Atlanta startups came into 2021 swinging.
The new year brought a flurry of funding news, continuing the capital frenzy that started at the end of 2020 as investors recovered from the initial pandemic slowdowns. Two homegrown software companies reached unicorn status, setting an optimistic tone for the rest of the year.
Here’s a breakdown of the funding and acquisition deals of the month in case you missed it. As always, subscribe to The Beat newsletter and get these deals in your inbox as they happen.
Funding
Katalon raises $1.1M
Katalon, an Atlanta-based automated testing startup, raised $1.1 million. CEO Vu Lam founded in the company in 2017. Lam is a serial entrepreneur who also founded KMS Technology, Kobiton and, most recently, Grove HR, according to his LinkedIn profile. Josh Lieberman, president and co-founder of KMS Technology and board member of Katalon, is also listed in the SEC filing. Customers across 160 countries use Katalon’s five automation tools, which help developers test their software. The company has 52 employees, according to LinkedIn. Katalon couldn't be reached for comment.
Atlanta startup SalesLoft surpasses $1B valuation
The sales engagement platform, founded in 2011, raised a $100 million round and plans to invest in new vertical markets, explore artificial intelligence and machine learning product development and continue its international expansion. New York-based Owl Rock Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors Insight Partners, HarbourVest and Emergence. SalesLoft has $245 million in total funding. The company currently has about 500 employees and expects to hire at least 150 more with the new funding, according to a SalesLoft spokesperson. With a $1.1 billion valuation, SalesLoft joins the ranks of cybersecurity and privacy startup OneTrust and financial technology startup Greenlight Financial, which both hit the milestone in the last year and a half. Read more.
The Labz raises $1.3M after pandemic pivot
The Labz, originally a platform to help artists with multimedia content, raised $1.3 million after it pivoted into an interactive virtual event platform. Level Forward, a production company that develops, produces and finances entertainment, led the investment and now partners with the startup. The Labz plans to continue developing its virtual events platform and hire three more people to its eight-person team to help with events and production planning. Read more.
Atlanta text messaging marketing startup raises $6.7M
Voxie, founded in 2018, raised a $6.7 million Series A round from a team of Atlanta investors to fuel a year of product and employee expansion. Voxie, which saw a 600% revenue growth in 2020, helps companies connect with their customers through personalized text message conversations that use behavioral data and artificial intelligence. Noro-Moseley Partners led the round with participation from Circadian Ventures and Engage Ventures. Local entrepreneurs Andy Powell, of CallRail; Kyle Porter, of SalesLoft; Fred Castellucci, of Castellucci Hospitality Group; and serial entrepreneurs David Cummings and Wain Kellum also participated. Read more.
Qoins raises $1.5M
Qoins, an Atlanta startup that helps people pay off their debts with change, raised $1.5 million in its first institutional investment round to expand its platform and double its staff, CEO and founder Christian Zimmerman said. Front Row Fund led the round with participation from Rise of the Rest, Carolina FinTech Ventures, Rebel One and Service Provider Capital, Zimmerman said. Google for Startups also provided a grant, and Qoins previously raised $750,000 in 2018, which brings its total capital to $2.2 million. Read more.
E-commerce marketing startup Springbot raises $14M
The round, led by New York-based Sterling National Bank, comes about a month after e-commerce marketing startup Springbot completed its first acquisition — of fellow Atlanta startup Matcha — to expand its marketing content. Springbot has an all-in-one e-commerce marketing platform built for small businesses. Its offerings include marketing automation, content and channels such as email, social media and advertisements. After the acquisition of Matcha, Springbot CEO Brooks Robinson said the startup’s staff increased to about 100, and it plans to expand its platform through more acquisitions in 2021. Read more.
Health technology startup raises $7.25M
Atlanta-based health technology startup OncoLens raised a $7.25 million Series A round to increase its platform and hire more employees. Atlanta’s BIP Capital, Martin Ventures and SeedToB participated in the round. The Series A brings the startup’s total investments to $8 million. CEO and Co-Founder Anju Mathew said the new capital will fuel the company’s rapid growth in the cancer treatment space. OncoLens provides a care treatment planning platform, which includes virtual tumor board technology, workflow automation and survivor planning. Read more.
LendingPoint raises $125 million
LendingPoint, a fast-growing Kennesaw-based financial technology startup, raised $125 million in an equity investment from Warburg Pincus. The round, which brings its total investments to $325 million, will help LendingPoint expand its financing features for e-commerce, point of sale and financial institution partners. The company also plans to make improvements to its data and technology platform, according to the announcement. Read more.
DecisionLink raises $18.5M
Atlanta software startup DecisionLink raised an $18.5 million Series A round led by Accel, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with investments in prominent technology startups. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz and OpenView Venture partner George Roberts also participated in the round. DecisionLink will use the round to expand its offerings of the ValueCloud platform, which is a cloud-based customer value management platform that aims to help all members of a business turn customer interactions into value insights to increase revenue. DecisionLink previously raised $1.3 million in 2019 and currently has about 30 employees, according to LinkedIn. Read more.
POS startup with Atlanta office raises $15.2M
Revel Systems, a cloud-based iPad point-of-sale system for restaurants and retailers, reported raising $15.2 million in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Revel Systems, founded in 2010 and led by CEO Greg Dukat, has offices in Atlanta, San Francisco and Lithuania and supplies more than 20,000 businesses with POS systems. Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, Intuit, Rothenberg Ventures and Sean Tomlinson are current investors, according to Revel's website. The company didn't immediately respond for request to comment. It reported raising $11.5 million in September, $20.8 million in 2019, $9.2 million in 2018 and $34.9 million in 2017, according to SEC filings. Read more.
Global payment company with Atlanta office becomes unicorn
PPRO, a London-based payment processing firm with an Atlanta office, raised $180 million, bringing the company to unicorn status. Investors include Eurazeo Growth, Sprints Capital and Wellington Management. PPRO produces payment infrastructure that allows people to globally convert and process payments based on the local preference. The funding will help the company expand its reach and develop innovative global payment solutions after it doubling its year-over-year transactions.
Startup founded by Georgia Tech grads raises $3M
Inspirit, an education technology startup founded by two Georgia Institute of Technology graduates, raised a $3 million funding round. Silicon Valley investor Sierra Ventures led the round, with participation from AME Cloud Ventures, according to Amrutha Vasan, Inspirit's chief operations officer. Inspirit, which launched in 2019 and is co-founded by Vasan and CEO Aditya Vishwanath, provides immersive products in the science technology, engineering and math (STEM) field for middle and high school students. Read more.
Biotech company receives $50M loan
Atlanta biotechnology company VERO Biotech closed a $50 millon senior secured term loan from Runway Growth Capital. The company, formerly known as GeNO, focuses on the design and development of products to help patients with pulmonary and cardiac diseases. VERO developed the GENOSYL Delivery System, which is an FDA-approved "tankless" inhaled nitric oxide delivery system to help treat those with respiratory distress syndrome.
Calendly becomes unicorn at valuation of more than $3B
Calendly, an Atlanta-based cloud scheduling platform, raised a $350 million investment, which now values the company at more than $3 billion. OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based expansion stage firm and existing investor, led the round with participation from San Fransisco-based Iconiq Capital. The investment will be used to provide liquidity for early shareholders and employees as well as continue product innovation. In 2020, Calendly doubled its subscription revenue to $70 million, according to the announcement. Read more.
Verusen raises $8M
Atlanta startup Verusen raised an $8 million Series A round to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to make supply chains more efficient. Forte Ventures and Flyover Capital co-led the round with participation from BMW i Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, Zetta Venture Partners, Kubera VC and Atlanta’s Engage VC. Verusen has a little under $14 million in investments to date, CEO Paul Noble said. Verusen’s sales saw a seven-fold growth in 2020. The round will help the company continue to expand globally and scale its AI and ML capabilities in the supply chain. Read more.
Fintech startup with ATL office raises $35M
Check, a financial technology startup with an Atlanta office, raised a $35 million Series B round led by Stripe and Thrive Capital. The round, which brings the startup's total investments to $44 million, marks the public launch of Check's product. Check produces payroll infrastructure that embeds into different platforms, which aims to make it easier for companies to manage their payrolls.
Acquisitions
Cox Automotive acquires tech company
Cox Automotive acquired a San Francisco company that specializes in 360-degree images for vehicles. Fyusion and Cox Automotive have already collaborated through Cox's Manheim, which is a wholesale digital marketplace for cars. Fyusion has provided 360-degree and movable images of vehicles' interiors and exteriors on Manheim since 2018. Fyusion plans to develop imaging capabilities for vehicle inspection, which will also be used on Manheim. Read more.
Atlanta's Aptos acquires Iceland-based company
Atlanta retail tech company Aptos will acquire LS Retail, which is an all-in-one software solution for retail, hospitality, food service, pharmacy and forecourt businesses that partners with more than 80,000 of its customers sites in more than 140 countries. Aptos provides enterprise software to retailers to streamline customer shopping experiences. The acquisition aims to expand the geographical and industry reach of Aptos, according to the release. Aptos named software veteran Pete Sinisgalli as CEO in November, which came after the announcement of its acquisition of AI retail tech company Revionics. Aptos is owned by affiliates of the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division.
McKinsey & Company acquires Atlanta cloud firm
McKinsey & Company bought Atlanta cloud firm Candid Partners to build out its ability to help clients move to cloud-based infrastructure. All of Candid’s about 130 employees, and co-founders John Peak and Merrick Olives, moved to McKinsey with the acquisition, bringing its Atlanta office to about 700 employees. McKinsey Atlanta partner Leandro Santos said the companies are now working on a global branding strategy for the combined companies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Candid is one of about a dozen acquisitions by McKinsey in the past decade, Santos said. Read more.
Atlanta’s Vanco acquires Las Vegas company
Vanco, an Atlanta provider of electronic payment services to schools, nonprofits and faith-based organizations, acquired Smartcare, a software provider for child care centers. Las Vegas-based Smartcare's cloud platform is used by more than 2,000 camps, child care centers and after-school programs for check-in and check-out, online registration, scheduling, billing and lesson plans. Vanco was founded in 1998 and currently works with over 40,000 churches, nonprofits and schools to simplify administrative processes, organize events and process donations. Read more.
Sharecare acquires company for AI technology
Sharecare, an Atlanta-based digital health company, will buy Silicon Valley-based doc.ai, to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities. Sharecare will integrate doc.ai's technology into its platform in order to better analyze health data. Doc.ai co-founders Sam De Brouwer and Walter De Brouwer will join Sharecare's executive team as chief strategy officer and chief science officer. Sharecare will also bring on 70 engineers from doc.ai and join in a strategic partnership with health insurance company Anthem, which previously collaborated with doc.ai. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SPAC deals
Bakkt to go public
Bakkt, a cryptocurrency and digital asset exchange company created by Atlanta's Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE), is set to go public through a deal with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings (NASDAQ: VIH), sponsored by Victory Park Capital, will merge with Bakkt to form Bakkt Holdings, Inc. The deal, set to close in the second quarter, values the combined company at $2.1 billion. Read more.
