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Filmustage, an AI platform that enhances the film pre-production phase from script breakdowns and scheduling to analysis, synopsis crafting, budget management, etc., announced a $1.5 million seed funding round led by UK-based VC fund Raw Ventures with Geek Ventures, among other investors.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded three Baskin Engineering alumni with a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research grant to support the research and development of an extended reality platform for full-body physical rehabilitation. Aviv Elor (B.S., Robotics Engineering, '19; Ph.D., Computational Media, '21), Michael Powell (Ph.D., Computer Engineering, '21), and Ash Robbins (B.S., Robotics Engineering, '18; Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, ‘24') co-founded Immergo Labs, which is a company that uses AI and VR to integrate telehealth capabilities and enhance remote physical therapy care.

Chaos Labs, an industry leader in onchain risk management, announced a $55 million Series A funding round led by Haun Ventures. This significant funding - which is aimed at scaling onchain economic security has attracted prominent new investors including F-Prime Capital, Slow Ventures, Spartan Capital, and more. And they join existing backers such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, PayPal Ventures, General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Coinbase Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from strategic angel investors, including Kevin Weil (OpenAI CPO), Michael Shaulov (Fireblocks CEO), Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana CEO), Francesco Agosti (Phantom CTO), and Anton Katz (Talos CEO).

Quantum Circuits announced it has secured a final Series B investment round of over $60 million. This funding round provides additional capital support as it prepares to commercialize its quantum systems with an industry first: error detection built into a more powerful qubit for scalable and higher-fidelity computing.

In an SEC filing, it was revealed that Amazon was buying Perceive for $80 million in cash, which is a company that develops breakthrough neural network inference solutions that push the performance-accuracy-power envelope, while also protecting the security and privacy of consumers. Launched in 2018, Perceive is a majority-owned subsidiary of Xperi Corporation.

Synadia is a company building the next generation of digital communications to unify cloud, edge, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Pulse 2.0 interviewed Synadia CEO Derek Collison to learn more about the company.

Daytona is a self-hosted and secure open-source development environment manager. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Daytona CEO and co-founder Ivan Burazin to learn more about the company.

Rheinmetall announced it had signed an agreement to acquire all equity interests in Loc Performance Products, a renowned vehicle specialist based in Plymouth, Michigan.

StanCorp Financial Group and The Allstate Corporation announced a definitive agreement under which The Standard will acquire Allstate’s Employer Voluntary Benefits business for approximately $2 billion and enter into a product distribution partnership. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Flywire, a global payments enablement and software company, announced that it has acquired Invoiced. Invoiced is a SaaS platform that enables B2B finance teams and the Office of the CFO to automate the critical order-to-cash process.

Performance Food Group Company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Cheney Bros - a leading independent broadline foodservice distributor based in Riviera Beach, Florida and owned by the Cheney family and Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) - under which PFG will acquire Cheney Brothers for $2.1 billion in cash.

Iteris, a trusted technology ecosystem for smart mobility infrastructure management, announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Almaviva S.p.A. (a private Italian digital innovation group) in an all-cash transaction valuing Iteris at approximately $335 million equity value. Under the terms of the deal, Iteris shareholders will receive $7.20 in cash for each share of Iteris common stock.

Fisent Technologies, a pioneer in Applied GenAI Process Automation solutions, announced it has secured funding from strategic investors including Pegasystems, Sand Dollar Capital, and prominent entrepreneurs - which will drive the growth of its BizAI product as the market leader in Applied GenAI Process Automation.

Two Bear Capital, a VC firm investing in life sciences and technology disruptors, announced the appointment of five key executives, expanding its team of experts during a period of rapid growth for the venture capital firm. These appointments strengthen Two Bear Capital’s ability to help build the operations of its impressive portfolio companies by delivering deep domain experts who partner with founders as they bring their breakthroughs to market and scale operations.

Amulet, a company shining a light on invisible threats in our food system, announced $5.8 million in Series A financing led by HealthX Ventures, with participation from Incite Ventures, AllerFund, Mendota Venture Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and individuals such as e-commerce pioneer, Pinterest executive, and Daydream founder Julie Bornstein and serial founder and investor Diede van Lamoen.

Logan Green, co-founder and board chairman of Lyft, has joined Autotech Ventures as a venture partner. Autotech Ventures is a premier VC firm investing in mobility and transportation.

Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company crearting a new generation of treatments for hair loss, announced that the first patients have been dosed in its Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of PP405, a novel topical small molecule, for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness). Pelage also raised a $14 million Series A-1, led by GV with support from Main Street Advisors, Visionary Ventures, and YK BioVentures, following an initial $16.75 million Series A financing announced in February 2024.

Voltera, a leading developer, owner, and operator of charging infrastructure for zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) fleets, announced it has secured a $100 million debt facility to support capital expenditure deployment on assets backstopped by customer contracts. This is a first-of-its-kind for the electric vehicle (EV) charging industry.

Kestra Private Wealth Services (Kestra PWS), a registered investment adviser subsidiary of Kestra Financial has welcomed Rachel Eisenhart CFP, ChFC, AAMS to its community of independent financial professionals, in partnership with Alexandria, Virginia-based HF3 Wealth Partners (HF3), which joined the Kestra network in 2022.

Terrantic, a data platform for modern operations in the food supply chain, announced the closing of its oversubscribed $3.5 million seed round. Supply Change Capital led the round, which was participated in by York IE, Vitalize VC, and existing investors Array Ventures.

Baker McKenzie announced a further expansion of its global Disputes practice with the addition of Michelle Porter-Wright and Rebecca Thomson, who will join the firm’s Johannesburg office as partners on 9 September 2024 from A&O Shearman. And Tiffany Gray will also join the Johannesburg office as Director Designate from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, effective September 1.

KNIME, one of the leading open-source data science and AI companies, announced it has raised additional funding from its longstanding investor, Invus. Since the last announcement, Invus has invested another $30 million, bringing the total funding to $50 million.

White & Case LLP expanded its Global Real Estate Industry Group and Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice by adding Jacek Jezierski as a partner in Warsaw.

Encord, an AI data development platform for advanced vision and multimodal teams, announced a $30 million Series B funding round. This round was led by Next47, a global venture firm investing in early and expansion-stage companies in SaaS, AI, and enterprise, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, CRV, and Crane Venture Partners.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison announced that David Hepp and Matthew Collin, two of the nation’s leading asset management M&A lawyers, are joining the firm in New York as partners in the Asset Management M&A practice within the Corporate Department.

Vista Equity Partners announced the acquisition of JAGGAER, a global leader in enterprise procurement and supplier collaboration software, from Cinven. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

LightSolver, the inventor of a new laser-based computing paradigm, announced that it had been selected for the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Program. And the company will receive an initial grant of €2.5 million from the EIC Fund combined with a future equity investment of €10 million, totaling €12.5 million. This recognition places LightSolver among 68 companies selected from a highly competitive pool of 969 applicants.

H.I.G. Capital - a leading global alternative investment firm with $64 billion of capital under management - announced that one of its affiliates has acquired Axis Europe Limited, a leading UK provider of property maintenance services, from its founder and owner, John Hayes. Hayes will reinvest alongside H.I.G. and join the board as a non-executive director. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Range Media Partners, a diversified global talent representation and production firm, announced that it has secured a minority investment from Verance Capital, a New York-based growth investment firm focused on sports, media, and entertainment. Verance joins Range’s recently announced new strategic investor group inclusive of Liberty Global, family office Wildcat Capital Management, and family entertainment company Playground Productions to drive growth opportunities, strategic acquisitions, new ventures, and expansion in existing and new verticals and markets.

EliseAI, the largest and most advanced conversational AI platform for the housing industry, announced a Series D funding round of $75 million at a valuation of over $1 billion. Sapphire Ventures led this round, which included existing investors Navitas Capital, Point72 Private Investments, DivcoWest Ventures, and Koch Real Estate Investments.