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CIC Private Debt, part of La Française Group, the asset management division of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, has appointed Mounia Khamlich Fischer as Head of Risk & Operations.

Jolt Capital has appointed Patrick Koller, former CEO of FORVIA, as an operating partner, adding a veteran European automotive executive to its deeptech-focused private equity platform.

West Monroe, a global business and technology consulting firm, has promoted 11 professionals from director to managing director, effective March 1, 2026, as it continues to expand its leadership bench across industries, capabilities, and geographies.

Bain & Company has appointed Cédric Bovy as managing partner of its Amsterdam and Brussels offices and head of its Benelux cluster, effective immediately. Bovy will lead the firm’s business across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg at a time of rapid growth in the Benelux region, driven by strong client demand across Bain’s practices and capabilities. He brings 20 years of management consulting experience at Bain and has been a partner since 2006.

Ayar Labs, a provider of co-packaged optics solutions for AI scale-up, announced the closing of a $500 million Series E funding round led by Neuberger Berman. The financing brings the company’s total funding to $870 million and values the business at $3.75 billion.

Funds managed by Hamilton Lane have led an investment in a single-asset continuation fund established by private equity firm Latour Capital to acquire global uninterruptible power supply manufacturer Gutor from Latour’s 2019 vintage fund.

Capital Group has expanded its public-private investment partnership with KKR through the launch of Capital Group KKR U.S. Equity+, marking the firms’ first integrated equity strategy and extending their collaboration beyond credit into equity markets.

La Cocos, a fast-growing Romanian discount retailer operating a differentiated hypercash model, has been sold to companies of Schwarz Group following the full exit of its investor consortium, which included the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, CEECAT Capital and Morphosis Capital.

Northlane Capital Partners has completed an investment in File & ServeXpress, a provider of online document exchange, data and document management, and notification solutions for courts, government agencies, and legal professionals across the United States.

Searchlight Capital Partners, a global private investment firm, announced it has completed the sale of Euclid Transactional to CRC Group, a leading independent wholesale specialty and MGA business.

Serent Capital, a growth-focused private equity firm investing in founder-led B2B SaaS and technology companies, announced an investment in Autire, a cloud-based and AI-powered software platform built to support CPA firms performing employee benefit plan audits.

Aspen Standard Wealth, a holding company and long-term partner for independent registered investment advisers, announced that it has acquired BlueSky Wealth Advisors, a New Bern, North Carolina-based RIA with $1 billion in assets under management. The transaction represents Aspen’s seventh RIA partnership since launching in late 2024.

LPL Financial Holdings announced that financial advisor Robert Woodend, CRPC, has joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer and will leverage the Private Advisor Group Registered Investment Advisor platform as part of his transition to Memphis Planning and Wealth, an established practice aligned with both firms.

Kestra Private Wealth Services, a registered investment adviser subsidiary of Kestra Financial, announced that Eric Longstreth has joined its community of independent financial professionals in partnership with Kindred Wealth Partners, a Pennsylvania-based wealth management firm affiliated with the RIA. Longstreth, a veteran advisor with more than 20 years of industry experience, previously managed over $250 million in client assets. He brings expertise in traditional financial planning, tax planning, and estate planning, and is known for a comprehensive approach centered on managing each element of a client’s financial life holistically to support long-term outcomes.

Addepar has launched Addison, a native AI experience embedded in its investment platform, enabling advisory firms to analyze portfolio data through conversational, natural-language queries. The rollout marks a significant step in the company’s broader strategy to deploy native AI and intelligent agents across the investment lifecycle.

Tributary Group, a long-term investor focused on partnering with software and tech-enabled services businesses, announced a strategic investment in Softworks Group, a provider of regulatory and workforce software solutions for professional regulators and licensing bodies.

Savant Wealth Management, a fee-only registered investment adviser, has partnered with Heritage Financial Services, a Massachusetts-based wealth management firm overseeing $3.9 billion in assets under management, in the largest deal in Savant’s history. Heritage, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Westwood, Massachusetts, operates additional offices in Woburn and Rockland.

ArmorCode, a unified exposure management company, announced it has raised $16 million in new strategic funding, bringing its total funding to date to $81M. The Palo Alto-based company also appointed cybersecurity leader Phil Venables to its board of directors as it accelerates development of its Agentic AI Platform and expands its global enterprise footprint.

KeyCare, a virtual care company built natively on Epic, announced it has raised $27.4 million in a new financing round to accelerate the expansion of its AI-powered, Epic-based virtual care platform for health systems. The round was led by HealthX Ventures and included participation from 8VC, LRVHealth, BOLD Capital Partners, and Ikigai Venture Partners, along with strategic investors including WellSpan Health, Allina Health, University of Chicago Ventures, Edge Ventures, and Exact Sciences Inc. The latest funding brings KeyCare’s total capital raised to more than $55 million.

Polares Medical SA, a clinical-stage structural heart company developing a transcatheter therapy for mitral regurgitation, has raised $50 million in a Series C financing to support the U.S. expansion of its MRace Posterior Leaflet Replacement system following strong clinical results.

EGI Battery, a Michigan-based advanced battery technology and manufacturing company, announced it has raised $10 million in a seed financing round to accelerate domestic production and commercial expansion. The round was led by TSV Capital and included participation from several prominent U.S. family offices.

Worldscape.ai, an AI-powered geospatial intelligence software company serving defense, government, and enterprise customers, announced the completion of its seed funding round led by Scout Ventures, with participation from Radius and Washington Harbour Partners.

Enhancv is an AI-based, modern resume builder that helps job seekers create professional, tailored, and visually engaging resumes and cover letters to increase their chances of getting hired. The platform offers customizable, ATS-friendly templates, content analysis tools for improvement, and advice to highlight achievements and personality. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Enhancv co-founder Volen Vulkov to learn more.

Superbo is a company that develops and provides enterprise-grade AI agent software and solutions that help organizations turn their knowledge and systems into intelligent, autonomous assistants and workflows to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

SIAA is the nation’s leading alliance of independent insurance agencies. For over 30 years, the organization has helped agencies build, grow, and evolve while enabling carriers to reach and perform with local independent agencies at scale. Today, SIAA is advancing that mission through SIAA NXT, an integrated insurance distribution platform designed to improve execution, alignment, opportunity, and innovation through enhanced services and benefits, including business intelligence across P&C independent agency distribution. Pulse 2.0 spoke with CEO Matt Masiello about SIAA’s origins, the evolution of independent agency distribution, and how the company is positioning itself for the next chapter of growth.

ALORA Innovations, an agricultural biotechnology company developing gene-edited crop traits that redirect plant energy from stress defense to yield, announced the appointment of Adam Helms as Chief Executive Officer and the close of a funding round led by the Neglected Climate Opportunities Fund, a subsidiary of the Grantham Environmental Trust, with participation from Toyota Ventures.

Grow Therapy, a mental health platform that enables providers to deliver in-person and online therapy and psychiatric care, announced it has raised $150 million in a Series D round as it expands partnerships with health plans, employers, and health systems. The financing was led by existing investors TCV and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with new participation from BCI and Menlo Ventures, alongside existing backers Sequoia, SignalFire and Transformation Capital. The company said the round reflects investor confidence in its strategy to improve access to and outcomes in mental health care.

ElastixAI, a Seattle-based AI infrastructure startup founded by former Apple and Meta machine learning researchers, has emerged from stealth with $18 million in seed funding to address the systemic inefficiencies and high costs of generative AI inference.

Alpa, a London-based hospitality-focused fintech startup, announced that it has raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding to build what it describes as the financial layer for hospitality businesses. The round was led by daphni, with participation from True., 2100 Ventures, firedrop, OPRTRS CLUB, Kima Ventures, Sonorcap, and several industry leaders including Jerome Tafani, former CEO of Burger King France. The company was founded by Anton Soulier, who previously scaled Taster across more than 100 cities, and is building a platform designed to bring real-time financial visibility to one of Europe’s largest and most operationally complex sectors.

Gushwork announced it has raised $9 million in seed funding in a round led by Susquehanna Asia VC, with participation from Lightspeed, B Capital, Seaborne Capital, Beenext, Sparrow Capital, and 2.2 Club. The investment will accelerate development of AI Feeds, the company’s AI-native content management system designed to help B2B businesses dominate discovery in AI search engines and generate real qualified leads rather than just traffic or impressions.