Excoastal Issue 24
A massive week for Midwestern fundraising + robotics in Colorado and Pasta in Detroit
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 exemplified through 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: 142
Last Week’s Open Rate: 55% 📉
Last Week’s Views: 155 📉
Excoastal News Roundup
A Q&A with Chris Olsen from Drive Capital.
Funding for Austin-based startups is on track to hit $2 billion in total venture investment for 2019.
A resource: the updated the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Now to the good stuff…
Venture Capital Deals
Loop, a Columbus, Ohio-based post-purchase e-commerce SaaS platform to manage online returns and exchanges, has raised $10 million in a round led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from Lerer Hippeau and Ridge Ventures. Founded in 2017, they’ve worked with d2c brands including Allbirds, Brooklinen, and Chubbies.
Apervita, a Chicago and Boston-based platform for value-based collaboration in healthcare analytics, raised $22 million in funding. Investors include Optum Ventures, Pritzker Group VC, Baird Capital, Math Ventures, Illinois Ventures, Levy Family Partners, and Wintrust.
Threekit, a Chicago-based platform that brands and retailers use to create immersive product experiences, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Shasta Ventures led the round, and was joined by Salesforce Ventures. Term Sheet
Chicago-based 2ndKitchen, raised $4.35 million in seed funding. The startup helps kitchen-less businesses serve food by partnering with nearby restaurants. Hyde Park Ventures led the round, and was joined by MATH Venture Partners, Great North Labs, Bragiel Brothers, and M25.
Schaumburg, IL-based DataCubes, an insurance technology startup providing an underwriting platform for commercial insurers, has raised $15.2 million in a Series B round led by Palm Drive Capital. Other investors include Altos Ventures, NFP Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, MPK Equity Partners, and return backers Seyen Capital and MK Capital.
Banza, a Detroit-based pasta brand, raised $20 million in funding from investors Enlightened Hospitality Investments and Prelude Growth Partners.
1Password, a Toronto-based password management app, raised $200 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel. This financing is the first external round of funding for the previously bootstrapped company. Slack Fund, WndrCo, and others participated in the round.
Guild Education, a Denver, CO-based education benefits platform for Fortune 1000 companies, raised $157 million in Series D funding at a post-money valuation of $1 billion. General Catalyst led, with participation from Emerson Collective, Iconiq Capital, Lead Edge Capital, and return backers Workday Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Next Play Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Felicis Ventures, Bessemer Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Harrison Metal.
Sequoia has led a $16 million Series A financing for Louisville, CO-based AMP Robotics, an AI-enabled robotic system to separate recyclable materials in municipal waste and construction debris. BV, Closed Loop Partners, Congruent Ventures, and Sidewalk Labs also participated.
Liqid, a Broomfield, CO-based provider of adaptive resource management solutions in data-centers, raised $28 million in Series B funding. Panorama Point Partners led, joined by Iron Gate Capital and DH Capital.
SimpleCitizen, a Salt Lake City-based digital immigration and visa solutions company, raised $5.8 million in seed funding. Kickstart Seed Fund led, and was joined by investors including Pelion Ventures, Peterson Venture Partners, TSVC, Y Combinator, AppleTree Capital, Kima Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and Investo. Term Sheet
Sera Prognostics, Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based prenatal diagnostics startup, raised $36 million in Series D funding. Blue Ox Healthcare Partners led the round. Axios
Private Equity Deals
Five Points Capital has acquired Madison, WI-based GrammaTech, a provider of software-assurance tools and cybersecurity services for government and commercial clients.
M&A
The Riverside Co. sold Censis, a Franklin, TN-based provider of surgical instrument tracking and workflow SaaS, to Fortive (NYSE: FTV). Axios
New Funds
Boulder-based Blue Note Ventures is raising $20 million for its second fund, per an SEC filing.
IPOs
No notable tech IPOs this week.
What I’m Reading
Managing Your Friendships, With Software
The SoftBank Effect: How $100 Billion Left Workers in a Hole
Why your big-spending corporate venture strategy is all wrong
You’re Probably Asking the Wrong People For Career Advice
The Wonderful Guide to Market Sizing
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
Future of Travel, Growth Hacking, Doing Things That Don’t Scale… - Tech in Chicago
Culture Break
📚Read- Educated by Tara Westover
🎬Watch- Jack Ryan on Prime Video
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- The Big Bitcoin Heist and The Keto Diet’s Most Controversial Champion
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