Annie Baker

Omega announced it had closed a $6 million funding round, marking a major milestone in its quest to integrate native Bitcoin into the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape. This funding was spread across three investment rounds, featuring contributions from an impressive roster of participants including Lightspeed Faction, Borderless Capital, Wormhole Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund (operated by Borderless Capital), Bankless Ventures, Wave Digital, Blockchain.com, Blockchain Founders Fund, Kronos Ventures, XTBO Humla, Cadenza, Psalion Ventures, AlphaLab Capital, Side Door Ventures, and MH Ventures, and others.

Gilead Sciences and CymaBay Therapeutics announced a definitive agreement under which Gilead will acquire CymaBay for $32.50 per share in cash or a total equity value of $4.3 billion. Adding CymaBay’s investigational lead product candidate seladelpar for treating primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), including pruritus, complements Gilead’s existing liver portfolio and aligns with its long-standing commitment to bringing transformational medicines to patients.

ADC Aerospace (a leading manufacturer of complex, highly-engineered turnkey die-cast parts used in critical applications in the aerospace, defense, medical, automotive and specialty industrial markets) has acquired Cast-Rite, a leading provider of advanced die casting and fabrication solutions.

Cardboard Spaceship announced the launch of its newest strategic initiative, LaunchPad Ventures, which will operate as a private equity affiliate of the video production company. With an initial $1 million in capital, LaunchPad Ventures (via Cardboard Spaceship) will focus on creating cinematic content to meet the growing demand for quality digital assets available for licensing on digital platforms like Filmsupply.

Mount Sinai Medical Center announced it is now implementing unique AI software to support treating patients with complex aortic diseases. And as part of a collaboration between Cydar Medical and Medtronic, this software employs state-of-the-art minimally invasive endovascular technology surgeons use at Mount Sinai’s Aortic Center. The medical center is the first and only institution to use this technology in all of Eastern Florida. This product integrates Cydar Maps software with Medtronic services and case support to improve patient care and efficiency with AI-based solutions in a clinical environment.

BRIJ Medical (a leader in the incision management and support industry) has unveiled a strategic rebrand from Brijjit Medical to BRIJ Medical. And BRIJ Medical is introducing new technologies to minimize wound complications and improve scar therapy. The funding round was led by Tim Gleeson (Vidant Capital) and an impressive list of MedTech industry veterans.

Odyssey – the company behind an energy drink enriched with a potent blend of 2750mg of Lions Mane and Cordyceps mushrooms – announced the completion of a $6 million funding round. This funding round signifies a pivotal moment in the brand’s journey and underscores the burgeoning support for its fusion of vitality and cognitive enhancement.

US Ignite announced a new contract for $6.97 million from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to continue the successful Smart Installation and Community Dashboard (SICD) program at Fort Moore, Georgia. And the contract follows the development and deployment of three key software applications in the SICD program, all of which were designed to help provide a common operating picture to leaders at the installation.

Areteia Therapeutics announced $75 million in additional Series A financing to support expansion of the current Phase III development program of dexpramipexole in eosinophilic asthma, bringing total Series A funding to $425 million. Viking Global Investors and Marshall Wace joined the original syndicate of investors led by Bain Capital Life Sciences with participation from Access Biotechnology, GV, ARCH Venture Partners, Saturn Partners, Sanofi, Maverick Capital, and Population Health Partners.

Vector search company Marqo announced it had closed a $12.5 million Series A funding round led by Lightspeed with participation from Blackbird VC, January Capital, and Chronosphere founder and CTO Rob Skillington. This funding round will advance the adoption of its next-generation search platform, unlocking the massive value of unstructured data across business-critical applications like end-user search, retrieval-augmented generation, etc. The new round of funding brings the company’s total financing to $17.8 million.