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Realization Capital Partners Management recently announced the closing of its second investment fund, Realization Capital Partners II, L.P. at $323 million. The Fund received strong support from various investors, including multi-family offices, RIAs, single-family offices, endowments, foundations, and industry executives.

FlipGive - a leading cashback rewards and end-to-end fundraising solution for youth sports teams - recently announced a successful CAD 5 million financing round. The funding raised in the round will be applied further to grow the FlipGive direct-to-consumer app across North America and to scale FlipGive's new white-label embedded cashback rewards shopping platform.

Saab recently announced that it acquired BlueBear Systems Group Ltd, based in the United Kingdom. The acquisition of all shares in BlueBear is part of Saab’s international growth journey strategy across key markets, which include the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and Germany.

Spencer Health Solutions - a health technology provider focused on improving patient engagement and medication adherence for clinical trials and commercial pharmaceutical programs while also easing the burden of medication management for patients and caregivers - recently announced the successful close of its Series D funding round, having raised an initial $43 million with additional funding expected before the end of the year. This funding round reflected the progress made at Spencer Health Solutions and the significant market response to its platform.

Superframe - an AI-powered tool for optimizing companies’ Go To Market tool stack configuration - recently announced that it has raised a $5 million Seed round led by Dan Scholnick (Four Rivers) and Designer Fund and joined by a consortium of angel investors, including Essence VC, Nick Mehta, Lauren Antonoff, Pete Kazanjy, Bob Moore, Leslie Fine, and others.

ViAqua Therapeutics - a biotechnology company and developer of an orally administered RNA-particle platform to promote and improve animal health in aquaculture - recently announced it has completed a US$8.25 million round led by S2G Ventures with participation from Rabo Ventures, The Trendlines Group Ltd., Agriline Limited, Nutreco, I-Lab Angels and Circle Investments LLC.

Integral - an innovator in safeguarding privacy and maximizing data quality - recently announced it raised a $6.9 million seed round to protect sensitive health data and provide automated expert certification software enabling health and life sciences companies to access compliant de-identified data in hours rather than months. Haystack, The General Partnership, and Virtue Ventures led this seed round of funding, with additional support from Also Capital, Array Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, LiveRamp Ventures, and Venrex.

Coalesce Capital - a private equity firm focused on investing in business services companies - recently announced that it has teamed with Freedom 3 Capital, an existing Examinetics shareholder, and management to recapitalize Examinetics, a leading provider of occupational health compliance testing services.

ThetaRay - a leader in next-generation AI-powered secure global payments - recently announced today a significant growth round led by Portage, with investments by existing investors JVP, OurCrowd, and others. This investment will enable ThetaRay to accelerate global growth plans and capitalize on significant market demand as Banks and FinTechs urgently look to replace legacy tools with next-generation financial crime detection technology. ThetaRay also recently appointed Peter Reynolds – who drove the company’s growth as Chief Revenue Officer as CEO.

Star Therapeutics - a biotechnology company interrogating novel biology to develop life-changing therapies - recently announced the closing of an oversubscribed $90 million Series C financing to continue the growth of its first-in-class antibody therapies and portfolio companies. The funding was led by Sofinnova Investments and included new investors Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Catalio Capital Management, Agent Capital, Soleus Capital, and NYBC Ventures, as well as participation by all existing investors, including Westlake Village BioPartners, OrbiMed, Redmile Group, RA Capital Management, New Leaf Venture Partners, Cormorant Asset Management, and Cowen Healthcare Investments. Including this Series C funding round, Star Therapeutics has raised over $190 million since its inception to create numerous portfolio companies.

Alabama Futures Fund (AFF) recently invested in Sequense Corporation. Based in Austin, Texas, Sequense is a workflow automation software platform created to supercharge travel agency business operations for independent and enterprise scale travel advisors. Sequense’s goal is to streamline travel business processes to save time, increase profitability and elevate the reputation of its travel advisor customers.

GenTwo - a Swiss-based B2B Fintech platform specializing in securitization of bankable and non-bankable assets - recently announced that it has raised a $15 million Series A led by US-based Point72 Ventures. In connection with the funding round, Pete Casella, Senior Partner and Co-Head of Fintech Investments at Point72 Ventures, joins GenTwo’s board of directors.

Micronotes - a financial technology company that leverages big data, artificial intelligence, and consumer engagement technologies to boost deposits, loans, and retention for financial institutions - recently announced that it has closed a $2 million extension to its Series C funding round led by Experian Ventures.

Sortera Technologies - an innovative material sorting company with a recycling platform powered by artificial intelligence, data analytics, and advanced sensors - recently announced the closing of a $30.5 million Series C funding round led by RA Capital Management-Planetary Health with participation from certain funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, the Mineral Resources Group - which is a part of Mitsubishi Corporation's Business Incubation Unit and Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions (MGETS).

Mercanis - a Berlin-based procurement suite solution company - recently announced the completion of its latest seed funding of $10 million. The funding round was led by institutional funds such as Signals.vc, DI Technology, and Speedinvest. Plus, successful entrepreneurs and well-known angels such as Dr. Ulrich Piepel, Dr. Marcell Vollmer, Mirko Novakovic (Instana), Victor Jacobsson (Klarna) also joined the round.

Alias Technologies is a company that is officially out of stealth mode with the launch of BeFake. This AI-driven zero-pressure social media app gives users the power of AI to creatively transform everyday moments with their friends. In just a few weeks since its launch, BeFake is already exploding in popularity and ranking in the App Store’s Top Free charts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) recently announced it has entered into a definitive purchase and assumption agreement with Algonquin, IL-based Algonquin State Bank and its parent holding company, First Algonquin Company. Pursuant to the definitive deal, MSUFCU will purchase all assets and assume all liabilities of Algonquin State Bank. The deal is MSUFCU’s second announced Illinois bank purchase in 2023.

ProjectDiscovery - the open source powered security company that specializes in the detection of new exploitable vulnerabilities - announced that it raised $25 million in a Series A financing round led by CRV, with participation from Point72, SignalFire, Rain Capital, Mango Capital, Accel, Lightspeed, Guillermo Rauch, Caleb Sima and Talha Tariq, etc. And at the same time, the company announced the launch of its ProjectDiscovery Cloud Platform, a fully-managed SaaS platform built on top of ProjectDiscovery's most popular open source tools to enable enterprises to discover and remediate vulnerabilities at scale.

Medcrypt is a proactive cybersecurity solution provider for medical device manufacturers. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Medcrypt co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) Eric Pancoast to learn more.

Deal Box is a blockchain-enabled tokenized funding platform democratizing private equity, venture capital, and investing in early rounds of businesses in frontier industries. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Deal Box CEO Thomas Carter to learn more.

The Goldman Sachs Group recently announced the sale of its Personal Financial Management (PFM) unit to Creative Planning (Creative). Creative is an industry-leading Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and one of the largest in the country, with over 2,100 employees across its affiliates and $245 billion in combined assets under management and advisement.

e.l.f. Beauty recently announced that it signed a definitive agreement to buy Naturium, a fast-growing, high performance skin care brand for $355 million in a combination of cash and stock, furthering its mission to make the best of beauty accessible to every eye, lip, face and skin concern. This deal is expected to double e.l.f. Beauty’s presence in skin care to about 18% of retail sales. The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close around September 30, 2023.

Clockworks Analytics - a leading provider of SaaS building analytics - recently announced that it has closed a funding round of $16.1 million. Carom Growth Partners led the funding round with participation from existing investor SE Ventures. This funding round brings the company’s total to over $28 million since being founded.

The Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro line of devices are expected to be announced on September 12 at an Apple Event called “Wonderlust.” According to credible analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), the iPhone 15 Pro Max is expected to drive up to 40% of all early iPhone 15 sales. 

Trinity Capital - a leading provider of diversified financial solutions to growth-stage companies - recently announced the commitment of $12 million in growth capital to Delphinus Medical Technologies, a medical imaging company that has developed SoftVue, a dense breast screening innovation that increases cancer detection and decreases unnecessary callbacks while delivering a comfortable patient experience.

Thyme Care - a leading value-based cancer care partner - recently announced a $60 million Series B fundraise co-led by Town Hall Ventures and Foresite Capital, with participation from current investors Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health, AlleyCorp, Casdin Capital, and Frist Cressey Ventures. 

Watts Water Technologies - through its subsidiaries, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and providers of plumbing, heating, and water quality products and solutions – recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bradley Corporation for $303 million, subject to customary adjustments.

Intelligent communication platform company Firstup recently announced that it has surpassed $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), underscoring its position as a market leader. With over 18 million employees connected worldwide, Firstup is the trusted choice of over 40% of Fortune 100 companies. Industry giants, including Amazon, Dow, Ford, and Hilton, rely on Firstup to connect seamlessly with their workforce, deliver personalized communications, and gain valuable insights to enhance employee engagement.

Quiq is a leading technology company based in Bozeman, Montana, that makes it easy for people to have a conversation with a company. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Quiq CEO and founder Mike Myer to learn more.