Innovation

Trident IoT: Silicon Provider And RF Technology Company Closes $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Trident IoT, a silicon provider and RF technology company focused on decreasing time-to-market for connected device manufacturers, announced the completion of a $10 million fundraising round.

HumanX: AI Leader Forum Company Secures $6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

HumanX, a forum for AI leaders started by the team behind HLTH and Money20/20, announced its official debut and the annual conference. This inaugural gathering will be hosted in March 2025 and bring together C-suite leaders, decision-makers, policymakers, founders, and AI practitioners. And HumanX raised over $6 million in funding led by Primary Venture Partners, with participation from Foundation Capital, FPV Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz.

BeyondTrust To Buy Privilege Management Company Entitle

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

BeyondTrust, a leader in intelligent identity and access security, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Entitle, a privilege management solution company that discovers, manages, and automates just-in-time (JIT) access and modern identity governance and administration (IGA).

Toku: All-In-One Recurring Payments Platform Raises $9.3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

GridBeyond: Intelligent Energy And Smart Grid Platform Company Secures €52 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

GridBeyond, a leading intelligent energy and smart grid platform provider for distributed energy resource management, announced it has closed a €52 million Series C financing round. Alantra’s Energy Transition Fund Klima led the round. And the round also included new investors Energy Impact Partners, Mirova, ABB, Constellation, and Yokogawa Electric Corporation, as well as investment from existing investor Act Venture Capital.

Ilant Health: Obesity Management Company Extends Seed Round To $5.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Ilant Health, a leader in value-based obesity management and cardiometabolic health solutions, announced the extension of its seed round of fundraising from $3 million to $5.5 million. This women-led startup received additional funds from a combination of new health-oriented investors, including LifeX Ventures, Celtic House Asia Partners, Cornucopian Capital, and existing investors.

University Of Texas At Arlington Launches Center For Entrepreneurship And Technology Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

The University of Texas at Arlington has announced the launch of its Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Development (CETD) to support student and faculty entrepreneurship. This center will support the region’s innovation economy and expand UTA’s worldwide engagement with public and private partners.

Asher Biotherapeutics: $55 Million Raised To Develop Precisely-Targeted Immunotherapies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Asher Biotherapeutics, a biotechnology company that is developing precisely targeted immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases, announced the closing of a $55 million Series C funding round. This funding was led by RA Capital Management and included new investors AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb, along with existing investors Janus Henderson Investors, Third Rock Ventures, Wellington Management, Boxer Capital, and other undisclosed institutional investors.

AI Squared: $13.8 Million Raised To Deliver Data And Insights Into Business Apps

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

AI Squared, a company that helps organizations deliver data and AI insights into business applications, announced today that it has raised $13.8 million in Series A funding led by Ansa Capital with participation from existing investors NEA and Ridgeline.

University Of Arkansas At Little Rock Receives $5 Million In Federal Funding For Cybersecurity Education

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock received $5 million in federal funding to enhance cybersecurity for the energy sector through education, workforce development, and innovation. This award comes from appropriations language authored by U.S. Sen. John Boozman (passed into law in December 2022). And the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response provided this funding.

Accenture Federal Services To Buy Cognosante

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Accenture Federal Services has agreed to acquire Cognosante, a mission-driven provider of digital transformation and cloud modernization solutions for federal health, defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Magnesium Capital: Inaugural Fund Closed At €135 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Energy transition buyout specialist Magnesium Capital announced the successful closing of its inaugural Fund, Magnesium Capital I, at its hard cap of €135 million, exceeding the €100 million Fund target. The final close occurred less than a year after the Fund’s first close, with Magnesium attracting blue-clip institutional investors from the US, Europe, and the UK.

Andreessen Horowitz: $7.2 Billion Raised For Several Venture Strategies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced it has raised $7.2 billion for several venture strategies. The funding will be spread as follows: American Dynamism ($600 million), Apps ($1 billion), Games ($600 million), Infrastructure ($1.25 billion), and Growth ($3.75 billion).

Two Chairs: Modern Behavioral Health Company Raises $72 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Modern behavioral health company Two Chairs announced that it has closed a $72 million Series C equity and debt financing round led by Amplo. Fifth Down Capital and other investors also participated. Bridge Bank set up the debt financing.

Armis Buying Silk Security For $150 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Armis announced it has acquired Silk Security for a total of $150 million and will integrate the Silk Platform into the Armis Centrix AI-based Vulnerability Prioritization and Remediation solution to enhance its capabilities and now be able to provide security teams with a consolidated view of security findings that encompass all sources of data from on-premise devices to cloud compute, code, and application security tools, and fully manage and automate remediation.

Quilt: Smart Home Climate Solution Company Secures $33 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Quilt, a smart home climate solution company, announced a $33 million Series A funding round co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Galvanize Climate Solutions. Lowercarbon Capital, Gradient Ventures, MCJ Collective, Garage Capital, Incite Ventures, and Drew Scott also participated.

EdgeConneX: $1.9 Billion In Sustainability-Linked Financing Secured

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

EdgeConneX, a global Build-to-Suit and Build-to-Density Solutions leader, announced it secured an additional $1.9 billion in sustainability-linked financing to support its EMEA digital infrastructure expansion. This deal upsized EdgeConneX $2.9 billion in sustainability-linked financing (initially issued in October 2022).

Somite: AI-Based Stem Cell Therapy Company Closes $5.3 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Somite, a company aiming to become the OpenAI of stem cell biology, announced that it had raised $5.3 million in pre-seed funding. This funding round was led by TechAviv and joined by Next Coast Ventures, Trust Ventures, Texas Venture Partners, Lerer Hippeau, and others. The funding will be used to continue developing Somite’s proprietary AlphaStem AI platform, build Somite labs, and bring the first therapeutic asset to Phase 1 clinical trials.

Upstream Security: Funding Raised From Cisco Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Upstream Security, a leading provider of cybersecurity extended detection and response (XDR) for connected vehicles and IoT announced it received an investment from Cisco Investments.

Ecotrak: Intelligent Facilities Management Company Raises $30 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Ecotrak, a leading intelligent facility management platform, announced the closing of a $30 million funding round. Respida Capital led the round, which included participation from Carver Road Capital and existing investor Gala Capital Partners.

Cynomi: Leading vCISO Platform Provider Secures $20 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Cynomi, a leading vCISO platform provider for MSPs and MSSPs, announced $20 million in new funding. This funding round was led by Canaan, with Flint Capital, s16vc, and Aloniq among return investors. This funding round will also drive Cynomi's international expansion efforts, enabling the company to enhance the vCISO platform offerings and enable partners to overcome cybersecurity skills gaps and scale businesses up.

KODE Labs: Autonomous Smart Building Company Raises $30 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

KODE Labs, a Detroit-based autonomous smart building startup, announced the closing of a $30 million Series B round. Headed by Maverix Private Equity, this milestone funding round also saw enthusiastic participation from esteemed partners TELUS Ventures and existing investor I Squared Capital. This funding round marks a significant moment for KODE, enabling the company to help buildings worldwide achieve net-zero emissions.

Vidyard: AI Avatar Video Messaging Company Closes $15 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Video messaging company Vidyard has introduced the industry’s first hyper-realistic AI Avatars (looks and sounds just like the user) to its Messages platform. Vidyard also revealed that it has secured $15 million in funding led by Export Development Canada (EDC) with participation from BMO Capital Partners and existing investors Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and iNovia Capital. Including this funding round, Vidyard has raised $90.7 million in total funding.

Rivos: RISC-V Accelerated Platform Company Raises Over $250 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Rivos, a RISC-V accelerated platform company targeting data analytics and Generative AI, announced it had raised over $250 million in its oversubscribed Series A-3 funding round. Matrix Capital Management, the largest investor in this round, joined the Board, represented by Romit Shah. This funding round also saw participation from new investors, including Intel Capital, MediaTek, Cambium Capital, CIDC, Capital TEN, and Hotung Venture Group, and additional participation from existing investors Walden Catalyst, Dell Technologies Capital, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and VentureTech Alliance.

Evolution Equity Partners: $1.1 Billion Closed For Technology Fund III

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Evolution Equity Partners announced the final closing of Evolution Technology Fund III, LP, and total capital commitments of $1.1 billion to invest in visionary entrepreneurs building next-generation cybersecurity companies. This fundraising was oversubscribed by existing and new limited partners, representing a mix of institutions, sovereign investors, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, fund of funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

LQDX: Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Materials Company Raises $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Averatek, a developer of high-performance materials for advanced semiconductor manufacturing, announced that it has relaunched as LQDX ('lik-WID-ix) to focus on the rapid adoption of its AI-enabling chemistries and process technologies. The company also concluded a combined equity and initial government funding round of $10 million to fund this next growth stage.

Arcadia: Utility Data And Community Solar Company Closes $50 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Arcadia, a global utility data and community solar platform, announced the closing of a growth round. This funding will support the continued growth of the company's community solar program and product innovation utilizing AI to unlock new use cases built on the company's substantial energy data.

Upstage: Document AI Processing Company Secures $72 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Upstage, an AI company specializing in large language models (LLMs) and Document AI, announced that it has raised $72 million in a Series B funding round. With this latest funding round, Upstage has raised over $100 million since its founding in October 2020, making it the most funded South Korean AI software company in history.

Writ: $3.8 Million Raised To Help Companies Make Informed Decisions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Writ, a company rethinking how companies use data to make decisions, announced $3.8 million in Series Seed funding today. Gradient Ventures led the round, which included participation from Defy.vc, High Alpha, Toba Capital, and several angels.

Nectero Medical: $96 Million Secured To Develop Novel Therapies To Treat Aneurysmal Disease

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Nectero Medical, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering novel therapies to treat aneurysmal disease, announced the closing of its $96 million Series D funding round. This round was led by Norwest Venture Partners and included large investments from Boston Scientific Corporation, BioStar Capital, Cadence Healthcare Ventures, Aphelion Capital, and other firms.