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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.

Second Avenue: Strategic Investment Raised From Monroe Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Monroe Capital, on behalf of its investment funds, announced it acquired a strategic minority ownership interest in Second Avenue’s operating company and has allocated about $250 million of additional capital to its investment platform through a mix of debt and equity capital.

Permira Appoints Dedicated Team For Climate Transition Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Global investment firm Permira has appointed a dedicated team to identify investment opportunities across the climate transition value chain. The team is being led by Kush Patel and another identified Partner joining later this year. They will be based out of New York and London, respectively, and will focus on climate transition assets (projects and platforms) and enablers (associated products, services, and technology).

PeakMetrics: Narrative Intelligence Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Narrative intelligence company PeakMetrics announced it has raised $3 million in seed funding. The round was led by York IE, with follow-on investment from Argon Ventures and participation from Parameter Ventures and CEAS Investments. With this funding round, PeakMetrics has raised $5.7 million in total.

GoldenTree Asset Management: Private Credit Fund Closed At Over $1.35 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

GoldenTree Asset Management - a global asset management firm with over $53 billion in assets under management - announced the closing of its Private Credit Fund. GoldenTree’s Private Credit Fund secured over $1.35 billion in commitments, surpassing the target of $800 million to $1 billion.

EQT And Equitrans Midstream Merging To Create A Vertically Integrated $35 Billion Natural Gas Business

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

EQT and Equitrans Midstream announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create a premier vertically integrated natural gas business with an initial enterprise value of over $35 billion. The combined company will be positioned to become a globally competitive energy giant. It will have the advantage of a peer-leading cost of supply and durable free cash flow in all price environments.

Pace University Launching A New AI Lab At NYC Campus

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems announced it is launching a new artificial intelligence (AI) lab at the New York City campus. This lab will be integrated into a new building at 15 Beekman. This facility aims to serve as the central hub of AI for the Pace community, providing training and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to learn and collaborate.

Primergy Solar Signs $588 Million Project Financing And Power Purchase Agreement With Microsoft

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Primergy Solar - a leading developer, owner, and operator of utility-scale solar and storage projects - announced today it closed commitments for $588 million in debt financing for a 408 MWac Ash Creek Solar project in Hill County, Texas. And Primergy also signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Microsoft for the full capacity of the plant.

Wealth Management Service Osaic Adds $360 Million Cornerstone Advisors Team To The Firm

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Wealth management service Osaic announced it has added Cornerstone Advisors to the firm. Cornerstone founder James P. Benson II and his team currently oversee nearly $360 million in total client assets. Benson is a veteran advisor with over 30 years of industry experience.

DocNow: Seed Funding Round Raised To Expand Next Generation Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

DocNow - a provider of Electronic Health Record (EHR) and wound care management solutions for Post-Acute Care providers - announced it has closed a Series Seed round led by Waterline Ventures. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate the development of innovative features, expansion across the Post-Acute Care space, and continued customer focus.

Efficient Computer: $16 Million Seed Funding Raised To Launch Energy-Efficient Computer Chips

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2024

Efficient Computer recently emerged from stealth and introduced a new computer processor that is up to 100x more energy efficient than leading general-purpose CPUs today. Through a $16 million seed funding round led by Eclipse, Efficient created a transformative computer architecture and software stack that delivers unprecedented energy efficiency.