Portfolio news: Cloudastructure, Gunzilla, YellowDog and more

NinjaTrader, is the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform. The acquisition provides Kraken with a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant license, enabling it to offer crypto futures and derivatives in the U.S. while accelerating its expansion into multi-asset trading. NinjaTrader, serves nearly 2 million traders and will continue operating as a standalone platform under Kraken. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025, positioning Kraken as a 24/7 trading platform for both traditional and crypto markets.

The round was led by Applied Materials and Nvidia, the world's biggest maker of artificial intelligence chips. Investors also include OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, PayPal co-foudner Peter Thiel and Microsoft.

This is company's third acquisition in 18 months, expanding its footprint in the French micromobility market. This strategic move adds over 20,000 customers to Laka's portfolio and diversifies its offerings beyond bicycle insurance.

Albedo has successfully launched and begun commissioning Clarity-1, the first commercial Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite capable of capturing 10cm resolution imagery. Two weeks post-launch, the satellite made first contact, entering Protect Mode in just 14 hours (versus the estimated 4 days), completed initial payload checkout, and successfully executed an on-orbit software update. The company reports having 22 signed customers, with U.S. imaging capacity already sold out.

Expand.network is a leading API provider that streamlines institutional access to DeFi. The acquisition enhances Blockdaemon's institutional blockchain infrastructure, positioning the company to capitalize on growing institutional interest in DeFi through a complete "node stack" that enables firms to build and scale crypto products more efficiently.

The funding round was led by Spadel's investment arm Source Ventures, with participation from Venrex, and Anotherway Ventures. The company's natural soda alternative has shown impressive growth, with 146% expansion in the US market and velocity growth of 58%, outpacing category leaders Olipop and Poppi. In the Netherlands, the brand has achieved significant retail penetration, now available in over 2,000 stores across the 3 leading supermarket chains.

StoneX 

StoneX Group Inc., a global financial services provider connecting clients across 180 countries, joins Pyth Network as a market data publisher. This strategic partnership enhances Pyth's data ecosystem, which now includes over 90 first-party publishers from major exchanges and market-making firms.

StoneX 

Light Phone 3 is a third-generation model that targets the growing digital wellness market with its intentionally limited functionality.

This acquisition brings back the iconic 33-year-old gaming publication with its original editorial team. This strategic acquisition gives Gunzilla, an AAA game developer and publisher, a respected media platform that spans multiple generations of gamers.

The financing will fund AI-driven security solution development, market expansion, and scaling of sales and installation teams to meet growing demand. Cloudastructure's growth occurred across all segments with cloud video surveillance subscriptions up 48%, remote guarding revenue surging 404%, and hardware sales climbing 250%.

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YellowDog has secured a £3 million funding round from Bloc Ventures and strategic investors to accelerate its growth in dynamic workload management and optimization. The Bristol-based company has appointed Niall Murphy, co-founder of The Cloud (acquired by Sky), as Chairman and expanded its team with key hires in sales engineering and account management.

This acquisition brings back the iconic 33-year-old gaming publication with its original editorial team. This strategic acquisition gives Gunzilla, an AAA game developer and publisher, a respected media platform that spans multiple generations of gamers.

Fussy, 

Vysokovskiy will focus on expanding the adoption of 'Savvy Integrated', a product providing marine navigation services to manufacturers and suppliers worldwide.

Fussy, a sustainable and refillable deodorant brand, has entered 400 Boots stores and is now available online through the retailer. Boots is one of the UK's leading health and beauty retailers with over 1,800 stores nationwide.

"Links of Lamb" is company's first-ever whole sausage product, expanding beyond its core offerings. Made with 100% British lamb and air-dried to preserve nutritional value, this innovation represents Different Dog's continued product diversification.

UAT

The Easter Collection features two new candies: Baby Carrots and Bunny Tails, alongside returning seasonal favorites.

Blockpour (now OpenBlocks) is a leading blockchain tools and data solutions provider. This strategic acquisition strengthens Supra's position as the first Layer 1 blockchain with complete vertical integration, combining its existing native Oracle price feeds, cross-chain communication tools, and automation abilities with OpenBlocks' infrastructure. 

The company has been selected from over 4,500 global nominations. This recognition reinforces their mission to empower RIAs with the Zoe Wealth Platform, helping them streamline operations, strengthen client relationships, and scale efficiently.

Pashley Creations is a new collection of one-of-a-kind concept bicycles starting with five models.