Venture capital funding to Massachusetts companies saw a big drop in July. BostInno reported on just $277.15 million raised by Bay State startups this month. That compares with $939 million in July of last year and $717 million in funding the previous month. That was down slightly from the $877 million startups brought in during May. This decline in funding aligns with recent data from Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. Their joint report found that venture capital funding, deal counts, exits and fundraising by firms declined in the first half of 2023 in Massachusetts and across the nation. The report predicted the poor economic climate to continue through 2023.
Also this month, female-founded and -led companies raised around $43 million, accounting for 15.5% of the funding doled out to Massachusetts companies this month. This was propelled by funding to companies like Gingko spinout Allonnia. Zapata Computing was the only Hispanic/Latino-led or -founded company on this month’s list. These estimates are based on companies’ diversity spotlight tags on Crunchbase or their website.
Biotech
Cambridge-based Vaxess Technologies Inc. raised about $9 million in equity and aims to bring in a total of $12M, according to an SEC filing.
Orthogon Therapeutics in Canton unlocked $3 million in new funding from its investors after the company’s lead molecule completed acute toxicity studies. This brings Orthogon’s funding to $18.5 million.
Newton-based Lumicell raised nearly $76 million this month, according to an SEC filing.
Software
Ubicept announced it has raised an oversubscribed $8M seed round, led by Ubiquity Ventures and the MIT Media Lab's E14 Fund. Ubicept says its new technology, unlike conventional camera systems, can capture sharp images in extreme lighting conditions or high-speed motion.
Zapata Computing Inc., a Boston-based quantum computing startup, raised approximately $4.8 million as part of a planned $20 million raise.
Boston-based Causely Inc. 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.
Markit Social raised $350k in new funding and is now looking for seed-stage institutional investors to raise $2M total.
Cleantech
Woburn-based cleantech VEIR announced an additional $24.9 million in Series A funding from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, The Engine Fund and Congruent Ventures.
Boston-based Allonnia announced $30 million in new capital led by Bison Ventures. Other participating investors include BHP Ventures, General Atlantic and Vale Ventures. The Ginkgo Bioworks spinout is taking Ginkgo’s work in synthetic biology and applying it to environmental challenges.
Serial entrepreneur Andy Levitt is building his latest company, Brightly Ventures, to help fund food-rescue organizations by quantifying their environmental impact and selling carbon credits to corporate buyers. Brightly Ventures has raised $100K from investors and aims to bring in a total of $2 million.
Healthtech
Basys.ai Inc., a startup that launched out of the Harvard Innovation Labs, is raising $2.4 million, according to an SEC filing, and has raised $2.2M to date. The tech company uses its AI technology to predict and improve outcomes for patients with metabolic health diseases.
Family First, a Boston-based startup designed to support caregivers, has raised $11 million in a Series A.
Burlington-based SiPhox Health raised $27 million in funding including a $10 million seed financing and a $17 million Series A round. Investors in the two fundings included Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Y Combinator.
Edtech
Brookline-based Preply announced $70 million in equity and debt capital to take its Series C to $120 million. The e-learning company says it has almost 500 employees of 60 nationalities across 30 countries worldwide.
Consumer goods
Female-founded Boston company Attn: Grace announced $2 million in new funding. The startup recently launched its sustainable bladder leakage products in Walmart and Target.com.
Funds
Bain Capital Insurance, the insurance investing business of Bain Capital, announced the close of its inaugural private equity fund at $1.15 billion.
Suffolk Technologies, a venture capital firm affiliated with Roxbury-based construction giant Suffolk, is officially closing its first fund at $110 million.
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A previous version of this story inaccurately listed Lumicell as a women-led business based on incorrect information from Crunchbase.
