Financial deals, mergers and acquisitions in the tech ecosystem are mentioned daily in the Atlanta Inno Beat newsletter, along with insights on how personnel moves may impact a startup’s future. Sign up for the Beat to get it each day in your inbox.
Check out the most important mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and investments from Atlanta technology companies from July 2019. Did we miss a deal? Let me know at mhogan@americaninno.com.
86Borders, a software company in Cobb County, raised $148,000 of a $710,000 round, according to a filing with the SEC. The startup focuses on delivering solutions-based services across the health care and logistics industries.
GROUNDFLOOR, an investment and lending platform for real estate loans, raised $3 million in crowdfunding from 1,500 new and existing investors. In addition, the startup reports it had its strongest quarter ever in 2019 Q2. With the new funding, GROUNDFLOOR has raised a total of $18.3 million and has 20 percent public ownership. Co-founder and CEO Brian Dally said the funding will help accelerate the company’s growth by expanding its teams in sales, software engineering and investor relations.
A majority stake of Waystar, a Duluth-based provider of revenue cycle software, was purchased from Bain Capital. EQT Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to acquire equity in the company, which brings Waystar’s enterprise value to $2.7 billion. Bain Capital will retain a minority stake in Waystar.
ArunA Bio, a biotech company based in Athens, raised $13 million from Eshelman Ventures, members of the company’s board of directors and management, and other investors. ArunA Bio will use the funding to support the development of its neural exosome delivery platform and neural exosome therapies for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Huntington’s Disease and stroke. Mark Sirgo, CEO of ArunA Bio, said the new funding brings ArunA Bio’s total raised to nearly $24 million.
MyPorter, an Atlanta-based valet storage startup, raised $2.2 million in a funding round led by a series of angels and CEOs with expertise in essential services, finance, real estate and technology. Among those investors include Wes Matelich, CEO of Rx Green Technologies, and Ken Haines, CEO of Atlanta-based The Wrench Group (Coolray, Mr. Plumber and BriteBox). According to company representatives, MyPorter will use the funding for growth in the Atlanta market and prepare for expansion into new markets in Q1 2020.
Ciox Health, an Alpharetta-based healthtech company with a focus on clinical data exchange, raised $30 million in a funding round from new investor Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and private equity firm New Mountain Capital. Ciox will use the funding to enhance its core capability of providing clinical data liquidity to reduce health care costs and improve the quality of patient outcomes. The company will focus on developing its Digital Patient Clone heath data repository that brings de-identified patient data to researchers on-demand and at scale. The investment will also help Ciox’s providers contribute to clinical research and development.
UpLift Health, an Atlanta-based app and digital health startup focused on treating depression, raised $1 million in seed funding, according to Mobi Health News. The round was led by the Laidir Foundation, a Washington-based research and development organization. The funding will be used for developing the technology. Eddie Liu, UpLift’s CEO, said the startup will also be looking at building out new features, such as gamification and connections to in-person coaches, after receiving specific requests from users.
The United States Air Force has awarded Georgia Tech Applied Research Corp. a $245.9 million contract for electronic warfare and avionics systems support, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The funding will provide engineering, research and development services to be performed in Atlanta and completed by July 8, 2029.
Bark, an Atlanta software startup that monitors kids’ internet usage for potential threats, has raised $5.6 million of a planned $6 million round of funding from three investors. Though investors were not listed in this funding announcement, Signal Peak Ventures Managing Director Brandon Tidwell was named among the related parties on the startup’s SEC filing. The VC firm led Bark’s $9 million Series A round in 2018.
FoodFinder, an Atlanta-based nonprofit app and website that connects people to nearby food pantries, received a $156,000 grant from The Walmart Foundation to expand its technology platform and build awareness of its service. The FoodFinder database contains information, such as street address, hours of operation and contact information, for more than 45,000 free food resources across all 50 states. More than 75,000 people have used the FoodFinder service to locate food assistance programs to date. With its new funding secured, founder Jack Griffin will join FoodFinder full time as CEO. Griffin, who launched FoodFinder in 2014 as a junior in high school, recently received his Bachelor in business administration degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in May.
DefenseStorm, a cloud-based cybersecurity firm in Alpharetta, raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Georgian Partners. The company added Justin LaFayette, managing partner at Georgian Partners, to its board of directors and work with the Georgian Impact team to fast track technology in AI, according to a news release.
The Kapor Center launched a $1 million Tech Done Right Challenge grant competition a few months ago to highlight and invest in startups helping create a diverse and inclusive tech economy locally and nationally. The competition drew 120 applications from 48 cities in the U.S. One of the 10 winners, each of which will get a $100,000 grant to implement their solutions, was Goodie Nation, a community of startup leaders, open source software and digital campaigns, as well as a local hackathon based in Atlanta.
OneTrust, an Atlanta-based privacy, security and third-party risk technology platform, raised a $200 million Series A from Insight Partners, which now values the startup at $1.3 billion. The funding will be used to continue to build out more modules, privacy strategy and a third party risk management product, according to Chairman Alan Dabbiere. OneTrust plans to continue its global expansion, acquire more companies and grow its headcount.
Hodges-Mace, an Atlanta-based employee benefits and custom enrollment services company, was acquired by Alight Solutions, a Lincolnshire, Ill.-based business process outsourcing company with a focus on health, wealth, human resources and finance. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Thanks to the acquisition, Alight will use Hodges-Mace’s tech to further meet the needs of employers, including employers smaller than what Alight has traditionally served. The company will also utilize Hodges-Mace’s partnerships with consultants, brokers and carriers to grow its health and voluntary benefits tech.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta awarded 10 PROPEL Innovation Grants to Atlanta-based organizations that are reimagining Jewish life in the city, including two startups. Tradition Kitchens, a startup that organizes Jewish cooking classes in community members’ homes, and The Blue Dove Foundation, a startup battling mental health and substance abuse issues through a toolkit and training sessions for organizational leaders, were awarded between $10,000 and $25,000 in grants from the federation.
Optima Healthcare Solutions, an Alpharetta-based cloud-focused medical record software company, was acquired by Net Health, a Pittsburgh-based provider of software solutions for outpatient care. The combined company will focus on serving multiple specialized clinical settings throughout a patient’s journey—from the hospital to the patient’s home. The acquisition will help Net Health expand its medical record platform and serve patients in more than 14,000 facilities.
Georgia Tech has received a $21.9 million grant to continue researching how to combat flu pandemics. The grant, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, would allow researchers to develop drugs that would provide rapid response against a broad range of flu viruses. The researchers are developing the drug to be inhaled through a nebulizer or inhaler. While Georgia Tech researchers are leading the four-year initiative, the project also includes scientists from Duke University, Emory University, the University of Georgia, the University of Louisiana, Rockefeller University and Acorda Therapeutics. Learn more here.
Atlanta fintech firm NCR Corp. acquired D3 Technology, Inc., an Omaha, Neb.-based provider of online and mobile banking. According to a news release, the acquisition will expand NCR’s digital banking market, which includes large U.S. banks and international banks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
QGenda, an Atlanta cloud-based, automated provider for scheduling solutions, acquired OpenTempo, a Burlington, Vt.-based provider of clinical capacity management tools. With the acquisition, QGenda plans to combine its automated on-call and scheduling, time tracking and compensation management with OpenTempo’s clinical resource optimization and analytics, according to a news release. The new combined company will maintain its current offices and teams in Georgia, Maryland and Vermont.
The Atlanta University Center Consortium of historically black colleges and universities is partnering with UnitedHealth Group on a $8.25 million initiative to prepare students to meet the growing demand in the marketplace for data analytics experts. According to a news release, a grant ceremony will kick off tomorrow at 9 a.m. at the Woodruff Library. The goal of the partnership is to meet the demand of predicted data analytics jobs and encourage more minorities to work in STEM fields. The AUC Consortium is comprised of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College.
