While the amount of deals remains consistent amid the coronavirus pandemic, Colorado's tech and startup funding didn't quite reach recent heights in September.
We tracked nearly $72 million in equity funding across eight deals, falling short of August's total of $130 million in funding over eight deals.
We cover funding rounds, acquisitions and other transactions in our daily newsletter, The Beat. You can sign up for that here. We gathered some of the state’s top fundings from September in a roundup below:
Boulder-based Meati Foods, previously known as Emergy, raised $28 million in equity funding, according to a Form D filing. In July 2019, the company closed a $4.8 million funding round and opened a new Boulder HQ for its plant-based protein products. Meati is preparing to launch its fungi-based steaks to consumers later this year.
After years bootstrapping, Denver's Honcho closed a $4 million Series A round, led by FINTOP Capital and joined by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies. Honcho's software runs in the background, alerting users as they are typing if a word choice can be interpreted as inappropriate or risky. Honcho's dashboard also tracks and scores each alert for management, taking into account the full context of the communication occurring before and after the alert.
Boulder-based The Pro’s Closest, a pre-owned cycling marketplace, raised $12 million in equity funding and is moving into a new Colorado HQ. The funding was led by Foundry Group and Edison Partners, with Ridgeline Ventures and existing private investors also joining the round, bringing the startup's total investment to more than $27 million.
Denver-based CometChat, a startup building plug and play communication products, raised $1.6 million in seed financing from Colorado’s Range Ventures, New York’s Silicon Badia and Delaware-based iSeed Ventures. CometChat, which was incorporated in the U.S. in 2019 by brothers Anuj Garg and Anant Garg, works with companies to provide communication products to improve brands’ user engagement.
Engrain, a real estate software startup in the Denver Tech Center, raised $3.7 million in equity funding, according to a Form D filing. The company last reported raising funds in July 2019 with a $750K round.
After explosive recent growth, Denver-based drinkware startup BrüMate brought on its first outside capital in September, with a $20 million strategic investment from San Francisco Equity Partners. Founded in 2016 by Dylan Jacob, BrüMate has a growing line of insulated drinkware for adult beverages, including wine tumblers, wine canteens, can and bottle coolers, barware and coolers.
BlueSuit Technologies, a Denver commercial real estate technology startup, raised $2.4 million in equity funding from four investors, according to a Form D filing. This is the company's first reported funding to date.
Denver's Cappello's, an almond flour pizza, pasta and cookie dough company, raised an undisclosed Series B funding round led by Alliance Consumer Growth. The new funds will accelerate Cappello's growth, as the brand expands its offerings and distribution into new markets.
Connecticut-based holding company Compass Diversified has agreed to acquire Denver's BOA Technology, a maker of sporting gear, for $454 million. Following the deal, BOA will maintain its presence in Denver.
