Finally, some big funding rounds in 2023!
By our count, Boston-area companies raised $1.7 billion in September. There were large rounds across industries, from Mariana Oncology’s $175 million Series B to Ascend Elements’ $460 million raise.
Last month local companies raised about $843 million. Of the total amount of venture capital raised this month, women-led and founded companies brought in about $99.2 million, or about 6% of the total capital. Indigo Ag, which identifies as a Hispanic/Latine founded company, raised $250 million. 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
Harbinger Health announced a $140 million Series B round. The startup is led by the former FDA head under President Donald Trump.
Day Zero Diagnostics Inc., a Boston infectious disease diagnostics company, completed a $16 million round of financing.
A RNA-editing startup called Airna made its public debut on Tuesday with $30 million led by Arch Venture Partners.
Generate Biomedicines, a spinout of Cambridge venture firm Flagship Pioneering, closed a $273 million round. The biotech startup is using generative AI to create new, protein-based medicines.
Boston-based Rome Therapeutics Inc. brought on Johnson & Johnson Inc. and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. as new investors in a $72 million extension to its Series B.
Eli Lilly and Co. has backed a Watertown startup, Mariana Oncology, in a $175 million Series B round. Mariana is working to make radiation treatment more precise for certain cancers.
Healthtech
Cartwheel, a Cambridge-based pediatric mental health company, has raised $20 million in a Series A.
Kittery, Maine-based pumpspotting, a breastfeeding support platform, announced a $2.2M round led by Sincere Corp. and Maine Venture Fund.
Vaxess Technologies, a Cambridge company shelf-stable vaccine patch, announced an additional $9 million in venture capital funding.
Fintech
A Boston-based insurtech company, Openly, plans further expansion thanks to a $100 million funding round.
Agtech
Indigo Ag closed a new venture capital round of over $250 million. The company made multiple rounds of layoffs earlier this year.
Cleantech
Amherst-based florrent announced a $2.1 million pre-seed round to advance its high-energy density ultracapacitor technology.
BlueWave, a Boston-based solar developer, owner, and operator, announced a $91 million financing that includes a debt raise of $64 million with KeyBank and a tax equity raise of $27 million with U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance for the construction and long-term financing of five projects in Massachusetts.
Westborough clean energy company, Ascend Elements, hit 'unicorn' status with $460 million.
Lydian, a Cambridge startup aiming to produce CO2-derived fuels and chemicals for aviation, announced $12 million in new seed funding co-led by Congruent Ventures and Galvanize Climate Solutions.
Manufacturing
DetraPel completed a $7.6M Series A funding led by Material Impact. DetraPel said the funds will help it build on the company's recently rebranded industrial arm, Impermea Materials.
Woburn-based Boston Metal completed its Series C financing. The total funding hit $262M, split between a $120M round announced in late January and the remaining $142M disclosed this month.
Funds
Anzu Partners, which has had a presence in Boston since 2015, after getting its start in Washington, D.C., raised more than $200 million for its third venture capital fund.
Underscore VC, a Boston venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage startups, has indicated it's targeting $50M for a third fund in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
BV Investment Partners announced it has closed its latest fund at $1.75 billion. The Boston private equity firm said “Fund XI” hit its hard cap after initially targeting $1.5 billion for this raise. BV focuses its investments on tech-enabled business services, software and IT services sectors.
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