Masa Finance, a hybrid credit protocol, has come out of stealth and completed a pre-seed funding round of $3.5 million led by Unshackled Ventures, executives from GoldenTree Asset Management (a $46 billion credit-focused fund), Flori Ventures (Celo-focused fund), GSR, Decentranet, Intersect VC, Lateral Capital, Peer VC, Alves Ventures, and several angel investors in the fintech/blockchain space including Louis Beryl (founder of Earnest), Gustavo Menezes (24hr of Le Mans Driver for Peugeot Sport), and Jacob Riglin – a high-profile NFT artist who will be launching future NFT-collateralised loan products. Masa has developed critical infrastructure for Web3 that enables on-chain credit scoring

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, has led a $580 million Series B Funding round in Anthropic, a public benefit corporation and AI startup lab ached in 2020, according to a report by DailyAlts. The round, which follows a $124 million Series A fundraise in 2021, also included participation from Caroline Ellison, Jim McClave, Nishad Singh, Jaan Tallinn, and the Center for Emerging Risk Research (CERR). Anthropic, which is based in San Francisco, was founded by the brother-and-sister team of Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, who were vice presidents at AI research lab OpenAI LLC. Its 40-person team focuses on

OMERS Capital Markets has participated in Group14 Technologies’ $400 million Series C funding round. OMERS’ investment will be overseen by its global Capital Solutions team, which is focused on identifying and executing on complex opportunities across a number of themes, including decarbonisation, clean-tech and life sciences. The team’s goals include fostering long-term partnerships with innovative companies to help them scale up and help shape the economy of the future.

Centre Partners-backed Midwest Mobility Solutions and Slayton Wireless, both AT&T National Authorised Retailers, are to merge creating a new AT&T National Authorised Retailer with a footprint of over 160 stores in 11 states in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.

Micross Components, a provider of high-reliability microelectronic product and service solutions for aerospace, defense, space, medical and industrial applications and a portfolio company of Behrman Capital, has acquired the High-Reliability Discrete Diodes and Assemblies business of Semtech Corporation, a global supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms. Micross’ acquisition – the fifth under Behrman Capital’s ownership and first since consummating a continuation fund transaction in February of 2022 – addresses a number of strategic priorities for the Company. The addition of Semtech’s High-Reliability Discrete Diodes and Assemblies Product portfolio provides Micross with power management components that

AMECO, a leading provider of construction and maintenance Site Services planning and delivery and portfolio company of One Equity Partners, has acquired F&M MAFCO, an international supplier of tools and equipment rental, sales and service programmes. Tim Fries, F&M MAFCO’s CEO, has been named chief growth officer of both organisations and president of F&M MAFCO. He will report directly to AMECO CEO Gary Bernardez and be responsible for developing and implementing a long-term growth strategy that fully leverages the synergies of both businesses to drive comprehensive solutions to clients. Fries will oversee all joint strategic planning, business development, marketing and

Godspeed Capital Management (Godspeed Capital), a lower middle-market Defense & Government services, solutions, and technology focused private equity firm, has acquired Rachlin Partners (Rachlin), a fully integrated architecture, planning, program management and construction management (PM/CM) company focused on education and government facilities in California. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.    With an emphasis on education, healthcare, and government facilities for public and private clients across Southern California, Rachlin joins Huckabee Architects, Inc (Huckabee), Godspeed Capital’s new Architecture, Engineering, and Consulting (AEC) services and solutions growth platform.

SLAMcore, a pioneer in vision-based location and mapping for robots, autonomous machines and consumer electronics products, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by ROBO Global Ventures and Presidio Ventures. Amadeus Capital Partners, Global Brain, IP Group, MMC and Octopus, plus strategic investors Samsung Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and Yamato Holdings, also joined the round.

Pelican Capital has sold portfolio company Wheelhouse Advisors to Centralis, an international corporate and funds service provider. Centralis is backed by CBPE Capital, a UK-based mid-market private equity firm. Pelican Capital supported the management buyout of Wheelhouse from ACA Compliance in March 2020. A strategic partner to the investment management sector, Wheelhouse Advisors supports more than 900 clients globally, with over $130 billion of assets under reporting.  The deal, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Gresham House, a specialist alternative asset manager committed to sustainable investing, has completed a new international and forestry-related carbon credits investment. The Gresham House Forest Carbon (NZ) LP, backed by a group of UK-based institutional investors, has acquired a 25% stake in a New Zealand forest carbon portfolio whose focus is on carbon sequestration and native forest regeneration.   Gresham House Forest Carbon (NZ) LP’s investment comprises eight different forests covering over 12,000 hectares in New Zealand. The forests will not be used for commercial timber. Instead, they will remain as permanent forests, contributing to CO2 reduction, while maintaining biodiversity