Innovation

Old Republic To Buy Acquire Everett Cash Mutual In Sponsored Demutualization Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Old Republic International announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Everett Cash Mutual Insurance (ECM) and its affiliated companies, following ECM’s planned conversion from a mutual insurance company to a stock company through a sponsored demutualization transaction. The acquisition remains subject to regulatory and policyholder approval and is expected to close in 2026.

Goldman Sachs Expanding In Middle East With Launch Of Onshore Private Wealth Management In Riyadh

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Goldman Sachs has announced the launch of its onshore Private Wealth Management (PWM) business in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, marking a significant milestone in the firm’s continued growth across the Middle East. This expansion represents the first stage of Goldman Sachs’ onshore wealth management offering in the Kingdom, complementing its established regional operations and longstanding commitment to serving Middle Eastern clients.

Phoenix Aviation Capital: Senior Secured Credit Facility Expanded To $550 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Phoenix Aviation Capital, a full-service aircraft lessor managed by AIP Capital, has announced an increase of $250 million to its existing $300 million senior secured credit facility, bringing total commitments to $550 million. The expansion strengthens Phoenix’s financial capacity as it continues to execute its global growth strategy within the aviation leasing sector.

Goldman Sachs Expanding UK Talent Development With Launch Of Apprenticeship Program In Birmingham

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Goldman Sachs has announced the launch of its inaugural Digital and Technology Solutions undergraduate degree apprenticeship program in Birmingham, in partnership with WMG, University of Warwick. This initiative marks the firm’s first degree apprenticeship outside London. It builds on the decade-long success of its existing London-based program, which has helped nurture a generation of young professionals in engineering and technology roles.

Brookfield: Private Equity Evergreen Fund In Canada Launched To Expand Access For Individual Investors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Brookfield Asset Management has announced the launch of the Brookfield Private Equity Fund (Canada) (BPE-CAD), a new evergreen investment vehicle designed to provide streamlined access to the firm’s global private equity platform. The fund introduces a simplified investment process with monthly subscriptions and a lower minimum investment, aimed at expanding private equity participation among Canadian investors and financial advisors.

Foresight: £90 Million First Close For Third North West Regional Investment Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Foresight Group, a leading listed private equity and infrastructure investment manager, has announced the first close of its third dedicated North West regional investment fund at £90 million. The new fund has received cornerstone commitments from the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Clwyd Pension Fund, and Merseyside Pension Fund, with a final target of £130 million.

Emapta: Interview With Founder & CEO Tim Vorbach About The Global Outsourcing Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Emapta is a fast-growing global outsourcing company that’s redefining how businesses build and scale teams. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Emapta founder and CEO Tim Vorbach about how he went from running a cleaning business in Australia to founding a B Corp–certified staffing firm that serves over 1,000 clients across 30 countries.

Eudia Expanding Legal Reach With Acquisition Of Out-House

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Eudia, an AI-based legal technology company redefining enterprise legal operations, announced its acquisition of Out-House, a specialized legal services provider founded and led by veteran counsel Lynden Renwick. The acquisition strengthens Eudia’s position as the trusted AI platform for Fortune 500 legal departments and deepens its hybrid model of combining human legal expertise with AI-driven efficiency.

NFX: $325 Million Fund IV Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

NFX, a venture capital firm known for its focus on network effects and founder-first investing, announced the close of its fourth fund, NFX Fund IV, totaling $325 million. With over $1.5 billion now under management, NFX is positioned among the most significant early-stage funds globally, continuing its mission to back world-class entrepreneurs in AI, biotech, space, cybersecurity, consumer platforms, and emerging sectors.

Amazon Launches New Innovations To Improve Delivery Safety And Speed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Amazon has unveiled a series of new AI and robotics systems designed to improve safety, efficiency, and delivery speed across its global operations network. The company’s latest advancements, including the Blue Jay robotics platform, Project Eluna AI model, smart delivery glasses, and virtual reality training programs, aim to empower employees, enhance customer experience, and advance Amazon’s sustainability goals.

Keycard Launched With $38 Million To Transform Identity And Access For AI Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Keycard, a startup pioneering identity and access management solutions for AI agents, has emerged from stealth with $38 million in combined seed and Series A funding. The investment includes an $8 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Boldstart Ventures, and a $30 million Series A round led by Acrew Capital, with additional participation from prominent angel investors including Ian Andrews of Groq, Ryan Carlson of Chainguard, Emilio Escobar of Datadog, Karl McGuinness, formerly of Okta, and Matias Woloski of Auth0.

Gravwell: $15.4 Million Series A Secured For Advancing Data Analytics And Security Platform For Enterprise And AI Oversight

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Gravwell, a full-stack data analytics and security platform, announced the closing of a $15.4 million Series A funding round led by Two Bear Capital, with participation from Gula Tech Adventures, Next Frontier Capital, and other investors.

LangChain: $125 Million Raised To Advance Agent Engineering Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

LangChain, an AI company pioneering infrastructure for building and deploying intelligent agents, announced it has raised $125 million in Series B funding at a $1.25 billion valuation to accelerate development of its agent engineering platform. The funding round was led by IVP, with participation from existing investors Sequoia, Benchmark, and Amplify, as well as new backers CapitalG and Sapphire Ventures.

Estuary: $17 Million Series A Closed For Eliminating Data Bottlenecks And Power AI-Based Infrastructure For Enterprises

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Estuary Technologies, a real-time data platform designed to address the data bottleneck hindering enterprise AI adoption, announced today that it has secured $17 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by M13, with participation from FirstMark and Operator Partners.

Six Flags Entertainment: Investment Raised From Consortium That Includes JANA Partners And Travis Kelce

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

JANA Partners announced a significant investment partnership with Super Bowl Champion Travis Kelce, consumer industry veteran Glenn Murphy, and technology executive Dave Habiger in Six Flags Entertainment. The group, collectively referred to as “the Group,” now holds an economic interest of approximately 9% in Six Flags, making it one of the company’s largest shareholders.

Tesser: $4.5 Million Seed Funding Closed For Advancing Instant Cross-Border Payments For Banks And PSPs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Tesser Payments announced the close of a $4.5 million seed funding round led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Strobe Ventures, Anthemis, and other strategic investors. And the company is building a stablecoin-based payments infrastructure that enables licensed financial institutions to move money across borders instantly and compliantly—cutting transaction times from weeks to hours and reducing associated costs by up to 95%.

Ipsen To Buy ImCheck Therapeutics From EQT In A Deal Valued Up To €1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

EQT Life Sciences announced that global biopharmaceutical company Ipsen has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire its portfolio company, ImCheck Therapeutics, for an upfront payment of €350 million and additional downstream payments, bringing the total potential transaction value to up to €1 billion.

Holcim To Buy Xella In €1.85 Billion Deal To Advance Sustainable Construction Leadership

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Holcim announced it has signed a binding agreement to acquire Xella, one of Europe’s leading providers of sustainable and innovative walling systems. The €1.85 billion deal represents a significant milestone in Holcim’s NextGen Growth 2030 strategy and reinforces its position as a global leader in sustainable construction solutions.

PAI Partners Enters Talks To Buy Majority Stake In Cyrus Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

PAI Partners, a global private equity firm with over €28 billion in assets under management, announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire a majority stake in Cyrus Group, one of France’s leading independent wealth management firms.

UNC-Chapel Hill Startups Generate $8 Billion In Annual Impact Across North Carolina, Says Study

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

A new report from Innovate Carolina revealed that startups and commercialization activities affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill created nearly $8 billion in economic impact across North Carolina during fiscal year 2025. The findings highlight Carolina’s accelerating success in driving entrepreneurship, job creation, and innovation statewide.

Adcytherix: €105 Million Series A Raised For Advancing Antibody-Drug Conjugate Pipeline And Novel Payload Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Adcytherix, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the design and development of novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), announced the completion of a €105 million (US$122 million) Series A financing round. The funding will accelerate the company’s lead clinical program, ADCX-020, and expand its proprietary ADC platform focused on next-generation payload innovations aimed at overcoming resistance to current treatments.

MatrixSpace: $20 Million Series B Closed To Advance AI-Based Portable Counter-Drone Radar Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

MatrixSpace, a leader in portable AI-enhanced radar and counter-drone (CUAS) technology, announced the completion of a $20 million Series B funding round. The funding represents a significant increase in valuation from the company’s Series A in May 2023 and brings its total funding to $58 million. This funding round was co-led by The Raptor Group and OTB Ventures, with participation from new strategic investor L3Harris, marking a significant milestone in MatrixSpace’s expansion within the defense and autonomous sensing sectors.

CybaVerse: £5 Million Series A Raised For Expanding AI-Based Cybersecurity Platform for SMEs and MSPs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

CybaVerse, a UK-based cybersecurity company focused on making enterprise-grade protection accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and managed service providers (MSPs), has raised £5 million in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Pembroke VCT and Airbridge Equity Partners, with participation from Haatch. The company received legal support from boutique firm Culbert Ellis for the transaction.

Buildots Buys Genda For Uniting Construction Progress And Workforce Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Buildots, a leader in AI-based construction management, announced its acquisition of Genda, a workforce and safety management platform used by some of the world’s largest construction firms.

Prisma Photonics: $30 Million Closed For Expanding AI-Based Fiber Sensing Platform For Critical Infrastructure Monitoring

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Prisma Photonics, a deep-tech company transforming existing optical fiber networks into large-scale, real-time monitoring systems for power grids and security infrastructure, announced the close of an oversubscribed $30 million growth round, bringing its total funding to $80 million. The funding round was led by Protego Ventures, with participation from Adara Ventures, the investment arm of a leading Latin America Transmission Operator, and continued backing from Insight Partners, Chione Switzerland, and SE Ventures, the venture arm of Schneider Electric.

Intelo.ai: $2 Million Raised For Transforming Retail Through Collaborative Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Intelo.ai, a New York–based technology company building the future of retail through its Collaborative Intelligence platform, announced the close of a $2 million financing round led by Illuminate Ventures. The funding will accelerate Intelo.ai’s mission to redefine merchandising and planning through specialized AI agents that work alongside retail professionals.

Vega Health Launched With $4 Million Seed Funding To Advance Healthcare AI Adoption

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Vega Health, a healthcare technology company focused on enabling health systems to realize measurable value from artificial intelligence, announced its official launch with $4 million in seed funding from Bessemer Venture Partners.

Viven: $35 Million Seed Funding Raised For Bringing AI-Based Digital Twins To The Enterprise

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Viven, a pioneering artificial intelligence company creating enterprise-grade Digital Twins, has officially launched from stealth with $35 million in seed funding. The funding round includes investments from Khosla Ventures, Foundation Capital, FPV Ventures, Operator Collective, and several leading angel investors.

Planyear: $12 Million Seed Funding Closed For Improving Benefits Consulting with AI-Based BEACON Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Planyear, an AI-native platform revolutionizing how benefits consultants manage and deliver services, announced today that it has raised $12 million in seed funding led by True Ventures. The funding will accelerate the development and expansion of the company’s BEACON platform, an AI-driven solution designed to automate administrative tasks and restore consultants’ ability to focus on strategic client engagement.

Acoru: €10 Million Closed To Predict And Prevent AI-Driven Financial Fraud

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 23, 2025

Acoru, a Madrid-based cybersecurity startup focused on stopping AI-enabled financial crime, announced it has raised €10 million in Series A funding to accelerate its mission to help banks detect and prevent fraud before it occurs. The round was led by 33N Ventures, with participation from existing investors Adara Ventures and Athos Capital.