Innovation

Magenta Medical: Heart Pump Company Raises $105 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 26, 2024

Magenta Medical, the developer of Elevate (the world's smallest heart pump), announced it had closed a $105 million funding round led by global healthcare investment firm Novo Holdings. The new investors Viking Global Investors and RA Capital Management, as well as existing investors OrbiMed, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), JVC Investment Partners, and ALIVE - Israel HealthTech Fund, also participated in this round.

Barings To Invest In Diversified Packaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 26, 2024

Barings (one of the world’s leading investment managers) announced it has provided a second lien debt and equity co-investment to support Mill City Capital’s recapitalization of Diversified Packaging Holdings. Based in Blaine, Minnesota, Diversified Packaging provides pre-press products and services to the packaging industry, serving commercial printing companies, corrugate packaging companies, and various other customers across the upper Midwest U.S.

Cowboy Clean Fuels Closes $13 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 26, 2024

Cowboy Clean Fuels (CCF) - an advanced climate tech and energy transition company - announced the closing of about $13 million in Series B equity financing. This funding round will be pivotal in commercializing its groundbreaking technology for the simultaneous production of renewable natural gas (RNG) and permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide, presenting a significant opportunity for investors in the growing renewable energy and carbon markets. The Series B funding round was led by Machan Investments, the family office of former energy executive Dan Dinges.

Leuko: Non-Invasive Blood Testing MIT Spinout Receives $4.5 Million NIH Grant

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Leuko, a medical tech company pioneering the field of non-invasive blood testing, announced that it has received a $4.5 million SBIR Phase IIB award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the continued development of PointCheck, the first solution that enables non-invasive white blood cell monitoring.

Bitlayer: Bitcoin Layer 2 Solution Company Secures $11 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Bitlayer Labs, the first Bitcoin Layer 2 based on the BitVM paradigm, announced the completion of its $11 million Series A funding round. This funding round is led by industry leaders Franklin Templeton and ABCDE, offering powerful strategic and capital resources that will pave the way for Bitlayer's expansion. ABCDE, along with Framework Ventures, led Bitlayer's seed round funding.

Clio: Legal Tech Company Raises $900 Million At $3 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Clio, a global leader in legal technology, announced it has raised $900 million (based on a $3 billion valuation) in a Series F investment round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The funding round also includes new partners Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Sixth Street Growth, CapitalG, and Tidemark, who join current investors TCV, JMI Equity, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, respectively, and OMERS.

Brenig Therapeutics: Neurology-Focused Drug Development Company Secures $65 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Brenig Therapeutics - a neurology-focused drug development company utilizing an AI/ML-based discovery platform - announced the closing of a $65 million Series A funding.

Third Arc Bio Raises $165 Million To Develop Multifunctional Antibodies Optimized For T Cell Engagement

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Third Arc Bio - a biotech company developing multifunctional antibodies that are optimized for best-in-class T cell engagement across solid tumors and inflammatory & immunology (I&I) disease - announced a $165 million oversubscribed Series A financing. The Series A investor syndicate was led by Vida Ventures and co-led by Cormorant Asset Management and Hillhouse Investment. And additional investors include Goldman Sachs Alternatives, BVF Partners LP, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Janus Henderson Investors, funds managed by abrdn, Marshall Wace, Foresite Capital, Logos Capital, Freepoint Capital Group, and AbbVie Ventures.

Runway Growth Capital Investing $20 Million In Elevate

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Runway Growth Capital, a leading provider of growth loans to venture and non-venture-backed companies seeking an alternative to raising equity, announced a $20 million growth capital commitment to Elevate (a leading consulting, technology, and services provider for law departments and law firms). This investment upsizes the previous $40 million senior secured term loan provided by Runway in 2023.

TMRW Life Sciences: Automated Specimen Management Company Secures Over $28 Million In Series D

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

TMRW Life Sciences (TMRW), the creator of the only FDA-cleared automated specimen management and storage platform for frozen human sperm, eggs, and embryos, announced that it closed a $28+ million Series D equity funding round to meet high demand from fertility clinics seeking safe and more accurate cryostorage solutions. The funding round was led by 5AM Ventures with participation from FIOS Venture Holdings, DF Investment Partners, Transformation Capital, Life Sciences Innovation Fund, and Casdin Capital. And additional support came from leading women's health investors such as GV (formerly Google Ventures), and actress and advocate Amy Schumer, and others.

Splight: $12 Million Closed To Address Energy Curtailment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Splight, an AI-based company at the forefront of grid operations technologies, announced the completion of its seed funding round. The $12M round was led by noa (formerly A/O) and joined by EDP Ventures, Elewit, Draper Cygnus, Draper B1, Ascent Energy Ventures, Fen Ventures, Reaction Global, Barn Investments, and the UC Berkeley Foundation, and others.

Headway: $100 Million In Series D Closed At $2.3 Billion Valuation To Build New Mental Healthcare System

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Headway, a company building a new mental healthcare system, announced a $100 million Series D funding round and its planned expansion to Medicare Advantage and Medicaid. These developments will enable clinicians on the platform to scale their practices and provide affordable and effective mental health care to a broader and more diverse community of patients, including seniors, low-income Americans and individuals living with disabilities. This recent funding values the company at $2.3 billion, which is a 130% increase from its previous valuation.

Momentum: Customer Intelligence Company Secures $13 Million In Series A Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Momentum, the customer intelligence platform that enables enterprise listening and automation, announced that it has raised $13 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital with participation from Stage 2 Capital. This brings Momentum's total funding to $18 million. The existing Momentum investors, including Basis Set Ventures and Leadout Capital, also participated in the round.

Halo Industries: Laser Manufacturing Technology Company Raises $80 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Halo Industries, a creator of a laser manufacturing technology platform for the semiconductor industry, announced it raised up to $80 million in its oversubscribed Series B funding round.

Joy: Parenting Tech Platform Company Raises $10 Million In Series Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Joy, a new parenting tech platform offering 24/7 expert-led support for parents, announced it raised $10 million in seed funding led by Forerunner. Other investors include Magnify Ventures, David Heller, Wesley Capital, Obvious Ventures, Ogden Cap, Maywic, Rogue Venture Partners, and WTI. Eurie Kim, managing partner at Forerunner, is joining the Joy board.

Aurora Hydrogen: Over $4 Million Raised From Natural Resources Canada And NGIF Accelerator

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Aurora Hydrogen, an Edmonton-based hydrogen technology company, was awarded $3 million in funding from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and $1+ million from the NGIF Accelerator to scale its production of low-carbon / low-cost hydrogen and advance the maturity of its technology for piloting and commercialization.

Wells Fargo: Economic Impact From Open For Business Fund Revealed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Wells Fargo has shared the latest community impact of the company’s Open for Business Fund, a roughly $420 million national small business recovery effort to help those hardest hit during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in 2020, the grantees report the Open for Business Fund has now benefited more than 336,000 small businesses, enabling them to keep or create more than 461,000 jobs in communities nationwide.

HexClad Raises $100 Million Strategic Investment From Studio Ramsay Global

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

HexClad, a premium kitchenware brand, announced a strategic $100 million investment from Studio Ramsay Global. Studio Ramsay Global is a successful partnership between multi-Michelin-starred Chef Gordon Ramsay and FOX Entertainment. This deal comprises a combination of cash and media commitments.

Prospera Brings In $115 Million Up The Graph Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Prospera Financial Services - a boutique wealth management firm supporting a nationwide network of independent advisors - announced that Up the Graph Financial Group of Irvine, California, has joined its platform. The firm, which is led by Garrick Updegraph, has about $115 million in assets under management (AUM).

Matera: $100 Million Investment Raised From Warburg Pincus

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Matera, a leading banking software provider, announced a $100 million investment from Warburg Pincus. This funding will expand the company into the North American market and further develop its products.

Antheia: Pharmaceutical Ingredient Producer Secures $17 Million In New Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Antheia, the pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer transforming essential medicine supply chains, announced $17 million in new funding through a government project agreement through the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Preparedness Consortium (BioMaP-Consortium), along with matching support from new strategic investors.

akirolabs: ProcureTech Company Extends $5 Million Seed Round With 7-Digit Grant

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

akirolabs - a Berlin-based ProcureTech company enabling enterprises worldwide to augment strategic procurement processes - announced an extension to its recent $5 million seed funding with an additional 7-digit non-dilutive grant from Investitionsbank Berlin and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Micropep: Micropeptide Technology Leader Raises $29 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Micropep Technologies - a global leader in micropeptide technology, announced today a $29 million Series B funding round along with its proprietary discovery platform Krisalix. This funding round was led by Zebra Impact Ventures, and BPI Green Tech Investment. All existing investors, Fall Line Capital, FMC Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, Supernova Invest, and IRDI Capital Investissement also participated. This brought the company’s total funding to over $51.8 million.

Hanger Ventures Reveals Bionic Power As Inaugural Investment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Hanger Ventures (a Hanger, Inc. business whose primary objective is to advance orthotics and prosthetics innovation and improve patient outcomes) announced its debut investment in Canadian-based firm Bionic Power. As a developer of active lower body smart orthotic devices that enhance personal mobility, Bionic Power is raising Series A Round funding with Hanger Ventures committing as the lead investor.

Lario Therapeutics Receives $6 Million Grant From Michael J. Fox Foundation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Lario Therapeutics - a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class precision medicines for epileptic and neurological disorders - announced it has been awarded a $6 million grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). This program is in collaboration with the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre, which will also be delivering key science as part of the grant.

Juno: Child Disability Insurance Company Raises $8.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Juno - the first company in the U.S. to provide child disability insurance - announced it has closed an $8.5 million Series A led by Spero Ventures with participation from Floating Point, Newark Ventures, and WVV Capital, bringing its total capital raised to $12.5 million.

Bregal Sagemount Closes Inaugural Small-Cap Fund At $500 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Growth-focused private equity firm Bregal Sagemount announced the successful closing of its inaugural small-cap fund, Bregal Sagemount Basecamp I at $500 million. This fund closed at its target and hard cap, inclusive of strong support from existing limited partners, several new institutional investors, and a significant GP commitment.

Ani.VC: Pet-Focused Fund Launches With Goal Of Deploying $35 Million Over 3 Years

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Ani.VC, an early-stage venture fund for pets, has launched with an inaugural investment into DOG PPL, a canine social club expanding from its base in Los Angeles. This independent fund is focused on the more than $540 billion pet and animal health market, including veterinary health, therapeutics and technologies, nutrition and consumables, and pet longevity. And it will deploy $35 million over the next three years into companies across the US, Europe, and Asia.

OXIO: An Interview With CEO Nicolas Girard About This Rapidly Growing TaaS Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

OXIO is the first cloud-native Telecom-as-a-Service (TaaS) platform that empowers any brand or enterprise to embed connectivity into its offering without the constraints of legacy telecom. To learn more, Pulse 2.0 interviewed OXIO CEO Nicolas Girard.

Aionic Digital: How This Company Is Automating Functions In Information Migrations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 25, 2024

Aionic Digital is a company focused on software development and systems integration that is uniquely positioned to utilize its industry experience to develop practical solutions combined with expert consulting to maximize the value of its clients' investments. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Aionic Digital CEO Yaron Benjamin to learn more about the company.