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HapWare has closed an oversubscribed $1.5 million pre-seed financing ahead of the planned 2027 launch of ALEYE, a wrist-worn haptic device designed to translate facial expressions, gestures, and body language into touch. The Denver-based company also announced that ALEYE was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2026 in the Accessibility category.

Central National Gottesman has agreed to acquire Nebraska-based Omaha Paper Company through its Lindenmeyr Munroe division, expanding the company's North American distribution network in the Midwest. The transaction is expected to close at the end of October 2026.

Oshkosh Defense LLC has received a $31,972,227 U.S. Army contract modification for systems technical support services covering the Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles, associated trailers, and related kits.

XRlabs has raised $8.4 million in seed funding led by Playground Global, with participation from Eka Ventures, to accelerate development and clinical deployment of its device-agnostic Surgical Intelligence platform. The London-based company, which also has offices in Palo Alto, is building software that places a real-time artificial intelligence layer inside the operating room without requiring hospitals to replace the surgical systems they already use.

POV Beauty has closed a Series A financing led by Silas Capital, with participation from REDO Capital and existing investor Imaginary Ventures, as the skin-prep brand expands following a nationwide launch at Sephora. The company plans to use the new capital to increase retail momentum, build its team, strengthen its TikTok Shop presence, and fund additional skincare-makeup hybrid products.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. has been awarded a $38,766,471 U.S. Air Force contract to provide contractor logistics and sustainment support for Taiwan's MQ-9B unmanned aircraft program.

Fragment has raised $12 million in Series A funding to expand its financial infrastructure platform for vertical AI companies seeking to automate billing, payments, accounting, and other financial operations. The financing was led by FirstMark, with participation from BoxGroup. The new round brings Fragment's total funding to $23 million.

Labelbox has raised more than $100 million in Series E financing to accelerate development of its reinforcement learning infrastructure and enterprise AI agent platform. The financing includes both equity and a credit facility and was led by Infinitum Partners, with participation from Wipro Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, B Capital, Tau Ventures, Snowpoint Ventures, and other investors.

Forgepoint has raised $9.8 million in seed funding to expand Frank, its AI-powered Inside Sales Rep designed to help manufacturers automate the process of turning requests for quotes into customer-ready proposals and purchase orders. The round was led by Primary Venture Partners and a16z speedrun, with angel investors from OpenAI, Brex, Vercel, and SoFi also participating. Forgepoint plans to use the funding to bring Frank to more manufacturers, deepen integrations with the software systems customers already use, and expand its team.

Silvia Bio, a University of Sheffield biotechnology spinout focused on improving the manufacturing of complex biological medicines, has raised £3 million in Seed funding. The round was led by Northern Gritstone, with additional investment from the Parkwalk-managed Northern Universities Venture Fund, the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund managed by Future Planet Capital, Wren Capital, and angel investors.

Allara has raised $30 million in new funding to expand its AI-enabled women’s healthcare platform, grow partnerships, and advance research focused on hormonal, metabolic, and reproductive health. The financing brings Allara’s total funding to $75 million. Five existing investors, including Index Ventures and GV, increased their commitments, while Camino Partners, Foreground Capital, and Family Fund joined as new investors.

Zippy has raised $20 million in Series C funding from Saluda Grade to expand its technology-enabled manufactured housing finance platform and accelerate its nationwide growth. Saluda Grade, an alternative investment firm specializing in asset-backed credit, was the sole investor in the round through its growth equity strategy. Beyond the equity investment, Saluda Grade will work with Zippy across credit, capital markets, balance sheet management, and product development.

Othello has raised $8 million in Seed funding to expand its real-time AI sales coaching platform, which provides sales representatives with live recommendations while customer conversations are still in progress.

Raytheon has received two major U.S. Department of Defense contract awards for strategic communications systems and naval radar equipment, including an Air Force contract with an $8 billion maximum ceiling and a separate $15.1 million Navy delivery order.

Sonilo has raised $11 million in funding to develop and scale its AI-native audio platform, which generates music and sound effects designed to synchronize with the pacing, emotion, and narrative of video content. The funding round was led by B Capital, with participation from Redpoint. Sonilo plans to use the capital to expand its compute infrastructure and improve model performance, grow distribution across creator and developer platforms, and expand its music licensing capabilities.

Marklo has raised $5 million in Seed funding to expand its agentic marketing platform for commerce brands and has opened the product to public beta ahead of the holiday shopping season. The round was led by Forerunner, with participation from Freestyle Capital. Marklo plans to use the funding to grow its product and engineering teams, expand the public beta, and invest in customer success and community programs.

Seragy Holding has secured €12 million in financing to accelerate development of its proprietary SeRAS platform and expand its laboratory and analytical capabilities for neurodegenerative diseases and other conditions driven by pathological protein aggregation.

EZO has reached financial close on a €150 million investment-grade, non-recourse senior debt facility to finance the development of more than 3,000 electric vehicle charge points across the UK and Ireland.

Harbor has emerged from stealth with $10 million in Seed funding to build insurance and risk infrastructure for companies deploying AI agents. Base10, Abstract, and 8VC led the financing, with participation from Restive, NFX, Innovation Endeavors, Kibo Ventures, Masia, and MVP Ventures.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Silence Therapeutics in an all-cash transaction that values the biotechnology company at approximately $1.3 billion on an equity basis and $1.1 billion on an enterprise value basis.

Labcorp has agreed to acquire select BioReference Health assets from OPKO Health in a transaction that includes $722 million in cash at closing and a potential $150 million earnout tied to revenue from the 4Kscore Test.

Davenport University has been awarded a $3 million Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education to prepare students for an AI-enabled workforce and expand academic, technology, and student-success programs across the university.

Paul Hastings has expanded its Complex Litigation practice in California with the addition of Craig Cardon, Abby Meyer, and Jay Ramsey, who join the firm from Sheppard Mullin.

Silgan Holdings, Trivium Packaging, and funds affiliated with American Industrial Partners have announced a transaction that will combine Silgan's Metal Containers segment and Food and Beverage Flat Cap Closures businesses with Trivium Packaging to create a new global metal packaging company called Silgan Metal Containers and Closures, or Silgan MCC. The combined business is expected to represent approximately $7.3 billion of enterprise value and serve food and beverage markets across North America and Europe.

Blackstone announced the final close of Blackstone Energy Transition Partners V at $8.7 billion, with the energy-focused private equity fund reaching its hard cap after attracting demand that significantly exceeded its fundraising target.

AngelAi is an artificial intelligence platform developed by Celligence to execute complex financial transactions rather than simply answer questions or generate content. The platform combines a deterministic Transactional Language Model, specialized Angel Agents, and Warranted Intelligence to collect and reconcile information, apply rules, make decisions, and carry transactions through to completion. AngelAi has been operating within Sun West Mortgage since 2019, giving its technology a production environment for handling real financial transactions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sun West Mortgage Company CEO and Founder/CEO of Celligence and AngelAi, Pavan Agarwal, to learn more about AngelAi’s development, approach to deterministic AI, and ambitions beyond mortgage lending.

Southwest Airlines is introducing a major overhaul of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program beginning January 1, 2027, adding a new three-tier status structure, Milestone Rewards, new ways to earn Tier Qualifying Points, expanded Companion Pass opportunities, and additional ways to redeem points. 

Mercedes-AMG has unveiled the new Mercedes-AMG GT SUV, its first full-size SUV developed entirely in-house and the second vehicle based on the AMG.EA high-performance electric architecture. The new model combines a low-slung performance-oriented design with the space and versatility of a full-size SUV and will arrive at U.S. dealerships in summer 2027 as a 2028 model. 

White & Case has promoted 47 lawyers to its partnership, with the appointments taking effect on January 1, 2027, as the global law firm continues expanding across key practices and markets.

Janney Montgomery Scott has expanded its Texas presence by opening a new Houston office and adding four financial advisors who collectively manage nearly $3.5 billion in client assets.