Kansas City-area companies raised nearly $77 million during the second quarter, four of which marked the top deals in Kansas.
Nationwide, the venture capital scene built off the first quarter’s momentum and is on pace to potentially set “another consecutive record-setting year,” according to a Venture Monitor report from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.
Early-stage venture capital also is growing, with $19.6 billion deployed across an estimated 1,303 deals – a new quarterly record. If the current rate of activity continues, early-stage capital could eclipse $60 billion this year, an annual value previously only seen at late-stage investing, according to the report.
Mega-deals, which are $100 million or higher, totaled $85.5 billion across 385 deals for the first half of the year. At this time last year, there were 329 deals that secured a total of $75.2 billion. PitchBook expects the mega-deal category this year to smash previous annual records.
PitchBook adjusted its original first quarter figures for the Kansas City metro, reporting 11 deals worth a total of $57.56 million.
Locally, eight companies raised money during the second quarter:
- Replica, $41 million
- Artio Medical, $20.8 million
- StoneLock, $5 million
- Daupler, $4 million
- Automotive Innovations, $2.6 million
- Mycroft AI, $2.4 million
- Tnemec, $0.7 million
- Spinal Simplicity, $0.3 million
Replica and Artio Medical’s funding rounds were high enough to rank them 5th and 7th in the Midwest, respectively. Replica, a tech startup that spun out of Google parent Alphabet Inc. in 2019, describes itself as a data platform for the built environment that breaks down information silos. It aims to provide crucial insights about what's happening inside a city, such as mobility, land use, consumer spending and employment numbers. Replica’s employee base has grown to about 45 people, and its revenue grew about 400% last year. During a previous interview, Replica CEO and co-founder Nick Bowden said he expects to double in revenue and employees in 2021.
In Kansas, Replica, Artio, StoneLock ranked as the top three highest deals. Daupler and Mycroft took the top spots for Missouri.
As for statewide deal flow, Kansas companies secured $68.85 million across six deals, and Missouri companies landed $353.9 million across 21 deals.
Three area companies sold during the second quarter:
- Zaarly, $3.4 million – acquired by Airtasker Ltd.
- Farmobile (undisclosed) – acquired by Ag Growth International Inc., which previously invested $15 million
- Pivvot (undisclosed) – acquired by Terracon Consultants Inc.
