Archives

Riverwood Capital Acquiring Dynamic Pricing Platform Quicklizard

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 12, 2025

Quicklizard, a leading AI-based dynamic pricing platform for retailers and brands, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Riverwood Capital. This strategic deal is set to supercharge Quicklizard’s research and development efforts, accelerating the evolution of its platform and reinforcing its position as the go-to pricing optimization platform for enterprises worldwide.

Nirmata: $9.6 Million Raised For Expanding AI-Based Policy-As-Code Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 12, 2025

Nirmata, a leader in cloud-native security policy automation and governance solutions, announced a $9.6 million funding round led by Peak XV Surge (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA). Dallas Venture Capital, Dreamit Ventures, and existing investors Z5 Capital and Uncorrelated Ventures participated as well.

Warner Music Group Buys Controlling Stake Of Tempo Music

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 12, 2025

Warner Music Group announced that it acquired a controlling stake in Tempo Music Investments, which is an investment platform for premium music rights, from Providence Equity Partners. And Providence will remain a minority investor in Tempo and continue to work with WMG in an advisory capacity.

Altus Power To Be Acquired By TPG In $2.2 Billion Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 12, 2025

Altus Power, which is the largest owner of commercial-scale solar in the US, announced it entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by TPG through its TPG Rise Climate Transition Infrastructure strategy for $5 per share of its Class A common stock in an all-cash transaction that values the company at about $2.2 billion, including outstanding debt.

XOi Announces Acquisition Of On-Demand Data Enrichment Company Specifx

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 12, 2025

XOi, a provider of job site-focused technology solutions for the field service ecosystem, announced the acquisition of Specifx, an on-demand data enrichment and metadata retrieval platform for field service equipment. The acquisition was enabled by an investment from funds managed by leading global investment firm KKR. This funding from KKR marks the most significant milestone yet in XOi’s journey to build out its system of work for the field service ecosystem.

Cerabyte: Interview With Co-Founder & CMO Martin Kunze About The Data Storage Company

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 12, 2025

Cerabyte is a deep-tech company developing a new ecosystem for sustainable low-cost long-term data storage at the verified prototype system level (TRL6). Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cerabyte co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Martin Kunze to learn more about the company.

SimpliGov: Strategic Growth Funding Raised From JMI Equity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

SimpliGov, a leading no-code workflow automation platform for government organizations, announced a strategic growth investment from JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies.

Arax Investment Partners Acquires $1 Billion Firm Cedrus Financial

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Frontenac: Oversubscribed Fund XIII Closed At $900 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Frontenac, a Chicago-based private equity firm, announced the closing of its 13th fund Frontenac XIII Private Capital L.P. This fund was significantly oversubscribed and closed at $900 million of committed capital, well above its initial $700 million target. And the more recent predecessor funds, Frontenac XII (2022 vintage), XI (2018), and X (2014) totaled commitments of $520 million, $325 million, and $250 million, respectively.

Voyantis: $41 Million Raised For Customer Acquisition Growth Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Voyantis, an AI-driven growth platform for customer acquisition and lifecycle optimization, announced it raised $41 million in funding, bringing the total funding to $60 million. The funding round was led by Intel Capital with participation from Square Peg, Target Global, Jibe, Redseed, Alicorn, 20Growth, Essential and ICON. And Intel Capital Investment Director Lisa Cohen will also join Voyantis’ board of directors to further accelerate the company’s growth.

Limited: $3 Million (Pre-Seed) Raised To Transform Banking Through Stablecoins And Self-Custody

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Limited, a next-generation fintech startup providing stablecoin-based premium global banking services, announced it raised a $3 million pre-seed funding round led by Third Prime, with participation from The House Fund and Arche Capital. And the company, founded by Hussein Ahmed, aims to transform how businesses and consumers worldwide interact with money by merging the best of crypto technology with the familiarity of traditional banking—minus the institutional vulnerabilities seen in failing banks or centralized exchanges.

Coral: C$4.1 Million (Seed) Raised For Women’s Digital Health Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Women’s digital health company Coral announced the completion of a C$4.1 million seed funding round and the launch of its virtual care platform. The round was led by Brightspark, with participation from Diagram and The51 and joined by high-profile angel investors.

Sardine: AI-Based Risk Platform Raises $70 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Sardine, a leading AI risk platform for fraud, compliance, and credit underwriting, announced a $70 million Series C funding round, bringing the total capital raised to $145 million. The funding round was led by Activant Capital, with participation from new and existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Nyca Partners, Google Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Cross Creek Capital, Moody's Analytics, Experian Ventures, and NAventures.

Gravity Diagnostics: $5 Million Raised For Testing Solutions Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Advantage Capital (a leading impact investment firm that invests with intention in underserved areas), in partnership with the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA), announced a $5 million investment in Gravity Diagnostics. Based in Covington, Kentucky, Gravity Diagnostics is a clinical lab providing testing solutions in toxicology, pharmacogenetics, infectious and upper respiratory diseases, blood diagnostics, and COVID-19 testing.

Zeta: $50 Million Raised At $2 Billion Valuation For Banking Tech Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Zeta, a next-gen banking tech provider to financial institutions, announced it has secured a $50 million investment from a strategic investor valuing it at $2 billion. Zeta was previously valued at a pre-money valuation of $1.15 billion when it raised $250 million from Softbank Vision Fund 2 and several other investors in 2021.

Archer: $300 Million Raised From BlackRock To Advance Hybrid Aircraft Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Archer announced it raised $301.75 million, further helping Archer’s strong financial position and strategically positioning it to advance the development of its hybrid aircraft platform for the defense market and beyond. Some leading institutional investors participated in this financing, including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

TECLens: $9.3 Million (Series A) Raised For Advancing Non-Invasive Refractive Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

TECLens, a clinical-stage ophthalmic medical device company, announced it raised $9.3 million in a Series A round co-led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC Inc. and Yonjin Capital. And other investors include Rimonci Capital and Sunmed Capital. The funding is allocated to support the clinical development of the company’s non-incisional refractive correction procedure that utilizes corneal cross-linking (CXL) for reshaping the cornea.

Endera: $49 Million To Accelerate Growth In Electric Bus Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Endera, a technology and manufacturing leader in the electric bus market, announced that it has secured $49 million in its latest funding round. This funding round includes a $36 million equity investment led by Magnetar, with participation from Pulse Fund — whose founder, Tenzin Seldon, has joined Endera’s board of directors — and Endera’s longtime strategic partner, Pritchard Auto Company.

Harrison.ai: $112 Million (Series C) Raised For AI-Based Medical Diagnostic Support

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Harrison.ai, a leading global healthtech company and developer of AI-based medical diagnostic support and workflow solutions, announced the accelerated expansion of its operations into the US, which is a move supported by $112 million of Series C funding. The funding round was co-led by Aware Super, ECP, and existing investor Horizons Ventures. New investors like Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Ord Minnett and Wollemi Capital Group also participated, along with existing investors including Blackbird Ventures and Alpha JWC Ventures. And Harrison.ai’s total capital raised to date exceeds $240 million.

Positron: $23.5 Million Raised For Designing Made-In-America AI Chips

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Positron, a growing force in AI inference technology for AI computing, announced it has raised $23.5 million in funding from a group of investors, including Flume Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and Resilience Reserve.

Dentons: Richard Hong Joins As Commercial Litigation Partner In New York

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Dentons announced that Richard Hong has joined the firm as a partner in its Commercial Litigation practice, based in New York. Hong brings over 17 years of experience as a senior trial lawyer for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), addressing high-stakes litigation across the banking, financial, securities, and digital assets industries.

Morrison Foerster: Dan Harris Arrives As Partner In ECVC Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Leading global law firm Morrison Foerster announced the arrival of Dan Harris as a partner in the firm’s Emerging Companies + Venture Capital (ECVC) Group, based in its San Francisco office. Harris brings nearly two decades of experience working closely with a wide range of innovative food systems and consumer technology, consumer products, software, hardware, and marketplace-based companies throughout their lifecycles.

Closed Loop Raises Strategic Investment From Capricorn

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Closed Loop Partners announced that investor Capricorn Investment Group made a growth investment in its asset management business: Closed Loop Capital Management. Capricorn joins existing shareholders, JS Capital, Schusterman Family Investments, and majority owner Closed Loop Partners founder and CEO Ron Gonen.

SelectQuote Reveals $350 Million Investment From Bain, Morgan Stanley, And Newlight Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

SelectQuote—a leading distributor of Medicare insurance policies and owner of a rapidly growing healthcare services platform—announced that it signed a $350 million strategic investment from funds managed by Bain Capital, Morgan Stanley Private Credit, and Newlight Partners.

Sidley: Jane Rheem Named As Chief Data And AI Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Sidley Austin announced that Jane Rheem has joined the firm as Chief Data & AI Officer. Across her 25-year career, she headed the data analytics and data science functions at multiple organizations. And more recently, Rheem was Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Zurich North America.

LPL Onboards $1 Billion Team Salient Wealth Planning Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

LPL Financial announced that financial advisors John P. Schlatter, CFP, Robert Rojano, Alec Hoag, CFP, and Michael Madden, CFA, have joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, RIA and custodial platforms. They reported serving about $1 billion in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets and joined LPL from Osaic.

Sequoia Financial Buying $3.8 Billion Wealth Manager Carlson Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Sequoia Financial Group - an SEC-registered wealth manager with $22.6 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2024, and Carlson Capital Management (CCM), a Northfield, Minnesota-based investment advisory firm with $3.8 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2024, announced they have reached an agreement for Sequoia Financial to acquire CCM. The firms expect to complete the transaction on March 31. The financial terms were not disclosed.

DLA Piper: Former FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols Named As Co-Chair Of Transportation Practice

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

DLA Piper announced it welcome Marc Nichols, former Federal Aviation Administration Chief Counsel, as a partner and as the Co-Chair of the Transportation Practice. He will be based in the firm’s Washington, DC, office.

Carson Group: $365 Million Team Added To Partner Network

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Carson Group, a leading wealth advisory firm with over $40 billion in assets under management (AUM), announced a partnership with Jerod Wurm, CFP Managing Partner, Wealth Advisor, and Casey Frye, CFP, Managing Partner, Wealth Advisor, a Roseville, California–based advisory with $365 million in AUM. As part of the partnership, the firm will rebrand as Carson Wealth.

Kirkland & Ellis: Kemal Hawa Joins As Partner In Corporate Practice Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 11, 2025

Kirkland & Ellis announced that Kemal Hawa has joined the firm as a partner in the Corporate Practice Group with a focus on digital infrastructure. Hawa counsels clients in complex transactions across the digital infrastructure and telecommunications space and has extensive experience providing advice on commercial agreements.