Innovation

Excelsior Energy Capital: Fund II Closed At $1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Excelsior Energy Capital, an independent North American renewable energy investor, announced the final close of Excelsior Renewable Energy Investment Fund II, LP (Fund II). With total capital commitments of just over $1 billion, Fund II surpasses its original $750 million target. Fund II will continue Excelsior’s strategy of investing equity in solar, energy storage, wind, and other energy transition projects across the US.

Tailscale: $160 Million (Series C) Raised For Building Secure Networks

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Tailscale announced it has raised $160 million (C$230 million) in Series C funding, led by Accel with CRV, Insight Partners, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital participation. Existing angel investor George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike, is also included in this round, as is Anthony Casalena, CEO of Squarespace.

Daymark Health: $11.5 Million (Seed) Raised For Transforming Cancer Care Experience

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Daymark Health, a company transforming the cancer care experience for patients, providers, and health plans, publicly launched with an $11.5 million seed funding round co-led by Maverick Ventures and Yosemite, with additional participation from Oncology Ventures. And the company started operations this year in partnership with a leading payer in the Northeast to provide evidence-based and supportive cancer care to over 2,500 cancer patients.

Trive Capital: Fund V Closed With $2.7 Billion In Commitments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Dallas-based private equity firm Trive Capital announced the final closing of Trive Capital Fund V, with total commitments of $2.7 billion, exceeding its target of $2.5 billion. And Trive's predecessor program closed in April 2022 on $2 billion.

smartTrade: Strategic Investment Raised For Electronic Trading And Payments Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

smartTrade Technologies (a leading global provider of multi-asset electronic trading and payments platforms) announced a strategic investment from TA Associates. At closing, David Vincent, CEO and co-founder of smartTrade, and the broader management team will invest along with TA.

Corinex: $30 Million Raised For Scaling Deployment Of Grid Flexibility Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Corinex, a leader in broadband over power lines (BPL)-based grid visibility and flexibility solutions, announced a $30 million investment round led by Energy Growth Momentum, a UK-based company, along with Spanish investment firms Suma Capital (an independent alternative asset manager and a leader in ecological transition) and Adara Ventures.

Fiserv To Acquire Pinch Payments For Enhancing Payment Service Offerings

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Fiserv (a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology) announced it acquired Pinch Payments, a payment facilitator (PayFac), known for leading PayFac enablement and its management platform “Glassbox.”

Sequence Buying Light To Address Blockchain Fragmentation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Horizon Blockchain Games (a pioneer of web3 infrastructure and gaming) announced that it will now operate solely under the name Sequence. Along with the rebrand, Sequence expands its technical leadership with the strategic acquisition of Light, a pioneer of chain abstraction technologies.

Ripple To Buy Hidden Road In $1.25 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, announced it is buying Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. This represents one of the largest deals in the digital assets space.

The REACH Institute: Interview With CEO Lisa Hunter Romanelli, Ph.D. Mental Healthcare Training Organization

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Since its founding in 2006, The REACH Institute has dedicated itself to expanding access to effective, evidence-based mental health care for all children and families. It has provided gold-standard training to more than 8,000 clinicians so that more are equipped to spot early signs of children’s mental illness and provide evidence-based care and support immediately in their medical practice. Pulse 2.0 interviewed REACH CEO Lisa Hunter Romanelli, Ph.D., to learn more about the non-profit and its work to advance children’s mental health care.

Sonio: Interview With Co-Founder & CTO Deepak Prakash About The Practice Management Solution

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Sonio is a highly customizable workflow and practice management solution powered by AI for automation, efficiency, and quality control. And Sonio AI-enhanced software empowers ultrasound practitioners and readers. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sonio co-founder and CTO Deepak Prakash to learn more about the company.

Grain Ecosystem: Seed Funding Raised For Waste-To-Value Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Grain Ecosystem, a digital platform streamlining the development of waste-to-value projects through a trusted partner network and modern infrastructure powered by AI, announced a seed round led by Elevate Ventures, with participation from SNØCAP, SE Ventures, Helidoni Ventures, and a network of experienced cleantech investors and operators.

Energy Vault: $28 Million In Project Financing Raised From Eagle Point

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Eagle Point Credit Management, an investment manager focused on specialized private credit strategies, announced that it has provided $28 million in project financing to Energy Vault, a leader in sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, to support the development of its Calistoga Resiliency Center (CRC).

RayThera: $110 Million (Series A) Raised For Developing Small Molecule Therapies In Immunology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

RayThera—a recently founded biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing small-molecule therapies in immunology—announced that it has completed its Series A financing, raising a total of $110 million. The funding round was co-led by Foresite Capital and OrbiMed Advisors, with participation from TTM Capital.

4Moving Biotech: €7.6 Million France 2030 Grant Secured

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

4Moving Biotech (4MB), a spin-off of 4P-Pharma that is developing the first potential disease-modifying drug (DMOAD) for knee osteoarthritis, announced that it has been awarded €7.6 million in funding under the France 2030 plan to accelerate the clinical development of its lead candidate, 4P004, currently in a Phase 2a trial.

Qevlar AI: $14 Million Raised For Autonomous AI SOC Analysts

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Qevlar AI, a company behind a new class of autonomous security operations centres (SOCs), announced it has secured an additional $10 million in funding, bringing total investor commitments to $14 million. EQT Ventures and Forgepoint Capital International led the latest funding round. This includes strategic participation from Olivier Pomel (CEO of Datadog), Florian Douetteau (CEO of Dataiku), and Mehdi Ghissassi (former Director of Product at Google DeepMind).

Merida Biosciences: $121 Million Raised For Creating Therapeutics For Multiple Autoimmune And Allergic Diseases

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Merida Biosciences, a biotechnology company advancing a new class of precision therapeutics designed to selectively and durably eliminate the pathogenic antibody drivers of multiple serious autoimmune and allergic diseases, launched today with $121 million in Series A financing. The funding was co-led by Bain Capital Life Sciences, BVF Partners, and Third Rock Ventures, joined by GV and Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds (PXV Funds).

Nano Dimension: Ofir Baharav Named As CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Nano Dimension - a digital manufacturing leader - announced the appointment of Ofir Baharav as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. This strategic move highlights the company's commitment to swiftly realizing merger synergies, restoring profitability, and delivering substantial shareholder value.

MobileX: Interview With Founder & CEO Peter Adderton About The Customizable Mobile Carrier Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

MobileX is the world's most customizable mobile carrier, providing the ultimate in choice and cost control. And MobileX is a unique service that uses AI to predict how much data customers need, delivering a dramatic reduction in cost while ensuring reliable speed and service. Pulse 2.0 interviewed MobileX founder and CEO Peter Adderton to learn more about the company.

Portnox: $37.5 Million (Series B) Closed To Transform Zero Trust Security

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Portnox, a provider of cloud-native, zero-trust access control solutions, today announced it has closed a $37.5 million Series B funding round, led by Updata Partners. This brings the total investment in the company to $59.5 million.

Sipay: $78 Million (Series B) Raised At $875 Million Valuation For Payment And Embedded Finance Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Sipay, a leading payment and embedded finance platform for businesses and consumers in Turkey, announced a $78 million Series B funding round, hitting a valuation of over $875 million. Elephant VC led the round, which was participated in by Nik Storonsky’s VC firm QuantumLight.

Corsha: $18 Million (Series A-1) Closed For Machine-To-Machine Traffic For Critical Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Corsha, a leader in securing machine-to-machine (M2M) traffic for operational systems and critical infrastructure, announced an $18 million Series A-1 funding round led by SineWave Ventures, with participation from Razor's Edge Ventures and Ten Eleven Ventures.

Plug: $6.7 Million (Seed) Funding Raised For EV-Exclusive Wholesale Auction Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Plug, an EV-exclusive wholesale online auction platform, announced it is expanding its offerings with the launch of Trade Desk. Trade Desk is the first EV-focused service to help dealers confidently price, move, and monetize trade-ins.

ServiceNow Buying Logik.ai To Accelerate CRM Footprint

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

ServiceNow announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Logik.ai, an industry leader with a modern, AI-based, composable Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solution. And Logik.ai’s capabilities for sales and commerce will expand ServiceNow’s growing CRM footprint and empower sales organizations to close deals faster, boost productivity levels, and achieve greater efficiency.

Skylight: $50 Million Secured To Build Products For Improving Family Life

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Skylight, a company building the operating system for families, has secured a $50 million loan through an expanded partnership with SG Credit Partners and new partner Wingspire Capital. The financing will further support Skylight's goal of meeting the surging demand for its innovative technology.

heyLibby: $4.5 Million Secured For Gym-Focused AI Receptionist Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

heyLibby, an AI-based team member for fitness, wellness, and recreation businesses, announced it has raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Aglaé Ventures and Vertical Venture Partners. This funding round will advance the company's expansion and accelerate AI advancements that help fitness and wellness businesses streamline customer communication, reduce churn, and drive revenue.

Hello Soju: $6.8 Million Secured For Korean Beverage Inspired Brand

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Hello Soju, a ready-to-drink sparkling soju brand born at the intersection of Korean and California culture, announced the closing of a $6.8 million funding round. The round was led by a personal investment from Ted Schlein of Kleiner Perkins and Ballistic Ventures and supported by Hello Soju's parent company, THG.

Fracttal: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Christian Struve About Cloud-Based AI Maintenance Management Software

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Fracttal is a 100% cloud-based platform that integrates asset management software, IoT, and artificial intelligence. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Fracttal co-founder and CEO Christian Struve to learn more about the company.

Marvell Selling Auto Ethernet Business To Infineon For $2.5 Billion Cash

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2025

Marvell Technology (a leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which Infineon Technologies will buy Marvell's Automotive Ethernet business in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.5 billion.

Nulogy: Interview With CEO Jason Tham On Supply Chain And Manufacturing Innovation, Collaboration, And The Future

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 7, 2025

Nulogy is the market leader in synchronizing the extended supply chain network, having pioneered the new digital era for brands and the contract packaging and manufacturing partners that enable their external supply chain networks. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Nulogy CEO Jason Tham to learn more about the company.