Archives

HappyRobot: AI-Based Voice Solutions Company Raises $15.6 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2024

HappyRobot, a pioneer in AI-based voice solutions for the logistics sector, announced it has secured $15.6 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Y Combinator and strategic industry investors, including RyderVentures.

Why Aya Is Acquiring Cross Country Healthcare For About $615 Million In Cash

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2024

Aya Healthcare and Cross Country Healthcare announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Aya will acquire Cross Country for $18.61 per share in cash in a transaction valued at about $615 million. The all-cash transaction represents a premium of 67% to Cross Country’s closing price on December 3, 2024, and a premium of 68% to the volume-weighted average trading price for the 30-day trading period ended December 3, 2024.

Sola: Insurtech Company Raises $3.7 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2024

Insurtech company Sola announced the closing of its seed round. Led by FINTOP Capital, with participation from Overline, 10vc, Karuna VC, and prominent insurance executives—bringing total funding to $3.7 million. The funding supports Sola's mission to provide homeowners and businesses with reliable and affordable natural disaster insurance.

Scalestack: Orchestration And Agentic Platform Secures $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2024

Scalestack, a go-to-market (GTM) orchestration and agentic platform that enables enterprise teams to scale faster, announced it raised $3 million in funding from investors including Criteria Venture Tech, Sentiero VC, Exor Ventures, Geek Ventures, and more. This funding will accelerate Scalestack's mission to help companies like Harness, Redis, and MongoDB revolutionize their GTM Ops at scale.

Across AI: Agentic AI Company Secures Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 6, 2024

Across AI, a new company pioneering Agentic AI for enterprise workflows, announced it has raised an oversubscribed seed round to bring to market the industry's first enterprise sales AI supported by next-generation agentic memory. The funding was co-led by Village Global (a venture firm backed by some of the most successful entrepreneurs, including Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt, and chaired by Reid Hoffman) and also co-led by early Dropbox investor Bobby Yazdani at Cota Capital.

Illumion: £2.1 Million (Seed) Raised For Developing Advance Battery Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Illumion - a University of Cambridge battery development technology spin-out company - announced it closed £2.1 million in seed funding led by Foresight Ventures, with additional participation from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Parkwalk Advisers and Cambridge Angels.

Saltbox Mgmt: Salesforce-Based B2B And D2C Digital Commerce Management Company Raises Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Saltbox Mgmt, a leader in Salesforce-based B2B and D2C digital commerce and order management, announced the closing of its latest funding round. The funding round - which was led by Salesforce Ventures with follow-on investment from Traction Capital - marks a major moment for Saltbox Mgmt, positioning the company to accelerate growth and deepen its impact across the Salesforce ecosystem.

Fiamma: Bitcoin And ZK Infrastructure Company Raises $4 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Fiamma - a Bitcoin and ZK infrastructure company transforming Bitcoin into a dynamic and programmable asset - announced an oversubscribed $4M seed round investment led by Lightspeed Faction and L2IV. And additional participating investors include Astera Ventures, Contribution Capital, Sat Ventures, Chapter One, and FoundersHead.

Interlace: Card Issuance Company Raises $10 Million (Series B1)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Interlace - a global card issuance and digital asset management platform based in Singapore - announced that it has raised $10 million in its Series B1 funding round. The funding round was led by Bitrock Capital, with participation from prominent individual investors in the fintech industry, including early employees and senior managers from leading companies such as Klarna and Robinhood.

Rarimo: Zero-Knowledge Identity Protocol Raises $2.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Rarimo, a zero-knowledge (ZK) identity protocol, announced the closing of a $2.5 million fundraising round spearheaded by Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin. Other investors included Celestia's Nick White and Aztec's Zac Williamson.

D-Fend Solutions: Counter-Drone Takeover Technology Company Raises $31 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

D-Fend Solutions - a leader in field-proven radio frequency (RF) cyber-based, non-kinetic, non-jamming, counter-drone takeover technology - announced that it raised $31 million in the initial closing of a new investment round. The funding round was led by Israel Growth Partners (IGP), with participation from existing investor Vertex Ventures and new investor Vertex Growth.

Axiado: Hardware-Anchored Platform Security Solutions Company Raises $60 Million (Series C)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Axiado, a hardware-anchored platform security laeder, announced it raised $60 million in an oversubscribed Series C funding round, led by Maverick Silicon and with participation from Samsung Catalyst Fund, Atreides Management, and Crosslink Capital. This funding will drive the company's rapid growth and continued innovation in AI-driven cybersecurity technologies redefining platform security and energy efficiency for accelerated computing in AI data centers.

Frontline Healthcare Partners: Inaugural Fund Closed At $125 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Frontline Healthcare Partners - a private equity firm based in Charleston - announced the final closing of its inaugural fund, Frontline Healthcare Partners, L.P. at $125 million. This fund was created to pursue control investments in micro-cap distributed healthcare businesses, with the strategic goal of partnering with entrepreneurs to build market-leading healthcare companies.

NBA Champion Giannis Antetokounmpo Reveals Build Your Legacy VC Firm

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

NBA Champion Giannis Antetokounmpo recently announced the launch of Build Your Legacy (BYL) Ventures. This firm focuses on investments in sports and entertainment, driven by the Antetokounmpo family's dedication to driving innovation and entrepreneurship. BYL Ventures is positioned to utilize the Antetokounmpo family's expanding business empire and capital to maximize impact within sports, entertainment and media, intellectual property, consumer products, and technology.

Cake: Open-Source AI Infrastructure Platform Company Raises $13 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Cake, a managed open-source AI infrastructure platform, announced it has raised $13 million to bring AI to the mid-market. And the recent seed round was led by Gradient (Google’s early-stage AI fund) with prior pre-seed funding and participation from Primary Venture Partners. Gradient and Primary were joined in the round by Alumni Ventures, Friends & Family Capital, Correlation Ventures, Firestreak Ventures, and many industry-veteran individual investors.

Public: Investing Platform Company Raises $135 Million (Series D-2)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

This year, Public had celebrated its five-year anniversary and it has been nearly four since the Series D. And the company also announced new financing totaling $135 million, including $105 million in equity financing and $30 million in debt.

Eagle Electronics: Electronics And Cellular Module Production Company Raises $14 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Eagle Electronics - a new leader in high-tech electronics and cellular module production - announced it has raised $14 million, led by the O.H.I.O. Fund with participation from Asymmetric Capital Partners, to establish manufacturing technology and operations in Solon, Ohio, in partnership with CO-AX Technology. This initiative marks a significant milestone in the company's commitment to onshoring the advanced high-tech supply chain to the US.

OpenYield: New Funding Raised For Advancing Bond Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

OpenYield—an operator of the FINRA and SEC-registered OpenYield ATS—announced that it has closed a new funding round to continue its mission to modernize the bond market. This most recent funding round was led by Canapi Ventures, with additional support from Clocktower Ventures and Flow Traders. It supplements earlier fundraising efforts from Fin Capital and TD Bank, bringing OpenYield's total funding to date to $7 million.

Simpson Thacher To Open Luxembourg Office With Funds Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett announced it is planning to open a Luxembourg office, as well as the hiring of prominent funds partners Jean-Christian Six, Paul Van den Abeele and Yannick Arbaut. And all three will be based in Luxembourg.

PBG.io: Interview With CEO Pablo Antonio Bejarano About The Decentralized Vault Portfolio Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

PBG.io is a pioneer in the field of decentralized finance (DeFi), which has created a transformative technology in asset management: Decentralized Vault Portfolios (DVPs). And through blockchain technology, DVPs enable non-custodial asset management, offering numerous unique advantages that are changing the way investors manage their digital assets. Pulse 2.0 interviewed PBG.io CEO Pablo Antonio Bejarano to learn more about the company.

DLA Piper: Joel Montin Named As Partner In Regulatory And Government Affairs Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

DLA Piper announced it has appointed Joel Montin as a partner in its Swedish regulatory and Government Affairs practice.

Autoimmunity BioSolutions: $2 Million (Seed) Closed For Advancing Development Of Immuno-Corrective Therapy For Disease Treatment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Autoimmunity BioSolutions (ABS)—a biotechnology company pioneering a next-generation, immuno-corrective therapy for a genetically defined subpopulation of patients suffering from autoimmune disease—announced the closing of a seed financing led by Eos BioInnovation, with participation from Alexandria Venture Investments, Independent Capital, and others.

Potentia Robotics: Interview With Team Leader Anish Suvarna About The Student-Run Nonprofit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Potentia Robotics is a student-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which was created by students at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Potentia Robotics Team Leader Anish Suvarna to learn more about the nonprofit.

Cresta: Contact Center AI Platform Company Raises $125 Million (Series D)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Cresta - an end-to-end generative AI platform for contact centers - announced the closing of its $125 million Series D financing round. This funding round was led by new investors WiL (World Innovation Lab) and QIA, with participation from Accenture, EnvisionX, LG Technology Ventures, Qualcomm, and Workday Ventures. The round also includes returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, J.P. Morgan, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global. This funding brings the total to over $270 million.

Squire: $35 Million Debt Financing Raised From Silicon Valley Bank

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) announced it has provided $35 million in debt financing to Squire Technologies, a leading full-scale management and point of sale (POS) system that helps barbershop owners scale their businesses and increase clientele while also reducing the amount of time spent in back-office operations.

Avant: $6.5 Million (Seed) Raised For Expanding Access To Advanced DeFi Strategies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Avant, a company behind DeFi-backed stable-value token avUSD, announced a $6.5 million funding round that will enable the platform to expand its suite of inclusive DeFi tools. avUSD is designed to extend seamless access to delta-neutral trading strategies, allowing users to utilize the same advanced techniques employed by hedge funds and specialized trading firms. Designed with a core focus on decentralization, accessibility, and security, the avUSD token offers a wide range of users access to the benefits of DeFi.

PocDoc: £5 Million Raised To Advance Diagnostic Testing For Cardio

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

PocDoc is a company transforming access to cardio, metabolic, and renal diseases by enabling patients to use smartphone-based technology to undertake screenings that offer almost instant results in workplaces, communities, and at home. This most recent heavily oversubscribed funding round has seen the business raise £5 million from leading investors MMC Ventures, Molten VC, and Simplyhealth Ventures. A fourth major investor joining this round is KHP Ventures.

Accel-KKR: First Strategic Capital Fund Closed At Over $2.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Accel-KKR announced the completion of fundraising for AKKR Strategic Capital LP, closing on over $2.2 billion of capital commitments. AKKR Strategic Capital will invest in a broad range of transactions primarily focused on the software industry in the secondary market, aligning with the firm’s long-standing focus and experience backing growing software and technology-enabled services companies.

Kyan Health: $16.7 Million Secured For Upgrading Workplace Wellness

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Kyan Health announced it raised $16.7 million in funding. The company combines AI-powered preventive care with organizational insights that help companies treat employee well-being as a strategic and measurable investment rather than a box-ticking exercise. The funding features a previously unannounced $4 million seed round led by Amplo VC and a $12.7 million Series A led by Swisscom Ventures, with participation from GreyMatter Capital, naturalX Health Ventures, Founderful, Joyance Partners, and several angel investors. This brings Kyan's total funding to $18.4 million as it expands its platform globally.

Cradle: AI-Based Protein Engineering Company Secures $73 Million (Series B)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Dec 5, 2024

Cradle, a leading platform for AI-powered protein engineering, has raised $73 million in Series B funding to respond to rising demand for its technology in R&D-intensive industries. The round was led by IVP and included previous investors Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. This funding round brings Cradle's total raised to date over $100 million.