M1 Finance raises a $45M Series C
M1 Finance raises a $45M Series C
Plus in-home hydroponics, data analytics, and a debut fund in Chicago.
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 📊
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Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
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Venture Capital Deals
📍 Chicago
M1 Finance, an automated money management platform, raised $45 million in Series C funding. Left Lane Capital led, and was joined by Jump Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures.
Rise Gardens, the maker of in-home, smart hydroponic garden systems, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Amazon Alexa Fund.
📍 Toronto
Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based robo-advisor and wealth management platform, is nearing a deal to raise about $76 million led by TCV that would value it at over $1 billion, per Bloomberg.
📍Silicon Slopes
Aumni, a Salt Lake City-based investment analytics company for the private capital markets, raised $3 million in additional Series A funding. Investors included Donnelley Financial Solutions, DLA Piper and Orrick.
Claravine, a Lehi, Utah-based marketing data governance platform, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Grayhawk Capital led, and was joined by Next Frontier Capital and Peninsula Ventures.
📍 Boulder/Denver
Deepwatch, a Denver-based managed security services startup, raised $53 million in Series B funding. Goldman Sachs led and was joined by ABS Capital Partners.
📍 Texas
Linear Labs, a Fort Worth, Texas-based maker of more energy-efficient electric motors and generators, raised $6 million in funding. Investors included Champion Hill, Lowercarbon Capital, Kindred Ventures, Gen Fukunaga, Duke Angel Network, Spike Ventures, and Moving Capital. Term Sheet
DISCO, an Austin-based legal tech startup focused on e-discovery, raised $60 million in funding at a $785 million valuation. Georgian Partners led and was joined by investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, LiveOak Venture Partners, The Stephens Group, and Breyer Capital.
Private Equity Deals
Pitchbook reports that Permira, Warburg Pincus, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Durable Capital have agreed to make a growth investment in Clearwater Analytics, a Boise, Idaho-based provider of investment accounting and analytics software.
M&A
WellSky, an Overland Park, KS-based portfolio company of TPG Capital and Leonard Green, acquired CarePort Health, a Boston-based provider of patient care coordination software, from Allscripts
Pluralsight acquired DevelopIntelligence, a Louisville, CO-based provider of skills consulting and training for tech teams at enterprise companies.
UserTesting, backed by Openview Venture Partners and Greenspring Associates, acquired the technology assets of usabiliTEST, an Austin-based provider of information architecture testing solutions. Term Sheet
New Funds
Fairway Capital Management, a Chicago-based VC firm recently launched by Adams Street Partners vets, is raising $200 million for its debut VC fund, per an SEC filing.
Abor Investments, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on the food and beverage market, raised $1.5 billion for its second subordinated debt fund and $168 million for its second captive subordinated debt fund.
Others
E2open, a creator of cloud-based software for managing supply chains, has agreed to go public by merging with the special-purpose acquisition company CC Neuberger Principal Holdings I. The reverse merger gives the Austin-based business an enterprise value of $2.57 billion according to Pitchbook.
What I’m Reading
Ryan Calbeck’s letter to a former board member of CircleUp (aka how not to conduct yourself while serving on a board)
Startup/VC Twitter
Podcast Addiction
Common Traits Shared by Top GPs, Why Underrepresented Fund Managers Will Produce Superior Returns, and SPACs vs. Direct Listings vs. IPOs (Lo Toney) - The Full Ratchet
Culture Break
📚Read- Where Law Ends by Andrew Weissmann
🎬Watch- Fargo on Hulu
🎧Listen-
🧐Think-
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