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Wonderschool is a company that is on a mission to ensure every child has access to high-quality early childhood education within five minutes of their home, and do this by empowering early educators to build sustainable businesses that meet the unique needs of families across the nation. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Wonderschool CEO and founder Chris Bennett to learn more about the company.

Industry-leading wealth management platform Kestra Financial announced the addition of Erudite Wealth Management, a full-service wealth management firm employing a proactive approach to serving clients through care and attention to detail.

Accenture announced it has invested through Accenture Ventures in Martian, a technology company that has built a patent-pending large language model (LLM) router. For any prompt, Martian's router will find and use the LLM that will give users the best result at the lowest cost.

CytoAgents - a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing a safe and effective treatment for Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) - announced that it has been awarded a $2 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, the third NIH grant in four years.

BNP Associates (a leading air transportation design and engineering firm) announced that it has received a strategic investment from Godspeed Capital Management (a lower middle-market Defense & Government services, solutions, and technology-focused private equity firm). The financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Zing Health - a leading Medicare Advantage insurer - announced it has raised an incremental $140 million in a funding round. Leading venture investors Health 2047 Capital Partners, CRG, and First Trust Capital Partners participated along with existing investors Newlight Partners, Town Hall Ventures, Health 2047, and Leavitt Equity Partners.

ReSync Bio, a scientific software provider accelerating preclinical R&D, announced its official launch and a funding round from Caffeinated Capital, Atria Ventures, and leading angel investors, including Ramsey Homsany, co-founder of Octant Bio. The company will use the funds to make key hires and commercialize its platform, which is now available for use by companies and academics.

VALD, a global health technology company and the system of choice for musculoskeletal (MSK) health professionals announced a significant growth equity investment from FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity firm. This investment will enable VALD to grow its global team into new markets, launch new product offerings and capabilities, and continue to utilize AI to create unique applications for the company’s proprietary dataset of tens of millions of MSK health records.

Latham & Watkins announced that Scott Cockerham joined the firm's Washington, D.C. office as a partner in the Transactional Tax Practice. And Cockerham advises global companies and investors on the tax aspects of investments in the renewable energy and energy transition sectors.

Centel Wealth Advisory announced the launch of its new independent advisory firm headquartered in North Haven, CT. Centel offers objective advice, tailored planning and comprehensive services to help individuals and institutions manage their complex and evolving needs, protect and grow wealth, and achieve their goals.

Morgan Lewis’ structured transactions practice is further expanding its capabilities with the arrival of veteran lawyer David Sylofski as a partner in New York. Sylofski arrives from Sidley Austin where he co-led its residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) team.

Global law firm Clifford Chance announced it has hired Matthew Holt as counsel in the firm's Global Funds and Investment Management practice in Washington, DC. Holt's appointment will strengthen the firm's private funds capabilities.

Functional Finance, a software platform transforming financial operations (FinOps) for managing general agents (MGAs), insurance companies, and wholesalers is pleased to announce the closing of a successful $20 million Series A funding round led by Walkabout Ventures (Walkabout), with participation from Munich Re Ventures and Phil Edmundson (the visionary behind Corvus Insurance).

Ubie is a health-tech company providing an AI symptom-checker with 10+ million monthly active users. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Ubie co-founder and co-CEO Kota Kubo to learn more.

Epica International - a global leader in advanced medical imaging and precision robotics - announced the closing of an $18 million growth capital credit facility with [Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P. and Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund II, L.P., which are funds of Avenue Capital Group. And the initial funding of $13.5 million will be used to refinance existing debt, support strategic expansion, and accelerate research and development initiatives. An additional $4.5 million is available in tranches based on the achievement of specific performance milestones.

z21 Ventures, a leading VC firm focused on early-stage technology investments, announced a $20 million first close for a $40 million Fund II from anchor investor WestBridge Capital, a global investment firm renowned for its strategic focus and robust portfolio.

 c/side, a cybersecurity company with tools for monitoring, optimizing, and securing vulnerable browser-side third-party scripts, announced $6 million in seed funding. This funding round was led by Uncork Capital, with participation from Mantis VC, Scribble Ventures, Roar Ventures and PrimeSet. c/side’s total funding is now $7.7 million, following a pre-seed round announced earlier this year. Plus, Scribble and Roar also participated in the pre-seed, along with strategic angel investors.

AtoB, a leading provider of modern payment solutions for the transportation industry, announced significant growth and strategic milestones, including $130 million in new equity and debt funding to further support product and team expansion. And this momentum reflects AtoB's dedication to transforming the transportation sector through fintech solutions and strategic partnerships.

Tamnoon, a leader in Managed Cloud Security Remediation, announced it has raised $12 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by cybersecurity investment firm [Bright Pixel Capital (formerly Sonae IM), with participation by new investors Blu Ventures and Mindset Ventures and existing investors Merlin Ventures, Secret Chord Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, and Elron Ventures.

Global debt collection fintech InDebted announced the completion of its $40 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at greater than $250 million. Primary investors include Airtree, Australian Retirement Trust and new growth fund Premier Capital Partners. Existing shareholders Reinventure, Carthona and Perennial have also participated, with Second Quarter Ventures purchasing shares from angel investors and early employees.

FluidLogic, a leader in high-performance hydration systems, announced a Series A Extension funding round of $15 million led by Solyco Capital, a private equity firm delivering capital solutions for late-stage startups and growth companies. And FluidLogic develops cutting-edge in-vehicle hydration solutions that provide optimal hydration, ensuring users consistently perform at their peak. This investment will fund new product development and innovation for consumer products in the adventure sports and outdoor endurance categories. Consumer products will be available early next year.

Centivo, a healthcare company focused on making high-quality healthcare more affordable for employers and their employees, announced it has secured $75 million in equity and debt financing. The funding includes participation from new strategic investors Cone Health Ventures and MemorialCare Innovation Fund, as well as existing financial investors including B Capital, Cox Enterprises, F-Prime Capital, Ingleside Investors, and Morgan Health (a division of JPMorgan Chase). Trinity Capital and ongoing banking partner JPMorgan Chase provided the debt facilities. This funding will enable Centivo to accelerate its mission of making high-quality healthcare more accessible and affordable to working families.

UJET, a leader of AI-based cloud contact center solutions, announced it has closed its latest round of funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from new investors KeyCorp and IonPacific and existing investors GV, Kleiner Perkins, Citi Ventures, DCM, and Ericsson Ventures. UJET’s latest funding round brings the total Series D funding to $76 million and will accelerate UJET's development of generative AI technologies, enabling businesses to enhance customer experiences (CX) significantly.

3650 REIT - a nationwide alternative lender, special servicer, and solutions provider focused on originating, servicing and asset-managing commercial real estate loans and providing fixed-income advisory support to global institutions - announced it has raised $430 million in capital commitments. These commitments were from Temasek, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS). This funding will be deployed across 3650’s credit strategies.

Crisp announced it closed a $72 million Series B equity round, including $17 million from new strategic investors, including Wellington Management, Toshiba Corporation, DNX, Cox, and Prologis. This brings Crisp's total equity raised to $97 million since its founding.

LPL Financial announced that the advisors with Bury Financial Group had joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, RIA, and custodial platforms. They reported serving about $655 million in advisory and retirement plan assets and joining LPL from Osaic.

Kestra Financial, an industry-leading wealth management platform, announced the onboarding of SZC Financial Planning & Management (SZC Financial), a firm dedicated to providing personalized and high-touch service.

MobiSystems is a global leader in productivity software that has created popular apps like OfficeSuite, PDF Extra, MobiDrive. MobiSystems has over 550 million users, with over 250 million users of OfficeSuite alone. Pulse 2.0 interviewed OfficeSuite Co-founder Nikolay Kussovski to learn more about the company.

Farmblox is a farm automation platform that combines a sensor ecosystem, carbon sequestration monitoring, and AI workflows – saving up to 50% in labor costs, reducing water usage, and generating new revenue streams for modern farming. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Farmblox co-founder and CEO Nathan Rosenberg to learn more about the company.

Skadden announced it welcomed Dr. Matthias Schudlo as a partner in the Frankfurt office's financial sponsor practice. Dr. Schudlo was previously a partner in another global law firm's private equity practice.