While we're primarily focused on Chicago's innovation economy, we also have our eyes on all of the startup and tech activity happening throughout the entire Midwest. Here are the major tech fundings, acquisitions, mergers, moves and IPOs that went down in the region in February. See all Midwest Reports here.
2/1: Detroit-based private equity firm Huron Capital Partners announced that it has raised $550 million for its fifth fund, The Huron Fund V.
2/1 St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Netgain, a provider of IT-as-a-service for the healthcare industry, raised $25 million in double-tranched funding from Bluff Point Associates.
2/3: Lisle, Illinois-based Aquilon Energy Services Inc., an online platform that lets buyers and sellers automatically settle both physical and financial energy transactions, raised a $19 million Series B from Citi, Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments, Invenergy and Macquarie Group.
2/4: Schaumburg, Illinois-based Convergint Technologies, a provider of integration services for electronic security, fire safety, and building automation systems, acquired Post Browning, a Cincinnati-based provider of consultation, installation, and maintenance services for the retail banking industry. Convergint is a KRG Capital Partners portfolio company.
2/7: Leawood, Kansas-based Blooom, an online registered investment adviser, raised a $9.15 million Series B from QED and Commerce Ventures, with participation from Allianz Life, Nationwide, TTV Capital, and KCRise Fund.
2/9: Dayton, Ohio-based ETI Tech, a manufacturer of flight hardware and ground support equipment for the aerospace and military industries, has been acquired by Soaring Pine Capital. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
2/12: Michigan-based venture firm Grand Ventures, which is led by insurance industry exec McKeel Hagarty, is raising up to $50 million for its debut fund, according to an SEC filing.
2/13: Carmel, Indiana-based Bolstra, an agile customer success management platform for SaaS companies, raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Allos Ventures and 4G Ventures, with participation from Collina Ventures and Elevate Ventures.
2/14: Private equity firm WILsquare Capital acquired Minneapolis-based Data and Contact Management Solutions, a provider of tech-enabled services for estate asset recoveries, from Norwest Equity Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
2/14: Columbus, Ohio-based Wiretap, a security intelligence platform, raised a $3 million Series A from Draper Triangle Ventures and the Ohio Innovation Fund.
2/15: Detroit-based StockX, an online marketplace for limited edition sneakers, raised $6 million in funding from Scooter Braun, Mark Wahlberg, Eminem, SV Angel and Detroit Venture Partners.
2/16: St. Paul, Minnesota-based Paradigm Diagnostics, a provider of diagnostic systems for the food processing industry, raised a $3 million Series B funding from New Science Ventures.
2/16: Cincinnati-based Ascendum Solutions, an IT provider, acquired San Francisco-based software company Sourcebits. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
2/17: Naperville-based Infogix, a private equity-backed data and analytics software provider, acquired Westwood, MA-based Data3Sixty, a cloud-based data governance provider. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
2/18: Northbrook, Illinois-based Intelligent Medical Objects, a provider of medical terminology solutions for electronic health record systems, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding from Ascension Ventures.
2/22: Minneapolis-based myON, a digital literacy company for K-12, has been acquired by private equity firm Francisco Partners. myOn was previously owned by Capstone.
2/23: St. Louis-based Affigen, a developer of therapeutics targeting cell lineage-specific tumor proteins, raised a $17 million Series A from Black Beret Life Sciences.
2/23: Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Clinc, an AI platform for banking, raised a $6.3 million Series A from Drive Capital, with participation from Hyde Park Venture Partners, Cahoots Holdings and Stuart Porter.
2/28: Minnetonka, Minnesota-based BestMark, a provider of customer experience measurement analytics, has been acquired by Generation Growth Capital. No financial terms were disclosed.
2/28: Kevin Dooley, a former managing partner of of Accenture's Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio offices, joined Cincinnati-based tech private equity firm Vora Ventures as its new EVP and chief strategy officer.
2/28: General Mills' venture arm invested an undisclosed amount of capital in D's Naturals, a Cincinnati-based healthy snacking startup.
(Image via Wiretap.com)
