Excoastal #16
Replica raises outside capital, biotech in Boulder, and retail tech funding in Toronto...
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.
This newsletter is the collision of my Chicago/Michigan roots and a love of all things startups and venture capital. It’s inspired by Brendan Boken’s excellent newsletter The Strand, which covers the thriving tech scene in LA. The catalyst for its creation was VC University Live at the University of Michigan, where one of the focuses of the conversation was on building stronger startup communities in the Midwest. From what I’ve seen demonstrated by the #givefirst ethos in Boulder, and from what I’ve observed across other tech hubs, strong communities are often the products of individuals who care enough to invest not just resources, but time and energy. Bringing it home, I wanted to do something to contribute to the ecosystems between the coasts, Excoastal is the start.
You can connect with me on Twitter @evanjlonergan, on Medium, and send deals/jobs/intel to evanlon92@gmail.com.
Whats New
Excoastal Stats 📊
Subscribers: 110
Last Week’s Open Rate: 56% 📉
Last Week’s Views: 160 📈
Excoastal News Roundup
Drive Capital led a $54 million in Series B financing of Greenlight, the maker of an app controlled debit card for teens.
Techstars returns to Kansas City after a year hiatus.
Denver serves as a testing ground for Uber and Lyft.
Token Dailey Capital (see new funds below) is hosting a Digital Assets Dinner, sponsored by Fidelity, in Chicago on Sept 30.
Revolution Ventures announced a $125 million early stage third fund that will “invest nationally — sourcing opportunities in geographies that are often overlooked by coastal venture capitalists.” Per this blog post.
Now to the good stuff…
Venture Capital Deals
Included in last week’s news round up was an announcement that Replica, a Kansas City-based urban data gathering tool, had been spun out of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. The newly independent company has now raised $11 million in Series A funding. Innovation Endeavors led, and was joined by Firebrand Ventures and Rise of the Rest.
Front Range Biosciences, a Lafayette, CO-based technology provider for the breeding and production of new plant varieties and seeds in hemp, coffee and regulated cannabis industries, raised $8.5 million in funding. Investors include Militello Capital, Welcan Capital, AFI Capital, Phyto Partners, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York, New York Angels, Sand Hill Angels XVI, LLC, Arcadian Capital Management, Halley Venture Partners LP and Salveo Capital. Term Sheet
Edgewise Therapeutics, a Boulder-based developer of small-molecule therapies for musculoskeletal diseases, has raised $50 million in series B funding. Novo Holdings and USVP co-led, and were joined by Deerfield Management, New Leaf Venture Partners, CureDuchenne Ventures, and OrbiMed Advisors.
Idelic, a Pittsburgh-based data and analytics company focused on the commercial/industrial transportation industry, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Origin Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including TDF Ventures, Birchmere Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and SaaS Venture Capital. Term Sheet
Toronto-based TouchBistro, a developer of restaurant point-of-sale systems, has raised a $158 million Series E round led by OMERS Growth Equity.
Daisy Intelligence, a Toronto-based retail and insurance analytics startup, raised C$10 million in Series A funding. Framework Venture Partners led, and was joined by Sonae IM. Axios
Dental Intelligence, a Utah-based provider of workflow automation software for dental practices, raised $34 million in Series A funding from K1 Investment Management. Axios
Private Equity Deals
Spectrum Equity invested in Datassential, a Chicago-based provider of data and market research to the foodservice industry. Axios
Oval Partners-backed Flex Technology Group has invested in Millennium Business Systems, a Cincinnati-based office technology provider, according to Pitchbook.
Oak Hill Capital will acquire Mercer Advisors, a Denver, Colo.-based wealth management services provider, from Genstar Capital and Lovell Minnick Partners. Term Sheet
Paine Schwartz Partners has invested in Indiana-based Advanced Agrilytics, a provider of agronomics business services.
M&A
The FCC voted 3-2 to sign off on Nexstar Media Group's $6.4 billion buyout of Chicago-based Tribune Media, clearing the TV takeover's final hurdle. Pitchbook
IPOs
Chicago-based Sprout Social has confidentiality filed to go public before the end of the year.
New Funds
Boulder/Minneapolis-based Matchstick Ventures has closed on Matchstick Ventures Fund II, a $30 million seed fund to support early-stage software companies in rapidly growing, yet underserved startup ecosystems. If you're building an excoastal software company, these are the kind of investors you want in your corner.
The team behind Token Dailey (Michigan and Northwestern alums), recently launched Token Dailey Capital to make pre-seed/seed investments in the crypto space. They’ve already made 12 investments from the fund and are actively looking for Midwestern companies for potential investment.
Chicago-based KB Partners has raised more than $40 million for its Myriad Opportunity Fund targeting early-stage sports technology investments.
What I’m Reading
Micro-VC fund management and capital account statements
The top 10 VC investors in the Great Lakes region
Inside Airbnb, Employees Eager for Big Payouts Pushed It to Go Public
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
SaaS Acceleration, Sales Savvy Founders & The Rise of Tech-Enabled Services - The Full Ratchet
Culture Break
📚Read- Buried in textbooks this week 🤓
🎬Watch- Spy on Netflix
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- When the Culture War Comes for the Kids
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