Innovation

Aptyx Appoints David Price As CEO To Lead Next Phase Of Medical Device Manufacturing Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Aptyx has appointed David Price as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Price previously served as the medical device contract development and manufacturing organization’s Chief Financial Officer.

Stellantis Appoints Matt VanDyke To Lead Ram And Branden Coté To Lead Jeep

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Stellantis has appointed Matt VanDyke as CEO of the Ram brand and Branden Coté as CEO of the Jeep brand. The appointments are part of CEO Antonio Filosa’s strategy to strengthen the automaker’s leadership team and accelerate growth across its North American brands. VanDyke’s appointment became effective July 20. Coté will begin leading Jeep on August 3.

Knox Lane Completes Acquisition Of Cross Country Healthcare And Appoints Joel Tremblay CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Knox Lane has completed its acquisition of Cross Country Healthcare, transitioning the healthcare workforce solutions company into private ownership. Financial terms of the completed transaction were not disclosed.

CapVest Completes Acquisition Of Majority Stake In TSG Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

CapVest Partners has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in TSG Solutions following the receipt of all required approvals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Starco Brands Acquires Custom Bakehouse, Adding Approximately $20 Million In Annual Revenue

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Starco Brands has completed its acquisition of Custom Bakehouse, expanding its manufacturing capabilities and consumer product portfolio. The transaction closed on July 15, 2026, and is expected to add approximately $20 million in annual revenue.

Venerable And Guardian Agree To Transition $4.5 Billion In Assets To Venerable Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Venerable Holdings has reached an agreement with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to transition approximately $4.5 billion in separate account assets to Venerable’s investment advisory platform. The assets are currently held in Guardian’s variable products trust. Under the proposed transaction, the affected funds will be reorganized through a series of mergers into a variable insurance mutual fund trust managed by SunAmerica Asset Management, a Venerable subsidiary.

Altana Acquires Cervo AI To Create End-To-End Customs Brokerage Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Altana has acquired Cervo AI to expand its agentic artificial intelligence platform for customs brokerage. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Cary Street Partners Acquires Seneca House Advisors, Expanding To 22 Offices And More Than $13 Billion In Client Assets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Cary Street Partners has acquired Seneca House Advisors, expanding its wealth management presence in Richmond, Virginia. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

AI Digital Acquires Barcelona Creative Agency To Expand AI Creative Studio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

AI Digital has acquired a Barcelona-based creative agency to expand the design and art direction capabilities of its AI Creative Studio. The name of the acquired agency and financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Bendon Acquires School Zone Publishing To Expand Into K-6 Educational Products

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Bendon has acquired School Zone Publishing Company, adding a teacher-developed educational brand to its portfolio of children’s coloring, activity and learning products. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Riverview Landscapes Acquires B&B Landscaping In 27th Acquisition

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Riverview Landscapes has acquired B&B Landscaping & Gardening, a commercial and residential landscaping and snow management company based in Cortlandt Manor, New York. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Wildflower Health Acquires Every Mother To Expand Pelvic Floor And Core Care

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Wildflower Health has acquired Every Mother, a digital platform providing pelvic floor and core health programs for women during pregnancy, postpartum recovery and midlife. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Four Corners Property Trust Acquires Novant Health Urgent Care Property For $2.8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Four Corners Property Trust has acquired a Novant Health urgent care property for $2.8 million. The transaction expands the real estate investment trust’s portfolio beyond its traditional concentration in restaurant and retail properties.

SmartBear: Interview With CEO Dan Faulkner About Application Integrity And Agentic QA

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

SmartBear provides software development tools spanning API lifecycle management, test automation, test management and quality governance, and production observability. Its portfolio is unified through the SmartBear Application Integrity Core, which connects the API catalog and test repository as a foundation for software quality. Pulse 2.0 interviewed SmartBear CEO Dan Faulkner to learn more.

BasicBlock Acquires TrueNorth To Add AI Dispatch And Loadboard Capabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

BasicBlock has acquired TrueNorth, a free loadboard and AI-powered dispatch platform serving trucking carriers and freight brokers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Commission Names Margaret Brown Board Chair As MaryBeth Kurland Transitions From CEO Role

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

The Commission has named Margaret Brown as its 2026 Board Chair as the professional credentialing organization advances its certification, continuing education and workforce development programs. Brown is Senior Director of Care Management at Priority Health and has held the Certified Case Manager credential since 2014.

MyDecisive Raises $12 Million And Exits Stealth With Open-Source AI DevOps Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

MyDecisive has emerged from stealth with $12 million in funding and the launch of SmartHub, its open-source foundation for enterprise IT operations. The company also announced the general availability of Octant, a commercial product suite built on the SmartHub platform.

Norm Law Adds John Budetti As Partner And Co-Head Of Global Private Capital Funds

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Norm Law has added John Budetti as Partner and Co-Head of Global Private Capital Funds. The appointment expands the AI-native law firm’s capabilities for advising institutional investment managers and private capital sponsors.

Vikk AI Raises $4.2 Million To Expand Legal AI Platform And Lawyer Advertising Marketplace

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Vikk AI has raised $4.2 million to expand its AI-powered legal platform and develop a sponsored advertising channel for lawyers. The financing consists of a $700,000 pre-seed round and a $3.5 million seed round.

Photon Queue Raises $4 Million Seed Round To Scale Quantum Memory Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Photon Queue has raised $4 million in an oversubscribed seed financing round to expand its quantum memory technology. Playground Global led the investment.

Pure DC Secures €1.3 Billion To Develop 110 MW Finland AI Data Center Campus

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Pure Data Centres Group has secured €1.3 billion in committed senior debt to finance the first phase of its Seinäjoki artificial intelligence data center campus in Finland. The financing brings the company’s total capital secured during the past 12 months to more than $4.2 billion.

Kirkland Adds Real Estate Partner Wesley Smith To Expand Data Center And Digital Infrastructure Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Kirkland & Ellis has added Wesley Smith as a Partner in its Real Estate Practice Group. He joins the firm from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he was also a partner.

Palo Alto Networks To Acquire Embrace And Expand Observability Platform With Digital Experience Monitoring

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Palo Alto Networks intends to acquire Embrace, a provider of user-focused observability technology, to add real user monitoring capabilities to the Palo Alto Networks Observability platform. Financial terms of the proposed transaction were not disclosed.

First Financial Bancorp To Acquire Finward Bancorp For Approximately $208 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

First Financial Bancorp has agreed to acquire Finward Bancorp in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $208 million. The deal would expand First Financial’s banking presence across Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan market.

Legato AI: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Dana Rochman About The Custom Software Applications Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Legato AI enables non-technical business users to build and customize software applications and workflows directly inside existing SaaS platforms using plain-language instructions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Legato AI co-founder and CEO Dana Rochman to learn more.

Eldridge Closes $75 Million Sale-Leaseback With Global Chemical Producer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Eldridge Capital Management has completed a $75 million sale-leaseback transaction with an unnamed global producer of chemical inputs used across consumer and industrial products.

Horace Mann To Acquire Medical Mutual Businesses For $240 Million, Adding Nearly $200 Million In Annual Revenue

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Horace Mann Educators Corporation has entered into two agreements with Medical Mutual of Ohio to acquire businesses providing employee assistance, supplemental insurance, group life insurance and disability coverage. The transactions have a combined net purchase price of approximately $240 million.

Nano Dimension Appoints Moshe Rozenbaum Interim CEO And Phillip Borenstein Chairman

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

Nano Dimension has appointed Moshe Rozenbaum as Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. The company’s Board of Directors has also named Phillip Borenstein Chairman.

OpenAI Appoints Nubank Founder David Vélez And BNY CEO Robin Vince To Foundation And Group PBC Boards

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

OpenAI has appointed David Vélez and Robin Vince to the boards of the OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC. The additions bring senior leadership experience spanning digital banking, financial infrastructure, risk management, institutional governance and technology-driven transformation.

MSA Safety Elects Diebold Nixdorf CEO Octavio Marquez To Board Of Directors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 22, 2026

MSA Safety has elected Octavio Marquez to its Board of Directors as part of the industrial safety company’s regular succession planning. Marquez is President and CEO of Diebold Nixdorf.