Following a record year of funding in 2021, Colorado startups began the new year strong.
Across eight deals we tracked in January, Colorado companies raised more than $160 million in outside funding. That total was bolstered by a busy month for Denver-based female-founded startups including Spekit, Soona and Vangst.
We cover funding rounds, acquisitions and other transactions in our twice weekly newsletter, The Beat. You can sign up for that here. Here are some of the Denver area companies that made big funding moves last month:
reHarvest Provisions
A Denver startup making smoothies from imperfect produce has rebranded and raised a seed round of capital as it finds stable footing in the local health food marketplace. The company rebranded from reBLEND to reHarvest Provisions and announced a $1.5 million seed funding round in January. The startup offers a series of smoothies like a Frosé pop and sources unnecessarily discarded produce from manufacturers and farmers to create its products.
Carbon America
A startup aiming to commercialize new carbon dioxide capture and sequestration technologies has pulled in tens of millions in early funding and has plans to hire in the Denver metro area in the next year. Carbon America, based in Arvada, attracted $30 million in Series A venture capital backing from investors including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and some climate change-focused funds, who collectively have the opportunity to increase their investment by $15 million in April.
Atomos Space
Denver-based Atomos Space, a startup building in-space transportation technology, has raised $5 million in venture funding from two deep-tech and aerospace investors. Atomos plans to launch its first two spacecrafts in 2023.
Spekit
A Denver software startup has raised one of the largest venture rounds by a women-led technology company in the state’s history by bringing on a $45 million Series B that will help it double its staff and expand its employee training product. Spekit, founded in 2018 by CEO Melanie Fellay and Zari Zahra announced in January that it has raised a $45 million Series B that brings its total funding to $60 million.
NUBURU
Denver-based NUBURU, an industrial blue laser company, announced it has raised additional growth capital with a significant valuation. In addition, the company brought on longtime technology executive Brian Faircloth as its chief operating officer and promoted Andrew Dodd to VP of global sales to boost commercialization efforts.
Soona
Pandemic interest, along with a 300% revenue growth in 2021 and 400% revenue growth in 2020, has led to a Series B that puts one Colorado company on the path to a $1B unicorn valuation. Soona, founded in 2018 by Liz Giorgi and Hayley Anderson, has seen a massive uptick in customer interest over the previous two years. The company announced in January that it has raised a $35 million Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.
Parsyl, Inc.
Parsyl, Inc., a data-powered insurer of essential supply chains, announced $25 million in new funding to expand its cargo insurance and risk management solutions. The Series B financing is led by HSCM Ventures, the venture capital arm of Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., which specializes in the insurance and transport sectors.
Vangst
Denver-based Vangst has seen its hiring platform boom in the past year along with a swell of interest in legal cannabis jobs. The cannabis industry in the United States is approaching nearly 400,000 people employed, a growth of nearly 25% over the last 12 months. In parallel with that growth, Vangst is now working with 1,200 cannabis businesses and has helped fill over 150,000 part-time gigs since launching its product in 2018. That momentum, combined with new states coming online and mounting federal legislative pressure, has created an enormous opportunity for Vangst’s cannabis hiring platform. To fuel its growth, Vangst raised a $19 million Series B financing in January with an eye on expansion and product improvements.
