After a challenging year, Colorado startup funding activity was slow to close out the final month of 2020.
In December, we tracked nearly $67 million across six deals, which was half of November's total of $132 million from 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 December in a roundup below:
Following a move from the Bay Area in 2020, Denver-based insurtech startup AgentSync announced a $6.7 million seed extension round in December to grow its team and build out its product. The company is modernizing the tools and infrastructure powering the insurance industry, aiming to increase efficiency and reduce the barriers to entry for insurtech firms. AgentSync's first product, a platform for insurance carriers and insurance agencies to track insurance broker licensing data, is a compliance-as-a-service solution. David Sacks' Craft Ventures led the round, with participation from Operator Collective and several prior investors. This round comes shortly after AgentSync raised a $4.4 million seed round this summer.
NUBURU, a high power blue laser technology startup, announced that it raised $20 million in Series B funding. The round, which was co-led by Anzu Partners, an industrial technology investment firm, and by Thomas Wilson, chair, president and CEO of The Allstate Corporation, brings NUBURU’s total funding to nearly $50 million.
Denver's Valyant AI, a startup building AI ordering systems for the quick-serve restaurant industry, raised $4.5 million in equity and debt funding, according to a Form D filing. The company has developed an AI ordering system named Holly that can take, edit and record orders at the fast food drive-thru. More on that in our 2019 feature here.
Boulder lawncare startup Sunday announced a $19 million Series B fundraise on Dec. 9 led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Tusk Ventures and Forerunner Ventures. The round brings Sunday’s total funds raised to date to $28 million. Sunday analyzes climate and soil data to create seasonal subscription packages specifically for customers' yards — eliminating the need for harmful chemicals, pesticides and herbicides by using formulas with safe ingredients, like organic compost food waste, molasses and seaweed. Seasonal plans start as low as $89 and include all the tools you need to maintain your lawn.
Denver's HarperDB, a software startup trying to simplify the database landscape, raised just over $4 million in a new round of equity funding, according to a Form D filing.
Broomfield-based Feel the World, DBA Xero Shoes, raised $12.5 million in equity funding from three investors, according to a Form D filing. This appears to be the minimalist footwear company's first equity raise.
Founded by Adam Burrows and Chris Erickson, Denver-based Range Ventures, a technology-focused venture capital firm, announced a new $23 million fund on Dec. 8 to provide early-stage capital to bright local founders. Founded in March 2020, Range has a network of nearly 100 limited partners that have built, run and invested in many successful companies in the greater Denver area. Those companies include ANGI Homeservices, EverCommerce, Ibotta, Guild Education, Ping Identity and Datalogix.
