Archives

Aiwyn: CPA Technology Partner Company Raises $113 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

Aiwyn - a trusted technology partner for top Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firms - announced the closing of a $113 million funding round. This funding, led by leading global investment firm KKR and Bessemer Venture Partners, validates Aiwyn’s leadership in the accounting technology sector.

Menlo Ventures Reveals Cohort Backed By $100 Million Anthology Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

Menlo Ventures announced the first cohort of 18 companies backed by the $100 million Anthology Fund. Launched in partnership with Anthropic to accelerate AI-first innovation, the fund has received thousands of applications from entrepreneurs since its July announcement.

CareTrust REIT: Unsecured Revolver Doubled To $1.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 21, 2024

CareTrust REIT announced that it has renewed and doubled its unsecured revolving credit facility to $1.2 billion. The bank group consisted of Joint Lead Arranger/Administrative Agent KeyBanc Capital Markets, and Joint Lead Arrangers/Syndication Agents: BMO Capital Markets., JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Securities, and Co-Documentation Agents: The Huntington National Bank, Raymond James Bank, M&T Bank, Morgan Stanley Bank, and Royal Bank of Canada.

LPL Onboards $300 Million Advisor Jeffrey Grange

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

LPL Financial announced that financial advisor Jeffrey Grange, CWS has joined LPL’s employee advisor channel, Linsco by LPL Financial, to launch Grange Wealth Management of LPL Financial. He reported serving about $300 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets. And he joined LPL from D.A. Davidson & Co. He will be operating from a new Linsco office in Santa Barbara, California.

Serverfarm: Credit Facility Upsized To $1.637 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Serverfarm - a global data center developer and operator - announced it has increased its North American credit facility led by TD Securities to $1.637 billion as part of its accelerated business growth backed by significant long-term commitments from hyper-scale customers.

Corient To Buy $7.9 Billion RIA H.M. Payson

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Corient - which is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing national wealth advisors - announced it has agreed to acquire H.M. Payson & Co. (HMP), Maine’s largest registered investment advisory firm with $7.9 billion in assets under management. And HMP also serves as a Maine chartered trust company, managing approximately $1.2 billion in trust assets.

Ottimo Pharma: Over $140 Million (Series A) Raised To Advance Bifunctional Medicines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Ottimo Pharma - a private biotech company pioneering bifunctional medicines to extend the lives of people with cancer - announced the completion of a Series A financing round of over $140 million. The funding round was led by OrbiMed, Avoro Capital, Samsara BioCapital. It included blue chip investors RTW Investments, Decheng Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, Invus, and founding investor Medicxi. In connection with the financing, Peter Thompson (OrbiMed), Mark Chin (Avoro Capital), and Srini Akkaraju (Samsara BioCapital) will join the Board of Directors.

Operation HOPE Surpasses $100 Million In Commitments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Operation HOPE - a national nonprofit dedicated to helping low- and moderate-income Americans thrive - announced that it has exceeded its goal to secure $100 million in commitments - both in cash and in-kind - from its corporate members and partners to help drive its goal of bringing financial literacy and empowerment to all. And these commitments were made during the Annual HOPE Global Forums last week in Atlanta.

Paro: Interview With CEO Anita Samojednik About The AI-Based Marketplace Delivering Finance Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Paro is an AI-powered marketplace that delivers finance and accounting solutions to businesses through a combination of expert fractional talent, data-driven tools, and guiding insights. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Paro CEO Anita Samojednik to learn more about the company.

Justt: AI-Based Chargeback Management Company Raises $30 Million (Series C)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Justt, a leader in AI-based chargeback management, announced the closing of its $30 million Series C funding round, led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from existing investors Oak HC/FT and F2 Venture Capital. With total funding now at $100 million, Justt is advancing its goal of transforming chargeback management through its proprietary AI technology and in-house expertise.

Cloaked: Interview with Co-Founder & CEO Arjun Bhatnagar About The Consumer Privacy Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Cloaked is a consumer-first privacy company that offers a range of privacy features to help everyday people take control of their personal information. The company enables individuals to generate virtual identities to protect their personal privacy, and so much more. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cloaked co-founder and CEO Arjun Bhatnagar to learn more about the company.

Nuon: Bring Your Own Cloud Platform Company Raises $16.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Nuon has announced $16.5 million in funding and the early access release of its Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) platform. Investors in this round include M12 (James Wu), Uncork Capital (Andy McLoughlin), Redpoint Ventures (Pat Chase), Alumni Ventures (Meera Oak), Essence VC (Timothy Chen), Mantis VC (Alex Pall), Red Swan Ventures (Sandy Cass) and angel investors Quinn Slack (CEO of SourceGraph), Richie Artoul (co-founder of WarpStream, acquired by Confluent) and Michael Grinich (CEO of WorkOS). And this funding will fuel product development, prepare for general availability in early 2025, and drive customer acquisition.

Akamis Bio: Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene Company Closes $60 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Akamis Bio - a clinical-stage oncology company using a proprietary Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene (T-SIGn) therapy platform to deliver novel immunotherapeutic proteins, biomolecules, and transgene combinations to treat solid tumors - announced $60 million in funding linked to the close of a Series A Prime financing round and entry into a strategic partnership for developing its lead clinical candidate, NG-350A.

Vultr: Growth Financing Raised At $3.5 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Cloud infrastructure company Vultr announced it completed a growth financing at a $3.5 billion valuation led by LuminArx Capital Management and AMD Ventures.

Anyword: Interview With Co-Founder & CRO Omer Rabin About The AI-Based Performance Writing Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Anyword is an AI-based performance writing company that enables marketers to create scalable, on-brand content that converts and drives sales. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Anyword co-founder and CRO Omer Rabin to learn more about the company.

Armada: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Dan Wright About The Edge Computing Platform Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Armada is a company that provides an edge computing platform for data centers. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Armada co-founder and CEO Dan Wright to learn more about the company.

Atlas Invest: Bridge Loan Company Raises $11 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Premier bridge loan company Atlas Invest announced the closing of an $11 million funding round. Combining decades of real estate legacy and financial expertise with advanced AI, Atlas offers real estate developers seeking efficient financing solutions and private and institutional investors looking to invest in US real estate debt. This funding round, led by The Garage with participation from State of Mind Ventures, Anfield, Guy Gamzu, and other previous investors, will advance Atlas' expansion and further strengthen its position leading the real estate-backed debt market.

Indapta Therapeutics: $22.5 Million Raised For Advancing Clinical Trials Of Cancer And Autoimmune Treatments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

Indapta Therapeutics - a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases - announced it has closed a $22.5 million round of new financing to accelerate the clinical development of its differentiated allogeneic Natural Killer (NK) cell therapy. And current investors RA Capital Management, LP, Leaps by Bayer (the impact investment arm of Bayer AG), Vertex Ventures HC, Pontifax, and the Myeloma Investment Fund, the venture philanthropy subsidiary of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, completed the round.

FedEx To Spin Off Freight Business

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 20, 2024

FedEx announced that its Board of Directors has concluded a comprehensive assessment of the role of FedEx Freight as part of its portfolio and has decided to pursue a complete separation of FedEx Freight through the capital markets, creating a new publicly traded company. The separation is expected to be tax-efficient for FedEx stockholders and will be executed within the next 18 months.

Salt AI: AI Workflow Orchestration Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Salt AI - a pioneer in AI workflow orchestration - announced it has raised $3 million in seed funding and appointed technology veteran Aber Whitcomb as Chief Executive Officer. Whitcomb (former co-founder and CTO of MySpace and Jam City) brings decades of experience scaling breakthrough technologies across social media, mobile gaming, and blockchain.

ŌURA: Smart Ring Company Raises $200 Million (Series D) At $5.2 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

ŌURA, the company behind the leading smart ring, Oura Ring, announced today that it has completed a $200 million Series D funding round. Fidelity Management & Research Company and Dexcom, the global leader in glucose biosensing, participated in the round, which raised the company’s valuation to $5.2 billion.

Simulation Theory: $2 Million (Pre-Seed) Raised For Combating Cloud Waste

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Simulation Theory, a company focused on reducing waste by optimizing compute resources, has successfully raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. The funding round was led by Larry Russ, managing partner at Russ, August & Kabat, with individual investors including Ryan Peterson (former CEO of Finger Food Advanced Technology Group), and Robert Wallace of Strategic Alternatives.

SandboxAQ: AI And Quantum Solutions Company Raises Over $300 Million At $5.3 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

SandboxAQ announced a funding round of over $300 million from Fred Alger Management, LLC, T. Rowe Price Associates, Mumtalakat, Parkway Venture Capital, Breyer Capital, Rizvi Traverse, S32, US Innovative Technology Fund, Ava Investments, Eric Schmidt, Marc Benioff, David Siegel, Yann LeCun, IQT, and other prominent investors. This funding round valued the company at $5.3 billion on a pre-money basis.

Plume: Integrated Modular Layer-1 Blockchain Company Raises $20 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Plume, which is the first fully integrated modular Layer-1 blockchain focused on Real World Asset Finance (RWAfi), announced the closing of a $20 million Series A funding round from Brevan Howard Digital, Haun Ventures, Galaxy Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Superscrypt, Hashkey, Laser Digital (Nomura Group), A Capital, 280 Capital, SV Angel, Reciprocal Ventures, and others, showcasing strong industry conviction from crypto-native and traditional finance investors in Plume's vision of an on-chain RWAfi ecosystem.

XGEN Venture: €180 Million Life Sciences Fund Closes

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

XGEN Venture, a leading VC firm specializing in life sciences investments, proudly announces the final closing of its XGEN Venture Life Sciences Fund. This fund has successfully raised about €180 million in total commitments, surpassing expectations and solidifying its position as a key player in the European life sciences investment landscape.

AppDirect Buying IT Asset Management Platform Company Firstbase

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Leading B2B commerce platform AppDirect announced it has acquired Firstbase, an IT asset management platform that supports customers globally in procuring and managing the equipment deployed within their organizations. Through this acquisition, Firstbase's platform functionality will integrate into AppDirect's platform, providing AppDirect’s advisor community with a single destination for their end customers to manage their telecom, software, and IT assets.

Parafin: Embedded Finance Infrastructure Company Raises $100 Million (Series C) At $750 Million Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Parafin, a company that builds embedded finance infrastructure, has announced the close of its $100 million Series C financing at a $750 million valuation. Notable Capital led the funding, with significant participation from Redpoint Ventures. Existing investors Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, and GIC participated in the round.

Acre Homes: Tech-Focused Real Estate Company Raises Over $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Acre Homes - a tech-enabled real estate company - announced the closing of a seed round led by Anthemis, bringing the total venture capital raised to over $10 million. The funding included notable participation from Sovereign's Capital, Home Technology Ventures, Studio VC, Front Porch Ventures, Unpopular Ventures, Duke Capital Partners, and former CEO of Invitation Homes Fred Tuomi. This funding will support the company's efforts to accelerate growth in existing markets, including the newly launched Atlanta.

Telle Tire & Auto Centers Raises Growth Investment From Next Horizon

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Next Horizon Capital announced an investment in Telle Tire & Auto Centers, a well-established, fast-growing tire retailer and automotive service company with a strong presence in the Midwestern United States. The financial terms of the investment were undisclosed.

Team Velocity: Interview With Founder & CEO David Boice About The Auto Digital Transformation Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 19, 2024

Team Velocity is a company that is transforming the automotive industry with technology that digitizes the car buying and vehicle ownership processes. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Team Velocity CEO and founder David Boice to learn more about the company.