Atlanta startups raised at least $403.4 million during the first month of the third quarter.
It’s a relatively strong start for the second half of the year, especially compared to May and June, which each saw less than $150 million in local funding.
Flock Safety’s $150 million round, which brought the high-growth crime surveillance startup’s valuation to more than $1 billion, was the highest amount raised. Genexa and MiRus, two health technology startups, had the next largest rounds, which were less than half of Flock Safety’s Series D.
The most lucrative months of 2021 for Atlanta startups were January and April, which saw $850 million and $725 million, respectively.
The local innovation ecosystem is already breaking records for new money. Startups raised more than $2 billion in the first half of 2021, which is more than all of last year.
Here’s a rundown of the month's top funding and acquisition deals. As always, subscribe to The Beat newsletter and get these deals in your inbox as they happen.
Funding
Auto loan startup raises $9.6M
Carputty, an Atlanta startup innovating the auto loan market, raised $9.6M, according to an SEC filing. Carputty, led by CEO Patrick Bayliss, is a direct lender for auto financing that says its technology allows it to offer affordable rates and help people understand the car market. Bayliss has an automotive background and also owns County Line Auto Group in Connecticut. Carputty was founded in 2020 and has 21 employees on LinkedIn.
Marietta life sciences company raises $65M
MiRus, a Marietta-based life science company that commercializes medical implants, raised $65M. The round was led by Mammoth Scientific with support from family offices. MiRus has patents on medical implants made from Rhenium-based superalloys, which the company says have better strength and biological performances than traditional implants. The funding will be used to meet the demand from spine surgeons, CEO Jay Yadav said in a statement. Read more.
Relay Payments raises more capital
Relay Payments, an Atlanta financial technology startup for logistics, is raising a $60M round, according to a July 21 SEC filing. The 2021 Startups to Watch honoree provides instant electronic payments for the trucking industry, allowing for a similar experience as Venmo or PayPal. That makes transactions more efficient and reduces the spread of germs, the founders previously told Atlanta Inno. Relay Payments has already raised $44.7M of the round and has four investors, according to the SEC filing. The company declined to comment on the filing. Last year, Relay Payments quietly raised $43M, one of the largest funding rounds in the Atlanta tech ecosystem. It grew from eight to 44 full-time employees and plans to have 100 by the end of this year, the founders previously said. Read more.
Former GreenSky employees raise $7M for new venture
Atlanta financial technology startup Artis Technologies raised $7M to more than double its team and expand into new industries and states. Saluda Grade Ventures led the round with participation from CMFG Ventures, Fintech Venture Fund and Independent Community Bankers of America. The Series A round brings Artis’ total investments to $10M, CEO Barclay Keith said. Artis Technologies launched in March 2020, led by a founding team who met at GreenSky Inc., an Atlanta fintech giant that went public in 2018. The Artis platform integrates into merchant websites to allow consumers to use loans to pay for large purchases, such as for home improvement, medical or dental work. Read more.
Breakr raises $4.2M for creator economy platform
Atlanta music marketing startup Breakr raised $4.2M to increase its employees as demand rises. Slow Ventures, which also invested in Nextdoor, Clubhouse and Venmo, led the round. Other venture capital firms and angel investors focused on the creative industry participated. Breakr is a marketplace that connects artists to music influencers, who get paid to break new music. The platform is raising its seed round during a time when venture capitalists are increasing investments in digital tools that aid the monetization of the creator economy.
Aquaculture startup files $7.2M raise
Ecto, an Atlanta-based digital biology startup, filed a $7.2M raise with the SEC. Ecto produces software and data analytics to help aquaculture farmers monitor the health and efficiencies of their tanks. Aquaculture is a solution to overconsumption of fish from natural habitats and helps feed the world's growing population, Ecto says. Critics say large-scale aquaculture could cause disease, pollution and waste. Ecto, led by CEO Dmitry Kozachenok, did not respond to request for comment. The company is backed by The Yield Lab, a global agriculture tech investor, and Aqua Spark, a global aquaculture investment firm, according to the firms' portfolios.
Real estate platform secures $5M investment
MountainSeed Holdings, an Atlanta real estate technology platform, announced a minority investment from Equity Investment Group last week. The company filed a $5M raise with the SEC the next day and lists Equity Investment Group CEO Carl Streck as a director. MountainSeed partners with community banks and credit unions to help with commercial appraisal management, data solutions, debt brokerage and loan trading. MountainSeed is listed No. 34 in Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2021 fastest-growing private companies list.
Bootstrapped startup raises $21M for international expansion
SecurEnds, a Sandy Springs-based cybersecurity startup, is planning a geographical expansion into Europe and Asia and now has $21M to fund it. Boston's Elephant Venture Capital firm exclusively led the Series A round. SecurEnds is a cloud-based identity governance platform that helps organizations protect against data breaches. SecurEnds, which was bootstrapped since its 2017 founding, says it has a 340% year-over-year revenue growth. The startup plans to hire 75 people in Atlanta and 75 people abroad in the next year. Read more.
Pharmaceutical startup raises $60M Series A
Genexa, a clean medicine pharmaceutical startup, raised a $60M Series A. The company's mission is to remove artificial inactive ingredients, fillers or dyes from over-the-counter medicine. Jared Stein of Monogram Capital led the round. Investment firms Unilever Ventures, Verlinvest, Northcastle Partners and Point King Capital as well as celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Pratt and Donald Glover also participated. Genexa products are available in 45,000 retailers, including Kroger and Target. David Johnson and Max Spielberg founded the startup in 2016. Read more.
Flock Safety surpasses $1B valuation
Atlanta surveillance startup Flock Safety raised $150M amid a nationwide spike in homicides that’s increasing as pandemic restrictions are lessening. The startup produces cameras for neighborhoods and police departments that analyze cars and licenses plates to help investigate crimes. Andreessen Horowitz, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, led the Series D round. Existing investors Meritech, Bedrock, Matrix Partners and Initialized also participated. The round brings Flock Safety’s total investments to about $250M. The startup is tripling the size of its Atlanta office in Westside Provisions and has about 50 job openings for Atlanta and remote positions. Read more.
Local firms invest $2.1M in Cloverly
Sustainability startup Cloverly raised $2.1M led by Tech Square Ventures. Cloverly’s platform analyzes the environmental impact of different products and services, such as the emissions needed to deliver an item ordered online. Clients can purchase renewable energy credits from Cloverly, which go toward local carbon offset projects to neutralize the impact of their services. Local firms Panoramic Ventures and Circadian Ventures, as well as Knoll Ventures, SaaS Ventures and SB Opportunity Fund also participated. Jason Rubottom, former CEO of e-commerce software startup Ally Commerce, joined Cloverly as CEO. Anthony Oni, who founded the company, will continue to serve on Cloverly’s board. Read more.
Katalon raises $27.6M
Software company Katalon raised $27.6M, according to a SEC filing. Katalon is a spinoff company of KMS Technology, an Atlanta-based provider of offshore software development, testing and consulting. Katalon provides software test automation solutions to developers, which allows them to pilot software and more easily find and fix potential mistakes. The round was led by Elephant Venture Capital, a Boston-based venture capital firm focused on enterprise software, consumer internet and mobile markets. Atlanta entrepreneurs David Cummings and John Hallett are also investors. The round gives Katalon a capital runway for expansion plans, which include building out its go-to-market strategy and increasing product innovation. Read more.
Acquisitions
Equifax's new acquisition
Atlanta financial technology company Equifax announced it will acquired alternative credit data company Teletrack from CoreLogic. The purchase aims to help Equifax DataX have other data sources to decide credit score for unbanked, underbanked and credit-rebuilding people. Teletrack's database has information from rent-to-own businesses, furniture financing companies, auto financiers and subprime credit card issues. All Teletrack employees will join Equifax. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.
SalesLoft buys Minneapolis company
Atlanta sales engagement startup SalesLoft bought Minneapolis-based InStereo, a consulting firm that helps business-to-business companies understand their buyers. InStereo was one of SalesLoft's first partners in 2018. The acquisition aims to better help customers engage with their buyers. The deal comes after a year of growth for SalesLoft, which surpassed a $1B valuation after a $100M funding round in January.
Atlanta Inno's Fire Awards 2021
Yieldi grew 300% in 2020, a year after its founding.
BitPay has processed more than $5 billion in transactions and has more than $70 million in investments, including from Silicon Valley’s Founders Fund.
FilmHedge provides fixed-interest loans and lines of credit to finance movie and TV productions through an online application.
LendingPoint scored a $125 million investment from Warburg Pincus earlier this year and has more than 300 employees.
Founded in 2007, Bluefin raised $25 million at the end of last year to expand its geographical reach, which already includes 130 partners across 32 countries.
Buckle raised a $31 million Series A round and bought Gateway Insurance Company to expand into 47 states in 2020.
In 2020, MAXEX tripled its annual volume and expects the growth to continue this year.
Curricula, an Atlanta Tech Village startup, raised $3 million last year to expand its team to 30 and released a new product earlier this year
Featurespace raised $37.4 million in 2020 to fuel its expansion into Singapore. The Technology Association of Georgia named it an innovative company of the year.
Oversight, which has more than 200 enterprise partners, made the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2020 Pacesetter Awards list and garnered recognition from TAG for its innovation.
Hermeus is leasing a 110,000-square-foot space in Doraville for its headquarters and aircraft assembly factory and raised a $16 million round last fall.
Nexus Fuels, backed by Cox Enterprises' Cleantech division, has produced about 310,000 gallons of oil and diverted more than 2.7 million pounds of plastic from the landfill.
Flock Safety raised $47 million last year and aims to help lower the city’s rising crime.
Earlier this year, Valor closed its second, $21 million fund, which includes investments in Physician360 and LeaseQuery.
This seed-stage investment firm closed its first fund of $27 million earlier this year, surpassing its initial goal.
This early-stage investment firm launched at the end of the last year to help grow tech-enabled companies founded by veteran entrepreneurs in the Southeast.
Zane Venture Fund has investments from Calendly CEO Tope Awotona and Sig Mosley, the “Godfather of Angel Investing.”
The goal for Panoramic Ventures' first fund is $300 million, and the firm has a team of more than 25.
iFOLIO, which is hiring, has more than 5,350 clients, including Madison Square Garden and Atlanta Falcons.
Backed by Shark Tank billionaire Mark Cuban and Atlanta Ventures, Offbeat Media Group is using innovative marketing strategies to help brands advertise on social media.
Terminus raised $90 million and plans to increase its 200-person team to 250. It’s made four acquisitions in past three years.
Founded in 2015, inBrain is the second fastest-growing company on University of Georgia’s 2021 Bulldog 100 list.
The Desire Co., founded in 2015, has $4 million in investments and grew its team by 41% in the past year.
Founded in 2011, DecisionLink raised $18.5 million from prominent Silicon Valley firm Accel at the beginning of this year.
LeaseQuery, which was bootstrapped until 2019, is backed by Goldman Sachs and consistently garners local recognition for its fast growth.
In 2020, M3 updated products to include work-from-home accessibility and added 61 new customers.
11Ten Innovation Partners was named an Atlanta Business Chronicle 2021 Pacesetter and has partnerships with Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub and the Verizon 5G Innovation Hub.
Speedscale, backed by Silicon Valley’s Y-Combinator and Atlanta’s Tech Square Ventures, prevents product incidents in programmers’ code through automation.
In 2020, PadSplit raised $10 million and is expanding into other cities.
Empowrd completed the 2021 Cox Enterprises Social Impact Accelerator this year.
This fintech company, backed by Valor Ventures, wants to close the gap for the unbanked or underbanked population.
A partner of the Atlanta Braves, PrizePicks is the closest legal alternative to legal mobile sports betting in many areas across the country.
Founded in Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X program, Stord raised $100 million from West Coast investors and bought transportation provider Cove Logistics this past year.
Verusen raised $8 million earlier this year after seeing massive growth in 2020 because of an increase in demand due to the pandemic
Saltbox raised a $10.6 million round to expand into more cities around the U.S. and add 50 people to its team.
SalesLoft hit unicorn status at the beginning of 2021 with a $100 million round.
Gimme released a new product late last year and saw an increase in demand during the pandemic as companies looked for technology to better manage their supply chains.
As delivery demand increased because the pandemic, Roadie launched their services to 3,000 new stores in two months.
Greenlight Financial Technology raised $260 million in May 2021, tripled its year-over-year revenue in 2020 and plans to hire 300 employees in the next two years.
Calendly raised a $350 million investment earlier this year, putting its valuation at more than $3 billion.
OneTrust raised $210 million in April and has bought three companies in the last five months.
PPRO opened its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta in 2017. In 2021, it became a unicorn with a $180 million round.
Atlanta Tech Village opened their doors back to entrepreneurs in May 2020 and kept all 300 company tenants throughout the pandemic.
Tech Alpharetta has more than 50 mentors and has 15 startup graduates, mostly in technical software sectors.
The Gathering Spot connected members digitally through a program called “Circles” and increased its membership during the pandemic. The club is expanding into Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
