Innovation

Boyd Group Closes $1.3 Billion Acquisition Of Joe Hudson’s Collision Center

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Boyd Group Services announced it has completed its acquisition of Joe Hudson’s Collision Center, a deal that significantly expands Boyd’s footprint in the U.S. Southeast and reinforces its position among the largest non-franchised collision repair operators in North America.

NIIT MTS Acquires SweetRush To Expand Strategic Learning Offerings

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

NIIT Learning Systems Limited, through its NIIT Managed Training Services business (NIIT MTS), has acquired SweetRush, Inc., an AI-enabled custom learning experience design firm known for strategic training interventions and work with Fortune 1000 enterprises, professional associations, and not-for-profit organizations.

Meta Lines Up Nuclear Energy Deals Targeting Up To 6.6 GW To Support US AI Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Meta announced it has reached agreements with Oklo, TerraPower, and Vistra to support a mix of new and existing nuclear generation that could total up to 6.6 gigawatts by 2035, positioning nuclear power as a key pillar in the company’s growing electricity strategy for data centers and AI workloads.

Blockstream Capital Partners To Acquire Numeus Derivatives Trading Team In Deal Backed By Komainu Partnership

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Blockstream Capital Partners (BCP) announced it has signed an agreement to acquire a division within Numeus Group’s digital asset trading and investment business, bringing a 10-person derivatives trading team and select Bitcoin-focused yield strategies into the Blockstream Capital platform.

Bain Capital And BlueWater Marinas Buy Kent Narrows Boatel Near Annapolis

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Bain Capital Real Estate and BlueWater Marinas have acquired Kent Narrows Boatel, a heated, Class A drystack marina in Kent Narrows, Maryland, adding the property to a growing portfolio of marina investments along the East Coast.

Good Culture Announces Majority Investment From L Catterton

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Good Culture announced L Catterton has entered into a definitive agreement to make a majority investment in the Austin, Texas-based clean-label cultured dairy brand, positioning the company for expanded production capacity, broader distribution, and faster product innovation as demand for high-protein, clean-label foods continues to climb. Financial terms were not disclosed.

GTreasury Buys Solvexia To Expand Reconciliation And Regulatory Reporting Automation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

GTreasury, a Ripple Solution, announced that it has acquired Solvexia, a provider of no-code financial automation, data management, and analytics tools, in a deal aimed at modernizing reconciliation and regulatory reporting workflows for finance teams.

Barclays Backs Ubyx To Expand Connectivity For Tokenized Deposits And Stablecoins

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Barclays has made a strategic investment in Ubyx, a U.S.-based clearing system designed to support new forms of digital money, including tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins.

Contemporary Leadership Advisors Acquires Momentum Global

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Contemporary Leadership Advisors (CLA), a consulting firm focused on leadership and organizational effectiveness, has acquired Momentum Global, a boutique advisory founded by former chief people officers Scott Slipy and Suni Lobo.

Heartland Renaissance Fund Wins $85 Million New Markets Tax Credits Allocation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Heartland Renaissance Fund, an affiliate of ACC Capital, announced it has received an $85 million New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) allocation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, positioning the organization to attract private capital for manufacturing and small-business projects across a seven-state footprint in the central U.S.

Silver Hill Energy Partners Expands In South Texas With Acquisition From 1776 Energy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Silver Hill Energy Partners announced it has closed the acquisition of 100% of 1776 Energy’s interest in oil and gas properties, rights, and related assets in South Texas, primarily in Karnes and Gonzales Counties, Texas.

OpenAI Hires Team From Convogo

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

The team behind Convogo, a software platform built to help executive coaches and HR leaders streamline leadership assessments and feedback reporting, is joining OpenAI, according to a LinkedIn post from Convogo co-founder Matt Cooper.

Equitable Earth: €12.6 Million Raised To Advance Certification Of Nature-Based Climate Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Equitable Earth has raised €12.6 million to expand its certification programme for nature-based carbon projects and invest further in data, technology and methodologies aimed at increasing trust and scalability in the voluntary carbon market.

NVIDIA: Alison Wagonfeld Hired As Chief Marketing Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Alison Wagonfeld, a senior marketing leader at Google Cloud, announced she will leave Google in late January to join NVIDIA as chief marketing officer, where she will lead the company’s marketing and communications as it enters its “next phase of growth.”

TerraVest Acquires KBK Industries For $90 Million In Cash

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

TerraVest Industries announced it has acquired KBK Industries, LLC, a Texas-based manufacturer of fiberglass and steel storage tanks, expanding TerraVest’s footprint in the U.S. tank market and adding manufacturing capacity in both Texas and Kansas.

Titan America To Buy Keystone Cement Company For $310 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Titan America SA announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Keystone Cement Company, a Pennsylvania-based cement manufacturer and aggregates producer, expanding Titan’s footprint in the Mid-Atlantic and adding capacity in markets the company describes as benefiting from infrastructure, technology investment, and transportation modernization programs.

Vivasure Medical Acquired By Haemonetics In Deal Valued Up To €185 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Vivasure Medical, a Galway, Ireland-based developer of fully absorbable technology for percutaneous vessel closure, said it has been acquired by Haemonetics Corporation in a transaction valued at up to €185 million (about $215 million), including milestone-based payments.

Medipost Closes In $140 Million Funding To Back Planned U.S. Phase III Trial

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

MEDIPOST, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company developing allogeneic, umbilical cord blood-derived stem cell therapies, said its parent company, MEDIPOST Co., Ltd., has closed $140 million in funding to accelerate late-stage clinical development and expand manufacturing and operational infrastructure.

AirNexis Therapeutics Launches With $200 Million Series A To Advance Phase 2 Dual PDE3/4 Inhibitor AN01 For COPD

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

AirNexis Therapeutics has launched as a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on pulmonary diseases, closing a $200 million Series A financing and securing an in-license to a Phase 2 dual PDE3/4 inhibitor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from Haisco Pharmaceutical Group.

MagicCube: $10 Million Raised To Expand Beyond Tap-to-Phone

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

MagicCube, a provider of software-based security for payments and device integrity, said it has raised $10 million in new committed funding as it expands beyond tap-to-phone into biometrics, identity verification, and AI-driven device security.

PebblePad Acquires myday To Expand Student Engagement And Digital Learning

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

PebblePad has acquired myday, a student engagement portal used by universities and colleges, in a move the company says will create an integrated, mobile-first experience that links learning, assessment, and campus engagement in a single digital environment.

Magnet Defense To Buy ATG To Expand AI-Enabled Autonomy And DefendAI Battlespace Management Suite

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Magnet Defense has entered an agreement to acquire Advanced Technology Group (ATG), a deal the company says will speed the integration of AI-enabled autonomy and command-and-control capabilities across its national security maritime platform portfolio.

Karman Space & Defense To Acquire Seemann Composites And Materials Sciences For $220 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 11, 2026

Karman Space & Defense said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Seemann Composites and Materials Sciences (MSC) in a deal valued at $220 million, marking the company’s expansion into the maritime defense market for submarines, autonomous undersea and surface vehicles, and other naval platforms.

Diagonal Therapeutics: $125 Million Series B Raised To Advance DIAG723 Clustering Antibody Into the Clinic

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

Diagonal Therapeutics announced it has raised $125 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing to advance its lead program, DIAG723, a first-in-class “clustering antibody” designed to correct dysregulated receptor signaling implicated in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The Watertown, Massachusetts-based biotech said the round was co-led by Sanofi Ventures and Janus Henderson Investors and will also support expansion of its broader clustering-antibody pipeline.

Unusual: $3.6 Million Raised To Help Brands Shape How AI Describes Them

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

Unusual, a startup that says it helps brands understand and influence how large language models describe their products and services, has raised $3.6 million in new funding as companies increasingly worry that AI chatbots can sway customer perception during the buying process.

april: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Ben Borodach About The Tax Filing Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

april is a company that provides an AI-powered tax filing platform that helps individuals complete and optimize their taxes directly within financial apps. Pulse 2.0 interviewed april co-founder and CEO Ben Borodach to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Canopy: $22 Million Series B Raised To Expand Connected Safety And Location Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

Canopy, which provides connected safety platforms for U.S. health systems, has closed a $22 million Series B financing to accelerate growth of its location-based safety and operational tools. The round was led by 111° West Capital and ACME Capital, with participation from existing investors, as the company positions itself as a foundational alternative to what it describes as fragmented point solutions across hospital campuses.

Onsetto: $2.2 Million Seed Raised To Speed Product Development And Expand Go-To-Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

Onsetto, a Minneapolis-based fintech building a white-label platform to help banks and credit unions capture and retain primary business banking relationships, has raised $2.2 million in a Series Seed financing. The round was led by EJF Ventures, the early-stage fintech investing platform of EJF Capital. Additional participants included Idea Fund of La Crosse, The Perch Fund, and Minneapolis-based angel investors Daren Cotter and Bobby Astrup.

Blackbird.AI: $28 Million Raised As ARR Jumps 118% On Growing Demand To Counter Narrative Attacks

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

Blackbird.AI announced it has secured $28 million in new strategic funding as the company reported accelerating growth tied to rising demand from enterprises and national security organizations for tools to detect and counter narrative-based disinformation, misinformation, and deepfake-driven campaigns.

Corgi: $108 Million Raised And Regulatory Approval Won To Launch AI-Native Insurance Carrier For Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 10, 2026

Corgi announced it has raised $108 million and recently secured regulatory approval to operate as a licensed, full-stack insurance carrier built specifically for startups, positioning the company to offer end-to-end coverage spanning underwriting, policy administration, and claims. Investors participating in the funding include Y Combinator, Kindred Ventures, Contrary, Oliver Jung, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Seven Stars, Leblon Capital (Andrej Henkler, Fadwa Ouardani), Fellows Fund, Alumni Ventures, Quadri Ventures, Vocal Ventures, Phosphor Capital and SV Angel, among others.