Innovation

SupportNinja: Offering Customer Experience and Back-Office Outsourcing Solutions In A $200+ Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 30, 2024

SupportNinja provides customer experience and back-office outsourcing solutions for tech companies and startups around the world. Pulse 2.0 interviewed SupportNinja CEO Craig Crisler to learn more about the company.

Payroll Integrations: This Company Is Reimagining How Employers Support the Financial Wellness of Their Employees

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 30, 2024

Rillet: Modern Accounting Platform Company Raises $13.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Rillet announced that it raised $13.5 million, led by First Round Capital, Creandum, and Susa Ventures with participation from incredible individual investors including Kevin Hartz (founder of Eventbrite, Xoom and investor in SpaceX, Airbnb, Palantir), the former Chief Accounting Officer of Facebook and Stripe, and the Controller at Ramp.

Reason Automation Raises Funding From Verify Ventures

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Reason Automation - an enterprise e-commerce data technology company - announced a seed investment from Verify Ventures. Launched by a team of former Amazon vendor executives, marketers, and software engineers, Reason Automation offers a comprehensive SaaS service to help companies operating in the Amazon ecosystem manage their businesses as Amazon does.

Car Capital Technologies Raises $70 Million To Help Auto Dealerships With Financing Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Car Capital Technologies, a partner for independent and franchise automotive dealerships seeking innovative financing solutions, announced funding commitments to continue to expand the business and further enhance origination capabilities and drive significant portfolio growth. And the company also successfully closed a senior/subordinate warehouse financing facility and secured lead equity investments from two strategic partners as part of its recently launched Series B funding round.

Marathon Fusion: $5.9 Million Closed To Develop Fuel Processing Technology For The Fusion Industry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Marathon Fusion, a company developing fuel processing technology for the fusion industry, announced a fundraising effort led by 1517 Fund and Anglo American, with participation from Übermorgen Ventures, Shared Future Fund, Malcolm Handley, and other leading investors. These investments, along with a CREATE award from the Department of Energy's ARPA-E, bring Marathon Fusion's total funding to $6.9 million.

Tekion: $200 Million Raised At $4 Billion Valuation To Serve Auto Retail Ecosystem

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Tekion, an innovator of the first cloud-native platform serving the entire automotive retail ecosystem, announced that it has secured $200 million in growth equity capital from Dragoneer Investment Group. This funding round sets Tekion’s valuation above $4 billion.

One Equity Partners Invests In Stellantis Spin-Off Comau

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Stellantis, one of the world’s largest automakers and mobility providers, and One Equity Partners (OEP), a middle-market private equity firm, announced that OEP has signed a binding agreement to make a majority investment in Comau S.p.A., a global technology company specializing in industrial automation and advanced robotics.

ServiceNow Buys Raytion For Enhancing GenAI-Based Technologies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

ServiceNow announced it has acquired Raytion to enhance GenAI‑powered search and knowledge management capabilities on the Now Platform. And Raytion’s industry‑leading information retrieval technology will enable unified real‑time access for business‑critical data across multiple enterprise sources for a more powerful and personalized AI search experience, all on a single technology platform.

HYCU: Offering Sophisticated Data Protection As A Service In A $400 Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

HYCU is a company that has built a data protection as a service platform that makes it easier for you to move your data freely, easily, and safely without the burden of managing and scaling backup infrastructure. Pulse 2.0 interviewed HYCU founder and CEO Simon Taylor to learn more about the company.

Chainguard: Software Security Company Raises $140 Million In Series C

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Chainguard, a safe source for open source, announced it has completed a $140 million Series C round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and IVP. This funding round brought the company’s total funding to $256 million. And existing investors, including Amplify, Mantis VC, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital also joined the round.

Robin AI: How This Company Is Making Legal Work Much More Efficient

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Robin AI is a leader in legal AI and the company’s Legal AI Assistant is used by hundreds of businesses. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Robin AI co-founder and CTO Dr. James Clough to learn more about the company.

Grazzy: Digital Payments Company Secures $4 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Grazzy, a digital payments platform for hospitality and service-focused businesses, announced the completion of a $4 million Seed round with participation from AZ-VC, In Revenue Capital, Iron Skillet Partners, Tuesday Capital, and Next Coast Ventures.

Addionics: Battery Technology Company Raises $39 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Addionics (a global leader in battery technology) announced a Series B funding round of $39 million. This funding round was co-led by GM Ventures and Deep Insight, with participation from Scania, along with new and returning strategic investors. And the funds will be used to bolster the company's manufacturing capabilities and advance global business engagements.

Kingswood Capital Management: $1.5 Billion Raised For Oversubscribed Third Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Kingswood Capital Management, an LA-based private equity firm focused on buyouts of middle-market businesses with operational improvement potential, announced the final closing of Kingswood Capital Opportunities Fund III, L.P., with total capital commitments of $1.5 billion, including a 5% GP commitment, emphasizing the firm’s confidence in its strategy and providing strong alignment with its investors. This brings the firm’s total assets under management (AUM) to about $3.2 billion.

After.com: $10 Million Raised To Help Families Navigate End-Of-Life Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

After.com, a platform that helps families navigate end-of-life services without ever needing to step foot inside a funeral home, announced it has raised $10 million for its Series A funding round led by HIPstr (the early-stage investment arm of HighPost Capital). After.com plans to use the proceeds to enter new markets, add talent throughout the organization, and further enhance its marketing efforts to support both the pre-need and at-need business segments.

Surefront: The Story Behind This Groundbreaking Product Collaboration Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Reset: How This Public Benefit Corporation Helps Working-Class Americans Improve Financial Health

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Bolster: Automating The Detection And Takedown Of Cyber Threats In A $12 Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2024

Cowbell: $60 Million In Series C Raised To Advance SME Cyber Adoption

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Cowbell, a leading cyber insurance provider for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), announced that it has closed a $60 million Series C equity investment from Zurich Insurance Group.

Mezo Raises $7.5 Million To Grow BitcoinFi Ecosystem

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Thesis, which is one of the longest-standing venture studios funding and building brands on Bitcoin, announced a strategic funding round led by Ledger Cathay Fund (Ledger and Cathay Innovation's early-stage venture fund) for Mezo, its permissionless Bitcoin Economic Layer. With this $7.5 million round, this brings the total funding for Mezo to $30 million following its launch earlier this year. The other investors in the strategic round include ArkStream, Aquarius Fund, Flowdesk, GSR, Origin Protocol, and Bybit ecosystem project, Mantle's EcoFund.

Allium: Blockchain Data Platform Company Raises $16.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Allium, a leading blockchain data platform for enterprises, announced that it raised a $16.5 million Series A funding round led by Theory Ventures with participation from seed investors Kleiner Perkins and Amplify Partners. Tomasz Tunguz, Founder of Theory Ventures, will join the board as part of its investment. This brings the total funding raised to $21.5 million.

Lynch Regenerative Medicine Closes Series A To Develop Skin Rejuvenation Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Lynch Regenerative Medicine (LRM) announced it has completed a Series A funding round to develop and commercialize innovative skin rejuvenation and regeneration solutions based on the only tissue growth factor approved by the FDA and other international regulator bodies to be safe and effective in human tissue regeneration and wound healing: pure platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF).

Novocuff: Medical Device Company Closes $26 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Novocuff - a medical device company dedicated to improving pregnancy outcomes and reducing the risk of preterm birth - announced it has successfully closed an oversubscribed $26 million Series A funding round after raising an initial $2 million seed round. AXA IM Alts, through its Global Healthcare Private Equity Strategy, led the round with a $14 million investment, along with significant participation from Laerdal Million Lives Fund, and continued support from existing investors and new investors Laborie, RH Capital, Avestria Ventures and March of Dimes.

GovPort: $2.8 Million Closed To Help Federal Contractors Reduce Costs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

GovPort Technologies announced an investment of $2.8 million from PruVen Capital and Fin Capital. GovPort essentially helps prime federal contractors (primes) reduce administrative costs and risk by automating compliance tasks and creating a digital and auditable trail of their subcontractors’ compliance.

Slope: AI-Based B2B Payments Company Raises $65 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Slope announced it has closed $65 million in a new round of funding, bringing the total funding to $252 million ($77 million in equity and $175 million in debt). This funding round will be used for scaling operations as the B2B payments platform continues serving many of the world’s largest enterprises. Along with J.P. Morgan Payments, other participants in the round include Y Combinator, Jack Altman, and Max Altman’s new fund Saga.

Autobahn Therapeutics: $100 Million Raised To Develop Restorative Treatments For Depression and Other CNS Disorders

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Autobahn Therapeutics (a biotechnology company developing restorative treatments for people affected by neuropsychiatric and neuroimmunologic disorders) announced the closing of an oversubscribed $100 million Series C funding led by Newpath Partners, with participation from new investors Canaan Partners, Monograph Capital, and Insight Partners. All of the company’s existing investors participated in the round, including founding investors ARCH Venture Partners and Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, BVF Partners, Invus, Samsara BioCapital, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer Ventures, Section 32, Alexandria Venture Investments and GT Healthcare Capital Partners.

Oisín Biotechnologies: Funding Raised To Mitigate Effects Of Age-Related Diseases

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Oisín Biotechnologies (a privately held biotechnology company focused on mitigating the effects of age-related diseases) announced the first closing in a $15 million Series A funding round. AbbVie Ventures led the first close. And in connection with the funding, they will join the Oisín Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board.

SoundHealth: $7 Million Seed Funding Raised And SONU Wearable Device Launches

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

SoundHealth (a medical technology company harnessing the power of AI and medical science to improve patient outcomes) has introduced SONU. SONU is the world’s first FDA De Novo authorized, AI-enabled, and wearable medical device for treating moderate to severe nasal congestion due to allergic and non-allergic rhinitis for at-home use by individuals 22 years of age and older.

Kestra Medical: Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator Company Closes $196 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 28, 2024

Kestra Medical Technologies (a privately held wearable medical device and digital healthcare company) announced an oversubscribed $196 million funding round to support the expansion of their commercial organization and advance its goals of protecting at-risk patients with its modern Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator (WCD).