Archives

Northflank: Developer Workload Platform Company Secures $22.3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Northflank, a developer workload platform, announced $22.3 million in new funding, including a $16 million Series A led by Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) and a $6.3 million seed led by Vertex Ventures US. Additional investors participating in these rounds include Kindred Ventures, Tapestry VC, Pebblebed, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

Latham & Watkins: Margaret Graham Joins As Partner In White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Latham & Watkins announced that Margaret Graham has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice and as a Litigation & Trial Department member. Graham joined the firm after 11 years of service as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the Southern District of New York, where she most recently served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Co-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Working Group.

Interview With NAF VP Of Product & Innovation Lindsey Dixon About KnoPro

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

KnoPro is a free new platform for high school students who want to develop in-demand skills by completing real-world projects for cash and other prizes. The platform is powered by NAF, which is a national education non-profit that has been bringing schools and businesses together since 1980 to better prepare students of all backgrounds. Pulse 2.0 interviewed NAF Vice President of Product & Innovation Lindsey Dixon to learn more about KnoPro.

BayBridgeDigital: Digital Transformation Company Raises $6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

BayBridgeDigital, a leader in digital transformation and Salesforce consulting, announced it raised a $6 million funding round, supported by institutional investors from the U.K. and the USA. This strategic funding marks a pivotal moment for BayBridgeDigital, enabling the company to accelerate the rollout of its innovative services, enhance its expertise in Salesforce, Databricks, Data, and AI, and expand its global footprint in key markets.

Pharos: Layer-1 Blockchain Network Company Raises $8 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Pharos - a full-stack, parallel layer-1 blockchain network - announced the completion of an $8 million seed round investment co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, with additional participation from strategic anchor investor SNZ Capital, and other investors, including Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, Legend Star, MH Ventures, Zion, and Chorus One Ventures.

Velocity One Merging With EMCORE

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Velocity One - a newly formed aerospace manufacturing holding company - announced it has signed a merger agreement with EMCORE Corporation, a provider of inertial navigation solutions to the aerospace and defense industry. Under this deal, EMCORE will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Velocity One.

Nimbus Power Systems: Pre-Seed Funding Raised To Developed Advanced Zero-Emission Heavy-Duty Fuel Cell Engines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Nimbus Power Systems - a developer of advanced fuel cell technologies for heavy-duty vehicles - announced the closing of a pre-seed financing round led by Connecticut Innovations (Connecticut's strategic venture capital arm). This investment will enable Nimbus to accelerate the development and demonstration of its zero-emission heavy-duty fuel cell engine.

Conflixis: Data And Risk Intelligence Company Raises $4.2 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Conflixis - a data and risk intelligence company - announced $4.2 million in seed capital co-led by Lerer Hippeau and Origin Ventures, with additional investment from mark vc, Springtime Ventures, and continued support from early investor Crētiv Capital.

HMC Capital To Buy iseek In $A400 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

HMC Capital announced it has entered into agreements to acquire iseek, a leading Australian co-location data center operating platform, as part of an A$400 million deal.

Interwoven Ventures: Early-Stage ROBO Global Spin-Off VC Firm Debuts

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Interwoven Ventures - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technologies across robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to transform industries, including manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and healthcare – announced the appointment of Dr. Erez Agmoni as co-founder and General Partner.

Nuveen: Katherine Elmore-Jones Named Named As Partner And Head Of Private Equity Business Development In Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Churchill Asset Management and Arcmont Asset Management, the U.S. and European asset management companies of Nuveen Private Capital (NPC) announced Katherine Elmore-Jones has joined as a Partner and Head of Private Equity Business Development in Europe. And Elmore-Jones will be based in Arcmont’s London office and report to Chris Freeze and David Burnside, Co-Heads of NPC Business Development.

Centana Growth Partners Buys Majority Stake In First Connect Insurance Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Centana Growth Partners—a growth equity firm specializing in the financial services ecosystem—announced that it has acquired a majority stake in insurance technology platform company First Connect Insurance Services (formerly an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Hippo Holdings). Aviad Pinkovezky will continue as President and has been named CEO post-closing.

ARCHIMED Buys DNA And RNA Gene Sequencing Company SeqCenter

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Global private equity healthcare specialist ARCHIMED announced the acquisition of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based genetic sequencing provider SeqCenter. And SeqCenter’s founding scientists initially worked at the University of Pittsburgh. Unhappy with the pace, cost, and difficulty of obtaining sequencing data from existing vendors and academic core laboratories, they developed their approach to gene sequencing, leaving academia and founding SeqCenter in 2019.

Amplify Platform Onboards $2 Billion Kingswood Wealth Advisors Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Amplify Platform - a unified all-in-one wealth management platform for financial services – announced it welcomed its newest client, Kingswood Wealth Advisors, a network of independent wealth management firms overseeing over $2 billion in client assets.

Nurse Capital Reveals Inaugural Investments In Nursing-Related Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Nurse Capital, a venture capital firm investing in nurse-led enterprises offering innovative solutions in healthcare, announced its first seed-round investments in two startup businesses that serve patients and nurses with innovative, first-of-their-kind products in the medical device and digital media platform spaces.

Vitrian: $50 Million Raised To Provide Solutions For Biomanufacturing And cGMP Facilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Vitrian, a leading end-to-end provider of investment capital and capacity-building services for biomanufacturing, announced that it closed a $50 million investment, with the ability to scale to $65 million, into AmplifyBio’s Manufacturing Enablement Center (AMEC) in New Albany, Ohio as a first step of a more significant commitment to support biomanufacturing in Central Ohio.

Pagaya: AI-Based Product Solutions Company Raises $1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Pagaya Technologies - a global technology company delivering AI-driven product solutions for the financial ecosystem - announced the closing of PAID 2024-10 and RPM 2024-3, totaling $1 billion in size across both deals. And this represents the company’s fourth AAA-rated personal loan ABS transaction and its first AA-rated auto ABS transaction.

Monroe Capital: $315 Million Collateralized Fund Obligation Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Monroe Capital announced the closing of its inaugural collateralized fund obligation (CFO), known as Monroe Capital CFO I. And the $315 million CFO provides investors access to a diversified portfolio of Monroe’s strategies, such as Monroe’s flagship senior secured direct lending and alternative credit solutions platforms, in rated and non-rated securities.

Latham: 24 New Partners And 27 Counsel Named

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 11, 2024

Latham & Watkins announced that 24 associates have been elected to the partnership, and another 27 associates have been promoted to counsel, effective January 1, 2025. The associate promotions announced follow the election of 19 counsel to the partnership earlier this year.

Candela Reveals First Electric Hydrofoil Ferry Line Took Off In Stockholm

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

The new star “Nova” in Stockholm recently departed from its dock in the quiet suburb of Tappström, powered by its electric motors. Moving silently a meter above the water’s surface, it completed the 15 km route to Stockholm’s City Hall in just over 30 minutes.

McDermott: Jason Zemmel Named As A Partner In Transactions Practice Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery announced it welcomed Jason Zemmel as a partner in its Transactions Practice Group. Based out of London, Jason’s practice is focused on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity (PE) matters within the healthcare sector.

Kestra Financial Brings In $1.4 Billion Wealth Empowerment Financial Strategies Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Wealth management platform company Kestra Financial has welcomed Wealth Empowerment Financial Strategies (WEFS) to its network of independent wealth management firms. The firm, led by Senior Managing Director and founder Eric Lyon, and Senior Managing Director Tom Holly, specializes in wealth management and retirement solutions. And Lyon and his team bring nearly three decades of experience, with WEFS offering sophisticated, service-first offerings to help its clients realize their investment goals.

Longevity Partners: Strategic Investment Secured From Leon Capital And Nuveen Private Equity Impact

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Longevity Partners - a leading global climate and sustainability consultancy for the real estate and infrastructure sectors - announced it has received a strategic investment from Nuveen’s Private Equity Impact team (part of the $1.2 trillion global asset manager) and Leon Capital (a London-based European private equity investment firm).

Symbiotic Security Raises $3 Million (Seed) To Offer Real-Time Feedback On Vulnerabilities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Symbiotic Security announced it has raised $3 million in seed funding from investors, including Lerer Hippeau, Axeleo Capital, Factorial Capital, and others. And the company has introduced its software-as-a-service that works with the developer’s Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and enables them to develop software more securely.

Cencora To Buy Retina Consultants Of America In $5.1 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Cencora announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Retina Consultants of America (RCA), a leading management services organization (MSO) of retina specialists, from Webster Equity Partners.

Blackstone Real Estate Taking Retail Opportunity Investments Private In $4 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Blackstone and Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. announced that they entered into a definitive agreement under which Blackstone Real Estate Partners will buy all outstanding common shares of ROIC for $17.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4 billion, such as outstanding debt.

Shamrock Capital: $1.6 Billion Raised For Sixth Private Equity Flagship And Inaugural Small Cap Funds

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Shamrock Capital, an LA-based investment firm specializing in media, entertainment, content, communication, sports, marketing, and education sectors, announced the final closing of Shamrock Capital Growth Fund VI, L.P. and Shamrock Capital Clover Fund I, L.P. with $1.6 billion of total capital commitments.

Physical Intelligence Raises $400 Million At $2.4 Billion Valuation To Develop AI For Robotics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Physical Intelligence—a company bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world—revealed that it has raised $400 million at a $2.4 billion post-money valuation. The company is comprised of engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders developing foundation models and learning algorithms for powering the robots of today and the physically actuated devices of the future.

Teledyne Signs $710 Million Deal To Buy Certain Businesses From Excelitas

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Teledyne Technologies announced that it has agreed to buy select aerospace and defense electronics businesses from Excelitas Technologies for $710 million in cash. The deal includes the Optical Systems (OS) business known under the Qioptiq brand based in Northern Wales, UK, and the US-based Advanced Electronic Systems (AES) business.

Baker McKenzie Reveals New Chair Of Global India Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 10, 2024

Baker McKenzie announces the appointment of Mini Menon vandePol as the new Chair of the Firm’s Global India Practice. She is succeeding Singapore-based principal Ashok Lalwani, who served in the role for 12 years and will continue to serve as a member of the India practice’s Steering Committee.