Archives

Montana Technologies Raises Funding From Rice Investment Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Montana Technologies announced that Rice Investment Group has committed to invest $10 million in Montana as part of a private capital consortium led by Carrier Ventures. And following the closing of its business combination with Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition II Corp (XPDB, XPDBU, XPDBW on NASDAQ) expected in March, Montana will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "AIRJ".

AZmed: €15 Million Closed To Reshape The Future Of Medical Imaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

AZmed - a leading European MedTech startup, has secured €15 million in Series A funding. The operation includes investors such as Maison Worms, Techstars, and Teampact Ventures. The investment supports AZmed's overarching objective of shaping the future of medical imaging with artificial intelligence by accelerating the workflows of radiologists.

NIH Granting $2.3 Million To Address Unmet Need For Continuous BP For Diagnosing HDP And Early Detection Of Preeclampsia

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Dynocardia - developer of ViTrack, the first-of-its-kind non-invasive, wearable blood pressure (BP) and heart monitor - and NYC Health + Hospitals (the nation's largest safety net health system), are partnering on a study of hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (HDP). This study will include at least 150 women who are pregnant or have recently given birth.

Kinzie Capital Partners Announces Acquisition Of Arctic Industries

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Kinzie Capital Partners LP (a Chicago-based private equity firm) announced the acquisition of Arctic Industries, a national manufacturer and distributor of temperature control and cold storage solutions. The deal, completed in partnership with Arctic’s management, marks an exciting new chapter for the company as it sets the stage for further market expansion throughout the country.

MPOWER Financing Names Jatin Rajput As Chief Financial Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

MPOWER Financing (a mission-driven fintech firm and the leading provider of non-cosigned loans to promising students from around the world) announced the appointment of Jatin Rajput as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Rajput will step down from MPOWER's board and will be replaced by MPOWER's previous CFO Rob Partlow, who is retiring from full-time work and will join MPOWER's Board of Directors.

First Reserve Names Todd Tomlin As Managing Director And Co-Head of Capital Formation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

First Reserve (a leading global private equity investment firm exclusively focused on investing across diversified energy, utility, and general industrial end-markets) announced that Todd Tomlin has joined the firm as Managing Director. And he will serve as Co-Head of Capital Formation alongside Ed Bialas, Managing Director and Co-Head of Capital Formation.

Coalesce Capital Names Jonathan Gurss As Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Coalesce Capital (a private equity firm investing in human capital-driven and technology-enabled services companies) announced the appointment of Jonathan Gurss as a Partner to strengthen its senior investment leadership.

S.i. Systems Buying HVN Solutions: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

S.i. Systems ULC (Canada's largest IT staffing company) announced that it has acquired HVN Solutions (a distinguished IT consulting firm based in Canada). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CenterPoint Energy To Sell Louisiana And Mississippi Natural Gas Assets To Bernhard Capital Partners For $1.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

CenterPoint Energy announced the sale of its Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas LDC businesses to Bernhard Capital Partners, a services and infrastructure-focused private equity management firm, for $1.2 billion. The assets include about 12,000 miles of main pipeline in Louisiana and Mississippi, serving about 380,000 metered customers. And CenterPoint’s LDCs are the second largest natural gas LDCs in both Louisiana and Mississippi by customer accounts, with a combined workforce of approximately 550 employees.

Pagaya Closes $400 Million Consumer Loan Asset-Backed Securitization

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Pagaya Technologies - a global technology company delivering AI-driven product solutions for the financial ecosystem - announced the closing of PAID 2024-2, its 49th asset-backed securitization (ABS) and its second in 2024. Kroll Bond Rating Agency rated the deal.

Dynasty Financial Partners: Tim Oden Named As Executive-In-Residence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Dynasty Financial Partners (a leading wealth management platform for independent firms) announced that industry veteran Tim Oden has joined as an Executive-in-Residence for 2024. Dynasty is one of the top liberators in the industry, helping advisors gain their independence while supporting them in building better businesses and caring for their clients. Currently, 52 firms representing 330 advisors comprise the Dynasty network, and the firm maintains over $88 billion on its core technology platform (As of December 2023).

Divcon Controls Raises Funding From Goldman Sachs Alternatives

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Divcon Controls (a systems integrator delivering facility management automation and monitoring solutions primarily to the mission-critical data center market) announced a new investment from the Sustainable Investing at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. This investment will recapitalize the company and position Divcon to expand market share in mission-critical data centers as well as invest in new product offerings.

Code Ninjas Reveals New Executive Leadership Team And Moves HQ To Atlanta

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Code Ninjas (a renowned name in children's coding education) has officially revealed its new executive leadership team at the brand's helm as it moves to Atlanta from Houston for its new headquarters.

Keystone Capital: Oversubscribed Fund III Closed At $630 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Keystone Capital Management, LP (a lower middle market alternative investment manager) has announced the one and final closing of Keystone Fund III at its hard cap of $630 million in capital commitments. And Fund III was oversubscribed with fundraising completed in four months. Keystone professionals continue to represent the largest single investor in the Fund.

Teedup Acquiring 55 Industries With Support From Leonid Capital Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Leonid Capital Partners (a leading private credit firm focused on the US Government sector) announced a strategic $7 million financing to support private equity firm Teedup in their acquisition of 55 Industries, an inspections services company serving the Aerospace and Defense industries as a Prime contractor. And this customized loan agreement, structured around 55 Industries’ robust government contract pipeline and backlog, exemplifies Leonid’s innovative approach to empowering strategic acquisitions within underserved and nationally critical sectors.

Hill Dickinson Hires James Harmer For London-Based Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Law firm Hill Dickinson announced the hire of James Harmer, who joins the London team as a corporate partner specializing in debt capital market transactions. Harmer joins Hill Dickinson’s Business Services Group, and his practice bolsters Hill Dickinson’s existing corporate finance, banking, and financial law services in the City, where he will cover both private placements of debt and issuances in the public markets.

Why Apollo Intelligence Is Buying GlocalMind

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Apollo Intelligence (a leading provider of real-time data and insights to the healthcare and life science industries) announced it has acquired GlocalMind (a global technology-driven healthcare market research services and panel company). Launched in 2010, with teams in the US, Europe, and India, GlocalMind provides access to healthcare professionals (HCPs) and key opinion leaders (KOLs) in Europe and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions, featuring a research operating center of excellence in India.

Liquid Agency Buying Branding Agency MindHandle

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Liquid Agency - a brand consulting and activation company based in San Jose, California - announced it acquired Dallas-based employment branding agency MindHandle. This move builds on Liquid Agency's recent momentum in optimizing and aligning employee, customer and brand experience (Ex, Cx and Bx) among their service offerings. Liquid Agency’s current and former client experience includes Walmart, Nasdaq, Google, UGG, Nike, Nordstrom, Microsoft, GE, Silicon Valley Bank, John Deere and Ernest Packaging Solutions.

Why Archer Is Buying Compliance.ai

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Archer - an enterprise leader in providing a fully integrated risk management solution - announced the acquisition of Compliance.ai, a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven regulatory change management solutions. This acquisition enables Archer clients to supplement their compliance initiatives with cutting-edge AI technology to automate monitoring, tracking, reporting, and responding to continually changing regulations in real-time.

Wipro Investing In Insurance Consulting Company Aggne

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Wipro Limited (a leading technology services and consulting company) has invested significantly in Aggne (a leading consulting and managed services company serving insurance and Insurtech industries). Through this investment, Wipro becomes a majority shareholder in Aggne, which brings to Wipro a highly sought-after and unique set of capabilities and Intellectual Property (IP) in the property & casualty (P&C) insurance space. And the combined capabilities of Wipro and Aggne will help deliver enhanced value, faster speed-to-market, and differentiated services to clients in the P&C sector.

1Password Buying Kolide: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

1Password (a provider of the most-used enterprise password manager) announced the acquisition of Kolide (a leader in device health and contextual access management, enabling businesses to meet the rising security challenges of the modern workforce that now works from anywhere and on any device).

Universal Music Group Acquires Minority Stake In Chord Music Partners For $240 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Universal Music Group (UMG) - a leader in music-based entertainment and Dundee Partners (the investment office of the Hendel family) announced that UMG will acquire a 25.8% interest in Chord Music Partners (Chord) for US$240 million (approximately €223 million when converted into € at the current EUR/USD rate at the time) in a deal that values Chord at US$1.85 billion.

Cintas Acquires Uniform Supplier Program Company SITEX: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Cintas Corporation announced it has acquired SITEX, a Kentucky-based, family-owned supplier of uniform and facility service programs. SITEX was launched by the Sights family in Henderson, Kentucky in 1961.

Truist Selling Remaining Stake In Insurance Holdings At $15.5 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Truist Financial Corporation announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its remaining stake in Truist Insurance Holdings (TIH), a subsidiary of Truist and the fifth largest insurance brokerage in the United States, to an investor group led by private equity firms Stone Point Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). Mubadala Investment Company and other co-investors are also participating in the investment.

Reprieve Cardiovascular: $42 Million Raised To Build Automated Diuretic And Fluid Management Approach For ADHF Treatment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Reprieve Cardiovascular - a development stage company focused on pioneering an intelligent automated diuretic and fluid management approach for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) treatment - announced it has raised a total of $42 million in series A financing. This total funding round was co-led by Lightstone Ventures and Sante Ventures and joined by Deerfield Management, Genesis Capital, and Arboretum Ventures. And the funding will advance the company’s clinical and development programs, including the ongoing FASTR trial and its upcoming pivotal trial.

WovenEarth Ventures: $152 Million First Fund Closed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

WovenEarth Ventures has held the final close of its first fund WovenEarth Fund I at $152 million on January 31st, hitting its hard cap. And WovenEarth's goal is to seek attractive, risk-adjusted returns while moving compelled capital into US early-stage climate tech venture, providing highly diversified exposure to the sector via a focused, carefully crafted fund of funds with differentiated access.

Helika: Web3 Data Analytics And Infrastructure Provider Secures $8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Helika - a leading data analytics & infrastructure provider for traditional and web3 gaming - announced the completion of its $8 million Series A funding round. Pantera Capital led the funding round with participation from Sparkle Ventures, Diagram Ventures, and Sfermion. Key executives with a traditional studio background, including Scopely and SciPlay, have participated in the round, including Spencer Tucker, Damon Gura, and Marc Alloul.

SigScalr: Unified Observability SaaS Solution Company Closes $1.76 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

SigScalr (a unified observability SaaS solution that is purpose-built to process large volumes of observability data) announced it has emerged from stealth and closed a $1.76 million pre-seed round to help address the rampant cost inflation in enterprise application observability. Scribble Ventures led the funding round with co-investments from WestWave Capital and Forward Slash Capital.

Bioptimus: $35 Million Raised To build Universal AI Foundation Model In Biology To Drive Advancements In Scientific Research

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Bioptimus has emerged from stealth following a seed funding round of $35 million. Under the leadership of Professor Jean-Philippe Vert, PhD, Bioptimus combines a world-class team of scientists from Owkin and Google DeepMind alumni to transform biology with cutting-edge AI foundation model technologies that capture the various scales of biology.

Photoroom: This AI Photo Editor Creates Studio-Quality Images To Help Sellers Build Brands

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Photoroom is an AI photo editor that helps break down the creative barriers to doing business. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Photoroom CEO and co-founder Matthieu Rouif to learn more about the company.