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Layer, an AI application gateway built specifically for game developers, announced it has closed $6.5 million in seed funding led by Arcadia (Akin Babayigit’s new fund), and an investment vehicle connected to Riccardo Zacconi (co-founder of King), with participation from existing investors e2.vc (formerly 500 Emerging Europe).

TSG Consumer Partners - a leading specialist private equity firm focused exclusively on the consumer sector - announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire EoS Fitness, a leading US operator of High Value. Low Price. (HVLP) gyms. And EoS Chief Executive Officer Rich Drengberg will continue to head the company with his tenured leadership team and will retain a vested interest in the go-forward company.

FlexPoint, a trusted payments platform for managed service providers (MSPs) and the businesses they serve, announced that it has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Foundry Group, with participation from existing investors Haymaker Ventures, Garuda Ventures, Techstars, Far Out Ventures, and Cascade Seed Fund. This new funding round brings FlexPoint’s total funding to $19.5 million since launching in March 2023.

iCapital (a global fintech platform transforming the world’s investment industry for better outcomes) and Citi announced that iCapital is acquiring from Citi one of its indirect subsidiaries Citi Global Alternatives, the advisor to Citi Wealth’s global alternative investment fund platform.

Perion Network (a leader in advanced technology for solving the complexities of modern advertising) announced the acquisition of Greenbids, an AI platform that creates custom algorithms for campaign-level optimization across walled garden platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram and leading DSPs like Google DV360 and The Trade Desk.

Northleaf Capital Partners announced the final closing of its latest infrastructure fund, Northleaf Infrastructure Capital Partners IV (NICP IV). The fund exceeded its target of $2.25 billion and hit its hard cap of $2.6 billion. This fund is Northleaf’s largest infrastructure vehicle to date, underscoring the growth and consistent performance of the firm’s mid-market platform.

ClearVector, a creator of identity-driven security, announced its $13 million Series A financing to advance its mission to redefine cybersecurity by shifting the focus to identity-driven security. The funding round was led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Okta Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, and existing investor Menlo Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $16 million.

Blank Beauty, a technology company providing on-demand beauty customization using AI and robotics, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $6 million Series A financing, led by Evolution VC Partners, Kirker Enterprises, and EPSON.

Rentsync, a leading software and data company serving Canada’s rental housing industry, announced it has raised a significant growth investment led by Silversmith Capital Partners. This partnership with Silversmith enables the company to further invest in technology, expand its team, and pursue strategic acquisitions as it builds a comprehensive data, software, and analytics platform to address the challenges of Canada’s rental housing ecosystem.

A100x announced its second fund, a $50 million vehicle dedicated to supporting aspiring early stage founders in artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and blockchain, and is strategically designed to foster the next generation of companies that are building applications and middleware to solve real world challenges and foster enterprise and consumer adoption. And there is no better time than during this US administration to support these technologies.

Whalar Group, which is the global Creator company on a mission to liberate the creative voice, announced that they have secured strategic investment from a group of powerhouse investors: Marc Benioff the visionary founder of Salesforce, Shopify, and Neal H. Moritz the acclaimed Hollywood producer & founder of Original Film.

Acuren and NV5 Global announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine the two companies. This merger created an industry-leading $2 billion combined revenue for TICC and engineering services company.

Infinity Capital Partners - a leading provider of alternative investment solutions for registered investment advisers, family offices, and institutional allocators - announced the strategic acquisition of Soundlink Partners, a boutique investment firm known for its deep specialization in healthcare-focused investment strategies.

Cofactr (a source-to-pay and logistics platform for critical hardware manufacturers) announced the acquisition of hardware sourcing platform Cogbase.

Cary Street Partners announced it acquired IFS Advisors, a respected wealth management firm based in Sarasota, Florida, headed by seasoned financial advisor Daniel J. Wolff. This move continues a string of recent expansions for Cary Street Partners.

Prosus (a global technology company) and Despegar (Latin America’s leading online travel agency) jointly announced the completion of Prosus’s acquisition of Despegar at a purchase price of $19.50 per share.

Owner announced it is raising $120 million in Series C at a $1 billion valuation. The company aims to create a “Shopify” for local businesses, starting with restaurants. The funding round was co-led by Alex Kurland of Meritech and Shalini Rao of Headline.

Vistra announced that it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire seven modern natural gas generation facilities, totaling approximately 2,600 MW of capacity, from Lotus Infrastructure Partners, as part of $1.9 billion deal.

Wireless Logic - a leading independent global Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider - announced it welcomed General Atlantic, a leading global investor as a new minority shareholder, through investment from the firm’s BeyondNetZero climate growth equity fund. And the company’s existing shareholder Montagu (a leading mid-market private equity firm) will remain the majority shareholder, reinvesting alongside General Atlantic.

Origin, the world’s first Global Benefits Intelligence platform, announced it officially launched and it has raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Felix Capital, with participation from Acadian Ventures and Notion Capital. And additional investment has been secured from Tudor Havriliuc (former VP of HR at Meta), Paul Daugherty (enterprise AI author) and recently retired CTO of Accenture), Jacqui Canney (CHRO at ServiceNow), and Laura Modiano (Startups Lead for OpenAI in EMEA). The funding round values Origin at $106 million and will advance the company's goal to transform the global benefits industry by providing HR and benefits.

Azafaros, a clinical-stage company focused on developing disease-modifying therapeutics to offer new treatment options to patients with rare lysosomal storage disorders, announced the completion of an oversubscribed €132 million Series B financing led by Jeito Capital, co-led by Forbion Growth, and with additional participation from Seroba, Pictet Group and existing investors Forbion Ventures, Schroders Capital and BioGeneration Ventures (BGV).

Optimal Dynamics, a leader in artificial decision intelligence for trucking companies, announced a $40 million Series C financing round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. This funding emphasizes Optimal Dynamics' bold vision to fundamentally reshape decision-making across the trucking industry by building the first-ever autonomous decision layer of logistics.

Colovore, a leading owner and operator of ultra-dense and liquid-cooled data centers purpose-built for enterprise AI infrastructure in the metro edge, announced the closing of a $925 million debt facility provided by Blackstone funds. This milestone also marked a successful year for Colovore since affiliates of King Street Capital Management acquired the company to accelerate its development of new AI data centers across metro edge markets.

PhaseV, a leader in AI/ML-driven clinical development, announced the completion of a $50 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Accel and Insight Partners, and existing investors Viola Ventures, EXOR, and LionBird participated. This brings the company's total funding to $65 million.

Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for omnichannel brands, announced that it has raised more than $200 million in financing. This Series E equity funding is led by Strike Capital, with additional support via growth debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, and ORIX USA. New investors, Baillie Gifford, NewView Capital, G Squared, and Georgia Tech Foundation, joined the round and existing investors, Kleiner Perkins, Franklin Templeton, Founders Fund, Bond, Sozo, 137, and Lux, also participated. And the funding round raised Stord’s valuation to $1.5 billion, reflecting the company’s growth trajectory.

Proofpoint (a leading cybersecurity and compliance company) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Hornetsecurity Group, a leading pan-European provider of AI-powered Microsoft 365 (M365) security, data protection, compliance, and security awareness services.

DiffuseDrive, a next-generation physical AI company, announced a double milestone, raising $3.5 million in seed funding and multiple successful deployments with Fortune 500 companies. And the company’s breakthrough generative AI platform turns data scarcity into data abundance automating photorealistic content in hours giving enterprises a competitive edge.

Osaic, one of the nation’s largest providers of wealth management solutions, announced further expansion of its Osaic Institutions channel by adding five new credit union-affiliated wealth management programs. Previously aligned with CUSO Financial Services (part of Atria Wealth Solutions), these institutions bring nearly $500 million in combined client assets. Each credit union will remain member-operated under its existing brand.

Dazos, an all-in-one CRM platform for behavioral health providers, announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding from Radian Capital.

CGS Immersive, Inc. (a CGS company) is an innovation lab and training transformation engine dedicated to pioneering leading-edge Extended Reality (XR) training solutions for businesses worldwide. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CGS Immersive President Doug Stephen to learn more about the company and the recent debut of its new immersive roleplay platform, Cicero.