While the amount of tech and startup deals in Colorado were down in November, a huge round from Guild Education helped the state top its October funding total.
We tracked 11 local deals totaling nearly $238 million in funding this month, compared to 22 deals totaling nearly $150 million in October.
Guild's $157 million Series D, a round that vaulted it into unicorn status, accounted for the majority of the state's money raised, but a handful of other deals help boost the total.
AMP Robotics' $16 million Series A will help the company more quickly deploy its recycling robots, while Liqid's $28 million will help the company grow its Broomfield-based team.
We cover funding rounds, acquisitions and other transactions in our daily newsletter, The Beat. You can sign up for that here and we gathered some of the state’s top fundings from November in a roundup below:
Boulder’s Techtonic launched its paid apprenticeship program in 2012, the first of its kind for software development in the U.S. The Department of Labor-approved program offers candidates classroom training and hands-on employment with Techtonic. The company announced that it has raised $6 million to expand its onshore software development and apprenticeship offerings across the country.
Xiant Technologies, a Greeley-based agtech startup, raised $2.5 million as part of a $9 million funding round, according to a Form D filing. Xiant's primary product is an LED growing lamp that delivers specific wavelengths and patterns of light to maximize agricultural production.
Boulder's Stedi, a messaging platform for B2B transactions, raised $14.3 million in equity funding, according to a Form D filing.
In one of the biggest funding rounds since we've been covering the ecosystem, Denver's Guild Education announced that it has closed a $157 million Series D round that vaults it into unicorn status. Guild works with large companies, including Walmart and Chipotle, to offer debt-free education as a company benefit. The round was led by General Catalyst's Ken Chenault, former chairman and CEO of American Express, who will join Guild's board. This round establishes Guild, now valued at $1B, as one of a few female-led companies this year to earn the unicorn valuation. More on the funding round and the company's future from the Denver Biz Journal here. [Subscriber Content]
Boulder's Copper Labs is helping utilities become more efficient, providing real-time energy usage data to the consumers and companies with a wireless solution. The company announced that it has raised $2 million in new funding to further build out its product and team. Austin's Moonshots Capital led the round, along with new and existing investors that include Blue Bear Capital, Bull Creek Capital, Capital Factory and Service Provider Capital.
Louisville, Colo.-based AMP Robotics has raised a $16 million Series A to more quickly scale its robotic solution that it says can pick and sort recyclables twice as fast as humans.
Broomfield software company Liqid has capped off a run of recent success with a $28 million funding round that will accelerate its growth and build out its Colorado team.The provider of composable infrastructure solutions announced that it raised the Series B funding round led by Panorama Point Partners, with participation from Iron Gate Capital and affiliates of DH Capital. The investment brings total company funding to $50 million.
Denver's Social Life Network, an AI and blockchain-powered social network and e-commerce technology startup, raised an additional $840,000 as part of a $2.1 million equity funding round, according to a Form D filing.
ColdQuanta, a Boulder-based quantum atomics company, announced an additional $10 million investment led by its current investors Maverick Ventures and Global Frontier Investments. This brings the total investment in the seed round to $16.75 million. The funding will be used to advance the development of ColdQuanta’s cold atom Quantum Core technology, the foundation for the company’s development of quantum computers. More here.
Julota, a Colorado Springs-based software startup that manages consent and multidirectional sharing of sensitive information, raised $1.5 milion in equity funding, according to a Form D filing.
Boulder early-stage venture fund Blue Note Ventures is raising $20 million for its second fund, per an SEC filing. The firm's primary focus is on early-stage technology startups, having previously invested in Shotzr, ThreatX and Automox, among others.
After more than two decades in Denver, software development firm Spire Digital announced that it has been acquired by London’s Kin + Carta. Spire has more than 100 employees in Denver with an expertise in technical design, development, software, engineering and product strategy. The acquisition supports Kin + Carta’s expansion in the western United States and supports the growth of its innovation pillar, the largest and fastest-growing part of the business.
