Archives

Imagine H2O: Applications Now Open For Accelerator Program

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Imagine H2O opened the applications for its accelerator programs on October 4, following WEFTEC 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. This program equips early-stage startups with the resources they need to address water scarcity.

Mirakl And Havas Partnering To Accelerate E-Commerce And Retail Media

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Mirakl (a pioneering and leading SaaS solution to empower businesses in their digital transformation through platform innovation) and Havas (one of the world's largest global communications networks) recently announced a unique global partnership to accelerate e-commerce and retail media growth.

Lumi: Seed Funding Raised To Transform The Disposable Packaging Industry

By Annie Baker ● Oct 9, 2023

Lumi - an innovative newcomer in the food and beverage packaging sector with a mission to combat the global surge in single-use plastics - recently announced that it successfully closed its seed round of funding.

Why Tendo Is Buying MDsave

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Tendo - a software company focused on creating seamless healthcare experiences for patients, clinicians, and caregivers - recently announced that it is acquiring MDsave. These are the details.

Mercury: Early-Stage Venture Firm Closes $160 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Mercury Fund - a premier early-stage venture firm focused on investments outside of traditional coastal tech hubs - recently announced the successful closing of Mercury Fund V, with $160 million in capital commitments.

JPI Getting Acquired By Sumitomo Forestry America: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

JPI (a leader in the development of Class A and attainable multifamily communities) and Sumitomo Forestry America (a comprehensive housing and wood products subsidiary of Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.) announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of JPI’s operating platform by Sumitomo Forestry. The minority interests will be acquired by Payton Mayes, Chief Executive Officer of JPI, and Mollie Fadule, Chief Financial and Investment Officer of JPI. JPI will maintain management over all assets currently under construction until completion and realization.

Midi Health: Women’s Midlife Healthcare Company Closes $25 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Midi Health - an emerging digital leader in women's midlife healthcare - recently announced the closing of a $25 million Series A funding round led by GV (Google Ventures). And investors Frederique Dame and Cathy Friedman from GV were joined by current investors Felicis, Semper Virens, Icon, 25M, and Operator Collective, bringing the company's total funding raised to $40 million.

Partillion Bioscience: $5 Million In Seed Funding Closed

By Noah Long ● Oct 9, 2023

Partillion Bioscience Corporation - a life science tools company - recently announced the closing of a $5 million seed financing round, expansion of its board of directors, and a multiyear agreement with Alloy Therapeutics as a Preferred Partner providing antibody discovery services using Partillion's Nanovial technology. Nanovials handle numerous industry challenges as the first microscale test tubes engineered to isolate and analyze individual cells compatible with standard laboratory equipment.

PortX: Open Banking Company Secures $16.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

PortX - a transformative leader in open banking and seamless core integration for community financial institutions - recently announced the successful closing of a $16.5 million Series B funding round. The funding round was co-led by FUSE, a Pacific Northwest-based venture capital firm and Curql, a collective of forward-thinking credit unions. They were joined by BankTech Ventures, EJF Capital, and the Btech Consortium – all financial services-focused investment firms representing nearly 200 community financial institutions. This announcement comes one year after the company secured $10 million to close its Series A funding.

UnitX: $5 Million Raised To Advance Robotics At The Forefront Of Manufacturing Yield Management

By Dan Anderson ● Oct 9, 2023

UnitX - a robotics company building next-generation AI vision systems at the forefront of quality and yield management in manufacturing - recently announced a $5 million investment from SE Ventures, a venture fund backed by energy and automation giant Schneider Electric.

Yaysay: Gamified Shopping App Closes $10.3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Yaysay is a company that recently launched in Beta mode. It is a first-of-its-kind shopping app that combines AI-driven personalization with gamification to transform the off-price shopping experience. Launched by retail industry pioneers, including two of the co-founders of Casper and executives from Gilt Groupe and Stitch Fix, Yaysay aims to make off-price shopping an exciting 5-minute daily habit while also providing a sustainable solution for excess inventory in the retail industry. The company also announced it secured a $10.3 million seed round of funding.

Machine Discovery: $6 Million Closed To Accelerate Compute-Intensive Optimization Tasks

By Annie Baker ● Oct 9, 2023

Machine Discovery - a software company that uses machine learning technology to accelerate compute-intensive optimization and simulation tasks - announced it has secured $6 million of funding. The funding round was led by BGF (one of the UK's largest investors) and East Innovate along with Foresight WAE Technology Funds, UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), independently managed by Future Planet Capital (Ventures) Ltd and Oxford Technology.

Lumu: Continuous Compromise Assessment Cybersecurity Company Raises $30 Million

By Noah Long ● Oct 9, 2023

Lumu - the creators of the Continuous Compromise Assessment cybersecurity model that enables organizations to operate cybersecurity proficiently - recently announced it has closed a $30 million Series B round led by Forgepoint Capital, with participation from existing investors BIP Ventures, Exceptional Capital, and SIMMA Capital. Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Leo Casusol will join the Board of Directors. The new funding round brings the total funding raised to $38 million.

Gem Security: Cloud Detection and Response Closes $23 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Gem Security - a Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) company - recently announced $23 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital and joined by IBM Ventures, Silicon Valley CISO Investments (SVCI), an array of notable angel investors, and existing investor Team8. This oversubscribed Series A funding round - which is hot on the heels of Gem's Seed funding round, reflects investor trust based on solid market validation. This funding round follows the seed round led by Team8 and brought Gem's total funding to $34 million.

Prompt AI: $5 Million Raised To Democratize Access To Computer Vision Technology

By Noah Long ● Oct 9, 2023

Prompt AI - a startup utilizing the power of large language models to democratize access to computer vision - recently announced that it has raised $5 million in seed funding led by prominent investors AIX Ventures and Abstract Ventures.

Stijn Hendrikse: A Discussion About T2D3

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 6, 2023

Stijn Hendrikse is a serial entrepreneur and marketing leader who has contributed to the success of Microsoft Office 365 as part of the launch team and numerous startups, including CRO of Acumatica and CEO of MightyCall, and Co-Founder of Kalungi. T2D3 is the product of Hendrikse’s decades of marketing experience and passion for B2B software start-ups. Hendrikse recently wrote a book called “T2D3: How some software startups scale, where many fail.” Pulse 2.0 interviewed Hendrikse to learn more.

Accredible: Digital Credentialing Platform Secures Series B Funding Round

By Noah Long ● Oct 5, 2023

Accredible - a leading digital credentialing platform - recently announced the closing of its Series B financing led by Frontier Growth with participation by new and existing investors, including The Stephens Group, PivotNorth, and Uncork Capital.

Evozyne: Novel Protein Systems Company Closes $81 Million In Series B Funding

By Noah Long ● Oct 5, 2023

Evozyne recently announced the closing of an $81 million Series B investment round that will fund the biotech’s generative AI-powered drug discovery platform and product development. Fidelity Management & Research Company and OrbiMed led the funding round with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm).

Cyara Reveals Expansion In Leadership Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Cyara - a leading AI-led Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Platform provider - recently announced the appointment of Jeff Romano as Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and the promotion of Cyara’s Executive Vice President of Product, Max Lipovetsky, to Chief Product Officer.

Why Capstreet Is Buying PlanetBids

By Annie Baker ● Oct 5, 2023

Capstreet - a Houston-based lower middle market private equity firm - recently announced that it has acquired PlanetBids, a provider of eProcurement software as a service (SaaS) solutions.

Geneos Therapeutics: Clinical-Stage Biotherapeutics Company Secures $5 Million

By Annie Baker ● Oct 5, 2023

Geneos Therapeutics - a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing personalized therapeutic cancer vaccines (PTCV) - recently announced that it has completed its Series A3 financing round with an additional investment of $5 million, totaling $10 million.

Industry Ventures: Over $1.7 Billion Closed, Bringing Total Committed Capital To $7+ Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Industry Ventures - a leading investment firm focused on private technology investments - recently announced the final closing of Industry Ventures Secondary X with over $1.45 billion of new commitments. The firm also closed Industry Ventures Tech Buyout II with over $260 million of new capital commitments across the Fund and affiliated entities.

TPG Completes Deal To Buy Forcepoint Government Cybersecurity Business From Francisco Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Global security company Forcepoint announced the completed acquisition of the company’s Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI) cybersecurity business by asset management firm TPG.

CellFE: $22 Million Raised To Advance Microfluidics-Based Cellular Engineering Platform

By Noah Long ● Oct 5, 2023

CellFE - a life sciences tools company developing a microfluidics-based cell engineering platform dedicated to transforming the development and manufacturing of advanced cell therapies - recently announced the completion of a $22 million Series A financing led by M Ventures.

Breezit: Event Planning Digital Marketplace Company Raises $2 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Breezit - a professional event planning digital marketplace - recently announced that it has now raised $2 million in funding. Practica Capital led the pre-seed round.

Axial Shift: Restaurant Operations Software Provider Company Raises $4 Million

By Noah Long ● Oct 5, 2023

Axial Shift - a restaurant operations software provider that is transforming the restaurant industry by providing all-staff level data access and team member competitions and rewards, recently announced a new partnership and $4 million in seed funding from Silverton Partners.

Avalyn: Targeted Inhalation Therapy Company Raises $175 Million

By Noah Long ● Oct 5, 2023

Avalyn Pharma - a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing targeted inhalation therapies for life-threatening pulmonary diseases - announced the closing of an oversubscribed $175 million Series C financing. Avalyn plans to use the funding to continue the development of its portfolio of inhalation therapies for interstitial lung disease that improve upon currently approved medications and advance lead clinical assets AP01 (inhaled pirfenidone) and AP02 (inhaled nintedanib) into mid-stage clinical trials.

Doceree: Physician-Only Platform For Programmatic Messaging Secures $35 Million

By Annie Baker ● Oct 5, 2023

Doceree - a leading global network of physician-only platforms for programmatic messaging - recently announced a $35 million Series B round led by Creaegis, the leading digital and technology investment firm. Existing investors Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital also joined the round.

Passage: Event Ticketing Company Hits 8 Million Tickets Told

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Passage - a cutting-edge event ticketing company launched in Detroit in 2014 - recently announced it has sold 8 million tickets, with customers in all 50 US states and as far afield as Australia and Canada. Last year, the company powered over $40 million in ticket sales across 3,327 events and generated $2.8 million in revenue.

Boisson: Non-Alcoholic Beverage Retailer Reveals New Funding Round And CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Boisson - the largest non-alcoholic beverage retailer - recently announced the appointment of Sheetal Aiyer as CEO. In a parallel path, the brand has revealed that it has received funding in a $5 million bridge round from Convivialité Ventures, the VC arm of Pernod Ricard, and Connect Ventures, the investment partnership between entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA).