What a way to finish off the summer! Boston-area startups were busy this month. In August, local companies announced about $843 million, by our count. That’s way up from July, when Greater Boston startups raised $277.15 million, and even higher than June, which saw companies raise $717 million in funding. Biotech companies were the biggest fundraisers this month, with $155 million in new capital for Abcuro and $150 million for Rapport Therapeutics.
Women-founded and led companies secured approximately $53.9 million, or 6.4% of the funding in August. Additionally, companies founded or led by Black entrepreneurs raised $26.5 million, which was about 3% of the money raised. These estimates are based on companies’ diversity spotlight tags on Crunchbase.
Read about out all the deals, including links to our coverage or to the company’s announcements:
Biotech
Superluminal Medicines Inc. launched with a $33 million funding round. The investment was led by RA Capital Management, but Superluminal said there was also significant participation from Insight Partners and chipmaker Nvidia. Gaingels, a VC investment firm in Burlington, Vermont, also joined in the financing.
Rapport Therapeutics Inc. secured a $150 million Series B round.
Newton-based Abcuro raised a $155 million round led by Bain Capital Life Sciences and Redmile Group.
Alltrna, which is backed by Flagship Pioneering, raised $109 million in venture capital. The startup is focused on still-experimental drugs using “transfer RNA.”
Cambridge-based Tisento Therapeutics launched with a $81 million Series A financing after an asset purchase agreement with Cyclerion Therapeutics.
Boston-based Solu Therapeutics, founded by Longwood Fund, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $31 million seed financing co-led by Longwood and Santé Ventures.
Healthtech
Boston-based substance-use treatment startup Better Life Partners has completed a $26.5 million Series B fundraise. It plans to use the money to develop and scale its technology-based care model and expand reach in existing and new markets.
Cambridge-based healthtech basys.ai secured $2.4 million in funding led by Nina Capital. Additional investors included Eli Lilly & Co., Mayo Clinic, Two Lanterns Venture Fund, Asset Management Ventures and Chaac Ventures.
Burlington-based Tausight, a healthcare AI-powered data security company, has raised $6 million in financing, led by Polaris Capital, with participation from Flare Capital Partners and .406 Ventures.
FIGUR8 announced that it closed a $25 million Series A-1 funding. First Spark Ventures led the round, with participation from DigiTx Partners and Phoenix Venture Partners. The Boston company is working to standardize musculoskeletal health and injury recovery data.
Boston-based VoxNeuro Inc. raised $3.4 million to advance its brain performance software.
Software
Operational data company Aperio closed $9 million in Series A1 funding led by Momenta.
Clockworks Analytics, a local startup providing SaaS building analytics for institutions like MIT and Harvard University, has brought in new funding. The company raised $16.1 million led by Carom Growth Partners with participation from existing investor SE Ventures.
Boston-based Grip Security is raising $41 million in Series B funding led by Third Point Ventures.
Akkio closed a $15 million Series A with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and Pandome Inc. The Cambridge AI company provides generative analytics and machine learning to businesses.
Akooda brought in $11 million in seed funding. The Boston company uses AI to locate, access, and analyze critical data scattered across an organization.
Climatetech
Cambridge-based Yard Stick PBC, a soil carbon measurement technology company, announced $10.6 million in Series A funding. Toyota Ventures Climate Fund led the round.
Transit tech
The London-based transit technology company Zeelo said it has found success connecting bus operators, employers and schools for private bus and shuttle transport programs across three continents. This month the company opened a U.S. headquarters in Boston and announced a $14 million Series A extension round from FlatzHoffmann, IREON Ventures and a Boston-based family office.
Advanced manufacturing
Boston Micro Fabrication raised a $24 million Series D round led by Guotai Junan Securities.
LightForce Orthodontics announced it raised an $80 million Series D round led by Ally Bridge Group. The Burlington company is on a mission to rid the world of one-size-fits-all braces and replace them with personalized, 3D-printed braces.
Funds
Converge, a Cambridge-based venture capital firm founded in 2018 by Maia Heymann and Nilanjana Bhowmik, plans to raise $50 million for a new fund.
Elephant Partners, the eight-year-old firm started by one of the co-founders of Warby Parker, raised $791.5 million for its fifth fund.
Brewer Lane Ventures has finished raising nearly $203 million for “Brewer Lane Ventures Fund II LP” The fundraising was laid out in a series of filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the latest of which was made Aug. 10.
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