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Shinkei – a company pioneering a commercial fish processing technology - announced $6 million in new seed funding to launch its modern system that merges machine learning, robotics, and centuries-old fish harvesting techniques. This funding round was led by Cantos, with additional participation by 8VC, Impatient Ventures, Susa/Humba Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, Ravelin Capital, Red & Blue Ventures, Undeterred Capital, and others joining existing investors.

Focus Financial Partners, a leading partnership of fiduciary wealth management and related financial services firms, announced that Michael Nathanson (President of Focus) has been appointed the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective immediately. Dan Glaser, Chairman of Focus’ Board of Directors and Operating Partner at Focus’ majority investment partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) - who had been serving as Interim CEO - has been named Executive Chairman.

Heartwood Partners, a middle-market private equity firm founded in 1982, announced the promotions of Demetrios Dounis, James Sidwa, and Edwin (Ed) Tan to Managing Partners. They will continue to serve on Heartwood's Management Committee alongside Rob Tucker and Mark Allsteadt.

Deloitte announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Gryphon Scientific, a leader in biosafety, biosecurity, and all-hazards preparedness and response, with experience in using artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance security and safety.

British law firm Clifford Chance has announced it has promoted 29 lawyers to partnership. These new partners highlight the strength and diversity of top talent available to clients across international markets, products, and sectors aligned with the firm's global growth strategy.

Global law firm Goodwin announced that Ian Keefe and George Weavil will join the firm’s Private Equity practice as partners for the London office. Keefe focuses on pan-European and international private equity and M&A transactions. And his clients include corporations, institutional investors, alternative asset managers, founders, senior management teams, and portfolio companies.

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors Chris Mukoda, Brad Travis, Jr., CFP, and David Crouse joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, RIA, and custodial platforms by aligning with Momentum Wealth Partners, an existing firm supporting LPL-affiliated advisors. They reported serving about $415 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets and joined LPL from PNC Investments.

4P-Pharma, a Lille-based clinical-stage startup studio focused on developing curative therapies for untreated serious diseases, announced that it has successfully secured €15 million in its second closing with participation from private investors.

Global investment bank Houlihan Lokey announced that Ryan Lund has joined the firm’s global Technology Group as a Managing Director. Lund is based in Miami and has been appointed Co-Head of U.S. Technology alongside John Lambros and Jason Hill and Global Co-Head of Software with Sascha Pfeiffer. 

Shoreline Equity Partners, a lower-middle market private equity firm, has partnered with Prime Meats. Based in Duluth, Georgia, Prime Meats is a leading value-added protein processor and distributor offering beef, poultry, pork, dairy, seafood, and specialty products to independent restaurants, grocery stores, and butcher shops. The company focuses on Hispanic and traditional markets across 15 states.

Swap, an e-commerce operating system that manages all operations for direct-to-consumer brands, announced a $9 million Series A led by QED Investors, with participation from Cherry Ventures, 9900 Capital, 2100 Ventures, and Ed Hallen (Co-Founder of Klaviyo).

Piva Capital is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing in disruptive energy and industrial companies across North America and Europe. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Piva Capital investors Claire Yun and Jillian Noel to learn more about the firm.

NextEnergy Capital (NEC), a leading global renewables manager specializing in the solar+ infrastructure sector, announced the conclusion of its second close of $265 million for its fifth strategy, NextPower V ESG (NPV ESG). NPV ESG is an OECD-focused solar and battery storage strategy targeting $1.5 billion with a $2 billion hard cap that has secured $745 million in total commitments so far.

Deduce is a company that mitigates SuperSynthetic identities, which are AI-generated identities that can pass automated fraud controls, manual reviews, and other identity verification. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Deduce Vice President of Marketing Andy Sheldon to learn more about the company.

Amplifier Security announced it emerged from stealth to bridge the divide between the workforce and security with AI copilot and human-in-the-loop automation. The company also raised $3.3 million to address the last-mile security challenge with a self-healing approach that transforms how employees interact with corporate security tools. Cota Capital led this pre-seed funding round with participation from WestWave Capital and Shift Left Ventures. It also included angel investments from renowned entrepreneurs and executives.

Littlejohn Capital, a lower middle market investor and the family office of Angus C. Littlejohn Jr., announced the promotion of Carl R. Schlotman IV to Principal. Schlotman joined Littlejohn Capital in 2018 as a Senior Associate and was named Vice President in 2021.

Nagomi Security (formerly known as Vena Security), a leader in proactive security and threat exposure management, emerged from stealth with $30 million in funding to fundamentally redefine how security teams optimize effectiveness and drive efficiency from their existing security tools. The company operated in stealth mode with a seed funding round from Team8 and the recent round was led by TCV, with participation from CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and Okta Ventures. Nagomi is also backed by leading angel investors, including Shlomo Kramer (founder of Check Point, Imperva, and Cato Networks), Nir Polak (founder of Exabeam), Guy Podjarny (founder of Snyk), and Galina Antova (founder of Claroty). This funding round will accelerate go-to-market and R&D efforts to meet the increasing global demand for proactive security and threat exposure management.

FinQuery (formerly LeaseQuery), a provider of AI-powered solutions built to efficiently manage companies’ largest areas of spending, announced a $25 million minority investment led by Periphas Capital and supported by Lavelle Capital. This funding will accelerate product innovation and support strategic M&A.

Godspeed Capital Management LP, a lower middle-market Defense and government services, solutions, and technology-focused private equity firm, announced the acquisition of Willbrook Solutions by SAS, its recently launched space engineering, defense, and communications technology solutions platform. The deal marks the first addition to the growing SAS platform, expanding its capabilities in the missile defense industry.

Edmunds GovTech (EGT), a leading provider of ERP software solutions to local government, announced a significant growth investment from TA Associates (a leading global private equity firm). LLR Partners, which originally partnered with EGT in 2018, will continue to invest in the company.

Medline announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ecolab's global surgical solutions business, including the Microtek product lines. Once the deal is closed, the acquisition will provide Medline with innovative sterile drape solutions for surgeons, patients, operating room equipment, and Ecolab’s fluid temperature management system.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing important new medicines to improve the lives of people with cancer) announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with ONO Pharmaceutical. ONO will acquire all outstanding shares of Deciphera common stock for $25.60 per share in cash through a tender offer followed by a merger of Deciphera with a wholly-owned subsidiary of ONO for a total equity value of $2.4 billion. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the deal.

Mayfair Equity Partners, a technology and consumer investor with over £2 billion in assets under management, announced three promotions, including the appointment of two new Partners and the creation of a new senior data role focused on scaling the firm’s capabilities. This role will report directly to Daniel Sasaki, Mayfair’s Managing Partner.

EZOPS harnesses Machine Learning (ML) and Intelligent Process Automation to transform data control and drive transformative efficiency gains at some of the world's largest financial services institutions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed EZOPS founder and CEO Sarva Srinivasan to learn more about the company. 

Owlstone Medical, a global leader in Breath Biopsy for early disease detection and precision medicine applications, has secured funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This funding round comprises a $5 million equity investment to advance Owlstone’s Breath Biopsy platform and $1.5 million in grant funding to develop breath-based diagnostics and identify breath biomarkers for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV.

Nebu-Flow announced it had raised an additional $5.9 million of investment to accelerate the next generation of inhaled drugs for patients with respiratory disorders, which are the main cause of death and disability worldwide. The company’s nebulizer platform has been developed to provide several advantages over existing technologies. Overall, the worldwide inhalable drug market was valued at about $33 billion in 2023, with the nebulizer market at over $1 billion.

Agilitas Energy, the largest integrated developer, builder, owner, and operator of distributed energy storage and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the northeastern U.S., announced the closing of $100 million in debt financing to fund its growth and continued national expansion.

Thintronics is a California-based electronic materials startup that supplies high-performance insulators for emerging AI data centers, networking, and RF/millimeter-wave (mmW) applications. It raised a $23 million Series A funding round, led by Maverick Capital and Translink Capital. The funding will support the commercialization of a novel insulator platform.

Dropzone AI, a developer of AI security analysts for security operations teams, announced it has raised $16.85 million in Series A funding. Theory Ventures led the funding round, adding to the company's cohort of existing investors Decibel Partners, Pioneer Square Ventures, and In-Q-Tel (IQT). Carta CISO Garrett Held, Head of Security at Postman Joshua Scott, and Integreon President and Head of Cyber Solutions Anshu Gupta participated in the Series A round. Theory Ventures founder Tomasz Tunguz will also join the board in connection with the investment. Dropzone will use this new funding round to continue scaling its GTM motion and its engineering team.