Innovation

Lockheed Martin Wins $1.21 Billion Precision Strike Missile Contract

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $1.21 billion for the Precision Strike Missile Increment 2 system, according to a Department of War posting via Breaking Defense.

Meta Reportedly Plans 2027 Deployment Of New In-House AI Chips

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

Meta Platforms plans to begin deploying its latest internally designed artificial intelligence chip in data centers during the first half of 2027, according to the Los Angeles Times.

SpaceX Schedules First Starship Orbital Flight For September 22

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

SpaceX plans to conduct Starship’s first orbital test flight on September 22. The mission will be the 14th integrated test flight of the Starship launch system and represents a major progression from previous suborbital demonstrations.

Tesla Ordered To Answer Questions About Cybercab Certification

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ordered Tesla to answer questions about whether it properly certified its autonomous Cybercab robotaxi, according to Electrek.

Loora Raises $22 Million: Interview With Co-Founder Roy Mor About AI-Powered English Learning

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

Loora is an AI-powered English learning platform that gives users a personal AI tutor for one-on-one conversations, personalized feedback, and practice centered on real-life situations and individual interests. Alongside its consumer app, Loora offers a B2B product for corporations, governments, and universities. The company has taught more than 15 million learners and supported more than 250 million interactions since launching. Today, Loora also raised $22 million in Series B funding, led by Union Tech Ventures, bringing funding to $43.25 million as it increases access to effective English fluency training. vgames also participated in the round alongside existing investors Emerge, Hearst Ventures, and QP Ventures. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Loora Co-Founder Roy Mor to learn more.

TrustedHousesitters Appoints TaskRabbit CPO Drew Wrangles As Board Advisor To Support Global Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

TrustedHousesitters, a global home and pet-sitting marketplace, has appointed TaskRabbit Chief Product Officer Drew Wrangles as Board Advisor as the company prepares for its next phase of international growth, with the U.S. identified as a priority market.

DrayTek Partners With Enea To Enhance Next-Generation Security Platforms

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 16, 2026

DrayTek, a global provider of business networking and cybersecurity solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with telecom and cybersecurity software specialist Enea to improve application visibility and threat detection across future DrayTek networking and security platforms.

LNL Capital Appoints Former Ares Managing Director Joel Tomlinson Managing Partner As Net Lease Pipeline Tops $2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

LNL Capital, a vertically integrated net lease capital platform, has appointed former Ares Management Managing Director Joel Tomlinson as Managing Partner to expand its structured debt and equity strategy across single-tenant retail, industrial and healthcare net lease investments.

Medbridge Launches Pediatric Clinical Skills Training For At-Home Care

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Medbridge, a digital health platform focused on clinician education, care delivery and patient engagement, has launched a new Pediatric Clinical Skills curriculum designed to help home health, hospice and private duty organizations train nurses caring for children with medically complex needs.

Honeycomb Expands Into Tennessee And South Carolina, Covering $150 Billion In Real Estate Across 26 States

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Honeycomb Insurance, a technology-enabled property and casualty insurer specializing in landlords and condominium associations, has expanded into Tennessee and South Carolina, increasing its presence across the Southeast and bringing additional insurance capacity to markets facing growing wind, hail, tornado and liability risks.

New Forests Appoints Sam Rorabaugh Global Head Of Investments To Lead Natural Capital Investment Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

New Forests has appointed Sam Rorabaugh as Global Head of Investments, placing the North American investment executive in charge of coordinating investment activity across the firm's global natural capital platform.

Carne Group Appoints Keshava Shastry Chief Capital Markets And Distribution Officer To Expand ETF And Private Markets Capabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Carne Group has appointed Keshava Shastry as Chief Capital Markets & Distribution Officer as the fund-services company expands its capabilities across ETFs, private markets, product structuring, distribution and tokenized financial infrastructure.

Redwood Trust Prices Upsized $185 Million Convertible Notes Offering To Refinance 2027 Debt And Repurchase Shares

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Redwood Trust has priced an upsized $185 million offering of 7% convertible senior notes due 2030, raising additional capital to refinance existing convertible debt, repurchase shares and support its housing finance businesses.

Tenable Prices Upsized $725 Million Convertible Notes Offering And Plans $170.5 Million Share Repurchase And Term Loan Payoff

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Tenable Holdings has priced an upsized $725 million offering of 0.25% convertible senior notes due 2031, with proceeds earmarked for a major share repurchase, repayment of term loans and additional strategic flexibility.

CPP Investments And Brookfield Launch C$50 Billion Maple Fund For Large-Scale Canadian Infrastructure And Strategic Industries

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

CPP Investments and Brookfield Asset Management have launched the Maple Fund, a new cooperation framework that could deploy up to C$50 billion of equity into large-scale infrastructure projects and strategic industries across Canada.

Vivo Capital Appoints Neetesh Kumar Managing Partner To Co-Lead U.S. Healthcare Private Equity And Establish New York Presence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Vivo Capital has appointed Neetesh Kumar as Managing Partner as the approximately $7 billion healthcare investment firm expands its U.S. buyout and private equity strategy and establishes a presence in New York.

Vance Street Capital Names Katherine Dowley Head Of Investor Relations As Private Equity Firm Expands Institutional Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Vance Street Capital has appointed Katherine "Kate" Dowley as Head of Investor Relations as the middle-market private equity firm continues expanding its institutional capabilities following more than $2 billion of total capital raised.

Permira Appoints Former Microsoft Developer Division President Julia Liuson Senior Adviser To Accelerate AI Across Technology Portfolio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Permira has appointed former Microsoft Developer Division President Julia Liuson as a Senior Adviser to its Technology team, adding more than three decades of software, developer tools, cloud and artificial intelligence experience as the investment firm pushes its portfolio companies toward AI-native operating models.

Quorum Appoints AI Executive Bob Ghafouri To Board As Public Affairs Platform Accelerates Agentic AI Strategy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Quorum has appointed Bob Ghafouri to its Board of Directors as the AI-powered public affairs software company accelerates development of agentic AI capabilities for government affairs teams. Ghafouri brings more than 25 years of experience developing and scaling digital and AI businesses.

Zurich Names Alex Wells U.S. CEO After Leading Double-Digit Growth In Middle Market Business

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Zurich has selected Alex Wells as CEO of Zurich U.S., promoting the veteran commercial insurance executive after he helped generate double-digit growth in the insurer's Middle Market business. Wells takes over following the departure of Sierra Signorelli and will lead Zurich's U.S. operations effective immediately, subject to customary approvals.

IGT Appoints Adam Chibib CFO To Drive Gaming, Digital And FinTech Transformation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

IGT has appointed Adam Chibib as Chief Financial Officer as the gaming and financial technology company focuses on operating discipline, portfolio performance and stronger cash flow generation. Chibib will become CFO on November 1, 2026, subject to required regulatory approvals.

Kamino Names Yieldstreet Co-Founder Michael Weisz CEO And Establishes New York Headquarters For U.S. Institutional Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Kamino has named Yieldstreet co-founder Michael Weisz as CEO and is establishing a New York presence as the Solana-based credit platform expands from decentralized lending into broader institutional financial-market infrastructure.

RobotPlusPlus Raises Series C Worth Hundreds Of Millions Of RMB To Scale Working-At-Height Industrial Robots

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

RobotPlusPlus has raised a Series C round worth hundreds of millions of RMB, equivalent to tens of millions of U.S. dollars, as the industrial robotics company expands internationally and develops embodied AI systems for hazardous industrial work. Qianggang Capital Fund led the financing, with participation from GIG Capital Group, Sealand Innovation and Juntong Capital. Existing investor Fosun RZ Capital increased its stake.

Forty.5 Ventures Closes $30 Million First Fund For Pre-Seed And Seed Investments Across Southeastern Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Forty.5 Ventures has closed its inaugural $30 million venture fund to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage companies, primarily backing founders building from Southeastern Europe for global markets. The firm will selectively invest in startups in the United States and Asia Pacific as well.

Zero Raises $10.3 Million Seed Round Led By Primary Venture Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Zero has raised $10.3 million in seed funding led by Primary Venture Partners, giving the startup fresh capital as it moves into its next stage of product development and commercial expansion. The financing also included participation from Inception Fund, Defiant and Greens Ventures, along with a group of technology founders and operators connected with companies including Lovable, Supercell, Langdock and AMD Silo AI, according to an announcement shared by Zero Chief of Staff Markus Vapaavuori.

Delos Data Raises Over $100 Million To Build Networking Infrastructure For Agentic AI Inference

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Delos Data has raised more than $100 million to launch Delos Nonstop AI, an infrastructure platform designed to address networking and data-movement bottlenecks as agentic AI workloads put increasing pressure on data centers. Investors include Matrix, Playground, Socratic Partners, Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund, Matter Venture Partners, IAG, and industry executives spanning compute, hyperscale infrastructure, networking silicon, infrastructure software, and optical connectivity.

Trillium Flow Technologies To Sell Trillium Pumps US To Crane For About $240 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Trillium Flow Technologies has agreed to sell its U.S. pumps business to Crane Company for approximately $240 million as the First Reserve portfolio company continues reshaping its flow control portfolio.

CoinShares Posts $21.6 Million Segment EBITDA And Positive Inflows Despite Sharp Crypto Market Decline

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

CoinShares generated positive net inflows and $21.6 million of Segment EBITDA during the first half of 2026 despite one of the most difficult digital asset markets in recent years.

Capital Southwest Prices $350 Million Notes Offering To Refinance Debt And Support Middle-Market Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Capital Southwest Corporation has priced a $350 million public offering of 6.750% notes due 2031, with proceeds primarily intended to reduce borrowings under the business development company's senior secured revolving credit facility.

Kestra Medical Revenue: Jumps 60% To $31 Million As Wearable Cardiac Device Company Raises FY2027 Guidance

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 15, 2026

Kestra Medical Technologies reported 60% revenue growth in its fiscal first quarter of 2027 and raised its full-year outlook as the wearable medical device and digital healthcare company continued expanding its cardiovascular technology business.