Innovation

Utz Brands To Go Private In $2.9 Billion Deal With Intersnack Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Utz Brands has entered into a definitive agreement to go private in a transaction valuing the snack manufacturer at approximately $2.9 billion. Intersnack Group will acquire all outstanding shares of Utz Class A common stock for $14.25 per share in cash.

Bank Of America Enhances EricaAssist With Generative AI To Improve Client Service

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Bank of America has added generative AI capabilities to EricaAssist, its employee-facing AI agent designed to support customer service representatives during client conversations. More than 18,000 employees currently use the platform.

Microsoft And Mistral Expand Partnership With Multibillion-Dollar European AI Infrastructure Agreement

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Microsoft and Mistral have expanded their strategic partnership through a multibillion-dollar agreement focused on increasing artificial intelligence infrastructure capacity in Europe. The companies will also integrate additional Mistral models across Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio, Azure and Azure Local.

Modo Energy Secures $17 Million In Growth Funding From CIBC Innovation Banking

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Modo Energy has secured a $17 million growth funding package from CIBC Innovation Banking to expand its AI-powered energy data and valuation platform. The financing brings the London-based company’s total capital raised to $52 million.

Cashea Raises $100 Million To Expand Interest-Free Financing Across Venezuela

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Cashea has raised $100 million from global institutional investors to expand its interest-free financing platform and develop additional financial products for consumers and merchants across Venezuela. The financing consists of a previously undisclosed $40 million Series A completed in March 2026 and a $60 million Series B closed in June 2026. Cashea said the full $100 million will be invested in Venezuela.

Tuya Smart Invests In Robopoet As RMB 100 Million Pre-A Round Closes

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Tuya Smart has made a strategic investment in Robopoet as part of the AI hardware company’s recently completed RMB 100 million pre-A financing round. Existing investors HSG and GSR Ventures also participated, along with two other new backers.

SkyPilot Raises $20 Million Seed Round To Unify AI Compute Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

SkyPilot has emerged from stealth with $20 million in seed funding to expand its platform for managing artificial intelligence computing infrastructure across multiple clouds, clusters and accelerator types. Lux Capital led the round. Additional investors included Amplify Partners, Coatue Management, Foundation Capital, Race Capital and The House Fund. Technology executives participating in the financing included Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch, Replit CEO Amjad Masad, Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue and dbt Labs CEO Tristan Handy.

AST SpaceMobile Raises $1.15 Billion Through Convertible Senior Notes Offering

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

AST SpaceMobile has completed a private offering of $1 billion in convertible senior notes due in 2034 and confirmed that the initial purchasers exercised their option to acquire an additional $150 million of notes. Settlement of the additional notes was expected on July 22, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Einride To Acquire Flipturn In $38.4 Million All-Stock Deal To Expand Heavy-Duty EV Charging Network

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Einride has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Flipturn, a developer of charging and energy management software for electric vehicle fleets, in an all-stock transaction valued at $38.4 million. The proposed acquisition is intended to strengthen Einride’s U.S. operations and create what the company expects will become North America’s largest heavy-duty electric vehicle charging ecosystem.

VENU Secures $20 Million Bridge Loan From Ryan To Advance McKinney Amphitheater

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Venu Holding has secured a $20 million bridge loan financing facility from Ryan to support construction of the Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney, Texas. The premium live entertainment venue is expected to accommodate approximately 20,000 people and is targeted to open during the first quarter of 2027.

Fidelity Expands Institutional SMA Lineup With Eight New Strategies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Fidelity Investments has expanded its institutional separately managed account lineup with six custom strategies and two model offerings for registered investment advisors and broker-dealers. The new products combine Fidelity’s active management and quantitative research capabilities with portfolio personalization and tax-management features.

TruArc Partners Raises $1.2 Billion For Fund V

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

TruArc Partners has closed TruArc Partners Fund V with $1.2 billion in capital commitments, exceeding its $1.1 billion target. The fund also closed substantially above the $840.1 million raised for its predecessor vehicle.

Honeycomb: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Christine Yen About The Observability Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Honeycomb is an observability platform that helps software engineering teams understand and debug their complex production systems. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Honeycomb co-founder and CEO Christine Yen to learn more.

Polyverse: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Queena Qiu About The AI-Native App Development Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Polyverse Entertainment is an AI-native app development platform that builds popular social entertainment and creative generative AI applications such as AI Mirror. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Polyverse co-founder and CEO Queena Qiu to learn more.

Rege Nephro Raises $10.6 Million To Advance RN-014 And Kidney Regeneration Pipeline

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Rege Nephro has raised approximately $10.6 million to advance its kidney disease programs, including lead candidate RN-014 and regenerative medicine program RN-032. The clinical-stage biotechnology company completed the financing through the issuance of Japan-Keep It Simple Security share acquisition rights, commonly known as J-KISS securities.

Cardinal Health To Acquire AdaptHealth Diabetes Business And Strive Medical For $360 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Cardinal Health has agreed to acquire AdaptHealth’s Diabetes Health business and Strive Medical in two transactions totaling approximately $360 million in cash. The purchase prices remain subject to customary working capital adjustments.

Interblock Appoints Kay Oswald As Chief Executive Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Interblock has appointed Kay Oswald as chief executive officer following a search that began in February 2026. He succeeds Bala Ganesan, managing director at Oaktree Capital Management, who had been serving as interim CEO.

Veralto Acquires Alfaa UV To Expand Ultraviolet Water Treatment Portfolio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Veralto has acquired Alfaa UV, an India-based provider of ultraviolet water treatment systems for industrial and commercial applications. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sofab Inks Raises $6 Million Seed Round To Scale Perovskite Solar Materials

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Sofab Inks has raised $6 million in seed funding to scale production of specialty materials designed to improve the reliability of perovskite solar cells. Cloudberry Ventures led the round as a strategic investor.

Thesis Elements Acquires 3D Technologies To Unify Student Information System Implementation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Thesis has acquired 3D Technologies, a longtime implementation and consulting partner for its Thesis Elements student information system. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Siemens To Acquire Precision Innovations To Expand AI-Powered Chip Design Portfolio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Siemens has agreed to acquire Precision Innovations, a privately held electronic design automation software company specializing in AI-powered chip planning. The acquisition will expand Siemens’ capabilities for exploring and optimizing advanced system-on-a-chip designs earlier in the development process.

Twenty Raises Additional $30 Million From Khosla Ventures At $1.2 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Twenty has raised an additional $30 million from Khosla Ventures at a $1.2 billion valuation. The investment follows the cyber defense company’s recently announced $100 million Series B, which was led by Accel at a $1 billion valuation.

Sleep Country Acquires Substantially All Sleep Number Assets, Creating Second-Largest Global Sleep Retailer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Sleep Country Canada has acquired all of Sleep Number’s assets substantially following a competitive, court-supervised sale process. The transaction marks Sleep Country’s entry into the United States and creates a combined retail network of more than 800 locations. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Cracker Barrel Completes $77 Million Sale-Leaseback And Divests Maple Street Biscuit Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Cracker Barrel has completed a sale-leaseback transaction involving 26 company-owned restaurant properties and divested certain assets of its Maple Street Biscuit Company business. The company also raised its profitability outlook for fiscal 2026.

Franchise Equity Partners Acquires Bravo Fit To Accelerate Planet Fitness Expansion In Australia

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Franchise Equity Partners has acquired Bravo Fit, the exclusive Planet Fitness franchisee across several Australian markets, from its existing shareholders. Planet Fitness exited its minority ownership position in Bravo Fit as part of the transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Tempus AI To Acquire Personalis For $1.5 Billion To Expand MRD Cancer Monitoring

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Tempus AI has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Personalis in a transaction representing an enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion, excluding Tempus’ existing ownership interest. The acquisition will expand Tempus’ molecular residual disease capabilities and strengthen its AI-enabled precision oncology platform.

ORiS Raises €5 Million To Build In-Orbit Energy Distribution Grid

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

ORiS has secured €5 million in funding to develop laser-based wireless power transmission systems for satellites and other space applications. The financing includes a €4.5 million pre-seed round led by Earlybird and co-led by Pitchdrive, with participation from Galaxia, Vento and Piemonte Next Fund.

deltaVision Raises €10.2 Million Seed Round To Scale Spacecraft Fluid-Control Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

deltaVision has raised €10.2 million in seed funding to expand production of fluid-control systems for space applications. The round was led by KT Ventures and Valemount Capital, with participation from Futury Capital.

ApexData Launches RidgeScope To Diagnose GPU Training Failures And Reduce AI Infrastructure Waste

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

ApexData has launched RidgeScope, an AI-powered diagnostic platform designed to identify performance problems in GPU-based machine learning training runs. The platform is generally available and can determine what went wrong, why it happened and what engineering teams can do to address the issue.

Harbour Group Acquires APG To Expand Flow-Control And Sealing Products Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 21, 2026

Harbour Group has acquired American Packing & Gasket Holdings, commonly known as APG, and added the business to its SHF flow-components platform. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.