Archives

DLA Piper International announces a new Executive Committee, appointed by International Managing Partner and Global Co-CEO Elect, Charles Severs.

Vision RNG (VRNG) - a leader in renewable natural gas (RNG) production - announced it has closed on an aggregate of $207 million in project financing with HASI, a leading investor in climate solutions. This funding will be essential in accelerating Vision RNG’s growth strategy, which will advance sustainable energy solutions and reduce carbon emissions.

Tako, an AI-based search engine for visualizing and sharing the world's knowledge, announced it raised $5.75 million in a seed funding round led by Kevin Hartz at A* and Ramtin Naimi at Abstract Ventures with participation from Stanley Druckenmiller / Kevin Warsh, Gokul Rajaram, Naval Ravikant, Stan Chudnovsky, Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Scott Belsky (Adobe), GC Lionetti (OpenAI), George Sivulka (Hebbia), Aravind Srinivas (Perplexity), Johnny Ho (Perplexity), Kanjun Qiu (Outset Ventures), Joe Montana (Liquid2 Ventures), Chase Coleman, Diogo Monica (Haun Ventures), Nathan McCauley (Anchorage Digital), Paul Yacoubian (Copy.ai) and others.

Cymbiotika, a leading wellness and supplement brand committed to transforming health through innovative, science-backed formulations, has completed a $30 million debt financing round. The funding was led by RevTek Capital.

Victor Capital Partners - a leading middle market private equity firm that partners with branded businesses in the specialty consumer, industrial technology, and business services sectors - announced the successful closing of its oversubscribed Victor Capital Partners Fund II, L.P. (“Fund II”). With capital commitments of $310 million, Fund II exceeded its fundraising targets based on strong support from existing and new investors, including a diverse group of institutional limited partners.

Global law firm Clifford Chance hired partners David Schultz and Matthew Hinker, further enhancing its Private Equity and Restructuring & Insolvency practices. They join Clifford Chance from O'Melveny.

Law firm HFW announced the continued expansion of its Australian business and international construction practice by hiring disputes partner Sean Marriott in Perth.  Marriott specializes in construction disputes and international arbitration in the oil and gas, mining, power, renewables, and public infrastructure sectors and in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). He is admitted in Australia and England & Wales and has practiced in London and Perth. Before becoming a lawyer, Marriott had a career as an engineer. He will join HFW from Clifford Chance on 4 November 2024.

Pinnacle Private Ventures (an influential family office-owned private investment firm led by Sean McCurry) announced it led an investment of $2.25 million in LINGO, a leading edtech company founded by former NASA rocket scientist, serial entrepreneur, and future Blue Origin astronaut Aisha Bowe that is transforming STEM learning through its innovative curriculum. This funding round highlights a decisive shift in the venture capital landscape—redefining how women and minority founders can access the resources needed to drive meaningful societal change.

Sidley announced that Nima Mohebbi has joined the firm as a partner in the Commercial Litigation and Disputes practice in Greater Los Angeles. Before joining Sidley, he was a partner at Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles.

OpenOrigins, a company founded to protect content authenticity through its provenance-focused blockchain, has expanded globally with a $4.5 million seed investment led by Galaxy Interactive with participation from Galaxy Ventures and existing investor Unbound (a global investment firm led by Shravin Bharti Mittal).

White & Case promoted 37 lawyers worldwide to its partnership. This new partner class includes representatives of 11 of the firm's practices and 21 of its offices in 14 different countries throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific regions. These promotions are effective on January 1, 2025.

Runway Growth Capital (a leading provider of growth loans to both venture and non-venture-backed companies seeking an alternative to raising equity) and BC Partners Credit (the $8 billion credit arm of BC Partners, an approximately $40 billion assets under management alternative investment firm) announced a definitive agreement whereby BC Partners Credit will acquire Runway.

Backflip, an all-in-one fintech platform for real estate entrepreneurs, announced that it has raised two private credit funds totaling $30 million of equity along with $154 million of asset-backed financing. This equates to $184 million in capital to fund residential transition loans (also known as RTL).

RRA Capital, a Phoenix-based commercial real estate bridge lender and investment firm, announced closing a $27 million loan to acquire a four-property multifamily portfolio in North Carolina. This latest deal, executed in partnership with Emerald City Associates (ECA), marks a significant milestone in their collaboration, with the parties having now closed $62 million across seven loans in the past five months.

Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) has enabled global enterprises, regional companies, and government agencies to drive breakthrough performance through business applications, enterprise learning, and outsourcing services for 40+ years. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CGS founder and CEO Phil Friedman to learn more about the company.

Zinnia, a leading life and annuity (L&A) insurance technology company, announced $300 million in financing from Vista Credit Partners, a subsidiary of Vista Equity Partners and a strategic credit and financing partner focused on the enterprise software, data, and technology markets. The new financing will accelerate Zinnia’s go-to-market strategy.

Herald, a leading digital infrastructure provider for commercial insurance, announced a $12 million Series A funding round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Brewer Lane Ventures with participation from Afore Capital and Underscore Venture Capital.

DeNexus - a leader in end-to-end cyber risk management for operational technology (OT) - announced it has raised $17.5 million in a Series A funding round, positioning DeNexus to accelerate its growth and expand its innovative product offerings and markets.

Bright Uro, a medical device company to transform care for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) through innovations in urodynamics, announced today the second closing of its Series A funding round, which was oversubscribed by nearly 40% above and secured a total of $32 million for the company.

MOTORMIA (a new automotive enthusiast platform aimed at transforming the automotive aftermarket industry through AI) has raised funding from multiple venture capital firms. And Mia, the platform's revolutionary AI virtual assistant, can tailor users' experiences to various levels of knowledge, generate AI vehicle renderings, make performance upgrade suggestions, and help users understand the best choices for specific build goals.

Birch Creek Energy (a utility scale solar and storage developer and independent power producer) and investment firm KKR announced today that Birch Creek has closed on a $150 million credit facility within KKR's High-Grade Asset-Based Finance (ABF) strategy via insurance accounts managed by KKR.

Blue Stripes, a whole cacao brand on a mission to create a more ecologically and economically sustainable cocoa supply chain, announced it has closed a Series B funding round at $20 million. The Series B funding round’s lead investor, Zintinus, supports brands that develop innovative technologies in the food industry while adhering to a high standard of environmental responsibility, social equity, and strong governance practices. And Zintinus' investment support was supported with investment from The Hershey Company (one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world), Whole Foods Market (leading natural and organic foods retailer), and additional investors, including DMG Ventures, Hamilton Lane, and Praesidium.

Databento, one of the fastest-growing companies in the financial data industry, announced the successful closing of $10 million in additional funding, increasing its total Series A round to $30 million. This funding news caps off an extraordinary year that saw a 985% surge in revenue and over 7,000 new customers.

Parakeet Health, a generative AI company focused on improving patient engagement for healthcare providers, announced the launching of its generative AI voice platform, which transforms how healthcare providers handle patient communication at scale. And the company also secured $3 million in seed funding led by Canvas Ventures with participation from CoFound Partners, StoryHouse Ventures and several prominent individual investors, including former One Medical CEO Tom Lee, MD, and former Twitter CTO Adam Messinger.

Final Boss Sour - a gaming-themed healthier snack alternative brand known for its retro-gaming-inspired sour snacks - announced that it has raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by Science Inc. This funding round was joined by investors including Steve Aoki’s venture fund Aoki Labs, F4 Fund, GFR Fund, Uncommon Denominator, and with participation by Jason Calacanis' LAUNCH Fund and The Syndicate.

Finix, a full-stack payment processor enabling businesses to accept and send payments online and in-store, announced it has raised $75 million in Series C funding, led by Acrew Capital and co-led by Leap Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from new investors Citi Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners, and more. And existing investors, including Homebrew, Insight Partners, Inspired Capital, Cap Table Coalition, and others, also participated.

Leading AI financial research platform Brightwave announced the closing of a $15 million Series A funding round, led by Decibel Partners and with participation from OMERS Ventures. This funding round brings Brightwave’s total funding to $21 million following an oversubscribed Seed round in June. Brightwave also achieved four times revenue growth in the four months since the announcement of its seed funding.

Agentic AI Zenity announced they received $38 million in Series B funding co-led by Third Point Ventures and DTCP, raising the total to over $55 million. This follows the recent strategic investment by Microsoft's venture arm M12, which received strong support from existing investors Intel Capital and Vertex Ventures.

Altair - a leader in computational intelligence - announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Siemens, a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, mobility, and healthcare. Altair's stockholders will receive $113 per share in cash, representing an equity value of approximately $10.6 billion.

Intelligent Observability Platform company New Relic has released its 2024 Observability Forecast, a comprehensive report on observability. Surveying 1,700+ technology professionals across 16 countries, the report highlights key growth areas, challenges, and external trends influencing observability investments.