Innovation

General Proximity: $16 Million (Seed) Raised To Innovate Induced Proximity Medicines For Undruggable Targets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

General Proximity, a biotech platform company, announced its emergence from stealth and unveiled its proprietary OmniTAC platform designed to pioneer the next generation of induced proximity medicines. The company raised $16 million to accelerate the development of treatments targeting undruggable proteins associated with cancer, cardiometabolic disease, neurodegeneration, and longevity.

MIT Research Shows Pay-As-Bid Auction Model For Managing Emissions Could Provide Green Incentives

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Many governments have been addressing climate change by managing carbon emissions through a system of permits sold in auctions at a uniform price or the lowest winning bid, representing the price that all winning bidders typically pay for each unit. And new research by MIT Sloan School of Management associate professor Negin Golrezaei found that switching to a pay-as-bid auction, where each buyer pays the price they bid, could boost revenue and provide stronger incentives for companies to invest in greener technologies.

Corsmed: $3.5 Million (Seed) Raised For Advancing MRI Scanning

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Corsmed, a Swedish Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) software company, announced it has secured $3.5 million in seed funding, bringing the total investment in the company to $10 million. The funding round was co-led by Luminar Ventures and Big Pi Ventures, with participation from previous investors.

Cimulate: $28 Million (Series A) Raised To Help Brands Meet The Demands Of Consumers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Cimulate - a leader in enterprise AI for commerce - announced it has raised $28 million in Series A funding led by Spark Capital with participation from its seed stage investors Sierra Ventures and Pillar VC, with additional participation from LFX Venture Partners and Commerce Ventures. This funding round will accelerate Cimulate’s mission to revolutionize commerce by offering transformative customer experiences through scalable personalization, with a foundation in generative-AI-based search.

Swave Photonics: Holographic Display Company Raises €27 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Holographic display company Swave Photonics announced the closing of its €27 million ($28.27 million) Series A funding round. This investment in Swave will catalyze the advancement of its Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) platform, enabling a reality-first user experience for AI-based augmented reality (AR) smartglasses and heads-up displays.

Marquee Brands Buying Home And Fashion Company Laura Ashley

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Marquee Brands, a global brand accelerator and owner of 17 brands announced the strategic acquisition of Laura Ashley, a legacy home, fashion and lifestyle brand known for its English aesthetic, from Gordon Brothers. Originally founded in 1953, Laura Ashley has become synonymous with timeless design, blending delicate florals, vintage-inspired motifs and craftsmanship across hundreds of products and categories.

Pursuit Completes $17 Million Acquisition Of Jasper SkyTram

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality announced that it closed on the previously announced acquisition of the Jasper SkyTram, which is based in Canada’s iconic Jasper National Park. This attraction is one of Jasper’s most recognizable tourism destinations within the globally visited Canadian Rocky Mountain town.

Delek Logistics Partners Closes Gravity Water Midstream Acquisition

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Delek Logistics Partners has announced the closing of the previously announced acquisition of Gravity Water Intermediate Holdings. The Gravity operations include integrated full-cycle water systems in the Permian Basin along with produced water gathering and transportation assets in the Bakken. And the total consideration for the transaction is $285 million comprising of $200 million in cash (excluding customary closing adjustments) and about 2.175 million DKL units.

Curtiss-Wright: $200 Million Acquisition Of Ultra Energy Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Curtiss-Wright announced that it completed the acquisition of Ultra Nuclear Limited and Weed Instrument for $200 million in cash. Ultra Energy is a leading global provider of safety-critical measurement and control systems for commercial nuclear, aerospace, and defense markets.

PAR Technology Buying Delaget To Expand Restaurant Capabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

PAR Technology, a global food service technology company, announced the acquisition of Delaget, a leading restaurant analytics and business intelligence solutions provider.

Big Time Studios: $150 Million Fund Launched To Advance Web3 Gaming

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Big Time Studios recently announced the $150 million Open Loot Fund, an initiative to empower game studios leveraging the Open Loot platform. This fund provides financial backing, marketing expertise, and development support to enable studios to create high-quality crypto games.

Jolt: Sustainable Energy Storage Materials Company Raises $4 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Jolt Energy Storage Technologies, a pioneer in sustainable organic energy storage materials, announced it raised $4 million in its Series A offering. This funding will accelerate prototype development, field testing, design, and manufacturing processes to pave the way for commercial scalability of its organic flow battery design.

H.I.G. Capital To Buy AI Solutions Company Quisitive

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Microsoft Cloud and AI solutions provider Quisitive Technology Solutions announced that it entered into an arrangement agreement under which an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital will buy all of the company's issued and outstanding common shares.

Gladstone And Proteus Acquiring Ricardo Defense

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Gladstone Investment and Proteus Enterprises announced its acquisition of Ricardo Defense Systems, LLC and Ricardo Defense, Inc. (collectively known as RDI). Gladstone Investment provided equity and senior secured debt to complete the transaction.

Cass Information Systems Acquires AcuAudit From Active Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Cass Information Systems - a leading global freight audit & payment solutions provider - announced it acquired AcuAudit, a premier freight audit platform for the ocean and international air freight, from Active Solutions.

SkyVisor: €1.2 Million Raised For Enhancing Drone-Based Inspection Software

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

SkyVisor - a leading innovator of automatic drone-based inspection and asset management software for renewables - announced it has raised €1.2 million in a funding round backed by Tomcat, the French public investment bank BPIfrance, Région Île-de-France, and industry leading investors. This investment will drive SkyVisor’s international expansion, accelerate product development, and strengthen its wind and solar market role.

Computershare To Buy Investor Intelligence Company CMi2i

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Computershare announced that it acquired CMi2i Limited. CMi2i provides independent and trusted advice to boards, executives, and advisors of of the largest public companies around the world.

Equinor: $3 Billion Financing Raised For U.S. Empire Wind 1 Project

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Equinor announced it secured a financing package of over $3 billion to advance Empire Wind 1 offshore wind power project in the US. With this funding, the company expects the total capital investments, like fees for using the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, to be about $5 billion, including the effect of future tax credits.

Nu Skin Enterprises: Strategic Deal Of Mavely For $250 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 4, 2025

Nu Skin Enterprises announced that its Rhyz subsidiary completed a strategic transaction with Later, a portfolio company of Summit Partners. And as part of the deal, Rhyz sold its Mavely affiliate marketing technology platform to Later in exchange for about $250 million in cash and a minority equity stake in the combined Later/Mavely business.

Microsoft To Invest $80 Billion On AI Data Centers In 2025

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Microsoft announced it will spend $80 billion this year to build a large data center network. This was revealed in a statement by Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith.

Apheris: Series A Funding Raised For Powering Life Sciences Data Networks

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Apheris, a leading federated computing company powering data networks for the life sciences sector, announced the completion of a Series A funding round, bringing total funding to $20.8 million. The funding round was led by leading European DeepTech VC firms, OTB Ventures and eCAPITAL, followed by existing investors, including Octopus Ventures and Heal Capital.

One Equity Partners: Majority Investment In Comau

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

One Equity Partners (OEP) - a middle market private equity firm - announced that it completed a majority investment in Comau, making Stellantis an active minority shareholder. Comau is a global technology company specializing in industrial automation and advanced robotics.

Vision Graphics And Banner Capital Acquires Commercial Vehicle Wraps Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Vision Graphics and Banner Capital Management announced the acquisition of Queen of Wraps and a go-forward partnership with its founders and owners, Bryan Griffith and the Griffith family. Launched in 2007, Queen of Wraps is a Utah-based graphics provider specializing in commercial vehicle wraps.

One Equity Partners: Acquisition Of EthosEnergy Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Middle market private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) announced that it completed an investment in EthosEnergy, a global independent service provider focusing on rotating equipment for customers in the power generation, energy, industrial, aerospace, and defense markets.

Olympus Partners: Acquisition Of Accelevation Announced

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Olympus Partners has announced the acquisition of Accelevation, a leading provider of infrastructure products and services to the data center market. Accelevation's offering includes white space design, custom manufacturing, and installation services to hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise customers.

Viad Completes Sale Of GES To Truelink Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

GES, a leader in the exhibition and event industry, announced the completion of its sale by Viad Corp to LA-based private equity firm Truelink Capital. This transaction positions GES to accelerate growth as a privately-owned, stand-alone company within Truelink’s portfolio.

Thomson Reuters Buying SafeSend In $600 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Thomson Reuters announced it acquired cPaperless, doing business as SafeSend, for $600 million in cash. SafeSend is a cloud-based tax and accounting automation company.

Culina Health: Clinical Nutrition Care Company Raises $7.9 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

Culina Health - a digital platform that makes clinical nutrition care inclusive and accessible for everyone - announced that it has raised a $7.9 million Series A funding round. The funding round, which raised Culina Health’s total capital to $20 million, was led by Healthworx (the investment arm of CareFirst). And additional participation in the round includes Rethink Impact, Collab Capital, Collide Capital, Vamos Ventures, Tensility Venture Partners, Cake Ventures, and GW Ventures.

M^0: Interview With CEO & Co-Founder Luca Prosperi About The Money Middleware Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

M^0 is money middleware for the digital age. And based on a decentralized architecture and best-in-class collateral design, M^0 allows institutions to issue cryptodollars. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Luca Prosperi, who is President of the M^0 Foundation Council and CEO & Co-Founder of M^0 Labs, to learn more.

KoBold Metals: AI-Based Mining Company Raises $537 Million (Series C) At $2.96 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 3, 2025

AI-based mining company KoBold Metals announced it raised $537 million in Series C funding at a $2.96 billion valuation. The lead investors in this round were Durable Capital Partners LP and T. Rowe Price. There was also participation by Andreessen Horowitz Growth, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mitsubishi, StepStone Group, and WCM Investment Management.