Innovation

Trackstar: $2.6 Million Secured To Advance First Universal API For Warehouse Management Systems

By Annie Baker ● Dec 7, 2023

Trackstar - a Y Combinator-backed startup transforming supply chain logistics with the world’s first universal API for Warehouse Management Systems - recently announced it had closed a $2.6 million seed round led by TMV. This funding round will accelerate Trackstar's global mission to integrate with warehouse management systems, enhancing supply chain efficiency and data accessibility for businesses of all sizes.

Certa And Castellum.AI Partnering To Offer Professionals With Financial Crime Risk Data For Improved Third-Party Risk Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 7, 2023

Certa (a leader in third-party management solutions) announced today a partnership with Castellum.AI (a global financial crime risk platform). This partnership integrates Castellum.AI risk screening into Certa’s TPRM platform, providing compliance and procurement professionals access to the most accurate, reliable, and fastest information on sanctions, export controls, adverse media, beneficial ownership, etc.

Ford Pro And Xcel Energy Partnering On Installation Of 30,000 EV Charging Ports For Business Fleets By 2030

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2023

Ford Pro (the commercial division within Ford Motor Company) and Xcel Energy (a national leader in clean energy) recently announced a unique collaboration to support the deployment of 30,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging ports in Xcel Energy service territories across the U.S. by 2030 with most upfront costs offset by Xcel for qualifying business fleet customers.

Carta Healthcare: Brent Dover Named As CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2023

Carta Healthcare - a health tech company aiming to harness the value of clinical data - announced today the appointment of Brent Dover as chief executive officer. Dover succeeds former CEO Matt Hollingsworth - who co-founded Carta Healthcare in 2017 and remains a board member. And in his new role, he will continue to focus on product innovation, business development, and strategic partnerships for Carta Healthcare’s market-leading solutions.

IBM Consulting And Palo Alto Networks Expanding Strategic Cybersecurity Partnership

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2023

IBM Consulting and Palo Alto Networks recently announced that they will expand their strategic partnership to enable clients to strengthen their end-to-end security postures and navigate evolving security threats. Palo Alto Networks will be in a select group of strategic IBM Consulting partners, and IBM Consulting will be a premier security services partner for Palo Alto Networks.

Generation Food Rural Partners Launching Nexture Bio To Transform Cultivated Meats

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2023

Big Idea Ventures (BIV) - a global leader in early-stage alternative protein and food technology investing - recently announced its third portfolio company through the Generation Food Rural Partners Fund (GFRP). Nexture Bio develops novel technologies to support the advancement of alternative meat products.

NPCx: How This Company Is Building The Next-Generation Of AI For NPCs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 4, 2023

NPCx is a company building the next generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Non-Player Characters (NPC) in Interactive Entertainment, including Video Games, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality. Pulse 2.0 interviewed NPCx CEO and co-founder Cameron Madani to learn more.

TruaID: This Digital Identity Verification Product Helps People Keep Personal Information More Secured

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 2, 2023

Digital identity and screening company Trua recently announced it has launched a new product called TruaID, which will give consumers a greater sense of security with their private information while providing businesses with a more efficient means of screening customers and prospective employees. TruaID eliminates the need for users to repeatedly provide businesses, government agencies or potential employers with their private personal information such as Social Security number, driver’s license, birth certificate, or other documents.

Amini: $4 Million Raised To Focus On Africa’s Environmental Data Gap

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 2, 2023

Amini - a Nairobi-based climate tech startup focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through AI and satellite technology - recently announced that it has raised $4 million in a seed funding round. The funding round was led by Salesforce Ventures (Salesforce's global investment arm) and Female Founders Fund, a seed-stage venture fund that invests exclusively in female-founded companies.

QuantHealth Launches Katina To Help Pharma Researchers Run Significant Protocols At Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 1, 2023

QuantHealth - an AI-powered clinical trial design startup - recently announced a major product upgrade to its platform to simulate trials at scale and expedite, de-risk and optimize drug development. Katina provides clinical researchers with an AI-guided workflow that simulates hundreds of thousands of potential trial protocol combinations of patient groups, treatment parameters, and different endpoints to maximize the trial success probability while considering additional operational and commercial considerations.

BlueVoyant: Conquest Cyber Acqusition And Over $140 Million In Series E Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 30, 2023

BlueVoyant - a cybersecurity company that illuminates, validates, and mitigates internal and external risks - recently announced the acquisition of Conquest Cyber, a cyber defense company renowned for its innovative SaaS technology that streamlines risk management across an organization's entire cyber program. And Conquest Cyber has proven successful within high-security environments, including the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and Government organizations. BlueVoyant also raised over $140 million in Series E funding to accompany the acquisition of Conquest Cyber.

May Mobility: New CFO And $105 Million Series D Funding Round

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 30, 2023

May Mobility - a leader in developing and deploying autonomous vehicle (AV) technology - recently announced the company's $105 million Series D funding round. And the company also revealed that Anna Brunelle has joined as CFO.

Radiology Partners Unveils AI Integration Platform With AWS HealthImaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 30, 2023

Radiology Partners (RP) - a leading radiology practice in the U.S. through its owned and affiliated practices - recently announced the launch of its RPX AI orchestration platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS). And RPX AI is RP’s AI orchestration and integration platform, and it utilizes AWS HealthImaging, a HIPAA-eligible service for storing, analyzing, and sharing medical images at petabyte scale. RP selected AWS HealthImaging to advance its ability to seamlessly deploy a suite of AI tools across any reading platform, creating a highly accessible and adaptable solution for hospitals and health systems to deliver high-quality, technology-enabled care.

DXC Technology And ServiceNow Expanding Strategic Partnership

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 30, 2023

DXC Technology (a leading Fortune 500 global technology services company) and ServiceNow (a leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone, have expanded their strategic partnership to transform service and workflow management for customers globally).

Cantai Therapeutics: Seed Funding Completed In Round Co-Led By Agent Capital And 82VS

By Dan Anderson ● Nov 29, 2023

Cantai Therapeutics recently announced the formation and completion of a seed financing co-led by Agent Capital and 82VS (the affiliated venture studio of Alloy Therapeutics) with additional participation from Tellus BioVentures. The proceeds from the funding will be used to develop drug candidates to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders by developing cytokine-targeting bispecific antibodies that meaningfully improve the status quo for the millions of patients suffering from immune-mediated and autoimmune diseases.

Firefly Aerospace: Series C Tranche Raised, Hitting About $300 Million To Date

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 26, 2023

Firefly Aerospace - an end-to-end space transportation company - recently announced the closing of another tranche of financing, valuing the company at $1.5 billion pre-money. The funding round is being led by existing investors, including AE Industrial Partners, LP, and new investors, including Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Firefly has raised approximately $300 million in funding since February 2023.

ZeitLife Receives Investment From National Kidney Foundation’s Innovation Fund

By Dan Anderson ● Nov 22, 2023

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) recently announced its latest investment through the NKF Innovation Fund. ZeitLife Transplant Innovations is a global medical device company specializing in advancing technologies to modernize kidney preservation and logistics.

Next DLP Partners With Torq And Signs Rivian As A Customer To Prevent Data Loss And IP Theft

By Annie Baker ● Nov 20, 2023

Next DLP - a leader in insider risk and data protection - recently announced a strategic partnership with security hyperautomation pioneer Torq in a deal designed to combat insider risk through heightened detection and automated response actions. And electric adventure vehicle company Rivian will utilize the deep visibility provided by the joint solution to shine a light on insider risk to prevent accidental data loss and stop malicious theft of valuable intellectual property. This will fully integrate Next DLP's Reveal Platform, a user-centric, flexible, cloud-native, AI/ML-powered cybersecurity solution, with the enterprise-grade Torq Hyperautomation platform, which automates and connects complex security infrastructures at a dramatic scale.

Emerging Travel Group Reports Turnover Of More Than $2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 18, 2023

Emerging Travel Group - a global travel company operating the RateHawk, ZenHotels, and Roundtrip brands - recently announced its turnover of over $2 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, as the third quarter saw record revenue. And the Group's net booking value is up 40% in Q1-Q3 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. This record performance has supported a strong first nine months overall.

Almond FinTech: $7 Million Raised To Bridge Fiat And Digital Currency

By Dan Anderson ● Nov 17, 2023

Almond FinTech - a B2B technology company bridging the worlds of fiat and digital currency - recently announced a new funding milestone of $7 million. This funding round will help broaden Almond's rapidly expanding network in Asia, the Americas, and Africa while reinforcing its commitment to making financial services affordable and accessible to people everywhere.

Cyber Innovation Center: $129 Million In Federal Funding Awarded

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2023

The Cyber Innovation Center (CIC) - a catalyst for the development and expansion of a knowledge-based workforce - recently announced a total of $129 million in federal funding to continue industry-leading innovation through CYBER.ORG and STRIKEWERX, its leading subsidiary organizations driving innovation in the region.

American Express Launches Business Checking For All Eligible U.S. Small Businesses

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2023

American Express recently announced that American Express Business Checking is now available to any eligible U.S. small business. This offers a digital banking experience with no monthly fees, 24/7 service, and the ability to earn and redeem Membership Rewards points for select travel and for deposits directly into their Business Checking account.

weav.ai : $5 Million Raised To Develop Plug-And-Play Generative AI Solutions For The Enterprise

By Dan Anderson ● Nov 9, 2023

Weav.ai - a developer of plug-and-play Generative AI solutions for the enterprise - recently announced that it has emerged from stealth with the launch of its Enterprise AI Copilots, a suite of tools that empower businesses to unlock the value of their unstructured and structured data using Generative AI (GenAI). And the company accelerated product development after closing a $5 million seed funding round in November 2022 led by Sierra Ventures.

Ansys And Materialise Partner To Advance Additive Manufacturing Software

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 8, 2023

Ansys (a global leader in engineering simulation software) and Materialise (a global leader in 3D printing software and service solutions) are joining forces to deliver integrated digital solutions to help overcome workflow challenges in the AM industry. This partnership will seamlessly integrate Ansys Additive Suite into Materialise’s data and build preparation tool Magics.

How Emory Healthcare And DrFirst Will Assist Patients With Medication Adherence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 7, 2023

Emory Healthcare - the most comprehensive academic health system in Georgia - recently announced that it is collaborating with healthcare technology pioneer DrFirst to help patients access and adhere to affordable, appropriate prescription medications for their health conditions and ailments. Research has shown that medication adherence is a primary determinant of success in patient outcomes. At the same time, non-adherence can lead to a worsening of diseases and disorders, increased healthcare costs, and even death.

How Certa Is Using AI For Faster Third Party Interactions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 6, 2023

Certa - a leader in third-party management solutions - recently launched CertaAssist, an intuitive AI companion powered by the advanced Certa AI. This launch combines advanced generative AI technology with third-party management, marking a new era in operational agility by offering AI-powered workflow optimization, intuitive data visualization, and streamlined supplier onboarding.

Bee Partners: $50 Million Fund IV Closed To Make DeepTech Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 4, 2023

Bee Partners - a leading venture capital firm specializing in DeepTech preSeed investments - recently announced the successful final closing of its fourth fund, exceeding its targeted raise of $50 million. This significant milestone demonstrates the confidence and support received from a diverse group of institutional and individual investors during a challenging time in capital raising.

Cribl: Over $100 Million In ARR Achieved

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 3, 2023

Cribl - a data engine for IT and Security - recently announced that it has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), growing from $1 million to $100 million in ARR in less than four years.

Algenesis: Plant-Based Material Science Company Raises New Funding Round

By Noah Long ● Nov 2, 2023

Algenesis Corporation - a leading plant-based material science company - recently announced it has raised $5 million in a funding round led by First Bight Ventures, with Circulate Capital and others. And a pioneer in developing bio-based plastics that are competitive with petroleum-based in both cost and functionality, Algenesis' patented Soleic technology is the world's first renewable, high-performance, fully biodegradable and backyard compostable bioPolyurethane (bioPU) made from plants and algae.

Web3 Pro: Marketing Tech Company Raises New Funding Round

By Annie Baker ● Nov 2, 2023

With privacy concerns and weakening marketing performance eroding traditional online advertising, Web3 Pro - a leading MarTech SaaS company built around targeted opt-in marketing - recently announced that it closed a substantial round of fresh funding from P101, one of the largest European venture investors. This brings the total raised to almost $10 million with a post-money valuation of $57 million.