Innovation

Automated Logic Acquires CCG Automation To Expand Ohio Building Automation Footprint

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Automated Logic Contracting Services, part of Carrier Global Corporation, announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of CCG Automation, Inc., a building automation solutions provider headquartered in Richfield, Ohio, as it looks to expand its presence in the state.

Lupus Research Alliance Launches Lupus Ventures Philanthropic Fund To Back New SLE Therapies And Diagnostics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

The Lupus Research Alliance, the largest private funder of lupus research, said it has formed a philanthropic venture fund called Lupus Ventures to help advance treatments and diagnostics for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), its manifestations, and related autoimmune conditions.

xAI Raises $20 Billion Series E

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

xAI announced it has closed an upsized Series E funding round totaling $20 billion, surpassing its previously targeted $15 billion raise, as the company accelerates development of its AI models and the infrastructure behind them. The company said the financing included participation from Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among other investors. And xAI added that NVIDIA and Cisco Investments joined as strategic investors, backing efforts to scale compute capacity and expand what it described as some of the world’s largest GPU clusters.

LMArena: $150 Million At $1.7 Billion Valuation Raised To Expand Real-World AI Evaluation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

LMArena announced it has raised $150 million in new financing to expand its community-driven platform for evaluating frontier AI models, valuing the company at $1.7 billion post-money. The round was led by Felicis and UC Investments, the University of California’s investment office, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, The House Fund, LDVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Laude Ventures.

Waiākea Adds Tetairoa McMillan, Devin Williams, Jerami Grant As Athlete Investors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Waiākea Hawaiian Volcanic Beverages announced it has added three new athlete investors and “impact partners” as it continues to expand its roster of sports figures backing the Hawai‘i-based brand.

GSME: $35M Series B Raised To Expand Semiconductor Services Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

GS Microelectronics U.S. (GSME) announced it has raised $35 million in a Series B round led by Maverick Silicon, funding the company plans to use to expand its semiconductor services platform across advanced packaging, design enablement, and supply chain visibility.

H.I.G. Growth Partners Sells ProsperOps To Flexera In FinOps Automation Exit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

H.I.G. Growth Partners has completed the sale of ProsperOps, an Austin-based provider of autonomous cloud cost optimization software, to Flexera, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo.

HabitTrade: Nearly $10 Million Series A Raised To Accelerate Global Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

HabitTrade has closed a Series A funding round of nearly $10 million to expand its global brokerage footprint and deepen its compliance and risk-control capabilities, the company said. The round was led by Newborn Town Inc., with participation from Bright Venture Capital, StableStock, and other investors.

Core & Main Agrees To Buy Pioneer Supply

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Core & Main announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pioneer Supply, expanding the distributor’s footprint in the water, wastewater and storm drainage markets across Texas and Oklahoma.

Bentley Buys Talon Aerolytics And Pointivo Technology To Expand AI-Driven Asset Analytics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Bentley Systems said it has acquired Talon Aerolytics and the technology and technical expertise of Pointivo in a pair of deals that closed in December, strengthening the company’s push into asset analytics for infrastructure owner-operators.

Evolution Metals & Technologies Completes SPAC Merger Ahead Of Planned Nasdaq Debut

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Evolution Metals & Technologies announced it has completed its business combination with Welsbach Technology Metals Acquisition Corp., creating a newly formed public company focused on building a vertically integrated supply chain for critical minerals and materials, including rare earth magnets and battery materials.

Sony Honda Mobility Unveils AFEELA Prototype 2026

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Sony Honda Mobility announced at CES 2026 a roadmap that blends automated driving, conversational AI, in-car entertainment, and creator-led software development as core pillars of its “Mobility as a Creative Entertainment Space” vision. During a press conference at CES, the Sony-Honda joint venture showcased AFEELA 1 as a pre-production vehicle and reiterated that it expects first customer deliveries in California to begin within 2026. The company said it plans to expand sales to Arizona in 2027, while also targeting Japan deliveries in the first half of 2027, framing the rollout as a phased approach that pairs product launch with a broader services and experiences strategy.

Lucid, Nuro, And Uber Unveil Global Robotaxi, Begin Autonomous Road Testing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Lucid Group, Nuro and Uber announced at CES 2026 the production-intent vehicles they plan to deploy in a global robotaxi service, alongside an Uber-designed in-cabin rider experience that the companies said is being shown publicly for the first time.

Intel Launches Core Ultra Series 3, The First AI PC Platform Built On Intel 18A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Intel unveiled its Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors at CES 2026, positioning the lineup as the company’s first compute platform built on Intel 18A process technology and its most broadly adopted AI PC platform to date. Intel said the chips will power more than 200 laptop designs from global partners, with initial consumer systems available later this month.

Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon X2 Plus For Windows 11 Copilot Plus PCs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Qualcomm Technologies introduced the Snapdragon X2 Plus platform at CES 2026, expanding its Snapdragon X Series lineup and broadening access to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs aimed at modern professionals, aspiring creators and everyday users seeking portable designs, fast performance, built-in AI features and multi-day battery life.

AMD Previews Helios Rack Platform And New Instinct And Ryzen AI Roadmaps

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

During the CES 2026 keynote in Las Vegas, AMD outlined what CEO Lisa Su framed as the next phase of AI adoption, spanning data center infrastructure, AI PCs, and embedded edge systems, with partners including OpenAI, Luma AI, Liquid AI, World Labs, Blue Origin, Generative Bionics, AstraZeneca, Absci, and Illumina highlighting use cases powered by AMD hardware and software.

Mechanical Orchard: Interview With CEO Rob Mee About Modernizing Mainframe Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Mechanical Orchard is an AI-native technology company focused on modernizing mainframes applications. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Mechanical Orchard CEO Rob Mee to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Confirm: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO David Murray About The All-In-One People Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Confirm is an all-in-one people platform built on the science of organizational network analysis to reveal who is driving impact and who needs help. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Confirm co-founder and CEO David Murray to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Optimus Fintech: Interview With Director & Global Head Of Marketing Amrit Mohanty About The Payment Operations Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Optimus Fintech provides a cloud-based payment operations and reconciliation platform that helps businesses automate, track, and manage financial transactions with accuracy and real-time visibility. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Optimus Fintech Director & Global Head of Marketing, Amrit Mohanty, to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Equify Financial Lands $100 Million JPMorgan Facility To Scale Middle-Market Commercial Lending

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Equify Financial has secured a $100 million capital facility from JPMorgan Chase & Co., a financing arrangement the Fort Worth, Texas-based lender said will strengthen its balance sheet and expand its ability to serve middle-market companies across the United States.

System One Acquires Cypress Consulting To Expand Data Center Network Engineering, Automation, And Security Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

System One Holdings announced it has acquired Cypress Consulting, adding a Bethesda, Maryland-based technology consulting firm focused on cloud architecture, data engineering, cybersecurity, and digital transformation as the company continues to build out its critical infrastructure and data center services capabilities.

Dell Revives XPS Lineup With New XPS 14 And XPS 16, Expands Alienware Portfolio, And Launches New UltraSharp Monitors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Dell Technologies used CES 2026 in Las Vegas to roll out a broad refresh of its consumer and gaming hardware strategy, reintroducing the XPS brand with newly designed laptops, previewing a more affordable XPS 13 coming later this year, and outlining plans to expand Alienware’s gaming lineup significantly. The company also introduced two new UltraSharp monitors aimed at professional users, including what it calls the world’s first 52-inch 6K display.

Building With Purpose: Founder Jackie Grice On Purpose-Driven Business Coaching

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Launching Deeper Enterprises is a business-coaching and purpose-driven strategy firm. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Launching Deeper Enterprises founder Jackie Grice to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

NVIDIA Releases New Open Models, Datasets And Tools To Broaden Real-World AI Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

NVIDIA has introduced a new slate of open models, data, and developer tooling aimed at accelerating AI adoption across industries ranging from enterprise software and cybersecurity to robotics, autonomous driving, and biomedicine. NVIDIA said the releases expand its open model universe with updates spanning the Nemotron family for agentic AI, the Cosmos platform for physical AI, the new Alpamayo family for autonomous vehicle development, the Isaac GR00T robotics model line, and new Clara models for healthcare and life sciences.

Vistra To Buy Cogentrix Portfolio in $4 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Vistra announced it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Cogentrix Energy, a portfolio of 10 modern natural gas generation facilities totaling about 5,500 megawatts, in a transaction that expands Vistra’s generation footprint across PJM, ISO New England and ERCOT. Cogentrix is indirectly owned by funds managed by Quantum Capital Group.

A2Z Cust2Mate: Interview With CMO Yaniv Zukerman About The Smart Shopping Cart Technology Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

A2Z Cust2Mate is a company that builds smart shopping-cart technology that retrofits carts with an interactive screen and sensors to digitize the in-store trip, enabling features like guided, personalized shopping and streamlined checkout for retailers. Pulse 2.0 interviewed A2Z Cust2Mate Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Yaniv Zukerman to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Bain & Company: Nicolas Willemot To Head Global Consumer Products And Aaron Cheris As Head Of Global Retail

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Bain & Company has appointed Nicolas Willemot as global head of its Consumer Products practice, elevating the longtime partner to lead the firm’s work with consumer goods companies facing shifting consumer expectations and accelerating technology change. And Bain has appointed partner Aaron Cheris as global head of its Retail practice, a leadership change the firm said is aimed at strengthening its work with retailers as advances in generative and “agentic” AI reshape shopping behavior and retail economics.

Solomon Partners Adds Ian O’Neal As Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Solomon Partners announced it has appointed Ian O’Neal as a Partner in its Technology Group, adding senior coverage focused on Data, Analytics and Software as the firm continues to build out its technology advisory capabilities.

Microsoft Acquires Osmos To Add Agentic AI Data Engineering Capabilities To Fabric

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

Microsoft announced it has acquired Osmos, an agentic AI data engineering platform designed to simplify complex data preparation workflows and help organizations turn raw data into analytics- and AI-ready assets within OneLake, the unified data lake at the core of Microsoft Fabric.

MidEuropa To Buy Majority Stake In Romanian Business Consult

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 6, 2026

MidEuropa announced it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Romanian Business Consult (RBC), a Romania-based IT system integrator focused on the retail, banking, and industrials sectors. Founder and CEO Andrei Bojiță will retain a significant minority stake and continue to lead the business, according to the announcement.