Innovation

Twipes: How This Company Is Bringing A Clean Change To A Dirty Industry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Twipes is a company that is bringing clean change to a dirty industry. The company created the world's first truly flushable and biodegradable wet wipes. These wipes disperse in water within 3 hours and biodegrade in landfill within just 7 days. And they are plastic-free, alcohol-free, and paraben-free - dermatologist-tested to be as safe on skin as they are for the planet. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Twipes COO Ellenor McIntosh to learn more about the company.

Radar Therapeutics: $13.4 Million Closed To Develop Smart Programmable Medicines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Radar Therapeutics, a biotech company developing smart programmable medicines, announced the completion of an oversubscribed $13.4 million in seed financing led by NfX Bio. Major investors Eli Lilly and Company, Biovision Ventures, and KdT Ventures also joined the round, with participation from PearVC, BEVC and other investors. The financing will support advancement of Radar’s internal programs, team expansion and partnering.

Waste Management To Buy Stericycle For $7.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Waste Management and Stericycle announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which WM will acquire all outstanding shares of Stericycle for $62 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $7.2 billion when including approximately $1.4 billion of Stericycle’s net debt.

CipherStash: How This Company Helps Alleviate The Leading Cause Of Data Breaches

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

CipherStash is a company that lets you apply access control directly to your data with encryption-in-use that works everywhere, from SQL to Spreadsheet. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CipherStash CEO and founder Dan Draper to learn more about the company.

Valar Labs: Computational Cancer Therapy AI Company Raises $22 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Valar Labs, the developer of computational histology AI (CHAI) tests for predicting response to cancer therapies, announced $22 million in Series A funding.

StrokeDx: Stroke Technology Company Raises $5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Stroke technology company StrokeDx has secured $5 million in Series Seed Prime funding to develop and commercialize advanced technologies for safe cerebrovascular monitoring.

DeepL: Language AI Company Raises $300 Million At $2 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Leading Language AI company DeepL announced $300 million of investment at a $2 billion valuation. Led by Index Ventures, the oversubscribed round attracted strong support from new investors to support DeepL’s long-term vision to transform the way companies communicate around the world. And additional late-stage investors, including ICONIQ Growth, Teachers’ Venture Growth, and others, also participated, along with existing investors IVP, Atomico, and WiL.

Carlyle: JPY 430 Billion Raised For Fifth Japanese Buyout Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Global investment firm Carlyle announced the final closing of its fifth Japanese buyout fund, Carlyle Japan Partners V (CJP V). At JPY 430 billion (about $2.8 billion), which includes commitments from the General Partner and its affiliates, CJP V hit the hard cap on Limited Partner commitments. This represents the largest fundraise for a buyout strategy focused on the Japanese market.

WitnessAI: Secure AI Enablement Platform Raises $27.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

WitnessAI, a creator of an enablement platform for safe AI use, announced a $27.5 million Series A round co-led by GV and Ballistic Ventures. Ballistic Ventures previously incubated the company.

Cover Whale: Insurance Tech Company Raises $27.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Cover Whale Insurance Solutions, a leading insurtech specializing in connected insurance for commercial auto, announced $27.5 million in debt and equity from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital.

AltruBio: $225 Million Raised To Develop Novel Therapeutics For Treating Immunological Diseases With Unmet Medical Needs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

AltruBio, a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of immunological diseases with high unmet medical needs, announced an oversubscribed Series B financing of up to $225 million.

Amino Health: Digital Healthcare Navigation Company Raises $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Amino Health, a leading digital healthcare navigation company, announced a $10 million funding round led by Transformation Capital. This funding will be used to accelerate Amino’s AI product roadmap for building personalized patient care journeys. This latest funding round follows Transformation Capital's $30 million investment in May 2023.

Max Retail: $15 Million Secured To Help Brands Sell Excess Inventory

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Max Retail, a marketplace that makes it easier for independent retailers and brands to sell excess inventory, announced a $15 million Series A round led by Nosara Capital with participation from Rethink Impact. This funding round also includes continued support from LA-based VC M13, The Artemis Fund, and StandUp Ventures.

Volt: SMS Infrastructure Platform Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Volt, a leading Messaging Operations (Ops) infrastructure platform that enables software companies to integrate with multiple SMS providers and streamline number registration compliance and delivery reporting, announced the closing of its $3 million seed round. Mercury led this funding round, which also included participation from Atento Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Stout Street Capital, and Yellow Rocks. The new funding round will enable Volt to further enhance and accelerate its product development and strategically expand its team.

Bolster: Multi-Channel Phishing Protection Company Raises $14 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

Bolster, a multi-channel phishing protection leader, announced a $14 million Series B financing round led by M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund). And existing investors Thomvest Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Liberty Global Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, Cervin Ventures, and Transform Capital also participated. This brought Bolster’s total funding to over $40 million.

HoundDog.ai: $3.1 Million Raised To Help Organizations Protect Sensitive Data From Exposure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

HoundDog.ai, a company implementing data security and privacy controls at the code level, announced the completion of a $3.1 million seed funding round led by E14, Mozilla Ventures, ex/ante, and additional angel investors.

Vaxess: $12 Million Raised To Develop Shelf-Stable MIMIX Skin Patch For Vaccines And Therapeutics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

Vaxess Technologies, a life sciences company developing a shelf-stable MIMIX skin patch for vaccines and therapeutics, announced that it has received $12 million in additional funding. Investors included RA Capital Management, Engine Ventures, GHIC, and Mission Bio Capital. This brings Vaxess’s total equity and non-dilutive funding to more than $90 million.

Maxa: $21 Million Raised To Advance Snowflake Native App For ERP Insights Automation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Maxa - the #1 Snowflake Native App for business system and ERP insights automation for the Gen AI era - announced that it closed its Series A funding as part of an oversubscribed $21 million transaction. The funding round was led by FRAMEWORK, with BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund as co-lead. Maxa also welcomed new investors Snowflake Ventures, Amiral Ventures and NAventures, the venture arm of National Bank of Canada, in addition to third-time backers AQC Capital and Graphite Ventures.

Babylon: $70 Million Raised To Build A Bitcoin-Secured Decentralized World

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Babylon, a project that aims to build a Bitcoin-secured decentralized world, today announced the completion of its $70 million funding round. This funding round - led by Paradigm with significant contributions from Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, and other investors - signals momentum in the Bitcoin economy.

Palantir Wins $480 Million Army Contract For Maven AI Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Palantir Technologies announced that the Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) awarded its subsidiary (Palantir USG) a production contract to make licenses of their AI-enabled operating system available across the Department of Defense (DoD). Starting with an initial order of $153 million for supporting certain Combatant Commands and the Joint Staff, more awards could be made up to $480 million over a 5-year period.

Switchboard: Customizable Oracle Network Company Raises $7.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Switchboard, a customizable oracle network that lets users plug into the on-chain economy, announced it has raised $7.5 million in a Series A round led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX, with participation from Solana Foundation, Aptos Labs, Mysten Labs (Sui), Subzero Ventures, Starkware, Arche Capital, Breed VC, Ascensive Assets, BlockBuilders, and others.

Chameleon Buying Interactive Demo Company Driveway

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Chameleon, a product adoption platform for modern software companies, announced that it has acquired interactive demo company Driveway. This acquisition enables Chameleon to expand into the interactive demo category and drive user onboarding via (existing) in-product and (new) ungated walkthroughs. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Denim: $63 Million Warehouse Facility Raised From Silicon Valley Bank and Trinity Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 31, 2024

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), along with lending partner Trinity Capital, announced that it has provided Denim, a technology-forward factoring partner for freight brokers, with a $63 million warehouse facility.

ARPA Network: Decentralized Secure Computation Company Raises $6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 31, 2024

ARPA Network, a pioneer in decentralized secure computation, announced a $6 million strategic investment to support product expansion in fully on-chain gaming, Autonomous Worlds (AW), and cryptographic AI. The lead investors in the round include Nomura's Laser Digital and DeFiance Capital, with additional funding from Animoca Ventures, Metrics Ventures, ArkStream Capital, and Trinito. ARPA Network is previously backed by Binance Labs, Arrington Capital, and DWF Labs.

Reibus Raises $30 Million And Names Jared Rowe As CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 31, 2024

Reibus, a leading independent metals marketplace, announced the appointment of Jared Rowe as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board. The company also revealed $30 million in new round of funding.

Cornell University: An Interview With Jodi Anderson, Jr., Director At The School of Industrial Labor Relations’ Criminal Justice And Employment Initiative

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 31, 2024

Jodi Anderson Jr. is a Director of Technological Innovation at the Cornell University School of Industrial Labor Relations' Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) where he is responsible for overseeing the development and deployment of technology solutions that will enable justice-involved individuals to access employment and career development opportunities. And he is also a researcher at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, where he manages cohorts of early-stage entrepreneurs to build digital solutions for disadvantaged learning communities. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Anderson to learn more about his involvement with Restorative Record, a digital hiring tool created by the CJEI for justice-impacted job candidates to secure employment against exclusionary practices.

Patronus AI: $17 Million Raised To Deploy Reliable LLMs At Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 31, 2024

Patronus AI recently announced it raised $17 million in Series A funding, bringing the total amount raised to $20 million.

The Desire Company: Expert Product Education Platform Raises Funding At $97 Million Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 30, 2024

The Desire Company - a pioneer in expert product education - announced it has concluded its Series B funding round, bringing its valuation to $97 million. And this funding round was led by Cleveland Avenue and supported by Valor Siren Ventures.

Aerodome: Drone-As-First-Responder Company Secures $21.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 30, 2024

Aerodome, a leader in Drone-As-First-Responder (DFR) technology, announced that the company has raised $21.5 million in Series A funding to continue building DFR solutions and build up its engineering and go-to-market teams. CRV led the funding round with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Karman Ventures, Immad Akhund (CEO, Mercury), and Ford Street Ventures. The company also raised its seed round in October, led by a16z and 2048 Ventures. And this round brought the total funding to $28 million.

Allez Health: Emerging Biosensor Company Raises $60 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 30, 2024

Allez Health (formerly known as Zense-Life), an emerging biosensor venture founded by proven experts in the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) space, announced a $60 million Series A+ financing. This funding round was led by Korean in-vitro diagnostics company Osang Healthcare Co., Ltd. as a strategic investor, with participation from existing investors. The new funding round is expected to be used to accelerate growth toward pivotal trials, support regulatory approval filings, and scale manufacturing operations.