Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Venture Capital
⚡️Alva Energy, a Cambridge, Mass.-based nuclear energy company, raised $33m in Series A funding led by Playground Global. Segra Capital, NGP, Mercator Partners, Alumni Ventures, 8VC, Logos, Simon Holmes à Court, and Isabelle Boemeke joined. Go deeper
• Opaque, an SF-based AI platform for sensitive data, raised a $24m Series B led by Walden Catalyst, with participation from Intel Capital, Race Capital, Storm Ventures, Thomvest and Advanced Technology Research Council. Go deeper
• Inference Research, a Hong Kong-based quantitative trading firm, raised $20m in seed funding led by Avenir Group. Go deeper
• Integrate, a Seattle-based project management platform for multi-entity execution, raised $17m in Series A funding. FPV Ventures led, joined by Fuse VC, Rsquared VC, New Vista, Hyperplane, and Riot Ventures. Go deeper
• Electric Twin, a London-based developer of synthetic audiences, raised a $10m seed round from Atomico, LocalGlobe, Mercuri and Samos Investments. Go deeper
• Stanhope AI, a London-based deep tech startup, raised $8m in seed funding. Frontline Ventures led, joined by Paladin Capital Group and Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund. Go deeper
• Bearing, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based provider of security operations software, raised $4.5m in seed funding. AZ-VC led, joined by High Alpha, PHX Ventures and Lightbank. Go deeper
• Rivage, a Paris-based payroll software company, raised a €2.6m pre-seed round led by Partech. Go deeper
• Birch Hill Holdings, an NYC-based institutional onchain credit infrastructure company, raised a $2.5m pre-seed round co-led by ParaFi Capital and Castle Island Ventures. Go deeper
🌎 CryoBio, an Ithaca, N.Y.-based developer of frost-protection for crops, raised $1.3m in pre-seed funding from Marble, AgVenture Alliance, New York Ventures, Launch NY, FuzeHub, Klessig Trust, and Jade Cove Partners. Go deeper
• Maestro AI, a Parkland, Fla.-based platform for mortgage origination, raised a $1.2m pre-seed round. New Stack Ventures led, joined by Family VC, ZFO and Roark's Drift. Go deeper
Private Equity
• The Riverside Co. acquired Western Botanicals, a Spanish Fork, Utah-based nutraceutical CDMO. Go deeper.
Pubic Offerings
• PayPay, a Tokyo-based payments app backed by SoftBank, filed for what could be the largest U.S. IPO for a Japanese company. Go deeper
M&A
• Rezolve Ai (Nasdaq: RZLV) agreed to acquire Reward, a U.K.-based cashback rewards company, for $230m. Go deeper
• ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) agreed to acquire Pyramid Analytics, a business intelligence company that raised around $200m from BlackRock, H.I.G., Viola Growth, Viola Partners, Sequoia Capital, LIP Ventures Boutique, Jerusalem Venture Partners, Maor Investments, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings, General Oriental Investments, Kingfisher Capital, and Kreos Capital. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Keith Barr, former CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG), was named president and CEO of CarMax (NYSE: KMX). Go deeper
• James Campos, Virginia's former deputy secretary of commerce and trade, was named president of Red Post Energy Futures. Go deeper
• Sekhar Cidambi was named CTO at Nium, Danielle Gotkis as CMO, and Amaresh Mohan as chief risk and compliance officer. Go deeper
• Noel Geoffroy, formerly with Helen of Troy, was named global CEO of Vetnique Labs. Go deeper
• Michele Holcomb, former EVP and chief strategy and business development officer at Cardinal Health, was appointed an independent director of Compugen (Nasdaq: CGEN). Go deeper
• Henrik Kühl, SVP of strategy and corporate development at Axon (Nasdaq: AXON), was appointed to the board of directors at Evolv Technologies (Nasdaq: EVLV). Go deeper
• Naveen Mallela, global co-head of JPMorgan Chase's blockchain division, left the company. Go deeper
• John Nicolosi, former chief clinical pharmacy officer at LucyRx, was named chief administrative officer at Judi Health. Go deeper
• Joe Peiser, former global CEO of commercial risk, was promoted to CEO of risk capital at Aon (NYSE: AON). Go deeper
• Shachar G. Scott, former VP of global marketing for Meta's Reality Labs, was named chief marketing officer at Sunbit. Go deeper
• Aurélien Nolf, former VP and head of financial planning at Lyft, joined Navan as CFO. Go deeper
• New York Stock Exchange launched an NYSE Texas advisory board, including Amanda Brock, co-CEO of Solaris Energy Infrastructure (NYSE: SEI), Scott Mueller, managing director of the Southwestern region at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), and Edward Crawford, co-founder and co-CEO of Coltala Holdings. Go deeper
Ryan Barwick, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Alan Neuhauser, Chris Metinko, Dan Primack, Erin Brodwin, Natalie Breymeyer and Brock E.W. Turner contributed to this report.
