September was an especially good month for funding among local tech companies. Collectively, 11 companies raised more than $385 million throughout the month, a 285 percent increase from August.
S2G Ventures, a food and agriculture venture capital firm, led September’s funding announcements, scoring $180 million.
Here’s the full list of companies that closed new rounds this month:
Benefit Mobile: The digital gift card startup that allows users to easily donate to schools and nonprofit organizations, raised $2.5 million in funding. Launched in 2012, the company was founded by Thomas Kneubuehl, Derik Lolli and Shane O’Donnell.
Clearcover: This startup, which uses artificial intelligence to help consumers buy car insurance, raised $11.5 million from investors, including Lightbank, Greycroft Partners, 500 Startups and Silicon Valley Bank.
DataCubes: The insurance tech startup that’s built a data science platform to simplify the underwriting process raised a $2.5 million Series A round, led by Seyen Capital and MK Capital.
Exicure: This Skokie-based biotechnology startup raised $20 million and completed a reverse merger transaction with Max-1 Acquisition Corporation. Investors in the round included Bill Gates, Eric Lefkofsky, AbbVie Ventures and others. Exicure develops immunomodulatory and gene silencing drugs.
Fooda: This local food delivery startup that specializes in workplace lunches, raised $12.5 million in a funding round led by Valor Equity, which has also invested in SpaceX, Tesla and Solar City.
ForeverCar: The startup, which helps auto insurance buyers get an extended warranty online, raised $15 million in new equity and debt funding from CMFG Ventures, Method Capital, SAP Fieldglass Founder Jai Shekhawat, and others. The round brings ForeverCar’s total funding to $25 million.
Packback: The startup, launched in 2014, raised $1.5 million in funding from investors like University Ventures and ICG Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Ingram Content Group. Packback uses artificial intelligence to help quantify difficult-to-measure student metrics like critical thinking and curiosity.
Raise: The online gift card marketplace startup raised $60 million in a Series C funding round from Accel, PayPal, NEA and Bessemer Venture Partners. The round brings Raise’s total funding to $147 million since it launched in 2013.
S2G Ventures: This local venture capital firm, which invests in the food and agriculture industry, raised $180 million, bringing its total assets to $300 million. The firm, co-founded by OpenTable founder Chuck Templeton, counts Beyond Meat and Sweetgreen among its portfolio companies.
Tempus: The startup, founded by Eric Lefkofsky, uses machine learning and genomic sequencing to analyze a cancer patient’s tumor and create a treatment plan best suited to combat it. This month, Tempus raised $70 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates and Revolution Growth. Though it’s the company’s first announced round of funding, company representatives say Tempus has now raised a total of $130 million in outside capital.
ThinkCERCA: The educational-tech startup raised $10.1 million in a Series B funding round, led by Scott Cook and Signe Ostby, founders of the Valhalla Charitable Foundation. Additional investors included LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and SVP Mike Gamson, OpenTable Founder Chuck Templeton, GSV Acceleration Founder Deborah Quazzo, former Match CEO and current ShopRunner CEO Sam Yagan, TAL Education Group, Follett Knowledge Fund and Plum Alley Investments.
