The holiday week did nothing to stop the funding tear in the Triangle, securities filings show.
A sweep of fundraising disclosures shows that during the week of Thanksgiving four local firms raised more than $11.6 million combined, from a startup that claims to be “leading the lung regeneration revolution” to a venture fund in Apex.
While the largest raise of the week was the $4.2 million haul closed by Murphy’s Naturals – a Raleigh-based company whose mosquito repellents are seeing an increase in demand – it was hardly alone.
An Apex entity called “Front Porch Fund 1,” described as a pooled investment fund, added $3.8 million to its coffers for a total reported funding sum of $4.1 million.
The fund lists as its managing member Nikin Shah, who, in addition to leading Front Porch Ventures, is the CEO of contract manufacturer Polyzen Inc.
Shah, who was named a 40 Under 40 winner by the Triangle Business Journal, recently described the firm as a “Southeast-focused hybrid venture fund.”
In addition to RSRV Collective, a Carrboro startup planning to launch a line of nonalcoholic cocktails in 2022 that closed $820,000, BreStem Therapeutics added to its coffers last week.
The 4-year-old Raleigh firm is a clinical stage biotech company working to fight lung diseases. And it’s doing so through a stem cell therapy initially invented in a laboratory at North Carolina State University. BreStem added nearly $2.8 million to its coffers, bringing the total for its most recent fundraise to $3 million, securities filings show.
And those are just the funders reported to the SEC.
Adwerx, which closed on $2 million Nov. 16, self-reported that it had raised $14.5 million. The company said the $2 million was part of that funder. In an interview, CEO Jed Carlson said the round would fuel growth in 2022 and beyond.