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Woodchuck, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based climate tech startup focused on diverting wood waste from construction and manufacturing sites, has secured a growth round investment from Michigan Rise, a venture investment subsidiary of the MSU Research Foundation, to support the company’s expansion across the United States.

Wealth Enhancement said it has acquired Spectrum Wealth Management, an independent registered investment advisor based in Irvine, California, along with Spectrum’s affiliated tax practice, certified public accounting firm Putman Group. The deal expands Wealth Enhancement’s integrated wealth management offerings with added tax planning capabilities. And it increases the firm’s overall scale, bringing total client assets to more than $131.2 billion after including previously announced acquisitions and the Spectrum transaction.

Architect Financial Technologies announced it has raised $35 million in a strategic Series A round to accelerate the growth of AX, which it describes as the financial industry’s first centralized exchange for perpetual futures tied to traditional asset classes.

DataLane, a New York based startup building an identity graph for local businesses, has raised a $22.5 million Series A financing round led by Amplify Partners, as the company aims to help enterprises more accurately find, verify, and reach offline merchants across the United States.

Last Energy, an advanced nuclear technology company, said it has closed an oversubscribed Series C financing of more than $100 million to fund development of its pilot reactor and prepare for initial deployments of its micro modular nuclear plants.

PERENfra has completed fundraising for its inaugural Perennial Infrastructure Fund I with $142.8 million in committed capital, closing the vehicle at an oversubscribed level as the firm looks to scale investments across essential water infrastructure projects in high-growth U.S. markets.

Ember LifeSciences announced it has raised $16.5 million in Series A financing to accelerate development and commercialization of its cold chain technology aimed at reducing temperature-related spoilage and packaging waste across global healthcare distribution.

Kirkland & Ellis has added corporate partner Alex Robertson to its Corporate Practice Group, bringing him into the firm’s Dallas office as it continues to build out its Texas footprint and private equity and M&A capabilities. The firm announced the hire on December 15, 2025.

One Equity Partners said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Montanhydraulik GmbH, a Germany-based industrial engineering and manufacturing specialist focused on ultra-large-scale hydraulic cylinders, aggregates, and complete hydraulic systems, along with related global maintenance and repair services. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Lovable announced it has raised $330 million in Series B funding at a $6.6 billion valuation to expand its platform for creating websites and applications without traditional software development. The round was led by CapitalG and Menlo Ventures’ Anthology fund, with participation from a mix of corporate venture investors and growth firms, as Lovable positions itself to serve both large enterprises and early-stage founders looking to move from idea to product faster.

S3 Ventures, a Texas based early stage venture capital firm, has raised its eighth fund at $250 million as it marks 20 years since the firm’s founding in 2005. With the new vehicle, S3 Ventures said it now manages more than $1 billion in assets and supports more than 40 active portfolio companies across the United States.

OpenGate Capital has completed the sale of ScioTeq, a provider of ruggedized display and mission critical visualization systems for aviation and defense applications, to the aerospace and defense fund of alternative asset manager Tikehau Capital. OpenGate said it will retain a meaningful minority position and continue supporting ScioTeq as it enters its next growth phase.

IFS has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Softeon, a provider of cloud native warehouse management, warehouse execution, and distributed order management software, in a deal aimed at extending IFS’s Industrial AI capabilities into warehouse operations. IFS said the combination will create an integrated platform that links manufacturing operations with warehouse execution, as enterprises modernize supply chains amid infrastructure constraints and labor shortages.

Apollo announced it agreed to acquire a majority stake in Prosol Group, a French fresh food retail operator, from Ardian, positioning the company for its next phase of growth in France and internationally. Prosol’s existing shareholders and management team will reinvest alongside the Apollo funds.

BDO has appointed Andrew Howson as its new UK Head of Private Equity, tasking him with expanding the firm’s private equity service offering and deepening relationships across the UK and broader PE community. Howson joined BDO in 2017 as a Transaction Services partner after holding senior roles at EY and Deloitte, and he has served for years on BDO’s private equity leadership team, building relationships with private equity investors and portfolio companies.

Main Capital Partners has appointed Jorn de Ruijter and Daan Visscher as Partners, expanding the firm’s leadership team as it continues to scale internationally and further professionalize its organization.

10ZiG Technology specializes in purpose-built endpoint solutions for virtual desktops, cloud workspaces, and secure web applications. Focused exclusively on thin and zero clients, operating systems, and centralized management, the company helps organizations deliver consistent, high-performance digital experiences while simplifying endpoint operations and extending device lifecycles. By combining flexible OS options, broad ecosystem support, and a service-driven approach, 10ZiG enables IT teams to adapt quickly to evolving workspace and security requirements. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Stuart Pladgeman, Vice President of Sales at 10ZiG Technology, who has spent over 20 years helping grow the company from its early UK operations into a global endpoint computing mainstay. With hands-on experience across sales, operations, and customer engagement, Pladgeman brings a practical, execution-focused perspective to leadership. In this conversation, he discusses 10ZiG’s origins, its customer-driven innovation strategy, and how the company continues to evolve to support modern, hybrid work environments.

Alphabet has agreed to acquire Intersect, a provider of data center and energy infrastructure solutions, in a deal valued at $4.75 billion in cash plus the assumption of debt. Google previously took a minority stake in Intersect through an earlier funding round.

Ginkgo Bioworks announced it has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University on an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) award tied to the POSEIDON program, a project aimed at developing a new approach to early cancer detection that pairs an orally administered pill with an at-home testing device.

Truemed, a marketplace and payments platform that helps eligible consumers use HSA and FSA funds for preventive health purchases, has raised a $34 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Long Journey Ventures, BoxGroup, and Trust Ventures.

Netwatch, a global provider of AI-powered security services, said it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by GI Partners. The companies announced the transaction on December 17, 2025.

Clearwater Analytics said it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired in a transaction valued at approximately $8.4 billion by an investor group led by Permira and Warburg Pincus, with participation from Temasek and support from Francisco Partners. The Boise, Idaho-based company said the deal follows a review that included engagement with certain strategic parties and financial sponsors.

FemHealth Ventures has closed its second venture fund at $65 million, an oversubscribed raise that more than doubles the size of the firm’s inaugural fund and brings assets under management to $100 million across two funds. The women’s health-focused venture capital firm said Fund II drew significant backing from existing limited partners and new investors aligned with its mission to advance women’s health innovation alongside financial performance.

Hiya Health is a children’s nutrition brand that makes sugar-free, non-gummy chewable vitamins and other kid-focused supplements designed to help fill common nutrient gaps. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Hiya Health co-founder and CEO Darren Litt to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Beijing-based Galbot announced it has closed a new funding round of more than $300 million, bringing total capital raised to $800 million and valuing the company at $3 billion, as investor interest accelerates in embodied AI and humanoid robotics.

Steward Partners has secured $475 million in strategic capital from Ares Credit funds in a transaction that combines an expanded lending relationship with a non-controlling minority investment, providing the employee-owned wealth management firm with additional resources to support its next phase of growth.

Beycome, a direct-to-consumer real estate technology platform, has closed a $2.5 million seed funding round led by InsurTech Fund as the company looks to accelerate product development and expand into more U.S. states. Founded in 2020, Beycome said it has supported nearly 20,000 home transactions and saved users more than $215 million in fees by offering an alternative to percentage-based commissions through a flat-fee model.

LatentForce, an AI-native platform focused on large-scale enterprise code migrations and software modernisation, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding in a round co-led by Ideaspring Capital and Yali Capital. The company said it will use the new capital to strengthen its proprietary migration models and accelerate expansion across India and international markets as enterprises confront mounting technical debt and aging systems that are costly to maintain and difficult to secure.

Thomson Reuters Ventures, the corporate VC fund of Thomson Reuters, invests in early-stage technology companies and helps them scale by connecting founders with Thomson Reuters products, expertise, and customer channels across areas like legal tech, tax and accounting, fintech, and risk/fraud/compliance. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Thomson Reuters Ventures Managing Director Tamara Steffens to discuss 2026 predictions.

InfiniteWatch, an AI native platform for customer interaction intelligence, has emerged from stealth with $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Base10 Partners, with participation from Sequoia and A16Z scouts, Kibo Ventures, Kfund, LifeX, and four unicorn founders.