Innovation

iCapital To Buy Citi Wealth’s Alternative Investments Feeder Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

iCapital (a global fintech platform transforming the world’s investment industry for better outcomes) and Citi announced that iCapital is acquiring from Citi one of its indirect subsidiaries Citi Global Alternatives, the advisor to Citi Wealth’s global alternative investment fund platform.

Perion Buying Greenbids For Up To $65 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Perion Network (a leader in advanced technology for solving the complexities of modern advertising) announced the acquisition of Greenbids, an AI platform that creates custom algorithms for campaign-level optimization across walled garden platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram and leading DSPs like Google DV360 and The Trade Desk.

Northleaf: $2.6 Billion Infrastructure Fund Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Northleaf Capital Partners announced the final closing of its latest infrastructure fund, Northleaf Infrastructure Capital Partners IV (NICP IV). The fund exceeded its target of $2.25 billion and hit its hard cap of $2.6 billion. This fund is Northleaf’s largest infrastructure vehicle to date, underscoring the growth and consistent performance of the firm’s mid-market platform.

ClearVector: $13 Million Series A Raised For Advancing Identity-Driven Cybersecurity Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

ClearVector, a creator of identity-driven security, announced its $13 million Series A financing to advance its mission to redefine cybersecurity by shifting the focus to identity-driven security. The funding round was led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Okta Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, and existing investor Menlo Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $16 million.

Blank Beauty: $6 Million Series A Raised For Personalized Beauty Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Blank Beauty, a technology company providing on-demand beauty customization using AI and robotics, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $6 million Series A financing, led by Evolution VC Partners, Kirker Enterprises, and EPSON.

Rentsync: Significant Growth Investment Raised For Serving Rental Housing Industry

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Rentsync, a leading software and data company serving Canada’s rental housing industry, announced it has raised a significant growth investment led by Silversmith Capital Partners. This partnership with Silversmith enables the company to further invest in technology, expand its team, and pursue strategic acquisitions as it builds a comprehensive data, software, and analytics platform to address the challenges of Canada’s rental housing ecosystem.

A100x: $50 Million Fund II Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

A100x announced its second fund, a $50 million vehicle dedicated to supporting aspiring early stage founders in artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and blockchain, and is strategically designed to foster the next generation of companies that are building applications and middleware to solve real world challenges and foster enterprise and consumer adoption. And there is no better time than during this US administration to support these technologies.

Whalar Group: Strategic Investment Raised From Marc Benioff, Shopify, And Neal H. Moritz

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Whalar Group, which is the global Creator company on a mission to liberate the creative voice, announced that they have secured strategic investment from a group of powerhouse investors: Marc Benioff the visionary founder of Salesforce, Shopify, and Neal H. Moritz the acclaimed Hollywood producer & founder of Original Film.

Acuren And NV5 Merging In $1.7 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Acuren and NV5 Global announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine the two companies. This merger created an industry-leading $2 billion combined revenue for TICC and engineering services company.

Infinity Capital Partners Buying Soundlink Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Infinity Capital Partners - a leading provider of alternative investment solutions for registered investment advisers, family offices, and institutional allocators - announced the strategic acquisition of Soundlink Partners, a boutique investment firm known for its deep specialization in healthcare-focused investment strategies.

Cofactr Buying Custom Hardware Sourcing Solution Cogbase

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Cofactr (a source-to-pay and logistics platform for critical hardware manufacturers) announced the acquisition of hardware sourcing platform Cogbase.

Prosus: Acquisition Of Despegar Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Prosus (a global technology company) and Despegar (Latin America’s leading online travel agency) jointly announced the completion of Prosus’s acquisition of Despegar at a purchase price of $19.50 per share.

Owner: $120 Million Series C Raised At $1 Billion Valuation For Helping Restaurants Grow

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Owner announced it is raising $120 million in Series C at a $1 billion valuation. The company aims to create a “Shopify” for local businesses, starting with restaurants. The funding round was co-led by Alex Kurland of Meritech and Shalini Rao of Headline.

Vistra Buying Natural Gas Assets In $1.9 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Vistra announced that it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire seven modern natural gas generation facilities, totaling approximately 2,600 MW of capacity, from Lotus Infrastructure Partners, as part of $1.9 billion deal.

Wireless Logic: General Atlantic Named As Minority Shareholder At £3.5 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Wireless Logic - a leading independent global Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider - announced it welcomed General Atlantic, a leading global investor as a new minority shareholder, through investment from the firm’s BeyondNetZero climate growth equity fund. And the company’s existing shareholder Montagu (a leading mid-market private equity firm) will remain the majority shareholder, reinvesting alongside General Atlantic.

Origin: $21 Million Series A Raised For Global Benefits Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Origin, the world’s first Global Benefits Intelligence platform, announced it officially launched and it has raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Felix Capital, with participation from Acadian Ventures and Notion Capital. And additional investment has been secured from Tudor Havriliuc (former VP of HR at Meta), Paul Daugherty (enterprise AI author) and recently retired CTO of Accenture), Jacqui Canney (CHRO at ServiceNow), and Laura Modiano (Startups Lead for OpenAI in EMEA). The funding round values Origin at $106 million and will advance the company's goal to transform the global benefits industry by providing HR and benefits.

Azafaros: €132 Million Secured To Develop Treatments For Lysosomal Storage Disorders

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Azafaros, a clinical-stage company focused on developing disease-modifying therapeutics to offer new treatment options to patients with rare lysosomal storage disorders, announced the completion of an oversubscribed €132 million Series B financing led by Jeito Capital, co-led by Forbion Growth, and with additional participation from Seroba, Pictet Group and existing investors Forbion Ventures, Schroders Capital and BioGeneration Ventures (BGV).

Optimal Dynamics: $40 Million Series C Raised For Scaling Logisitics Decision Layers

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Optimal Dynamics, a leader in artificial decision intelligence for trucking companies, announced a $40 million Series C financing round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. This funding emphasizes Optimal Dynamics' bold vision to fundamentally reshape decision-making across the trucking industry by building the first-ever autonomous decision layer of logistics.

Colovore: $925 Million Facility Closed With Blackstone

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Colovore, a leading owner and operator of ultra-dense and liquid-cooled data centers purpose-built for enterprise AI infrastructure in the metro edge, announced the closing of a $925 million debt facility provided by Blackstone funds. This milestone also marked a successful year for Colovore since affiliates of King Street Capital Management acquired the company to accelerate its development of new AI data centers across metro edge markets.

PhaseV: $50 Million Series A Closed For Clinical Development Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

PhaseV, a leader in AI/ML-driven clinical development, announced the completion of a $50 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Accel and Insight Partners, and existing investors Viola Ventures, EXOR, and LionBird participated. This brings the company's total funding to $65 million.

Stord: $200+ Million Raised At $1.5 Billion Valuation For Commerce-Enabling Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for omnichannel brands, announced that it has raised more than $200 million in financing. This Series E equity funding is led by Strike Capital, with additional support via growth debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, and ORIX USA. New investors, Baillie Gifford, NewView Capital, G Squared, and Georgia Tech Foundation, joined the round and existing investors, Kleiner Perkins, Franklin Templeton, Founders Fund, Bond, Sozo, 137, and Lux, also participated. And the funding round raised Stord’s valuation to $1.5 billion, reflecting the company’s growth trajectory.

Proofpoint Signs Deal To Buy Hornetsecurity

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Proofpoint (a leading cybersecurity and compliance company) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Hornetsecurity Group, a leading pan-European provider of AI-powered Microsoft 365 (M365) security, data protection, compliance, and security awareness services.

DiffuseDrive: $3.5 Million Raised For Physical AI Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

DiffuseDrive, a next-generation physical AI company, announced a double milestone, raising $3.5 million in seed funding and multiple successful deployments with Fortune 500 companies. And the company’s breakthrough generative AI platform turns data scarcity into data abundance automating photorealistic content in hours giving enterprises a competitive edge.

Dazos: $25 Million Series A Raised For Advancing Product Development Of Health Providers

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Dazos, an all-in-one CRM platform for behavioral health providers, announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding from Radian Capital.

Halmos Capital: Interview With Founder And Partner Andrew Cohan About The Collaborative Private Equity Firm

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2025

Halmos Capital Partners is a boutique private investment firm based in Florida that strives to generate attractive returns through opportunistic situations with an operational focus. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Halmos Capital founder and partner Andrew Cohan to learn more about the firm.

Imprint Labs: $15 Million Raised For Decoding The Immune System

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2025

Imprint Labs, a new nonprofit initiative, announced it has raised $15 million in philanthropic funding to advance its work to decode the body's immune memory and uncover the causes of chronic diseases.

Carbonsix: $4 Million Seed Funding Raised For AI-Based Manipulation For Manufacturing

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2025

CarbonSix - a robotics startup specializing in AI-powered manipulation for manufacturing - announced it has raised $4 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Foothill Ventures and Storm Ventures, with participation from Zeitgeist Capital and Korean VC Xquared.

Sproutr: Seed Funding Raised For Transforming Standards In Insurance Program

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2025

Sproutr, a boutique insurance product design and build firm, announced the closing of its seed round led by Altai Ventures, one of the leading specialists fintech venture capital firms.

Adyton: $11 Million Secured For Digitizing And Automating Operational Processes

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2025

Adyton announced $11 million in funding, led by Venrock with participation from Khosla Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Initialized Capital, Kindred Ventures, and Leblon Capital. The company also revealed a multi-year deal worth up to $7M with U.S. Naval Aviation to deploy its technology, the Adyton Operations Kit (AOK), to thousands of sailors on multiple aircraft carriers, including the USS Stennis.

PX3 Partners: Fund I Closed At Hard Cap Of €500 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2025

PX3 Partners, a London-headquartered private equity firm, announced that it has held a final close of its inaugural PX3 Partners Fund I at its hard cap of €500 million. The successful conclusion of the fundraising brings PX3 Partners' total assets under management to €1.1 billion.