For the second month in a row, the biotech and life sciences industry took the lead in funding with $196.1 million raised. This was driven by the launch of NextRNA Therapeutics, with two rounds of funding and a fresh round of venture capital going to Sherlock Biosciences. Next up was the software industry, with startups bringing in $91.1 million in March. Following not far behind were medtech companies which raised $86.1 million.
Boston-area funds were also very active this month, raising a total of $3.7 billion. We’ll be following how these funds are distributed, particularly in the Boston area.
In total, Boston-area startups raised around $515.5 million in March. (And that was just from what we could count.) Check out all the deals, including links to our coverage or the company’s announcements.
Biotech
NextRNA Therapeutics launched with $9.3 million in seed funding and a $46.8 million Series A led by Cobro Ventures and Lightchain Capital. The Cambridge biotech company says it is using its technology to identify disease-relevant, non-coding RNAs and their proteins and to develop small molecules to drug these interactions.
Chinese VC firm Morningside Ventures publicly launched a Boston startup with a focus on inflammatory diseases. Morningside had already invested $60 million in the company.
Diagnostics startup Sherlock Biosciences is looking to keep up the momentum generated by its CRISPR-based coronavirus test with the help of $80 million in fresh venture capital.
Medtech
Juli, an AI-powered digital health company, secured a $3.8 million seed round led by Speedinvest and Norrsken VC.
Boston Technology Research Corp., a healthcare regulatory tech company, raised a $15 million round led by Insight Partners.
Podimetrics announced a $45 million Series C round led by D1 Capital Partners. The Somerville company is trying to reduce disparities in diabetes care and unnecessary limb loss with its SmartMat product.
Nurse-1-1, the first conversational marketing company for health care, announced the close of its $2.3 million seed funding round.
VideaHealth, a dental AI company, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Spark Capital. The company said its technology can identify and communicate dental diseases and other conditions to dentists while they are actively attending to patients.
Cleantech & Greentech
Holyoke-based Clean Crop Technologies, a company using electricity to decarbonize food production, raised a $6 million Series A led by ReGen Ventures, Trailhead Capital and the MassMutual Catalyst Fund.
Perch Energy, a clean energy technology company, closed a $6.2 million Series A funding round and named Bruce Stewart as CEO. In part, Perch will use the funds to build its community solar services and expand its team. Stewart has held previous positions at Direct Energy Home, Centrica US Holdings and GE Current.
Software
The Boston-based company Filtered, known for its technical hiring platform, announced $10 million in funding led by the AI Fund, Silicon Valley Data Capital and TDF Ventures.
BastionZero raised a $6 million seed financing round led by Dell Technologies Capital. The Boston-based company is building a cloud service that gives engineering teams remote access into their backend and cloud infrastructure.
Lynx emerged from stealth with $17.5 million in funding, including a new $15 million Series A and a previously unannounced $2.5 million seed round. The company operates an API-connected health care payments, banking and e-commerce platform.
CyberSaint Security Inc. completed a $6 million debt financing, according to a Form D filed by the Boston company. In 2018, CyberSaint raised a $3 million funding round co-led by Audeo Capital and BlueIO.
Contactless payment company Paerpay closed its largest funding round yet, accelerating its growth in the food services industry and beyond. The Boston-based startup raised an oversubscribed $3 million seed round led by $1 million from MassMutual through the MM Catalyst Fund.
Software company Zippity raised $3.3 million in seed funding to expand its mobile automotive software to the home service industry. The round was led by York IE.
FreightFlows closed a $1.8 million seed round led by Motion Ventures. The company also launched its Predictive Maritime Intelligence Platform for predicting near-term commercial ship operations.
Boston-based Upshot, an NFT appraisal company, raised a $22 million early-stage funding round led by Polychain Capital. The company plans to use the funds for additional research and development for its pricing models and building out its team.
Boston-based HourWork Inc., which helps companies recruit and retain their hourly employees, announced an oversubscribed $10 million Series A round. The company will use the funding to scale its customer success, sales and marketing teams.
Boston tech startup Dianthus closed an early-stage investment of $11.5 million, with a post-money valuation of $41 million.
Foodtech
The Somerville-based startup Tender Food announced a $12 million seed round. Its investors include actress and animal-rights activist Natalie Portman and Shark Tank guest investor Chris Sacca.
Charlestown-based food tech startup Mori plans to bring several products to market this year with a new $50 million round of financing, which comes about a year after its Series B.
Sports tech
Hydrow, a Boston-based company providing at-home rowing machines, raised $55 million in a Series D funding. This latest round was led by Constitution Capital.
Workplace tech
Corporate training company Electives raised an $8 million Series A led by Accomplice and G2O Ventures, with participation from Boston Seed Capital. The Boston startup wants to replace pre-recorded company trainings with live classes led by the likes of FBI agents, improv comedians and Olympic coaches.
Talent acquisition company Torc has launched with $5 million in seed funding from Recognize and Asymmetric Capital Partners.
Funds
Venture capital and creation firm Atlas Venture raised $450 million for its latest fund. As it has with previous funds, the Cambridge firm will use the funds mostly to launch startups built inside its own labs.
Battery Ventures, a tech investment firm in the Seaport District, raised just over $3 billion for its 14th fund.
Polaris Partners, which invests in healthcare and technology ventures across all stages, raised $285.7 million from 77 investors for its Growth Fund II.
