Deal Mania Across the Midwest
Plus activity in the Mountain West, a flurry of deals in Texas, and a few fundraises in Arizona.
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: 41%
Last Week’s Views: 176
ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Venture Capital Deals
📍 Chicago
G2, a software marketplace designed to help companies research, buy, and manage software and services, raised $157 million in Series D funding at a $1.1 billion valuation. Permira led the round and was joined by HubSpot Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Accel, Emergence, and IVP.
The cloud-based logistics fulfillment startup Shipbob raised a $200 million Series E at a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Bain Capital Ventures led, joined by investors including SoftBank, Menlo Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners.
📍 Michigan
Orbion Space Technology, a Houghton-based electric propulsion startup, raised $20 million in a Series B round. Inventus Capital Partners led, joined by Material Impact, Beringea, and Wakestream Ventures.
LightGuide, a Wixom-based AR platform for manual assembly and manufacturing processes, raised $15 million in a Series B round. G2 Venture Partners led, joined by Capital Midwest Fund and Michigan Capital Advisors.
📍 Ohio
Aeroseal, a Dayton-based developer of building seals designed to reduce carbon emissions, raised a $22 million Series A round. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led, joined by Energy Impact Partners and Building Ventures.
Columbus-based home buying startup Lower has raised $100 million in a Series A round led by Accel. The company, which was founded in 2014 and bootstrapped until now, operates as a lender, as well as a platform for buying, selling, and insuring homes.
Physna has raised $56 million in funding led by Tiger Global, with participation from GV and Sequoia. The company develops a 3D design platform intended to help procurement and engineering teams measure operational efficiencies.
Olive, a Columbus-based healthcare automation company, raised $400 million in funding, at a valuation of $4 billion. Vista Equity Partners led and Base10 Partners Advancement Initiative also participated.
📍 Indiana
Indianapolis-based Mandolin, a concert livestreaming platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding. 645 Ventures and Foundry Group co-led, joined by insiders High Alpha and TIME Ventures.
📍 Wisconsin
Shine Medical Technologies, a Janesville-based nuclear fusion startup, raised $150 million in new Series C funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies led, and was joined by Fidelity and Baillie Gifford.
📍 Toronto
Joyride, a provider of micro-mobility software, raised $3.7 million in seed funding from Proeza Ventures and Urban Innovation Fund.
Wealth management platform D1g1t, raised $13 million. CI Financial led and was joined by investors including NAventures and MissionOG.
Alternative financing platform, Clearco (fka Clearbanc) raised $215 million in a growth financing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Tribe, a platform for enterprise businesses, raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led.
📍 Tennessee
Nashville-based Spiras Health, a provider of in-home and virtual healthcare solutions for patients with chronic conditions, raised $14 million in a Series B round. NEA led, joined by Altitude Ventures, and FCA Venture Partners.
Smart, a Nashville-based retirement tech company, raised $228 million in Series D funding led by Chrysalis Investments.
📍 St. Louis
Curate, a small biz sales and operations platform, raised $1.25 million in seed funding led by OCA Ventures. Cultivation Capital and Stout Street Capital also participated.
📍 Denver/Boulder
Boulder-based Enveda Biosciences, developer of a “drug discovery search engine for dark chemical space,” raised $51 million in Series A funding. Lux Capital led the round, joined by Two Sigma Ventures, Hummingbird VC, Catalio Capital, Lifeforce Capital, True Ventures, Wireframe Ventures, and Village Global.
Phylum, an Evergreen-based software supply chain security startup, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by First In.
📍 Silicon Slopes
Lucid, a South Jordan-based provider of visual collaboration software, announced $500 million in secondary investment at a $3 billion investment. New investors include Alkeon Capital, Tiger Global, and Steadfast Capital Ventures.
Lehi-based Canopy, a maker of cloud software for accounting professionals, raised $11 million in funding. Ankona Capital, NewView Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, and Tenaya Capital invested.
Entrata, a Lehi-based multifamily prop tech provider, raised $507 million. Silver Lake, Qualtrics Founder Ryan Smith, and Vivint Smart Home Founder Todd Pedersen led the round and were joined by Dragoneer.
📍 Texas
Houston-based Majority, which provides mobile banking services for migrants, raised $19 million in seed funding. Valar Ventures led, joined by Avid Ventures and Heartcore Capital.
Tvardi Therapeutics, a Houston-based clinical-stage biotech company, raised $74 million in Series B funding. Slate Path Capital, Palkon Capital, ArrowMark Partners, and 683 Capital invested.
Babson Diagnostics, an Austin-based maker of a quick-draw blood device for use at pharmacy counters, raised $31 million in Series B funding. Emerald Development Managers led, with participation from insiders Siemens Healthineers, Prism Ventures and Lago Consulting Group.
Arcade, a Dallas-based maker of software for gamifying revenue, raised $4.5 million. Stage 2 Capital led and was joined by investors including Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Our Innovation Fund, and ATX Venture Partners.
LitLingo, an Austin-based AI communication analytics platform, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding from Breyer Capital.
Alto, a Dallas-based ride-hailing startup, raised a $45 million Series B. Tuesday Capital and Goff Capital co-led the round, joined by Franklin Templeton, Alumni Ventures Group, Senterra, Green Park & Golf Ventures, and Hope Ventures Capital.
Sevco Security, an Austin-based cybersecurity company, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by SYN Ventures.
The Citizenry, a Dallas-based d2c home decor brand, raised $20 million in Series B funding from NextWorld Evergreen.
Pratexo, an Austin-based edge computing startup, raised $3.5 million in seed funding from BCP Blitz LP, Raiven Capital, and Northscaler.
📍 Arizona
Scottsdale-based Lessen has raised a $35 million Series A led by Fifth Wall, with participation from General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Navitas Capital. The company develops a property marketplace platform for property owners to connect with service professionals and manage projects.
Trainual, a Scottsdale-based SaaS platform, raised $27 million in Series B funding. Altos Ventures led.
Hammoq, a Phoenix-based eCommerce operating system for resellers, raised $3 million. Origin Ventures led and was joined by investors including Sierra Ventures, SaaS Ventures, and Silicon Road Ventures.
Private Equity Deals
Francisco Partners will sell Plex Systems, a Troy, Michigan-based smart manufacturing software platform, to Rockwell Automation for $2.22 billion in cash.
Vista Equity Partners hired Harris Williams to find a buyer for Social Solutions, an Austin, Texas-based provider of cloud software for nonprofits, per PE Hub.
WorkWave, backed by EQT and TA Associates, acquired Real Green Systems, a Walled Lake, Mich.-based provider of software and marketing solutions backed by Serent Capital.
Blackstone will acquire Sphera, a Chicago-based ESG software, data, and consulting services, from Genstar Capital.
The Blackstone Group invested in Simpli.fi, a Fort Worth, Texas-based provider of programmatic ad and agency management software.
Crest Rock Partners made a majority investment in CloudNine, a Houston-based software suite for the legal industry.
JMI Equity invested $100 million in OnBoard, an Indianapolis-based board management software company.
Norwest Equity Partners invested in AbsenceSoft, a Golden, Colorado-based provider of employee absence and leave management SaaS.
Thoma Bravo acquired iOFFICE, a Houston-based provider of workplace management software, from Waud Capital Partners.
Baird Capital invested in Forj, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based virtual events and experience platform.
M&A
Indianapolis-based Core BTS acquired Aptera Software, a Fort Wayne-based Microsoft stack developer.
WorkWave acquired Real Green Systems, a Walled Lake, Michigan-based provider of software and marketing solutions.
Sandvik acquired Cambrio, a Cincinnati-based software maker, from Battery Ventures.
New Funds
Lewis & Clark AgriFood, a St. Louis-based food and ag focused firm, raised $169 million for Lewis & Clark AgriFood Fund II and $88 million for Lewis & Clark RBIC Fund II.
Toronto-based Golden Ventures raised $100 million for its fourth seed-stage fund and $20 million for a later-stage fund.
iFly.vc, based in Austin, Texas, raised $46 million for its second fund.
Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm, raised $2.7 billion for its Fund IV.
LongWater Opportunities, a Dallas-based private equity firm, closed its third fund on $100 million.
Twin Bridge Capital Partners of Chicago is raising $300 million for a fund-of-funds focused on large North American PE funds, per WSJ.
What I’m Reading
Why A Vacation In Flyover Country Is Suddenly Cool This Summer
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
Prashant Shukla @ Origin Ventures on Seed v. Series A, Cameo's Ascendance, & the Future of Chicago Tech - Chicago Capital Podcast
Culture Break
📚Read- This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth
🎬Watch- The Little Drummer Girl on AMC (only worth your time if you love spy thrillers and le Carré novels; otherwise its hit or miss).
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake
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