Innovation

VB Spine Acquires Stryker’s Cestas Spine Implant Plant, Expanding Global Manufacturing Footprint

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 7, 2026

VB Spine has completed its acquisition of Stryker’s spine implant manufacturing facility in Cestas, France, adding a European production hub that the company said will become a central pillar of its global manufacturing strategy.

i80 Group Buys $250 Million Re-Performing Auto Loan Portfolio From Global Lender

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 7, 2026

i80 Group announced it has acquired a $250 million portfolio of re-performing auto loans from a systemically important global financial institution, marking another transaction as the New York-based firm expands its activity in asset-based finance and structured credit.

Greenbriar Equity Group Buys eShipping To Back Expansion Of Managed Transportation Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 7, 2026

Greenbriar Equity Group announced funds it manages have completed the acquisition of eShipping, a provider of managed transportation services and supply chain technology that helps shippers plan, execute, and optimize freight across a range of modes. Financial terms of the privately negotiated transaction were not disclosed.

Concentric Acquires Critical Components to Expand Data Center Power and Cooling Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Concentric has acquired Atlanta-based Critical Components Inc. (CCI) to broaden its capabilities in critical power and precision cooling for data center infrastructure and to extend its service footprint nationally.

Coalesce Capital Takes Majority Stake In Valuation Firm Marshall & Stevens

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Coalesce Capital, a private equity firm focused on human capital-driven and technology-enabled services businesses, has made a majority investment in Marshall & Stevens, an independent valuation advisory firm known for appraisal, litigation support, and transaction consulting work.

CapStone Acquires Structurely To Expand AI-Driven Sales Automation Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

CapStone Holdings announced it has acquired Structurely, an AI-powered sales engagement company focused on automating early-stage revenue conversations for real estate and mortgage organizations. The deal positions Structurely for expanded investment and faster growth as enterprises increasingly adopt AI to improve sales efficiency and customer engagement.

Magnet Defense Buys Metal Shark To Scale AI-Enabled Unmanned Surface Vessels

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Magnet Defense announced it has completed its acquisition of Metal Shark, combining Magnet Defense’s autonomous, AI-enabled maritime platform development with Metal Shark’s established shipbuilding footprint and production workforce. The companies positioned the transaction as a move to accelerate delivery of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for national security missions spanning fleet operations and missile defense, while also strengthening U.S. industrial capacity to build modern maritime platforms at scale.

Pluto Raises $8.6 Million And Launches AI-Powered Lending Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Pluto Financial Technologies has launched what it describes as the first AI-powered lending platform purpose-built for private markets, aiming to help investors access liquidity without selling private fund positions. The New York-based company said it is backed by Motive Ventures, Portage, Apollo Global Management, Hamilton Lane, Tectonic Ventures, and Broadhaven Ventures, and has raised $8.6 million in equity alongside securing “hundreds of millions” in lending capacity.

EP Wealth Advisors Expands In Arizona With Capital Insight Partners Partnership

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

EP Wealth Advisors (EP Wealth), a fee-only registered investment advisor, has partnered with Capital Insight Partners (CIP), a Scottsdale-based wealth management firm overseeing more than $730 million in assets under management, as EP Wealth continues to build out its presence in Arizona.

Heartwood Partners Sells Sur-Seal To Brodie Generational Capital Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Heartwood Partners announced it has completed the sale of Sur-Seal to Brodie Generational Capital Partners (BGCP), marking the private equity firm’s fifth exit over the past 13 months. The transaction was executed by Heartwood Partners III, LP (Fund III) and affiliated entities.

Broadridge Closes Acolin Deal To Expand Cross-Border Fund Distribution And Compliance Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Broadridge Financial Solutions has completed its previously announced acquisition of Acolin, a Zurich-based provider of cross-border fund distribution and regulatory services, as the fintech provider deepens its push into data-driven solutions for global asset managers.

CoreX Acquires InSource’s ServiceNow Unit To Scale AI-Enabled Delivery Across the Americas

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

CoreX, a ServiceNow Elite Consulting and Implementation Partner backed by NewSpring Holdings, has completed the acquisition of InSource’s ServiceNow business unit, with the transaction closing in late December 2025. The deal combines two Elite Partners into a single organization aimed at meeting rising demand for end-to-end, AI-enabled ServiceNow transformations.

NinjaOne Tops $500 Million In ARR After Record FY2025

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

NinjaOne announced it closed fiscal year 2025 with annual recurring revenue surpassing $500 million, citing nearly 70% year-over-year ARR growth and demand for its Unified IT Operations Platform outpacing broader IT market growth. The company also reported expanding its customer base more than 60% year over year to 35,000 customers across more than 140 countries.

Qualinx: €20 Million Raised To Scale Ultra-Low-Power GNSS Chip For The Connected Edge

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Qualinx, a Delft-based European fabless semiconductor company, raised €20 million in funding led by Invest-NL, with participation from existing investors FORWARD.one, InnovationQuarter Capital and Waterman Ventures. The round brings Qualinx’s total funding to date to €40 million.

Lindsay Goldberg: Oversubscribed $4.9 Billion Fund VI Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Lindsay Goldberg has raised $4.9 billion for its sixth flagship fund, an oversubscribed close that exceeded the firm’s $4.0 billion target and marked a step-up in scale versus its prior vehicle. The fund, Lindsay Goldberg VI L.P. and related vehicles (collectively Fund VI), closed more than 40% larger than Fund V, underscoring continued limited partner demand for the firm’s focused, relationship-driven approach to private equity investing.

Artis BioSolutions To Acquire Syngoi Technologies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Artis BioSolutions, a San Diego-based advanced-therapies development and manufacturing company, said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Syngoi Technologies, a Bilbao, Spain-based biotech developing enzymatic approaches for manufacturing synthetic DNA. The deal is intended to add faster, lower-cost synthetic DNA manufacturing to Artis’ broader “gene-to-drug” platform spanning early development through clinical manufacturing.

Capitol Meridian Partners And Stellex Capital Management Complete Acquisition Of Beaufort

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Capitol Meridian Partners and Stellex Capital Management have completed their carve-out acquisition of Beaufort, the aerospace and defense survival equipment division of Survitec, establishing Beaufort as an independent survival technologies platform backed by long-term private equity investment.

Windjammer Capital Acquires Specialty Chemicals Maker MFG Chemical From Platte River Equity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Windjammer Capital has acquired MFG Chemical, a developer and manufacturer of specialty chemicals that supplies customers across water treatment and industrial coatings, the firm said. The deal adds another platform investment for Windjammer in engineered, mission-critical industrial products and positions MFG for an expansion plan centered on operational improvements, new product development, and potential add-on acquisitions.

Matrix One Buys Simploud To Add QMS and LIMS Software For Regulated Life Sciences Teams

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Matrix One, a life sciences software provider backed by Lauxera Capital Partners, has acquired Simploud, a cloud-based maker of Quality Management System (QMS) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) software.

Armko Becomes Align Capital Partners’ New AEC Platform After Acquisition

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Align Capital Partners (ACP) has acquired Armko Industries, a Dallas–Fort Worth-based engineering consulting firm specializing in building envelope, roofing, and waterproofing consulting, and will build the business as its newest platform investment in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector.

Accenture To Buy UK AI Specialist Faculty

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Accenture has agreed to acquire Faculty, a U.K.-based AI-native services and products company, in a move designed to deepen Accenture’s applied AI bench and expand its ability to help clients redesign critical business processes with “safe and secure” AI. Accenture said the transaction will strengthen its capacity to deliver AI systems that produce tangible outcomes, particularly in high-stakes environments. In these mission-critical environments, reliability, governance, and accountability are central requirements.

Excel Engineering Announces Strategic Investment And Partnership With Fusion Capital Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Excel Engineering, a Diagonal, Iowa-based testing and certification firm serving North American original equipment manufacturers, has secured a strategic investment from Fusion Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on engineered products and services in the industrial sector. The partnership is intended to help Excel scale its business and broaden its technical capabilities as OEMs and industrial customers navigate increasingly complex regulatory requirements and the continued evolution of powertrain and battery technologies.

Solutions By Text Acquires Triple Play Pay To Expand FinText Payments And Embedded Commerce Capabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Solutions by Text announced it has acquired Triple Play Pay, a payments platform, in a move aimed at combining its compliance-first messaging capabilities with payment orchestration technology to provide a unified, compliant payments experience for consumer finance businesses and their customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Automated Logic Acquires CCG Automation To Expand Ohio Building Automation Footprint

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Automated Logic Contracting Services, part of Carrier Global Corporation, announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of CCG Automation, Inc., a building automation solutions provider headquartered in Richfield, Ohio, as it looks to expand its presence in the state.

Lupus Research Alliance Launches Lupus Ventures Philanthropic Fund To Back New SLE Therapies And Diagnostics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

The Lupus Research Alliance, the largest private funder of lupus research, said it has formed a philanthropic venture fund called Lupus Ventures to help advance treatments and diagnostics for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), its manifestations, and related autoimmune conditions.

xAI Raises $20 Billion Series E

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

xAI announced it has closed an upsized Series E funding round totaling $20 billion, surpassing its previously targeted $15 billion raise, as the company accelerates development of its AI models and the infrastructure behind them. The company said the financing included participation from Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among other investors. And xAI added that NVIDIA and Cisco Investments joined as strategic investors, backing efforts to scale compute capacity and expand what it described as some of the world’s largest GPU clusters.

LMArena: $150 Million At $1.7 Billion Valuation Raised To Expand Real-World AI Evaluation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

LMArena announced it has raised $150 million in new financing to expand its community-driven platform for evaluating frontier AI models, valuing the company at $1.7 billion post-money. The round was led by Felicis and UC Investments, the University of California’s investment office, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, The House Fund, LDVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Laude Ventures.

Waiākea Adds Tetairoa McMillan, Devin Williams, Jerami Grant As Athlete Investors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Waiākea Hawaiian Volcanic Beverages announced it has added three new athlete investors and “impact partners” as it continues to expand its roster of sports figures backing the Hawai‘i-based brand.

GSME: $35M Series B Raised To Expand Semiconductor Services Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

GS Microelectronics U.S. (GSME) announced it has raised $35 million in a Series B round led by Maverick Silicon, funding the company plans to use to expand its semiconductor services platform across advanced packaging, design enablement, and supply chain visibility.

H.I.G. Growth Partners Sells ProsperOps To Flexera In FinOps Automation Exit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

H.I.G. Growth Partners has completed the sale of ProsperOps, an Austin-based provider of autonomous cloud cost optimization software, to Flexera, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo.