Archives

Twipes: How This Company Is Bringing A Clean Change To A Dirty Industry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Twipes is a company that is bringing clean change to a dirty industry. The company created the world's first truly flushable and biodegradable wet wipes. These wipes disperse in water within 3 hours and biodegrade in landfill within just 7 days. And they are plastic-free, alcohol-free, and paraben-free - dermatologist-tested to be as safe on skin as they are for the planet. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Twipes COO Ellenor McIntosh to learn more about the company.

Radar Therapeutics: $13.4 Million Closed To Develop Smart Programmable Medicines

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Radar Therapeutics, a biotech company developing smart programmable medicines, announced the completion of an oversubscribed $13.4 million in seed financing led by NfX Bio. Major investors Eli Lilly and Company, Biovision Ventures, and KdT Ventures also joined the round, with participation from PearVC, BEVC and other investors. The financing will support advancement of Radar’s internal programs, team expansion and partnering.

Waste Management To Buy Stericycle For $7.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Waste Management and Stericycle announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which WM will acquire all outstanding shares of Stericycle for $62 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $7.2 billion when including approximately $1.4 billion of Stericycle’s net debt.

CipherStash: How This Company Helps Alleviate The Leading Cause Of Data Breaches

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

CipherStash is a company that lets you apply access control directly to your data with encryption-in-use that works everywhere, from SQL to Spreadsheet. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CipherStash CEO and founder Dan Draper to learn more about the company.

Realta Wealth: John Barragan Named As Chief Operating Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Realta Wealth, an exclusive independent wealth management firm, announced the appointment of John Barragan as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Reporting to CEO Kevin Keefe, Barragan will provide strategic direction and oversight for all operating, service, and technology elements of the firm's offerings for financial advisors and their clients.

Valar Labs: Computational Cancer Therapy AI Company Raises $22 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Valar Labs, the developer of computational histology AI (CHAI) tests for predicting response to cancer therapies, announced $22 million in Series A funding.

StrokeDx: Stroke Technology Company Raises $5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Stroke technology company StrokeDx has secured $5 million in Series Seed Prime funding to develop and commercialize advanced technologies for safe cerebrovascular monitoring.

Waverly Brings In $310 Million Derbend Asset Management Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Waverly Advisors, a federally registered investment adviser (RIA) that specializes in investment management, financial planning and wealth management solutions for a diverse group of high-net-worth individuals, corporate retirement plans and institutional clients, acquired Derbend Asset Management (an investment advisory business based out of Peachtree City, Georgia).

DeepL: Language AI Company Raises $300 Million At $2 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Leading Language AI company DeepL announced $300 million of investment at a $2 billion valuation. Led by Index Ventures, the oversubscribed round attracted strong support from new investors to support DeepL’s long-term vision to transform the way companies communicate around the world. And additional late-stage investors, including ICONIQ Growth, Teachers’ Venture Growth, and others, also participated, along with existing investors IVP, Atomico, and WiL.

Riata Capital Group: RCG Equity Fund II Closed At $285 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Riata Capital Group (RCG), a private equity firm focused on control investments in the lower middle market, announced it has successfully closed RCG Equity Fund II, LP (RCG II) with commitments of $285 million. This fund exceeded the firm’s hard cap.

Carlyle: JPY 430 Billion Raised For Fifth Japanese Buyout Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Global investment firm Carlyle announced the final closing of its fifth Japanese buyout fund, Carlyle Japan Partners V (CJP V). At JPY 430 billion (about $2.8 billion), which includes commitments from the General Partner and its affiliates, CJP V hit the hard cap on Limited Partner commitments. This represents the largest fundraise for a buyout strategy focused on the Japanese market.

LPL Financial Brings In $705 Million Advisory Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors Alain Verhille, CFP, CPFA, and James S. Wood have joined LPL Financial’s high-net-worth-focused employee affiliation model, LPL Private Wealth Management, for launching Auctus Legacy Private Wealth Management. These advisors reported serving approximately $705 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets and joined LPL from Merrill Lynch.

WitnessAI: Secure AI Enablement Platform Raises $27.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

WitnessAI, a creator of an enablement platform for safe AI use, announced a $27.5 million Series A round co-led by GV and Ballistic Ventures. Ballistic Ventures previously incubated the company.

Cover Whale: Insurance Tech Company Raises $27.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Cover Whale Insurance Solutions, a leading insurtech specializing in connected insurance for commercial auto, announced $27.5 million in debt and equity from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital.

Eir Partners: Oversubscribed $496 Million Investment Program II Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Eir Partners Capital, a middle market private equity firm focused on healthcare technology and tech-enabled services, announced the final closing of Eir Partners Investment Program II with $496 million in capital commitments.

Paceline Equity Partners: $780 Million Closed For Opportunity Fund II

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Dallas-based private equity manager Paceline Equity Partners announced the final closing of Paceline Equity Partners Opportunity Fund II with total commitments of $780 million, significantly exceeding the fund’s $500 million target and representing a 125% increase over the size of its predecessor fund. So far, Paceline has raised nearly $1.5 billion in equity commitments between Funds I and II, and affiliated co-investment vehicles.

AltruBio: $225 Million Raised To Develop Novel Therapeutics For Treating Immunological Diseases With Unmet Medical Needs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

AltruBio, a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of immunological diseases with high unmet medical needs, announced an oversubscribed Series B financing of up to $225 million.

Amino Health: Digital Healthcare Navigation Company Raises $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Amino Health, a leading digital healthcare navigation company, announced a $10 million funding round led by Transformation Capital. This funding will be used to accelerate Amino’s AI product roadmap for building personalized patient care journeys. This latest funding round follows Transformation Capital's $30 million investment in May 2023.

Max Retail: $15 Million Secured To Help Brands Sell Excess Inventory

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Max Retail, a marketplace that makes it easier for independent retailers and brands to sell excess inventory, announced a $15 million Series A round led by Nosara Capital with participation from Rethink Impact. This funding round also includes continued support from LA-based VC M13, The Artemis Fund, and StandUp Ventures.

Volt: SMS Infrastructure Platform Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 3, 2024

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Volt, a leading Messaging Operations (Ops) infrastructure platform that enables software companies to integrate with multiple SMS providers and streamline number registration compliance and delivery reporting, announced the closing of its $3 million seed round. Mercury led this funding round, which also included participation from Atento Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Stout Street Capital, and Yellow Rocks. The new funding round will enable Volt to further enhance and accelerate its product development and strategically expand its team.

Bolster: Multi-Channel Phishing Protection Company Raises $14 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

Bolster, a multi-channel phishing protection leader, announced a $14 million Series B financing round led by M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund). And existing investors Thomvest Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Liberty Global Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, Cervin Ventures, and Transform Capital also participated. This brought Bolster’s total funding to over $40 million.

Star Mountain Capital Adds Bryan Johnson As Managing Director Based In Los Angeles

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

Star Mountain Capital, a specialized private credit and secondaries investment firm targeting systematic alpha and low market correlated returns for its global institutional and high-net-worth investors, announced that Bryan Johnson has joined as a Managing Director based in Star Mountain’s Los Angeles office, one of its team’s 20+ locations nationwide.

OncoveryCare Raises $4.5 Million And Partners With Tennessee Oncology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

OncoveryCare (previously known as VivorCare) closed an oversubscribed $4.5 million seed financing to launch its novel cancer survivorship care model. This funding round was led by .406 Ventures alongside the McKay Institute for Oncology Transformation at Tennessee Oncology.

HoundDog.ai: $3.1 Million Raised To Help Organizations Protect Sensitive Data From Exposure

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

HoundDog.ai, a company implementing data security and privacy controls at the code level, announced the completion of a $3.1 million seed funding round led by E14, Mozilla Ventures, ex/ante, and additional angel investors.

Vaxess: $12 Million Raised To Develop Shelf-Stable MIMIX Skin Patch For Vaccines And Therapeutics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 2, 2024

Vaxess Technologies, a life sciences company developing a shelf-stable MIMIX skin patch for vaccines and therapeutics, announced that it has received $12 million in additional funding. Investors included RA Capital Management, Engine Ventures, GHIC, and Mission Bio Capital. This brings Vaxess’s total equity and non-dilutive funding to more than $90 million.

Maxa: $21 Million Raised To Advance Snowflake Native App For ERP Insights Automation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Maxa - the #1 Snowflake Native App for business system and ERP insights automation for the Gen AI era - announced that it closed its Series A funding as part of an oversubscribed $21 million transaction. The funding round was led by FRAMEWORK, with BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund as co-lead. Maxa also welcomed new investors Snowflake Ventures, Amiral Ventures and NAventures, the venture arm of National Bank of Canada, in addition to third-time backers AQC Capital and Graphite Ventures.

Babylon: $70 Million Raised To Build A Bitcoin-Secured Decentralized World

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Babylon, a project that aims to build a Bitcoin-secured decentralized world, today announced the completion of its $70 million funding round. This funding round - led by Paradigm with significant contributions from Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, and other investors - signals momentum in the Bitcoin economy.

Praktika: $32.5 Million Raised To Transform Language Learning With Avatar Tutors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Praktika, a language learning app that utilizes highly personalized AI-powered avatars, announced it secured $32.5 million in Series A funding led by Blossom Capital to disrupt the traditional language learning market after a previously unannounced $2.5 million seed round led by Creator Ventures and Blue Wire Capital. These rounds included participation from prominent figures, including Carles Reina (ElevenLabs) and Patrice Evra (five-time Premier League champion).

Palantir Wins $480 Million Army Contract For Maven AI Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Palantir Technologies announced that the Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) awarded its subsidiary (Palantir USG) a production contract to make licenses of their AI-enabled operating system available across the Department of Defense (DoD). Starting with an initial order of $153 million for supporting certain Combatant Commands and the Joint Staff, more awards could be made up to $480 million over a 5-year period.

Switchboard: Customizable Oracle Network Company Raises $7.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 1, 2024

Switchboard, a customizable oracle network that lets users plug into the on-chain economy, announced it has raised $7.5 million in a Series A round led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX, with participation from Solana Foundation, Aptos Labs, Mysten Labs (Sui), Subzero Ventures, Starkware, Arche Capital, Breed VC, Ascensive Assets, BlockBuilders, and others.