Venture Capital

BlackRock Invests In Willow Network To Help Financial Advisors Serve New Investors

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 8, 2024

BlackRock announced it has made a minority investment in Willow Network, a startup providing services to help financial advisors better serve a growing population of new investors. Willow will use the funding to launch two new certificate programs to help advisors better respond to the unique financial and planning challenges this next generation of clients faces.

HOMAGE Raises Strategic Investment With Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort As Lead

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 8, 2024

HOMAGE, leading vintage-inspired sports, and licensed apparel company announced a strategic investment of growth capital from Maximum Effort Investments, an investment advisory firm co-founded by Ryan Reynolds. Maximum Effort Investments will serve as the lead investor for this round.

Cache DNA: Seed Funding Raised To Transform Biological Sample And Data Storage Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 8, 2024

Cache DNA, a life sciences company transforming biological sample and data storage infrastructure, announced the closing of its seed round. The team raised an undisclosed amount from notable investors such as Climate Capital Bio, Exor Ventures, Hawktail, LifeX Ventures, Pillar VC, and Trousdale Ventures, including support from Illumina and founders such as Alec Nielsen.

Nudge Security Raises $16.5 Million To Help Manage SaaS Security And Governance At Scale

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 8, 2024

Nudge Security, a leading provider of modern SaaS security and governance, announced new funding from Forgepoint Capital. This funding, which joins Ballistic Ventures, brings the startup's seed funding to $16.5 million. Forgepoint Co-Founder and Managing Director Alberto Yépez will join the Nudge Security board in connection with the funding round.

RunReveal: Security Information And Event Management Company Raises $2.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

RunReveal, a Security Information And Event Management (SIEM) built to detect threats faster, announced general availability and a $2.5 million seed round led by Costanoa Ventures.

Peregrine: $30 Million Secured To Help Institutions Solve Urgent Problems

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

Peregrine, a data integration platform that enables state and local government agencies to protect and serve their communities, announced a $30 million Series B funding round led by Friends & Family Capital and Fifth Down Capital with participation by existing investors Goldcrest Capital, Craft Ventures, Godfrey Capital, and other committed partners.

Jeeves: Cross-Border B2B Payments And Corporate Card Platform Raises $75 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

Jeeves, a B2B payments and corporate card platform for businesses in Latin America, announced it had closed a $75 million credit facility with Community Investment Management (CIM), which is a prominent global impact-focused investment manager actively investing in Latin America. Along with supporting the company's rapid scaling, this financing will enhance Jeeves' financial product suite in its primary Latin American markets - Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.

Remepy: Hybrid Drug Company Secures $15 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

Remepy, a pioneer in hybrid drugs, announced that it closed a $10 million seed investment round, totaling $15 million when combined with earlier funding. This funding round was led by NFX and was joined by Vine Ventures, PsyMed Ventures, Supernode Ventures, and Firstime Ventures, while joining previous pre-seed lead investors TechAviv and Fresh.fund, Samsung Next, StageNext Fund, and 97212 Ventures.

StepSecurity: $3 Million Closed To Protect CI/CD Pipelines And Infrastructure

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

StepSecurity, a leader in protecting CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure, announced the closing of its $3 million seed funding round, led by Runtime Ventures. Inner Loop Capital, SaaS Ventures, DeVC, and several notable industry leaders participated as angel investors.

Anetac: Identity And Security Platform Company Secures $16 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

Anetac, a company that protects companies from blind spots of service accounts in hybrid environments, announced its emergence from stealth mode and $16 million in funding. This latest round of funding was led by Liberty Global, and additional funding was provided by Shield Capital and The General Partnership, along with Anetac CEO Tim Eades and cybersecurity expert Jason Witty.

Nanochon: Orthopedic Device Biotech Company Secures $4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

Nanochon, a Washington, DC-based orthopedic device biotech company, announced it has raised $4 million in its series seed prime fundraising round. The funding round was led by The University of Virginia Licensing and Ventures Group Seed Fund, with participation from Cultivate (MD), Alumni Venture Group, Mountain State Capital, and others.

Oasis: $35 Million Raised To Automate Non-Human Identity Security

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 7, 2024

Oasis Security, a leading provider of non-human identity management (NHIM) solutions, announced that it has raised a Series A Extension of $35 million just three months after emerging from stealth. The funding round was co-led by existing investors Accel, Cyberstarts, and Sequoia Capital, doubling the company’s Series A valuation. To date, Oasis has raised a total of $75 million.

Netskrt Systems: Content Delivery Network Provider Raises C$10 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

Netskrt Systems, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider uniquely focused on improving over-the-top (OTT) streaming video quality at the network edge, announced that it has secured C$10 million equity financing from Yaletown Partners, InBC Investment Corp, and Credit Mutual Equity.

CoreWeave: AI Cloud Provider Company Raises $1.1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

CoreWeave, a leading specialized cloud provider for AI, announced it raised $1.1 billion in new funding led by Coatue, with participation from Magnetar, who led the last primary round, and Altimeter Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Lykos Global Management. The new funding round will support the rapid growth across all business areas and CoreWeave's expansion into new geographic regions to meet the explosive demand for GPU-accelerated cloud infrastructure worldwide.

Baselayer: $6.5 Million Raised To Use AI For Fighting Fraud In The Banking System

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

Baselayer, a B2B platform company that leverages proprietary Graph AI technology to combat fraud and optimize business onboarding, announced it emerged from stealth mode with a $6.5 million seed round. The seed funding round was 5x oversubscribed and included investments from Torch Capital, Afore Capital, Founder Collective, Picus Capital, Gilgamesh Ventures, and notable financial industry executives, including Eric Woodward, former President of Early Warning Services, Jason Mikula, executives from Stripe, Brex, Valley Bank, Airbase, and 15 other fintech founders.

Securitize: Real World Asset Tokenization Company Raises $47 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

Securitize, a leader in tokenizing real-world assets, announced the successful completion of a $47 million funding round led by BlackRock. This strategic investment also includes funding from Hamilton Lane, ParaFi Capital, and Tradeweb Markets. In connection with the financing, Joseph Chalom, BlackRock's Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships, has been appointed to Securitize's Board of Directors.

Cohen Circle: Helping Accelerate Fintech Growth Companies Through Investments And Resources

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

Cohen Circle is an investment firm that provides transformative capital to late-stage fintech growth companies. The firm makes investments across the capital structure in the fintech, technology, and impact spaces, with over $5 billion in capital raised. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cohen Circle CEO Amanda Abrams to learn more about the firm.

BAXUS: Collectible Spirit Marketplace Company Raises $5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

BAXUS, a global marketplace for collectible spirits, announced a $5 million seed round led by Multicoin Capital. Significant contributions came from Solana Ventures, Narwhal Ventures, FJ Labs, and some high-profile angel investors.

Lendbuzz: $100 Million Warehouse Facility With Mizuho Americas Secured

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 6, 2024

Lendbuzz, an AI-based fintech company that helps consumers attain better access to credit when buying a vehicle, announced today that it has closed a $100 million warehouse facility with Mizuho Americas.

Infinitopes: Cancer Biotechnology Company Raises £12.8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

Infinitopes Precision Immunomics, an integrated cancer biotech integrating sophisticated platforms in precision antigen discovery with vaccine vectors capable of durably stimulating protective immune responses, announced the completion of a £12.8 million seed funding round led by Octopus Ventures.

Traceable AI: API Security Company Raises $30 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

Traceable AI, a leading API security company, announced a $30 million strategic investment from a group of investors, including Citi Ventures (the venture arm of Citigroup), lead investor IVP, Geodesic Capital, Sorenson Capital, and Unusual Ventures.

X10: $6.5 Million Secured To Launch Hybrid Crypto Exchange

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

X10, a hybrid crypto exchange that provides the centralized exchange experience DeFi lacks, has launched out of stealth with $6.5 million in funding. The company’s investors include Tioga Capital, Semantic Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Starkware, and Cyber Fund, and with notable angels like executives from Revolut and the founder of Lido, Konstantin Lomashuk.

SpinEM Robotics: €10 Million Strateic Investment Raised From Spineart

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

SpinEM Robotics, a leading deep technology startup specializing in navigation solutions for robotic spinal surgery, announced a significant milestone in its innovation journey. And the company has successfully closed a Series A2 funding round, securing a €10 million ($11 million) strategic investment from spine surgery company Spineart.

LiNova Energy: $15.8 Million Raised To Develop Ultra-High-Energy Batteries Utilizing A Polymer Cathode

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

SynOx Therapeutics: $35 Million In Debt Financing Raised From Hercules Capital

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

SynOx Therapeutics, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company developing emactuzumab for the treatment of Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumour (TGCT) and other diseases, announced it has entered into a $35 million loan facility with Hercules Capital. The deal strengthens the Company's balance sheet as it executes TANGENT, a registrational Phase 3 study of emactuzumab, SynOx's potentially best-in-class CSF-1(R) inhibiting monoclonal antibody (mAb) for the treatment of TGCT.

Unicorn: Spirits And Wine Platform Closes $5.8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 5, 2024

Unicorn, a tech-enabled platform for spirits and wine collectors globally, announced a seed funding round totaling $5.8 million. And the company is being backed by a combination of institutional investors, including Protagonist, Blue Equity, 640 Oxford, Middleton Partners, and noteworthy angels like Jason Pritzker, Edward Lando, Andrew Macdonald, Ken Fredrickson (Master Sommelier), the Wirtz and Merinoff Families, and co-founders of VII(N)-The Seventh Estate: Asani Swann and NBA All-Star and entrepreneur, Carmelo Anthony, further validating Unicorn’s entrance into the world of spirits and wine.

Enlaza Therapeutics: Covalent Biologic Platform Company Secures $100 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2024

Covalent biologic platform company Enlaza Therapeutics announced a $100 million Series A funding round. This round of funding will be used to develop Enlaza’s proprietary covalent protein technologies further and support the advancement of wholly owned pipeline programs to the clinic.

PsiQuantum: Utility-Scale Quantum Computer Company Raising A$940 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2024

PsiQuantum announced it will build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer at a strategically located site near the Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Australia. The Australian Commonwealth and Queensland Governments will invest $940 million AUD ($620 million USD) in PsiQuantum through equity, grants, and loans.

Inhabitr: AI-Powered Commercial Real Estate Furnishing Platform Secures $27 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2024

Inhabitr, an AI-powered commercial real estate furnishing platform, announced it has raised $27 million in a Series B funding round led by Hamilton Ventures and other influential commercial real estate owners and operators.

Plover Parametrics: $5 Million Raised And Specialty Brokerage Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 4, 2024

Plover, a tech-enabled commercial insurance brokerage, announced it has launched operations helping brokers obtain solutions for climate and emerging risks. Plover works on bringing specialty products to disrupted markets, specializing in wildfire, flood, wind, and other perils where admitted carriers continue to pull back.