The Triangle funding tear continues – particularly when it comes to emerging markets such as cryptocurrency and renewable energy.
The biggest raise last week came from Chapel Hill investment firm Morgan Creek Capital, which closed on more than $61.3 million – cash earmarked for a crypto platform that's raising serious money.
The tranche is part of a $400 million growth equity round that values New York-based Gemini at more than $7 billion.
In an interview, Mark Yusko, CEO of Morgan Creek Capital, said "extraordinary founders" Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss first attracted him to the company. But the business model was what won the investment, he said.
In addition to buying, selling and storing cryptocurrency, the company aims to help investors earn, spend and learn about crypto. It also helps them create and collect non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its NFT platform, Nifty Gateway.
It’s a recent sweetspot for Morgan Creek, which has been increasingly involved in crypto.
Morgan Creek was just one of the Triangle entities continuing the region’s funding tear last week.
Reveal Mobile, a Raleigh-based geofencing marketing company that recently made headlines for its buyout of New York firm Mira, raised nearly $600,000, according to a securities filing. Utility Holdings, a Raleigh startup out of energy entrepreneur Sidney Hinton, raised nearly $8.2 million.
And Raleigh’s Cyclum Renewables disclosed an ongoing $50 million funder. While Cyclum’s round has yet to raise a single dollar, an SEC disclosure did release some details, such as the fact that Cyclum has a $250,000 minimum for investors to participate in the round.
Cyclum was founded in 2019 by Shaun Lee and Olga Lee. Shaun Lee has more than two decades of experience in the space. In 1997, he installed one of the first Capstone Microturbines in Los Angeles, according to Cyclum. But in Raleigh he’s perhaps better known for his work as director of field operations for GESS International. The company moved its headquarters from California to Raleigh in 2017 and deals in “biogas,” turning swine and agricultural waste into energy.
The firm, according to its website, provides microgrid solutions to supply grid-independent renewable energy to hotels, resorts and other major hospitality firms. Earlier this year, Cyclum signed what it describes as a “multi-million dollar project developing two resorts in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”