Innovation

Pollen Street Agrees Acquisition of Tutman

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Pollen Street Capital has agreed to acquire Thesis Holdings Limited, known as Tutman, a fund services platform providing fund administration, corporate service, and transfer agency services to institutional investors, wealth managers, and family offices. The deal positions Tutman for its next phase of growth as demand rises for outsourced governance and administration amid increasing regulatory complexity.

CVC Global Sport Group To Acquire Controlling Stake In Equine Network

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

CVC announced it has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Equine Network, describing the business as the largest for-profit equestrian-based sports league in the U.S. The stake is being acquired from Growth Catalyst Partners, and the deal is expected to close in Q2 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Epidarex Capital Secures $145+ Million First Close For Fund IV To Invest In Life Science Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Epidarex Capital announced it has reached a first close of Epidarex Capital IV, LP, with more than $145 million in commitments, as the transatlantic life sciences venture firm looks to expand its company creation and early-stage investing across the United Kingdom and the United States.

Ambienta Closes Sustainable Credit Strategy Above €500 Million Target

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Ambienta announced it has reached a final close for its Ambienta Sustainable Credit Opportunities vehicles, with total commitments across the strategy surpassing its original €500 million target. The firm said the credit platform is designed to support European mid-market companies whose growth is driven by environmental sustainability, and positions Ambienta to accelerate financing for “environmental champions” across the region.

Rinchem Announces Combination With Dupré Logistics And Secures $100 Million Financing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Rinchem announced it is combining with Dupré Logistics in a deal that expands Rinchem’s specialty chemical and gas logistics platform with Dupré’s transportation, distribution, and capacity brokerage capabilities across the chemical supply chain. The companies said the combined organization will maintain each business’s headquarters, brands, and leadership teams, and financial terms were not disclosed.

CherryRoad Media Buys The Carrollton Democrat, Completing Main Street Media’s Exit From Missouri Newspapers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

CherryRoad Media acquired The Carrollton Democrat from Main Street Media, completing the transition of Main Street Media’s final Missouri newspaper title out of its portfolio.

Conscious Capital Growth And Petra Capital Partners Acquire RD Nutrition Consultants

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Conscious Capital Growth, in partnership with Petra Capital Partners, has acquired RD Nutrition Consultants, a national provider of specialized dietitian consulting services for healthcare facilities across the United States. The buyers said the transaction positions RD Nutrition for faster growth and expansion of its clinical reach.

MediVisuals + High Impact Buys Jury Impressions To Add Mock Jury Research To Visual Trial Strategy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

MediVisuals + High Impact, a provider of visual demonstratives for litigation, announced it has acquired Jury Impressions, a jury research firm founded by trial attorney Irv Cantor.

Eliyan: $50 Million Raised To Scale AI Interconnect Chiplets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Eliyan, a Santa Clara-based developer of high-performance connectivity technology for AI and high-performance computing systems, said it has secured $50 million in strategic investments from a group that includes AMD, Arm, Coherent, and Meta, alongside returning backers Samsung Catalyst Fund and Intel Capital.

Sokin: $100 Million Debt Facility Raised From Oxford Finance To Scale Embedded Payments Globally

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Sokin, a London-headquartered business payments company, has secured a $100 million long-term debt facility from Oxford Finance, adding structured capital it says will accelerate its international expansion and product roadmap as demand grows for payments infrastructure integrated directly into enterprise workflows.

PaleBlueDot AI: $150 Million Series B Raised At Over $1 Billion Valuation Closed To Scale Global AI Compute Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

PaleBlueDot AI, a Silicon Valley-based AI compute platform founded in 2024, has closed a $150 million Series B financing round that values the company at more than $1 billion. The round was led by B Capital, an investment firm headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore with more than $9 billion in assets under management.

Mesh Security: $12 Million Series A Raised To Build ‘Execution Layer’ For Cybersecurity Mesh At Enterprise Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Mesh Security, a Palo Alto and Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup positioning itself as the “execution layer” for Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA), has raised $12 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Lobby Capital, with participation from S Ventures (SentinelOne’s corporate venture arm) and Bright Pixel Capital.

Outtake: $40 Million Series B Raised To Build a Unified Digital Trust Platform for the AI Era

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Outtake, a digital trust platform designed to protect organizations from AI-driven impersonation and identity-based abuse, has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by ICONIQ. The round also included participation from CRV, S32, and a group of technology and security executives investing as angel backers, including Satya Nadella, Nikesh Arora, Bill Ackman, Shyam Sankar, Trae Stephens, Bob McGrew, Guillermo Rauch, and John Donovan.

Genspark: $300 Million Series B Raised, $100 Million ARR Crossed, And AI Workspace 2.0 Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Genspark announced the launch of AI Workspace 2.0, positioning the release as a step toward “operational autonomy,” in which AI agents can plan and execute multi-step work end-to-end across common knowledge-worker outputs. The Palo Alto-based company said the platform is designed to reduce friction in modern work, which often involves repeated prompting, tool switching, manual formatting, and handoffs between drafts and systems.

Heritable Agriculture: $5 Million Gates Foundation Grant Secured To Build Climate-Resilient Crops For Smallholder Farmers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Heritable Agriculture, an AI-driven crop improvement company spun out of Google X, has secured a $4.98 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop a new initiative aimed at accelerating climate-resilient crop development for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries.

Decagon: $250 Million Series D At $4.5 Billion Valuation Raised For AI-Based Customer Experience Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Insigneo Teams With Karta To Launch Global Charge Card For International Clients With U.S. Assets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Insigneo, an international wealth management firm headquartered in Miami, announced a partnership with fintech startup Karta to launch a co-branded global charge card for high-net-worth international clients holding U.S.-based assets. The companies said the agreement gives Insigneo exclusive rights as the first wealth management firm to offer a co-branded charge card with Karta, positioning the launch as part of Insigneo’s broader push to add new tools and services tailored to cross-border clients.

CMA CGM And Stonepeak Form United Ports JV In $2.4 Billion Terminal Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

CMA CGM Group and infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak have agreed to form UNITED PORTS LLC, a U.S. joint venture designed to acquire 10 major CMA CGM operated port terminals around the world. Under the agreement, Stonepeak will invest $2.4 billion for a 25% minority stake, while CMA CGM will hold 75% and retain full operational control of the terminals.

SimonMed Launches Longevity Division And Rebrands Around AI-Enabled Preventive Imaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

SimonMed Imaging has introduced an updated brand and launched SimonMed Longevity, a new division centered on AI-enabled preventive care and longevity screening. The initiative marks what the company described as the next phase of its evolution as a national diagnostic imaging provider, expanding emphasis beyond traditional diagnostics to include earlier risk identification and preventive support powered by artificial intelligence.

Celona: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Rajeev Shah About The 5G And LTE Networking Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Celona provides an integrated, cloud-native private 5G networking platform designed to help enterprises easily deploy and manage secure, high-performance wireless connectivity for mission-critical applications. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Celona co-founder and CEO Rajeev Shah to learn more.

Cloud Capital: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Ed Barrow About The Financial Tech Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Cloud Capital is a financial technology platform that helps CFOs and finance teams forecast, manage, and reduce cloud infrastructure spend through automated, risk-free commitments. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cloud Capital co-founder and CEO Ed Barrow to learn more.

Patchworks: Interview With CEO Jim Herbert About The No-Code Integration Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Patchworks is a no-code/low-code integration platform (iPaaS) that helps eCommerce and retail businesses automate and manage data flows between systems like their storefront, ERP, WMS/3PL, finance, and other back-office tools. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Patchworks CEO Jim Herbert to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

LoyaltyLion: Interview With CEO Charlie Casey About The Loyalty Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

LoyaltyLion is a data-driven eCommerce loyalty and engagement platform that helps online brands build customized rewards (and referral) programs to increase customer retention and repeat sales. Pulse 2.0 interviewed LoyaltyLion CEO Charlie Casey to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Stellular Bio: Series 1 Financing Closed To Advance Regenerative Biologic For Sjögren’s Dry Eye

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Stellular Bio, which is developing Platelet-derived Regenerative Biologic (PRB) therapeutics, announced it has closed its Series 1 financing round to support advancement of its lead candidate, STLR-201, toward clinical testing as a treatment for Sjögren’s disease dry eye.

CraniUS Therapeutics: $20 Million Series B Raised To Advance NeuroPASS Platform For Targeted Brain Drug Delivery

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

CraniUS Therapeutics announced it closed a $20 million Series B financing to accelerate development of NeuroPASS, a fully implantable, skull embedded platform intended to bypass the blood brain barrier and enable targeted drug delivery and monitoring in the brain.

Guardian Payroll Services: Interview With President Matt Taylor About The Business Management Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Guardian Payroll Services provides customizable, technology-driven payroll, human resources, and tax compliance solutions that combine automated systems with dedicated personal support to help businesses streamline employee administration. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Guardian Payroll Services President Matt Taylor to learn more.

NexAIoT: Interview With CTO Dr. Hoe Seng Ooi About The Smart Manufacturing Solutions Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

NexAIoT provides Industry 4.0 smart-manufacturing solutions—combining industrial PCs, IoT automation/edge computing, and enterprise data-integration software with consulting and implementation services to help factories digitize and operate more efficiently. Pulse 2.0 interviewed NexAIoT CTO Dr. Hoe Seng Ooi to learn more.

Minovia Therapeutics: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Dr. Natalie Yivgi-Ohana About The Biotech Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Minovia Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech developing mitochondria-based cell therapies—using its Mitochondrial Augmentation Technology (MAT) to transplant healthy mitochondria into cells to treat diseases driven by mitochondrial dysfunction, including rare genetic mitochondrial disorders. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Minovia Therapeutics co-founder and CEO Dr. Natalie Yivgi-Ohana to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Rainbow Weather: $5.5 Million Seed Funding Raised To Expand AI Powered Hyperlocal Forecasting App

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Rainbow Weather, a climate tech startup focused on ultra-accurate short-term forecasting, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding to accelerate development of its consumer app and expand into business customers. The company said the financing included a syndicate of investors led in part by Yuri Gurski, founder and president of Flo Health.

Seemplicity: Interview With Co-Founder & CPO Ravid Circus About The Exposure Management Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 29, 2026

Seemplicity is an exposure management platform that consolidates security findings, prioritizes the most important risks, and automates remediation workflows by routing fixes to the right teams and tools. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Seemplicity co-founder and CPO Ravid Circus to gain a deeper understanding of the company.