Innovation

Vinyl Equity: $11.5 Million (Seed) Raised For Advancing Transfer Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Vinyl Equity, a transfer agent for public companies, announced today that it has raised $11.5 million in seed funding. Index Ventures and Spark Capital co-led the round, which also included Infinity Ventures, Cambrian Fintech, and other strategic angels.

Intel Selling Majority Stake In Altera To Silver Lake For $4.46 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Intel announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 51% of its Altera business to Silver Lake. The deal values Altera at $8.75 billion and establishes Altera’s operational independence, making it the largest pure-play FPGA (field programmable gate array) semiconductor solutions company. Altera provides a scalable architecture and tool chain focused on driving growth and FPGA innovation to meet the demands and opportunities of an AI-driven market. Intel will own the remaining 49% of Altera's business.

Akeyless: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Oded Hareven About The Identity Security Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Akeyless is redefining identity security for the modern enterprise, delivering the world's first unified Secrets & Machine Identity platform designed to prevent the #1 cause of breaches - compromised identities and secrets. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Akeyless co-founder and CEO Oded Hareven to learn more about the company.

Sports4Kids: Interview With Arden Pala About The Underserved Youth Nonprofit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Sports4Kids is a nonprofit that provides critical aid and opportunities to vulnerable youth. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Arden Pala to learn more about the nonprofit.

X-Bolt Trauma Orthopedics: Interview With Founder & CEO Dr. Brian Thornes About The Trauma Surgery Improvement Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

X-Bolt Trauma Orthopedics is a company that brings simplicity and efficiency to trauma surgery, whilst improving quality of life for patients. Pulse 2.0 interviewed X-Bolt Trauma Orthopedics founder and CEO Dr. Brian Thornes to learn more about the company.

8Flow: $10 Million (Series A) Raised For Enterprise Workflow Mapping Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

8Flow, an enterprise workflow mapping company, announced that it has secured a $10 million Series A investment. The funding round was led by Caffeinated Capital and includes strategic investments from ServiceNow Ventures and Okta, as well as participation from HNVR, Liquid2, FirsthandVC, and strategic angels.

Crisp Buying Atheon Analytics And ClearBox Analytics To Optimize Food Service Supply Chains

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Crisp, a collaborative commerce platform for retail data, announced the acquisition of two separate entities: Atheon Analytics (SKUtrak) and ClearBox Analytics (ClearView). Both companies are based in the United Kingdom and connect supply chain data across major retail chains and their consumer packaged goods (CPG) suppliers.

Artisan: $25 Million (Series A) Raised For Outbound Sales Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Artisan announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Glade Brook Capital, with participation from HubSpot Ventures, Oliver Jung, Day One Ventures, BOND, Soma Capital, Sequoia Scout, and others. Y Combinator also continued its support.

Aiper: $100 Million Investment Raised From Fluidra

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Aiper, a leader in cordless robotic pool cleaning, announces an agreement for a new financing round totaling $100 million. The investment was led by Fluidra (a leader in the global pool industry). And this round marks the start of a strategic alliance between the two companies.

Solix: $29.5 Million Raised For Transforming Decentralized Internet Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

Solix DePIN, a decentralized physical infrastructure networks company, announced it has secured $29.5 million in funding from Eclip Foundation. This funding will advance the development of Solix's groundbreaking MODEL CONTEXT PROTOCOL (MCP) technology, which enables intelligent bandwidth sharing without affecting users' internet experience.

nEye Systems: $72.5 Million Raised To Transform AI Infrastructure With Optical Switch Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 14, 2025

nEye Systems, an optical switch startup founded by UC Berkeley technologists, announced the completion of a $58 million Series B round of financing led by Alphabet’s independent growth fund CapitalG with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund); Micron Ventures; NVIDIA; and Socratic Partners. This funding brings the company’s total funding to $72.5 million. nEye had previously secured an unannounced Series A led by TEDA Holdings with support from Innolight Technology USA and additional Seed funds.

Topgolf Callaway: $290 Million Deal For Jack Wolfskin

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

Topgolf Callaway Brands has agreed to sell its Jack Wolfskin business to ANTA Sports for a base price of $290 million in cash, subject to net working capital and other customary adjustments. The deal is expected to close in the late second quarter or early third quarter of 2025 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of certain regulatory approvals.

Northern Gritstone: £50 Million Funding Raised To Invest In Life Sciences Companies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

Northern Gritstone is a deep-tech and life sciences investment firm founded with the support of the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds, and Manchester. The firm has announced its latest fundraise of £50 million from leading institutional investors, bringing its total permanent capital to £362 million.

Tessell: $60 Million (Series B) Closed For AI-Based Multi-Cloud Data Ecosystems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

Tessell, a next-generation multi-cloud database-as-a-service (DBaaS) that enables enterprises and startups to accelerate database, data, and application modernization journeys at scale, announced a $60 million Series B funding round, bringing total funding to $94 million. The funding round was led by WestBridge Capital, with continued strong participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and new investments from B37.vc and Rocketship.vc.

Broadstreet Partners: Ownership Position Acquired By Ethos Capital, BCI, And White Mountains

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

BroadStreet Partners, a leading North American insurance brokerage company, announced that an investor group led by Ethos Capital, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), and White Mountains Insurance Group will acquire an ownership position in BroadStreet. Under the terms of the deal, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will maintain a significant co-control stake and operate in partnership with the Ethos-led investor group.

Kassel Mechanical: $40 Million Investment Raised From Paceline Equity Partners Affiliate

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

An affiliate of Paceline Equity Partners (a Dallas-based private equity manager) announced that it has made a $40 million preferred equity investment in Kassel Mechanical Holdings.

Peak Mobile Holdings Acquiring New England Vascular Access

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

Peak Mobile Holdings, a leader in mobile healthcare services focused on preventing hospital admissions and readmissions, announced the acquisition of New England Vascular Access, a premier provider of mobile vascular access services across New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

Magna5 Buying Shock IT To Expand Managed IT And Cybersecurity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 13, 2025

Magna5 - a national provider of managed IT, cybersecurity, and cloud-based services, and NewSpring Holdings platform company - announced the acquisition of Shock I.T. Support (Shock IT), a regional leader in managed IT, cybersecurity, and network and wireless design and installation services, with a large footprint in Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.