After a record-setting start to the year for venture activity for Colorado startups, the ecosystem cooled a bit in May.
Companies across the state raised nearly $260 million in outside funding across 14 we tracked deals last month, falling short of the $500 million milestone that had been achieved in three of the previous four months.
May came in under April's total of nearly $560 million raised across 23 deals. Despite this slight blip, Colorado's startup and technology funding is still pacing incredibly well compared to previous years.
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 May in a roundup below:
Ford and BMW are investing $130 million in auto battery maker Solid Power, a Louisville company developing solid-state vehicle batteries. Ford Motor Co. announced the Series B round investment, as the Detroit automaker previously invested in Solid Power in 2019. BMW, which has worked with Solid Power, participated in the latest funding round and became an equity owner of the startup alongside Ford, the companies said.
Digital advertising software company Choozle has brought on a $15 million private equity investment aimed at building out its self-service media buying platform. The company announced the $15 million Series C investment from Boathouse Capital, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm with over $350M under management, on May 12. Choozle, which was founded in 2012, gives advertising agencies and marketing departments a digital advertising software platform that leverages consumer data for advertising campaigns across mediums.
Colorado-based The Pro’s Closet, a company that buys and sells pre-owned bicycles, experienced tremendous growth in 2020 and moved into a new facility in Louisville to accommodate its plans. In order to facilitate its growth, the company brought on a $40 million Series B funding round in May, led by The Chernin Group with participation from existing investors Foundry Group, Edison Partners and Ridgeline.
Assignar, a cloud-based construction operations platform, announced that it has raised $20 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Fifth Wall, a venture capital firm focused on technology for the global real estate industry, with a repeat investment from Tola Capital and a new investment from Ironspring Ventures. Assignar’s platform is built for self-perform general and subcontractors on public and private infrastructure projects. It helps schedule and tracks crews and equipment, improves quality and safety and measures productivity on projects.
As it helps software companies process payments, Boulder startup Tilled has brought on an $11 million Series A round to rapidly accelerate the growth of its team and expand internationally. The company, which was founded in 2019 by Caleb Avery, helps software companies make money off of the payments they process. Tilled’s solution allows its clients to operate like their own fully registered payment facilitator, giving them the ability to monetize their payments and keep 66% of that revenue share.
Continuing what has been a busy year for the startup, Boulder-based ColdQuanta has brought on $20 million to help commercialize its quantum computing technology. The $20 million investment brings ColdQuanta’s total funding to $74 million and comes from existing investors including Foundry Group, Global Frontier Quantum Opportunity Fund, LCP Quantum Partners and Maverick Ventures. ColdQuanta is developing quantum solutions to be used across computing, sensing and communications. The company’s Cold Atom Quantum Technology, which cools atoms to a few millionths of a degree above absolute zero, will serve as the foundation for these applications.
Boulder-based proptech startup zavvie, an agent-centric brokerage platform, announced the completion of a $1.75 million inside round from existing investors, including Second Century Ventures, the investment arm of the National Association of Realtors.
After two years of building a tabletop gaming platform with a digital flair, Denver startup The Last Gameboard has brought on capital to push its production over the finish line. The company announced the closing of a $4 million seed round, led by TheVentureCity with participation from SOSV, Riot Games, Conscience VC, Corner3 VC and more. This round brings The Last Gameboard’s total funding to $4.8 million. Since launching in January 2019, The Last Gameboard has been building a portable, 3D touch tabletop game product for gaming fanatics. The 16-by-16-inch Gameboard’s internal technology can bring your favorite board games to life.
Cloud Campaign has brought on a $5 million Series A funding round designed to build out its solution and double its staff. The funding was led by Oregon Venture Fund and Colorado’s Access Venture Partners and comes after Cloud Campaign raised a $1.5 million seed round in January 2020.
Colorado's Pretred, a startup that repurposes tires and plastics into industrial barriers, has raised a $3 million seed investment led by HG Ventures, the corporate venture arm of The Heritage Group. Pretred said it will use the investment to scale its U.S.-based tire and plastic recycling process to meet the demand for green construction products.
Fusion Robotics, a Boulder-based medical device company working on spinal surgery solutions, raised $2.8 million in equity funding from 15 investors, according to a Form D filing. In February, the company received FDA clearance to market its spine surgery technology in the U.S.
Icon Source, a Denver startup connecting brands with athletes, has raised a $1.6 million seed round as it prepares to facilitate sponsorship deals for college athletes on July 1. Participants in the round included both previous and new investors, including Hawke Ventures. The timing of the round comes as name, image and license compensation laws for college athletes will go into effect in July, allowing student-athletes to profit off of sponsorship deals without risking eligibility.
Denver's ThrivePass, a startup building an employee benefit management platform, raised $2.5 million in equity funding, according to a Form D filing. The startup was one of 151 Colorado companies to land on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list, as it reported 500% revenue growth from 2016 to 2019.
Denver-based Opolis, a startup offering employment benefits to independent contractors, freelancers and solopreneurs, has raised nearly $2.5 million in equity funding, according to a Form D filing.
