While the state's startup and technology ecosystem didn't quite reach the funding heights it did in January, this past month was still impressive for local deals.
In February, we saw nearly $370 million in funding across 11 deals, falling short of January's impressive total of nearly $600 million in funding across 12 deals.
The month was bolstered by huge deals for Denver cloud data platform Matillion, Boulder outdoor media company Pocket Outdoor Media and cybersecurity startup Red Canary.
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 February in a roundup below:
A Denver software company is scaling up with a $100 million funding round and plans to double its U.S.-based workforce. Matillion, a cloud data integration platform, announced $100 million in Series D funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Battery Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Scale Venture Partners with financing from Silicon Valley Bank UK Branch.
In less than a year, Denver-based Plume has expanded its transgender health care services from 10 states to 28, rapidly expanding access to care for the trans community. Now, the company has brought on additional capital as it looks to take its services nationally and become the largest trans health care provider in the world. Plume announced a $14 million Series A funding round, led by Craft Ventures with participation from General Catalyst, Slow Ventures and Town Hall Ventures. The company, co-founded by Dr. Matthew Wetschler and Dr. Jerrica Kirkley, provides gender-affirming care through the convenience of a smartphone.
A Boulder media company is growing its footprint in the active lifestyle space, raising $150 million in equity funding to fuel five acquisitions. Pocket Outdoor Media announced acquisitions that will expand the company’s audience and range of coverage. The deals add Outside Integrated Media, Outside TV, Gaia GPS, athleteReg and Peloton magazine to the company’s growing media portfolio. To back these acquisitions, Pocket Outdoor announced the closing of a $150 million Series B round from Sequoia Heritage, JAZZ Ventures, Zone 5 Ventures and NEXT Ventures.
Peter Arlein is a self-described ski bum. He worked for a few years as a ski patroller at Aspen Snowmass and as a ski tech, spending his days waxing skis and boards for riders. He launched Carbondale-based mountainFLOW eco-wax in 2016, making eco-friendly ski wax. And, after appearing on Shark Tank, Arlein landed a $300,000 deal in exchange for 20% equity.
As the demand for cybersecurity services increases, a Denver-based startup is scaling up with new capital and growing its local team. Red Canary, a provider of SaaS-based security operations solutions, announced it has closed its $81 million Series C financing round. The round was led by growth equity investor Summit Partners with participation from existing investors Noro-Moseley Partners and Access Venture Partners. The new funding brings the security company’s total investment to more than $125 million.
Boulder's Strata, a multi-cloud identity company, announced it has closed an $11 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures and supported by ForgePoint Capital. More on the round here.
Denver's Collimator, a stealthy cloud-native engineering modeling and simulation software company, raised $2 million in equity funding from 11 investors, according to a Form D filing.
Golden-based Phase Change Software raised $3.7 million in equity funding as part of a $6.5 million round, according to a Form D filing. In an effort to save developers time when dealing with challenging COBOL code, Phase Change is creating an AI coworker that understands the code they’re struggling with. The company’s platform, COBOL Colleague, helps developers quickly and efficiently find potential bugs in COBOL code.
Xcite Interactive, an audience engagement startup that calls Greeley home, raised $850,000 in equity funding, according to a Form D filing. The company recently landed a partnership with Versus Systems that will give audiences the ability to win real-world prizes while watching sports, playing mobile games and watching streams on their TVs and mobile devices.
Boulder-based chocolate company Little Secrets raised $2.4 million in equity funding, according to a Form D filing. The company specializes in natural alternatives to your favorite candy, like an M&M alternative, the Chocolate Pieces line.
Wildgood, a plant-based ice cream company in Basalt, raised $5 million in equity funding from 25 investors, according to a Form D filing. Currently, the information on the company's website is limited and they've teased a reveal in the spring.
