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Helm.ai - a provider of next-generation AI software for autonomous driving and automation of robotics - recently announced it raised $55 million in its Series C financing. Freeman Group led the round, including investments from venture capital firms ACVC Partners and Amplo, along with strategic investments from Honda Motor, Goodyear Ventures, and Sungwoo Hitech. This financing brings the total amount raised by Helm.ai to $102M. Helm.ai will use the funds for R&D, the productization of its self-driving technologies, and to further execute commercial engagements with customers and partners in the automotive and robotics sectors.

Wally is a personal finance mobile application in 70 countries that helps people track their net worth, spending, and budgets. By connecting bank accounts to the app, Wally is simplifying personal finance management through easy-to-understand visualizations and notifications. To learn more, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Wally co-founder Saeid Hejazi.

Aether recently announced a $49 million Series A led by Jay Zaveri at Natural Capital and Trevor Zimmerman at Unless to power the next industrial revolution by helping extract rare metals and create new materials, leading to a more resource-efficient and sustainable future. This funding round will be used to scale its platform and grow the company’s engineering, machine learning, and hardware teams.

Rondo Energy - a leading provider of zero-carbon industrial heat and power - recently announced it has raised $60 million in a new financing plan to speed the rollout of Rondo Heat Batteries (RHBs) worldwide and to transform the global energy storage market.

HomeZada is an online and mobile digital home platform that manages information during the entire homeowner cycle, including owning, selling, and buying a home. Pulse 2.0 interviewed HomeZada co-founder John Bodrozic to learn more.

TTEC Holdings - a leading global CX (customer experience) technology and services innovator for AI-enabled CX with solutions from TTEC Engage and TTEC Digital - recently announced the availability of its new AI Readiness Assessment. Designed to help enterprises determine their current ability to leverage AI capabilities, the assessment provides a clear picture of their digital CX maturity and offers a prioritized adoption roadmap.

Synopsys recently announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Sassine Ghazi as president and Chief Executive Officer, effective on January 1, 2024. And at that time, Aart de Geus, chair and CEO, will transition into the role of Executive Chair of Synopsys' Board of Directors.

Fizz - a Gen Z-founded social media platform exclusively available for college students - recently announced the raise of its $25 million series B funding round led by Owl Ventures with participation from NEA. And Fizz rose above what Crunchbase considers the lowest funding quarter for Series B rounds in 3 years and does so on the heels of raising a $12 million Series A in November 2022.

Identity security company Veza recently announced that Capital One Ventures and ServiceNow Ventures have invested strategically in Veza, bringing the company’s total financing to $125 million. This funding will accelerate Veza’s product development, develop integrations for enterprise systems, and increase go-to-market capacity as it continues to meet the demand for its enterprise identity security platform.

AtScale is a company that enables smarter decision-making by accelerating the flow of data-driven insights. Pulse 2.0 interviewed AtScale CEO and Chairman Chris Lynch to learn more.

Grapevine Technologies is a custom-made platform designed specifically for B2B wholesalers and purchasers in the medical space. And the company’s software helps businesses in the healthcare supply chain to grow their network, automate operations, and achieve greater business success. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Grapevine CEO Luká Yancopoulos to learn more.

Fitted - a fintech software platform that reimagines brand and retailer connectivity - recently announced the closing of an $8.5 million series A funding round to fuel continued growth and meet customer demand. This funding round was led by Capital Eleven and included participation from Epic Ventures and Handshake Ventures.

Oxa is a company that developed the first breathing wearable to provide an immersive and personalized consumer experience for better relaxation, anxiety management and sleep with clinical quality in a garment. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Oxa CEO and co-founder Vincent Martinez to learn more.

MapsPeople is a company passionate about leveraging the endless possibilities of dynamic mapping to customers and believes that indoor navigation and positioning are the frontiers in the mapping world. Pulse 2.0 interviewed MapsPeople's CEO Morten Brøgger to learn more.

Nature Coatings - a leading biochemicals company transforming waste materials into bio-based, safe, and renewable solutions - recently announced the successful completion of an oversubscribed $2.45 million Seed funding round. The funding round was led by Regeneration.VC and The 22 Fund, with participation from actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio, Safer Made, and Portfolia.

Financial innovation platform company Exponential Exchange recently announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed $7.4 million seed funding round led by MaC Venture Capital to continue building a suite of financial instruments designed to bring new risk-management solutions into the automotive ecosystem and other industries with underserved asset classes.

Telmai is a data observability platform designed for open architecture. To learn more, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Telmai co-founder and CEO Mona Rakibe.

ThriveDX - a global leader in cybersecurity and digital skills training - continues its mission to reskill and upskill the global cybersecurity workforce by launching a Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Program to create job opportunities for diverse cyber talent at no training cost. And this program, made possible through strategic partnerships with non-profit organizations focusing on registered apprenticeships, aims to address the growing cybersecurity talent shortage while enhancing workplace diversity across the industry.

Altos Radar recently announced that it raised $3.5 million in a seed round of funding that will accelerate the commercialization of 4D imaging radars in driver-assisted and autonomous vehicles. The funding round - led by Hesai Technology CEO David (Yifan) Li, ZhenFund, and Monad Ventures - will be used to mass-produce and market Altos Radar's new high-performance 4D imaging RADAR Altos V1, which demonstrates revolutionary perception capabilities at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.

Advanced Ionics - the developer of a new category of hydrogen electrolyzers useful for expanding green hydrogen production - recently closed a $12.5 million Series A funding round led by bp ventures, with additional investors including Clean Energy Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and GVP Climate.

Intel and Synopsys recently announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to expand the companies’ long-standing IP (intellectual property) and EDA (electronic design automation) strategic partnership by developing a portfolio of IP on Intel 3 and Intel 18A for Intel’s foundry customers. And the availability of key IP on Intel advanced process nodes will create a more robust offering for new and existing Intel Foundry Services (IFS) customers.

Julie Heath - a leader in launching innovative public-private initiatives and social impact organizations and the architect of Indiana’s first entrepreneurship ecosystem strategy - will oversee a new Indiana University initiative to support students and faculty university-wide in creating and growing startup ventures.

basys.ai - a healthcare technology company co-founded by Harvard alumni Amber Nigam and Jie Sun in 2022 at Harvard University - announced the completion of its latest funding round, securing a total of $2.4 million in investments. This funding round will enable basys.ai to further its mission of empowering payers to streamline processes like prior authorization and utilization management.

Phospholutions - a pioneer in sustainable fertilizer technology - recently announced an additional $10.15 million investment from leading global fertilizer companies and investors to accelerate the commercialization of RhizoSorb in the US row crop market. And the funding round was led by Advantage Capital and included continued investment from Conti Ventures (a division of Continental Grain Company), Tekfen Ventures, Maumee Ventures, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Keytrade, a global fertilizer trader, also joins as a new investor.

Angeles Equity Partners LLC - a private investment firm focused on value creation through operational transformation - announced the final closing of Angeles Equity Partners II, L.P. and its parallel funds with total capital commitments exceeding its target of $500 million.

ClassWallet - a leading digital wallet-based purchasing and reimbursement platform for public funds - recently announced it closed its first institutional growth capital funding round of $95 million. Guidepost Growth Equity led the funding round, which included Education Growth Partners (EGP) and Lazard Family Office Partners. This funding round builds on ClassWallet’s rapid growth and supports its continued efforts to reshape the way government agencies do business.

Zeelo - a global transit-tech company powering bus operators, employers and schools to provide highly efficient, sustainable, and affordable private bus and shuttle transport programs - announced it has secured $14 million in its latest Series A extension round from three new venture capital firms, including FlatzHoffmann, the European growth equity investor; IREON Ventures, the venture capital arm of Motor Oil Hellas; and a prominent Boston-based family office with a principal that recently took their Nasdaq listing private for $6 billion.

The Arena Group Holdings, a technology platform and media company home to over 265 brands, including Sports Illustrated, TheStreet, Parade Media, Men’s Journal, and HubPages, announced that it had signed a binding letter of intent with Simplify Inventions, LLC and its founder Manoj Bhargava, founder of 5-hour ENERGY, to acquire certain assets of its subsidiary Bridge Media Networks, a privately held media group with two national television networks distributed across more than 100 owned and affiliated Over-The-Air (OTA) stations, 35 OTT, CTV agreements, and multiple MVPD and cable agreements, creating a well-capitalized, growing media leader with digital, commerce, print and video capabilities all supported by a unified technology platform.

Octave Bioscience - a leading precision care company focused on delivering a new standard of care for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases - recently announced the closing of a $30 million extension to its Series B funding round.

Jurny - the market's only vertically integrated artificial intelligence (AI)-powered property management solution - recently announced it opened a community investment round on Wefunder. Backed by venture capital and serving thousands of customers worldwide, Jurny has invited retail investors – who typically gain access only after an IPO – to participate for a limited time. This funding round has already experienced tremendous interest, garnering over $2 million within its first week open to the public.