The Covid-19 pandemic brought economic uncertainty for many startups in the past three months, but a handful of Cincinnati companies managed to raise fresh funding.
VNDLY led the way for investment this past quarter. The startup, which makes a SaaS workforce management platform, landed two investments within the space of just over a month. Although the exact amount of the second investment is unknown, we can say VNDLY has now raised more than $57 million, putting it in the top 20 of Cincinnati's most well-funded startups, according to the Business Courier.
Cincy Inno covers funding news and other tech headlines every Friday in our newsletter, The Beat. Be sure to sign up to stay on top of the latest startup and innovation news in Cincinnati.
VNDLY
- May: Less than six months after closing on a $35 million Series B round of funding, local startup VNDLY received an additional $8.5 million investment in May from Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group.
- June: VNDLY received its third investment in less than a year in June, this time from Okta Ventures. The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed, but VNDLY CEO Shashank Saxena told the Business Courier that it was a minority investment that occurred as a by-product of the companies’ existing partnership.
Cladwell
- Cincinnati styling startup Cladwell was one of eight companies from across the U.S. to receive investment as part of the latest Indie.vc cohort. The exact size of Indie’s investment in Cladwell was not disclosed, but the firm said that its average investment check size for this cohort was around $400,000.
Acquisitions
- ConnXus, a startup creating software to help companies manage their supply chains, was acquired by San Mateo, Calif.-based Coupa Software. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ConnXus’ platform connects large enterprises with minority and women-owned suppliers. ConnXus can also identify businesses that are veteran-, disability- and LGBTQ-owned to help companies find and connect with a wide range of diverse suppliers.
Other moves
- Cincinnati-based Lightship Capital made history in June when it announced what is likely the largest-ever venture capital fund dedicated to investing in Midwestern, minority-led startups. This is also believed to be the largest initial fund run by a Black woman to date. Lightship Capital is creating a $50 million fund that will support startups led by BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities. It will focus on five sectors: artificial intelligence, consumer package goods, sustainability, e-commerce and health care.
- Contact Control Interfaces, a Cincinnati-based company building haptic hardware for virtual reality applications, has received a $90,000 grant and a supply of Magic Leap AR hardware from Epic Games, the creator of popular videogame Fortnite.
- Columbus-based Loud Capital raised a new fund to invest in LGBTQ founders, as well as startups that serve the LGBTQ community. Pride Fund 1 will be led by CEO Densil R. Porteous, the founder of DePorteous Consulting. It will invest in early-stage and growth-stage companies
