The amount of venture capital raised in a tech ecosystem is often an important metric in gauging its growth. And as the year comes to an end, Wisconsin Inno wanted to recap some of 2019’s largest funding rounds.
Beloit-based NorthStar Medical Technologies led the year’s fundings with a $75 million round. SHINE Medical Technologies, based in Janesville, followed NorthStar with a $50 million round.
To compile the list, Wisconsin Inno collected figures from public announcements, our own reporting and available data. The funding rounds are listed below from large to small.
NorthStar Medical Technologies: The Beloit company closed on $75 million in April. NorthStar produces and distributes radioisotopes used for medical imaging and therapy. It has now raised more than $80 million since it was founded in 2006.
SHINE Medical Technologies: The Janesville-based nuclear medicine company secured $50 million from Los Angeles investment firm Oaktree Capital Management in October. The financing is being used to fund the construction of a new isotope production facility. To date, SHINE has raised more than $160 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase.
Redox: Redox, a Madison-based healthcare software startup, closed a $33 million Series C funding round in April. The funding round was led by Boston-based Battery Ventures, with participation from existing investors, such as .406 Ventures, RRE Ventures and Intermountain Ventures. The round brought Redox’s total funding to $48.5 million.
Fetch Rewards: Madison startup Fetch Rewards raised $25 million in October. The startup, which has created a mobile shopping platform that gives users rewards when buying groceries, said it is using the financing to double its workforce by the end of 2020. Investors included well-known VC firms Greycroft and eVentures. The funding brought Fetch Rewards’ total amount raised to more than $50 million since it was founded in 2013.
Fasetto: The northwest Wisconsin-based company raised $20 million in venture capital funding over two rounds in 2019. In February, Fasetto raised $6 million from and in October, it raised $14 million. The investors were not disclosed in either round. Fasetto has developed Forum, a software that allows people to share and join business presentations from anywhere if they have a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device.
Nimble Therapeutics: Madison-based Nimble Therapeutics, founded in 2019, raised $10 million in April from Telegraph Hill Partners, a California-based private equity firm. The startup, a spinout from healthcare giant Roche, develops drug discovery technology that identifies and enhances molecules that show promise as therapies for certain conditions.
Bright Cellars: Milwaukee startup Bright Cellars raised an $8.5 million Series A round led by Revolution Ventures in March. Bright Cellars’ existing investor CSA Partners also participated in the round. The new funding came after Bright Cellars raised $2.8 million in 2018 from investors including Cream City Venture Capital, the early-stage venture arm of Northwestern Mutual, and Cleveland Avenue, a food-focused venture fund from former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson.
Understory: The Madison-based startup that analyzes and processes weather data closed a $5.25 million Series B round led by True Ventures in May. 4490 Ventures and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund also participated. Founded in 2012, Understory makes solar-powered weather stations that collect weather data to help a range of industries detect risk and make better business decisions.
ImageMoverMD: The Madison-based startup making software for the healthcare industry raised $4 million in February in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures, Cultivation Capital and Health X Ventures. Colle Capital and Wisconsin Investment Partners, which mainly focuses on investing in biomedical, healthcare and IT startups in Wisconsin, also participated. Founded in 2014, ImageMoverMD makes software for the medical imaging industry that allows physicians to streamline their workflow by integrating enterprise imaging and electronic health record (EHR) systems.
Imbed Biosciences: The Madison biotech company making antimicrobial and antifungal bandages for soft tissue repairs, closed a $4 million round of venture capital funding to commercialize its product in November. The Series A round included Wisconsin Investment and Strategic Capital Partners (WISC Partners), which also invested in the company’s seed round. Other investors were not identified. Imbed Biosciences originally raised $2 million for this round in April, but says it expanded it to $4 million due to investor demand.
