Archives

Javara, a leading integrated research organization (IRO) that delivers clinical trials at the point of care through strategic partnerships with healthcare organizations, announced it has secured significant growth investment in Series C funding from existing and new community-based investors.

Zeal Capital Partners, a leading Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm, announced the closing of Zeal Fund II. This milestone brings Zeal’s total assets under management (AUM) to $186 million across three funds, highlighting the firm’s disciplined approach to identifying and scaling high-potential opportunities across financial technology, healthcare, and the future of learning and work.

AssistIQ, an AI company utilizing computer vision to transform how hospitals manage surgical and procedural supply chains, announced it has closed an $11.5 million Series A round led by Battery Ventures, with participation from return investor Tamarind Hill.

Invoca, a leader in AI-driven revenue execution platforms, has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Symbl.ai, an AI-based platform for human intelligence. This deal combines Symbl.ai’s broad set of AI capabilities with the Invoca platform, enabling companies to drive revenue through a modern buying experience that leverages the best of digital, AI, and human touch.

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) and MDC Studio announced their collaboration through the HJF-MDC Venture Fund. This collaboration aims to transform the development and commercialization of medical technology, benefiting both military and civilian healthcare sectors.

Wander is a company aiming to address problems with the short-term rental market that announced a $50 million Series B funding round, co-led by QED Investors and Fifth Wall with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Uncork, Starwood, and Breyer Capital and many other returning and new investors.

Five Elms Capital announced the October 2024 closing of Five Elms VI, with total commitments of $1.1 billion. This oversubscribed fund attracted strong participation from existing and new limited partners, significantly expanding Five Elms' global investor base.

Chalk, a data platform for AI inference, announced that it has raised a $50 million Series A at a $500 million valuation. Felicis led the round with participation from Triatomic Capital and existing investors General Catalyst, Unusual Ventures, and Xfund.

Creatify, an AI platform that powers high-performance video advertising, announced $15.5 million in Series A funding, co-led by WndrCo and Kindred Ventures. The funding round brings Creatify’s total funding to $23 million, with early investors including NFDG, Millennium New Horizons, Creator Ventures, and Leadout Capital.

Crosslake Technologies, a data-driven technology advisory service for private equity firms and their portfolio companies, announced the acquisition of Lucen Partners, a boutique advisory firm specializing in product and software advisory services for private equity-backed technology companies. The terms were undisclosed.

Simon Quick Advisors, a national independent wealth management and multi-family office firm, announced the acquisition of Proquility Private Wealth Partners, a boutique advisory firm with deep client relationships nationwide and decades of planning expertise. This deal reflects Simon Quick's values-driven approach to growth, which prioritizes cultural alignment and vision in every partnership.

Joby Aviation, a company that is developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service, announced the closing of the first $250 million tranche of a previously announced strategic investment from Toyota. This funding marks a significant milestone in strengthening the long-term collaboration between the two companies and supports their shared vision for the future of air mobility.

SemperVirens Venture Capital, a venture firm investing in companies shaping the future of health, wealth, and work, announced the launch of the SemperVirens Accelerator — which is a founder-focused initiative designed to help early-stage startups sharpen their distribution strategy, connect with industry leaders, and scale faster by engaging directly with commercial decision makers across healthcare, benefits and work ecosystems.

Interactly AI announced the closing of a pre-seed funding round to support the growth of its multimodal AI platform for healthcare administration. Nava Davuluri (CEO) and Shiva Chaitanya (CTO) co-founded Interactly AI to address the pressing challenges of healthcare administration by streamlining both front- and back-office workflows, empowering providers to deliver more efficient and patient-focused care.

Portless, a U.S.-based global e-commerce fulfillment company, announced the closing of its latest funding round at $18 million. The funding round was led by Commerce Ventures, with participation from eGateway Capital, Ground Up Ventures, and FJ Labs. This funding will advance Portless's mission to transform the direct-to-consumer (DTC) industry by addressing critical pain points for U.S. and European brands navigating rising tariffs, regulatory changes, and supply chain inefficiencies.

KKR and Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), a major diversified conglomerate in India, announced a $600 million financing arranged by KKR Capital Markets and anchored by KKR’s private credit and insurance platforms for the Manipal Group. This investment will enable the Manipal Group to accelerate its corporate expansion and growth objectives by providing flexible and structured capital matched to its long-term strategic needs.

MFV Partners, a deep technology venture capital firm, announced the launch of Harper Court Ventures Fund I, a new $25 million early-stage fund focused on identifying, investing in, and scaling transformative startups from the University of Chicago ecosystem. Harper Court Ventures Fund I will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage companies that utilize breakthrough research and innovation originating from UChicago labs, the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation's comprehensive programs, faculty and student ventures, and the extensive UChicago alumni network.

R1 (an industry leader in managing and intelligently automating healthcare revenue management with over 20 years of experience) announced an investment from Khosla Ventures. The funding follows the launch of R37, R1’s enterprise-grade AI lab developed in partnership with Palantir, which is dedicated to strengthening the financial health of providers through core agentic AI applications.

Unbound announced it has raised $4 million. This oversubscribed seed round was led by Race Capital, with participation from Wayfinder Ventures, Y Combinator, Massive Tech Ventures. The round also included Alpha Square Group, Northside Ventures, Liquid2, Pioneer Fund, Scale Asia Ventures, SBXI and notable angels including Ram Shriram (founding board member at Google), Dr. Trishan Panch (CSO LuminHealth), Dr. John Brownstein (Chief Innovation Officer, Boston Children’s hospital), Taro Fukuyama (CEO, Fond), Eli Brown (CEO, Guilded, acquired by Roblox), Chris Siakos (CEO Sinefa, acquired by Palo Alto Networks), Joe Vadakkan (CISO, Ex- CRO), Zain Rizavi (Cloudflare, Ridge VC), Finbarr Taylor (CEO, Shogun) alongside other silicon valley and cybersecurity veterans.

LLR Partners announced a strategic growth investment in TruTechnologies, a provider of real-time clinical trial oversight. LLR’s growth capital and value creation resources will be dedicated to helping TruTechnologies’ expansion as it transforms how pharmaceutical companies, together with clinical research organizations and research sites, oversee, monitor, and manage biological samples and study workflows throughout the clinical trial lifecycle.

EOG Resources announced a definitive agreement with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) and Encino Energy under which EOG will acquire Encino Acquisition Partners (EAP) for $5.6 billion, inclusive of EAP's net debt. And EOG currently expects to fund the acquisition through $3.5 billion of debt and $2.1 billion of cash on hand.

TicketManager, a leader in event ticket and guest management solutions for the corporate enterprise, announced Valeas Capital Partners (a growth-oriented private-equity firm) has acquired a majority stake in the company. Under the terms of the deal, Valeas is committing $110 million to support TicketManager’s strategic growth plans. TicketManager Co-Founder and CEO Tony Knopp and COO Ken Hanscom will retain a minority interest in the company.

EssilorLuxottica and MidEuropa announced that they have agreed for EssilorLuxottica to acquire Optegra, a fast-growing and highly integrated ophthalmology platform operating in five key European markets: the UK, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and the Netherlands.

WiseTech, a developer of leading logistics execution software CargoWise, announced it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire U.S.-based E2open, a leading provider of SaaS-based solutions in the global logistics value chain, for $3.30 per share in cash, equating to an enterprise value of $2.1 billion. This deal will be fully debt-funded from a new syndicated debt facility and is subject to certain customary conditions precedent.

Rillet, an AI-native ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform, announced $25 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital. This funding round includes existing investors First Round Capital, Creandum, Susa Ventures and top angels, such as former NetSuite CFO, Ron Gill and Lee Kirkpatrick, former Twilio CFO.

Gebbia Media (a subsidiary of Siebert Financial) announced that it has acquired Big Machine Rock, the rock imprint of Big Machine Label Group - which has played a significant role in shaping the future of modern rock. This deal marks a bold new chapter in Gebbia Media's rapid ascent within the music and media industries, where it is focused on creating an artist-first platform that blends creative storytelling with strategic investment. Big Machine Rock's current roster includes Daughtry, Badflower, Sammy Hagar, Olive Vox, and Ryan Perdz, and others.

EnduroSat, a leading provider of satellite constellations-as-a-service, today announced a €43 million investment led by Founders Fund.

AECOM - a trusted global infrastructure leader - announced that it has been awarded an Optimized Remediation Contract (ORC) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Los Angeles District to provide environmental remediation services at Vandenberg Space Force Base on California’s Central Coast. And the 10-year $81.3-million single award is one of the most significant optimized remediation contracts awarded by the USACE Los Angeles District, reinforcing AECOM’s position as a trusted partner in delivering mission-critical solutions.

Haber is a company with a mission to help industries become sustainable by converting data to actionable intelligence. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Haber co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Priya Venkat to learn more about the company.