Digital Lending in Ohio
Cybersecurity in Minnesota, Cloud-based fulfillment in Chicago, and more...
| Evan Lonergan | Jun 20 |
Welcome to Excoastal, a newsletter covering deals, startups, venture capital, and more from Chicago to Boulder, Detroit to Columbus, and beyond. I’m Evan Lonergan, a native Midwesterner.
You can connect with me on Twitter @evanjlonergan, on Medium, and send deals/jobs/intel to evanlon92@gmail.com
What’s New
Excoastal Stats 📊
Last Week’s Open Rate: 35%
Last Week’s Views: 173
ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Venture Capital Deals
📍 Illinois
Bringg, a Chicago-based delivery and fulfillment cloud platform, raised $100 million in Series E funding. InsightPartners led, joined by Cambridge Capital, GLP, Harlap, Next 47, Pereg Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Viola Growth.
📍 Indiana
JMI Equity has invested $120 million in Greenlight Guru, an Indianapolis-based maker of medical device software.
📍 Ohio
Cleveland-based Splash Financial, which operates a digital lending platform, raised a $44.3 million Series B from investors including DST Global, Citi Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Firebolt Ventures, CMFG Ventures, and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures.
📍 Minnesota
Arctic Wolf Networks, an Eden Prairie-based cybersecurity startup, is in talks to raise at a valuation of over $4 billion, per Bloomberg. Viking Global Investors is expected to lead the round per Term Sheet.
📍 St. Louis
Curate raised $1.25 million in seed funding to continue developing its modern sales and operations platform for florists, caterers and other creative businesses.
📍 Waterloo (Ontario)
Skywatch, an Earth observation data platform, raised $17.2 million in Series B funding. Drive Capital led the round, joined by Bullpen Capital, Space Capital, Golden Ventures, and BDC Ventures.
📍Denver/Boulder
ThreatX, a Denver-based web application and API protection platform, raised $10 million in new funding led by .406 Ventures. Existing investors Access Venture Partners and Grotech Ventures participated.
Scythe Robotics, a Boulder-based robotic landscaping company, raised $13.8 million in Series A funding. Inspired Capital led, joined by True Ventures, Zigg Capital, and Lemnos.
Golden-based Wowza Media Systems received a “significant investment” from private equity firm Clearhaven Partners.
📍 Silicon Slopes
BookClub, an Alpine-based platform for author-led book clubs, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Signal Peak Ventures led, joined by GSV Ventures, Maveron, Backstage Capital, and Pelion Venture Partners.
📍 Texas
Austin-based Serenity Kids, a maker of ethically sourced, organic baby and toddler foods, raised $7 million in a Series A round led by CircleUp Growth Partners and joined by Wild Ventures.
Private Equity Deals
Crest Rock Partners has made a growth investment in CloudNine, a Houston-based provider of litigation, investigation and audit software.
Berenson Capital acquired Interactive Digital Solutions, a Noblesville, Indiana-based video collaboration and telehealth solutions provider.
Bain Capital Credit will acquire Surf Broadband Solutions, an Elkhart, Indiana-based fiber-based high-speed broadband provider in the Great Lakes region.
Clearlake Capital has agreed to acquire Confluence Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based provider of data and software solutions to the investment management industry.
M&A
Automattic acquired Day One, a Lehi, Utah-based journaling app for Mac and iOS devices.
Modern Campus, a Toronto-based learner engagement platform, acquired Digarc, provider of academic catalog and curriculum management software.
Vail-based Harvest Hosts, a startup that lets RV users book stays at unique locations like wineries, farms and golf courses, has acquired Boondockers Welcome, a company based in Canada, that offers a similar service.
New Funds
8VC, an Austin-based venture capital fund, is raising $640 million for its fourth flagship fund, and $880 million for its second opportunity fund, per SEC filings.
Germin8 Ventures, a food and agriculture focused fund, raised a $20M fund. The fund will be invested in one or two companies a year, and will leave money for follow-up investments.
What I’m Reading
Firehose #193: 🦸♂️ Mega Marketplaces 🦸♂️
Strategy Session: Sixty8 Capital Is Leveling The Playing Field For Diverse Founders In The Midwest
Rise Science Launches Its Sleep App With $15.5M in Funding
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
Culture Break
📚Read- I’m still reading Antitrust which is not so much a comment on the book as it is one on my ability to sit down and actually read these days.
🎬Watch- The only thing I’ve been watching the last few days has been the NBA playoffs. 🏀
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- Winners and Losers of the Work-From-Home Revolution
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