Archives

UpLift Acquires Therapy-Assisted Mental Health Solution TAO Connect

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

UpLift is a behavioral health company that delivers in-network therapy and psychiatry that has acquired TAO Connect, a therapy-assisted mental health solution with digital tools and resources built for higher education institutions. Through the acquisition of TAO Connect, UpLift now offers services to over 170 enterprise customers nationwide and across Canada, covering over 4 million people, including over two million students at over 120 higher ed institutions in the U.S.

3M Names Bill Brown As New CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

3M announced that William M. "Bill" Brown is appointed chief executive officer, effective May 1, 2024. Brown succeeds Michael Roman, who is being appointed to the role of Executive Chairman of the 3M Board of Directors, also effective May 1, 2024.

Blue Wolf Capital: David Hecht Named As Operating Partner

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Blue Wolf Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm specializing in the industrial and healthcare sectors, announced that David Hecht will join the firm as an operating partner. At the firm, Hecht will specialize in healthcare investments.

Houlihan Lokey: Brent Shepherd Named As Managing Director Of Capital Markets Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Global investment bank Houlihan Lokey announced that Brent Shepherd has joined the firm as a Managing Director in its Capital Markets Group. Based out of Chicago, Shepherd will co-lead the firm’s Healthcare Capital Markets efforts along with Managing Director Neha Shah.

Jamie Schwartz Named As Investment Team Director At Encore Consumer Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Encore Consumer Capital announced that Jamie Schwartz rejoined the investment team as a Director after working at the firm as an Associate in 2016. Schwartz will be responsible for deal origination and execution as well as portfolio company oversight.

DBOS: Cloud-Native Operating System Company Raises $8.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Cloud-native operating system company DBOS announced that it has raised $8.5 million in seed funding and released its first product offering. Engine Ventures and Construct Capital led the funding round. And Sinewave and GutBrain Ventures also joined the round.

Grupago: $4.3 Million Raised To Expand Digital Microcredit Offerings For SMBs In Latin America

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Grupago - a fintech company that is pioneering digital microcredit for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Latin America - announced that it had secured $4.3 million in seed funding. Deciens Capital led this funding round, and Precursor Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Twine Ventures, and other venture funds joined them. They were also joined by several super-angels across the US and Mexico, including Zac Bookman (CEO of OpenGov), Oso Trava (Cracks Fund), Pepe Shabot (CEO of ION Mexico) and Paul Sawaya (co-founder of Human Interest).

Siolta Therapeutics: $12 Million Raised To Develop Defined-Consortia Live Biotherapeutic Products

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Clinical-stage biotech company Siolta Therapeutics announced the completion of a $12 million Series C funding round. SymBiosis and Khosla Ventures co-led the round, which included all existing investors.

Arcosa Buying Ameron Pole Products From NOV In $180 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Arcosa - an infrastructure-related products and solutions provider - announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Ameron Pole Products from NOV for $180 million in cash.

Alcoa Finalizes All-Stock Deal To Buy Alumina Limited For $2.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Alcoa announced it is buying Australia-based Alumina Limited in an all-stock $2.2 billion deal. This deal will make Alcoa one of the largest producers of alumina and bauxite.

LactaLogics: Human Milk-Based Nutrition Company Raises Over $92 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

LactaLogics, a human milk-based nutrition pioneer, announced the successful closing of over $92 million in funding. This milestone enables the company to complete a state-of-the-art facility for producing human milk-based fortifiers and standardized donor milk.

Neuron7.ai: Strategic Investment Raised From ServiceNow Ventures

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Neuron7 - a leader in AI for service resolution intelligence—announced that partner ServiceNow has made a strategic investment in the company through its venture capital arm, ServiceNow Ventures. Neuron7 also released Resolution Intelligence on the ServiceNow Store, thus bringing value to joint customers across ITSM, CSM, and FSM workflows.

Bluwhale: $7 Million Raised To Bring AI To Blockchain

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Bluwhale is an AI-based Web3 startup that announced a $7 million seed funding round led by SBI (including Ven Capital and the SBI Decima Fund) with participation from Cardano, Momentum6, Primal Capital, NxGen, Ghaf Capital Partners, Spyre Capital, Baselayer Capital, Haseeb Qureshi (Managing Partner at Dragonfly), Charles Huang (Guitar Hero creator), Jack McCauley (Oculus founder), and the collaborative funds of Animoca (Japan), Gumi, MZ Crypto, and Sygnum Bank and Azimut Investment Management.

Serenity Kids: Shelf-Stable Baby Food Brand Company Secures $52 Million Series B

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Serenity Kids - a leading shelf-stable pouched baby food brand - announced it had closed a $52 million minority investment and partnership with Stride Consumer Partners. The growth capital from Stride will drive investment within several areas of Serenity Kids' business, especially marketing, talent, and innovation. And the funding and strategic partnership with Stride will support Serenity Kids' goal to improve the well-being of all children.

Liquid Death: Beverage Company Valued At $1.4 Billion With New Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Healthy non-alcoholic beverage company Liquid Death announced it had closed $67 million in funding from strategic partners and new investors at a $1.4 billion valuation. The distributor investors include the number 1 distributors in North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, and Washington and top distributors in several other key markets. The new institutional investors include SuRo Capital and follow-on investors Live Nation, Science, Inc., and Gray’s Creek Capital Partners. Other notable investors in the round include actor Josh Brolin, DeAndre Hopkins, Neal Brennan, Derrick Green, and Jim Jefferies.

Eclipse Labs: $50 Million Series A Secured To Develop Ethereum Layer-2 With SVM

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

EclipseLabs—a company contributing to developing the first Ethereum layer-2 with the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM)—announced it has raised $50 million in Series A funding co-led by Placeholder and Hack VC, bringing its total capital to $65 million. Additional participants in the round include Polychain Capital, Delphi Digital, Maven 11, DBA, Apollo-managed funds, and Fenbushi Capital.

Tierra Biosciences: $11.4 Million Raised To Advance Cell-Free Protein Production Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Tierra Biosciences, a company that has built a platform for predictive AI-guided cell-free technology offering high-throughput on-demand custom protein synthesis, announced today that it closed an $11.4 million Series A funding round. Material Impact led this funding round with participation from new/existing investors like Prosus Ventures, In-Q-Tel (IQT), Hillspire, Freeflow Ventures, Creative Ventures, and Social Capital.

Vouch: Business Insurance Company Raises $25 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Vouch - a leading business insurance provider - announced the closing of a $25 million Series C-1 funding round led by Ribbit Capital. This insider-led round was oversubscribed and followed a year of strong business performance, including 66% year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth and favorable loss ratio outcomes. This momentum is supported by an annual premium retention rate of over 120% and improving margins across the business.

Blockus: Web3 Gaming Ecosystem Company Raises $4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Blockus - a company that is at the intersection of blockchain technology and gaming - announced it raised $4 million in pre-seed funding. The pre-seed funding round was led by Maple VC and it included Altos Ventures and renowned angel investors like Zhuoxun Yin from Magic Eden, Michael Ma from CreatorDAO, and Bryan Pelligrino from LayerZero.

Google Cloud Launches Gen AI Advancements For Healthcare And Life Science Companies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

At the HIMSS24 event, Google Cloud announced several new solutions to help healthcare and life sciences organizations enable interoperability, build better data foundations for businesses, and deploy generative AI (gen AI) tools for improving patient outcomes.

Applied Intuition: Vehicle Software Supplier Raises $250 Million At $6 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Applied Intuition - a vehicle software supplier for the automotive, trucking, construction, mining, agriculture, and other industries - announced it raised a $250 million Series E funding round at a $6 billion valuation. This funding round was led by Bilal Zuberi at Lux Capital (Series C lead investor), Elad Gil (Series D lead investor), and strategic investor Porsche Investments Management. Applied Intuition also revealed these new and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz (Series A lead investor), General Catalyst (Series B lead investor), Mary Meeker at BOND, Human Capital, Henry Kravis, Mustafa Suleyman, Ray Dalio, John Quinn, and Nico Rosberg.

KKR Taking mdf commerce Private In C$255 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Digital commerce technology company mdf commerce announced it has entered into an arrangement agreement to be acquired by funds managed by KKR in an all-cash transaction. Upon completion of the deal, mdf commerce will become a privately held company.

Prudence: $80 Million Fund III Closed To Invest In Early-Stage Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Early-stage venture firm Prudence has closed its third fund with $80 million of capital commitments. Launched in 2009, Prudence has invested in early-stage tech companies over the last 15 years. Prudence invests in many verticals, such as construction, real estate, infrastructure, and climate adaptation.

Reach Security: $20 Million Secured To Reinvent Security Operations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Reach Security—a company pioneering advanced AI for reinventing security operations—announced $20 million in funding. The Series A funding round was led by Ballistic Ventures, with participation from Artisanal Ventures and industry luminaries, including Mark McLaughlin (former CEO and President of Palo Alto Networks) and Denise Persson (CMO of Snowflake). Existing investors Webb Investment Network, Ridge Ventures, and TechOperators joined the round.

Fingerprint: How This Rapidly Growing Company Prevents Online Fraud

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 12, 2024

Fingerprint is a device intelligence company that empowers companies to stop online fraud at the source. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Fingerprint co-founder and CEO Dan Pinto to learn more about the company.

Crane NXT Buying OpSec Security In $270 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Industrial technology company Crane NXT announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Investcorp Technology Partners to buy OpSec Security for $270 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments. OpSec is a brand protection and authentication solutions leader, working with many top brands, government agencies, and financial institutions.

Ocient: Data Analytics Solutions Company Raises $49.4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Ocient - a leading data analytics software solutions company - announced today that it has closed $49.4 million in funding. This funding is an extension of Ocient’s Series B financing, which was previously led by Greycroft and OCA Ventures and included new venture investors Buoyant Ventures, Levy Family Partners, Riverwalk Capital, Wolf Capital Management, and all prior significant investors. Including this funding round, Ocient has raised $119 million since being founded in 2016.

Milu Health: $4.8 Million Raised To Use AI For Driving Costs Savings In Healthcare

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Milu Health is a health tech company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to drive healthcare cost savings for employees and employers. Today, the company announced its seed financing of $4.8 million led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health and its launch with over a dozen employers to expand employee access to its platform.

Patient Square Capital Buying NanoString Technologies In $220 Million Deal: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

NanoString Technologies (a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research) announced that it has reached an agreement with health care investment firm Patient Square Capital. In this agreement, Patient Square will serve as the stalking horse bidder in conjunction with a court-supervised sales process.

URBAN-X By MINI Reveals Cohort 14 Of Startups Tackling Climate Issues

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

URBAN-X, the technology startup accelerator by auto company MINI, announced its fourteenth cohort of startups focused on tackling today’s pressing climate issues. These startups are addressing and redefining solutions that push net zero goals while creating more resilient communities, such as e-bike battery swapping for delivery workers, a landfill waste diversion operation, space-based solar power, and much more.