Archives

The Footprint Firm Closes First VC Fund At €76 Million For Northern Europe Climate Deep Tech

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

The Footprint Firm announced it has reached a final close of its debut venture capital vehicle, Footprint Fund I, raising €76 million to back pre-seed and seed climate deep-tech and scale-up companies across Northern Europe.

Yolando: $8.5 Million Raised From Drive Capital To Launch GEO And Competitive Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Yolando, a Toronto-based competitive intelligence and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform, said it has officially launched commercially after raising $8.5 million in total cumulative funding from Drive Capital. The company positions its software as a way for marketing teams to measure and improve how their brands appear in AI-generated answers, alongside traditional search visibility.

NVIDIA Expands CoreWeave Partnership And Invests $2 Billion To Speed Buildout Of AI Factories

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

NVIDIA and CoreWeave announced they are expanding their long-running collaboration to accelerate the buildout of more than 5 gigawatts of “AI factories” by 2030, positioning the companies to meet surging demand for AI compute at a global scale.

PlusAI And TRATON Expand Partnership To Speed Autonomous Truck Launch In U.S. And Europe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

PlusAI and the TRATON GROUP said they are expanding their global partnership to accelerate the development and scaled deployment of on-highway autonomous trucking solutions in the United States and Europe, as PlusAI advances toward a public listing through its previously announced business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IX.

Epic Angels Backs Refurbi Seed Extension To Scale LATAM Refurbished Smartphone Ecosystem

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Epic Angels, the global all-female investor collective, has invested in Refurbi, a Colombia-founded company building a circular ecosystem for affordable, sustainable refurbished smartphones, as the startup raises a $4 million seed extension round across equity and debt.

Franklin Templeton Rebrands Alcentra And Benefit Street Partners Under Unified BSP Alternative Credit Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Franklin Templeton has aligned its U.S. and European alternative credit businesses, Benefit Street Partners and Alcentra, under an updated Benefit Street Partners (BSP) brand, completing the firms’ integration following Franklin Templeton’s acquisitions of BSP in 2019 and Alcentra in 2022.

MyARC: Over $2 Million Raised To Launch Next-Generation Platform For Fitness Creators

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

MyARC, a platform designed to help fitness creators train their communities at scale, announced the launch of a next-generation product to support, monetise, and grow creator-led fitness businesses. The company also disclosed a $2 million-plus funding round with participation from Araya Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Techstars, and G Fund.

Rocket Software: Interview With President Of Data Modernization Michael Curry About Modernizing Outdated IT Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Rocket Software develops enterprise software products that help large organizations modernize, optimize, integrate, and secure their outdatedIT systems, especially mainframe, IBM i, and other mission-critical infrastructure. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Rocket Software President of Data Modernization, Michael Curry, to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

DemandScience Adds Product And Board Leaders To Push AI-Based B2B Marketing Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

DemandScience has expanded its leadership team as it scales its AI-driven Precision Performance Marketing business, naming Aislinn Wright as senior vice president of product management and appointing Adam Kocoloski to its board of directors.

Pivotal Group Sells GlobalMeet To Constellation Software’s N. Harris Computer Corp.

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Pivotal Group has sold GlobalMeet, an enterprise webcasting and virtual events platform used by more than half of the Fortune 500, to N. Harris Computer Corporation, an operating group of Constellation Software.

CVC To Buy Marathon Asset Management In Deal Valued Up To $1.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

CVC and Marathon Asset Management announced they have agreed to a transaction in which CVC will acquire 100% of Marathon in a cash-and-equity deal, with a base consideration valued at up to $1.2 billion.

Synthesia: $200 Million Series E At $4 Billion Valuation Raised To Expand AI Video And Agentic Workforce Training

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Synthesia, a London-headquartered AI video platform focused on helping organizations create and share knowledge, said it has raised a $200 million Series E round at a $4 billion valuation, positioning the company to accelerate product development aimed at enterprise learning, internal communications, and upskilling.

Guild Garage Group Partners With West Virginia’s Varney Door Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Guild Garage Group, an alliance of residential garage door service companies, said it has completed a partnership with Varney Door Company, a family-owned residential garage door service provider based in Barboursville, West Virginia.

KPS Capital Partners to Buy Control Of Novacel From Chargeurs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

KPS Capital Partners announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Novacel, the surface protection solutions business currently owned by Compagnie Chargeurs Invest SA. Chargeurs will reinvest alongside KPS and retain a 25% ownership interest in the company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Buyers Edge Platform Acquires United Fresh Consortium To Launch European Fresh Division

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Buyers Edge Platform, a digital procurement network and solutions provider for the foodservice industry, has acquired the United Fresh Consortium (UFC), a UK-based fresh produce platform, in what the company called its first European acquisition in the fresh produce space. The deal marks the launch of Buyers Edge Platform’s Fresh division in Europe and is positioned as the opening move in a broader push to expand its produce management model beyond North America.

Everything: $6.9 Million Seed Funding Raised To Build A Unified Perps and Markets ‘Everything Exchange’ With Humanity Verification

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Everything, a Hong Kong-based startup positioning itself as an “everything exchange” spanning perpetual futures, spot markets, prediction markets, and payments, has raised a $6.9 million seed round as it builds a unified trading experience across Telegram, mobile, and web.

Columbia University Names Jennifer L. Mnookin As President-Designate

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Columbia University’s Board of Trustees has appointed Jennifer L. Mnookin, a legal scholar and the current chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as the University’s next president, with her term set to begin July 1, 2026.

Hivemind And CPIC IMHK Partner To Launch $500 Million Real-World Asset Tokenization Fund Strategy

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Hivemind Capital announced it has formed a strategic partnership with CPIC Investment Management to build a fund platform focused on tokenizing select real-world assets for institutional and other eligible non-retail counterparties, with an initial target capacity of up to $500 million.

Latham: Insurance Transactional And Regulatory Partner Frank Monaco Joins In New York

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Latham & Watkins announced insurance transactional and regulatory partner Frank Monaco has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in its Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice, adding experience advising insurers and reinsurers on complex deals and regulatory matters.

2150 Closes €210 Million Second Fund, Lifting AUM To €500 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 26, 2026

Venture firm 2150 said it has reached a final close on its second fund at €210 million, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to €500 million as it continues investing in technology companies aimed at reshaping cities and the industries that power them.

Microsoft Research Unveils Rho-Alpha Robotics Model To Bring Physical AI To Real-World Manipulation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

Enechain: Japan Power Trading Startup Raises About $32 Million, Says Report

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

Japan power trading startup enechain has raised ¥5.05 billion (about $31.9 million) in an additional funding round to support business expansion. The round includes investors such as Soros Capital Management and Coreline Ventures, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. The person said the financing details have not yet been publicly disclosed.

GM To Shift Buick Envision Production From China To U.S.

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

General Motors will end production in China of the Buick Envision, a midsize SUV it has imported into the United States for nearly a decade, and will instead manufacture the next generation of the vehicle at its assembly plant in the Kansas City area starting in 2028, Reuters reported.

Anonymous Content Appoints Darren Walker As President And CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

Anonymous Content has appointed Darren Walker as President and CEO, bringing in a prominent leader from the philanthropic and cultural sector to guide the company’s next chapter as it continues to emphasize creative independence and ambitious storytelling.

NAMM Adds Eight New Directors As 2026 Board Class Begins Three-Year Term

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants, announced eight newly elected directors who will join the organization’s Board of Directors in 2026, with each set to serve a three year term running through January 2029. The announcement was made at the 2026 NAMM Show during the association’s annual meeting of members.

Enovix Realigns Operations Leadership Ahead Of Malaysia Mass Production Ramp

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

Enovix announced it is reshaping its operations leadership as it moves toward mass production of its silicon anode batteries, with a focus on “proven, high volume battery manufacturing leadership” and clearer operational accountability as the company prepares to scale output for smartphones, smart eyewear, defense, and other IoT markets.

Remote: Interview With Co-Founder & CEO Job van der Voort About The HR Platform Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 25, 2026

Remote is the all-in-one HR and payroll platform with a mission to create opportunity everywhere. Remote does this by making it simple for companies to find, hire, manage, and pay teams anywhere in the world–combining deep local expertise with a unified platform built for compliance, security, and ease of use. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Remote co-founder and CEO Job van der Voort to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Santa Barbara Venture Partners: Interview With Founder & Managing Partner Dan Engel

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 24, 2026

Santa Barbara Venture Partners is a Santa Barbara-based venture capital firm that invests in software companies and helps portfolio companies accelerate marketing and customer acquisition through its 100+ LP expert network. The VC firm has a unique approach to VC in that it believes in producing ongoing liquidity and cash distributions for its Limited Partners, and has already completed eight successful exits after just five and a half years, a huge industry outlier in terms of performance. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Santa Barbara Venture Partners Founder and Managing Partner Dan Engel to gain a deeper understanding of the firm.

Leidos And OpenAI Partner To Bring Generative And Agentic AI Into Federal Agency Workflows

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 24, 2026

Leidos and OpenAI have entered into a partnership to deploy artificial intelligence to support national priorities, with a focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations.

Sakana AI Announces Strategic Partnership With Google

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 24, 2026

Sakana AI announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Google following its Series B round, and that Google is also making a financial investment in the company to further strengthen the relationship.