A Huge Week in between the Coasts.

New rounds for companies in Chicago, Ohio, the Mountain West, Texas, and beyond.

Jun 13, 2021

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: 30%
Last Week’s Views: 161

📍 Some personal news:

I am finally back in Chicago! I’ll be here all summer so if you’d like to connect about startups, entrepreneurship, or anything else let me know.

ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:

Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels

Venture Capital Deals

📍 Chicago

Emergence Capital and Goldman Sachs co-led a $202 million round for Project44, the developer of a logistics and supply chain platform for shippers. The new funding values the company at $1.2 billion.

Oak9, a security startup, raised $5.9 million in seed funding. Menlo Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Hyde Park Angels and Uncorrelated Ventures.

Kin, an insurance technology startup, raised an additional $5.3 million in Series C funding from Symphony Ventures and Flourish Ventures.

Rise Science, developer of an app that tracks energy levels and monitors sleeping habits, announced $15 million in fundraising, including a $10 million Series A led by Goodwater Capital. Freestyle Ventures, High Alpha, and True Ventures also participated.

📍 Ohio

Standard Bariatrics, a Cincinnati-based bariatric surgery medical device company, raised $35 million in Series B funding. U.S. Venture Partners led, joined by River Cities Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners, Hatteras Venture Partners, Queen City Angels, and Emergent Medical Partners.

Columbus-based Branch Insurance, a home and auto insurance startup, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Anthemis Group led, joined by Acrew, Cherry Creek Holdings, Greycroft, HSCM Bermuda, American Family Ventures, SignalFire, SCOR P&C Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Tower IV.

Kurome Therapeutics, a Cincinnati-based cancer-focused biotech startup, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Medicxi and Affinity Asset Advisors co-led, and were joined by CincyTech.

📍 Indiana

Authenticx, a Carmel-based customer insights company, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Signal Peak Ventures led and was joined by Sopris Capital, M25, Allos Ventures, and Elevate Ventures.

📍 Minnesota

Rae Wellness, a Minneapolis-based developer of women’s health supplements, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. PowerPlant Ventures led, joined by M13, Able Partners, and Victress Capital.

📍 Toronto

Waabi, a self-driving technology startup, raised $83.5 million in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by Uber, Radical Ventures, 8VC, OMERS Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, and Aurora Innovation.

Rocket Doctor, a telemedicine startup, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. F7 Ventures and Emergent Medical Associates co-led.

Keppler Communications, a developer of an on-orbit satellite communications network, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Tribe Capital led, joined by Canaan Partners, IA Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures.

ShelfLife, maker of a marketplace for raw material suppliers, raised $3 million in seed funding. Switch Ventures and Kindred Ventures co-led, joined by investors including NextView Ventures and SuperAngel.vc.

📍 Kentucky

Louisville-based Climavision, a weather services and intelligence platform, raised $100 million from TPG’s The Rise Fund.

📍 Nashville

Monogram Health, a benefit management and care delivery company focused on chronic kidney and end-stage renal disease, raised $160 million in Series B funding. TPG Capital led, joined by Humana, Frist Cressey Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners.

📍 Denver/Boulder

Denver-based Guild Education, an enabler of employer-sponsored education opportunities, raised a $150 million Series E from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Cowboy Ventures, D1 Capital Partners and Emerson Collective. The valuation was $3.75 billion.

Opopop, a Denver-based popcorn brand, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Valor Siren Ventures led the round and was joined by Litani Ventures, Tiesto, Jimmy Chin, and Batshit Crazy Ventures.

📍 Silicon Slopes

Salt Lake City-based Spiff, a provider of sales commission software, raised $46 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Salesforce Ventures, Stripes, and Norwest Venture Partners.

Scientia Vascular, a SLC-based medical device company, raised $50 million in growth equity funding led by Vivo Capital.

📍 Texas

Dallas-based Electric Gamebox, maker of a group gaming platform, raised $11 million in Series A2 funding. Philian led and was joined by Brookfield Asset Management, Index Ventures, and ActivumSG.

Overhaul, an Austin, Texas-based supply chain visibility and security startup, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Macquarie Capital led, joined by Edison Partners and Avanta Ventures.

Aunt Bertha, an Austin-based marketplace for social services, raised $27 million in funding. Warburg Pincus led, joined by Pershing Square Foundation, Techstars Ventures, Noro-Moseley Partners, Digitalis Ventures and The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund.

AFI Capital Partners led a $21 million round of Series B funding for Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation, an Austin-based medical cannabis provider.

Austin-based Hypori, a mobile cybersecurity startup, raised $20 million in Series A funding from GreatPoint Ventures.

DealHub.io, an Austin-based enterprise sales platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Israel Growth Partners led, joined by Cornerstone Venture Partners.

Austin-based Homeward, a digital home-buying startup, raised $136 million in Series B funding, at a valuation of more than $800 million. Norwest Venture Partners led and was joined by Blackstone, Breyer Capital, Adams Street, Javelin, and LiveOak Venture Partners.

Brinqa, an Austin-based enterprise cybersecurity risk management platform, raised $110 million from Insight Partners.

Houston-based Hello Alice, a platform for supporting small business, raised $21 million in Series B funding to expand capital, networks and business service resources. QED Investors led.

The Mentor Method, an Austin-based mentorship startup, raised $1.4 million in seed funding. Investors included Draper Associates, Alumni Ventures Group, Elsewhere Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Sorenson Impact Fund, and Backstage Capital.

Private Equity Deals

H.I.G. Capital invested in Cleo Communications, a Rockford, Ill.-based provider of ecosystem integration software.

Angeles Equity Partners acquired Primus Aerospace, a Lakewood, Colo-based maker of aerospace, defense and space components.

KKR acquired Ensono, a Downers Grove, Ill.-based IT services provider.

M&A

Coalfire, a Colorado-based portfolio company of Apax Partners, acquired Denim Group, a San Antonio-based app security company.

InRule Technology acquired Chicago-based simMachines, a machine learning software platform.

New Funds

RET Ventures, a Park City-based venture capital firm focused on real estate tech, raised $165 million for its second fund.

Keystone Capital Management, a Chicago-based lower midmarket PE firm, raised $240 million for its first institutional fund.

Mercato Partners of Salt Lake City raised $100 million for its second fund dedicated to restaurant concepts.

Paceline Equity Partners, a Dallas-based PE firm, raised $350 million for its first opportunities fund.

A-Street Ventures, a Bentonville, Ark.-based VC firm focused on public K-12 education, raised more than $200 million for its debut fund, per Axios.

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, a Tennessee-based whiskey brand, launched a $50 million venture fund targeting investments in minority-owned spirit brands.

Rockbridge Growth Equity Management, a Detroit-based private equity firm, closed its second fund with capital commitments totaling $345 million.

Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners closed its eighth flagship fund on $5 billion, exceeding a $4.5 billion target, according to Buyouts.

Culture Break

📚Read- Antitrust by Amy Klobuchar

🎬Watch- The Last Dance on ESPN/Netflix (I know I'm late to this one, but wow, what a series!)

🎧Listen-

🧐Think- The Mystery of the $113 Million Deli

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