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 and investments from Atlanta technology companies from July 2020. Did we miss a deal? Let me know at mhogan@americaninno.com.
Pattern89, an Indianapolis-based AI and marketing tech company, raised $2M in a round led by Break Trail Ventures in Ohio, High Alpha Capital and Elevate Ventures in Indianapolis, Atlanta-based F&M Investments and Vitalize in Westfield. The company plans to use the funding for growing go-to-market data science and engineering functions and expanding its current product line.
FraudScope, an Atlanta-based AI platform that detects health care fraud, raised a $7M Series A round led by QED Investors, Brewer Lane Ventures and the local GRA Venture Fund. Atlanta’s Mosley Ventures and TechSqaure Labs also participated in the round, along with Spider Capital out of San Francisco. The funding will be used to scale the FraudScope team and expand product offerings. The Series A round brings FraudScope’s total funding to $10.5M.
Ionic Security, an Atlanta-based software company that helps Fortune 100 businesses in the private and public sectors protect financial and other sensitive information on devices and data centers, raised more than $441K, according to a filing with the SEC. The startup raised nearly $39M in a round last year.
Atlanta-based First Data, a fintech payments company, and Live Oak Bank raised a $20M round for a fintech joint venture, Apiture. Apiture, a digital banking experience company based out of Wilmington, N.C., will use the new capital to develop digital banking technologies, according to a news release. The investment was backed by funds and accounts advised by T.Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Pinnacle Bank. As part of the deal, Pinnacle Bank co-founder and chief administrative officer Hugh Queener will join Apiture’s board of directors.
Vital4, an Atlanta-based fintech platform that provides AI-powered risk screening and monitoring, raised a $1M round from Atlanta-based Valor Ventures, according to a news release. Valor General Partner Lisa Calhoun will join Vital4’s board of directors.
Layr, an Atlanta-based insurtech startup, raised $5M in a seed round led by Sandbox Insurtech. New investors Flyover Capital and Maschmeyer Group Ventures, along with existing investor Lloyd’s of London joined the round. The round will primarily be used to expand Layr’s AI and machine learning capabilities.
Sharecare, an Atlanta-based digital health company, acquired WhiteHatAI, a AI health care payment company based in Cary, N.C. WhiteHatAI’s technology helps identify fraud, waste and abuse in the health care space. This is Sharecare’s 16th acquisition; financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Routematch, an Atlanta-based software company that provides SaaS solutions to public transportation agencies, was acquired by Uber to support cities in providing more accessible public transportation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Routematch’s 170 employees and CEO Pepper Harward will retain their positions under Uber.
REPAY Holdings Corp., an Atlanta-based payment systems provider, acquired Salt Lake City-based accounts-payable automation system cPayPlus LLC for up to $16M. The terms included $8M in cash and $8M in further payments that will begin if cPayPlus meets performance milestones. In a Pymnts.com article, REPAY CEO John Morris noted that the coronavirus pandemic has increased work-from-home demands, including the demand for automated payment systems.
FreightWaves, a Chattanooga-based freight data and analytics startup, closed a $37M investment, making it one of the top startups to raise venture capital in the state. The round was led by Kayne Partners Fund, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, and L.P. Kayne Partners Fund, putting the total capital raised by FreightWaves at $75M. Investors 8VC, Fontinalis Partners, Revolution Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Prologis Ventures, Story Ventures and Engage Ventures participated in the round.
Ciox Health, an Alpharetta health tech company, acquired San Francisco-based biomedical natural language processing technology company, Medal, Inc. The acquisition accelerates capabilities to enable real-world data in support of research that advances patient care. According to a news release, Medal’s AI techniques used to interrogate unstructured medical record data will aid Ciox Health in using real world data to support research that advances patient care.
Grubbly Farms, an Atlanta-based startup that develops fresh feed and snacks for chickens, raised a little more than $2M in a round led by Atlanta-based seed-stage VC firm Overline Ventures. Other investors in the round include Oval Park Capital and angel investors from previous rounds. The funding will primarily be used for growing the Grubbly Farms team, building a more robust supply chain and increasing the startup’s product line. The company will hire five full-time employees as a result of the funding, including a creative lead, email marketing manager and an operations and logistics manager.
Altis Biosystems, a Chapel Hill, N.C.-based stem-cell technology startup, raised a $3.1M round led by Greenville, S.C.-based VentureSouth. Other investors included in the round are members of the Atlanta Technology Angels and Central Texas Angel Network in Austin, as well as RTP Capital and Hatteras Venture Partners. Altis’ stem-cell platform was created at UNC-Chapel Hill following a NIH research award to develop a microfluidic organ-on-a-chip to mimic the human colon.
The University of Georgia announced the UGA Foundation’s investment committee voted during a meeting in June to approve a commitment of up to $10M for funding innovation. The funding will allow the foundation to partner with the Office of Research’s Innovation Gateway to develop market-ready tech at the school, according to a news release.
MacKenzie Scott, an author and philanthropist, has given Morehouse College a gift of $20M gift as part of her donation to 116 nonprofits across the country, including six HBCUs. Scott announced the donations in a Medium post earlier this week. The billionaire has pledged to give away most of her wealth and will support nonprofits and institutions working to improve racial, gender and LGBTQ+ equality, in addition to economic mobility and public health issues.
InComm, an Atlanta-based payments technology company, announced the company had released QR code technology customers can use to checkout at CVS Pharmacy stores with their PayPal or Venmo accounts without touching a keypad or signing a receipt. The technology will be implemented at all CVS stores, more than 8K in the U.S., nationwide in the fourth quarter this year. CVS customers using the PayPal QR code will be able to pay for their products using stored debit or credit cards, bank accounts, PayPal balance or PayPal Credit. Venmo users can pay using stored debit or credit cards, bank accounts, Venmo balance or Venmo rewards. Those who choose to opt-in to the QR code payment method will not pay a fee.
