Artificial Intelligence

AiStrike: $7 Million Seed Funding Raised To Scale AI-Native And Preemptive Cyber Defense Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 22, 2026

AiStrike has raised $7 million in seed funding to expand an AI-native platform designed to help security teams move from reactive alert handling to what the company calls “preemptive” cyber defense. The round was led by Blumberg Capital, with participation from Runtime Ventures, Oregon Venture Fund, and strategic angel investors.

Copeland Bolsters AI-Driven HVAC And Cold Chain Offerings With Bueno Analytics Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 22, 2026

Copeland announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Bueno Analytics, an Australia-based software company that uses embedded AI and machine learning to deliver building analytics, energy management, and operational efficiency tools for commercial buildings and cold chain environments.

LatticeFlow AI Acquires AI Sonar To Add On-Prem Discovery To Evidence-Based AI Governance

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 22, 2026

LatticeFlow AI announced it has acquired Dublin-based AI Sonar Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of CloudSphere Ltd., in a deal the company unveiled during the World Economic Forum in Davos. The acquisition adds AI Sonar’s “AI discovery” capabilities—aimed at detecting “shadow AI” across enterprise environments—to LatticeFlow AI’s governance platform, which focuses on technical evaluations and evidence generation.

Appian Adds ScienceLogic CEO David Link To Board

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 22, 2026

Appian, a provider of AI-powered process automation software, has appointed David Link to its board of directors, effective January 25, 2026, adding an enterprise software executive with deep experience in IT operations, automation, and platform scaling.

Nexxa.ai: $9 Million Seed Funding Closed To Scale AI Agents For Heavy Industry Workflows

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Nexxa.ai has raised a $9 million seed round to scale specialized AI agents designed for heavy-industry workflows, as the company looks to expand deployments across rail, construction, manufacturing, and other critical infrastructure sectors.

Claim Health: $4.4 Million Seed Funding Raised To Automate Post-Acute Revenue Operations With AI

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Claim Health, a Y Combinator-backed startup building AI-native revenue operations infrastructure for post-acute care, has raised a $4.4 million seed round led by Maverick Ventures, with participation from Peak XV, Y Combinator, and DHVP. The financing also included checks from C-suite executives at large post-acute care providers, which the company said reflect growing demand for modernized revenue workflows in home health, hospice, and personal care settings.

Helium Ventures Acquires InsurGrid, An Insurance Data Platform Used by 2,500 P&C Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Helium Ventures, an AI-native holding company that buys and operates software businesses, has acquired InsurGrid, a platform used by more than 2,500 property and casualty insurance agents to collect and verify insurance policy data.

Campfire Interactive Acquires Cover 4 PM To Broaden AI-Driven Profit Optimization For Manufacturers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Campfire Interactive announced it has acquired Cover 4 PM, adding program and project management capabilities to its AI-enabled profit optimization platform for automotive suppliers and manufacturers.

One To One Health Partners With Frist Cressey On $12 Million Investment To Scale AI-Enabled Primary Care

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

One to One Health announced it has raised a $12 million minority growth investment from Frist Cressey Ventures to expand its employer-sponsored primary care model and accelerate development of its AI-enabled clinical platform, Intelligent Care Manager.

PraxisPro: $6 Million Seed Funding Raised To Transform Life Sciences With AI for Commercial Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

PraxisPro, a data intelligence company focused on improving how life sciences organizations generate and govern commercial insights, has raised a $6 million oversubscribed seed round led by AlleyCorp. Flybridge, South Loop Ventures, Zeal Capital Partners, True Ventures, Techstars, Alumni Ventures, and Daring Ventures also participated in the financing.

OpenEvidence: $250 Million Series D At $12 Billion Valuation Raised To Expand AI ‘Medical Superintelligence’ Platform for Doctors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

OpenEvidence, an AI-powered medical search platform used by clinicians, said it has raised $250 million in a Series D financing that values the company at $12 billion, positioning it as the highest-valued healthcare AI company. Thrive Capital and DST Global co-led the financing. This round brings the total funding raised over the past 12 months to roughly $700 million. And it listed a broad roster of prior investors, including Sequoia, Google Ventures, Nvidia, Kleiner Perkins, Blackstone, Henry Kravis, Coatue, Thrive Capital, Conviction, ICONIQ, Greycroft, Breyer Capital, BOND, Craft Ventures, Goanna, Meritech, Alkeon, and Mayo Clinic, among others.

Smart Workforce AI: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Mohamed Yousuf About The Staff Scheduling Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Smart Workforce AI provides an AI-powered, cloud-based platform that optimizes staff scheduling, predicts labor demand, and streamlines workforce management to reduce costs and improve employee satisfaction. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Smart Workforce AI co-founder and CEO Mohamed Yousuf to learn more.

BrightInsight: $13 Million Closed To Expand AI-Enabled Medication Adherence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

BrightInsight has raised $13 million in funding to accelerate the development of its AI-enabled medication persistence and adherence solutions and scale patient support programs globally. The San Jose-based digital health company said the round included both existing and new backers: Eclipse, General Catalyst, Insight Partners, Mayo Clinic, and New Leaf Venture Partners.

Upscale AI: $200 Million Series A Raised To Build Open AI Networking Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Upscale AI announced it has raised $200 million in an oversubscribed Series A round as it works to establish what it calls the first pure-play AI networking infrastructure company, positioning networking as a primary constraint on scaling modern AI systems. The financing was led by Tiger Global, Premji Invest, and Xora Innovation, with participation from Maverick Silicon, StepStone Group, Mayfield, Prosperity7 Ventures, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures. The company said the new round brings its total funding to more than $300 million and follows a rapid fundraising trajectory, characterized by moving from a $100 million seed round to “unicorn” status within months.

Brickeye: $10 Million Series B Closed To Expand IoT Construction Risk Mitigation Platform Across North America

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Brickeye has raised $10 million in a Series B financing to scale its construction IoT monitoring and risk mitigation services across North America and accelerate expansion into additional international markets. The Toronto-based construction technology company said the round was led by GreenSky Ventures, Brightspark Ventures, Graphite Ventures, Export Development Canada (EDC), Beauchamp Construction, and one of the largest building materials suppliers in North America.

Datarails: $70 Million Series C Raised To Bring AI Into The Heart Of The CFO’s Office

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Datarails has raised $70 million in Series C funding in a round led by growth equity firm One Peak, as the company bets that finance teams want AI capabilities embedded directly into the tools they already use (especially Excel) rather than forcing a tradeoff between spreadsheets and standalone AI products.

Avenue Biosciences: Interview With CEO Tero-Pekka Alastalo About The Protein Engineering Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 21, 2026

Avenue Biosciences uses AI-powered protein engineering to optimize the production of complex proteins, enabling faster, more efficient development of next-generation therapies like mRNA vaccines and cancer immunotherapies by improving how cells deliver crucial drug components. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Avenue Biosciences CEO Tero-Pekka Alastalo to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Triple Whale Acquires Anteater To Expand AI-Powered Commerce Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Triple Whale has acquired Anteater, an AI visibility platform that measures how large language models surface brands, products, and sources in AI-generated answers. The deal marks Triple Whale’s first acquisition and positions the company to offer what it calls an end-to-end view of “AI search” performance—letting brands track LLM visibility alongside traditional commerce and marketing metrics, and tie that exposure to revenue outcomes.

Dam Secure: $4 Million Seed Funding Closed To Help Enterprises Secure AI-Generated Code At Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Dam Secure, an AI security startup based in Sydney and San Francisco, has raised $4 million in seed funding to address the security risks posed by AI-generated code entering production environments. The round was led by Paladin Capital Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investor focused on cyber and AI.

Balena Secures Investment From LoneTree Capital To Scale Edge AI And IoT Fleet Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Balena, an IoT fleet management platform focused on deploying, managing, and scaling fleets of edge computing and AI devices, has secured a strategic growth investment from LoneTree Capital, a New York-based growth capital firm. The companies said the partnership will accelerate Balena’s product roadmap, with an emphasis on Edge AI workloads, expanded security capabilities, and features to meet evolving compliance requirements.

XBuild: $19 Million Series A Raised And AI-Based Residential Roofing Estimate Product Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

XBuild, an AI estimating platform built for construction contractors, has raised $19 million in a Series A round led by N47, with participation from Rackhouse Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The company said it will use the new capital to expand beyond roofing into additional construction estimating categories, including concrete, landscaping, painting, windows and doors, glass and glazing, insulation, HVAC, and plumbing.

Atlas Invest: $25 Million Raised To Expand AI-Driven Commercial Real Estate Private Credit Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Atlas Invest has raised $25 million in funding led by BlackRock as it looks to scale its technology-enabled approach to commercial real estate bridge lending and broaden access to institutional-style real estate debt opportunities. The New York-based lender said the raise will support expanded origination and management of senior, real estate-backed loans while strengthening underwriting, monitoring, and servicing capabilities across its portfolio.

Emergent Lands $70 Million Series B As ARR Hits $50 Million In 7 Months

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Emergent, an AI-driven software creation platform that helps users build full-stack web and mobile applications, has raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Khosla Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the company said Tuesday.

Humans& Raises $480 Million Seed Funding At $4.48 Billion Valuation For Building Human-Centric AI Collaboration Tools

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Today humans& announced it officially launching, which is a new company founded by leading researchers from Google, Anthropic, xAI, OpenAI, Meta, and other top labs and academic institutions. In an announcement sent to Pulse 2.0, the company said it has raised $480 million in a seed round of funding at a valuation of $4.48 billion. The round was led by SV Angel and co-founder Georges Harik, with participation from NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos, GV (Google Ventures), Emerson Collective, Forerunner, S32, DCVC, Human Capital, Felicis, and CRV, among others. And this financing is one of the largest seed rounds in the AI industry.

MelodyArc: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO James McHenry About The AI Operator Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

MelodyArc builds a platform for designing and deploying “AI Operators” (agentic AI systems) that can reason, execute workflows, and collaborate across real business tools, data, and teams. Pulse 2.0 interviewed MelodyArc co-founder and CEO James McHenry to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Vertus Hits $1 Billion Daily AI Trading Volume And Posts 51.15% 2025 Return With 2.13 Sharpe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Vertus announced it surpassed $1 billion in daily AI-driven trading transactions and delivered a 51.15% return in 2025, posting a Sharpe ratio of 2.13, as the company positioned its systems as a step forward for “machine reasoning” in live financial markets.

Pennylane Raises €175 Million To Expand AI And E-Invoicing Push Across Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Pennylane has raised €175 million in a funding round led by TCV, with participation from Blackstone Growth, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, CapitalG, and Meritech Capital, as the company seeks to position itself as a leading “financial operating system” for European businesses. Bloomberg revealed that the funding round was at a $4.25 billion valuation.

Prudential Advisors Adds AI-Driven Lead Scoring And GenAI Insights To Advisor Leads Program

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

Prudential Advisors, the retail distribution business of Prudential Financial, announced it has enhanced its Advisor Leads program by embedding artificial intelligence and data science across the full lead lifecycle to improve lead quality and increase conversion rates for its advisor force.

BioCatch: Interview With VP Of Product Marketing Raj Dasgupta About The Fraud Detection Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 20, 2026

BioCatch is a digital fraud detection company that uses AI-driven behavioral biometric intelligence to analyze user interactions—such as keystroke dynamics and mouse movements—to distinguish between legitimate customers and potential cybercriminals. Pulse 2.0 interviewed BioCatch VP of Product Marketing Raj Dasgupta to learn more.

Sharon AI Enters Strategic $200 Million Investment Partnership With Digital Alpha

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 19, 2026

SharonAI Holdings and its subsidiaries announced it has entered a strategic investment partnership with Digital Alpha that could provide up to $200 million of equity and revenue-share capital, alongside an exclusive technology partnership with Cisco aimed at scaling AI and high-performance cloud compute infrastructure across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.