Startups

Canopy: $35 Million Secured To Help Accountants Build Sophisticated Firms

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2024

Canopy - a firm-wide operating system helping accountants build the firms they always wanted - announced it raised $35 million in an oversubscribed funding round. This funding round was led by Ten Coves Capital and Ankona Capital, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, and NewView Capital. The $35 million funding round will be channeled towards doubling down on Canopy’s vision for leveraging AI to make firms exponentially more efficient.

May Health: $25 Million Secured To Help Those Living With PCOS

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2024

May Health, a clinical-stage medical device company dedicated to helping those living with the endocrine disorder polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), announced it has closed a $25 million Series B financing round, co-led by Bpifrance and Trill Impact with participation from founding investor Sofinnova Partners, and Avestria Ventures and Kidron Capital Assets LP.

Bluejay Therapeutics Secures $182 Million in Series C Financing to Propel Clinical Pipeline

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2024

Bluejay Therapeutics, a leader in developing novel therapeutics, today announced the successful closure of a $182 million Series C financing round. This capital infusion will accelerate the clinical development of BJT-778, as the treatment for chronic hepatitis D (HDV). The funds will also support the progression of additional promising candidates in Bluejay’s robust pipeline for the treatment for chronic hepatitis B. As previously announced, BJT-778 has received PRIME designation from EMA based on early results from the Phase 1/2 study in HDV.

Pepper: Food Distribution Sector Company Raises $30 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2024

Pepper, a trusted technology partner for the food distribution sector, announced the successful closing of a $30 million Series B funding round. This significant funding round was led by ICONIQ Growth, with continued participation from existing partners at Index Ventures, Greylock, Imaginary, and Harmony Partners.

Wiz: Cloud Security Company Raises $1 Billion At $12 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 19, 2024

Cloud security company Wiz recently raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation, bringing the company's total funding to $1.9 billion. The current round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital, with participation from Greylock, Wellington Management, and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Howard Schultz, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.

In-House Health: AI-Powered Nurse Scheduling Platform Secures $4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2024

In-House Health has formally launched its AI-driven scheduling and management platform for modern nursing teams. The company recently raised $4 million in seed funding, led by NEA and TMV, with participation from pre-seed investors Vine Ventures and Longevity Venture Partners. This brings the total investment to date to $5.4 million.

Nami Surgical: Robotic-Assisted Surgery Company Raises $4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2024

Nami Surgical, a company aiming to transform the robotic-assisted surgery market with a breakthrough ultrasonic platform, has secured $4 million of investment and grant funding. St Andrews-based impact investment firm Eos Advisory led the seed $3.1 million round alongside the Investment Fund for Scotland, which is managed by UK private equity firm Maven and delivered by British Business Bank, Scottish Enterprise, and SIS Ventures. The company was also separately awarded a grant from Innovate UK, the United Kingdom’s national innovation agency.

Aardvark Therapeutics: $85 Million Raised To Develop Therapeutics For Activating Innate Homeostatic Pathways To Treat Metabolic Diseases

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2024

Aardvark Therapeutics has raised an $85 million oversubscribed Series C financing led by Decheng Capital, with participation from Cormorant Asset Management, Surveyor Capital, SymBiosis, Tetragon Financial Group, Walleye Capital, Laurion Capital Management, LG Technology Ventures, Cantor Ventures, Silver Arc Private Capital, The Prader-Willi Syndrome Association – USA, and existing investors, including Vickers Venture Partners and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research. Decheng Capital's Managing Director, Victor Tong, Jr., joined Aardvark's board of Directors in connection with the investment.

FleetPulse: Trailer Telematics Solution Closes $11 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2024

FleetPulse, a trailer telematics solution incubated within Great Dane, announced its launch as an independent company. And FleetPulse is now capitalized with $11 million, including seed funding led by Four More Capital. The company has also named former Uber Freight executive Carl-Christoph “CCR” Reckers as Chief Executive Officer.

GoodShip: Freight Network Orchestration And Procurement Company Secures $8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2024

GoodShip, an all-in-one platform for freight network orchestration and procurement, announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. This funding round brings GoodShip’s total funding to $15.4 million. It includes continued investment from Ironspring Ventures, Chicago Ventures, FUSE VC, and Cercano Management, with new participation from 53 Stations, Andrew Silver, Nichole Wischoff, and other angels.

Xona: $19 Million Raised To Develop A Network Of Small Satellites

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 18, 2024

Xona Space Systems - a company that is developing a network of small satellites to provide high-precision navigation services - announced an oversubscribed $19 million Series A funding round led by Future Ventures and Seraphim Space. And new investors NGP Capital, Industrious Ventures, Murata Electronics, Space Capital, and Aloniq also joined the round.

Arbelos Markets: Crypto Derivatives Liquidity Provider Raises $28 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Arbelos Markets, a principal liquidity provider in crypto derivatives markets, announced that it has raised $28 million in a mix of seed equity and debt financing led by Dragonfly Capital to build transparency-based trading infrastructure and offer bilateral and on-exchange liquidity in options and futures products. The investment firms Room40 Ventures, Selini Capital and Breed VC, corporate partners FalconX, Circle Ventures, Paxos, P2 Ventures (formerly Polygon Ventures), Deribit, Chorus One, StarkWare and Immutable, and angel investors at Aevo, Cega, Talos, Amberdata, and Framework also participated in the significantly oversubscribed round. Arbelos Markets was founded in 2023 by veteran industry operators and derivative traders Joshua Lim and Shiliang Tang.

Averto Medical: $30 Million Secured To Pioneer Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Care Medical Devices

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Averto Medical, a clinical-stage medical device company pioneering minimally invasive gastrointestinal care, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $30.5 million Series A financing. Cormorant Asset Management led the financing, which was participated in by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, LifeSci Venture Partners, CVF, and other investors.

Altera: $9 Million Secured To Build ‘Digital Human Beings’

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Altera, a company pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence (AI) by creating digital human beings, announced it has closed a $9 million seed round. This funding round brings the total to $11.1 million since the company was founded in December 2023. Patron and First Spark Ventures co-led the round, joining a renowned list of investors that includes a16z SPEEDRUN, gaming industry veteran and investor Mitch Lasky, co-founder of Valorant Stephen Lim, Supercell executive board member Greg Harper, Duolingo CBO Bob Meese, Vertex Pharma co-founder Rich Aldrich, Vamos Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and others.

ChangeEngine: Internal Marketing And People Design Platform Company Raises $10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

ChangeEngine, an internal marketing and people design platform that enables companies to deploy best-in-class programs without requiring employees to log in to separate systems, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. This funding round was led by Threshold Ventures and joined by Struck Capital and Bonfire Ventures. And ChangeEngine also welcomed Josh Stein and Adam Struck to its Board of Directors.

CoLab Software: $21 Million Secured To Help Hardware Teams Accelerate Product Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

CoLab Software, a company building collaboration solutions for mechanical engineering and hardware development teams, announced a fully subscribed Series B round with $21 million funding round. And Insight Partners led the round, with participation from existing major investors, including Y Combinator, Killick Capital, and Pelorus VC.

Sigma: $200 Million Raised To Redefine Business Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Sigma, the cloud analytics solution built natively for cloud scale, announced it has raised $200 million in Series D funding to continue transforming BI through its innovations in AI infrastructure, data application development, enterprise-wide collaboration, and business user adoption.

Thomson Reuters Ventures: An Interview With Managing Director Tamara Steffens

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Thomson Reuters Ventures (TRV) is a venture firm that invests in companies at the seed and series A stages building in tax, legal, fraud, risk, compliance, insurtech, and fintech. The firm has the full backing and resources of Thomson Reuters. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Thomson Reuters Ventures Managing Director Tamara Steffens to learn more about the firm.

Expanso Raises Strategic Investment From Samsung Next

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Expanso, a distributed computing company based in Seattle, Washington, has secured a strategic investment from Samsung Next, signaling major ambitions to transform how data is managed and processed worldwide. Expanso, launched in early 2023 by tech veteran and former Kubernetes Product Lead David Aronchick, announced its closed financing from Samsung Next (the electronics giant’s venture capital arm).

Phenomix Sciences: $7.8 Million Raised To Bring Data Intelligence To Obesity Treatment

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 17, 2024

Phenomix Sciences, a precision medicine biotechnology company bringing data intelligence to the treatment of obesity, announced it raised $5.5 million in Series A funding from new investors, DexCom and Labcorp, and existing investors, including Health2047. And the company has also been awarded a $2.3 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).