campus locations in Indianapolis and West Lafayette.

PolyAI: $86 Million Series D Closed To Scale Enterprise Voice Agents And Agent Studio Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Yesterday at 4:12 PM

PolyAI, an enterprise conversational AI company focused on automating customer interactions, has raised $86 million in Series D funding in a round co-led by Georgian, Hedosophia, and Khosla Ventures. Additional participants include NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), British Business Bank, Citi Ventures, Squarepoint Ventures, Sands Capital, Zendesk Ventures, and Point72 Ventures.