Innovation

Uplift Investors Closes Debut Fund At $670 Million Hard Cap

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Uplift Investors, a Darien, Connecticut-based private equity firm focused on services investing, has closed its inaugural fund with $670 million in capital commitments at its hard cap. The firm was founded in March 2025 by Will Hausberg, Doug Rosenstein, and Brad Skaf, three partners who have invested together on every deal for the past decade. Capital came from a diversified base of limited partners including pensions, endowments, foundations, insurance companies, and family offices.

Northbase Finance Closes Capital Partnership With Oaktree to Support Equipment Financing Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Northbase Finance announced the closing of a revolving credit facility with Oaktree through its Asset-Backed Finance strategy, providing up to $300 million in scalable financing capacity. The facility will support the continued expansion of Northbase's North American equipment financing platform, focused on critical operating assets across power generation, compression, energy transformation infrastructure, and industrial markets in the United States and Canada.

Mauna Kea Technologies Secures €4 Million Optional Shareholder Loan To Support Commercial Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Mauna Kea Technologies, a Paris and Boston-based medical device company and inventor of the Cellvizio confocal laser endomicroscopy platform, has established a shareholder loan agreement with long-standing investor Vester Finance for up to €4 million in optional financing over 24 months. As of the announcement date, no funds have been drawn. The company retains sole discretion over whether and when to access the facility, with no contractual obligation to draw, and may suspend or terminate the agreement at any time at no cost.

AST SpaceMobile Proposes $1 Billion Convertible Senior Notes Offering To Expand Space-Based Cellular Network

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

AST SpaceMobile has announced plans to offer $1 billion in convertible senior notes due 2034 through a private placement to qualified institutional buyers.

Thrust Capital Partners Acquires Alphacasting, Canada’s Only Titanium Casting Foundry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Thrust Capital Partners (TCP), a Canadian private equity firm focused exclusively on the aerospace and defense industry supply chain, has acquired Alphacasting Inc., a Montreal-based precision investment casting foundry serving the aerospace and defense sectors. Financial terms were not disclosed. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada and KPMG served as legal and tax advisors to TCP; Spiegel Ryan and MNP Corporate Finance acted as legal and financial advisors to the sellers.

Wipfli Names Kristy Britt Chief Financial Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Wipfli has appointed Kristy Britt as chief financial officer and partner, strengthening the firm's finance leadership team as it continues to support growth, operational excellence, and long-term strategy.

Modera Wealth Management Appoints Gaurav Mallik As CIO And Shelly Kapoor As COO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Modera Wealth Management has appointed Gaurav Mallik as chief investment officer and Shelly Kapoor as chief operating officer, adding two experienced wealth management executives as the registered investment adviser expands its investment capabilities, technology platform and operational infrastructure.

Sizemore To Acquire Carlson Building Maintenance, Establishing Dedicated Retail Division

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Sizemore, an integrated facilities management company backed by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Inspirit Equity, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Carlson Building Maintenance, a Minneapolis-based janitorial and facility services provider serving retail, grocery, and commercial customers across the Midwest. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Green Street Expands Self-Storage And Real Assets Intelligence Platform With Acquisition of StorTrack

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Green Street, the leading provider of trusted real assets intelligence and unbiased insights, announced the acquisition of StorTrack, the premier provider of market intelligence, pricing data, and analytics for the self-storage industry. The acquisition also brings StorTrack's other platforms into the Green Street family, including ListSelfStorage.com, the world's leading marketplace for buying and selling self-storage facilities, and RVParkIQ.com, the premier platform for buying, selling, and evaluating RV park and campground investments.

Kind Designs Closes $10 Million Round to Scale 3D-Printed Living Seawalls

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Kind Designs, a Miami-based climate resilience company, announced the close of a $10 million Pre-Series A round at a $70 million valuation, bringing the company's total funding to date to $21.5 million. The company had set out to raise $5 million but drew nearly $20 million in investor interest, pushing it to double the round. The round was backed by Mark Cuban, NY Angels, TaMiami, former Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, and NBA forward Kyle Kuzma.

Beacon Security Raises $13 Million Seed Funding To Build AI-Native Cyber Defense Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Beacon Security has raised $13 million in seed funding to expand its agentic cybersecurity platform and provide enterprises with a trusted data foundation for human analysts and autonomous security agents. Notable Capital led the round, with participation from Holly Ventures, AlphaDrive Ventures, SVCI, Jefferies Family Office and more than 60 cybersecurity founders and chief information security officers. The investor group includes founders associated with Talon, Descope, Gem Security, Dig Security and Cider Security.

Xenter Raises $58.25 Million Series B To Accelerate TechMed Platform Commercialization

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Xenter has raised $58.25 million in Series B funding to support the commercial launch of its diagnostics business, expand manufacturing capacity and advance its wireless medical devices and AI-enabled healthcare intelligence platform.

Lockheed Martin Ventures Opens London Office And Earmarks $100 Million For UK And European Defense Tech Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Lockheed Martin is expanding its venture capital operations into the United Kingdom and Europe, opening a London office and committing at least $100 million of its $1 billion Lockheed Martin Ventures fund to investments in British and European defense technology startups. The move follows Lockheed Martin's April 2026 decision to more than double the fund's investment capacity from $400 million to $1 billion — the largest capital increase in the fund's history.

NxLite Completes $13.1 Million Series A And $3.5 Million Debt Facility And Adds Erin Sawyer to Board

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

NxLite, the manufacturer of air-stable, energy-efficient coatings for glass and polymeric substrates, announced the final close of its Series A financing, a $3.5 million debt facility from RSF Social Finance, and the appointment of technology supply chain leader Erin Sawyer to its board of directors.

Del Monte Corporation Upsizes Revolving Credit Facility By $150 Million To $900 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Del Monte Corporation has amended its senior unsecured revolving credit facility, increasing total commitments by $150 million to $900 million.

USFM To Combine With Twin Vee, Creating Public Company Focused On Greenland Critical Minerals Project

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

USFM Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with Nasdaq-listed Twin Vee PowerCats, creating a publicly traded mineral exploration company focused on the Disko-Nuussuaq nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group elements project in Greenland. Financial terms and the ownership structure of the combined company were not disclosed.

Alpaca Raises $135 Million To Scale Agent-First Brokerage Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Alpaca has raised $135 million to expand its brokerage infrastructure for tokenized markets, agentic trading and AI-native financial services. Peak XV Partners led the round, with significant participation from Elefund. Additional new and returning investors included Opera Tech Ventures, the venture capital arm of BNP Paribas Group, and Unbound.

SWISSto12 Raises $70 Million Series C to Scale Satellite and Payload Manufacturing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

SWISSto12, a Swiss satellite and payload manufacturer founded in 2011 and headquartered in Renens, Switzerland, has closed a $70 million (€61 million) Series C to expand manufacturing and integration capacity in response to growing demand from commercial and sovereign government customers. The fundraise follows the company's announcement of an $84.8 million (€73 million) award from European Space Agency member states to support development and in-orbit validation of HummingSat through the ARTES partnership program.

Spectro Cloud Raises Over $100 Million Series D To Scale Production AI Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Spectro Cloud has raised more than $100 million in an oversubscribed Series D funding round to expand its AI infrastructure management platform for enterprises, public-sector organizations, neocloud providers and sovereign cloud operators. Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the round, with strategic participation from AMD Ventures, Ericsson, LG Technology Ventures and Maximus. The financing brings Spectro Cloud’s total capital raised to $260 million.

Talde Capital Crecimiento III Holds €155 Million First Close, Targets €200 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Talde Gestión has completed the first closing of Talde Capital Crecimiento III with more than €155 million in commitments, establishing a substantial capital base for investments in growing Spanish middle-market companies.

Centurion Foundation Acquires Northlake Mall for $95 Million to Create Emory Healthcare Campus

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Centurion Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit real estate organization, has completed the $95 million purchase of Northlake Mall in suburban Atlanta, including an adjacent building formerly occupied by Macy's. The acquisition will transform the mall property into a dedicated Northlake Campus for Emory Healthcare, which has signed a long-term lease with Centurion to occupy the entire property. A separately owned J.C. Penney site adjacent to the mall was not part of the transaction.

Senra Systems Announces $65 Million Series B And Plans For Third Manufacturing Facility

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Senra Systems, a software-driven manufacturing company modernizing wire harness production, announced it has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round and plans to accelerate its expansion with a third factory location. The round brings the company's total funding raised to over $112 million and was co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Interlagos, with participation from General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Dylan Field, CIV, 8VC, The Friedkin Group, Jaws Estates Capital, Sozo Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.

Speakeasy Raises $8.8 Million To Expand Live Experience Operations And Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Speakeasy has raised $8.8 million to expand its unified operations and intelligence platform for live entertainment, hospitality and other in-person experiences.

British Business Bank Makes £50 Million Cornerstone Commitment To Soho Square Partnership Capital Fund II

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

The British Business Bank, the UK government's economic development bank, has announced a £50 million cornerstone commitment to Soho Square Partnership Capital Fund II, a lower mid-market structured capital fund targeting established, founder-owned UK businesses. The Bank is joined by several U.S. institutional investors in the fund.

Monumental Raises $32 Million Series B To Scale Construction Robotics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Monumental announced a $32 million Series B funding round, led by Khosla Ventures with existing investors Hummingbird Ventures, Plural, and others also participating. The funding will support the company's next phase of growth, including expanding its team of hardware and software engineers, deploying more robots on sites across Europe, launching in the U.S. this year, and widening the range of construction work its robots can take on.

Oak Raises $60 Million In Seed Funding To Build The AI-Native Identity Operating System

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Oak emerged from stealth with $60 million in seed funding to build the security industry's Identity Operating System. The AI-native platform will replace the fragmented stack of legacy identity governance and security tools with a single, continuously updated control plane that governs every identity across an organization, whether human, machine, or AI agent. The round was co-led by Accel, Greylock Partners, and CRV, with participation from Hetz Ventures, AlphaDrive Ventures, and strategic angel investors. Oak's solution is already generally available and deployed across enterprise customers.

InsideDesk Raises $12.6 Million to Scale AI-Powered Revenue Cycle Management for Dental Organizations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

InsideDesk, a provider of AI-powered revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions for dental service organizations (DSOs), has closed a $12.6 million financing led by Pender Ventures, with participation from existing investors Round13 Capital and Graphite Ventures. The capital will fund deeper investment in artificial intelligence and automation, support key hires across engineering, AI, and go-to-market functions, and accelerate the company's expansion as DSOs increasingly look to technology to manage growing administrative complexity.

VisualLogix Acquires refyne Group To Expand European Presence And Engineering Software Portfolio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

VisualLogix, a New York-based developer of mission-critical engineering and fabrication software, has acquired refyne Group, a DACH-region software company serving wood, metal, and façade fabricators. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition expands VisualLogix's geographic footprint into Europe while adding a suite of established products that extend its portfolio into CAD, CAM, thermal analysis, and ERP solutions for the fabrication market.

Tradewater Acquires Carbon Shield To Expand Methane Abatement Projects

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

Tradewater has acquired Carbon Shield, a Colorado-based company that plugs actively leaking orphaned oil and gas wells, expanding Tradewater’s methane abatement operations into Colorado and Wyoming. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

WareSpace Acquires Five-Building Industrial Portfolio Across Four U.S. Markets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 15, 2026

WareSpace has acquired a five-building industrial portfolio from an institutional real estate investor, marking the company’s first portfolio-level transaction and its largest acquisition to date.