Archives

Floating Point Raises $125 Million Fund III As Technology Investor Tops $300 Million Under Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Floating Point has raised $125 million for its third venture fund, bringing the technology investment firm’s assets under management to more than $300 million. And Floating Point launched five years ago around a thesis that many of the next generation’s most significant technology businesses would look different from traditional software companies.

FTAI Aviation Secures $2 Billion Facility From 13 Lenders With Capacity To Expand To $3 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

FTAI Aviation has closed a $2 billion warehouse financing facility for the second investment vehicle of its Strategic Capital business, with an accordion that could increase total capacity to $3 billion.

System1 Pushes Adjusted Gross Margin To 85% As MapQuest And Dogpile Become Infrastructure For AI Agents

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

System1 deliberately reduced marketing activity tied to search monetization during Q2 2026, contributing to a steep revenue decline but pushing adjusted gross margin to 85% as the higher-quality Products business became the majority of revenue and gross profit. At the same time, System1 is repositioning MapQuest and Dogpile as infrastructure for AI agents through new Model Context Protocol servers.

Squire Patton Boggs Adds Oksana Lashko In New York As Restructuring & Insolvency Practice Expands Globally

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Squire Patton Boggs has added Oksana Lashko as a partner in its New York office and named her National Co-Chair of the firm's Creditors' Committee Practice, continuing the expansion of its global Restructuring & Insolvency Practice.

Xpander Raises $7.5 Million Seed Funding As Enterprise AI Agent Omni Scores 90.9% On GAIA Benchmark

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Xpander has raised $7.5 million in seed funding to accelerate adoption of its vendor-neutral enterprise AI platform, while introducing Omni, an AI agent that achieved a 90.9% score on the GAIA benchmark. Pico Venture Partners led the financing, with participation from Emerge Ventures, Samsung Next and SeedIL.

MAI Capital Acquires $490 Million Firm Waypoint Wealth Counsel To Enter Atlanta Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

MAI Capital Management has acquired Waypoint Wealth Counsel, an Atlanta-based fee-only registered investment advisor managing approximately $490 million in assets, marking MAI's entry into the Atlanta wealth management market.

O’Melveny Adds Reza Zarghamee In Washington To Expand Environmental, PFAS And Infrastructure Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

O'Melveny has added Reza Zarghamee as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office, strengthening the firm’s environmental capabilities across transactions, regulatory matters, investigations, mass torts and major infrastructure-related sectors.

Wispr Raises $280 Million At $2 Billion Valuation As Revenue Grows 150%+ Quarterly And Voice AI Push Accelerates

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Wispr has raised $280 million in Series B funding at a $2 billion valuation as the company expands its voice-based interface technology and launches its first proprietary speech model. The financing brings Wispr's total capital raised to $361 million and comes only six months after the company's oversubscribed Series A2. Menlo Ventures led the round, representing one of the firm's largest investments in an artificial intelligence company. Existing investors Notable Capital, NEA, Neo Ventures, 8VC and MVP Ventures also participated. New investors include Acrew, Forerunner, Goodwater, Peak XV, Together Fund and PLUS Capital.

Stripe Nears Deal To Acquire OpenRouter For More Than $7 Billion In Major AI Infrastructure Push

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Stripe is nearing an agreement to acquire artificial intelligence infrastructure startup OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, potentially giving the payments giant control of one of the fastest-growing gateways connecting developers with hundreds of AI models, according to Bloomberg.

Alibaba To Sell Lingxi Games To Trustar For At Least $1.5 Billion As AI Pivot Accelerates

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Alibaba Group has agreed to sell video game developer Lingxi Games to Asian private equity firm Trustar Capital in a deal reportedly worth at least $1.5 billion, continuing the Chinese technology giant's push to shed non-core assets and concentrate resources on artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Alibaba and Trustar have reached a formal agreement following several rounds of negotiations, according to The WSJ.

Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Alphabet Stake By $17 Billion As Greg Abel Puts Cash To Work

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Berkshire Hathaway significantly increased its investment in Alphabet during the second quarter of 2026, adding approximately $17 billion of shares as the conglomerate deployed more of its enormous cash position under CEO Greg Abel. Berkshire added approximately 48.1 million Alphabet shares during the quarter, making the Google parent by far the company's largest equity portfolio addition, according to CNBC.

Innodisk: Interview With Director Of Product Management Tom Lee About DRAM For AI And Edge Computing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Innodisk develops DRAM solutions for AI, edge computing, industrial systems, and other applications requiring high performance, power efficiency, reliability, and long-term support. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Innodisk USA Director of DRAM Product Management Tom Lee to learn more.

Aria Networks: Interview With Founder And CEO Mansour Karam About Deep Networking For AI Factories

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Aria Networks is developing Deep Networking, an integrated hardware-and-software platform designed to turn the network into an active optimization layer for AI factories. The company combines purpose-built Ethernet switching, high-resolution telemetry, specialized AI agents, and embedded engineering support to improve accelerator utilization, performance, reliability, and AI infrastructure economics. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Aria Networks Founder and CEO Mansour Karam to learn more.

QED Science: Interview With VP Of Product Guy Ronen About Validating Scientific Research With AI

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

QED Science provides an AI validity engine that breaks manuscripts and grant proposals into individual claims, tests each against the published literature, and scores them for originality and validity. The company also publishes The 1%, a blind ranking of the strongest new preprints in life science. Pulse 2.0 interviewed QED Science VP of Product Guy Ronen to learn more.

Econergy Secures €229 Million From EBRD, BSTDB, Exim Banca Românească, NLB, OTP And Intesa For 342 MWp Romania Solar-Storage Project

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 17, 2026

Econergy has secured approximately €229 million in financing for its Părău 2 solar and battery energy storage project in Romania from a six-lender consortium comprising the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, Exim Banca Românească, NLB, OTP Bank and Banca Comercială Intesa Sanpaolo România.

Kennametal: Inventory More Than Doubles To $1.11 Billion As Company Targets Up To $3.45 Billion Of Fiscal 2027 Revenue

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Kennametal ended fiscal 2026 with inventory of approximately $1.11 billion, more than double the $538.2 million held a year earlier, as unprecedented tungsten price increases and efforts to secure raw-material supply absorbed substantial working capital. At the same time, the industrial technology company is targeting fiscal 2027 sales of as much as $3.45 billion following 42% organic growth in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Extreme Platform ONE Reaches More Than 30% Of Subscription Bookings As Company Targets Up To 17.1% Fiscal 2027 Operating Margin

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Extreme Networks said its Platform ONE offering accounted for more than 30% of subscription bookings during its first year of availability and doubled sequentially in fiscal Q4, giving the networking company a rapidly expanding software platform as it targets a fiscal 2027 non-GAAP operating margin of as much as 17.1%.

NiSource Reaffirms 9%-10% Long-Term EPS Growth Despite Q2 Adjusted Earnings Decline

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

NiSource reaffirmed its target for consolidated adjusted EPS to grow at a 9% to 10% compound annual rate from 2026 through 2033 despite reporting a year-over-year decline in second-quarter adjusted earnings, with the utility continuing to lean on a $28.6 billion capital investment plan and a growing data-center infrastructure opportunity.

Eos Backlog Hits Record $807 Million As Revenue Jumps 351% And Commercial Pipeline Reaches $24.6 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Eos Energy Enterprises increased Q2 2026 revenue 351% year-over-year to $68.8 million and ended the quarter with a record $807 million backlog and $24.6 billion commercial opportunity pipeline, although gross margin remained deeply negative at 71% as the long-duration energy storage manufacturer continued scaling production.

EVgo: Charging Revenue Posts 18th Consecutive Quarter Of Double-Digit Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

EVgo recently announced it generated $61 million in charging network revenue in Q2 2026, up 19% year over year and marking the company’s 18th consecutive quarter of double-digit charging network revenue growth, as its fast-charging footprint expanded to 5,380 operating stalls.

Uber Adds More First-Time Users Than Any Period In Five Years As Trailing Free Cash Flow Tops $10 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Uber said it added more first-time users during the past 12 months than in any comparable period over the previous five years, while trailing-12-month free cash flow exceeded $10 billion for the first time in company history, pairing record platform engagement with a substantially larger cash-generation base.

Cirrus Logic: Multiple 2027 Design Opportunities For AI-PC Smart Codec

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Cirrus Logic is seeing considerable customer interest in its latest smart codec for AI-enabled PCs and is working with multiple customers on designs planned for calendar 2027, creating a potential new growth vector as the semiconductor company expands beyond its traditional smartphone exposure.

Cencora: OneOncology Drives 61-Basis-Point Margin Expansion Despite Lower-Margin GLP-1 Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Cencora's adjusted gross margin expanded 61 basis points during fiscal Q3 2026 as the February acquisition of OneOncology strengthened the economics of its U.S. Healthcare Solutions business, more than offsetting some of the margin pressure created by rapidly growing sales of lower-margin GLP-1 pharmaceuticals.

Nagarro Board Backs Persistent’s €81-Per-Share Takeover Offer At 140% Premium

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Nagarro’s Management Board and Supervisory Board have recommended that shareholders accept Persistent Systems’ €81-per-share voluntary public takeover offer after concluding that the cash price is financially adequate and strategically attractive. The offer is being made through Galaxy Germany Holding SE, a company directly controlled by India-based Persistent Systems. Nagarro’s boards issued their recommendation after independently reviewing the bidder’s formal offer document.

Rocket Lab Clears U.S. Antitrust Hurdle For Iridium Acquisition As It Reshapes $3.6 Billion Financing Plan

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Rocket Lab has passed a significant U.S. regulatory milestone in its proposed acquisition of Iridium Communications, with the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period expiring as the company simultaneously advances securities, FCC and financing work needed to complete the transaction. The HSR waiting period expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 12, 2026.

Barings Provides Senior Secured Financing For Investcorp’s Acquisition Of $3 Billion-AUM Berger Financial Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Barings has provided senior secured credit facilities to support Investcorp’s acquisition of Berger Financial Group, a registered investment advisor managing more than $3 billion in assets.

Candle Lake Launches SEK 131.7 Billion Mandatory Offer For Evolution After Crossing 30% Ownership Threshold

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 16, 2026

Candle Lake has launched a mandatory public cash offer for Evolution that values the online gaming technology company at approximately SEK 131.7 billion after the Kenneth Dart-owned investment vehicle crossed Sweden’s 30% mandatory takeover threshold. Evolution shareholders are being offered SEK 695 in cash for each outstanding share.

Archives

Floating Point Raises $125 Million Fund III As Technology Investor Tops $300 Million Under Management

FTAI Aviation Secures $2 Billion Facility From 13 Lenders With Capacity To Expand To $3 Billion

System1 Pushes Adjusted Gross Margin To 85% As MapQuest And Dogpile Become Infrastructure For AI Agents

Squire Patton Boggs Adds Oksana Lashko In New York As Restructuring & Insolvency Practice Expands Globally

Xpander Raises $7.5 Million Seed Funding As Enterprise AI Agent Omni Scores 90.9% On GAIA Benchmark

MAI Capital Acquires $490 Million Firm Waypoint Wealth Counsel To Enter Atlanta Market

O’Melveny Adds Reza Zarghamee In Washington To Expand Environmental, PFAS And Infrastructure Practice

Wispr Raises $280 Million At $2 Billion Valuation As Revenue Grows 150%+ Quarterly And Voice AI Push Accelerates

Stripe Nears Deal To Acquire OpenRouter For More Than $7 Billion In Major AI Infrastructure Push

Alibaba To Sell Lingxi Games To Trustar For At Least $1.5 Billion As AI Pivot Accelerates

Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Alphabet Stake By $17 Billion As Greg Abel Puts Cash To Work

Innodisk: Interview With Director Of Product Management Tom Lee About DRAM For AI And Edge Computing

Aria Networks: Interview With Founder And CEO Mansour Karam About Deep Networking For AI Factories

QED Science: Interview With VP Of Product Guy Ronen About Validating Scientific Research With AI

Econergy Secures €229 Million From EBRD, BSTDB, Exim Banca Românească, NLB, OTP And Intesa For 342 MWp Romania Solar-Storage Project

Kennametal: Inventory More Than Doubles To $1.11 Billion As Company Targets Up To $3.45 Billion Of Fiscal 2027 Revenue

Extreme Platform ONE Reaches More Than 30% Of Subscription Bookings As Company Targets Up To 17.1% Fiscal 2027 Operating Margin

NiSource Reaffirms 9%-10% Long-Term EPS Growth Despite Q2 Adjusted Earnings Decline

Eos Backlog Hits Record $807 Million As Revenue Jumps 351% And Commercial Pipeline Reaches $24.6 Billion

EVgo: Charging Revenue Posts 18th Consecutive Quarter Of Double-Digit Growth

Uber Adds More First-Time Users Than Any Period In Five Years As Trailing Free Cash Flow Tops $10 Billion

Cirrus Logic: Multiple 2027 Design Opportunities For AI-PC Smart Codec

Cencora: OneOncology Drives 61-Basis-Point Margin Expansion Despite Lower-Margin GLP-1 Growth

Nagarro Board Backs Persistent’s €81-Per-Share Takeover Offer At 140% Premium

Rocket Lab Clears U.S. Antitrust Hurdle For Iridium Acquisition As It Reshapes $3.6 Billion Financing Plan

Barings Provides Senior Secured Financing For Investcorp’s Acquisition Of $3 Billion-AUM Berger Financial Group

Candle Lake Launches SEK 131.7 Billion Mandatory Offer For Evolution After Crossing 30% Ownership Threshold

Climate Fund Managers Reaches ZAR 3 Billion First Close For SA-H2 Green Hydrogen Fund, Targets ZAR 12 Billion

Goldman Sachs Alternatives To Acquire Tosca From Apax, Backing 63-Center Reusable Food Supply Chain Platform

Datavault AI To Acquire CyberCatch For $94.5 Million To Add AI-Powered Cybersecurity To Quantum-Secured Platform