Archives

Direct Digital Holdings: This Rapidly Growing Programmatic Ad Player Generates Over 300 Billion Monthly Impressions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 1, 2024

Direct Digital Holdings owns operating companies Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142, which bring state-of-the-art sales and buy-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Direct Digital Holdings Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman Mark D. Walker to learn more about the company.

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group Offers $30 Billion For Paramount: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Businessman, film and TV producer, and comedian Byron Allen has made a $30 billion offer (including debt) for Paramount Global through his company Allen Media Group. Paramount Global is the parent company of CBS and several cable channels such as Nickelodeon.

Why Fabric Is Buying GYANT

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Fabric (founded in 2021 as Florence) announced its strategic acquisition of GYANT, a conversational AI care assistant and patient engagement suite, enabling health organizations to automate patient navigation and scheduling. And by automating busywork and humanizing care, Fabric could improve multi-channel access and maximize existing clinical capacity across virtual and in-person care.

Indemn: AI-Powered Conversational Insurance Platform Company Raises $1.9 Million

By Annie Baker ● Jan 31, 2024

Indemn (a pioneering insurtech platform) announced it has raised a $1.9 million pre-seed funding round, marking its continued growth in delivering insurance products through natural conversation powered by AI. The funding round was led by Markd, with participation from Afterwork Ventures, Everywhere Ventures, and a group of prominent entrepreneurs and insurance leaders from Australia and the U.S.

Cabot Properties: $1.57 Billion Of Equity Commitments Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Cabot Properties - a leading investor, developer and operator of logistics properties throughout the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific - announced the final closing of Value Fund VII on $1.57 billion of equity commitments. This was above its initial target of $1.5 billion. Fund VII represents Cabot’s largest fund to date, demonstrating the growth of Cabot’s industrial platform and the demand among institutions for access to the sector - which was supported by historically strong fundamentals.

Future Energy Ventures: €110 Million Fund Closed For Sustainable Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

E.ON - the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Future Energy Ventures (FEV) jointly foster smart innovations for the energy transition through a newly established fund. This fund (managed by FEV) already has a volume of €110 million and a target size of €250 million. E.ON and the EIF hold a mid-double-digit million euro stake as anchor investors. These funds invest primarily in start-ups and scale-ups that develop and implement digital solutions to drive the energy transition.

Why HCSC Is Buying Medicare Businesses And CareAllies from Cigna

By Annie Baker ● Jan 31, 2024

HCSC signed a definitive agreement with The Cigna Group to acquire its Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplemental Benefits, Medicare Part D and CareAllies businesses. This acquisition will benefit HCSC's current and future members by enhancing the company's capabilities and reach, particularly in the growing Medicare segment.

Hivello: Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks Company Raises $2.5 Million

By Annie Baker ● Jan 31, 2024

Hivello - a company that is at the cutting edge of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) - announced an upsized funding round, raising an additional $1.5 million and bringing the total raised in the prior four weeks to $2.5 million.

Modern Benefits Company Benepass Raises $20 Million

By Noah Long ● Jan 31, 2024

Benepass - a flexible benefits platform for people-first companies - announced that the company has raised $20 million in additional funding led by Portage and Clocktower Technology Ventures. Workday Ventures and existing investors Threshold Ventures and Gradient Ventures also joined the funding round. And in connection with the funding, Stephanie Choo, Partner at Portage has joined the Benepass Board of Directors.

Kriya: £50 Million Financing Facility Raised With Viola Credit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Kriya - a B2B payments fintech company - announced that it has secured a new £50 million debt facility from a long-standing debt partner Viola Credit. This will enable the fintech to power over £1 billion of B2B Payments over the next two years.

Fora: Executive Relationship Management Company Secures $3.8 Million

By Annie Baker ● Jan 31, 2024

Fora - an innovative executive relationship management (ERM) platform that is poised to transform C-suite decision-making through cutting-edge AI technology - announced it has emerged from stealth to pioneer an AI-driven approach to leadership and is backed by $3.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Converge.

LoanStar Technologies: Embedded Lending Company Raises $28 Million

By Annie Baker ● Jan 31, 2024

LoanStar Technologies - a leading financial technology company focused on embedded lending - announced it agreed to raise approximately $28 million of growth equity from a group of strategic investors, including approximately $20 million from Sageview Capital and the remainder from a mix of existing and new partners including, Launch Credit Union (via their wholly owned CUSO Holding Company), TruMark Financial Credit Union, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Monarch Strategic Advisors.

DUPR: Pickleball Rating Company Raises $8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating), which is pickleball's most accurate international rating system, has announced a new board, ownership, and investors, and an influx of $8 million in funding to further advance its mission to unify the fast-growing sport with innovative technology and a dynamic global rating.

AVLA: $25 Million Raised To Accelerate International Growth Strategy

By Noah Long ● Jan 31, 2024

AVLA (a global insurance group) and Creation Investments Capital Management (a leading global impact investor in emerging markets) announced Creation's participation in a $25 million equity round to support further AVLA's international growth strategy and its plans to enter the U.S. market.

Cisco: An Interview With Chief Marketing And Customer Officer Aruna Ravichandran

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Aruna Ravichandran is an SVP and Chief Marketing and Customer Officer at Cisco, where she leverages modern B2B marketing tools and strategies to deliver quantifiable outcomes and drive global consistency while fostering innovation and collaboration. At Cisco, Ravichandran led the biggest rebrand in Webex's 25-year history centered around inclusivity and repositioned it from a legacy meetings product to a leader in collaboration. Ravichandran built and ran the Webex annual conference called WebexOne, which resulted in over 76K global registrants and over 5.2 million keynote views in 2022. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Ravichandran to learn more about her role at the company.

Travel + Leisure Buying Accor Vacation Club In $48.4 Million Deal

By Noah Long ● Jan 31, 2024

Travel + Leisure Co. - the world’s leading membership and leisure travel company - announced an agreement to acquire the vacation ownership business of global hospitality giant Accor for $48.4 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024 and to be immediately accretive to Travel + Leisure Co. earnings upon completion.

Databricks Hires The Team At Einblick

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Databricks announced that it has welcome the Einblick team to the company. Einblick was founded by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University, whose research explored the boundary of machine learning, human-computer interaction, and NLP. The Einblick team spent the last four years building an AI-native collaboration platform that helps users solve data problems with just one sentence.

Aim Security: $10 Million Raised To Offer Enterprises A GenAI Security Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Aim Security - an Israel-based cybersecurity startup offering enterprises a holistic one-stop shop GenAI security platform - announced $10 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by YL Ventures, with participation from CCL (Cyber Club London), the founders of WIZ, and angel investors from Google, Proofpoint, and Palo Alto Networks. Aim Security was founded by cybersecurity veterans Matan Getz, CEO, and Adir Gruss, CTO - who pioneered using and adopting AI and big data tools in the IDF’s elite intelligence Unit 8200.

Why Cardinal Health Is Buying Specialty Networks For $1.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Cardinal Health announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Specialty Networks, a technology-enabled multi-specialty group purchasing and practice enhancement organization, for $1.2 billion in cash. And Specialty Networks creates clinical and economic value for independent specialty providers and partners across multiple specialty GPOs: UroGPO, Gastrologix and GastroGPO, and United Rheumatology.

Incognia: Location Identity Solutions Company Raises $31 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Incognita - an innovator in location identity solutions - announced today that it closed $31 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from FJ Labs and existing investors, including Point72 Ventures, Prosus, and Valor Capital.

Addimmune: This Company Is Laser-Focused On Ending The HIV Epidemic

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 31, 2024

Addimmune is a company that is changing the way that HIV is treated. With the company’s pioneering gene therapy approach, Addimmune believes HIV will no longer be a life-long sentence – but a curable illness. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Addimmune CEO Jeff Galvin to learn more about the company.

HDM Solar: Renewable Energy Product Wholesaler Raises £10.2 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Jan 30, 2024

HDM Solar - one of the UK's fastest-growing wholesalers of renewable energy products - announced a major £10.2 million funding boost led by a multi-million-pound equity investment from Angel Invest in Berlin and supported by UK-based DF Capital.

Haven Energy: Climate Tech Company Raises $7 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 30, 2024

Haven Energy - a climate tech company that is accelerating the adoption of home battery systems - announced a total of $7 million in Series A funding. The funding round includes returning investors Lerer Hippeau, Giant Ventures, and Raven One Ventures, and new participation from Comcast Ventures, LifeX, TO VC and Habitat Partners.

Boston Micro Fabrication: 30% YoY Growth And Series D Funding Round

By Annie Baker ● Jan 30, 2024

Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) - a leader in advanced manufacturing solutions for ultra-high precision applications - recently closed a landmark year where the company experienced 30% sales growth.

Generation Lab Raises Funding And Emerges From Stealth Mode

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 30, 2024

Generation Lab - a company that is extending the human healthspan with the first test based on biomedical evidence that measures an individual’s biological age progression - has officially launched today out of stealth. And the company is announcing its pre-seed funding and the opening of its test kit waitlist.

Inari: $103 Million Raised To Transform The Food System Through Positive Change

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 30, 2024

Inari announced the completion of a $103 million fundraise, bringing its cumulative equity raised to more than $575 million. The successful funding round signals confidence in Inari's ability to develop and commercialize higher-yielding seeds that require fewer resources, using AI-powered predictive design and multiplex gene editing.

Inoviv: Funding Raised To Expand Quantitative Proteomics Product Offerings

By Annie Baker ● Jan 30, 2024

Biomarker company Inoviv announced it has secured significant funding from venture capital firm Hoxton Ventures and leading investment manager Foresight Group to expand the delivery of highly accurate, fully quantitative targeted biomarker workflows and panels.

Enterprise Therapeutics: £26 Million Series B Follow-On Financing Raised

By Noah Long ● Jan 30, 2024

Enterprise Therapeutics - a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies to improve the lives of patients suffering from respiratory disease - announced that it has closed a £26 million ($33.1 million USD) Series B follow-on financing round, led by Panakes Partners. And existing investors Versant Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Forbion, Epidarex Capital and IP Group also participated.

Kore.ai: Enterprise Conversational AI Company Raises $150 Million Strategic Growth Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 30, 2024

Kore.ai - a leader in enterprise conversational and generative AI platform technology - announced $150 million in funding. This strategic investment was led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor with a successful track record of over 25 years investing across enterprise technology and with participation from NVIDIA and existing investors such as Vistara Growth, Sweetwater PE, NextEquity, Nicola, and Beedie.

DirectBooks Raises Strategic Funding From Mizuho Americas

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 30, 2024

Mizuho Americas announced a strategic investment in DirectBooks, a leading primary markets communications platform. Through this funding, Mizuho will join the board of directors and work directly with other top-tier investment banks to enhance capital markets globally.