Innovation

Amplify: $20 Million Series B Closed To Transform Wealth-Building With Permanent Life Insurance

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 24, 2024

Amplify Life Insurance, a leading digital platform transforming wealth-building through permanent life insurance, announced today it has secured $20 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Crosslink Capital and Anthemis. The new investors Moneta Ventures and Evolution Ventures joined the round, with continued support from existing investors Greycroft, Munich Re Ventures, and Foxe Capital.

Clip: Mexico-Based Digital Payments Company Raises $100 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 24, 2024

Clip - which is Mexico's leading digital payments and commerce enablement platform - announced that it has secured an investment round of US$100 million from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value (MSTV) and from one of the largest, most experienced West-Coast mutual fund managers. The investment values Clip in line with the Series D round completed in 2021.

Legato Security: MDR And MSSP Company Secures Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 24, 2024

Legato Security, a premier Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) company based in Salt Lake City, Utah announced it has received a capital investment to support its strategic growth. The funding round was led by Level Structured Capital (an affiliate of Level Equity) and SageLink Capital.

SewerAI: Sewer Condition Assessment Company Raises $15 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

SewerAI, a leader in AI and cloud-driven sewer condition assessment, announced the completion of a $15 million Series B funding round. This funding round was led by Innovius Capital, with additional funding from Emerald VC, Epic Ventures, Suffolk Technologies, Bentley Systems, Burnt Island Ventures, and notable individual investors, including Zachary Bookman, founder and CEO of OpenGov, and the CEOs of several elite AI and computer vision companies.

Hark: Voice of Customer (VoC) Platform Company Raises $3.5 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Hark, a Voice of Customer (VoC) platform company, announced an oversubscribed $3.5 million seed round, led by Oceans Ventures. Converge VC, Atman Capital, Alumni Ventures, BDMI Fund, Tenzing Capital and strategic angel investors also joined the seed round.

Marigold Health: Peer Recovery Support Company Secures $11 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Marigold Health, a peer recovery innovator, announced the closing of an $11 million Series A fundraise. The funding round was led by Rock Health and Innospark Ventures with additional investment from the Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA), Wavemaker360, Stand Together Ventures Lab, Epsilon Health Investors, Koa Labs, VNS Health Plan and KdT Ventures.

Zencity: Government Technology Company Secures $40 Million In Series C Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Zencity, a leading community engagement platform for local governments that features 8 in 10 of America’s largest cities among its customers, announced a $40 million Series C investment led by StepStone Group, with participation from existing investors TLV Partners. This brings the company's total raised to $91 million and represents a meaningful increase in valuation from its previous fundraise.

Refactor: Fund 4 Closed At $50 Million To Invest In Healthtech, Bio, And Climate Companies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Refactor Capital, which solo capitalist Zal Bilimoria leads, has closed the $50 million Fund 4.

Iambic Therapeutics: $50 Million Closed To Develop Novel Therapeutics With AI-Driven Discovery

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Iambic Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics utilizing a unique AI-driven discovery platform, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $50 million extension to its Series B financing. The Series B extension was led by new investors Mubadala Capital and Exor Ventures, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and existing investors Abingworth, Illumina Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Coatue, and Tao Capital Partners.

SurrealDB: Multi-Model Database Company Raises $20 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Multi-model database company SurrealDB announced it raised $20 million in funding, led by FirstMark and Georgian and with participation from Crew Capital and Alumni Ventures. This round brought SurrealDB's total to $26 million.

RXO To Buy Coyote Logistics From UPS For $1.025 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

RXO entered into a definitive agreement to buy Chicago-based asset-light freight brokerage business Coyote Logistics for $1.025 billion from UPS. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory review and approval.

Atwell Buys Biscayne Engineering To Expand In South Florida

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Atwell announced it has acquired Biscayne Engineering, an engineering and surveying company with offices in Miami and Boca Raton, Florida. And this acquisition expands Atwell’s already robust presence in Florida, adding over 50 employees, and will be the company’s first office in Miami. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Engine Ventures: Fund III Closed At $398 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

The Engine Ventures, a venture firm that invests in early-stage founders solving critical global challenges, announced it raised a $398 million Fund III, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to over $1 billion. Launched in 2016 as The Engine built by MIT, the firm’s goal is to unlock commercialization in Tough Tech, a new asset class that translates breakthrough science and engineering from lab to market.

RSK Brings In Strategic Investment From Searchlight Capital Partners And Ares Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

RSK Group Limited, a leader in the delivery of sustainable solutions, announced it has entered into an agreement to receive a £500 million preferred equity investment from a consortium led by Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P. and Ares Management Corporation funds. Ares has also committed an incremental £300 million debt facility to further support RSK’s growth plans, bringing total available debt facilities provided by Ares to £1.4 billion.

RedSail Technologies Raises Strategic Growth Investment From LGP

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

RedSail Technologies, a premier pharmacy technology and solutions provider, announced a strategic growth investment from Leonard Green & Partners (LGP). In connection with the deal, Francisco Partners (FP) - which created RedSail by combining two separate divisional carve-outs in 2020 - will also reinvest in the company along with management.

VLogic Systems: Strategic Growth Funding Raised From Northrim Horizon

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

VLogic Systems, a leading cloud-based integrated workplace management (IWMS) and Connected Portfolio Intelligence Platform (CPIP) SaaS provider announced that Northrim Horizon had made a strategic growth investment in the high-growth IWMS and CPIP provider.

Auxilius: Clinical Trial Financial Management Company Raises $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2024

Auxilius - which is the first Clinical Trial Financial Management (CTFM) software that enables life science finance, accounting, and clinical operations teams to automate accounting workflows and improve clinical R&D forecast accuracy - announced it has raised $10 million in additional financing, led by SignalFire.

HarperDB: Significant Growth Investment Raised From Serent Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2024

HarperDB, a distributed systems platform that combines database, caching, application, and streaming functions into a single technology for improving performance and lower cost for global backend services, announced a significant growth investment from Serent Capital.

McKinsey Expands Gen AI Platform With Iguazio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2024

McKinsey has expanded its Gen AI platform (powered by Iguazio) to offer enterprises a consolidated, software-based approach to building, implementing, scaling, and governing Gen AI solutions.

Tinybird: Real-Time Data Platform Company Raises $30 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

Tinybird, a real-time data platform for data and engineering teams, announced that it has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Balderton Capital. Existing investors, including CRV and Singular Ventures, also participated in the round. This new funding round will accelerate Tinybird’s growth, enhance its product offerings, and expand its global footprint.

Honeywell Buying CAES Systems From Advent In A $1.9 Billion All-Cash Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

Honeywell has agreed to acquire CAES Systems Holdings from private equity firm Advent International for about $1.9 billion in an all-cash transaction. This deal represents about 14 times the estimated 2024 EBITDA on a tax-adjusted basis.

GPTZero: AI-Based Content Detection Company Raises $10 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

GPTZero, a leading platform for AI-generated content detection and responsible AI adoption, announced it had raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Footwork VC with participation from Reach Capital, Uncork, Neo, Alt Capital, and the former CEOs of Reuters and The New York Times.

Koda Health: Seed+ Funding Round Raised To Expand Care Planning Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

Koda Health, a leader in digital Advance Care Planning, announced the successful oversubscription of its Seed+ funding round. This funding round was led by Ecliptic Capital, with strategic investment from Memorial Hermann Health System, AARP, and the Texas Medical Center (TMC) Venture Fund, emphasizing the healthcare community's belief in Koda's mission, technology, and impact on patient care.

Aepnus Technology: Electrochemical Platform Company Raises $8 Million In Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

Aepnus Technology, a developer of an electrochemical platform to improve circularity and reduce emissions in battery supply chain chemicals, announced it raised $8 million in seed financing to accelerate the production of its novel end-to-end sodium sulfate recycling technology. Clean Energy Ventures led the funding round, which also included Voyager Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Impact Science Ventures, Muus Climate Partners, and Gravity Climate Fund.

Barkbus: The Story Behind This Rapidly Growing Direct-To-Doorstep Dog Grooming Service

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2024

Barkbus is the nation's fastest-growing mobile dog grooming company. And Barkbus was launched in LA to serve southern California and recently expanded to Texas, Arizona, and now Georgia. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Barkbus CEO and co-founder Jeff Safenowitz to learn more about the company.

Market Intelligence Company AlphaSense Buying Tegus And Raises $650 Million At $4 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

AlphaSense, a leading market intelligence and search platform, announced an agreement to buy Tegus, a leading provider of expert research, unique private company content, and financial data and workflow tools. As part of this deal, AlphaSense also raised $650 million in funding, co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners, and joined by new investors, J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Blue Owl, Alkeon Capital, and existing investors Alphabet's CapitalG and Goldman Sachs Alternatives. This raise brought AlphaSense's valuation to $4 billion.

FirmPilot: $7 Million Raised To Provide Law Firms With AI-Driven Marketing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

FirmPilot, an AI marketing engine for law firms, announced it had closed $7 million in funding to help services-based SMBs increase revenues with AI-driven digital marketing. Blumberg Capital led FirmPilot’s latest Series A round, with participation from new and existing investors Valor Ventures, SaaS Ventures, FJ Labs, and Connexa Capital.

Simulations Plus Acquiring Pro-ficiency For $100 Million In Cash

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Simulations Plus (a leading provider of modeling and simulation software and services for pharmaceutical safety and efficacy) announced the acquisition of Pro-ficiency Holdings and its subsidiaries, a leader in providing simulation-enabled performance and intelligence solutions for clinical and commercial drug development. Simulations Plus had acquired Pro-ficiency from QHP Capital, L.P. (management company for NovaQuest Private Equity) and Pro-ficiency’s minority shareholders for about $100 million in cash.

Quick Quack: Strategic Investment Raised From KKR

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Global investment firm KKR and Quick Quack Car Wash announced that investment funds managed by KKR have made a significant minority investment in the company. Quick Quack’s founders and its longtime equity partner Seidler Equity Partners will continue holding meaningful stakes in the company along with KKR.

Daydream: $50 Million Seed Round Raised To Change How People Shop Online

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

E-commerce tech and retail veteran Julie Bornstein and co-founders Matt Fisher, Dan Cary, Lisa Green, and Richard Kim announced today they raised a $50 million seed round co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Index Ventures with participation from GV (Google Ventures) and True Ventures to launch Daydream. This new AI-powered platform will change the way people shop online.