Excoastal Issue 55
Live video, logistics, cybersecurity, and more...
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
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Sponsored Content From Our Friends at midwest.tech:
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ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Venture Capital Deals
📍 Chicago
StreamLayer, a live video, and connected TV technology platform raised $4 million in funding. KB Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Green Dolphin Capital and TYH Capital. Term Sheet
📍 Indiana
MBX Biosciences, a Carmel-based drug discovery startup focused on rare endocrine diseases, raised $34.6 million in Series A funding. Frazier Healthcare Partners led, and was joined by OrbiMed, NEA, BioCrossroads, Twilight Venture Partners, and Indiana Philanthropic Venture Fund.
📍 Chattanooga
FreightWaves, a logistics, supply chain, and data analytics startup has closed on a total of $37 million across two funding rounds this year. The most recent funding was led by Kayne Partners Fund, along with participation from existing investors including 8VC, Revolution Ventures and Prologis Ventures. Additional investors include Fontinalis Partners, Hearst Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, and Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
📍 Silicon Slopes
Pleasant Grove, Utah-based Whistic, a vendor security management platform for buyers and sellers, secured a $12 million Series A round of funding led by Emergence Capital and joined by Album VC.
📍 Austin
Spyderbat, a cyberthreat prioritization software company, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. LiveOak Venture Partners and Benhamou Global Ventures led the round.
📍 Dallas
Mountain Health Technologies, a primary care subscription service for young adults, raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by Matchstick Ventures and was joined by NorthwesternMutual Future Fund, Techstars Ventures, Bread and Butter Ventures, and Route 66 Venture.
Private Equity Deals
Francisco Partners invested in GAINSystems, a Chicago-based supply chain planning, and inventory optimization solution. Term Sheet
Acrisure, a Caledonia, Michigan-based insurance brokerage owned by Genstar Capital, agreed to buy an insurance AI unit of Tulco, a Pittsburgh-based tech holding company led by Thomas Tull, for $400 million in stock. Axios
Modern Hire, a Delafield, Wisconsin-based portfolio company of The Riverside Company, acquired Sonru, an Irish provider of automated video interviewing technology. Axios
M&A
ZenBusiness, an Austin, Texas-based software platform for launching new businesses that had raised VC funding from Greycroft and others, acquired Joust, an Austin-based mobile banking platform for the self-employed. Joust had raised around $5 million from firms like PTB Ventures. Joust will rebrand as ZenBusiness Money and launch this fall as part of ZenBusiness's business formation platform.
Recursion Pharma, a Salt Lake City-based biotech that’s raised $250 million in VC funding, agreed to buy Vium, a San Mateo, Calif.-based digital biomarkers developer that had raised $54 million from DCVC, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, and Future Shape.
Mimecast acquired MessageControl, a Chicago-based messaging security software developer.
3Cloud, backed by Gryphon Investors, acquired Applied Cloud Systems, a Pittsburgh-based Microsoft cloud technologies consultancy for customers. Term Sheet
New Funds
Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners has raised over $4 billion towards a $4.5 billion target for the firm's eighth flagship fund, according to an SEC filing. Madison Dearborn pursues middle-market and upper-middle-market deals in sectors including business services, financial services, healthcare, and media.
Others
Vital Farms, known for its "pasture-raised" eggs and butter, raised $172 million in its IPO. The Austin-based company priced 7.8 million shares at $22, for a fully diluted value of $958 million. It will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker VITL.
Rush Street Interactive, a Chicago-based online casino, and sports betting company, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with a SPAC called dMY Technology Group. It will have an initial enterprise value of $1.78 billion.
Rocket Companies, the Detroit-based parent company of mortgage companies Quicken Loans and Rocket Mortgage, plans to raise $3.2 billion by offering 150 million shares priced between $20 to $22 in an IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE as RKT.
What I’m Reading
The Gig Economy Is Failing. Say Hello to the Hustle Economy.
The Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Framework for VC
Reimagining B2B Commerce with Faire
Micro Angel Investors Are the Future of Startup Funding
Startup/VC Twitter
Thread 👇🏼
Podcast Addiction
The crisis in the news - The Ezra Klein Show
Culture Break
📚Read- Whistleblower by Susan Fowler
🎬Watch- World’s Most Extraordinary Homes on Netflix. (I’ve been loving this lately, especially the early episodes).
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- From Productivity to Psychedelics: Tim Ferriss Has Changed His Mind About Success
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