Archives

Terra Kaffe: How This Company Is Transforming The $100 Billion In-Home Coffee Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 29, 2024

Terra Kaffe is a company transforming the in-home coffee experience, starting with a new coffee machine. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Terra Kaffe CEO Sahand Dilmaghani to learn more about the company.

Gather AI: AI-Based Warehouse Inventory Monitoring Solutions Company Raises $17 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

ValidaTek: $43 Million DISA Contract For Softswitch Backbone Modernization Secured

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Nourish: Telenutrition Platform Company Raises $35 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Nourish, a telenutrition platform connecting people to registered dietitians covered by insurance, announced that it has raised $35 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Maverick Ventures and TCV. Also joining in the round were existing backers Y Combinator, Thrive Capital, and BoxGroup and several prominent angel investors, including professional soccer player Alex Morgan and founders from Oscar, Olipop, and Notion.

Oriole Networks: UCL AI System Performance Spinout Company Raises £10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Oriole Networks - a company transforming the performance of AI systems and data centers – announced it has successfully raised £10 million in seed funding. The funding round was co-led by UCL Technology Fund, Clean Growth Fund, XTX Ventures, and Dorilton Ventures, with support from Innovate UK Investor Partnership.

Celestial AI: Photonic Fabric Company Closes $175 Million In Series C

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Celestial AI - the creator of the Photonic Fabric optical interconnect technology platform - announced it raised $175 million in its Series C funding round led by Thomas Tull’s U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT). Along with USIT, the funding round included participation from new and existing investors, including AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), Temasek, Temasek’s wholly owned subsidiary Xora Innovation, IAG Capital Partners, Samsung Catalyst, Smart Global Holdings (SGH), Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Engine Ventures, M-Ventures and Tyche Partners.

ValidMind: AI And Model Risk Management Platform Raises $8.1 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

ValidMind, a leading next-generation AI and model risk management platform for financial services, announced it had raised $8.1 million in a seed funding round led by Point72 Ventures. Third Prime, New York Life Ventures, AI Fund, Notion Capital, FJ Labs, Angel Invest, and Gaingels also participated.

Sertis: Insurance-Focused Managing General Agency Raises $3.2 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Sertis - a managing general agency (MGA) focused on the insurance industry – announced it has successfully completed an oversubscribed $3.2 million seed funding round. JLL Spark Global Ventures (the venture capital arm of JLL) led the investment. Ajey Kaushal, an investor at JLL Spark, joins Sertis' board in connection with the investment.

EVOLOH: $20 Million Secured To Develop Electrolyzer Stacks For Hydrogen Production

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

EVOLOH, a cleantech company that develops electrolyzer stacks for hydrogen production, announced it had raised an oversubscribed $20 million Series A round led by Engine Ventures. Additional participating investors include a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources and 3M Ventures.

SecondWave Systems: Bio-Ultrasonic Medicine Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

SecondWave Systems has made a couple of major announcements. SecondWave Systems has welcomed Professor Paul Peter Tak as the inaugural member of its newly established advisory board. And SecondWave also announced that it has secured $3 million of additional funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), bringing the total non-dilutive funding from U.S. government agencies to $15.3 million.

Blackstone Investing Up To $750 Million In Moderna

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Blackstone Life Sciences (BXLS) announced it will fund up to $750 million of Moderna’s research to develop a flu vaccine in exchange for royalties, assuming this program achieves certain milestones.

Equality Health: Helping Independent Practices Adopt Valued-Based Care For Diverse Communities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Equality Health deploys a whole-person care model that helps independent practices adopt and deliver value-based care for diverse, underserved communities. The company is a leader in value-based care and is characterized as an “enabler” that offers tech, care coordination, and hands-on support to optimize practice performance under the new care delivery approach and payment model. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Equality Health SVP of Enterprise Product Claire Zimmerman to learn more about the company.

Nominal: $9.2 Million Raised To Bridge The Gap Between Costly ERP Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Nominal is a company tapping into generative AI to bridge the gap between outdated and costly ERP systems and the financial management needs of modern mid-market and multi-entity businesses. The company launched this week with $9.2 million in seed funding from Bling Capital and Hyperwise Ventures, with participation from Vela Partners, Incubate Fund, and executives at companies like Bill.com, Salesforce, Justworks, ServiceNow, and Intel.

Honeywell To Buy Italy-Based Civitanavi In €200 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Honeywell announced it agreed to buy Civitanavi for €200 million. This deal is based on a €6.30 per-share bid, and it would combine the technologies of both companies to provide new opportunities for customers to enable autonomous operations.

CPS Energy Buying Gas Plants From Talen Energy In $785 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

PipeDreams: Home Services Provider Company Raises $25.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

PipeDreams, a tech-enabled home services provider, announced $25.5 million in Series A funding led by Canvas Ventures and Plural. Angel investors include Tony Xu (the founder of DoorDash), Thomas Layton (the founder of CitySearch, former CEO of OpenTable, and Chairman of UpWork), and Allison Pickens (former COO at Gainsight). With this funding round, the company has raised $39 million total.

The Home Depot Buying SRS In $18.25 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

The Home Depot announced today that it is acquiring SRS Distribution for $18.25 billion. This deal evidences The Home Depot's goal of driving sales by winning more business from roofers, contractors, and handy professionals.

Picogrid: Defense Technology Company Raises $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 28, 2024

Baker McKenzie Relocating Funds Partner James Burdett To Abu Dhabi

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Leading law firm Baker McKenzie announced the relocation of leading funds partner James Burdett from London to Abu Dhabi. This strategic move highlights the firm's commitment in further expanding and strengthening the transactional practice group within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Align Capital Partners Launches Specialty Tax Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Align Capital Partners (ACP) announced the formation of a specialty tax consulting platform by acquiring Cost Segregation Services (CSSI) and TaxIncennovations. The company’s core services include cost segregation, research & development tax credits, and energy efficiency tax credit consulting services.

Walter Global Asset Management Invests In Saranac Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Walter Global Asset Management (Walter GAM) announced an investment in Saranac Partners. This independent European multi-family office delivers personalized advice across a broad spectrum of wealth management services to help ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families deploy/access capital.

Staffing Engine Raises Strategic Investment From LRS Healthcare

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

LRS Healthcare - a leading healthcare staffing services provider and part of the Jackson Healthcare family of companies - announced a strategic investment in Staffing Engine. Staffing Engine is an AI innovator for the staffing industry, developing the world’s first Recruiting Acceleration AI Platform for staffing firms.

Raymond James: $750 Million Financial Advisor Lynette Ancona Joins

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Raymond James’ Florida regional director for RJA, Tim Killgoar, has welcomed financial advisor Lynette Ancona, MBA, CFP, CWS, to Raymond James & Associates (RJA), the firm's employee advisor channel, in Winter Park, Florida. As senior vice president of wealth management, Ancona heads up Raymond James' Ancona Wealth Management and is joined by client service associate Stephanie Gisler, MBA.

Storyteller Overland Receives Strategic Investment From L Catterton And Additional Investors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

L Catterton announced a significant investment in Storyteller Overland, a leading innovator in adventure vehicle manufacturing. RX3 Growth Partners, Wheelhouse, and Virentes Partners Group are also joining L Catterton.

Inflexion Names Martin Preuss As Partner And DACH Head

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Inflexion, a leading European mid-market private equity firm, announced the appointment of Martin Preuss as Partner and Head of DACH, which covers Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Preuss will lead Inflexion’s investments in the region and build a team in Frankfurt, further strengthening Inflexion’s international presence.

Integrated Partners And WFY Partnering To Launch Wealth Management Unit

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Integrated Partners, a national financial planning and registered investment advisory (RIA) firm managing over $12.7 billion in advisory assets, announced a new partnership with Wright, Ford, Young & Co. (WFY), Orange County, California's largest single-office accounting firm. This collaboration leads to the introduction of WFY Wealth Management.

Raymond James Adds $265 Million Financial Advisor Martin Lutschaunig

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Raymond James has announced it has hired experienced financial advisor Martin Lutschaunig to Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS), the firm’s independent advisor channel. Alex David, Northeast division director for RJFS, revealed this executive hire. As the president of Lutschaunig Wealth Management in Yardley, Pennsylvania, Lutschaunig is being joined by branch manager Patricia Niles. Together, they serve various clients, including healthcare professionals, women investors, and retirees, with customized strategies and objective advice to help them achieve their financial goals. Lutschaunig, who comes from Janney Montgomery Scott, previously managed about $265 million in client assets.

Kogod School of Business Integrating AI Throughout Curriculum

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

The Kogod School of Business at American University announced that artificial intelligence (AI) is now being integrated into its academic curriculum and day-to-day practices. Over 20 new and updated courses will be fully rolled out in the fall 2024 semester, ensuring that incoming and existing Kogod students graduate with AI/ML expertise.

EPAM Buying Vates To Expand In Latin America

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

EPAM Systems, a leading transformation services and product engineering company, announced the acquisition of Vates S.A., an award-winning software development company with offices in Argentina and Chile. Vates will enhance EPAM's software development portfolio and diversify its Latin America delivery capabilities.

Be Fulfilled: Growth Funding Raised From Decathlon Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 27, 2024

Be Fulfilled (a full-service platform that helps creators grow businesses) announced it had raised a significant investment from Decathlon Capital Partners. The details of the revenue-based investment were undisclosed.