Matchstick Ventures Raises a Third Fund
Plus a very busy couple of weeks for Excoastal fundraising.
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: 31%
Last Week’s Views: 210
ICYMI: the Excoastal Investors Airtable sheet:
Midwest Venture Capital Firms and Angels
Venture Capital Deals
📍 Chicago
Vanqua Bio, a biopharmaceutical company focused on neurodegenerative diseases, raised $85 million in Series B funding. Omega Funds led, joined by OrbiMed Surveyor Capital, Avoro Ventures, Casdin Capital, Pontifax, Eli Lilly and Company, Logos Capital, and Osage University Partners.
Copado, maker of a DevOps platform, raised $140 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners led, joined by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Declaration Partners, and DG Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, ISAI Cap Venture, Lead Edge Capital, and Perpetual Investors.
Provi, an online ordering platform for the beverage alcohol industry, raised $100 million across two rounds: a $75 million Series C led by D1 Capital Partners and $25 million in Series B funding by CPMG.
Vodori, a provider of online marketing software for life sciences, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Baird Capital.
NOCD, provider of obsessive compulsive-disorder treatment, raised $33 million in Series B funding. F-Prime Capital led, joined by Eight Roads Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, 7wireVentures, Health Enterprise Partners, and Chicago Ventures.
Thoughtful Automation, an automation-as-a-services platform for mid-market companies, raised $5 million in seed funding led by Drive Capital.
📍 Michigan
DeepHow, a Detroit-based startup focused trade work skill training, raised $9 million in pre-Series A funding. Sierra Ventures led the round and was joined by Osage Venture Partners and Qualcomm Ventures.
📍 Iowa
Roboflow, a Des Moines-based computer vision tool, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures.
📍 Ohio
UnifiHealth, a Columbus-based health plan provider for small businesses, raised $5.4 million in seed funding. Anthemis led, joined by Echelon Capital, Flare Capital, Digitalis Ventures and Great Oaks VC.
📍 Minnesota
Francis Medical, a Minneapolis-based medical device company focused on prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer, raised $55 million in Series B funding. Solas BioVentures led, joined by Arboretum Ventures, Coloplast A/S, H2Oey Ventures, and Tonkawa.
Flywheel, a Minneapolis-based biomedical research data management platform, raised $22 million in Series C funding. 8VC led, joined by iSelect, Argonautic Ventures, Beringea, DrX/Novartis, HPE Pathfinder, Spike Ventures, Key Investments, Seraph, and Great North Labs.
📍 Toronto
Foxquilt, an insurtech startup, raised $8 million. Luge Capital led, joined by AmTrust Financial, Extreme Venture Partners, and Side Door Ventures.
Private AI, a developer of machine learning and natural language processing tools, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. M12 and Forum Ventures co-led.
📍 Missouri
Rezilion, a St. Charles-based security operations startup, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Guggenheim Investments led, joined by JVP and Kindred Capital.
📍 Denver/Boulder
Colorado-based, JumpCloud, which offers a platform to help companies manage employee access and devices, raised $159 million at a $2.56 billion valuation in a round led by Sapphire Ventures. Owl Rock, Whale Rock Capital, Sands Capital, General Atlantic, BlackRock, and H.I.G. Growth Partners also participated.
📍 Silicon Slopes
Zonos, a St. George-based cross-border commerce business, raised $69 million in funding. Silversmith Capital Partners led.
📍 Texas
SelfFinancial, an Austin, Texas-based startup that helps consumers establish and build credit history, raised $50 million in Series E funding. Altos Ventures led, joined by Meritech Capital and Conductive Ventures.
GenXComm, an Austin-based networking solutions company, $20 million in Series B funding. Motive Companies led the round and was joined by Raine Next-Gen Communications, BMW iVentures, Intel Capital, Azure Capital, and Bandgap Ventures.
Cresicor, a Spring-based CPG trade management platform, raised $5.6 million in seed funding. Costanoa Ventures led, joined by Torch Capital.
Othram, a Woodlands-based maker of genomics tech for investigators to solve unsolved law enforcement cases, raised $18 million in Series B funding from Gigafund.
Flippa, an Austin-based marketplace to buy and sell online businesses, raised $11 million in Series A funding led by OneVentures.
HumanCo, an Austin-based consumer products incubation company, raised $35 million in a bridge round of funding. Investors included 8VC, JAZZ Venture Partners, and PLUS Capital.
Osano, an Austin-based risk and compliance startup, raised $11 million. Jump Capital led, joined by insiders LiveOak Venture Partners and Next Coast Ventures.
📍 Arizona
Nextiva, a Scottsdale-based communications company, raised $200 million from Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The financing values the company at $2.7 billion.
Private Equity Deals
GI Partners invested in LightEdge, a Des Moines-based colocation, cloud and managed service solution.
Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire HCSS, a Houston-based construction management software maker.
The Blackstone Group completed a $1.4 billion purchase of Sphera, a Chicago-based provider of ESG software and consulting services.
HighBar Partners acquired SilkRoad Technology, a Chicago-based talent retention platform.
Sopris Capital invested in SmyphonyCare, a Madison, Wisconsin-based healthcare data analytics platform.
M&A
Zenoti acquired ProPoint Solutions, a Minneapolis-based software business.
Project44 acquired Convey, an Austin-based last-mile delivery company, for $225 million.
Unite Us acquired NowPow, a Chicago-based referral platform.
New Funds
Matchstick Ventures, a VC firm with offices in Colorado and Minnesota, raised $55 million for its third fund.
Jump Capital, a Chicago-based venture capital firm specializing in Series A/B investments, raised $350 million for its seventh fund.
Flexpoint Ford, a Chicago-based private equity investment firm, closed Flexpoint Asset Opportunity Fund II at $825 million.
Rubicon Technology Partners, a Boulder-based PE firm focused on enterprise software, is targeting $2 billion for its fourth flagship fund, per Buyouts.
Santé Ventures, an Austin-based life sciences VC firm, raised $260 million for its fourth fund.
What I’m Reading
Startup Founders Use Record-High Valuations to Cash Out Earlier (paywalled)
As Investors Pivot To Seed And Growth, Who Is Left Leading Series A?
Podcast Addiction
Culture Break
📚Read- Checkmate in Berlin by Giles Milton
🎬Watch- Billions on Showtime
🎧Listen-
🧐Think- The Girl in the Picture
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