The start of summer didn’t mean a slowdown in venture capital funding to Boston-area tech and life sciences companies. In total, Massachusetts companies raised around $717 million in June. That’s just down from the $877 million startups brought in during May. Some standout funding rounds include Alkeus Pharmaceuticals’ $150 million Series B, Author Health’s $115 launch funding and Guardian Agriculture’s $20 million raise. Asian-owned or led startups accounted for about 10% of venture capital funding this month. Women-led or founded companies brought in about 2.3% of the funding BostInno tracked in June. These estimates are based on companies’ diversity spotlight tags on Crunchbase or their website.
Biotech
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. joined as a new investor in K36 Therapeutics' Series B round, which topped out at $70 million.
- Luminopia Inc., a Cambridge-based startup that won FDA approval in 2021 for a digital treatment for lazy eye, brought in $16 million in a Series A round.
- Flagship Pioneering's latest biotech startup, Empress Therapeutics, has a commitment of $50 million and a chief scientific officer who hails from Johnson & Johnson Inc.
- Alkeus Pharmaceuticals raised a $150 million Series B financing to support the registration and launch of gildeuretinol, a precision medicine for the treatment of Stargardt disease.
Healthtech
- Gary Gottlieb, the former CEO of Partners HealthCare, announced the launch and $115 million fundraise for his new company, called Author Health, designed to provide treatment to Medicare Advantage recipients with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders.
- STAT Health, founded by two former leaders of audio giant Bose's Health Product Innovation Group, launched with $5.1 million in seed funding. Co-founders Daniel Lee and Paul Jin say their new technology, which measures blood flow to the head, can shed greater light into fainting, brain fog or headaches, symptoms often tied to these diseases.
- Laudio raised a $13 million Series B led by Define Ventures. The Boston-based company offers leadership operations solutions for healthcare.
Robotics
Consumer goods
- SOS, the Boston-based female-founded company, announced $7.6 million in new capital. SOS supplies sports arenas, entertainment venues and college campuses with health and wellness vending machines.
Software
- The Boston startup Causely raised $8.8 million in seed funding, led by 645 Ventures with participation from founding investor Amity Ventures, and including new investors Glasswing Ventures and Tau Ventures.
- Beaconcure Inc., a Boston clinical data technology and automation company, announced the close of a $14 million Series B round led by NewVale Capital.
- CloudZero Inc., a seven-year-old Boston company, raised $32 million in Series B funding and plans to “roughly double” its 62-person team.
- Blackpoint Cyber, which is co-located in Ellicott City, Maryland, and Boston, received a $190 million growth investment led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities.
Fintech
- Raise Green, a fintech that helps climate entrepreneurs access capital, has closed its seed round with more than $3.5 million in private investment. The company previously announced it raised $1.2M for its seed round in October.
Manufacturing
- Fortify announced that it landed a $12.5 million funding round from investors, including the venture arms of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies.
Funds
- Vertex Ventures HC, which has no connection with drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., is getting ready to deploy its third and largest fund of $200 million to support life science and medical device companies.
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