Archives

Origin Investments - a leading real estate fund manager - announced the final close of Origin Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund II (QOZ Fund II) after raising over $300 million which follows raising more than $264 million for Origin Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund I (QOZ Fund I). And with that level of fundraising achieved, Origin ranks in the top 2% of QOZ managers that report equity raised, according to proprietary industry research by Novogradac.

Fedi - a U.S.-based developer of community-empowering financial and data technology - announced that it has raised $17 million in a Series A funding round and the company is set to pre-launch an alpha version of Fedi for builders later this month.

Supply chain software company Pando recently announced it raised $30 million in a Series B funding round.

Embr Labs - the company behind Embr Wave, the leading wearable to treat the symptoms of menopause - announced that it has raised $35 million via intellectual property (IP)-based debt financing.

Novidea - a company that is known as the creator of a born-in-the-cloud and data-driven platform optimizing the entire insurance policy and distribution lifecycle - announced that it has raised $50 million in Series C funding.

NBCUniversal’s global advertising head Linda Yaccarino has resigned from the media giant to join the social media platform company Twitter as its next chief executive. This hiring was confirmed by Twitter’s owner Elon Musk, who is also known as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla as well.

Differential Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital fund that was founded by data scientists and entrepreneurs for data-focused entrepreneurs. To learn more about the firm, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Differential Ventures' managing partner and co-founder Nick Adams.

LifeOmic is a company that works with healthcare providers, researchers, and health-focused enterprises to aggregate and utilize health data to improve patient outcomes and provide valuable, actionable insights. To learn more about LifeOmic, Pulse 2.0 interviewed the company’s chief medical officer, Dr. Shelagh Fraser.

Sierra Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the future of enterprise, healthcare, and infrastructure - which currently has about $2 billion in assets under management. To learn more about the firm, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sierra Ventures' managing partner Tim Guleri.

Healthy.io - a global leader in transforming the smartphone camera into a clinical-grade device - announced that it completed a $50 million investment. This Series D funding round was led by Schusterman Family Investments and is joined by Aleph and other existing shareholders.

Lightning AI is a platform for building machine learning and publishing Lightning Apps that glue together lifecycle tools. To learn more about Lightning AI, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Lightning AI CEO William Falcon.

Silicon Foundry is an advisory firm that is known for working with innovative global corporations to navigate new technologies, engage with key emerging leaders, and deliver high-impact customer, partnership, investment, co-creation, and acquisition opportunities. To learn more about the firm, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Silicon Foundry Principal John Zamora.

Mansa is a free ad-supported streaming platform that highlights Black content for a global audience. The company was founded by a group of award-winning filmmakers and actors David Oyelowo, Nate Parker, and Chiké Okonkwo as well as tech entrepreneur and film financier Zak Tanjeloff. To learn more about the company, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tanjeloff.

Sourcepass - an industry-leading IT Services and Cybersecurity provider - recently announced an additional $65 million in funding, bringing their total funding to $135 million. This investment will be used to advance their groundbreaking strategic initiatives. Sourcepass also announced the successful acquisition of Proxios

Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV (HCGF IV) announced recently that it exceeded a target size, doubling commitments to $254 million and becoming the 1st fund in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to be awarded 2X Flagship Fund status, 1 of circa 10 funds globally who have achieved this distinction, and 1 of only 2 such funds who are women-founded and women-led. This fund will provide growth capital to back visionary entrepreneurs in Ukraine and Moldova. HCGF IV is being managed by Horizon Capital, a U.S. private-equity firm investing in fast-growing tech and export-oriented companies in Ukraine and the near region, and led by Founding Partner and CEO Lenna Koszarny.

Vera Equity - a venture capital firm supporting early-stage companies through its unique access to talent - announced it has raised a $20 million fund and invested in 20 innovative fintech startups to date. The firm was co-founded by Michael Vaughan, former COO at Venmo; Jonathan Pomeranz, True Search partner and co-head of the Financial Services Practice; and True co-CEOs Joe Riggione and Brad Stadler.

Olyns - a leader in innovative recycling technologies - announced its Series A financing of $4 million led by Vanedge Capital. This funding round will accelerate Olyns' development of AI-driven technology and expand its dual recycling and media network.

Homz is the first national housing company dedicated to building a portfolio of sustainable and wellness-focused communities centered around branded attainable housing in key markets across the U.S.  It recently raised $50 million in pre-seed funding, with the lead investor in the round being Nanban Ventures. To learn more about the company, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Homz managing director Dipika Patel.

Aligned is a company that focuses on accelerating and streamlining B2B buyer-seller collaboration and recently raised $5.8 million in a seed round of funding. To learn more about the company Pulse 2.0 interviewed Aligned founders Gal Aga (CEO); Gal Deitsch (CPO); and Yotam Sela (CTO).

UC Davis Health researchers have received an American Heart Association grant to study chronic stress and cardiovascular disease in underserved communities. And a team of UC Davis Health scientists is establishing a new research center to study the impact of stress from everyday life on heart health in underserved communities.

Firmbase announced it has emerged from stealth and announced $12 million in funding for its Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) platform. This funding round was led by S Capital with participation from Meron Capital and a group of unicorn startup founders and angel investors. 

USC President Carol Folt recently announced a $1 billion-plus initiative for computing research and education across disciplines with a focus on AI, machine learning and data science, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, gaming, and blockchain.

Scale VC - a Missouri-based venture capital fund and studio investing monetary and social capital in early-stage tech founders - announced it is expanding its support with a $5 million Fund II, the largest venture capital fund raised in the city to date.

Convergent Therapeutics - a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of next-generation radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer - announced the completion of a $90 million Series A financing, led by OrbiMed and RA Capital Management with participation from Invus.

The advancement of artificial intelligence and its integration into crisis response can impact society and help save lives. But to actually be effective, artificial intelligence researchers, social scientists, decision-makers, and the public must understand and trust these tools. Led by Carnegie Mellon University, the AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM) is going to improve the response to societal challenges such as disaster management and public health by developing human-centric AI tools to assist with critical decisions. The institute is also going to develop interdisciplinary training to bolster effective and rapid responses in uncertain and dynamic situations. The AI-SDM is 1 of 7 AI institutes awarded today by the National Science Foundation. And a 5-year $20 million commitment from the NSF will support the institute.

Genemod - a cloud-based workspace collaboration software for biopharma R&D teams - announced it raised $4.5 million in seed funding co-led by defy.vc and LDV Partners, with participation from Dolby Family Ventures and Vulcan/Cercano Ventures.

Pluto Biosciences - a life sciences software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform - announced the closing of a $3.7 million seed round led by Silverton Partners. This funding round will fuel the expansion of Pluto's innovative platform, which gives scientific teams both a unified home for managing their biological data, and an industry-first and interactive canvas for analyzing and visualizing complex biological data sets using no-code computational biology pipelines.

Bullet Point Network is a company that helps investors and portfolio companies make better decisions using their Strategic Scenario Models. To learn more about the company Pulse 2.0 interviewed Bullet Point Network CEO and co-founder Mike Ryan.

Slash - an online banking platform for the hustle economy - announced recently that it emerged from stealth with $19 million in seed and Series A funding. The seed and Series A funding rounds were led by NEA with additional participation from Menlo Ventures, Connect Ventures, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Global Founders Capital, with participation from angel investors William Hockey, the founder of Plaid, and Justin Mateen, co-founder and former CMO of Tinder.

Metomic is a company that helps you detect and protect sensitive data across your SaaS apps. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Metomic CEO and co-founder Richard Vibert to learn more about the company.