Innovation

JERA Ventures Partners With Plug And Play For Accelerating Corporate VC Activity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Plug and Play, a leading global innovation platform, announced a new partnership with JERA Ventures (a corporate venture arm of JERA, the largest power generation company in Japan). By working with Plug and Play Energy, JERA Ventures aims to leverage emerging technologies and business models in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Siit: AI-Based Service Desk Solution Company Raises $5 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Siit announced it has officially launched an AI-based Service Desk solution for IT and internal operations teams. Along with the product debut, Siit also revealed it has raised $5 million in a Seed round led by StageOne Ventures and Seventure Partners. This funding round will accelerate product development, expand market presence, and fuel Siit's ambitious growth plans.

Godspeed Capital: $675 Million Fund III Closed At Hard Cap

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Godspeed Capital Management LP - a lower middle-market Defense & Government services, solutions, and technology-focused private equity firm - announced today the final close of Godspeed Capital Fund III LP with $675 million of total investor capital commitments at the fund’s hard cap. And in combination with the firm’s predecessor funds, Godspeed Capital has raised over $1.1 billion in capital commitments since its inception in 2021.

Northflank: Developer Workload Platform Company Secures $22.3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Northflank, a developer workload platform, announced $22.3 million in new funding, including a $16 million Series A led by Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) and a $6.3 million seed led by Vertex Ventures US. Additional investors participating in these rounds include Kindred Ventures, Tapestry VC, Pebblebed, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

Interview With NAF VP Of Product & Innovation Lindsey Dixon About KnoPro

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

KnoPro is a free new platform for high school students who want to develop in-demand skills by completing real-world projects for cash and other prizes. The platform is powered by NAF, which is a national education non-profit that has been bringing schools and businesses together since 1980 to better prepare students of all backgrounds. Pulse 2.0 interviewed NAF Vice President of Product & Innovation Lindsey Dixon to learn more about KnoPro.

Pharos: Layer-1 Blockchain Network Company Raises $8 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Pharos - a full-stack, parallel layer-1 blockchain network - announced the completion of an $8 million seed round investment co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, with additional participation from strategic anchor investor SNZ Capital, and other investors, including Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, Legend Star, MH Ventures, Zion, and Chorus One Ventures.

Velocity One Merging With EMCORE

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Velocity One - a newly formed aerospace manufacturing holding company - announced it has signed a merger agreement with EMCORE Corporation, a provider of inertial navigation solutions to the aerospace and defense industry. Under this deal, EMCORE will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Velocity One.

Nimbus Power Systems: Pre-Seed Funding Raised To Developed Advanced Zero-Emission Heavy-Duty Fuel Cell Engines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Nimbus Power Systems - a developer of advanced fuel cell technologies for heavy-duty vehicles - announced the closing of a pre-seed financing round led by Connecticut Innovations (Connecticut's strategic venture capital arm). This investment will enable Nimbus to accelerate the development and demonstration of its zero-emission heavy-duty fuel cell engine.

Conflixis: Data And Risk Intelligence Company Raises $4.2 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Conflixis - a data and risk intelligence company - announced $4.2 million in seed capital co-led by Lerer Hippeau and Origin Ventures, with additional investment from mark vc, Springtime Ventures, and continued support from early investor Crētiv Capital.

HMC Capital To Buy iseek In $A400 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

HMC Capital announced it has entered into agreements to acquire iseek, a leading Australian co-location data center operating platform, as part of an A$400 million deal.

Interwoven Ventures: Early-Stage ROBO Global Spin-Off VC Firm Debuts

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Interwoven Ventures - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technologies across robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to transform industries, including manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and healthcare – announced the appointment of Dr. Erez Agmoni as co-founder and General Partner.

ARCHIMED Buys DNA And RNA Gene Sequencing Company SeqCenter

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Global private equity healthcare specialist ARCHIMED announced the acquisition of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based genetic sequencing provider SeqCenter. And SeqCenter’s founding scientists initially worked at the University of Pittsburgh. Unhappy with the pace, cost, and difficulty of obtaining sequencing data from existing vendors and academic core laboratories, they developed their approach to gene sequencing, leaving academia and founding SeqCenter in 2019.

Nurse Capital Reveals Inaugural Investments In Nursing-Related Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Nurse Capital, a venture capital firm investing in nurse-led enterprises offering innovative solutions in healthcare, announced its first seed-round investments in two startup businesses that serve patients and nurses with innovative, first-of-their-kind products in the medical device and digital media platform spaces.

Vitrian: $50 Million Raised To Provide Solutions For Biomanufacturing And cGMP Facilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Vitrian, a leading end-to-end provider of investment capital and capacity-building services for biomanufacturing, announced that it closed a $50 million investment, with the ability to scale to $65 million, into AmplifyBio’s Manufacturing Enablement Center (AMEC) in New Albany, Ohio as a first step of a more significant commitment to support biomanufacturing in Central Ohio.

Pagaya: AI-Based Product Solutions Company Raises $1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Pagaya Technologies - a global technology company delivering AI-driven product solutions for the financial ecosystem - announced the closing of PAID 2024-10 and RPM 2024-3, totaling $1 billion in size across both deals. And this represents the company’s fourth AAA-rated personal loan ABS transaction and its first AA-rated auto ABS transaction.

Candela Reveals First Electric Hydrofoil Ferry Line Took Off In Stockholm

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

The new star “Nova” in Stockholm recently departed from its dock in the quiet suburb of Tappström, powered by its electric motors. Moving silently a meter above the water’s surface, it completed the 15 km route to Stockholm’s City Hall in just over 30 minutes.

Longevity Partners: Strategic Investment Secured From Leon Capital And Nuveen Private Equity Impact

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Longevity Partners - a leading global climate and sustainability consultancy for the real estate and infrastructure sectors - announced it has received a strategic investment from Nuveen’s Private Equity Impact team (part of the $1.2 trillion global asset manager) and Leon Capital (a London-based European private equity investment firm).

Symbiotic Security Raises $3 Million (Seed) To Offer Real-Time Feedback On Vulnerabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Symbiotic Security announced it has raised $3 million in seed funding from investors, including Lerer Hippeau, Axeleo Capital, Factorial Capital, and others. And the company has introduced its software-as-a-service that works with the developer’s Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and enables them to develop software more securely.

Cencora To Buy Retina Consultants Of America In $5.1 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Cencora announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Retina Consultants of America (RCA), a leading management services organization (MSO) of retina specialists, from Webster Equity Partners.

Physical Intelligence Raises $400 Million At $2.4 Billion Valuation To Develop AI For Robotics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Physical Intelligence—a company bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world—revealed that it has raised $400 million at a $2.4 billion post-money valuation. The company is comprised of engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders developing foundation models and learning algorithms for powering the robots of today and the physically actuated devices of the future.

Teledyne Signs $710 Million Deal To Buy Certain Businesses From Excelitas

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Teledyne Technologies announced that it has agreed to buy select aerospace and defense electronics businesses from Excelitas Technologies for $710 million in cash. The deal includes the Optical Systems (OS) business known under the Qioptiq brand based in Northern Wales, UK, and the US-based Advanced Electronic Systems (AES) business.

Silverchair To Buy Journal Workflow Management Company ScholarOne

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Silverchair - a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners (TSCP) - announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Clarivate Plc to buy ScholarOne, a leading provider of software and services to scholarly publishers and societies. The terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

Why Accenture Is Buying Allitix

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Accenture announced it acquired Allitix, a consulting and technology company specializing in Anaplan solutions with capabilities across financial planning and analysis, sales performance management, and supply chain.

Emidat: €4 Million Raised From General Catalyst To Help Reduce Emissions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Emidat, a leading provider of environmental data solutions for the construction industry, announced a €4 million seed funding round led by General Catalyst. This funding round will enable Emidat to support the construction industry in reducing the world's environmental footprint, starting with a revolution in labeling every building material.

FREYR Battery Signs $340 Million Deal With Trina Solar

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Trina Solar announced that it has entered into a transaction agreement with FREYR Battery. The deal includes a 5GW module manufacturing plant in Wilmer, Texas, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Molson Coors Beverage Company Acquires Majority Stake In ZOA Energy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Molson Coors Beverage Company announced it is taking a majority ownership stake in ZOA, the better-for-you energy brand co-founded by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia, Dave Rienzi, and John Shulman. Buying a majority stake enables Molson Coors to lead the entirety of ZOA’s marketing, retail, and direct-to-consumer sales and development. The company believes this positions ZOA for a step change in growth.

Ursa Space Systems: $10 Million Venture Loan Facility Closed With Horizon Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 9, 2024

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (an affiliate of Monroe Capital and a leading specialty finance company that offers capital in the form of secured loans to venture capital-backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and sustainability industries) announced it has provided a $10 million venture loan facility to Ursa Space Systems.

PuppyGraph: Query Engine Company Raises $5 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 9, 2024

Algorized: Advanced People-Sensing Platform Company Secures $4.3 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 9, 2024

Algorized, an AI-based platform pioneering advanced people-sensing and positioning software, announced it has raised $4.3 million in seed funding to drive innovation in people sensing and support safer and seamless human-machine interaction. This funding round was led by Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, with participation from Acrobator Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, CoreNest Capital, Shucker Ventures and other strategic investors.

UnifyApps: Unified Enterprise AI Agent Platform Raises $20 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 8, 2024

UnifyApps, a Unified Enterprise AI Agent platform, announced today the closing of a $20 million Series A funding round led by ICONIQ Growth. Existing investors, including Elevation Capital, participated in this latest round, which brings the company’s total funding to $31 million.