Hunt Club Raises a $10M Series A
Plus battery tech in Michigan, Insur-tech in Ohio, and DTC wine in Austin.
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
Excoastal Stats 📊
Last Week’s Open Rate: 37%
Last Week’s Views: 200
ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Venture Capital Deals
📍 Illinois
Chicago-based Hunt Club, a tech-sector-focused talent and recruitment company, raised $10 million in Series A funding from Teamworthy Ventures.
SimBioSys, a Chicago-based simulation company focused on healthcare, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Genoa Ventures and Northpond Ventures co-led, joined by AV8 Ventures, Heritage Medical Group, and Mayo Clinic.
ClearFlame Engine Technologies, a Geneva-based green engine technology company, raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and joined by Mercuria, John Deere, and Clean Energy Ventures.
📍 Michigan
Workit Health, an Ann Arbor-based provider of virtual substance use disorder treatment, raised $118 million. Insight Partners led, and was joined by CVS Health Ventures, FirstMark Capital, BCBS Venture Fund, and 3L Capital.
Our Next Energy, an EV battery startup, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Investors included Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Assembly Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Flex, and Volta Energy Technologies.
📍 Ohio
Juventas, a Cleveland-based biotech focused on blood cancer, raised $63 million in a Series C round led by CICC Capital.
Coterie Insurance, a Cincinnati-based insur-tech company, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Weatherford Capital led, joined by RPM Ventures, Intact Ventures, Group 1001, and Alpha Edison.
📍 Idaho
Lovevery, a Boise-based early childhood product company, raised $100 million in a Series C round led by TCG and joined by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, Reach Capital, and SoGal Ventures.
📍 Denver/Boulder
JumpCloud, a Louisville-based small-to-midsize company directory, raised $225 million in a Series F round. Sapphire Ventures led, joined by Atlassian Ventures, CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, NTT Docomo Ventures, STEADFAST Capital Ventures, Waterman Ventures, and OurCrowd.
Maxwell, a Denver-based mortgage software maker, raised $52.5 million. Fin VC led, joined by Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Prudence, Rotor Capital, and TTV Capital.
📍 Texas
Insiteflow, an Austin-based electronic health records interoperability, raised $2.3 million in seed funding led by Silverton Partners. Congress Ave Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Service Provider Capital also participated.
Wander.com, an Austin-based smart-home booking company, raised $7 million in funding from Redpoint Ventures.
BOXT, an Austin-based DTC winery, raised $9.4 million in equity and debt funding. Next Coast Ventures led, joined by WX Brands and SVB.
FemTec Health, a Houston-based women’s healthcare data platform, raised $38 million from Longmont Capital, Ithaca LifeSciences, Unilever Ventures, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, e.Ventures, Viking Global, and Trinity Capital.
Private Equity Deals
Beringer Capital acquired a majority stake in Benzinga, a Detroit-based financial media company.
Pamlico Capital invested in Avant, a Chicago-based "platform for IT decision-making."
M&A
HungerRushTM acquired Menufy, a Kansas City-based online food ordering platform and network.
Sonobi acquired Amply, a Kansas City-based provider of push notification tech.
New Funds
Promus Ventures of Chicago raised $139 million for a space-focused VC fund called Orbital Ventures.
KSL Capital Partners, a Denver-based PE firm focused on travel and leisure, is raising $3 billion for its sixth flagship fund.
What I’m Reading
Why most online communities fail — and how to build a better one!
Insights from early-stage marketplaces
Podcast Addiction
Culture Break
📚Read- A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Emma Southon
🎬Watch- Nothing new here this week.
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants
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