Archives

OpenAI: $6.6 Billion Raised At $157 Billion Valuation To Scale AI Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 4, 2024

OpenAI announced it closed $6.6 billion in funding at a $157 billion post-money valuation. The investors were undisclosed but sources with the company said that the round was led by Thrive Capital. Microsoft, SoftBank, Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, MGX, Tiger Global, and Nvidia also reportedly participated in the round. The $157 billion post-money valuation is reportedly up from $80 billion earlier this year and $29 billion last year. It is believed that some of the investors negotiated options to invest more capital in the company next year at the same valuation.

Vivun: Interview With CEO & Co-Founder Matt Darrow About The Sales Team Co-Pilot Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Vivun is known as your sales team's technical copilot as it helps the fastest growing companies secure more technical wins more efficiently. Following Vivun's release of Ava, the first AI sales engineer, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Vivun CEO and co-founder Matt Darrow to learn more about the company.

Tines: Interview With Founder Eoin Hinchy About The Workflow Platform Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Tines is a company that offers the only workflow platform that delivers powerful automation and orchestration straight into the hands of any member of your organization. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tines founder Eoin Hinchy.

Prospect Partners: Oversubscribed Fund V Closed At $225 Million Hard Cap

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Prospect Partners, a leading pre-lower-middle market private equity firm, announced the final closing of Prospect Partners Fund V at its hard cap of $225 million. This oversubscribed Fund hit its hard cap after nine months in the market.

Marsh McLennan Buying McGriff Insurance Services In $7.75 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Marsh McLennan - a leader in risk, strategy, and people - announced that it reached an agreement through its Marsh McLennan Agency business to acquire McGriff Insurance Services, an affiliate of TIH. And McGriff is a provider of insurance broking and risk management services in the United States, with $1.3 billion of revenue for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2024. The deal will enhance Marsh McLennan Agency’s capabilities across commercial property and casualty, employee benefits, management liability, and personal lines.

Verizon And Vertical Bridge Sign $3.3 Billion Tower Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Verizon Communications and Vertical Bridge announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Vertical Bridge to obtain the rights to lease, operate, and manage 6,339 wireless communications towers across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. from subsidiaries of Verizon for about $3.3 billion, including certain commercial benefits. The deal is structured as a prepaid lease with upfront proceeds of approximately $2.8 billion in cash.

Marex Buys Spain-Based Biofuels Company Dropet

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Marex Group, a diversified global financial services platform, announced the completion of its acquisition of Dropet, a Spanish biofuels company. This acquisition expands Marex's range of renewable products as it continues to grow its global environmental products business. This acquisition is aligned with Marex’s strategy to diversify its business and increase earnings resilience.

Epicor Buys Solenium Group And Visual SKUs To Build Solutions For The Automotive Aftermarket

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Epicor, a leader of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, announced it has acquired Solenium Group and its sister company, Visual SKUs. Both are long-standing Epicor partners and leading providers of Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions for the Automotive Aftermarket.

Thoma Bravo To Buy Majority Stake in USU Product Business

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Leading software investment firm Thoma Bravo announced the acquisition of a majority stake in USU Product Business. Combining Thoma Bravo's extensive experience and global software investment expertise with USU's product portfolio is expected to accelerate the company's growth trajectory and enhance its ability to deliver innovative solutions to customers. And USU Product will continue to operate under the leadership of its existing management team. Benjamin Strehl, currently Co-CEO of USU Software AG, will become CEO of USU Product and Bernhard Oberschmidt will join the board of directors.

Bain Capital Completes PowerSchool Acquisition In $5.6 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

PowerSchool Holdings, a leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education, announced the closing of its acquisition by Bain Capital for $22.80 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $5.6 billion.

OceanSound Partners: Fund II Closed At $1.49 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

OceanSound Partners - a growth-oriented private equity firm that invests in technology and technology-enabled services companies serving government and highly regulated enterprise end markets - announced the final close of its second fund, OceanSound Partners Fund II, LP with $1.49 billion in total capital commitments.

Nym: Autonomous Medical Coding Engine Raises $47 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Autonomous medical coding leader Nym announced a $47 million growth investment led by PSG (a leading growth equity firm specializing in partnering with software and technology-enabled services companies). And this new funding includes participation from existing and new investors including Google Ventures, Addition, Samsung Next and Dynamic Loop Capital.

TJC: Second Continuation Fund Of $2.1 Billion Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

TJC - a middle-market private equity firm investing primarily in North American businesses - announced the closing of its second continuation fund at $2.1 billion, which will be an extension of The Resolute Fund III, L.P. and include an asset jointly owned with The Resolute Fund IV, L.P.

Eon: Next-Gen Cloud Backup Solution Company Secures $127 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Eon, a next-generation cloud backup solution, announced its launch from stealth, and the company raised a total of $127 million in funding. This first backup autopilot for the age of cloud infrastructure and Eon monitor cloud resource sprawl and bring cloud backup posture management (CBPM) to enterprises. Eon also replaces legacy backup tools and generic snapshots, transforming backups into useful, easy-to-manage assets.

Meketa Investment Group: $2 Trillion In AUA Surpassed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Meketa Investment Group - a global investment consulting and fiduciary management (OCIO) firm - announced the firm recently crossed $2 trillion in assets under advisement, serving over 250 clients. To support new client growth, the firm has added two consultants. Steve Voss joined the firm as a shareholder, managing principal, and consultant.

JOYA: Skin Health And Wellness Benefit Platform Company Raises $5 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

JOYA, which is the first employee skin health and wellness benefit platform, announced its emergence from stealth mode with $5 million in seed funding from LUX Capital, Mosaic General Partnership, Arsama Trust, and Joyance Partners. This funding round will support team expansion, product development, market growth, and increased access to providers. Additionally, Dr. Neshat and Fatima Husain will join JOYA’s Board of Directors.

D Cubed Group Closes Sale Of KPS Global To Viessmann Generations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

D Cubed Group, a long-duration private market investor backed by high-net-worth business founders and executives, announced the successful closing of its sale of KPS Global (KPSG), the leading provider of custom insulated panel systems, to Viessmann Generations Group.

Surescripts Signs Strategic Partnership With TPG

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Surescripts, the nation’s leading health information network, announced that TPG will join the ownership group as a majority investor. And TPG is investing in Surescripts through TPG Capital, the firm’s U.S. and European private equity platform.

Avantra Raises Funding From Resurgens Technology Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Resurgens Technology Partners (RTP), a private equity firm focused on investing in North American and European software companies announced an investment in Avantra, a European provider of software solutions for monitoring and automating SAP operations.

Salient Motion: Aerospace And Defense Component Supplier Raises $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Salient Motion, an aerospace and defense component supplier, announced it has closed $12 million in total funding, preseed and seed rounds, to transform the design and manufacturing of critical motion control components. This funding was led by Cantos Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, AE Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures, and BoxGroup.

Vector Capital: Mini VC Aims To Mobilize $1 Billion For 100,000 Mom-And-Pop Shops

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Vector Capital Solutions, a leader in AI-powered financial solutions, announced an upcoming Mini Venture Capital Program, an innovative funding model designed to tackle the systemic inefficiencies in capital markets and provide sustainable growth opportunities for small businesses.

xtype: ServiceNow-Focused Multi-Instance Management Platform Raises $21 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

xtype - a leading software company for multi-instance management on the ServiceNow platform, announced it had raised a $21 million Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from ServiceNow Ventures and existing investors including Columbia Capital and Inner Loop Capital. This milestone marks a significant leap forward in xtype's mission to revolutionize how organizations manage their ServiceNow environments.

Thread AI: $6 Million (Seed) Raised To Make Infrastructure Simple For Enterprises

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Thread AI, a new company founded by former Palantir AI Product and Engineering leads Angela McNeal and Mayada Gonimah, emerged from stealth to announce the launch of its composable AI infrastructure platform Lemma. And this AI workflow solution brings together disparate or previously incompatible systems into one observable, robust, and secure place so that enterprises can effectively implement and execute with AI.

Gateway Fleets Raises Funding From Partners Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Partners Group - one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry (acting on behalf of its clients) - has invested in Gateway Fleets, a provider of electrification solutions for logistics fleet operators in the US. And Partners Group is acquiring a controlling stake in Gateway and will provide significant capital to support its future growth.

KPS Capital Partners To Buy Catalyst Acoustics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

KPS Capital Partners announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Catalyst Acoustics Group through a newly formed affiliate. The Stephens Group is a portfolio company of KPS Capital Partners and a leading independent designer and manufacturer of engineered acoustical solutions. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.

Dynasty Financial: $700 Million MATAURO Team Onboarded With Independence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Dynasty Financial Partners announced that MATAURO has joined its high-quality platform of technology-driven independent wealth management tools and services. With independence, MATAURO can offer tailored advice and strategies aligning with each client’s financial goals.

Accel-KKR Buying Revenue Cycle Analytics Provider VisiQuate

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

VisiQuate is a leading provider of advanced revenue cycle analytics and AI-powered workflow automation software, dramatically improves performance and reduces process waste. And for nearly two decades, VisiQuate partnered with hospitals and health systems to markedly improve their top and bottom line.

PayRange Receives Strategic Growth Investment From Ridgeview Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2024

Growth-oriented technology private equity firm Ridgeview Partners - in partnership with The Baupost Group -announced it has agreed to make a significant strategic growth investment in PayRange, a leading provider of IOT software and payment solutions for unattended retail. Founder and CEO Paresh Patel will continue to lead the company and will retain a significant ownership position.

WorkFusion: Interview With CEO Adam Famularo About The AI-Based Digital Worker Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 2, 2024

WorkFusion is a regulatory technology provider for banking and financial services organizations. Its pre-built AI Digital Workers automate document-heavy and time-consuming work aligned to specific job roles within financial crime compliance like anti-money laundering (AML), adverse media and sanctions screening alert review, transaction monitoring, and Know Your Customer (KYC). Pulse 2.0 interviewed WorkFusion CEO Adam Famularo to learn more about the company.

XCAD Network: Interview With CEO Oliver Bell About The Influencer Tokenization Platform Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 2, 2024

XCAD Network is a company that is enabling tokenization for YouTubers, allowing them to transform their vast audiences into web 3.0 communities. Pulse 2.0 interviewed XCAD Network founder Oliver Bell to learn more about the company.