Archives

Kyverna Therapeutics: $145 Million Raised To Engineer New Class Of Therapies For Autoimmune Diseases

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Kyverna Therapeutics - a clinical-stage cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune diseases - recently announced the closing of an oversubscribed $60 million Series B financing round extension, bringing the total Series B financing round to $145 million. New investors Bain Capital Life Sciences and GordonMD Global Investments LP join existing investors Gilead Sciences, Westlake Village BioPartners, Vida Ventures, Northpond Ventures, RTW Investments, Insight Partners, CAM Capital, LYFE Capital, jVen Capital, and others.

Hushmesh: Cyber Security Company Closes $5.2 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 25, 2023

Hushmesh - a cyber security start-up aimed at securing the world’s digital infrastructure - recently announced a $5.2 million early-stage financing round led by cyber and advanced technologies investor Paladin Capital Group, with participation from Akamai Technologies. And Hushmesh will use the funding round to develop the Mesh, a global information space with automated security built in, allowing people and organizations to operate online without fear of malicious attacks or data breaches.

Polars: Rust-Based DataFrame Library For Data Scientists Raises $4 Million

By Noah Long ● Aug 25, 2023

Polars - a Rust-based DataFrame library for data scientists and engineers - recently announced its seed funding of US$4 million led by Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) with participation from individual investors. The funding round will be used to expand the team, and build a compute platform to run Polars at any scale efficiently.

Modular: $100 Million In Funding Closed To Fix AI Infrastructure For Developers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Modular recently announced that it has raised $100 million in a new round of funding led by General Catalyst and filled by existing investors GV (Google Ventures), SV Angel, Greylock, and Factory. This second funding round follows the company’s first $30 million round from last year and will enable the company to supercharge our vision for the future of AI infrastructure for the world's developers.

Hugging Face: $235 Million Raised At $4.5 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Hugging Face is a collaboration platform for the machine learning community. The company recently announced raising $235 million in funding at a $4.5 billion valuation.

ExcepGen: Genetic Medicine Company Closes $14 Million In Total Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

ExcepGen is a genetic medicine startup that recently emerged from stealth after the successful completion of its newest funding round. The most recent $4 million round - which brought the company's total seed funding to $14 million - was led by RA Capital Management and backed by Gravity Fund, Apollo Projects (Sam Altman), and other premier investors.

Lockheed Martin Wins Deal To Deliver 36 Small Satellites For Space Development Agency’s Communications Network

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 25, 2023

The Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded Lockheed Martin a firm-fixed-price agreement valued at approximately $816 million to build 36 Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) Beta satellites. T2TL is part of an overarching plan to advance deterrence with more resilient space architectures for beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) targeting, data transport, and advanced missile detection and tracking.

Grip Security: SaaS Identity Risk Management Company Closes $41 Million In Funding

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 25, 2023

Grip Security - a leader in SaaS identity risk management - recently announced it is raising $41 million in Series B funding led by Third Point Ventures, with participation from YL Ventures, Intel Capital and The Syndicate Group. This funding round would bring Grip Security’s total funding to $66 million and marks a major milestone for the company, further accelerating its go-to-market strategy and advancing product development.

Massdriver: $8 Million Raised To Provide A Cloud Operations Platform To Reduce Infrastructure Burdens

By Noah Long ● Aug 25, 2023

Massdriver - an extensible cloud operations platform with an intuitive visual interface that enables self-service and reduces infrastructure burdens for software engineers and cloud ops teams deploying cloud-native applications without lock-in - recently announced it has secured $8 million in funding to "smash the barriers holding back engineering teams worldwide." This funding round fuels Massdriver’s mission to make cloud infrastructure easy, open, and approachable for every engineering team through an agnostic solution.

Sony Interactive Entertainment To Buy Audeze

By Annie Baker ● Aug 25, 2023

Sony Interactive Entertainment recently announced that it has agreed to acquire Audeze, a leading audio technology brand and pioneer of high-end gaming headphones. The deal will strengthen SIE’s efforts to continue innovating regarding the audio experience of PlayStation games. Audeze will continue to operate independently and develop multi-platform products while benefiting from being a part of the PlayStation ecosystem.

Subway Selling To PE Firm Roark Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Subway recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Roark Capital. The deal is a major milestone in Subway's multi-year transformation journey as it combines Subway's global presence and brand strength with Roark's deep expertise in restaurant and franchise business models.

Why Parsons Is Buying Sealing Technologies For Up To $200 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 25, 2023

Parsons Corporation recently announced that it has acquired Maryland-based cyber and technology company Sealing Technologies in a deal valued at up to $200 million. Launched in 2012, SealingTech expands Parsons’ customer base across the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community and further enhances the company’s capabilities in defensive cyber operations, integrated mission-solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML); edge computing, and edge access modernization; critical infrastructure protection; and secure data management.

Functional Finance: $8 Million Secured To Automate Data And Reporting For Insurance Companies

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Functional Finance - a software platform that integrates and automates data and reporting functions for insurance companies - recently announced that it has secured $8 million in seed capital, plus $2 million in SAFE notes for future equity investments, which will go towards product development and client relationships. This funding round round was led by venture capital and growth equity firms New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), Walkabout Ventures and Altai Ventures, with participation from industry titan Hank Greenberg's C.V. Starr Insurance and other premier investors.

Knot: Card-On-File Management Company Secures $10 Million In Series A

By Noah Long ● Aug 25, 2023

Knot - a platform that enables card issuers to automatically switch saved payment methods at the request of their users - recently announced a $10 million Series A raise led by Nava Ventures, with participation from Amex Ventures, Plaid, and 20+ world-leading CEOs and founders. And the funding will be used to scale Knot's services and accelerate the expansion of its merchant support.

Yahoo Buys Commonstock To Improve Insights For Finance Users

By Annie Baker ● Aug 25, 2023

Yahoo recently announced the acquisition of Commonstock, a broker-agnostic social and community-based platform that drives insights for retail investors. This deal advances the power of community for Yahoo Finance, and it will accelerate the brand’s strategy to deliver unparalleled retail investing resources, solutions, and experiences to investors of all skill sets and levels.

Aulos Bioscience: $20 Million Raised To Transform Cancer Care Through IL-2 Therapeutics

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 25, 2023

Aulos Bioscience - an immuno-oncology company working to revolutionize cancer care by developing potentially best-in-class IL-2 therapeutics - recently announced $20 million in Series A extension funding committed by Apple Tree Partners (ATP). The funds will advance Aulos’ lead human monoclonal antibody candidate, AU-007, through its initial Phase 2 clinical study in solid tumor cancers.

Hyro: This Adaptive Communications Platform Helps Enterprises Automate Workflows

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Hyro is a leading Adaptive Communications Platform that enables enterprises to automate workflows and conversations across their most valuable platforms, services, and channels, including call centers, websites, SMS, and mobile apps. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Hyro CEO and co-founder Israel Krush to learn more.

Converge Insurance: Cyber Risk Management Company Secures $15 Million From Forgepoint Capital

By Annie Baker ● Aug 25, 2023

Converge Insurance - the pioneers in advanced cyber risk management and underwriting - recently announced $15 million in Series A funding from Forgepoint Capital. Forgepoint Managing Directors Don Dixon and Andrew McClure have joined Converge Insurance’s Board of Directors as part of the funding round.

Propeller Bonds: This Underwriting Platform Company Offers Access To Over 7,000 Surety Bonds

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 25, 2023

Propeller Bonds is a fully automated end-to-end underwriting platform company. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Propeller Bonds co-founder and co-CEO Aaron Steffey.

Solu Therapeutics: $31 Million Raised To Develop Therapeutics To Eliminate Disease-Driving Cells

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 24, 2023

Solu Therapeutics - a precision-medicine company developing therapeutics to eliminate disease-driving cells - founded by Longwood Fund recently announced the closing of an oversubscribed $31 million seed financing co-led by Longwood and Santé Ventures, with additional participation from DCVC Bio, Astellas Venture Management, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

ConfiAbogado: Legal Services Platform Secures $1.65 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 24, 2023

ConfiAbogado - a legal tech startup and largest B2C labor law provider in Latin America - recently announced $1.65 million in seed funding led by Tuesday Capital. And participating investors also include DTB Capital, Seedstars International Ventures, 500 Global, Invariantes, Goodwater, GAIN Capital, and Side Door Ventures.

Abbey Labs: Identity And Access Management Company Raises $5.25 Million

By Annie Baker ● Aug 24, 2023

Abbey Labs - an innovator in identity and access management (IAM) - recently announced that it raised a $5.25 million seed round to help companies secure and automate employee access to sensitive data infrastructure. This seed funding round was led by Point72 Ventures with participation from Haystack, Essence Ventures, and angels across the security, infrastructure, and data verticals like Emilio Escobar (CISO of Datadog), Harold Gimenez (SVP of Engineering at Hashicorp), and Pete Soderling (Founder of Data Council).

FeelBetter: $5.9 Million Secured To Optimize Medication Management For Polypharmacy Patients

By Noah Long ● Aug 24, 2023

FeelBetter - a leading provider of medication management technology and pioneer of Pharmaco-Clinical Intelligence - recently announced that it has raised $5.9 million in funding. And Firstime Ventures and Shoni Health Ventures led the funding round with participation from Random Forest VC, The Group Ventures, and existing FeelBetter investor Triventures, bringing the Company's total funding to $8 million.

Nile: Next-Generation Enterprise Network Company Secures $175 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Aug 24, 2023

Topline Pro: $12 Million Secured To Enable Home Services Professionals To Manage And Scale Businesses Online

By Noah Long ● Aug 24, 2023

Topline Pro - a Generative AI platform enabling home services professionals to manage and scale their businesses online - recently announced $12 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures (Brian O'Malley) along with support from Bonfire Ventures (Jim Andelman), TMV (Soraya Darabi), BBG Ventures (Susan Lyne).

Algoma Capital: $100 Million Credit Fund Launched To Fuel Growth Of Whiskey Brands

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 24, 2023

CEO and founder Brian Rosen recently announced the launch of Algoma Capital with a $100 million credit fund, which would provide working capital to fuel business growth for whiskey brands and distilleries. With more than 40 years of industry expertise, Rosen has established a specialty lending platform to provide credit to premium distillers, brand owners, and suppliers looking to finance barrel inventory on an asset basis. The firm will deploy up to $10 million or more in each investment.

Boise Cascade Reaches Agreement To Buy Brockway-Smith For $172 Million

By Noah Long ● Aug 24, 2023

Boise Cascade Company recently announced that it has agreed to purchase Brockway-Smith Company (BROSCO), a leading wholesale distributor specializing in doors and millwork. The purchase price for BROSCO, including acquiring its two full-scale distribution centers, is $172 million, subject to certain closing adjustments. Boise Cascade plans to fund the transaction and closing-related expenses from its existing cash balances.

H.I.G. Capital: Deal Signed To Buy Ascent Global Logistics

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 24, 2023

H.I.G. Capital - a leading global alternative investment firm with $58 billion of capital under management - recently announced that one of its affiliates has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ascent Global Logistics, which is a leading provider of technology-enabled, expedited logistics and supply chain solution services from affiliates controlled by Elliott Investment Management L.P. Ascent’s management team will remain shareholders in the Company. Elliott has also agreed to retain a minority stake in the company.

University Of Tulsa Investing $75 Million On New Cyber Institute

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 24, 2023

The University of Tulsa recently announced the formation of the new Oklahoma Cyber Innovation Institute to undertake groundbreaking cyber research and identify, test, and commercially deploy new cyber solutions. This institute will build on the university’s educational foundation in cybersecurity to address cyber workforce development issues.

Why AeroVironment Is Buying Tomahawk Robotics For $120 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 24, 2023

AeroVironment recently announced its anticipated acquisition of Tomahawk Robotics, a leader in AI-enabled robotic control systems. This acquisition will enable deeper integration of both companies’ technology, leading to enhanced interoperability and interconnectivity of unmanned systems through a singular platform with similar control features.