Innovation

Lerer Hippeau: $200 Million Closed For Ninth Seed Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 12, 2025

Lerer Hippeau (an early stage venture capital firm founded and operated in New York City) announced that it has closed $200 million in new capital for its ninth early stage fund, which the team will invest in pre-seed- and seed-stage companies.

Dwight Capital And Dwight Mortgage Trust: Over $364 Million Financed In March 2025

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 12, 2025

Dwight Capital and its affiliate REIT Dwight Mortgage Trust (DMT) announced that they closed over $364 million in real estate financing in March. Among these deals were a bridge loan for Silverwoods in New Jersey, a bridge loan for a three-property skilled nursing portfolio in Rhode Island, and a HUD 223(f) refinance for Skyview Heights in Washington State.

Auxilium Health: Pre-Seed Funding And Grant Raised For Biomaterials That Accelerate Skin Tissue Regeneration

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 12, 2025

Auxilium Health announced the closing of an oversubscribed $1.5 million, pre-seed funding round, exceeding its $1.2 million target, led by regional investors and leaders committed to driving innovation, economic growth, and the healthcare ecosystem across Ohio. And the Auxilium team also received a $275,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), underscoring strong national validation of their biomaterial technology.

U.S. Urology Partners: Growth Investment Raised From General Atlantic

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 12, 2025

U.S. Urology Partners announced a significant growth investment from General Atlantic, a leading global investor. This investment enhances the company’s position as a partner to leading, independent community-based urology practices, enabling them to focus on delivering premier care to the patients they serve. Following the funding from General Atlantic, NMS Capital exited its partnership with the company.

G&A Partners Expands HCM Division With Purchase Of AmCheck Austin and Las Vegas

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 12, 2025

G&A Partners announced the expansion of its Human Capital Management (HCM) division by acquiring the last two independently operated AmCheck franchises, one in Austin, Texas, and the other in Las Vegas, Nevada. Through this acquisition, G&A Partners, a leading national professional employer organization (PEO) and human resources outsourcing (HRO) provider, is reinforcing a commitment to delivering scalable, robust HCM technology to growing businesses nationwide.

DIAMO: $4 Million (Seed) Raised For Advancing Revenue Platform For AI-Based Revenue Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

DIAMO, a revenue platform for independent hotels, announced it has secured $4 million in seed funding, led by Thayer Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from Avalon Capital Group and several angel investors. This funding round will advance product development and support DIAMO's global expansion while advancing its goal to help independent hotels succeed by simplifying access to better revenue strategies.

Construction Management Company Kleinfelder Group Buying Veenstra & Kimm

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Lindsay Goldberg (a leading private equity firm focused on partnering with families and founders) announced that The Kleinfelder Group (a leading engineering, design, construction management, construction materials inspection and testing, and environmental professional services firm backed by Lindsay Goldberg) has acquired Veenstra & Kimm (V&K).

OS Therapies: Acquisition Of Advaxis Immunotherapies Assets Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

OS Therapies, a clinical-stage immunotherapy and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) biopharmaceutical company, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Advaxis Immunotherapies' listeria-based cancer immunotherapy assets from Ayala Pharmaceuticals.

Luzern Risk: $12 Million (Series A) Closed For End-To-End Captive Insurance Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Luzern Risk (formerly XN Captive) announced a $12 million Series A funding round from Caffeinated Capital to advance its goal of modernizing captive insurance for the underserved middle market.

Radiant Logic: Strategic Growth Funding Raised From Ridgeview Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Radiant Logic, an Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) solutions company, announced a strategic growth investment from Ridgeview Partners. Upon the deal's completion, Ridgeview will join existing investor TA Associates to support Radiant Logic’s continued global expansion and innovation in the ISPM space.

Limoneira: $20 Million Cash Distribution From Real Estate Development JV

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Limoneira - a diversified citrus growing, packing, selling and marketing company with related agribusiness activities and real estate development operations - announced that it has received $10 million as its share of a $20 million cash distribution from its 50%/50% real estate development joint venture, Harvest at Limoneira, with The Lewis Group of Companies.

Lincoln Financial: $825 Million Investment Raised From Bain For 9.9% Stake

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Lincoln Financial announced an $825 million strategic growth investment from Bain Capital. Bain Capital will buy a 9.9% stake in Lincoln Financial, creating significant alignment and long-term value creation opportunities across various strategic initiatives over time, focusing on advancing Lincoln’s goal of sustained profitable growth.

Nuro: $106 Million (Series E) Raised At $6 Billion Valuation For Autonomous Driving Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Autonomous driving technology Nuro announced it has raised $106 million so far in its ongoing Series E funding round, which values the company at $6 billion.

Rondah AI: $1.8 Million (Pre-Seed) Closed For Helping Dental With Appointment Bookings

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Rondah AI, an AI platform purpose-built for dental service organizations (DSOs), announced a $1.8 million pre-seed funding round co-led by 2048 Ventures and Twelve Below.

Tax Protection Plus: Investment Raised From Quad-C Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Quad-C Management (a leading middle-market private equity firm) announced an investment in Tax Protection Plus (TPP), a provider of post-filing tax solutions for tax professionals and taxpayers. The investment highlights Quad-C's commitment to partnering with high-quality businesses and management teams to drive growth.

OQ Chemicals Acquired By Strategic Value Partners And Blantyre Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Strategic Value Partners (a global alternative investment firm with about $22 billion of assets under management) and Blantyre Capital (a London-based investment manager with over €2.7 billion of long-term capital commitments) announced that SVP-managed funds and Blantyre-managed funds have acquired OQ Chemicals, a leading global producer and merchant of oxo chemicals. As part of the deal, OQ Chemicals will reinstate its name to OXEA, reaffirming its longstanding presence in the global chemicals industry.

Neuranics: $8 Million (Seed) Raised To Advance Magnetic Sensing Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Neuranics - a Scottish deep-tech semiconductor company driving the future of human-machine interaction - announced it has raised $8 million in seed funding to advance global growth and the commercial adoption of its Tunnelling Magnetoresistance (TMR) magnetic sensing technology.

Global Gaming League: $10 Million (SAFE) Closed For Multi-Title Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

The Global Gaming League (GGL), which is a global gaming entertainment and media company, announced the raising of $10 million for its SAFE round led by Solyco Capital. GGL was founded by Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum music producer, and entrepreneur Clinton Sparks, in partnership with music icon T-Pain and tech visionary Jeff Hoffman (Priceline, UBid, Booking.com).

Octane: $6.75 Million (Seed) Raised For AI-Based Cybersecurity For Crypto

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Octane announced it has secured $6.75 million in a seed funding round co-led by Archetype and Winklevoss Capital. The funding round also included participation from Gemini, Circle, Legion Capital, Druid Ventures, Duke Capital Partners and strategic angels including Balaji Srinivasan, Sina Habibian, and others.

ZOZO Buying Lyst In $154 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

LYST (a leading global fashion shopping platform) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by ZOZO, which operates a leading fashion e-commerce platform in Japan, for $154 million. Following the deal's closing, Lyst will become a wholly owned subsidiary of ZOZO. ZOZO and Lyst together share a vision to transform the online fashion shopping experience by bringing joy back to fashion discovery.

Five Good Friends: Strategic Growth Investment Raised From TPG

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Five Good Friends announced a strategic investment from leading global alternative asset management firm TPG to fund its continued growth in the home care industry.

DNSFilter Buying Zorus To Improve End User Protection

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

DNSFilter - a cybersecurity leader in content and threat filtering at the DNS layer - announced its acquisition of Zorus, an innovative provider of endpoint-based web filtering and user behavior analytics. This strategic deal extends DNSFilter's filtering capabilities and reinforces its commitment to Managed Service Providers (MSPs).

EQT Selling Karo Healthcare To KKR

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

EQT and KKR announced that EQT VIII fund agreed to sell Karo Healthcare to KKR. This deal marks the next chapter for Karo as it continues to advance its growth strategy under KKR's ownership, building on its transformation into one of Europe's leading consumer health platforms since EQT's initial investment.

F.N.B. Acquiring Raptor Partners To Expand Capital Markets Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

F.N.B. and its wholly owned broker dealer subsidiary announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Raptor Partners, an independent investment banking firm focused on delivering financial advisory services to public and private companies.

Penn State University: Student Startups Win Funding Prizes For Inc.U Competition

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Penn State University revealed in a news release that Joy Tac (a student startup from Penn State Harrisburg) won first place and $15,000 in the 2025 Invent Penn State Inc.U Competition. And as a kickoff to Penn State Startup Week powered by PNC, six student teams from four Penn State campuses pitched their startups to a panel of judges, competing for $30,000 in total funding prizes.

H.I.G. Capital: Acquisition Of GetixHealth Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

H.I.G. Capital, a global alternative investment firm with $68 billion under management, announced that an affiliate has completed a strategic investment in GetixHealth.

Pantheon: $5.2 Billion Raised For Third Senior Credit Secondaries Program

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Global private markets investor Pantheon announced the closing of a record $5.2 billion into Pantheon Senior Debt III (PSD III) and related vehicles, featuring closed-end co-mingled funds, evergreen and rated insurance vehicles, and separately managed accounts.

Olaris: Strategic Investment Raised From Labcorp

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 11, 2025

Olaris, a precision medicine company leveraging metabolomics and machine learning to discover and develop its myOLARIS diagnostics products, announced an investment from Labcorp, a leader of innovative and comprehensive laboratory services, as part of its Series-B1 financing. Labcorp joins existing investors Robert Carpenter, Innospark Ventures, North Point Partners, Alumni Ventures, and new investor US Boston Growth Capital.

SecondWave Systems: $7 Million (Series A) Raised For Advancing Ultrasound-Based Anti-Inflammatory Therapy Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 10, 2025

SecondWave Systems, a clinical-stage medical device company developing a novel ultrasound-based treatment for inflammatory disorders, announced that it has closed a $7 million Series A financing round. The funding was led by Treo Ventures, a major healthcare strategic investor, with participation from Scientific Health Development and the University of Minnesota's Discovery Capital and SSBCI funds.

Taylor Farms Buying FarmWise’s Operations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 10, 2025

Taylor Farms, which is a leading producer of ready-to-eat salads and healthy fresh foods, announced its acquisition of FarmWise’s business, an agricultural technology robotics company specializing in precision weeding and thinning solutions.