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SkinnyDipped - a brand synonymous with delicious, better-for-you and anxiety-free snacks – recently announced it has raised $12 million in a Series A round that closed in August 2023. Led by the Miami-based entrepreneur David Grutman, the multi-pact partnership is set to propel the brand (founded by the mother-daughter duo of Breezy and Val Griffith) into a new era of expansion, innovation, and success.

Boston Metal - a global metals technology solutions company – recently announced the closing of its Series C fundraising, bringing the series total to $262 million. The new investors include Aramco Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Aramco; global investment manager M&G Investments; natural resource investment firm Goehring & Rozencwajg; and investment management firm Baillie Gifford. And existing investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures also joined the round, and several others made additional investments in the Series C, including Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, BHP Ventures and Prelude Ventures.

SaaSGrid - a data and analysis platform for SaaS metrics - recently announced a $3.3 million seed round led by Craft Ventures. And SaaSGrid is the first dashboarding tool built specifically for SaaS companies: users connect their data sources and get perfect, real-time charts displaying the metrics every SaaS business should be tracking.

Skai is a company that empowers leading brands and agencies around the world to manage enterprise-level, omnichannel digital campaigns across all walled garden media. Backed by nearly two decades of innovation, the company supports marketers with insights they can use, data they can trust, and the impact they can measure on the media that matters. The company’s marketing platform includes solutions for retail media, paid search, paid social, and app marketing. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Skai CEO Yoav Izhar-Prato to learn more.

Pitango HealthTech - which is Pitango VC's dedicated healthcare fund - recently announced the first closing of its second dedicated healthcare fund Pitango HealthTech II. And Pitango HealthTech II, a $175 million fund, will be dedicated to investing in entrepreneurs utilizing data science, AI, medical devices, and novel biology at the forefront of healthcare transformation. The $9 trillion global healthcare market is undergoing dramatic shifts, and Israeli entrepreneurs are building companies that are spearheading this transition.

Common Trust - an employee ownership buyout platform that enables small business owners to access liquidity by exiting their employees - recently announced $2.6 million in seed funding. Crossbeam Venture Partners led the funding round with participation from Schmidt Futures and additional funding from leading investors in the space. And the company equips selling owners and management to design a customized employee ownership trust, access aligned capital to finance the buyout, and implement a successful transition.

Pentathlon Ventures - an early-stage B2B SaaS-focused venture capital firm - recently announced it launched a second fund with a target of $55 million. This fund aims to invest in 25 B2B SaaS start-ups, supporting breakthrough solutions across enterprise digital transformation, e-commerce enablement, fintech, vertical SaaS, applied AI, sustainable tech, and health.

Enfabrica Corporation - a fast-growing startup building converged networking and memory fabric silicon and software tailored to the performance and scalability demands of AI and accelerated computing workloads - recently announced its successful close of a $125 million Series B financing round. The oversubscribed round - which increases Enfabrica’s valuation more than 5X - was led by Atreides Management, with support from existing investor Sutter Hill Ventures, and includes new investors NVIDIA, IAG Capital Partners, Liberty Global Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Infinitum Partners and Alumni Ventures.

GlobalFoundries (GF) recently announced the official opening of its US$4 billion (S$5 billion) expansion fabrication plant (fab) in Singapore. The 23,000 sqm fab will create 1,000 high-value jobs in Singapore, 95% of which will include equipment technicians, process technicians, and engineers. The official opening ceremony was graced by Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, along with  Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, Chairman of the GF Board of Directors, additional GF Board members, and GF executives, including President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Thomas Caulfield, Chief Manufacturing Officer Kay Chai (KC) Ang, and Senior Vice President and General Manager of GlobalFoundries Singapore Tan Yew Kong, among others.

Noetik - an AI drug discovery company utilizing machine learning and proprietary human data to develop precision therapeutics in immuno-oncology - recently announced that it closed an oversubscribed $14M seed financing round led by DCVC, with participation from Zetta Venture Partners, 11.2 Capital, Catalio Capital Management, Epic Ventures, Intermountain Ventures, North South Ventures, Chau Khuong and CJNV BioVentures, Enveda Founder and CEO, Viswa Colluru and Hummingbird Nomads Fund, and Recursion CEO & CFO, Chris Gibson and Michael Secora.

GHGSat - a global leader in greenhouse gas emissions intelligence - recently announced that it has completed its Series C1 funding round for a total of US $44 million in equity and debt. The company has raised over US $126 million since its inception in 2011.

BlueWave - a leading solar developer, owner, and operator in the Northeast U.S. - recently announced a major financing milestone that will enable the B Corp to achieve long-term ownership and management of its growing portfolio. The $91 million financing includes a debt raise of $64 million with KeyBank and a tax equity raise of $27 million with U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance for the construction and long-term financing of five projects in Massachusetts featuring innovative dual-use solar development attributes, also known as agrivoltaics, that are strategically implemented to benefit all parties impacted by the projects, including landowners, farmers, and surrounding community members. KeyBanc Capital Markets served as the coordinating lead arranger for the debt financing.

Intel Corporation recently announced that it agreed to sell a 10% stake in the IMS Nanofabrication business (IMS) to TSMC. TSMC’s investment values IMS at approximately $4.3 billion, consistent with the valuation of the recent stake sale to Bain Capital Special Situations. Intel will retain majority ownership of IMS, which will continue to operate as a standalone subsidiary under the leadership of CEO Dr. Elmar Platzgummer. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Certa - an all-in-one third-party management platform - recently announced it has raised a 2x oversubscribed Series B led by Fin Capital and Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, with participation from Tru Arrow Partners. And existing investors Point72 Ventures, BDMI (part of Bertelsmann's corporate venture arm Bertelsmann Investments), the family office of Bernard Arnault’s Aglae Ventures, The Chainsmokers-backed Mantis VC, and GOAT Capital also participated in the round. This funding round brings the total institutional investment in Certa to $50 million.

Esusu is a company that reports rental data to the credit bureaus to help renters build creditand to help owners maximize property performance. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Esusu co-founder Samir Goel to learn more.

Clio is a leader in cloud-based legal technology, offering software for lawyers ranging from practice management to payments to client intake. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Clio’s VP of Corporate Development, Shubham Datta, to learn more.

Shop Circle - a one-stop-shop software provider for e-commerce brands - recently announced the successful completion of its Series A funding round, raising $120 million. The funding round was led by 645 Ventures and 3VC, with notable participation from previous backers QED Investors and NfX, with the credit facility provided by i80 Group. This funding round was raised through a strategic combination of equity and debt.

Air Street Capital is a VC firm investing in AI-first technology and life science companies. The firm recently announced that it closed a new $121 million fund.

Qualcomm Technologies announced today that it agreed with Apple to supply Snapdragon 5G Modem‑RF Systems for smartphone launches in 2024, 2025, and 2026. And the company said that this agreement reinforces Qualcomm’s track record of sustained leadership across 5G technologies and products.

CLARA Analytics - a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for insurance claims optimization - recently announced its $24 million Series C funding, bringing its total funding to $60 million. This funding round was led by new investor Spring Lake Equity Partners, with participation from existing investors, including Aspen Capital Group, Oak HC/FT, and QBE Ventures.

Open Cosmos – a leading space tech business making satellites that gather data to solve pressing global challenges  – recently announced that it has raised $50 million in Series B funding from three leading impact investors, ETF Partners, Trill Impact, and A&G. The funding round also included Accenture Ventures, Banco Santander InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund and Claret Capital Partners, with participation from Taavet Hinrikus and Kheng Nam Lee.

The J. M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) announced today the signing of a definitive agreement to buy Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWNK) for $34.25 per share in a cash and stock transaction. This deal represents a total enterprise value of approximately $5.6 billion, which includes approximately $900 million of net debt.

Inspirit is the first and only education solution to combine powerful virtual and augmented reality technology (together as XR technology) with Stanford research-based instructional practices. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Inspirit CEO and co-founder Aditya Vishwanath to learn more.

Ibex Medical Analytics - a leader in AI-powered cancer diagnostics - recently announced it has closed a $55 million Series C financing round led by 83North. And additional participants in the round were Sienna Venture Capital and existing investors in the company, Octopus Ventures, aMoon, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures, and Dell Technologies Capital. The round brings total funding to over $100 million since Ibex's inception in 2016.

Qualiti.ai - a Utah-based software test automation solution - recently announced the closing of a $6.5 million seed round. Sierra Ventures led this funding round, with participation from Epic Ventures.

Viome Life Sciences - a longevity company committed to translating scientific advancements into practical and individualized health solutions - recently announced the successful closure of its $86.5 million oversubscribed Series C funding round. The major investors include Khosla Ventures, Bold Capital, WRG Ventures, and other existing and new ones. And the funding round brings Viome's total to $175M and will be used to support research and development and retail expansion efforts.

Google has updated the Google Store website with information about its new flagship smartphone devices: Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. These devices will be available for purchase on October 4, 2023.

SAP SE and LeanIX GmbH recently announced that SAP has entered into an agreement to acquire LeanIX, a leader in enterprise architecture management (EAM) software. The planned deal helps SAP expand its business transformation portfolio, giving customers access to the tools required for continuous business transformation and facilitating AI-enabled process optimization.

FIGUR8 - a leading innovator in the measure of musculoskeletal (MSK) health, has successfully closed a $25 million Series A-1 funding. The funding round was led by First Spark Ventures (FSV) with participation from DigiTx Partners and Phoenix Venture Partners.