Archives

Learn to Win, a leading provider of personalized, predictive, and secure enterprise training software, announced it has raised an oversubscribed $30 million in Series A funding led by the Westly Group, with follow-on participation from Norwest Venture Partners and Pear VC. This funding round accelerates the company's progress to scale its modern training platform that transforms the way people learn essential information in high stakes environments.

Ship Angel, a transformative AI-native platform for international shippers, announced it has raised $5 million in funding co-led by Glasswing Ventures and newark venture partners (nvp), with participation from Bienville Capital, Socii Capital, and Plug and Play. This funding supports the expansion of Ship Angel's ocean and air freight Rate Management Platform, including the launch of two AI-powered solutions designed to optimize beneficial cargo owners' (BCOs) workflows. These solutions were unveiled at the Plug and Play Silicon Valley June 2024 Summit.

DexCare revealed the addition of three strategic investors: Community Health Network, Tampa General, and Texas Health Resources. These partners join a solid bench of health system investors, including Providence, Kaiser Permanente, and Mass-General Brigham. Backed with industry insiders, DexCare has the capital runway to accelerate market adoption of its care orchestration platform, which enables health systems to serve more patients with the same clinical resources. The additional partners are part of the Series C funding round led by ICONIQ Growth.

Leading generative-AI (Gen AI) software testing platform BlinqIO announced a $5 million funding round, led by Flint Capital and key executives from Silicon Valley. This funding round will assist the first-ever AI test automation engineer in rolling operations across the US and help solve the major lack of test programmers for enterprises globally. BlinqIO is unique for companies and software teams in that test scripts and maintenance are carried out by generative AI without needing any human intervention.

Kirk Bell, Central division director for Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS), announced financial advisor Devona Benavidez, CFP, CDFA to RJFS - which is an independent advisor channel. Benavidez joins the team at ZeroThreeSixty Wealth Partners in Albuquerque, New Mexico, along with branch associates Mackenzie Merony and Jacqueline Martinez.

LPL Financial announced that financial advisor David Hilbig, CFP, has joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, RIA and custodial platforms. He reported serving approximately $275 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets and joined LPL from Corebridge Financial, formerly Valic (a subsidiary of AIG). Hilbig lives in The Woodlands, Texas, area and maintains a registered office in Mundelein, Illinois, he has over 20 years of experience crafting personalized financial strategies tailored to each client's unique needs and aspirations. And he takes a holistic approach to financial planning, encompassing areas such as wealth management, retirement planning, investment advisory, and risk management.

Parquest, an independent French mid-market private equity firm, announced the successful final close of Parquest III, with total limited partner commitments of €414 million. Launched in 2022, the fund was oversubscribed and exceeded its initial target size of €400 million. And Parquest III is 34% larger than its predecessor, Parquest II, which closed at €310 million.

Nada, an investment tech platform that bridges homeowners and investors through home equity, announced the appointment of Tore Steen as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President. Steen - who has been serving on Nada's Board of Directors and will assume his new role, guiding Nada’s mission to revolutionize real estate wealth. Nada has also secured new funding as a seed extension led by repeat investors LiveOak Ventures and 7BC Venture Capital.

Canary Technologies, a global leader in hotel guest management technology, announced that it has closed a $50 million Series C funding round. This round was led by Insight Partners, who also led the company's Series B, with participation from existing investors F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, Y-Combinator, and Commerce Ventures. This brings Canary's total funding to date to nearly $100 million.

Proactive security solution company NetSPI announced the acquisition of Hubble Technology, a Northern Virginia-based cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) and cybersecurity posture management solution. The integration of Hubble's Asset Intelligence and CAASM product, Aurora, into The NetSPI Platform will empower security teams to achieve complete visibility of their rapidly evolving attack surfaces and tackle asset and exposure management challenges.

Stake, a loyalty company for the rental economy, announced the acquisition of rent payments company Circa for $9.5 million in cash and stock. The acquisition creates a first for the rental economy: delivering no-fee rent payments with instant Cash Back for renters. Free payment processing and success-based collections management are now available alongside Stake's loyalty, renter banking services, and incentive optimization services.

Kestra Financial, a leading wealth management platform, announced the onboarding of wealth management firm Lodi Wealth Advisors. Since its founding in Westchester County, New York, Lodi Wealth Advisors has prioritized serving clients and helping them achieve their financial, business, and life goals. The firm features a dedicated advisor duo that works diligently to provide a white-glove experience for its high-net-worth clientele, including the development of bespoke portfolios.

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors Stephen Shevlin and Jonathan Joelner, MBA, have joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, RIA and custodial platforms to launch a new independent practice 1818 Wealth Management. And the team reported having served about $300 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets* and joins LPL from Stifel, Nicolaus and Co.

Green Badger is a leading SaaS provider simplifying sustainability and ESG in the built industry. It is accelerating environmentally responsible construction worldwide by equipping the built industry with affordable technology and the knowledge to automate and easily report LEED compliance and ESG metrics. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Green Badger founder and CEO Tommy Linstroth to learn more about the company.

Wild Common, a leading creator of agave spirits that honors craftsmanship and fosters a shared reverence for the land, announced it had raised $5 million for its Series A funding round from HIPstr (the early-stage investment arm of HighPost Capital).

Radian Arc, an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider specializing in cloud gaming and artificial intelligence (AI), announced the successful closing of its Series B funding round at $9 million. And this funding round was led by BITKRAFT Ventures, a renowned gaming and web3 venture capital firm, with significant participation from industry leaders AMD Ventures, Boston, and Saffelberg.

Building on a history of collaborations like those with the University of Vienna and ELTE Budapest, MultiversX is continuing to invest in educational initiatives by offering underprivileged college students the opportunity to take part in a Blockchain Essentials program with eCornell, the online education unit of Cornell University.

Dentons announced it has welcomed Mark Ricketts as a partner in the Calgary Banking and Finance group. Ricketts brings over a decade of experience in secured financing transactions, with a focus on real estate secured lending, including construction financing, term financing, and CMHC financing for fee simple, leasehold, and sub-leasehold estates. As part of Ricketts' banking and financial services practice, he regularly advises banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions, as well as borrowers, on a broad range of matters.

Scientists from Columbia University in New York showed that the growth rate of pancreatic cancer, measured in patients' blood using CA19-9 as biomarker, determines survival chances and can be used as a quick way to assess treatment effectiveness. And at the end of a treatment cycle, the patient and the treating physician have a clear view of the treatment's effectiveness. ElmediX is demonstrating strong signals of effectiveness of its new hyperthermic treatment in a clinical study for pancreatic cancer patients at the University Hospital Antwerp (UZA in Belgium) based on the CA19-9 platform. This treatment platform influences multiple pathways to treat the tumor.

"StructuralAI" from UmbrellaAI enables transparent applications where users can see and audit how the AI makes its decisions. MBA students at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business learned about UmbrellaAI's Structural AI and developed hypotheses about the most attractive go-to-market opportunities.

Indico Data, a leading solution for the automating of critical intake workflows across the policy lifecycle, announced the closing of a $19 million funding round with a strategic investment from Guidewire, a platform for Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers. This funding and partnership with Guidewire will drive Indico Data's goal of delivering AI technology to enable enterprises to make better decisions with better data, driving improved operational efficiencies and top-line revenue growth.

Zixi, a provider of Software-Defined Video Platforms (SDVP) and the industry leader for enabling reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient live video transport over Internet protocol networks, announced that private equity firm Clearhaven Partners, along with Zixi's executive team, has completed a significant investment in the company to drive it to the next stages of growth.

Entrepreneurial family office and growth equity firm Greater Sum Ventures (GSV) announced the acquisition of Kologik, a leader in responsive, scalable, and user-friendly software for law enforcement agencies.

J.P. Morgan Private Capital (a venture capital and growth equity investment team within J.P. Morgan Asset Management) announced the final closing of the first Life Sciences Private Capital offering, 270 Life Sciences Private Capital Fund I, led by Chief Investment Officer Stephen Squinto, Ph.D. and Managing Partner Gaurav Gupta, M.D., M.S.E.

Rising Team, an industry-leading team performance platform, announced the completion of its Series A funding of $8 million. This funding round was led by Zeal Capital Partners alongside previous investors including Peterson Ventures, Roble Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Burst Capital, and Supernode Ventures. This funding round enables Rising Team to enhance its team performance platform with AI, hire new team members, and expand its market presence.

Wealthspire Advisors (an NFP company and independent investment adviser) announced the addition of industry veteran and portfolio manager Michael J. Santo to the team. Santo, who oversaw portfolios for public company executives, business owners, philanthropic organizations, and multigenerational households in prior roles, joins the firm in both its New York and South Florida markets and brings decades of experience serving high net worth clients.

Aquiline Capital Partners LP, a private investment firm dedicated to financial services and related technologies, announced that it has raised over $3.4 billion of fund capital, following the final close of its fifth private equity fund, Aquiline Financial Services Fund V L.P. (AFS V), and the closing of its continuation fund, Aquiline Financial Services Continuation Fund L.P.

iCOMAT, an innovator in the advanced composite manufacturing space, announced the successful closing of its Series A funding round at $22.5 million. This funding round was led by 8VC, and co-led by NATO Innovation Fund. Other investors joining the round include Syensqo Ventures and existing investors Velocity Partners VC.

Akron, Ohio-based Sequoia Financial Group, a leading SEC-registered wealth manager with over $18 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024, has hired Chris Thom, CFP, as chief strategy and partnerships officer. And Thom is a member of the executive committee while reporting to Tom Haught, CEO and founder of Sequoia Financial Group.

Liminal, a generative AI data security leader, announced that it has raised more than $5 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Fin Capital. Participation came from High Alpha, Matchstick Ventures, Craft Ventures Scout Fund, and veteran regulated industry executives. This new funding expands Liminal's ability to quickly enable customers to deploy and use generative AI (Gen AI).