An influx of new venture capital funds dominated the technology deals in March. Five investment firms made first or final closes on new funds, mostly for early-stage investing.
New capital, something historically lacking in Atlanta, indicates a healthy technology ecosystem, allowing for startups to solicit local investments as they grow. At least eight startups raised funding in the month. Logistic software startup Stord raised the highest round, a $65 million Series C.
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.
Venture Capital
Sound Media Ventures makes initial close on first fund
Atlanta early-stage investment firm Sound Media Ventures announced an initial close on its first, $25 million fund to support media technology startups. Founder Shachar Oren declined to disclose the amount of the close. The fund is projected to be completed by the end of the year. Support for the fund comes from executives in esports, music and film, who make up the firm’s board of directors. Oren said the firm may do some angel investing and support companies up to the Series A round. Initial checks would be between $100,000-$500,000. Read more.
Overline raises $27 million fund
Overline, led by partners Michael Cohn and Sean O’Brien, raised $27 million, surpassing its initial goal for the first fund. Cohn and O'Brien have made 11 investments so far, including in Atlanta financial technology startup Relay Payments, which was named one of Atlanta Inno’s Startups to Watch. The firm is industry agnostic, focused on funding pre-seed to seed-stage startups in the Southeast. More than 90% of the investors are local and include Atlanta unicorn Mailchimp, Cox Enterprises and Atlanta Tech Village founder David Cummings. The firm writes $250,000-$500,000 checks for pre-seed companies and $1 million-$1.5 million checks for seed companies, Cohn said. Read more.
Fulcrum Equity Partners closes $275 million fund
Fulcrum Equity Partners, an Atlanta-based growth investment firm, closed a $275 million fund — its largest yet. The firm’s fourth fund is focused on healthcare services and information technology, business-to-business software and technology-enabled services, according to a March 23 news release. The oversubscribed fund had nearly all of Fulcrum's existing investors participate, according to the release. Investors include Cox Enterprises, Nonami LLC and other former and active executives of the industries in which Fulcrum invests, according to the partners. Fulcrum closed its third, $203 million fund in 2017 and has been a staple of Atlanta's tech ecosystem since its founding in 2006. Read more.
Zane Venture Fund targets initial close
Zane Venture Fund, an Atlanta early-stage investing firm, is targeting the initial close of its first, $25 million fund. The initial close includes investments from Calendly CEO Tope Awotona and “the Godfather of Angel Investing” Sig Mosley, who’s also a venture partner. The firm also received a seven-figure commitment from a financial institution that declined to be named. The firm is focused on investing in diverse founders who are creating technology-enabled solutions in the Southeast. Investments range from pre-seed to Series A. Zane Venture has invested in two companies so far, an Atlanta financial technology startup and a North Carolina internet-of-things startup. Read more.
Silicon Road Ventures closes $31 million fund for commerce tech
Early-stage investment firm Silicon Road Ventures, based in Midtown, closed its first fund of $31 million, which will be focused on commerce technology. The firm, founded in 2019, invests in startups across the country that focus on innovation in retail, e-commerce, financial technology, payments, logistics and supply chain. The goal is to fund 40 startups over four years, said managing partner and founder Sid Mookerji. Silicon Road Ventures has 10 startups in its portfolio, six of which are based in Atlanta, and include robotics company Softwear Automation and job marketplace Wripple. The firm provides startups innovating in commerce with pre-seed to Series A investments. Investment amounts range from $400,000 to $2 million. Read more.
Startups
Medxoom raises $8 million
Atlanta financial technology startup Medxoom Inc. raised $8 million, according to an SEC filing. Medxoom allows companies and employees to manage their healthcare benefits and compare medical procedure prices on its app. The goal is to create more transparency in medical billing to save money and time. According to the filing, the company has six investors. Atlanta fintech investment firm TTV Capital includes Medxoom in its portfolio. Dean Hatton, whose LinkedIn profile says he’s a founding partner at Florida early-stage investment firm Las Olas Venture Capital, is listed in the SEC filing. Medxoom, led by CEO Jeffrey Toewe, raised a $3.3 million round in 2019 and presented at Venture Atlanta 2020. Read more.
CREATE-X startup Stord raises $65 million Series C
Logistics startup Stord raised a $65M Series C round, bringing its total capital raised over the last six months to $100 million. Bond, a San Francisco technology investment firm with a portfolio that includes Slack, DoorDash and Airbnb, led the round. Lineage Logistics, Salesforce Ventures and existing investors also participated. Stord has cloud-based supply chain management software and a logistics network to help companies deliver products more efficiently. The company is looking to expand its software management capabilities to include purchase orders and expand its logistics infrastructure throughout the U.S. and Canada. The startup came out of Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X program in 2015 and raised a $31M Series B round, led by Founders Fund, in December. Read more.
Sonar Software raises $12 million to triple team
Sonar Software, a tech stack management startup, raised a $12 million Series A to triple its 25-person team and make its product more collaborative. San Francisco’s Craft Ventures led the round, with participation from Slack, Valor EP, Parade VC and SalesLoft CEO Kyle Porter. The round brings Sonar’s total funds to $15.7 million, according to a news release. Sonar, founded in October 2018, gives product developers a blueprint for how software changes may affect other aspects of the company, such as sales and marketing teams. By implementing the Sonar software, the developer can make sure their changes don't have unforeseen consequences that need troubleshooting. Read more.
Stealthy fintech startup FilmHedge raises $2 million
FilmHedge, an Atlanta-based financial technology startup, raised $2 million to triple its team and released its lending software for movie and TV production companies. WOCstar Fund, a New York-based early-stage investment firm, led the oversubscribed round with participation from friends and family, according to CEO and founder Jon Gosier. The startup spent the last year in stealth mode while the team built out the lending software, which is now live — meaning production companies can go to the site and apply for a loan. FilmHedge provides fixed-interest loans of up to $1 million and lines of credit up to $5 million to help finance movie and TV productions. Gosier said the next step is to expand his six-person team to 20 — adding mostly technical talent from financial institutions and film financing experts. Read more.
Startup based partly in Atlanta raises $35 million
Flatfile, a Denver and Atlanta-based data onboarding software startup, raised a $35 million Series A round to hire 100 people to its all-remote team. Scale Venture Partners led the round with participation from Workday Ventures and previous investors Afore Capital, Gradient Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures. The company's total funding is nearly $45 million. Founded in 2018, the startup makes it easier for companies to onboard data and has more than 300 customers. Read more.
Alcoholic recovery startup raises $1.4 million
Alcoholic recovery startup Reframe raised a $1.4 million seed round to build out its product features. Atlanta Ventures, a firm founded by David Cummings, led the round. Multiple local investors participated, including entrepreneurs Kaneva CEO Chris Klaus, SalesLoft CEO Kyle Porter and MaxBounty Chief Financial Officer Dave Harrington. The Reframe app, which has about 3,000 users, has a mix of content that includes interactive activities, recovery stories, affirmations and education tools to help people kick alcoholism. Co-founders Vedant Pradeep and Ziyi Gao are Georgia Tech graduates and Inno under 25 honorees. Read more.
Alpharetta insurance tech firm raises $3.5 million
Alpharetta technology-enabled insurance firm Decisely raised $3.5 million, according to a March 3 SEC filing. Founded in 2015, the firm produces an “all-in-one" human resources software to help small businesses manage their HR offerings, including employee benefits, payroll and retirement. This round had two investors, according to the filing. Oak Hill Capital Partners, Decisely employees and Sightway Capital, a subsidiary of Two Sigma Private Investments, are listed on the Decisely website as investors. Kevin Dunn leads the firm as CEO. Read more.
Alpharetta company raises $35 million
Deposco raised a $35 million investment, which was led by NewSpring with participation from Aspen Capital Group and existing investors. The cloud-based logistics software company works with businesses to provide the Bright Suite of applications that streamline the supply chain for e-commerce, retail and omni-channel purchases. The investment will help accelerate its software development and continue its expansion within existing markets as well as internationally, according to Deposco. This raise is the company's first institutional investment. Read more.
Acquisitions
Pindrop buys new technology
Pindrop, a cybersecurity company for voice interactions, acquired New York-based Next Caller Inc. to expand its call verification and fraud detection technology. Pindrop CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan called Next Caller a "true pioneer" in device verification in a news release. Through the acquisition, Pindrop aims to expand its customer base and the flexibility and options of its technology offerings in the fraud, caller verification and authentication space. Balasubramaniyan founded Pindrop in 2011 with Georgia Tech professor Mustaque Ahamad and serial entrepreneur Paul Judge.
OneTrust makes sixth acquisition
Atlanta data privacy and security company OneTrust bought Denver, Co.-based software company Convercent to build out its ethics and compliance capabilities. OneTrust Co-Chaiman Alan Dabbiere called it a “whistleblowing” software, which allows employees to report problems they see within the company, anonymously or otherwise. The acquisition lets OneTrust accelerate development of its OneTrust Ethics software, Dabbiere said. Convercent’s technology, 700 customers and 150 employees will integrate into the company. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read more.
OneTrust acquires new AI technology
Atlanta cybersecurity and privacy unicorn OneTrust bought DocuVision Inc. for its Redacted.ai solution to expand the startup's automated data redaction technology, which helps keep sensitive or personal information from documents and emails secure. The combined technology, called OneTrust Data Redaction, can also be used for litigation, merger and acquisition disclosures and open records requests. The acquisition, combined with OneTrust's privacy and security platform, creates the first fully automated data subjects rights workflow, according to OneTrust. DocuVision is a small California-based startup founded in 2019.
