Archives

GlassPoint: $20 Million Funding Raised To Fuel Expansion Of Solar Industrial Process Heat

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

GlassPoint, a provider of solar industrial process heat, announced it has closed a $20 million funding round led by N.I.S. New Investment Solutions, a Liechtenstein-based asset manager, with participation from returning investor MIG Capital. The company said the financing will support global expansion and advance large-scale deployments in its pipeline, with a near-term focus on projects in the U.S. Southwest, Southern Europe, the Middle East, and South America.

Zocks: $45 Million Series B Closed To Expand Privacy First Agentic AI For Financial Advisors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Zocks, a privacy-first AI platform built for financial advisors, has raised $45 million in Series B funding to broaden its automation and analytics capabilities into what the company describes as a business growth engine. The round was co led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and QED Investors, with participation from Illuminate Financial and existing backers Motive Partners, Expanse Venture Partners, Entrée Capital, and 14Peaks Capital, bringing Zocks’ total funding to $65 million.

Grid Aero: $20 Million Series A Raised To Scale Long-Range Autonomous Airlift

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Grid Aero, an aerospace startup building low-cost, autonomous aircraft for long-range operations, has raised $20 million in a Series A round co-led by Bison Ventures and Geodesic Capital. The financing also included participation from Stony Lonesome Group and Alumni Ventures, alongside returning investors Ubiquity Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, and Commonweal Ventures.

PTF Lab: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Isa Mutaliev About The Virtual Ad And Logo Replacement Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

PTF Lab is a technology company specializing in AI and computer vision that provides real-time, cloud-based virtual advertising and logo replacement solutions for live sports broadcasts. Pulse 2.0 interviewed PTF Lab co-founder and CEO Isa Mutaliev to learn more.

Tailscale: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Avery Pennarun About The Mesh VPN Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Tailscale is a company that provides a zero-configuration and software-defined mesh VPN based on WireGuard that enables secure, direct, peer-to-peer connectivity between devices, servers, and cloud resources. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tailscale co-founder and CEO Avery Pennarun to learn more.

Upwind Raises $250 Million Series B To Scale Runtime First Cloud Security Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Upwind, a runtime-first cloud security company, has raised $250 million in Series B financing, bringing total funding to $430 million. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital, alongside existing investors including Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures, TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Ventures, and Penny Jar Capital.

The Clary Group: Interview With Founder Dr. Debra Clary About The Advisory Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

The Clary Group is a company that advises senior leaders, executive teams, and boards on judgment, decision-making, and trust in organizations by helping them replace over-reliance on certainty with disciplined curiosity. Pulse 2.0 interviewed The Clary Group founder Dr. Debra Clary to learn more.

PAR Technology To Buy Cardlytics’ Bridg Unit For Up to $30 Million In Stock

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

PAR Technology announced it has agreed to acquire Bridg, an identity resolution and shopper intelligence platform operated as a division of Cardlytics, in a deal valued at $27.5 million, subject to customary purchase-price adjustments that could raise the total consideration to as much as $30 million.

Visitt: $22 Million Series B Raised To Build A Single AI Interface For Commercial Real Estate Operations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Visitt, an AI native property operations platform for commercial real estate, has raised $22 million in Series B funding led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, with participation from existing investors Vertex Ventures Israel, Anfield, and Sarona Ventures.

The Footprint Firm Closes First VC Fund At €76 Million For Northern Europe Climate Deep Tech

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

The Footprint Firm announced it has reached a final close of its debut venture capital vehicle, Footprint Fund I, raising €76 million to back pre-seed and seed climate deep-tech and scale-up companies across Northern Europe.

Yolando: $8.5 Million Raised From Drive Capital To Launch GEO And Competitive Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Yolando, a Toronto-based competitive intelligence and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform, said it has officially launched commercially after raising $8.5 million in total cumulative funding from Drive Capital. The company positions its software as a way for marketing teams to measure and improve how their brands appear in AI-generated answers, alongside traditional search visibility.

NVIDIA Expands CoreWeave Partnership And Invests $2 Billion To Speed Buildout Of AI Factories

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

NVIDIA and CoreWeave announced they are expanding their long-running collaboration to accelerate the buildout of more than 5 gigawatts of “AI factories” by 2030, positioning the companies to meet surging demand for AI compute at a global scale.

PlusAI And TRATON Expand Partnership To Speed Autonomous Truck Launch In U.S. And Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

PlusAI and the TRATON GROUP said they are expanding their global partnership to accelerate the development and scaled deployment of on-highway autonomous trucking solutions in the United States and Europe, as PlusAI advances toward a public listing through its previously announced business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IX.

Epic Angels Backs Refurbi Seed Extension To Scale LATAM Refurbished Smartphone Ecosystem

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Epic Angels, the global all-female investor collective, has invested in Refurbi, a Colombia-founded company building a circular ecosystem for affordable, sustainable refurbished smartphones, as the startup raises a $4 million seed extension round across equity and debt.

Franklin Templeton Rebrands Alcentra And Benefit Street Partners Under Unified BSP Alternative Credit Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Franklin Templeton has aligned its U.S. and European alternative credit businesses, Benefit Street Partners and Alcentra, under an updated Benefit Street Partners (BSP) brand, completing the firms’ integration following Franklin Templeton’s acquisitions of BSP in 2019 and Alcentra in 2022.

MyARC: Over $2 Million Raised To Launch Next-Generation Platform For Fitness Creators

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

MyARC, a platform designed to help fitness creators train their communities at scale, announced the launch of a next-generation product to support, monetise, and grow creator-led fitness businesses. The company also disclosed a $2 million-plus funding round with participation from Araya Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Techstars, and G Fund.

Rocket Software: Interview With President Of Data Modernization Michael Curry About Modernizing Outdated IT Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Rocket Software develops enterprise software products that help large organizations modernize, optimize, integrate, and secure their outdatedIT systems, especially mainframe, IBM i, and other mission-critical infrastructure. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Rocket Software President of Data Modernization, Michael Curry, to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

DemandScience Adds Product And Board Leaders To Push AI-Based B2B Marketing Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

DemandScience has expanded its leadership team as it scales its AI-driven Precision Performance Marketing business, naming Aislinn Wright as senior vice president of product management and appointing Adam Kocoloski to its board of directors.

Pivotal Group Sells GlobalMeet To Constellation Software’s N. Harris Computer Corp.

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Pivotal Group has sold GlobalMeet, an enterprise webcasting and virtual events platform used by more than half of the Fortune 500, to N. Harris Computer Corporation, an operating group of Constellation Software.

CVC To Buy Marathon Asset Management In Deal Valued Up To $1.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

CVC and Marathon Asset Management announced they have agreed to a transaction in which CVC will acquire 100% of Marathon in a cash-and-equity deal, with a base consideration valued at up to $1.2 billion.

Synthesia: $200 Million Series E At $4 Billion Valuation Raised To Expand AI Video And Agentic Workforce Training

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Synthesia, a London-headquartered AI video platform focused on helping organizations create and share knowledge, said it has raised a $200 million Series E round at a $4 billion valuation, positioning the company to accelerate product development aimed at enterprise learning, internal communications, and upskilling.

Guild Garage Group Partners With West Virginia’s Varney Door Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Guild Garage Group, an alliance of residential garage door service companies, said it has completed a partnership with Varney Door Company, a family-owned residential garage door service provider based in Barboursville, West Virginia.

KPS Capital Partners to Buy Control Of Novacel From Chargeurs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

KPS Capital Partners announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Novacel, the surface protection solutions business currently owned by Compagnie Chargeurs Invest SA. Chargeurs will reinvest alongside KPS and retain a 25% ownership interest in the company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Buyers Edge Platform Acquires United Fresh Consortium To Launch European Fresh Division

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Buyers Edge Platform, a digital procurement network and solutions provider for the foodservice industry, has acquired the United Fresh Consortium (UFC), a UK-based fresh produce platform, in what the company called its first European acquisition in the fresh produce space. The deal marks the launch of Buyers Edge Platform’s Fresh division in Europe and is positioned as the opening move in a broader push to expand its produce management model beyond North America.

Everything: $6.9 Million Seed Funding Raised To Build A Unified Perps and Markets ‘Everything Exchange’ With Humanity Verification

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Everything, a Hong Kong-based startup positioning itself as an “everything exchange” spanning perpetual futures, spot markets, prediction markets, and payments, has raised a $6.9 million seed round as it builds a unified trading experience across Telegram, mobile, and web.

Columbia University Names Jennifer L. Mnookin As President-Designate

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Columbia University’s Board of Trustees has appointed Jennifer L. Mnookin, a legal scholar and the current chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as the University’s next president, with her term set to begin July 1, 2026.

Hivemind And CPIC IMHK Partner To Launch $500 Million Real-World Asset Tokenization Fund Strategy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Hivemind Capital announced it has formed a strategic partnership with CPIC Investment Management to build a fund platform focused on tokenizing select real-world assets for institutional and other eligible non-retail counterparties, with an initial target capacity of up to $500 million.

Latham: Insurance Transactional And Regulatory Partner Frank Monaco Joins In New York

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Latham & Watkins announced insurance transactional and regulatory partner Frank Monaco has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in its Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice, adding experience advising insurers and reinsurers on complex deals and regulatory matters.

2150 Closes €210 Million Second Fund, Lifting AUM To €500 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Venture firm 2150 said it has reached a final close on its second fund at €210 million, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to €500 million as it continues investing in technology companies aimed at reshaping cities and the industries that power them.

Microsoft Research Unveils Rho-Alpha Robotics Model To Bring Physical AI To Real-World Manipulation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026