Innovation

Nearfield Instruments Raises $380 Million Series D At $1.6 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Nearfield Instruments announced that it has closed a $380 million Series D funding round. The financing values the company at $1.6 billion. Nearfield said the round is the largest deep-tech funding round ever completed in the Netherlands. The round was led by new investor Fidelity Management & Research Company, along with Temasek, Walden Catalyst Ventures, Innovation Industries, M&G Investments, and Invest-NL.

DeepSeek Reportedly Raises $7.4 Billion At More Than $50 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

DeepSeek has reportedly raised more than $7.4 billion in its first external funding round, according to The WSJ.

J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions Names Ben Walter As CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

J.P. Morgan Workplace Solutions announced that Ben Walter will join the business as its new CEO.

Pierstone Wealth Management Launches Independent Advisory Firm In New York City

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Pierstone Wealth Management announced the launch of its new independent advisory firm. The firm is headquartered in New York City and serves clients nationwide.

AMD Acquires MEXT To Advance Memory Optimization

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

AMD announced that it has acquired MEXT, a developer of AI-driven memory optimization technology. The acquisition expands AMD’s AI portfolio and adds memory optimization technology designed to improve performance, reduce total cost of ownership, and accelerate deployment for customers.

MSP Sports Capital Acquires Majority Stake In New Zealand SailGP Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Investcorp To Acquire Majority Stake In Smart Managed Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Investcorp announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Smart Managed Solutions. Smart is a UK provider of mechanical and electrical facilities management services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Bain Reportedly Testing Software Takeover Targets With AI-Generated Replicas

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Bain & Company is reportedly using AI-generated replicas of software products to help private equity investors evaluate acquisition targets.

Pollen Street Capital To Acquire Universal Banking From Finastra

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Pollen Street Capital announced that it will acquire Universal Banking, Finastra’s global core banking software business.

Ploy Raises $27 Million Seed Round To Launch AI Growth Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Ploy announced that it has launched out of stealth with a $27 million seed round. The round was led by First Round Capital and Y Combinator.

Renaiss Raises $1.5 Million To Build RWA Infrastructure For Collectibles

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Renaiss announced that it has raised $1.5 million in its first funding round. The round was led by YZi Labs, with participation from Gate Ventures, Hash Global, XIN Family, Redline Labs, and angel investors from Mask Network, Far East Group, Logoman, Hoopi, and Legit App.

Tugboat Raises $3 Million Seed Round To Expand Insurance Claim Support Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Tugboat announced that it has raised an oversubscribed $3 million seed round to scale its consumer insurance support platform. The round was led by ResilienceVC, with participation from South Dakota First, gener8tor, Sure Ventures, Acumen America, and other strategic investors.

NASA Announces Public-Private Partnership With Relativity Space To Advance Mars Science

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

NASA announced a new public-private partnership with Relativity Space to advance Mars science.

KPMG Invests In Incentify To Expand AI-Powered Credits And Incentives Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

KPMG announced a minority equity investment in Incentify, a provider of AI-powered credits and incentives technology. The investment expands a collaboration between KPMG and Incentify focused on helping organizations identify and manage credits, grants, and incentives across more than 120 countries.

Volato Closes $2.2 Million PIPE Financing Priced At $0.34 Per Share

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Volato Group announced that it has closed a $2.2 million private investment in public equity financing. The PIPE financing was priced at $0.34 per share.

Kvasir Technologies Raises €10 Million To Accelerate Climate-Neutral Marine Fuel Commercialization

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Optro Expands To Singapore To Deliver Agentic GRC Across APAC

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Optro announced its expansion into Singapore, establishing the company’s newest regional center to support customers across the Asia Pacific.

Becausal: Interview With CEO Avi Chai Outmezguine About the Causal AI Audience Intelligence Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Becausal is a causal AI-powered audience intelligence and measurement company redefining how brands understand consumer behavior and measure marketing impact. Built on privacy-first principles, transparent data practices, and auditable measurement, Becausal helps brands, retailers, agencies, and CPG companies move beyond black-box predictive models to better understand the drivers of consumer purchase behavior and real-world sales lift. Using deterministic purchase-signal data, causal inference modeling, and transparent data provenance, Becausal delivers actionable, accountable insights designed to help organizations measure and understand what influences consumer decisions, setting a new standard for ethical, explainable, and high-performance audience intelligence. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Becausal CEO Avi Chai Outmezguine to learn more.

Global Work AI: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Alex Chepovoi About The AI-Based Job Search Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2026

Global Work AI is a job-search platform that helps job seekers find and apply for remote roles using artificial intelligence. It operates a jobs aggregator that scans multiple sources to match candidates with verified openings and provides AI tools to automate applications, tailor resumes, and prepare for interviews. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Global Work AI co-founder and CEO Alex Chepovoi to learn more.

Horizon Petroleum Appoints John D. Wright To Board Of Directors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Horizon Petroleum announced that John D. Wright has been appointed to the company’s Board of

Nike Announces John Rogers Jr. To Retire From Board Of Directors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Nike announced that John Rogers Jr. will retire from the company’s Board of Directors. Rogers has served as a Nike director since 2018. He has decided not to stand for re-election at the company’s September 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Stoic: Interview With CEO Oseas Ramirez About The Leadership Development Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

EBI Acquires Xstim To Expand Bone Growth Stimulation Portfolio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

EBI announced that it has acquired Xstim, a division of Precision Medical Products focused on developing next-generation bone growth stimulation solutions.

Penske Media To Acquire More Vox Brands, Including The Verge, Eater, And SB Nation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Penske Media Corporation announced that it has agreed to acquire several Vox Media brands, including Eater, The Verge, SB Nation, Popsugar, The Dodo, Punch, and Thrillist.

Energy Fuels Receives Conditional $725 Million Financing Commitment From U.S. Government

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Energy Fuels announced that it has received a conditional financing commitment for up to $725 million from the Department of War’s U.S. Office of Strategic Capital. The senior-secured debt financing is intended to support the expansion of Energy Fuels’ U.S. rare earths and critical materials production and processing capabilities.

Abarca Health And LucyRx Announce Strategic Combination To Create Modern Independent PBM

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Abarca Health and LucyRx announced a strategic combination to create a modern independent pharmacy benefit manager designed to serve commercial and government clients at scale.

Premium Guard Completes Phase 2 Acquisition Of First Brands Group Assets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Premium Guard announced that it has completed Phase 2 of its acquisition of key assets from First Brands Group.

Moeris Acquires Stay Safe Traffic Control

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Moeris announced that it has acquired Stay Safe Traffic Control, a provider of work zone safety and traffic control services based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Silver Point Leads $500 Million Term Loan Financing Supporting REPAY’s Acquisition Of KUBRA

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2026

Silver Point Capital announced that its Direct Lending business led a $500 million term loan financing in connection with REPAY’s acquisition of KUBRA. Silver Point is serving as the documentation agent in the transaction.

Dream Raises $260 Million At $3 Billion Valuation For Sovereign AI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2026

Dream announced that it has raised $260 million in funding to expand its sovereign AI and cyber defense platforms for governments and critical infrastructure. The round was co-led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11, with participation from Antler, Bain Capital Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners, and other global investors. The financing values Dream at $3 billion, three years after the company was founded.