Fishing gear in Chicago, Robotics in Ohio
+ A series of deals in Texas and 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.
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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ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Venture Capital Deals
📍 Chicago
Catch Co., a platform for fishing brands and supplies, raised $38 million in Series B funding. True Ventures led, joined by TechNexus.
📍 Ohio
Path Robotics, a Columbus-based robotics welding company, raised $56 million in Series B funding. Addition led the round and was joined by investors including Drive Capital, Basis Set, and Lemnos Lab. Term Sheet
Oculli, a Dayton-based provider of AI software for radar perception, raised $55 million in Series B funding. Catapult Ventures and Conductive Ventures co-led with participation from Taiwania Capital, SIG, Hella Ventures, PHI-Zoyi Capital, R7 Partners, VectoIQ, ACVC Partners, Mesh Ventures, SV Tech Ventures, Schox Ventures and Signature Bank.
📍 Wisconsin
OnLume Surgical, a Madison-based developer of surgical imaging systems, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Cambridge Investment Group led, and was joined by WARF Ventures and Investment Partners.
📍 Toronto
Wealthsimple, a provider of tools for managing money, raised $610 million in funding at a valuation of around $4 billion.
Thentia, a platform for government licensing and data management, raised $10 million in Series B funding. Spring Mountain Capital led, joined by BDC Capital.
Ada Support, a Toronto-based chatbot developer, has raised $130 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. Spark Capital led, joined by Tiger Global, Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel, Version One, and FirstMark Capital.
📍 Colorado
Solid Power, a Louisville-based maker of solid-state electric batteries, has secured a $130 million Series B led by BMW Group, Ford and Volta Energy Technologies.
📍 Silicon Slopes
RTFKT, a SLC-based provider of digital sneakers and other accessories for gamers, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
📍 Texas
Energy Exploration Technologies, an Austin-based lithium extraction technology company, raised $10 million from Obsidian Acquisition Partners, Helios Capital, and the University of Texas.
Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based aerospace company, raised $75 million in Series A funding. DADA Holdings led the round and was joined by investors including Astera Institute and Canon Ball. Term Sheet
Austin-based Expressable, a speech therapy platform, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau and NextView Ventures co-led, and were joined by Amplifyher Ventures.
Private Equity Deals
Long Arc Capital acquired a majority stake in Minneapolis-based Agile Frameworks, a provider of cloud-based software for project workflows, data management and analytics focused on the architecture, engineering and construction services sectors.
Promethean Investments led a $60 million round of funding in Puttshack, a Chicago-based mini golf experience.
M&A
Bold Orange acquired Three Deep, a Minnesota-based provider of performance marketing solutions.
PrimePay will acquire SyncHR, a Denver-based HR, payroll and benefits management software provider.
New Funds
Five Elms Capital, a Kansas City-based growth equity firm, is raising $550 million for its fifth fund, per an SEC filing.
Multicoin Capital, an Austin-based cryptocurrency and blockchain investment firm, raised $100 million for its second fund.
Information Venture Partners has closed its third venture fund on $101 million, marking its largest vehicle to date. The Toronto-based firm focuses on early-stage B2B fintech and enterprise SaaS investments.
MiddleGround Capital, a Kentucky-based midmarket PE firm focused on B2B industrial and specialty distribution companies, raised $736 million for a new series of funds.
What I’m Reading
The Case for Moving Back to Your Hometown
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
Venture Capital 101 with Scott Shane of Comeback Capital - Upside
Culture Break
📚Read- Three Years by Anton Chekhov
🎬Watch- Education, the fifth installment in the Small Axe series on Prime TV.
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- A Grudge Match in Japan: One Corner, Two 7-Elevens
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