Innovation

Cradle: AI-Based Protein Engineering Company Secures $73 Million (Series B)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Cradle, a leading platform for AI-powered protein engineering, has raised $73 million in Series B funding to respond to rising demand for its technology in R&D-intensive industries. The round was led by IVP and included previous investors Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. This funding round brings Cradle's total raised to date over $100 million.

Fresho: AI-Based Ordering Platform Company Raises $17 Million (Series B)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Fresho - a market-leading order management platform that helps fresh food wholesalers operate more efficiently and better service their restaurant customers - announced the closing of its $17 million Series B funding round, bringing total investment to $50 million to date.

Enfabrica: Networking Silicon Company Closes $115 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Enfabrica Corporation - an industry leader in high-performance networking silicon for artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated computing - announced that it raised $115 million in new funding as part of an oversubscribed Series C equity financing round led by Spark Capital. The new investors joining the round include Arm, Cisco Investments, Maverick Silicon, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and VentureTech Alliance, with support from existing investors.

Montara: Data Development Company Raises $5.4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Montara - a data development platform that enables organizations to deliver better data products faster - announced the successful close of a $5.4 million round of seed funding led by Norwest Venture Partners. And the funding was joined by angel investors, including Borge Hald, co-founder and former CEO of Medallia. Montara will use the new capital to scale its go-to-market activities and product development.

ThoroughCare: Care Coordination Solutions Company Secures $5 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

ThoroughCare, a leader in care coordination solutions, announced it has closed its $5 million Series A funding round, led by Empactful Capital.

LSC Awarding $5.9 Million In Grants To 31 Civil Legal Aid Providers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced that it is awarding 31 Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) totaling $5.9 million. LSC’s TIG program supports civil legal aid organizations that seek to leverage technology to deliver high-quality legal assistance to low-income Americans. Organizations in 22 states are receiving TIG funding this year.

Orion Innovations: Interview With President & CEO Rodney Schutt About Healthcare Technology to Improve Patient Safety

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Orion Innovations is a company that focuses on new and disruptive technologies that improve patient safety and improve the bottom line. Grounded in the principle that robust solutions can be simple to adopt, the company is dedicated to giving healthcare heroes and facilities new tools that are smart, simple to integrate and deliver the best possible patient outcomes. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Orion Innovations President & CEO Rodney Schutt to learn more about the company.

Teleo: Heavy Equipment Autonomous Company Secures $16.2 Million (Series A Extension)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Teleo - a company building autonomous technology for heavy equipment - announced it has raised $16.2 million in Series A extension funds in addition to its previously announced Series A funding round. Teleo's first extension round, totaling $9.2 million, was led by UP.Partners, with participation from other investors, including new investor Trousdale Ventures and return investor F-Prime Capital. And the second extension, totaling $7 million, was also led by UP.Partners, with participation from new investor Triatomic Capital and returning investors F-Prime Capital and Trucks Venture Capital, and others. Since its founding in 2019, Teleo has raised $29.8 million.

Thoughtful AI: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Alex Zekoff About The Healthcare Automation Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Thoughtful AI is a company that is pioneering a new approach to automation for all healthcare providers. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Thoughtful AI co-founder and CEO Alex Zekoff to learn more about the company.

Heirloom: Direct Air Capture Company Raises $150 Million (Series B)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Heirloom, a leading Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology provider, announced it has raised $150 million in Series B funding. The funding round was co-led by Future Positive, and Lowercarbon Capital - which also invested in Heirloom’s Series A. A range of new investors, including Japan Airlines, Future Positive, H&M Group, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, MOL Switch, Quantum Innovation Fund, and Siemens Financial Services also participated.

ClearSale: Interview With Sr. Director Bruno Farinelli About AI And Ecommerce Fraud

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

ClearSale is a company that understands that protecting business against fraud-related chargebacks takes more than what technology can provide. Earlier this month, Experian agreed to buy ClearSale for $350 million. Pulse 2.0 interviewed ClearSale’s Senior Director of Risk and Customer Success at ClearSale, Bruno Farinelli.

Enterpret: AI-Based Customer Feedback Intelligence Company Raises $20.8 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Enterpret, an AI-enabled customer feedback intelligence platform for product development and CX teams, announced that it raised $20.8 million in Series A funding. The fundinground was led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Peak XV Partners (fka Sequoia Capital India), Wing Ventures, and Recall Capital, as well as angel investors including Lauryn Motamedi (Head of Product Growth at Notion), Elena Verna (VP of Growth and Data at Dropbox), Nan Yu (Head of Product at Linear), and Andrew Berman (Director of AI at Zapier) and others.

Zignaly: Interview With CFO & Co-Founder A. Rafay Gadit About The Wealth Generation Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Zignaly is a pioneering Web3 company that has a goal of unlocking wealth-generation opportunities for everyone. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Zignaly CFO & co-founder A. Rafay Gadit to learn more about the company.

Sandbox Wealth: Banking Solution Company Raises $1.25 Million (Pre-Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Sandbox Wealth, a turnkey banking solution for non-bank financial institutions, announced the pre-seed fundraise of $1.25 million in capital, led by NextGen Venture Partners, with participation from Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, gener8tor, and RevTech Labs. The funding validates Sandbox’s vision to provide RIAs and Family Offices access to deposits, lending, and enterprise-grade analytics through its open architecture banking platform.

Dot Ai: Interview With Ed Nabrotzky And The Future of Asset Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Dot Ai is a trailblazing SaaS service that is transforming the paradigms of asset intelligence, assurance, and safety. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Dot Ai CEO Ed Nabrotzky to learn more about the company.

METRON: Energy Consumption Management Company Secures €12.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

METRON, a player in the digital management of energy consumption and reduction of carbon emissions, announced that it has raised €12.5 million in financing, marked by the arrival of the German investor GET Fund. The €12.5 million round of funding is being led by the German GET Fund, a highly reputed venture capital investor in the energy sector, along with long-standing investors (BNP Paribas, Climate Investment and Vertigo) who have renewed their confidence in the French cleantech company.

OneRail: Omnichannel Fulfillment Solution Company $42 Million (Series C)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

OneRail, a provider of solutions in last-mile omnichannel fulfillment, announced a growth capital investment led by Aliment Capital. Additional participating firms include new investors eGateway Capital and Florida Opportunity Fund, as well as current investors Arsenal Growth Equity, Piva Capital, Bullpen Capital, Las Olas Venture Capital, Chicago Ventures, Gaingels, and Mana Ventures.

Meta To Invest $10 Billion For New AI Data Center In Louisiana

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

Meta and the Louisiana Economic Development (LED) announced a $10 billion artificial intelligence data center in northeast Louisiana. This investment solidifies the state's status as a central innovation hub and leader in the global digital revolution. The four million-square-foot data center, to be based in Richland Parish, will be Meta's largest in the world. Construction on the facility is expected to continue through 2030.

ConnectDER: Resilient Home Energy Technology Company Raises $35 Million (Series D)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

ConnectDER, a leader in resilient home energy technology, announced it has raised $35 million in Series D funding to accelerate its market expansion and product innovation. This funding round was led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek, with participation from MassMutual Ventures (both new investors). And existing investors Avista Development, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Innovation Capital, Evergy Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, and Zoma Capital also participated.

OMERS Private Equity To Buy Integris

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

OMERS Private Equity announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Integris from Frontenac, a Chicago-based private equity firm. The financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

TreeHouse Foods: $205 Million Acquisition Of Harris Tea

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

TreeHouse Foods announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain subsidiaries that operate the private brand tea business of Harris Freeman & Co, a leading private brand tea manufacturer in the U.S., for about $205 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.

Continental Selling Smart Fleet Company Zonar To GPS Trackit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

Continental announced the sale of Zonar, a leading smart fleet management provider, to GPS Trackit, an industry pioneer in cloud-based, IoT fleet solutions and GPS tracking. Details of the transaction, including financial terms, are not being disclosed.

Accenture To Buy Auto-Focused Embedded Software Company AOX

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

Accenture has agreed to acquire AOX, a German company specializing in embedded software for carmakers and their suppliers. This acquisition will enhance Accenture's capabilities to help automotive clients solve challenges they are facing in their transition to software-defined vehicles.

CoachHub: Digital Coaching Platform Company Closes $42 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

CoachHub, a leading global digital coaching platform, announced that it has secured a $40 million growth financing facility from HSBC Innovation Banking UK. This funding will enable CoachHub to accelerate its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and further expand its product offerings. The deal is a key strategic decision for CoachHub to drive rapid innovation while safeguarding employee equity and promoting long-term value creation.

LPL: Renana Friedlich Named As Chief Information Security Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

LPL Financial, a leader in the wealth management industry, announced the strategic hire of Renana Friedlich as executive vice president and chief information security officer (CISO). This move supports the firm’s commitment to cybersecurity in an increasingly difficult business landscape.

SmartBear Buying Digital Quality Platform Company QMetry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

SmartBear - a leading provider of software quality and visibility solutions - announced its acquisition of QMetry, provider of a comprehensive AI-enabled digital quality platform designed to scale software quality that is trusted by enterprises globally, such as leading Fortune 500 companies. And this strategic acquisition will further enable agility for DevOps teams to speed up feature delivery, shorten time-to-market, and consistently deliver high-quality software.

Capitolis Buying BGC’s Compression & Optimization Business Capitalab In $46 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

Capitolis, a company helping to create safer and more vibrant capital markets, has announced the acquisition of Capitalab, a leader in Rates Portfolio Compression and Margin Optimization, from BGC Group for a purchase amount of $46 million. This deal will enable Capitolis, a market leader in the optimization and compression space, to offer more solutions to the industry and unlock additional innovation to address emerging client needs.

Cresset: $150 Million Minority Investment From Constellation Wealth Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

Cresset announced that it has closed on a $150 million minority long-duration investment from Constellation Wealth Capital, which is a long-term strategic investor that provides capital solutions exclusively to wealth management businesses and multi-family offices.

WeatherFlow-Tempest: Weather Technology Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

WeatherFlow-Tempest - a leader in weather technology and environmental monitoring solutions - announced a growth financing round, raising $3 million from WindSail Capital Group.

Movopack: £2 Million Raised To Provide E-Commerce Companies With Sustainable Packaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2024

Movopack - a company providing e-commerce platforms with circular and sustainable packaging - announced it has raised a £2 million ($2.5 million) seed funding round led by early-stage investor 360 Capital, with participation from Greiner Innoventures and Techstars.