Pro Rata Premium: First Look

Venture Capital

🚀 Impulse Space, a developer of space tugs, raised $308m in Series D extension funding (round total $808m) from 137 Ventures, Banner VC, DFJ Growth, Linse Capital, Lux Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. Go deeper

• Hang Ten Systems, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based AI services adoption company, raised $53m in new seed funding (round total of $75m). Xora led, joined by Mayfield, Aramco Ventures, Sanjay Mehrotra, and Jerry Yang. Go deeper

• BackOps, an SF-based supply chain management startup, raised a $42m Series B. Insight Partners led, joined by Theory Ventures, Construct Capital, Gradient Ventures, and 10VC. Go deeper

• Noetive, an SF-based model maker for physical industries, raised a $41m seed. Eclipse led, joined by Craft Ventures, The Westly Group, Swish Ventures, Factory, Incite Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Operator Partners, and Liquid 2 Ventures. Go deeper

⚡ Rune, a developer of solar power solutions for data centers, raised $40m in Series A funding. Spark Capital led, joined by Union Square Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Activate Capital, Committed Capital, Timeless Partners, and Logos Fund. Go deeper

• TypeSafe AI, an SF-based composable AI startup led by OpenAI vet Diogo Almeida, raised $40m in seed funding led by DCVC. Go deeper

• Loora, an English-learning app, raised a $22m Series B. Union Tech Ventures led, joined by vgames, Emerge, Hearst Ventures, and QP Ventures. Go deeper

⚡R3 Lithium, a Covington, Ga.-based battery recycling startup, raised $15m from TDK Ventures, Integral GlobalTech Partners, and Axial Partners. Go deeper

• Tare, an NYC-based blockchain credit exchange, raised $13.3m in seed funding. Blockchain Capital led, joined by Strobe Ventures, Janus Henderson, Apollo Global Management, The Venture Dept, Neoclassic Capital, and Avalanche Foundation. Go deeper

• Eterna Regeneratives, a developer of toothpaste derived from human hair, raised $4m led by Hoxton Ventures and The Venture Collective, per Tech.eu. Go deeper

Private Equity

• Bendon, backed by Brightstar Capital Partners, acquired the North American business of Australian crafting company Hinkler. Go deeper

🚑 Emerald Square Ventures made a majority investment in H Clinical, a clinical research operating platform in Latin America. Go deeper

• L Catterton is taking a $30m minority stake in Nandhana Foods, a South Indian restaurant chain. Go deeper

• Main Capital Partners agreed to acquire Watermark Insights, an Austin, Texas-based provider of institutional effectiveness software for higher ed. Go deeper

• Silversmith Capital Partners is investing $100m-plus into Vantora, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based industrial AI platform, per the WSJ. Go deeper

• Tallvine Partners acquired the assets of Crosby Enterprises, a provider of marine infrastructure solutions across the U.S. Gulf Coast and inland waterways. Go deeper

• Vitruvian Partners has acquired Smartling, an NYC-based provider of enterprise translation software, from backers including Battery Ventures. Go deeper

Liquidity

• Plains All American Pipeline (Nasdaq: PAA) and Plains GP Holdings (Nasdaq: PAGP) agreed to acquire Silver Creek, a crude oil gathering system in the Powder River Basin, from Tailwater Capital and The Energy & Minerals Group for $585m in cash. Go deeper

M&A

• Sazerac Co., the maker of Southern Comfort and Buffalo Trace, is exploring a potential acquisition of Berentzen-Gruppe, a German schnapps maker. Go deeper

Fundraising

• Bain Capital Ventures raised $1.6b for its 11th fund. Go deeper

• Morgan Stanley Investment Management raised $1.3b for its debut growth equity fund. Go deeper

It's Personnel

• Business Roundtable is promoting president and COO Kristen Silverberg to CEO, succeeding Josh Bolten. Go deeper

• Seth Corder joined JPMorgan as an executive director of VC coverage. He previously was a managing director of Moderne Ventures. Go deeper

• Matt Gibson joined Strategic Value Partners as president, effective in February. He previously spent more than 25 years at Goldman Sachs. Go deeper

• Kristin Kelly joined EIV Capital as a partner. She previously was a managing director at EIG. Go deeper

• Partners Group promoted Jennifer Fox Bensimon to head of co-investments. Go deeper

Odds & Ends

• Google agreed to purchase credits worth 1m tons of carbon removal and 1m tons of methane from a project built by startup Terradot in southern Brazil. Go deeper