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

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).

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), 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.

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 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, 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 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 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.

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, 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, 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, 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.

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, 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, 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 (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, 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 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 - 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, 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, 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 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, 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. 

Chameleon, a product adoption platform for modern software companies, announced that it has acquired interactive demo company Driveway. This acquisition enables Chameleon to expand into the interactive demo category and drive user onboarding via (existing) in-product and (new) ungated walkthroughs. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Evergrowth, an AI-powered B2B account-based sales platform, announced a merger with Apolo Mktng, which utilizes AI to deliver personalized marketing solutions. This merger brings together two innovative forces in AI technology to drive forward a more customer-centric approach to sales strategies.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), along with lending partner Trinity Capital, announced that it has provided Denim, a technology-forward factoring partner for freight brokers, with a $63 million warehouse facility.

ARPA Network, a pioneer in decentralized secure computation, announced a $6 million strategic investment to support product expansion in fully on-chain gaming, Autonomous Worlds (AW), and cryptographic AI. The lead investors in the round include Nomura's Laser Digital and DeFiance Capital, with additional funding from Animoca Ventures, Metrics Ventures, ArkStream Capital, and Trinito. ARPA Network is previously backed by Binance Labs, Arrington Capital, and DWF Labs.

Reibus, a leading independent metals marketplace, announced the appointment of Jared Rowe as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board. The company also revealed $30 million in new round of funding.

Jodi Anderson Jr. is a Director of Technological Innovation at the Cornell University School of Industrial Labor Relations' Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) where he is responsible for overseeing the development and deployment of technology solutions that will enable justice-involved individuals to access employment and career development opportunities. And he is also a researcher at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, where he manages cohorts of early-stage entrepreneurs to build digital solutions for disadvantaged learning communities. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Anderson to learn more about his involvement with Restorative Record, a digital hiring tool created by the CJEI for justice-impacted job candidates to secure employment against exclusionary practices.