Archives

Quick Quack: Strategic Investment Raised From KKR

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Global investment firm KKR and Quick Quack Car Wash announced that investment funds managed by KKR have made a significant minority investment in the company. Quick Quack’s founders and its longtime equity partner Seidler Equity Partners will continue holding meaningful stakes in the company along with KKR.

Daydream: $50 Million Seed Round Raised To Change How People Shop Online

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

E-commerce tech and retail veteran Julie Bornstein and co-founders Matt Fisher, Dan Cary, Lisa Green, and Richard Kim announced today they raised a $50 million seed round co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Index Ventures with participation from GV (Google Ventures) and True Ventures to launch Daydream. This new AI-powered platform will change the way people shop online.

Foresite Capital: Healthcare And Life Sciences Firm Closes Sixth Fund At $900 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Foresite Capital, a multi-stage healthcare and life sciences investment firm with over $3.5 billion under management, announced that it has closed its sixth fund with $900 million in capital commitments. And with this new fund, Foresite Capital continues to invest in technologies ranging from novel therapeutics to companies at the intersection of technology and biotechnology.

Aidentified: AI-Based Financial Services Prospecting Company Raises $12.5 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Aidentified, a leading AI-powered prospecting and relationship intelligence platform for financial services professionals, announced that it has raised $12.5 million in Series B funding from FactSet, a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider.

Grayce: Social Care Platform Company Closes $10.4 Million In Series A Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Grayce, a comprehensive social care platform for families, announced that it had raised $10.4 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Maveron with participation from BBG Ventures, Correlation Ventures, GingerBread Capital, Alumni Ventures, Visible Ventures, Gaingels, and What If Ventures. And with this new funding, Grayce will scale its innovative platform to enhance its employer solution and member experience as well as enter the payer market.

Recurrent Energy: $513 Million Secured For 1,200 MWh Energy Storage Project In Arizona

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Recurrent Energy (a subsidiary of Canadian Solar and a global developer, owner, and operator of solar and energy storage assets) announced today it had secured $513 million in project financing for its landmark Papago Storage project based in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Merlin To Acquire AI And Autonomy Company EpiSci

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Merlin, a leading developer of safe, autonomous flight technology for fixed-wing aircraft, and EpiSys Science (a software AI and autonomy company delivering groundbreaking solutions for dual-use applications) announced that they have agreed to terms for the future acquisition of EpiSci by Merlin.

PQShield: Cybersecurity Company Closes $37 Million In Series B Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

PQShield, a cybersecurity company focused on post-quantum cryptography (PQC), announced today that it has raised $37 million in Series B funding, led by Addition. New investors Chevron Technology Ventures, Legal & General, and Braavos Capital participated, along with existing backers Oxford Science Enterprises.

Daisy: Smart Home And Office Technology Integration Company Secures $11 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Daisy, a home and small business technology installation and services company, announced its $11 million Series A funding round, bringing the total funding to $13.3 million. This funding round was led by Goldcrest and Bungalow with participation from Bullish, Burst Capital, and angel investors.

LPL Brings In $500 Million Highway One Capital Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors Tim Woodall and Dustin Raring launched a new independent practice called Highway One Capital, through affiliation with LPL Financial’s supported independence model LPL Strategic Wealth Services. The team reported having served approximately $500 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets and joins LPL from First Republic, now part of JPMorgan Chase.

Apex: Spacecraft Manufacturing Company Raises $95 Million In Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Apex, an LA-based spacecraft manufacturing company, announced its $95 million Series B funding round. This funding round was led by XYZ Venture Capital (an early investor in the company) and co-led by CRV, along with new investors Upfront, 8VC, Toyota Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, Outsiders Fund, GSBackers, existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Shield Capital, J2 Ventures, Ravelin, angels Baiju Bhatt (co-founder of Robinhood), and Avalon Capital Group (private investment company founded by Gateway co-founder Ted Waitt).

Stanly: $8 Million Pre-Series A Funding Raised To Improve Fandom Experiences

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Stanly, an innovative platform designed exclusively for fans to connect, engage, and celebrate their favorite fandoms, announced it has successfully raised $8 million in pre-Series A funding. This funding round was led by Adrian Cheng's C Capital, with participation from AppWorks, Goodwater, Palm Drive Capital, and others.

AccountsIQ: Cloud-Based Accounting Platform Company Closes €60 Million In Series C

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Cloud-based accounting platform AccountsIQ announced that it has secured a €60 million Series C investment from Axiom Equity. This funding will be used for continuing to develop the AccountsIQ product to shape the finance function of the future, particularly to take advantage of advancement in AI throughout all aspects of the solution.

Canary Speech: AI-Based Voice Biomarker Health Company Raises $13 Million In Series A

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Canary Speech, a leading AI-powered voice biomarker health tech company, announced it has secured a $13 million Series A funding round led by Cortes Capital, LLC (Love's Private Equity), with participation from Sorenson Communications, LLC., SMK (Japan), and Hackensack Meridian Health.

Findigs: Property Tech Company Secures $27 Million To Simplify Rental Screening

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Findigs, a leading property technology company that simplifies rental screening and leasing decisions, announced $27 million in Series B funding. This funding follows the company’s unannounced Series A and Seed rounds, bringing the total funding raised to date to $48 million. This round was led by Nyca Partners, with participation from existing investors RPM Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Expa Ventures, Activant Capital, Colle Capital, and Frontier Venture Capital.

InduPro: $85 Million Closed To Create Novel Therapeutics For Treating Cancer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

InduPro, a biotechnology company defining protein spatial relationships to create novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced an $85 million Series A financing co-led by The Column Group and Vida Ventures with participation from investors, including MRL Ventures Fund (the therapeutics-focused venture fund of Merck & Co, Inc.), Emerson Collective and Euclidean Capital.

Beta Boom: Investing In Startups That Are Solving Impactful Problems For Society

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Beta Boom is a firm that invests in pre-seed and seed startups that are solving impactful problems for society. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Beta Boom co-founder and managing partner Sergio Paluch to learn more.

White & Case: Mark Davies Named As A Partner In Washington, DC

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Law firm White & Case LLP has expanded its Intellectual Property Practice and Global Technology Industry Group with the addition of Mark Davies as a partner in Washington, DC. And Davies' practice focuses on appellate litigation matters for the most innovative technology companies. As an appellate lawyer, Davies has argued and briefed 50+ cases, both in private practice and for the government. And he has handled appeals for leading American technology companies as well as Asia-Pacific and European companies.

George Mason University Approved For $19.5 Million Landolt NASA Space Mission

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

George Mason University is becoming the location for the $19.5 million recently approved Landolt NASA Space Mission that will put an artificial star in orbit around the Earth. And this artificial star will enable scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of stars ranging from those nearby to the distant explosions of supernova in far-off galaxies. By launching absolute flux calibration, the mission will begin addressing several open astrophysics challenges including the speed and acceleration of the universe expansion.

Baker McKenzie: Colin Bowes-Carlson Rejoins As Partner in Chicago

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Baker McKenzie announced that Colin Bowes-Carlson, former General Counsel at the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR), has rejoined the firm in Chicago. As a renowned transactional attorney who focuses on cross-border transactions and reorganizations, Colin is the newest partner to join Baker McKenzie's global transactional team, which has seen the addition of 20 partners since the start of the year.

Veteran Ventures Capital: $25 Million Raised For Fund II

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Veteran Ventures Capital (VVC) announced the successful first close of its Fund II, reaching $25 million—half of its target raise of $50 million. This milestone was achieved in less than five months and highlights the strong investor confidence in Veteran Ventures' thesis and execution, which focus on investing in dual-use national security technology businesses led by veteran entrepreneurs and leaders.

Viridi: Wayne Garrett Named As Chief Commercial Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Viridi Parente, a leader in developing the first fail-safe battery energy storage system that provides on-demand and affordable power for use in industrial, medical, commercial, municipal, and residential building applications, today announced the expansion of its executive leadership team with the addition of Wayne Garrett as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Sailes: Automating The Prospecting Lifecycle In A $25+ Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2024

Sailes builds personality-driven AI Sailebots to automate the entire prospecting lifecycle for the world's leading sales executives and teams. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sailes’ President, CEO, and Founder Nick Smith to learn more about the company.

Alzheon: $100 Million Closed To Advance Development Of Oral Tablet For Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Alzheon, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of product candidates and diagnostic assays for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders, announced that it has raised $100 million in Series E financing, led by Alerce Medical Technology Partners. And Alzheon previously raised $50 million in Series D funding a couple of years ago.

Vantage Data Centers: $9.2 Billion Equity Investment Completed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses, announced it completed a $9.2 billion equity investment led by investment vehicles managed by DigitalBridge Group, a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure, and Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing.

Amazon To Invest €10 Billion In Germany For Cloud, Logistics, And R&D

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Amazon announced it has planned investments of €10 billion in Germany to drive innovation and support the expansion of its logistics network and cloud infrastructure across the country. And Amazon is also creating 4,000 new jobs this year, at three new fulfilment centers: one in Horn-Bad Meinberg (North Rhine-Westphalia), opening in late summer 2024, one in Erfurt (Thuringia), opened in May 2024, and one in Großenkneten, opened in August 2023.

Content Creator Platform Passes Partners With Texas One Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Passes, a leading content creator platform, announced a partnership with the Texas One Fund, marking the first-ever NIL collective deal on the Passes platform. And this collaboration opens new avenues for college athletes to deepen fan connections through exclusive behind-the-scenes access and compelling day-in-the-life content with Passes exclusive and advanced features like interactive Q&A sessions and DMs.

UNIGRID Battery Closes $12 Million In Funding To Scale Up Production

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

UNIGRID Battery, a San Diego-based company developing advanced sodium-ion batteries, announced a successful closing of an oversubscribed $12 million Series A funding round. The funding was Co-led by Transition VC and Ritz Venture Capital and joined by new investor Union Square Ventures and existing investor Foothill Ventures. The investment will accelerate and scale up UNIGRID's battery production to fulfill MWh-scale customer orders in the electric mobility and stationary storage markets.

Santa Ana Bio: Inflammatory Disease Precision Medicine Company Raises $168 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

Santa Ana Bio, a precision immunology company developing targeted therapies for patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, emerged from stealth with $168 million in combined Series A and B funding. Versant Ventures, founding investor, led the Series A round, which was joined by TPG’s Life Science Innovations fund and GV. GV led the $125 million Series B round, which was participated in by all existing investors and new investors Access Biotechnology, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, and RTW.

FUZE Technology: Mobile Charging Solution Company Secures $11.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2024

FUZE Technology, a pioneering IoT company behind chargeFUZE (a pay-per-use mobile charging solution), announced the closing of the company’s Series A funding round at $11.5 million.