Pulse 2.0

NVIDIA Increases Share Repurchase Authorization By $150 Billion To $235 Billion

McDonald’s Commits $8.5 Billion To NEXT Strategy And Targets Higher Margins And Restaurant Efficiency By 2030

UBS Hires John Pham And Jimmy Yip As Financial Advisors In Silicon Valley

Raymond James Hires Dan Connolly To Lead Technology & Services Investment Banking

Valley National Bancorp To Acquire Bluevine For Approximately $340 Million

Polyfork Wins $500,000 Build With Gemini XPRIZE After Building AI-Powered 3D Model Business In 90 Days

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:43 PM

Polyfork, an AI-powered 3D modeling business founded by Lucas Martinic, won first place in the Build with Gemini XPRIZE, earning the competition's $500,000 grand prize after building a revenue-generating company in 90 days.

Universal Music Group Appoints Òscar Celma As Senior Vice President Of Applied AI And Machine Learning

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:40 PM

Universal Music Group has appointed Òscar Celma as Senior Vice President of Applied AI and Machine Learning, adding an executive with more than two decades of experience spanning artificial intelligence, music recommendation, personalization, data science, and digital media.

HEARTio: Interview With Co-Founder And CEO Utkars Jain About AI-Powered Cardiac Diagnostics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:31 PM

HEARTio is developing AI-powered cardiac diagnostic technology designed to extract additional clinical insights from standard 12-lead electrocardiograms. Its flagship product, ECGio, is designed to detect coronary artery disease in under one minute without specialized hardware, radiation, dyes, or invasive procedures. Pulse 2.0 interviewed HEARTio Co-Founder and CEO Utkars Jain to learn more.

Sofinnova Partners Closes Oversubscribed €82 Million MD Start IV Fund For Medtech Company Creation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:25 PM

Sofinnova Partners has closed its oversubscribed Sofinnova MD Start IV fund at €82 million, expanding the firm's medtech company-creation strategy across Europe and the United States.

Milbank Adds Claudia Carvajal Lopez As Corporate Finance And Securities Partner In New York

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:23 PM

Milbank has appointed Claudia Carvajal Lopez as a partner in its Corporate Finance and Securities Group in New York, expanding the firm's capital markets capabilities as activity across debt, equity, and structured financing markets increases.

Squire Patton Boggs Adds Former Iowa Chief Of Staff Taryn Frideres As Global Public Policy Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:21 PM

Squire Patton Boggs has appointed Taryn Frideres as a partner in its Global Public Policy Practice in Washington, D.C., bringing her back to the firm following more than a decade in senior state and federal government positions.

BRG Adds Roger Park And Chris Harris As Managing Directors To Expand Financial Institution Advisory Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:19 PM

Berkeley Research Group has appointed Roger Park and Chris Harris as Managing Directors in its Financial Institution Advisory practice, expanding the firm's operations and technology transformation capabilities for banks and other financial services companies.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel Appoints Frank Pasqualino As Vice President Of Sales

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 4:17 PM

The Fifth Avenue Hotel has appointed Frank Pasqualino as Vice President of Sales, adding an executive with more than two decades of New York City hospitality experience as the independent luxury property enters its next phase of growth.

Amprius Secures Up To $75 Million U.S. Government Grant For High-Energy Battery Production

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 3:56 PM

Amprius Technologies has been awarded a grant of up to $75 million from the U.S. Department of War to convert an existing domestic electric vehicle battery production line into manufacturing capacity for high-energy-density cells used in unmanned aerial systems.

Instinct Raises $1 Billion Series C At $10 Billion Valuation To Expand Personal AI Agent

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 3:55 PM

Instinct raised $1 billion in Series C funding from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue at a $10 billion valuation, giving the San Francisco-based company additional capital to expand its personal AI agent for everyday tasks.

O’Melveny Rehires Former SEC And DOJ Lawyer David Leviss As Health Care And Congressional Investigations Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:50 PM

O'Melveny has brought David Leviss back to the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office, where he will join the Health Care Practice Group and Congressional Investigations team. Leviss returns after most recently serving as the SEC's first Associate General Counsel for Oversight and Investigations.

HiringCafe Raises $6.8 Million Pre-Seed And Launches Free AI Talent Agent For Job Seekers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:48 PM

HiringCafe has raised $6.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from Nonfiction Capital, Silicon Gardens, and angel investors from ZipRecruiter and Indeed. The company is also launching an AI Talent Agent designed to search millions of open jobs on behalf of individual candidates.

SiMa.ai Raises $150 Million Series C At $1.45 Billion Valuation To Scale Physical AI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:45 PM

SiMa.ai has raised $150 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing, bringing its total capital raised to $500 million and valuing the company at $1.45 billion. The round was co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Amplify, with participation from Alter Venture Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, Maverick Capital, +ND Capital, Point72, and StepStone Group. AllianceBernstein, Baron Capital, J.P. Morgan, and the State of Michigan joined as new investors.

Akin Adds Former Goldman Sachs Lawyer Neil DuChez As Technology Transactions Partner In New York

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:43 PM

Akin has added Neil DuChez as a corporate partner in New York, bringing dedicated U.S.-based technology transactions capabilities to the firm's corporate practice as artificial intelligence, data, software, and other technology considerations become increasingly important in mergers, investments, and commercial transactions.

Finastra Launches Supply Chain Finance Platform To Help Banks Accelerate Working Capital Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:18 PM

Finastra has launched Finastra Supply Chain Finance, a new platform designed to help banks scale working capital programs, bring new products to market faster, and connect trade finance, lending, and supply chain finance through a unified technology environment. The company announced the platform at Sibos 2026.

CRISP Shared Services And CRISP Appoint David Hale As General Counsel

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 2:14 PM

CRISP Shared Services and CRISP have appointed David Hale as General Counsel, adding an executive with more than 25 years of experience across healthcare, financial services, technology, privacy, and private legal practice.

Seligman Ventures Doubles Deployable Capital To $1 Billion As AI Infrastructure Investment Activity Accelerates

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:43 PM

Seligman Ventures has doubled its deployable capital from $500 million to $1 billion less than a year after launching, giving the venture platform additional capacity to invest across AI infrastructure, modern data center hardware, and cybersecurity.

PADO AI: Interview With Founder And CEO Wannie Park About Data Center Energy Orchestration And AI Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:36 PM

PADO AI is an intelligent energy orchestration platform designed to help data centers maximize compute and productivity through real-time management of cooling, compute, power, storage, and grid resources. The company spun out of LG NOVA in May 2025 and operates independently while drawing on LG Electronics' infrastructure and global capabilities. Pulse 2.0 interviewed PADO AI Founder and CEO Wannie Park to learn more about data center energy management, AI infrastructure, grid flexibility, and the company's growth strategy.

Convos: Interview With CEO And Co-Founder Tom Carroll About Conversational AI Texting

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:26 PM

Convos is a conversational AI texting platform designed to help organizations communicate with large audiences through personalized, two-way conversations. Its AI agent is grounded in materials supplied by each organization and supports capabilities including large-scale conversational messaging, polling, inbound engagement, contact personalization, and analysis. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Convos CEO and Co-Founder Tom Carroll to learn more about the company’s origins, its conversational AI technology, and how it is approaching communication at scale.

AllianceBernstein Appoints Onur Erzan As CEO As Seth Bernstein Plans Retirement

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:14 PM

AllianceBernstein has appointed Onur Erzan as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2027, as the global investment manager prepares for a leadership transition following nearly a decade under CEO Seth Bernstein.

Narmi Launches AI Marketplace For Community Financial Institutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:10 PM

Narmi has launched the Narmi AI Marketplace, a centralized platform designed to bring practical artificial intelligence capabilities directly into the workflows of community financial institutions. The marketplace combines Narmi's proprietary AI tools with an expanding ecosystem of technology partners, giving banks and credit unions a unified way to deploy AI while maintaining human oversight and a consistent security framework.

DHL Supply Chain Launches New Logistics Solution For U.S. Health Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 1:05 PM

DHL Supply Chain has launched a new logistics solution for U.S. health systems designed to centralize inventory and medical support activities while connecting supplies, drugs, and equipment to hospitals and other points of care through dedicated transportation and final-mile delivery.

Ibex Investors Closes $87 Million Secondary II Fund Focused On Israeli Technology Companies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 12:43 PM

Ibex Investors has closed $87 million for its second secondary fund, expanding its Israel-focused investment platform with a vehicle targeting high-performing, mature Israeli technology companies.

Investcorp Rebrands Strategic Capital Group As Bisonti Partners Following $1.25 Billion Fundraise

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 12:38 PM

Investcorp has rebranded its Strategic Capital Group as Bisonti Partners, giving its GP capital solutions business a distinct identity after raising $1.25 billion for Investcorp Strategic Capital Partners II and associated vehicles.

Cox Capital Launches $40 Million Tender Offers For Blackstone And HPS Private Credit Funds

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 12:38 PM

Cox Capital Partners has launched two separate cash tender offers totaling approximately $40 million for Class I shares of Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED) and HPS Corporate Lending Fund (HLEND), creating an additional secondary liquidity option following oversubscribed quarterly repurchase programs at both funds.

Kodiak Sciences’ Zenkuda And Tabirafusp-Ted Meet Primary Endpoints In Phase 3 DAYBREAK Study For Wet AMD

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 12:27 PM

Kodiak Sciences announced that Zenkuda (tarcocimab tedromer) and tabirafusp alfa tedromer (tabirafusp-ted/KSI-501) both met their primary endpoints in the pivotal Phase 3 DAYBREAK study evaluating patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). Both investigational therapies achieved non-inferiority in vision gains compared with aflibercept at one year.

Modulate: Audio-Native AI Company Raises $25 Million Led By Future Ventures

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 10:30 AM

Modulate, an audio-native AI company developing models that help machines understand emotion, tone, intent, synthetic speech and other signals in human conversations, has raised $25 million in new funding led by Future Ventures, with participation from Hyperplane and Lakestar. The round brings the Boston-based company's total funding to $60 million.

Meta Launches Enterprise Platform And Names CJ Desai As Chief Enterprise Platform Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 10:06 AM

Meta has launched Meta Enterprise Platform, a new business initiative designed to help companies use the company’s artificial intelligence technology to grow, transform operations, and build new products and services. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the platform as the next major pillar of Meta’s business, building on the company’s existing reach across billions of consumers and hundreds of millions of businesses.

Siemens Healthineers Launches Accela Radiotherapy System With 60-Second SBRT Capability

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 9:09 AM

Siemens Healthineers has launched Accela, a new radiotherapy solution engineered around its NeoArc dynamic modulated arc therapy technology, with the system designed to deliver faster stereotactic treatments while improving treatment planning and workflow efficiency for cancer centers.

NIO And Geely Partner On Charging And Battery Swapping In $95 Million (RMB 640 million) Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Today at 8:58 AM

NIO and Geely Holding Group have entered a comprehensive strategic partnership covering EV charging and battery swapping, agreeing to cooperate across technology, operations, and capital while developing a shared service network.