Archives

Andreessen Horowitz Partnering With Lilly On $500 Million Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health announced a newly formed and first-of-its-kind venture capital fund to fuel broader innovation in human health in partnership with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly). The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund aims to drive transformative progress in healthcare by investing in therapeutic platforms and technology companies that can bring new medicines and disease treatments to improve patients’ lives.

Saluda Medical: $100 Million Of Financing Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Saluda Medical - a commercial-stage medical device company focused on developing treatments for chronic neurological conditions utilizing a novel closed-loop and dose-control neuromodulation platform - announced the closing of a $100 million financing.

Tools For Humanity: Interview With CISO Adrian Ludwig About The Identity And Financial Network Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Tools for Humanity is a technology company building tools for humans in the age of AI and a core contributor to World Network. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tools for Humanity’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Adrian Ludwig to learn more about the company.

JCPenney Merging With SPARC To Create Catalyst Brands

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

JCPenney and SPARC Group announced that they have combined to form a new organization, Catalyst Brands, creating a portfolio of six iconic retail banners. Catalyst Brands brings together SPARC Group’s brands Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand and Nautica with JCPenney and its exclusive private brands, including Stafford, Arizona and Liz Claiborne.

Normunity: $75 Million (Series B) Raised For Broadening Pipeline Of Novel Anti-Cancer Therapies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Normunity, a biotechnology company creating novel anti-cancer therapies, announced today that it closed a Series B funding round of $75 million. The funding was co-led by Samsara BioCapital and Enavate Sciences, alongside other new investors Regeneron Ventures, Pfizer Ventures and YK Bioventures, as well as existing investors Canaan Partners, Sanofi Ventures, Taiho Ventures, Osage Venture Partners, HongShan Capital Group, and Connecticut Innovations. And the Board of Directors will be expanded to include David Parry, PhD (Samsara), Sara Nayeem, MD (Enavate), and Marie-Clare Peakman, MD (Pfizer Ventures).

booster: Interview With Co-Founders Scott Birnbaum & Ryan Simkin About The Student-Athlete Brand Manager

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

booster is a newly launched groundbreaking social platform that empowers student-athletes to take control of their personal brands. Pulse 2.0 interviewed co-founders Scott Birnbaum and Ryan Simkin to learn more about the company.

BragHumble: Interview With Founder Dominic Pritham About The AI-Based Fitness App Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

BragHumble is an AI-based accountability and fitness app that automatically uses your camera to count your reps without wearables and journals your progress while dropping knowledge about fitness. Pulse 2.0 interviewed BragHumble founder Dominic Pritham to learn more about the company.

InterVision: Interview With CEO Jonathan Lerner About The Managed Services Provider Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

InterVision is a leading managed services provider, delivering and supporting complex IT solutions for mid-to-enterprise and public sector organizations. Pulse 2.0 interviewed InterVision CEO Jonathan Lerner to learn more about the company.

Tidal Cyber Buying Zero-Shot Security

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Tidal Cyber, the Threat-Informed Defense company, announced the acquisition of Zero-Shot Security, the creator of an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) solution that simplifies and speeds the processing and analysis of threat intelligence.

ICE Buying The American Financial Exchange (AFX)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Intercontinental Exchange announced that it has acquired the American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct lending and borrowing for American banks and financial institutions. And ICE has acquired 100% of AFX from 7RIDGE. This acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on ICE’s 2025 financial results or ICE’s deleveraging or capital return plans.

R4 Capital: $10.6 Billion Surpassed In 2024

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

R4 Capital, a national affordable housing tax-credit syndicator, lender, and asset manager, and R4 Capital Funding (R4CF), R4's tax-exempt lending platform, announced in 2024 that it surpassed $10.6 billion in equity and mortgage financing since being founded. This was a significant year, marking the most equity closed in a single year, the largest mortgage loan volume closed in a single quarter, and the most important single asset equity investment in the company's history.

IQHQ: $900 Million Raised In 2024

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

IQHQ - a premier owner and developer of life science districts - announced that $900 million of new capital was raised in 2024, with the most recent closing occurring in December 2024.

Holly: AI-Based Government Hiring Platform Raises $2.2 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Holly, an AI-based platform modernizing government hiring, announced the closing of its $2.2 million oversubscribed pre-seed round, led by J2 Ventures with participation from Roble Ventures, Gaingels, and notable angel investors. And the funding will support Holly's platform as it works to solve the million-job government workforce vacancy crisis.

Vivo Infusion Acquires Neurology Institute Of San Antonio And Vista Infusions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Vivo Infusion, a nationally recognized provider of accessible and affordable ambulatory infusion services, announced it has acquired the Neurology Institute of San Antonio (NISA) and Vista Infusions, an industry leader in ambulatory infusion services and a leading neurological center of excellence. And with this acquisition, Vivo Infusion will manage nearly 90 ambulatory infusion centers across 15 states. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Ascend Capital Partners Acquires Majority Stake in Unison Therapy Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Ascend Capital Partners - a healthcare-focused private equity firm dedicated to improving the access, affordability, and quality of healthcare for vulnerable and underserved populations - announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Unison Therapy Services, one of the largest outsourced therapy providers for Pre-K – 12 students in school- and community-based settings.

Lion Equity Partners: Acquisition Of Global Compression Services Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Lion Equity Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm specializing in corporate carve-outs, announced it acquired Global Compression Services (GCS) from Warren Equipment Company, a Midland, Texas-based heavy equipment and services provider.

Tune Therapeutics: Over $175 Million (Series B) Raised For Advancing Field-Leading Epigenome Editing Programs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Leading epigenome editing company Tune Therapeutics announced the completion of over $175 million in financing led by New Enterprise Associates, Yosemite, Regeneron Ventures, and Hevolution Foundation.

Howard Energy Partners Acquires Ethylene Pipeline From EPIC Midstream Holdings

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Howard Energy Partners (HEP) announced that it has closed on the purchase of EPIC Midstream Holdings’ ethylene pipeline. This 120-mile, 12-inch, and bidirectional pipeline provides critical ethylene transportation, connecting Gulf Coast Growth Venture’s petrochemical complex in Corpus Christi to storage facilities in Markham, Texas.

Relias Buying Feedtrail For Enhancing Workforce Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Relias, an education and workforce enablement partner to 12,000 healthcare organizations, announced the acquisition of Feedtrail HealthcareXM, a company specializing in patient and employee experience and reputation management. And Feedtrail’s software enables real-time, personalized patient experience data collection that fosters loyalty and satisfaction for healthcare organizations, highlights areas for operational improvement, and enhances healthcare quality.

Qure.ai: Jim Mercadante Named As Chief Commercial Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Healthcare AI company Qure.ai has appointed a new Chief Commercial Officer to oversee and expand global sales and business development strategy. Based in New York, Jim Mercadante joins a growing commercial and operations team to consolidate growing momentum and further success.

Savvy Advisors Surpasses $1 Billion in AUM

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 13, 2025

Savvy Advisors - a federally registered investment advisor (RIA) affiliated with Savvy Wealth - announced it surpassed $1 billion in client assets under management (AUM), tripling its holdings since the start of 2024. And At the same time, Savvy added four more experienced financial advisors in December, capping off a transformative year of expansion. These developments follow Savvy Wealth’s $26.5 million Series A funding round earlier this year, underscoring its affiliated RIA’s strong trajectory heading into 2025.

BDO USA Buying Blue Beyond

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

BDO USA, one of the leading accounting and advisory firms, announced the addition of 48 professionals to BDO’s management consulting practice from Blue Beyond Consulting, a San Francisco-based firm focused on the people side of the business. And this marks a significant expansion of the firm’s advisory services, enhancing BDO’s ability to integrate human capital management with strategy, operations, and technology to help clients achieve their desired business results. This combination is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed on March 1.

Morrison Foerster Names 21 New Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

Leading global law firm Morrison Foerster announced the election of 21 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective earlier this year. The class of 2025 includes lawyers from 16 practice groups.

Linux Foundation Reveals Initiative For Supporting Chromium-Based Browsers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, announced the launch of Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers. This initiative aims to fund open development and enhance projects within the Chromium ecosystem while ensuring broader support and sustainability for open-source contributions that will drive technological advancement.

A2 Biotherapeutics: $80 Million (Series C) Raised For Advancing Clinical Development Of Precision Cell Therapies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

A2 Biotherapeutics - a clinical-stage cell therapy company developing first-in-class logic-gated cell therapies to target tumor cells and protect normal cells selectively - announced the closing of its $80 million Series C financing round, supported by a syndicate of investors that includes The Column Group and Samsara BioCapital.

MetLife Investment Acquiring 3 Investments Teams Managed By Mesirow With $6 Billion Of Assets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

MetLife Investment Management (MIM), the institutional asset management business of MetLife announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire three investment teams and assets managed by Mesirow, an independent, employee-owned financial services firm. And MIM is acquiring the high yield and bank loans, strategic fixed-income and small-cap equity teams, and certain related investment products.

Vividion Buying Tavros Therapeutics For Expanding Functional Genomics Capabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

Vividion Therapeutics (a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilizing novel discovery technologies to unlock high-value, traditionally undruggable targets and develop small molecule precision therapeutics for devastating cancers and immune disorders) announced the acquisition of Tavros Therapeutics (a precision oncology platform company). Vividion is a wholly owned and independently operating subsidiary of Bayer AG.

Insilico Medicine And Menarini Group Sign $550 Million Deal Cancer Treatment Licensing Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

The Menarini Group (a leading international pharmaceutical and diagnostics company) and Stemline Therapeutics (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Menarini Group focused on bringing transformational oncology treatments to cancer patients) and Insilico Medicine (a clinical-stage generative AI-based biotechnology company) announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement granting Stemline the global rights to develop and commercialize a preclinical small molecule targeting high unmet needs in oncology.

Valspring Capital: Fund I Closed Above Target At $255 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

Valspring Capital, a healthcare-focused growth equity firm, announced the closing of its debut fund, Valspring Capital Fund I, above its target at $255 million. Launched in 2022 by a team spun off from Bain Capital Ventures to pursue healthcare investments with the firm’s support, the Valspring team will seek to invest primarily in growth-stage companies in the healthcare industry, focusing on the information technology, technology-enabled services, and services sectors within North America.

Phase Four: In-Space Propulsion Company Raises Series C

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2025

Phase Four, a leader in advanced in-space propulsion design and manufacturing, announced the first close of its Series C funding round, securing nearly 60% of the target raise with strong participation from new and existing investors. And the round is led by Artemis Group Capital, the Oklahoma-based investment firm helmed by former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, emphasizing the growing confidence in Phase Four's innovative propulsion solutions.