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President Donald Trump has announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion for building artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure with the goal of staying competitive against rival nations in technological advances. This joint venture is called Stargate and the goal is to build data centers while also creating over 100,000 jobs in the U.S.

Dfns - a leading wallet-as-a-service platform for crypto assets - announced it closed a $16 million Series A, led by Further Ventures (the venture arm of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign wealth fund ADQ). This funding round also included participation from investors such as White Star Capital, Hashed, Semantic, Techstars, and Bpifrance, alongside new backers including Motive Partners, Wintermute, and Motier Ventures.

Mountaingate Capital announced that it has closed its latest founder-focused lower-middle-market private equity fund Mountaingate Capital Fund III at its hard cap with $570 million in capital commitments. This brings Mountaingate’s total assets under management (AUM) to over $1.4 billion.

Thoras.ai announced the closing of a $5 million seed funding round led by Wellington Ventures, with participation from Sinewave Ventures, Focal Ventures, Storytime Capital, and other strategic investors. And this new funding will enable Thoras to scale its AI-driven platform.

Harbinger - a leading medium-duty electric vehicle (EV) company - announced it has raised $100 million in Series B funds. The funding round was co-led by Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund (a part of the VC firm with $10 billion under management and investments in leading electrification companies) and Leitmotif (a new U.S. venture capital firm anchored by European industrial interests). The Series B round also includes a significant additional investment from leading investment firm Tiger Global and continued support from other return investors, including The Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, managed by Greycroft; ArcTern Ventures, a prominent climate tech investment firm; THOR Industries and its investment partner TechNexus; as well as continuing investments by Ridgeline, Maniv Mobility, Ironspring Ventures, Schematic Ventures, and Overture Climate.

Lady Technologies announced it secured $6.5 million in Series A, led by Relentless Consumer Partners, to put cervical mucus at the forefront of women's health and build a vaginal health platform. And Lady Technologies' first product, kegg is a fertility tracker and pelvic floor trainer that analyzes vaginal data by measuring changes in cervical mucus to identify women's full fertile windows.

Rotunda Capital Partners announced it has invested in Value Added Distributors (VAD) in partnership with the existing owners and management team. Founded in 1995 and based in Shawano, WI, VAD is a distributor of hoses, tubes, seals, couplings, and related products to specialty vehicle OEMs and other mobile fluid power users. VAD operates out of 17 facilities across the Midwest and Southern US and provides highly value-added services like custom fabrication, assembly, kitting, and vendor-managed inventory solutions.

Allianz announced that the Allianz Private Debt Secondaries Fund (APDS) held the final close at €1.5 billion, including related transaction vehicles. And the APDS enables institutional clients to invest in secondary opportunities targeting the US, Europe, and Asia. The launch of the successor strategy is planned for the middle of this year.

Gravity, a leading enterprise carbon accounting and energy management platform, announced a $13 million Series A funding round, bringing the company's total funding to over $20 million. The funding round was led by Ansa Capital, with participation from existing investors Eclipse, Hanover, and Caffeinated Capital, along with new investors Communitas Capital, Buoyant Ventures, and WEX Venture Capital. Marco DeMeireles, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ansa Capital will join Gravity's board of directors as part of the funding round.

LeapXpert, a business communication pioneer, has secured $20 million in Series B funding. This funding round was led by Portage, with participation from existing investors, including Rockefeller Asset Management, Uncorrelated Ventures, and the Partnership Fund for New York City.

Cyngn announced that it has raised $33 million in funding. This funding positions the company to accelerate its growth and deliver on its mission to proliferate industrial autonomous vehicles. And Cyngn enters this year with strong momentum, utilizing its latest financing to scale production and deployment of autonomous industrial vehicles.

Percipio Health, a population health monitoring and management platform that is scalable across rising and high-risk categories, announced its official launch and $20 million raised to date with the closing of its series A, from investors including UPMC Enterprises, WAVE Ventures, Labcorp, and First Trust Capital Partners.

Micron Biomedical, a life science company developing the world’s first needle-free technology for drugs and vaccines that is based on dissolvable microarrays, announced the company won the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Patch Forward competition and presented at an event during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference and Biotech Showcase in San Francisco.

IonQ, a leader in the quantum computing and networking industries, announced a partnership with the University of Maryland and the State of Maryland to establish Maryland as the silicon valley of the quantum computing industry. And the proposed initiative will aim to fuel the growing quantum economy of the U.S. capitol region, offer access to IonQ’s cutting-edge quantum technology, and dramatically strengthen Maryland’s workforce with new quantum-focused jobs.

Alleviant Medical - a privately held medical device company developing a no-implant atrial shunt for heart failure - announced a $90 million financing to fund its second pivotal trial. The round was led by Gilde Healthcare, and it also included Omega Funds with participation from existing shareholders S3 Ventures, RiverVest Venture Partners, Ventana Capital, Longview Ventures, Gilmartin Capital, TMC Venture Fund, and undisclosed strategic investors.

Dubin Clark announced two major milestones: receiving its first Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) license and achieving the first close of the DC Small Business Fund LP. And this initial close surpassed its target, thanks to the continued support of our valued existing investors and significant new commitments from leading institutional partners.

The Snow League, a professional winter sports league exclusively dedicated to snowboarding and freeskiing, announced a funding round of $15 million. The funding round was led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from existing investors including Will Ventures, Ares Management funds, David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures, and Ryan Sports Ventures. And Rich Kleiman and Kevin Durant’s Boardroom Sports Holdings, Founder of League One Volleyball Peter Hirschmann and Kuvare Holdings also participated in the round.

Daash Intelligence, an AI-based predictive commerce intelligence platform for retail brands, announced it has secured $5.5 million in a second seed funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $8.25 million. New investor Bullpen Capital led the funding round, with participation from GFT Ventures as well as from returning investors Silicon Road Ventures and Red Bike Capital.

FIZE Medical, a leader in fluid management optimization, announced the closing of its $30 million Series A funding round, including a $14 million Series A-4 round led by Rapha Capital Management and its managed fund, Rapha Capital PE Life Sciences Fund VI. Joining this round is Valitas Venture Capital, known for its approach to go-to-market strategies in the healthcare sector. Also joining the round is eHealth Ventures, a strategic investor that provides access to global distribution channels, connections with key opinion leaders (KOLs), and a solid commercial network.

Enhanced Medical Nutrition (EMN) - a food-as-medicine company that commercializes novel and evidence-based medical nutrition products to improve outcomes in surgery - announced a $5 million over-subscribed Series A funding round led by dsm-firmenich Venturing and the Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm of Ajinomoto Co., Inc. with participation from PeakBridge, Elder Ventures, angel investors and existing shareholders.

Ares Management, a leading global alternative investment manager, announced the final closing of its sixth commingled European direct lending fund, Ares Capital Europe VI (ACE VI). And with total commitments of €17.1 billion, the fund closed above its €15 billion target and reached its hard cap. Ares believes ACE VI is the largest institutional fund in the global direct lending market based on LP equity commitments.

Blue Wolf Capital Partners - a middle market private equity firm specializing in the healthcare and industrial sectors - announced new Partner appointments and several other firmwide promotions.

UniVista Insurance - a leading distributor of insurance products and services to Hispanic communities in Florida and Texas - announced that it received a majority investment from entities affiliated with GRAM’s Americas Buyout Fund (GRAM ABF) in a deal that values UniVista at over $700 million. UniVista’s management, employees, and current capital partner, Avance Investment Management, will retain significant stakes in the company as part of the deal.

Thrive - a provider of cybersecurity, cloud, and IT managed services - announced that it has reached a definitive agreement for a strategic investment from Berkshire Partners and existing investor Court Square Capital Partners. Along with this investment, founding investor, MC Partners, will sell its remaining stake in the Company. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sydecar, a platform making it simpler and more efficient for venture fund and syndicate managers to form Special Purpose Vehicles and funds by automating banking, compliance, contracts, and reporting, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $11 million Series A funding round. The funding was led by Deciens Capital, a venture capital firm that supports early-stage founders building the next generation of financial services and shaping the future of finance, with participation from Pipeline Capital Partners and Runa Capital. Sydecar has raised over $28 million since being founded, including $8.3 million in seed funding in April 2022.

Spindrift Beverage - a leading maker of sparkling water with real squeezed fruit - announced that Gryphon Investors will buy a majority stake in the company. And Gryphon’s partnership coincides with the appointment of beverage industry veteran Dave Burwick as Spindrift’s new CEO. Bill Creelman, Spindrift’s Founder and current CEO, will move to a new role as Chair of Spindrift’s board.

Access Healthcare, a leading technology-enabled platform for revenue cycle management (RCM), announced a strategic investment from affiliates of New Mountain Capital - which is a leading growth-oriented investment firm with approximately $55 billion in assets under management. This funding will support Access Healthcare’s next phase of growth, focusing on advancing its capabilities in artificial intelligence, workflow automation, product development, and expanding into new markets.

Strategic Value Partners (a global alternative investment firm with approximately $19 billion of assets under management) and Bjelin Group announced the signing of an agreement where funds managed by SVP will make a €200 million preferred equity investment in Bjelin Group to facilitate its long-term growth ambitions.

Scoop Commute is a complete carpooling tool that helps organizations set up carpooling programs for their employees. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Scoop Commute CEO Jeremy Zuker to learn more about the company.

Elevation Point, a growth accelerator and minority stake partner for independent advisors and breakaway firms announced its strategic investment in Stonebrook Private, based in Northville, Michigan.