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Signet Jewelers: $10 Million Record Fundraising Achieved For St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Signet Jewelers, the largest retailer of diamond jewelry, which includes KAY Jewelers, Zales, Jared, and Banter by Piercing Pagoda, announced it raised a record-breaking $10 million in FY2025 for the benefit of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Finding cures. Saving children. This milestone tops the previous year’s record of $8.75 million and represents Signet’s largest ever single-year fundraising total.

Prospera Financial Onboards $2 Billion Broker-Dealer Team Cutter & Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Dallas-based independent broker-dealer Prospera Financial Services announced it has acquired St. Louis, Missouri-based Cutter & Company, an independent broker-dealer with about $2 billion in total client assets, 40 advisors, and 12 employees.

Raymond James Onboards $325 Million Southern California-Based Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Raymond James announced it brought in financial advisor David Tam, CEPA, AAMS, to Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS) as announced by Casey McGee, Western assistant division director for RJFS.

Spektion: $5 Million (Seed) Raised For Software Vulnerability Management Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Software vulnerability management leader Spektion announced the general availability of its purpose-built solution, Spektion, which enables vulnerability management teams to address software risks based on their runtime behavior proactively. The company also revealed that it is backed by $5 million in seed funding led by LiveOak Ventures. The funding round also included participation from Tau Ventures and Dauntless Ventures.

Starday: $11 Million (Series A) Raised For Expanding Food Innovation And Retail Partnerships

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Starday, an AI-based food innovation company reinventing category growth, announced it has raised $11 million in Series A funding to accelerate retail expansion and develop first-of-its-kind partnerships with retailers and CPG brands to create bespoke products. The funding round was led by Slow Ventures and Equal Ventures and it includes $8 million in equity and $3 million in a debt credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank, along with investment from large global food and beverage companies. This funding round brings Starday’s total funding to $20 million in equity and debt.

Tracera: $12 Million (Series A) Raised For AI-Based Corporate Sustainability Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Tracera, an AI-based platform that automates the collection, verification and auditing of sustainability data with finance-grade accuracy and traceability, announced a $12 million Series A round, led by Foundry, with participation from Rho Ignition, Tola Capital, and Contour Venture Partners.

Modern Wealth: $1 Billion In AUM Added Through Two California-Based Acquisitions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Modern Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory (RIA) firm created to meet financial professionals' and clients' evolving needs, announced two asset purchase agreements to power its expansion in California and propel its assets under management (AUM) to more than $7 billion.

Aurascape: $50 Million Raised For AI-Native Security Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Aurascape, a provider of AI-native security, announced its launch after one year of stealth operations with $50 million in funding. The lead investors include Mayfield Fund and Menlo Ventures, along with a strategic set of investors such as Celesta Capital and security industry leaders, including former Palo Alto Networks CEO Mark McLaughlin, former Symantec CEO Greg Clark, the Chairman of Walden International Lip-Bu Tan, and former Zscaler Chief Strategy Officer Manoj Apte.

ALM Positioners Acquired By Altus Capital, Centerfield, And Senior Leadership Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Altus Capital Partners, Centerfield Capital Partners, and the company’s senior leadership team announced the acquisition of ALM Positioners. ALM Positioners provides automated positioning equipment that leading manufacturers use to hold, rotate, and position workpieces during welding, assembly, or other fabrication processes. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Fidelity: Two Fixed Income Municipal Bond ETFs Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Fidelity Investments announced the launch of two fixed income ETFs: Fidelity Municipal Bond Opportunities ETF (FMUB) and Fidelity Systematic Municipal Bond Index ETF (FMUN).

Solu Therapeutics: $41 Million (Series A) Raised For Developing Therapies To Eliminate Disease-Driving Cells

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Solu Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering therapies to eliminate disease-driving cells in cancer, immunology, and other therapeutic areas, announced the completion of a $41 million Series A financing that included participation from five new investors – Eli Lilly and Company, Biovision Ventures, Pappas Capital, Hengdian Group Capital (HgC), and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Therapy Acceleration Program along with continued support from existing Solu investors Longwood Fund, DCVC Bio, Santé Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Dunmor: $150 Million Raised For Residential Real Estate Investment Loan Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Dunmor, a provider of bridge, fix and flip, ground-up construction and DSCR rental loans for real estate developers across the United States, announced a series of achievements marking its momentum this year. These achievements include reaching a new milestone of $150 million in funding, the appointment of Jim Cooper, executive vice president of capital markets, a license to operate in Arizona, a broker portal, and soon a license to operate in Nevada and a new office in Irvine, California.

Office Ally: Funding Raised From New Mountain Capital And Francisco Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Office Ally, a healthcare technology company providing a comprehensive suite of cloud-based clearinghouse and software solutions to a national network of healthcare providers, partners, and health plans, announced a strategic growth investment from New Mountain Capital (a growth-oriented investment firm with over $55 billion in AUM). Francisco Partners, which originally invested in Office Ally in 2021, will also reinvest with management.

Haball: $52 Million Secured For Supply Chain Financing Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Haball, which is Pakistan’s leading supply chain financing and payments fintech, announced it has raised a $52 million pre-Series A funding round comprising equity investment and a strategic financing allocation. The funding round’s equity component of $5 million was led by Pakistan-based VC firm Zayn VC. And other investors included Majlis Advisory SPV; several leading private investors in KSA; angel investors, and a business conglomerate. The strategic financing component ($47 million) was provided by Meezan Bank Limited, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank, rated AAA/A-1+.

Andros Capital Partners: Third Energy Fund Closed At $1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Andros Capital Partners announced the closing of Andros Energy Capital III at its $1 billion hard cap. Fund III is the latest Andros flagship fund focused on private equity investments, credit opportunities, and direct asset-level investments across the energy value chain.

Excelsior Energy Capital: Fund II Closed At $1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

Excelsior Energy Capital, an independent North American renewable energy investor, announced the final close of Excelsior Renewable Energy Investment Fund II, LP (Fund II). With total capital commitments of just over $1 billion, Fund II surpasses its original $750 million target. Fund II will continue Excelsior’s strategy of investing equity in solar, energy storage, wind, and other energy transition projects across the US.

LPL To Support $16 Billion Broker-Dealer Team Of First Horizon Bank

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2025

LPL Financial announced an agreement with First Horizon Bank, First Horizon's banking subsidiary, to expand its wealth management capabilities and solutions by transitioning support of First Horizon Advisors' broker-dealer and investment advisory services to LPL and its Institution Services platform.

Sidley: George Hunter Named As M&A Partner In New York

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Law firm Sidley announced that George Hunter has joined the firm’s M&A practice as a partner in the New York office. Hunter joins from Jones Day.

Tailscale: $160 Million (Series C) Raised For Building Secure Networks

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Tailscale announced it has raised $160 million (C$230 million) in Series C funding, led by Accel with CRV, Insight Partners, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital participation. Existing angel investor George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike, is also included in this round, as is Anthony Casalena, CEO of Squarespace.

Daymark Health: $11.5 Million (Seed) Raised For Transforming Cancer Care Experience

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Daymark Health, a company transforming the cancer care experience for patients, providers, and health plans, publicly launched with an $11.5 million seed funding round co-led by Maverick Ventures and Yosemite, with additional participation from Oncology Ventures. And the company started operations this year in partnership with a leading payer in the Northeast to provide evidence-based and supportive cancer care to over 2,500 cancer patients.

Trive Capital: Fund V Closed With $2.7 Billion In Commitments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Dallas-based private equity firm Trive Capital announced the final closing of Trive Capital Fund V, with total commitments of $2.7 billion, exceeding its target of $2.5 billion. And Trive's predecessor program closed in April 2022 on $2 billion.

smartTrade: Strategic Investment Raised For Electronic Trading And Payments Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

smartTrade Technologies (a leading global provider of multi-asset electronic trading and payments platforms) announced a strategic investment from TA Associates. At closing, David Vincent, CEO and co-founder of smartTrade, and the broader management team will invest along with TA.

Corinex: $30 Million Raised For Scaling Deployment Of Grid Flexibility Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Corinex, a leader in broadband over power lines (BPL)-based grid visibility and flexibility solutions, announced a $30 million investment round led by Energy Growth Momentum, a UK-based company, along with Spanish investment firms Suma Capital (an independent alternative asset manager and a leader in ecological transition) and Adara Ventures.

Raymond James: $828 Million Arizona-Based Financial Advisor Team Onboarded

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Raymond James announced it has onboarded financial advisors Brian Flader, Michael Flader, and Chris Young to Raymond James & Associates (RJA) – the firm's employee advisor channel – in Scottsdale, Arizona, as announced by Edward Sudzina, Southwest regional director for RJA.

Aspen Standard Wealth Buying $2.9 Billion Team New England Private Wealth Advisors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Aspen Standard Wealth, an RIA acquirer that serves as a permanent home and long-term partner for RIAs, announced that it has acquired New England Private Wealth Advisors (NEPWA), a Boston-based RIA with $2.9 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of December 2024.

Fiserv To Acquire Pinch Payments For Enhancing Payment Service Offerings

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Fiserv (a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology) announced it acquired Pinch Payments, a payment facilitator (PayFac), known for leading PayFac enablement and its management platform “Glassbox.”

Sequence Buying Light To Address Blockchain Fragmentation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Horizon Blockchain Games (a pioneer of web3 infrastructure and gaming) announced that it will now operate solely under the name Sequence. Along with the rebrand, Sequence expands its technical leadership with the strategic acquisition of Light, a pioneer of chain abstraction technologies.

Ripple To Buy Hidden Road In $1.25 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, announced it is buying Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. This represents one of the largest deals in the digital assets space.

Sidley: Dave Perkins Joins M&A And PE Group As Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Sidley announced that Dave Perkins has joined the firm’s M&A and PE group as a partner in Sidley’s office in New York. Perkins joins from Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he was co-head of the Private Equity group.

The REACH Institute: Interview With CEO Lisa Hunter Romanelli, Ph.D. Mental Healthcare Training Organization

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 8, 2025

Since its founding in 2006, The REACH Institute has dedicated itself to expanding access to effective, evidence-based mental health care for all children and families. It has provided gold-standard training to more than 8,000 clinicians so that more are equipped to spot early signs of children’s mental illness and provide evidence-based care and support immediately in their medical practice. Pulse 2.0 interviewed REACH CEO Lisa Hunter Romanelli, Ph.D., to learn more about the non-profit and its work to advance children’s mental health care.