Innovation

Runway: $315 Million Series E Secured For AI Video Generation Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Runway, an AI video generation and world modeling company, announced that it has raised $315 million in a Series E funding round to accelerate the development of next-generation world models and expand its product capabilities across industries.

Apptronik: $935+ Million Series A Raised For AI-Based Robotics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Apptronik, an AI-powered robotics company, announced it has closed a $520 million Series A-X extension round, bringing its total Series A funding to more than $935 million and total capital raised to nearly $1 billion. The latest round includes participation from existing investors such as B Capital, Google, Mercedes-Benz, and PEAK6, as well as new investors AT&T Ventures, John Deere, and Qatar Investment Authority.

Meridian: $17 Million Seed Funding Raised To Automate Excel-Based Financial Modeling

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Meridian, an AI startup focused on automating repetitive financial modeling workflows, has announced a $17 million seed funding round as it emerges from stealth. The $17 million seed round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and The General Partnership. Additional investors include QED Investors, FPV Ventures, and Litquidity, among others.

Exact Imaging: $10 Million Raised For Prostate Cancer Detection Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Exact Imaging, a developer of high-resolution micro-ultrasound systems for urologic imaging, announced the closing of a $10 million financing round led by iGan Partners. The funding will be used to accelerate global sales and adoption of the company’s flagship ExactVu™ prostate biopsy system.

Didero: $30 Million Secured To Automate Global Supply Chains

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Didero, a New York-based software company using AI agents to automate enterprise procurement, announced it has raised $30 million in a Series A financing round co-led by Chemistry and Headline, with participation from M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund. The new capital will support product development and go-to-market expansion as manufacturers and distributors deploy Didero’s platform to reduce manual work, improve visibility, and operate more resilient global supply chains.

Bracket: $7 Million Seed Funding Raised To Build AI-Native Treasury Infrastructure For Mid-Market Finance Teams

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Bracket, a London-based fintech focused on modernizing treasury operations for mid-market companies, has closed a $7 million seed funding round led by Macquarie Group and Blackfinch Ventures, with existing investor Failup Ventures increasing its commitment. The company said the capital will be used to accelerate its mission of delivering AI-native treasury infrastructure designed specifically for mid-sized finance teams that have historically relied on fragmented systems and manual processes.

Open World And VerifyMe To Merge In Nasdaq-Listed Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

VerifyMe, a provider of authentication and precision logistics technologies, and Open World Ltd., a blockchain infrastructure and real-world asset tokenization platform, have signed a definitive Agreement and Plan of Merger. The transaction is designed to create a Nasdaq-listed, institutional-grade real-world asset tokenization company focused on regulated digital asset infrastructure.

The Idea Village: Interview With CEO Jon Atkinson About The Startup Support Nonprofit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

The Idea Village is a New Orleans-based nonprofit that builds and supports a thriving startup ecosystem by providing accelerator programs, mentorship, and resources to help founders launch and scale innovative businesses, fostering economic growth in the region. Pulse 2.0 interviewed The Idea Village CEO Jon Atkinson to learn more.

Santé: Wine And Spirits Fintech Platform Raises $7.6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Santé, a fintech platform serving the wine and spirits industry, announced it has raised $7.6 million in funding led by Bonfire Ventures, with participation from Operator Collective, Y Combinator, and Veridical Ventures. The company plans to use the capital to expand its sales team and develop new products tailored to grocers and other retailers with complex commercial operations.

Keycard Acquires Anchor.dev To Unlock Autonomous Coding Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Keycard, the identity and access platform for AI agents, announced it has acquired Anchor.dev to extend its platform to govern coding agents and eliminate tradeoffs between autonomy, capability and security. The deal brings in the Anchor.dev team, a stealth startup focused on automatic certificate issuance and validation, with experience building trusted infrastructure at companies such as Cloudflare, GitHub, and Heroku.

Uptiq: $25 Million Series B Raised To Scale Industry-Ready Solutions And Launch Qore For Builders

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Uptiq, an AI platform purpose-built for financial services, announced it has raised $25 million in Series B funding to accelerate the rollout of its industry-ready AI applications and expand its Qore orchestration platform for developers and builders. The round was led by Curql, with participation from Silverton Partners, 645 Ventures, Broadridge, Green Visor Capital, Live Oak Ventures, First Capital, Epic Ventures, Tau Ventures, and Evolution VC.

RBC Wealth Management Expands Echelon Lifestyle Services Platform For Ultra-High-Net-Worth Clients

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

RBC Wealth Management announced the expansion of RBC Echelon, its premier platform for ultra-high-net-worth clients, with the addition of three industry-leading lifestyle services providers: a luxury travel concierge, a premium collections storage and logistics specialist, and expanded fine art advisory services that now include collectibles and appraisal support. The additions bring the curated RBC Echelon network to 16 external providers.

Backslash Security: $19 Million Series A Raised For Protecting AI-Driven Software Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Backslash Security has raised $19 million in Series A funding to address the fast-emerging security risks tied to AI-native software development, as enterprises increasingly adopt autonomous coding agents and large language models across their development workflows. The round was led by KOMPAS VC, with participation from Maniv and Artofin Venture Capital, as well as existing investors StageOne Ventures and First Rays Capital.

Dynamic Core Capital Partners Closes $240 Million Oversubscribed SBIC Buyout Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Dynamic Core Capital Partners, the rebranded identity of Dubin Clark, announced the closing of DC Small Business Fund, LP at $240 million, exceeding its original $200 million target. The firm’s inaugural Small Business Investment Company fund was oversubscribed, signaling strong investor demand for its lower middle market buyout strategy.

TRUCE Software Closes Series B For Mobile-First AI Video Telematics Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

TRUCE Software has closed a Series B funding round to accelerate growth as it expands two recently launched product suites spanning commercial vehicle fleets and K-12 schools. Financial terms were not disclosed. The round was led by Yttrium, with participation from existing institutional investors Allomer Capital Group and New Amsterdam Growth Capital.

Alva Energy Launches With $33 Million Series A To Unlock 10 GWe Of U.S. Reactor Capacity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Alva Energy launched with $33 million in Series A funding led by Playground Global, positioning itself as a nuclear energy company focused on boosting power output from the existing U.S. reactor fleet to meet rising electricity demand from AI data centers and other industrial uses. The Cambridge, Massachusetts based startup said its approach offers a faster and lower cost path to expanding clean, firm power than building new nuclear plants, with a timeline and cost profile it argues can be competitive with gas fired generation.

OncoRes Medical Closes A$27 Million Private Round To Advance Elora QME Imaging System And U.S. FDA Pathway

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

OncoRes Medical has closed an AUD $27 million private funding round to advance clinical development and regulatory milestones for its Quantitative Micro-Elastography (QME) Imaging System, Elora, as the Perth-based medical device company builds toward U.S. entry and FDA approval.

Bearing: $4.5 Million Seed Funding Raised For Scaling On The ServiceNow AI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Bearing, a physical security operations software company built natively on ServiceNow, has closed an oversubscribed $4.5 million seed round to support team growth and accelerate product development aimed at automating physical security workflows with ServiceNow AI Agents. The round was led by AZ-VC, with continued investment from High Alpha and participation from PHX Ventures and Lightbank.

Garden City Equity Raises $255 Million For ‘People First’ Investment Strategy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 15, 2026

Garden City Equity, a people-first holding company focused on acquiring and growing family- and founder-owned businesses for the long term, said it has raised $255 million for its next tranche of investments. The firm targets lower middle-market businesses in the South and Southwest United States with up to $25 million of EBITDA.

Industrial Service Solutions Acquires MSHS Pacific Power Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Industrial Service Solutions (ISS) has acquired MSHS Pacific Power Group (MSHS PPG), an independent maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) specialist serving power generation, industrial, marine, and national security customers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Careerminds Buys Keystone Partners, Renovo, Job Copilot, And Outplacement Australia In Multi-Company Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Careerminds has acquired Keystone Partners, Renovo, Job Copilot, and Outplacement Australia, assembling a portfolio of career transition and talent solutions businesses spanning North America, the UK, and Australia as it pushes to build a larger, end-to-end workforce solutions platform.

HUMAIN Launches Sports Vertical After Taking Controlling Stake In ai.io

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

HUMAIN, a Public Investment Fund-backed artificial intelligence company, has launched a new sports technology vertical called HUMAIN Sport following its acquisition of a controlling interest in ai.io, a London-headquartered AI and sports technology company.

Rep Data Buys ReDem To Combine Pre Survey And In Survey Fraud Controls

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Rep Data, a full-service market research and data quality solutions provider, has acquired ReDem, an in-survey data quality platform, in a deal aimed at bringing pre-survey and in-survey controls into a single end-to-end approach for survey quality assurance. The companies said the combined offering is designed to identify and stop bots, AI-assisted survey takers, professional respondents, duplicate behavior, and other signals associated with low-quality or fraudulent responses across the entire survey lifecycle.

Simplicity Buys Wholehan Marketing And Adds Two New Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Simplicity Group announced it has acquired Wholehan Marketing, a brokerage general agency that provides a range of financial products across life insurance, annuities, disability income, long-term care, and advanced market support. Wholehan has offices in Tampa, Florida, and Toledo, Ohio.

Supreme Group Buys Science-First Creative Agency Broth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Supreme Group, a marketing and communications platform for healthcare and life sciences, has acquired Broth, a science-first creative agency focused on evidence-driven strategy and creative work in complex therapeutic areas.

Wonder Buys Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken Brand And East Village Restaurant

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Wonder has acquired Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, taking full ownership of the New York City-based fast-casual concept from Blue Ribbon Restaurants as it continues building a portfolio of restaurant brands designed to scale across its broader mealtime platform.

Nickolas Asset Management Buys Resin Processing Facility From Material Difference Technologies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Nickolas Asset Management (NAM) has acquired a resin processing and materials facility from Material Difference Technologies (MDT), a Florida-based supplier and processor of plastic resins serving industrial and consumer manufacturing markets. The deal adds a 120,000-square-foot operation with the ability to process millions of pounds of reprocessed plastic resins annually, expanding NAM’s materials platform and reinforcing the firm’s emphasis on asset- and infrastructure-heavy manufacturing.

Overmind Exits Stealth With £2 Million Seed to Supervise AI Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Overmind, a London-based startup building a “supervision layer” for AI agents, has emerged from stealth with a £2 million seed round to help companies deploy agentic AI more safely in production environments.

Sable Bio Raises $3.75 Million Seed To Scale Target Safety Assessment Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

Sable Bio, a London-based AI startup focused on drug safety, has raised $3.75 million in seed funding to expand its platform designed to help pharmaceutical companies identify safety risks earlier in drug discovery. The round was led by MMC Ventures, with participation from existing investors Episode 1 Ventures and Seedcamp.

DentalMonitoring: $100 Million Secured For AI-Based Remote Orthodontic Monitoring Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 14, 2026

DentalMonitoring has secured a combined $100 million investment led by Lazard Elaia Capital, with participation from ISALT through its Fonds Stratégique des Transitions, as the company looks to accelerate international growth and AI-driven product development. The Paris-based company said the financing follows its achievement of operational profitability in 2025 and reflects continued investor interest in orthodontics and the broader dental market.