Venture Capital

Eruditus: $150 Million (Series F) Raised To Make Education Accessible And Affordable

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 18, 2024

Eruditus, a leader in making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments, announced today that it has raised a $150 million Series F fundraise led by TPG's The Rise Fund with participation from existing investors Softbank Vision Fund 2, Leeds Illuminate, Accel, CPP Investments and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

MyFO: $3.5 Million (Seed) Raised For Transforming Family Office Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 18, 2024

MyFO, a fast-growing platform for family offices and the wealth management professionals who service them, announced the closing of its oversubscribed $3.5 million seed funding round, led by Rhino Ventures. The platform simplifies and organizes financial lives by creating a comprehensive family office platform consolidating data, documents, and stakeholder management. The new injection of funds will scale its operations to meet growing demand, enhance its product offerings, and expand its team.

Monument Advocacy Raises Funding From Everlane Equity Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 18, 2024

Monument Advocacy, a leading national, bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm, announced an investment by Everlane Equity Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. This investment will enable Monument to continue offering integrated services to clients while supporting growth to deliver results in additional geographic markets and policy areas. Monument’s CEO John Murray, Founder C. Stewart Verdery, Jr., and Senior Leadership Team will continue to lead the business operations.

Manifest: Digital Wellness Company Raises $3.4 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Manifest is a digital wellness company building products for Gen Z, which has grown in popularity for tapping into desires for personal growth in romantic relationships, career success, financial abundance, and emotional well-being. The company has raised $3.4 million in funding from a16z Speedrun, HF0, Florida Funders, Soma Capital, Stand Together Ventures Lab, Transpose Platform, 305 Ventures, Mack Ventures, and other angel investors to give Gen Z a space to proactively tackle what's in front of them and build daily habits of self-care.

SynthBee: $20 Million (Seed) Raised For Scaling Its Computing Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

SynthBee, a company building a scalable and reliable computing intelligence platform to amplify and accelerate human innovation, announced it has secured $20 million in seed funding to expand the company and build out the team around its proprietary computing intelligence platform. The funding was provided by Crosspoint Capital Partners.

Tako: AI Search Company Raises $5.75 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Tako, an AI search engine for visualizing and sharing the world's knowledge, announced it has raised $5.75 million in a seed funding round led by Kevin Hartz at A* and Ramtin Naimi at Abstract Ventures with participation from Stanley Druckenmiller / Kevin Warsh, Gokul Rajaram, Naval Ravikant, Stan Chudnovsky, Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Scott Belsky (Adobe), GC Lionetti (OpenAI), George Sivulka (Hebbia), Aravind Srinivas (Perplexity), Johnny Ho (Perplexity), Kanjun Qiu (Outset Ventures), Joe Montana (Liquid2 Ventures), Chase Coleman, Diogo Monica (Haun Ventures), Nathan McCauley (Anchorage Digital), Paul Yacoubian (Copy.ai), and more.

MEDiC Life Sciences: Functional Genomics Company Raises $5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

MEDiC Life Sciences, a leading functional genomics startup in Silicon Valley, announced a $5 million strategic investment from LG and Hanmi Pharmaceutical. This funding comes ahead of MEDiC’s planned Series-A round later this year. Previously, MEDiC raised $8 million in a Seed round led by a group of investors, including Illumina Accelerator, Top Harvest Capital, Primer Sazze, Big Basin Capital, First In Ventures, Valuence Ventures, Gradient, and Wing Venture Capital.

Renovus Capital Partners: Fourth Private Equity Fund Closed At $875 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Renovus Capital Partners - a Philadelphia-area private equity firm - announced the closing of its fourth private equity fund Renovus Capital Partners IV Core Buyout, L.P., which was significantly oversubscribed with total capital commitments of $875 million.

Omnea: Procurement Platform Company Raises $20 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Omnea - an AI-based procurement orchestration and supplier risk management platform - announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding to make procurement painless and give companies greater control over their spend. Accel led the funding round, with participation from existing investors First Round Capital and Point Nine, who led the previously unannounced $5 million seed round.

OroraTech: $27.3 Million (Series B) Closed To Advance Predictive AI In Wildfire Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

OroraTech, a leader in wildfire intelligence, announced closing its $27.3 million Series B funding round led by Korys, the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), and long-standing investor Bayern Kapital. This funding round will advance the next phase of OroraTech’s strategic growth, with the company further expanding key global markets and enhancing its predictive AI capabilities and orbital sensor network. Through predictive algorithm data fed by their thermal satellite network, OroraTech enables companies, organizations, and fire agencies to actively respond to the global wildfire crisis, reducing damage and saving lives.

Allyx Therapeutics: $3.3 Million Grant Awarded From NIH

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Allyx Therapeutics announced that it has been awarded a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health as part of its Small Business Innovation Research Commercial Readiness Pilot program. This funding round will support further investigation of Allyx’s lead clinical asset, ALX-001, a highly-selective, first-in-class, synapse-targeted, disease-modifying oral therapy in development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Amazon Investing Over $500 Million For Small Module Reactors

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing over $500 million in nuclear power technologies after revealing three projects from Virginia to Washington state. AWS has a significant need for clean energy as it expands services into generative AI (GenAI).

Innovation Works: Interview With President & CEO Ven Raju About The Early-Stage Investor

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

Innovation Works (IW) is one of the most active early-stage investors in the country and the most active early-stage investor in the State of Pennsylvania. So far, IW has financially supported over 761 companies that have gone on to raise $3.3 billion in follow-on funding, and IW portfolio companies have generated and retained over 20,000 jobs in the State of Pennsylvania. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Innovation Works President and CEO Ven Raju to learn more about the company.

Amex Ventures: Interview With Managing Director & Head of Business Development Ope Runsewe

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2024

American Express Ventures is a firm that harnesses the combined strength of American Express and startups to drive innovation and alter the trajectory of consumer commerce, enterprise and B2B services. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Amex Ventures managing director and head of business development Ope Runsewe to learn more about the firm.

Family Office Resource Group Reveals Launch And Equity Investment From 4100FS

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

The Family Office Resource Group (FORG) officially announced its launch, along with a growth equity investment from 4100FS. FORG provides a comprehensive and white-labeled family-office solution to wealth management and professional services firms that want to meet the often complex and ever-growing needs of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals and families.

Zinnia: $300 Million (Strategic Financing) Secured From Vista Credit Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

Zinnia, a leading life and annuity (L&A) insurance technology company, announced $300 million in financing from Vista Credit Partners (a subsidiary of Vista Equity Partners and a strategic credit and financing partner focused on the enterprise software, data, and technology markets). This new financing will accelerate Zinnia’s go-to-market strategy.

Lightmatter: Photonic Supercomputing Company Raises $400 Million (Series D) At $4.4 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

Lightmatter, a leader in photonic supercomputing, announced today that it has raised a $400 million Series D. This company valuation at $4.4 billion brings the total capital raised to date to $850 million.

Seedstars And Redwood Ventures Reveal Strategic Partnership To Accelerate Innovation In Latin America

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

Seedstars (a global organization dedicated to supporting startups and entrepreneurs in emerging markets) and Redwood Ventures (a leading venture capital firm in Mexico) announced a strategic partnership to foster innovation and accelerate growth in the Latin American startup ecosystem.

Mill Point Capital: Fund III Closed At $1.7 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

Mill Point Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm, announced the final closing of Mill Point Capital Partners III, L.P. And with about $1.7 billion of total capital commitments closed in less than five months from launch, Fund III, consistent with its predecessor funds, was oversubscribed and closed at the hard cap.

20VC: Third Fund Closed At $400 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

20VC, a London-based venture capital firm run by Harry Stebbings, announced that it had raised a third fund at $400 million. Stebbings is also best known for running one of the most popular VC-focused podcasts. The $400 million third fund will be split between seed stage rounds ($125 million allocation) and Series A ($275 million allocation).

BuiltWorlds And 1871 Partnering To Better Serve The Construction Industry

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

BuiltWorlds (a member network and innovation catalyst for the buildings and infrastructure industries) partnered with 1871 (a global innovation hub based in Chicago). BuiltWorlds and 1871 have long worked parallel to one another, with BuiltWorlds focusing on tech innovation in myriad construction sectors and 1871 serving multiple industries, including construction. The two organizations also recently agreed to combine efforts to better identify and elevate innovation in the construction/building technology spaces.

ForceMetrics: Decision-Assist Public Safety Platform Company Raises $22 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

ForceMetrics – a leading decision-assist public safety platform that consolidates critical information for first responders and provides real-time, actionable insights, saving time, money, and lives – announced today that it has raised $22 million. The company is backed by leading institutional firms, industry leaders, and public safety advocates, such as a lead investment by Costanoa Ventures with additional support from the Hobson Lucas Family Foundation (founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson), Stand Together Venture Labs (previously the Charles Koch Institute), GovTech Fund, Flybridge Capital, Growth Warrior Capital, and more.

Fin: Sustainable Logistics Company Raises $7 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2024

Fin, London’s premier operator in sustainable logistics, announced today that it has raised $7 million in seed funding and plans to expand its operations to the US. This funding round was led by MaC Venture Capital and participated in by Side Door Ventures, Pearls Capital, and Simplex Ventures.

Fortius Metals: 3D Printing Company Raises $2 Million (Seed+)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

Fortius Metals - an innovative metal 3D printing company - announced the closing of an additional $2 million in their Seed+ funding, bringing the total raised in the financing round to $5 million. This latest funding round follows previous investments of $3 million and includes the addition of new strategic investor Finindus, who joined after receiving clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The previous investors in the round include 412 Venture Fund, AM Ventures, and M7 Holdings.

MARAbio: Precision Immunology Company Raises $19 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

MARAbio Systems - a precision immunology company whose mission is to detect, treat and prevent Maternal Autoantibody Related Autism - announced it has closed $19 million in Series A funding led by MAK Capital One, LLC (MAK), the New York-based investment management firm. In connection with this new funding, Michael A. Kaufman and Craig Nemiroff of MAK will join MARAbio's Board of Directors. The funding round is open to new investors through the end of the year.

Claim: Social App Company Raises $12 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

Claim, a viral social app transforming how Gen Z discovers brands, announced a $12 million Series A funding round led by VMG Technology. Prior leads Sequoia Capital and Susa Ventures participated, as did new investor Lightbank.

TreQ: Quantum Computing Company Closes $5 Million (Seed)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

Quantum computing company TreQ Global announced that it closed an oversubscribed seed round at over $5 million. Lavrock Ventures led the round, with Creator Fund, Green Sands Equity, and firstminute capital joining the syndicate. And Lavrock's Steve Smoot will join TreQ's Board of Directors.

Unify Raised To Scale Creativity Of Revenue Teams

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

Go-to-market technology company Unify announced that it has raised $19 million of Series A and Seed financing. The Series A funding was led by existing investors Emergence Capital and Thrive Capital, with participation from OpenAI Startup Fund, Neo, Abstract, 20Sales, and Altcap. And the company has also announced Unify 2.0, the company’s latest product offering to scale revenue teams’ creativity, including the launch of Unify Plays and AI Agents.

Bitlayer: Bitcoin Second-Layer Network Company Raises $9 Million (Series A)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

Bitlayer, the first Bitcoin Layer 2 based on Bitcoin finality, announced it has recently closed a $9 million extension to its previously announced Series A funding round. The extended A round is led by Polychain Capital and co-led by Franklin Templeton, with participation from SCB Limited, Selini Capital, G-20 Group and other renowned institutional investors.

Noetica AI: $22 Million (Series A) Raised To Advance AI-Based Platform For Benchmarking Deal Terms

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 15, 2024

Noetica AI, an AI-based software platform for benchmarking deal terms, announced $22 million in Series A funding as it continues to deliver best-in-class capital markets insights to top law firms and financial institutions. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Thompson Reuters Ventures, Bling Capital, Flybridge Capital, Company Ventures, and TheLegalTech Fund.