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MAKA - Africa's leading fashion and beauty e-commerce platform - recently announced that it has raised a $2.65 million pre-seed round. The funding round was co-led by prominent investors 4DX Ventures and Janngo, with additional backing from Palm Drive Capital. This round also includes angel investor Jonathan Shipman (Former EVP and Twitch founding member) and executives from delivery platform Wolt.

ShapesXR is a creation and collaboration platform for XR content and experiences in the metaverse. Pulse 2.0 interviewed ShapesXR founder and CEO Inga Petryaevskaya to learn more about the company. 

Rimini Street (Nasdaq: RMNI) is a Russell 2000 Company that is a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support, products, and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software, and a Salesforce and AWS partner. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Rimini Street CEO, President, and Chairman of the board Seth Ravin to learn more about the company. 

ZayZoon is an Earned Wage Access (EWA) provider for small and mid-sized businesses. And it also works as a powerful corporate social responsibility tool and financial wellness program. Pulse 2.0 interviewed ZayZoon co-founder and president Tate Hackert to learn more about the company.

Leapsome is an all-in-one intelligent people enablement platform. CEOs and HR teams at over 1,400 forward-thinking companies (including Spotify, monday.com, and Unity) utilize Leapsome’s intelligent people enablement platform to drive employee development, productivity, and engagement. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Leapsome co-CEO Jenny von Podewils co-CEO to learn more about the company.

Gallery Design Studio is a New York City-based design consultancy that specializes in serving high-growth B2B AI-driven software companies. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Gallery Design Studio founder and CEO Caroline Petersen to learn more about the company. 

Machinery Partner - a company offering novel procurement, financing, and support for builders and contractors needing heavy machinery - recently announced it raised $8 million in Series A financing led by Armory Square Ventures and joined by Pritzker Group, two venture funds with expertise in the industrial tech world. And RiverPark Ventures and Contour Venture Partners also participated in the round alongside numerous B2B marketplace founders. Pacific Western Bank also provided an additional $3 million in venture debt, and the company raised follow-on from previous investors Euclid Ventures, One Way Ventures, and Techstars Ventures.

Odyssey Therapeutics - a biotechnology company pioneering next-generation precision immunomodulators and oncology medicines - recently announced the closing of a $101 million Series C financing round led by Ascenta Capital with participation from new and existing investors, including OrbiMed, SR One, General Catalyst, Foresite Capital, Woodline Partners LP, HBM Healthcare Investments, Colt Ventures, BlackMars Capital GmbH, Creacion Ventures, funds and accounts advised by Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Catalio Capital Management, Walleye Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Racing Beach Ventures LLC, The Healthcare Innovation Investment Fund LLC (an investment fund associated with Leerink Partners), Ab Magnitude Ventures, KB Investment, The Global BioAccess Fund, and multiple leading global investors.

Pachama - a technology company on a mission to solve climate change by restoring nature - recently announced it extended its Series B round to include an additional $9 million in new equity capital.

Rohirrim - a cutting-edge technology company specializing in domain-aware generative AI for the enterprise - recently announced the successful completion of its $15 million Series A round of funding less than a year since emerging from stealth and deploying its Rohan platform.

Tome Biosciences - a programmable genomic integration company - recently announced it has launched to usher in a new era of genomic medicines based on programmable genomic integration (PGI). PGI enables the insertion of any DNA sequence of any size into any programmed genomic location. And the company has raised $213 million in Series A and B funding from investors: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, ARCH Venture Partners, GV, Longwood Fund, Polaris Partners, Bruker Corporation, FUJIFILM Corporation, Alexandria Venture Investments, and others.

SellersFi - a cutting-edge financial technology startup - announced today that it has closed a new US credit facility with Citi and independent asset manager Fasanara Capital for $135 million with the potential to grow up to $300 million as SellersFi expands.

Nippon Steel (Japan’s largest steelmaker and one of the world’s leading steel manufacturers) and United States Steel Corporation (a leading steel producer with competitive advantages in low-cost iron ore, mini mill steelmaking, and best-in-class finishing capabilities) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which NSC will acquire U. S. Steel in an all-cash transaction at $55 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $14.1 billion plus the assumption of debt, for a total enterprise value of $14.9 billion.

Ability Biologics recently announced the closing of its $12 million (US) funding round led by founding investor Amplitude Ventures. Amplitude was joined by Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Charles River Laboratories, Alexandria Venture Investments and Page One Ventures.

Playground Global recently announced that it has raised $410 million in new capital, bringing the firm’s assets under management to more than $1.2 billion. And Playground Global is an early-stage and deep-tech venture firm investing in transformative technologies and founders building category-defining businesses.

AutogenAI - an enterprise-level artificial intelligence company - recently announced it has closed a $39.5 million Series B. The funding round was co-led by Salesforce Ventures and Spark Capital, with participation from Blossom Capital, the funding will enable AutogenAI to further develop its bid-writing product suite, helping businesses more efficiently win more work. This marks the company’s second fundraising in four months, bringing total investments in AutogenAI to $65.3 million.

Aryaka is a company that pioneered the concept of a Zero Trust WAN based on a Unified SASE architecture. The company provides secure connectivity, enabling organizations to work from anywhere in the world without compromising application performance through its patented, integrated technology and services. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Aryaka chief product officer Renuka Nadkarni to learn more about the company. 

January Technologies recently announced that it has raised $12 million in Series B financing, preempted and led by existing investor IA Ventures. Existing investors Brewer Lane Ventures, Third Prime, and Reciprocal Ventures, along with new investors like Upper90, Shrug Capital, and numerous strategic angel investors, joined IA Ventures in the current round. This current funding round follows January’s $10 million Series A fundraise in 2022.

Ionomr Innovations - a developer and manufacturer of breakthrough foundational polymer and membrane technologies for next-generation hydrogen applications - recently announced it had closed $20 million in a Series A-4 funding round with returning lead investors NGIF Cleantech Ventures and Pallasite Ventures supported by Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Finindus, and joined by N.V. Bekaert, Asahi Kasei, Samsung Ventures and SAIC Capital.

ISN is a global leader in contractor and supplier management. And the company supports nearly 800 Hiring Clients in capital-intensive industries to help manage more than 78,000 contractors and suppliers with operations in over 80 countries. Pulse 2.0 interviewed ISN CEO Joe Eastin to learn more about the company. 

WIN is a leading family-building and family-support company providing comprehensive solutions for employers and health plans. The company has helped nearly a half-million intended families on their path to parenthood, drove hundreds of millions of dollars in savings annually for clients, and helped advance a market growing to hundreds of billions of dollars. Pulse 2.0 interviewed WIN President, CEO, and Chairman Dr. Roger Shedlin to learn more about the company. 

NOVA by Saint-Gobain has recently invested in ION Storage Systems to expand the relationship between Saint-Gobain Ceramics and ION as they work together on bringing an innovative approach for battery technologies. ION offers battery solutions for applications used in defense, aerospace, consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and grid storage.

AllSpice.io - a hardware development platform that empowers engineers to modernize their collaboration and workflows - recently announced it has raised an additional $6 million in venture capital.

Twin Health - the creators of the Whole Body Digital Twin service for reversing, improving, and preventing chronic metabolic diseases - recently announced it secured $50 million in funding to continue expanding its groundbreaking technology and clinical service solutions for more members across the United States.

Intuitive Ventures - an early-stage fund investing in companies reimagining the future of minimally invasive care - recently announced the closing of $150 million for its second fund.

Zero Networks - an Israel-based cybersecurity company that is a leading provider of zero trust identity and network security solutions - recently announced it raised $20 million in Series B funding following a five-fold increase in its revenue, bringing its total raised capital to $45 million.

Enveedo - a cybersecurity company with an innovative approach to integrated risk management - recently announced the closing of its $3.15 million seed funding round, led by Silverton Partners. The funding round was also joined by Runtime Ventures and Blu Ventures who are both focused on the cybersecurity industry and contribute relevant operating experience and funding.

Foretellix - a leading provider of safety-driven verification and validation (V&V) solutions for Automated Driving Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) - recently announced that it closed a Series C funding round of $85 million, bringing its total raised capital to $135 million.

EndoQuest Robotics - a privately-held medical device company and pioneering leader in developing innovative endoluminal robotic technologies - recently announced the successful closure of a $42 million C-1 preferred financing round. This strategic funding round will fuel the advancement of its groundbreaking flexible endoluminal robot aimed at transforming minimally invasive procedures.