Excoastal Issue 20
Two big raises in Denver, a flurry of PE deals, and $1M in seed for Rentgrata
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: 114
Last Week’s Open Rate: 56% 📉
Last Week’s Views: 157 📉
Excoastal News Roundup
The 2019 HealthTECH startup competition is Nov. 14 in Chicago.
Chicago-based Speeko won a $25K pitch competition in Iowa hosted by Costonoa Ventures.
An overview of the Techstars Farm to Fork 2019 accelerator class.
Lyft City Works announces Chicago Advisory Council
TitletownTech celebrated their grand opening.
The First Excoastal Reader Survey!
Take this short survey to help me determine the next phase of Excoastal’s growth should look like.
Now to the good stuff…
Venture Capital Deals
Chicago-based Rentgrata, a renter insights platform, raised a $1 million Seed round led by M25, with participation from Syndicate Fund, Right Side Capital Management, and others.
Winnow, an Iowa City-based (US office) provider of AI tools to help reduce food waste, raised $12 million in Series B funding from investors including Ingka Group, Mustard Seed, Circularity Capital, D-Ax, and The Ingenious Group.
Havenly, a Denver-based home interior design and e-commerce platform, raised $32 million in Series C funding from Foundry Group, Lerer Hippeau, Kickstart Ventures, and Gingerbread Capital.
Denver-based Flowhub, a provider of retail management software solutions for cannabis dispensaries, raised $23 million in Series A financing from e.ventures, Evolv Ventures, and Poseidon Asset Management.
DarkOwl, a Denver-based cybersecurity company specializing in darknet data, has raised $8 million in funding led by Five Elms Capital.
Fitt, a Pittsburgh-based location-based for healthy living experiences across fitness, food, and events, raised an undisclosed amount. Mountain State Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Riverfront Ventures, MINDBODY, and TNC Ventures. Term Sheet
Lovevery, a Boise, ID-based maker of educational children’s toys, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Maveron led the round and was joined by investors including GV, Reach Capital, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Collaborative Fund. Term Sheet
Galileo Financial, a Salt Lake City-based provider of back-end software for fintech companies, raised $77 million from Accel. Axios
Private Equity Deals
Lovell Minnick Partners completed its acquisition of Billhighway, a Michigan-based provider of payment software for membership organizations such as fraternities and sororities.
TA Associates and Charlesbank Capital Partners agreed to invest in HelpSystems, an Eden Prairie, MN-based provider of IT infrastructure software. Term Sheet
Five Elms Capital invested in FMX, a Columbus, Ohio-based provider of facilities and maintenance management software. Axios
The Carlyle Group completed its purchase of a majority stake in HireVue, a Salt Lake City-based provider of talent assessment and video interviewing software. Axios
Rockbridge Growth Equity invested in White Glove, a Birmingham, MI-based provider of marketing support for those in the finance, insurance, legal and real estate industries. Term Sheet
SFW Capital Partners agreed to sell DaySmart Software, an Ann Arbor, MI-based provider of business management software in the salon, pet, spa, and tattoo verticals, to LLR Partners and Parthenon Capital. Term Sheet
M&A
Guidehouse, backed by Veritas Capital, acquired Chicago-based Navigant Consulting, Inc, a provider of professional services.
Buffalo Grove, IL-based Computer Aided Technology, acquired Fisher Unitech, a Pleasant Ridge, MI-based provider of 3D design software and 3D printers, from The Riverside Company.
New Funds
Toronto-based Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, a secondaries investor, closed their third flagship fund at a $2 billion cap, surpassing a $1.5 billion target.
What I’m Reading
Was attending Bill Gurley's recent Direct Listing Symposium a valuable experience?
$1 billion has flowed from venture investors to Front Range companies this year
Investors on the coasts are increasingly sounding the correction alarm. It’s true that the current expansion won’t go on forever. However I’m not certain this sentiment is as acute as the buzz in coastal markets suggests. Here are two perspectives:
West Coast- Trimming The Hedges, Planning For A Rainy Day
Have thoughts on the economic outlook between the coasts? Hit me up twitter or reply to this email!
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
WorkHound // workforce retention via direct feedback from the frontline - Upside FM
Culture Break
📚Read- Expect this section to be pretty sparse over the next few weeks as I prepare to get crushed by exams.
🎬Watch- Explained on Netflix (If you like short and digestible explainers, this show based on Vox’s “explained” format is for you).
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- 48 Hours in the Strange and Beautiful World of TikTok
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