While Q3 may have continued on, it brought a fair amount of deals and some illuminating info.
We learned from an Embarc Collective/Build in SE Alliance report that in the last year, we've made strides in early stage funding and August proved no differently. We've got the roundup of all the companies that received funding below and also rounded up where some local investors chose to fund.
• PandaDoc, a San Francisco company with a major St. Petersburg presence, received $30M on August 5. The company employs roughly 70 people in St. Pete according to a company spokesperson and received the funding as an extension to its Series B round. The round was led by One Peakwith participation from Microsoft's Venture Fund, Savano Capital Partners, Rembrandt Venture Partners and EBRD Venture Capital Investment Programme. Get all the details here.
• BlockSpaces, the blockchain-focused meetup and education group, raised $75K on August 14, according to an SEC filing. The investment was raised by two people. This is the second investment for the group; in March of this year, they raised $100K.
• Tampa Bay Lighting owner and startup supporter Jeff Vinik participated in a $25M Series B round on August 18 for Bridge Connector, which has offices in south Florida and Nashville. The fund was led by Axioma Ventures, which is headed by former Publix Super Markets CEO Howard Jenkins.
• Maisie Williams, best known for her role on the hit HBO show 'Game of Thrones,' invested an undisclosed amount into cleantech startup Molekule. While the company is based in San Francisco, it has a completed patent from the University of South Florida and its co-founder, Yogi Goswami, is the director of USF's Clean Energy Research Center. Get the full scoop here.
• ReliaQuest, the Tampa-based cybersecurity giant, raised $300M on August 25. KKR & Co Inc. led the investment, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures and ReliaQuest CEO and founder himself, Brian Murphy. Feel a bit deju vu-y? It's because KKR invested that same amount into cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 last year. That investment put the company into unicorn territory, but this time around ReliaQuest isn't revealing a valuation.
• Florida Funders is at it again. This time, the hybrid venture capital fund/angel investor network firm is focused on an Atlanta company. On Monday, they announced closing on an undisclosed funding round in MyPorter, a full-service moving and storage startup. Now, the company will be expanding into Tampa. Learn more here.
• SKUxchange, a St. Petersburg startup that uses blockchain and its own technology to streamline promotional offers, raised $1 million on August 28, according to an SEC filing. The company had participation from eight investors, according to the filing. This follows $517,000 the company raised in 2019 and brings its total funding to almost $4 million. According to SKUxchange co-founder Bobby Tinsley, the latest funding closes the comapny's pre-seed Series A round, which totals $6.5 million. The $1 million will be used for company expansion, both for the internal team and with potential acquisitions.
