Archives

Qodo: GenAI-Based Code Integrity Platform Closes $40 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Generative AI code integrity platform Qodo (formerly CodiumAI) announced $40 million in Series A funding, bringing the company's total funding to $50M. The oversubscribed round was led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg, with participation from Firestreak Ventures, ICON Continuity Fund, and Seed investors TLV Partners and Vine Ventures. Just 18 months since exiting stealth, Qodo's solutions have already been used by over 1M developers, and its enterprise platform has been adopted by industry leaders, including multiple Fortune 100 companies.

Airship: $4 Million (Pre-Seed) Raised To Make Home Services Easier

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Airship, a company that offers software tools and financial products to help home services owner-operators grow their businesses, came out of stealth with the announcement of a $4 million pre-seed round.

Cartherics: Over $15 Million Secured To Develop Immune Cell Therapies For Treating Cancer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Cartherics, a biotechnology company developing immune cell therapies for treating cancer and other diseases, announced that it has raised well over its target AU$15 million in an oversubscribed financing round.

Loti AI: Likeness Protection Technology Company Raises $7 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Loti AI, a leader in likeness protection technology, announced it has secured an additional investment from Khosla Ventures for its seed funding. This new funding brings the total capital raised to $6.65 million. FUSE and Bling Capital led the seed funding round, with participation from K5 Tokyo Black, Ensemble, and AlphaEdison.

Wispr: Voice Dictation Company Secures $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Wispr, a company building a more natural way to interact with technology, announced a new $12 million investment to help fuel the launch of Wispr Flow, a voice-first productivity tool. Built for Apple Macs, Wispr Flow allows users to speak naturally and see their words come to life: clear, concise, and up to 3 times faster than typing. This investment was led by Matt Kraning (CTO / Cortex at Palo Alto Networks) with participation from existing investors NEA and 8VC, along with Tim Junio (CEO of Expanse) and Alumni Ventures. Wispr’s total funding to date is $26 million.

Kennedy Wilson: Student Housing Construction Loan Portfolio Grows To $850 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Leading global real estate investment company and active national student housing lender Kennedy Wilson recently closed senior construction loans totaling $184 million to develop three student housing projects at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of North Texas, and University of California, Berkeley. These recent deals (completed through Kennedy Wilson’s debt investment platform) expand the student housing loan portfolio to $850 million to develop approximately 8,800 beds, with an additional $1 billion of new student housing loans totaling 8,200 beds currently being evaluated.

Aktis Oncology: $175 Million (Series B) Secured To Develop Targeted Alpha Radiopharmaceuticals For Treating Tumors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Aktis Oncology, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the discovery and development of novel targeted alpha radiopharmaceuticals to treat a broad range of solid tumors, announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed and upsized $175 million Series B financing. The funding was led by RA Capital Management and co-led by RTW Investments and Janus Henderson Investors.

Creative Planning: Strategic Investment Raised From TPG Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Leading independent wealth management firm Creative Planning announced that TPG (a leading global alternative asset management firm) has made a substantial minority investment in the Company. TPG is investing in the business through TPG Capital, which is its U.S. and European private equity platform. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Morgan Stanley: 1GT Climate Private Equity Fund Closed At $750 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) announced a final close of the 1GT climate private equity fund (1GT) at $750 million of equity capital commitments. 1GT targets growth-oriented investments in companies in North America and Europe, aiming to collectively avoid or remove one gigaton of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) emissions from the Earth’s atmosphere from the investment date through 2050.

White Oak Commercial Finance: $120 Million Secured Credit Facility Raised

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

White Oak Commercial Finance (an affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors) announced it closed a new $120 million 3-year Senior Secured Credit Facility with Sauder Woodworking, a Midwest-based manufacturer and distributor of ready-to-assemble furniture and custom manufacturing furniture solutions with operations throughout the United States and Canada, acting as sole arranger and book runner.

Salute Raises Majority Investment From New Mountain Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Salute Holdings, a leading provider of integrated asset management services for the data center industry, announced it raised a majority investment from funds managed by New Mountain Capital, a leading growth-oriented alternative investment firm based in New York. Current investor LLR Partners will maintain a significant minority investment in the company.

Republic Capital Group: Minority Investment Raised From Merchant Investment Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Republic Capital Group - a leader in providing investment banking services to the wealth and asset management industry and their clients - announced a minority non-control investment from Merchant Investment Management. This reflects Republic's industry leadership and commitment to be the most comprehensive investment banking solution to wealth and asset management firms and their clients.

TG0: £2 Million Raised From Netmind For Advancing AI-Based Human-Machine Interfaces

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

NetMind, an AI-based solutions company focused on advancing the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), announced its £2 million investment in TG0, a London-based developer of AI-powered human-machine interfaces. This funding was finalized in Q4 of 2023 (closing the round), but the two companies are announcing it in line with their strategic partnership. TG0 will be seeking a new round of investment later this year.

Forma Capital Partners Collaborating With Sweater Ventures For The Cashmere Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Forma Capital, an early-stage venture investor that supports portfolio companies through influential partnerships, announced that its affiliate, Forma Cashmere, has been approved as the sub-adviser for the Sweater Cashmere Fund, which will be known as The Cashmere Fund. Until now, Sweater Industries has solely advised the fund, which invests in early-stage growth companies through an evergreen interval fund structure.

Darkbright Raises $6 Million For Building Next-Gen Midcore Titles

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Darkbright Studios announced it has closed an oversubscribed $6 million seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures to build the next generation of accessible and engaging midcore titles starting with Smolbound, a refreshing new take on the life sim RPG genre. Additional investors in the round included Play Ventures, Anthos Capital, King River Capital, Rockaway X, Zentry, Caballeros Capital, Gam3Girl Ventures, and Offchain Labs.

Frontier Bio Reveals Achievement In Lab-Grown Lung Tissue

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 1, 2024

Frontier Bio announced a groundbreaking achievement in lab-grown lung tissue. By combining 3D bioprinting with stem cells' ability to self-assemble, mimicking natural organ development, the company has created complex microscale lung tissue. This innovation paves the way for advancements in treating respiratory diseases and organ transplantation.

University Of Minnesota: 25 Startups Launched In 2024, Surpassing Previous Record

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

The University of Minnesota has launched 25 startup companies in fiscal 2024, surpassing its previous record for the fourth year in a row. This announcement coincided with the launch of a new initiative to scale up the University’s commercialization work called Discover, Advance, Impact.

StepStone Group: Secondary Opportunities Fund V Receives $7.4 Billion In Commitments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

StepStone Group - a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions, advisory, and data services - announced the final closing of StepStone Secondary Opportunities Fund V, L.P. (SSOF V) and related separate accounts with $7.4 billion of capital commitments. With $4.8 billion of aggregate capital commitments, SSOF V more than doubled in size relative to its predecessor fund.

Ontinue: Redefining MDR with AI-Powered Automation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Ontinue is a leading provider of AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) services. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Ontinue’s VP of Security Operations, Craig Jones to learn more about the company.

Visier: Interview With Chief Innovation Officer Adam Binnie About The Workforce AI Edge Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Visier gives organizations a Workforce AI Edge: a set of AI-powered capabilities that help leaders understand the relationship between people and work, elevate the productivity of their employees, and win by adapting to change faster. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Visier chief innovation officer Adam Binnie to learn more about the company.

Culmination Bio: Interview With CEO Lincoln Nadauld About The Precision Medicine Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Culmination Bio is a company changing the world by discovering better health. It provides unparalleled value to healthcare organizations by unlocking biological data and enriching it with clinical, claims, and genomic data. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Culmination Bio CEO Lincoln Nadauld to learn more about the company.

The Celestia Foundation Raises $100 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

The Celestia Foundation announced it has raised $100 million in support led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Syncracy Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures, Placeholder, etc. And this brings the project’s total amount raised to $155 million.

Equitable Brings In $500+ Million Traverse City-Based Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Equitable, a leading financial services organization and principal franchise of Equitable Holdings announced that Mark and Jeff Spencer, a father-son team, Jerome Hartl, CMT, and Kirt Kilbourne have joined its wealth management business, Equitable Advisors. This group of experienced advisors moved their practices from Wedbush Securities, where they managed more than $500 million in combined client assets. Based out of Traverse City, Michigan, the advisors were drawn to Equitable Advisors for its independence model and technology capabilities that enhance the client experience.

Summit Financial Onboards Teams Representing $470 Million In Assets

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Summit Financial - an investment advisory firm with over 40 years of experience offering market-leading, multi-family office services that empower financial advisors to accelerate growth, announced that advisors from two firms, BFG Wealth and Canon Capital Wealth Management have joined Summit.

AT&T Selling Stake In DIRECTV To TPG For $7.6 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

AT&T announced that it will be selling its 70% stake in DIRECTV to private equity firm to TPG for $7.6 billion. AT&T bought DIRECTV in 2015 and signed a joint venture agreement with TPG a few years ago. TPG paid about $1.8 billion in cash for a 30% stake in DIRECTV when the valuation of the satellite TV company was around $16 billion.

LPL Financial Brings In $400 Million 57th Street Wealth Advisors Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors Ken Hutkin and Ron Winkler have joined LPL’s employee advisor channel, Linsco by LPL Financial, to launch 57th Street Wealth Advisors. And they reported serving approximately $400 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets* and join LPL from Wedbush Securities. They will operate the first Linsco office in New York City.

The Retirement Planning Group Brings In $185 Million Parrott Wealth Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Cetera Holdings, the parent company of Cetera Financial Group (the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub), announced that Cetera's employee-based RIA, The Retirement Planning Group (TRPG), has acquired Parrott Wealth Management.

LPL Financial Onboards $150 Million GreenPoint Wealth Management Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors Jeff Minucci, CFP, and David Ryzman, CFP, have joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, RIA and custodial platforms. They reported having served approximately $150 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets and joined LPL from Osaic.

Mark Cuban Foundation And Northeastern University Partner To Bring AI Bootcamp To Miami Teens

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

The Mark Cuban Foundation, which is in partnership with Northeastern University, is bringing the only AI camp of its kind, free of charge, to high school students in Miami. With a custom and highly relevant curriculum focused on teaching students about the latest developments in AI and Generative AI, the camp will provide the tools to make these technologies work for them and promises to educate, inspire, and fuel the next generation of AI professionals.

John Paul DeJoria Acquires Waterloo GIn

By Amit Chowdhry ● Sep 30, 2024

Passionate entrepreneur and philanthropist John Paul DeJoria - a self-made billionaire founder of Patrón Tequila and Paul Mitchell hair care - announced the purchase of Waterloo Gin, the first gin brand distilled in Texas. Developed by Treaty Oak Distilling in Dripping Springs, Texas, near Austin, Waterloo Gin launched in 2009 (named after Austin's original name Waterloo) before the city was rechristened in the 1830s for Texas pioneer Stephen F. Austin.