This is our round up of Chicago tech and startup companies that received venture capital investments during the month of September. If we missed one, let us know at info@chicagoinno.com.
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Chicago tech and startup companies raised at least $208 million throughout the month of September, the largest amount raised during any month of 2018, according to data compiled by Chicago Inno.
The most significant funding rounds throughout the month came from Endotronix, which raised $45 million, and ShipBob, which raised $40 million.
After a slow funding cycle over the summer, investments picked up in August when local tech and startup companies raised $180 million, and September's record funding shows it isn't slowing down.
Below are 10 Chicago tech and startup companies that raised money in September.
Attune Medical: The startup, which makes a medical device to control patient temperature, closed a $15.5 million Series C round. Attune says the funds will be used to improve its device’s tech.
BrewBike: The Evanston startup that sells cold brew coffee on Northwestern University’s campus via portable coffee stands housed in custom-made cargo bikes closed an $800,000 seed round to expand to other colleges.
The round included backing from local entrepreneurs like Matt Matros, the founder of Limitless Coffee and Protein Bar; Mats Lederhausen, the founder and CEO of BE-CAUSE; Deborah Quazzo, the managing partner of venture capital firm GSV AcceleraTE, and Venetia Kontogouris, the former managing director of Trident Capital.
Additionally, NUseeds, Northwestern’s $4 million pre-seed and seed investment fund, and the University of Chicago, participated in the round.
Endotronix: The medical device startup based in Lisle raised $45 million in a funding round led by Amsterdam-based LSP. Endotronix's artery sensor provides blood pressure data to doctors in real time. The startup says it will use its funding to commercialize its product.
Farmer’s Fridge: The startup, which operates “smart” fridges stocked with healthy meals and snacks, raised a $30 million Series C round led by Innovation Endeavors, a venture firm founded by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Other investors include Cleveland Avenue, a food-focused VC firm led by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson; Danone Manifesto Ventures, the investment arm of the yogurt brand; GreatPoint Ventures, DNS Capital, Finistere Ventures, DOM Capital and Chicago’s Hyde Park Angels.
The company has raised more than $40 million to date.
Instana: The startup, based in Chicago and Germany and provides application performance monitoring (APM) services, raised $30 million in new funding. The round was led by Meritech Capital, with participation from Accel. Instana's customers include Audi and Yahoo Japan.
Oxalo Therapeutics: The Chicago biotech company, which is developing a drug to treat and prevent kidney stones, was awarded $2.3 million from the National Institute of Health. Oxalo said they will use the new financing to help accelerate the formulation of their drug and pay for pre-clinical animal studies.
ParkWhiz: The on-demand parking startup raised $20 million in a Series D round led by NewSpring, a Pennsylvania-based private equity firm. Other backers in the round include Baird Capital, Jump Capital and Beringea. The startup has now raised $56 million since it launched in 2007.
ParkWhiz said it will use the money to expand to more cities, and improve its connected and autonomous technology.
Seed CX: The cryptocurrency startup, which helps investors get the tech infrastructure to add cryptocurrencies to their portfolios and trading strategies, raised a $15 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures and OKCoin.
Seed CX now has more than $25 million in VC funding since launching in 2015. The startup’s other investors include FinTech Sandbox, 500 Startups and Struck Capital, according to Crunchbase.
ShipBob: The logistics company raised $40 million in new funding to help small and medium-sized e-commerce companies ship products with Amazon-like speeds. The funding round, which brings its total amount raised to more than $62 million since its launch in 2014, was led by Menlo Ventures. Others in the round include existing backers Bain Capital Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and Y Combinator.
SpotHero: The parking app startup raised $10 million in funding, bringing its total amount raised to $68 million since it launched in 2011. CEO Mark Lawrence said the round was backed by existing investors, though he declined to name them specifically.
