While we’re primarily focused on Minneapolis-St. Paul’s innovation economy, we also have our eyes on all of the startup and tech activity happening throughout the entire Midwest. Here are the major tech fundings, acquisitions, mergers, moves and IPOs that went down in the region in August. See all Midwest Reports here.
9/1: St. Louis-based SafeTrek, a maker of a personal safety app for iOS and Android, raised a $3.2 million seed round from Cultivation Capital, with participation from NEA, Maveron and Aspect Ventures.
9/3: According to an SEC filing, Indianapolis-based private equity firm Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company is aiming to raise $350 million for its fifth fund.
9/6: According to an SEC filing, Nashville-based private equity firm Capital Alignment Partners raised $63.2 million for its third fund, which has a target of $150 million.
9/6: Chicago-based ForeverCar, a provider of car repair protection plans, raised a $15 million round of funding from CMFG Ventures and Method Capital LLC.
9/7: Roselle, Illinois-based NMI, a provider of payments enablement technology, has been acquired by private equity firm Francisco Partners. Great Hill Partners was the previous owner. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
9/8: Deerfield, Wisconsin-based Montage, a provider of video and voice interviewing services, raised a $8 million round of funding from Plymouth Growth Partners, with participation from Baird Capital, Beringea and GCI.
9/8: Chicago-based DataCubes, a data science platform for commercial underwriting, raised a $2.5 million Series B from MK Capital and Seyen Capital.
9/8: Pittsburgh-based Pineapple Payments, a provider of omni-channel payment processing solutions, raised a $35 million round of funding from Providence Strategic Growth.
9/11: Auburn Hills-based Local Biz Now, a local digital marketing platform, was acquired by data-driven marketing agency Ansira Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
9/13: Cleveland, Ohio-based medical device company SPR Therapeutics raised a $25 million Series C from Frontcourt Ventures.
9/14: Columbus, Ohio-based Signet Accel, a healthcare data interoperability startup, raised a $8 million Series A from Edison Partners.
9/15: St. Paul-based Spineology Inc, a provider of anatomy-conserving spinal technologies for surgeons and their patients, raised a $5 million round of funding from Hermed Capital.
9/18: Livonia, Michigan-based Ushr Inc., a provider of high-definition mapping technology and software for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, raised a $10 million Series A from Forte Ventures, with participation from EnerTech Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, and GM Ventures.
9/19: Chicago-based Packback, a provider of AI-powered inquiry-based learning communities, raised a $1.5 million round of funding from University Ventures and ICG Ventures.
9/19: Chicago-based Clearcover, a car insurance startup, raised a $11.5 million round of funding from Lightbank.
9/19: Chicago-based Raise, a payments company and marketplace for buying and selling unused gift cards, raised a $60 million Series C from Accel, with participation from PayPal, New Enterprise Associates, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
9/20: St. Louis-based Cofactor Genomics, a platform for RNA sequencing and expression analysis, raised a $18 million Series A from Menlo Ventures, with participation from DCVC, Ascension Ventures, iSelect, Y Combinator, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Stanford University.
9/20: Dubuque, Iowa-based Cartegraph Systems, a provider of software and services for local governments, raised an undisclosed amount of growth equity funding from Pamlico Capital.
9/21: Naperville, Illinois-based Motion AI, a platform for building and deploying chatbots, has been acquired by HubSpot. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
9/21: Minneapolis-based Celcuity, a biotech company developing the first diagnostic tests that use a patient's live tumor cells to identify the specific biological driver of their cancer, priced its IPO at $9.50 a share, raising $22.8 million in an offering of 2.4 million shares.
9/22: Louisville-based Realm, a real-time mobile platform, raised an undisclosed round of funding from Ericsson Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Scale Venture Partners.
9/22: Chicago-based ThinkCerca, a provider of personalized literacy solutions, raised a $10.1 million Series B from Scott Cook and Signe Ostby.
9/23: Chicago-based investment firm S2G Ventures raised $180 million for its second fund.
9/25: Chicago-based Tempus, a company building an operating system to battle cancer, raised a $70 million Series C funding from Revolution Growth and NEA.
(Image via Wikicommons)
