Despite venture capital challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, a handful of Minnesota startups managed to raise tens of millions in funding over the past three months.
The largest raise on our list is CVRx, a medical device company that landed $50 million to support the commercialization of its heart failure device. The oversubscribed round was led by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Strategic Healthcare Investment Partners and Edina-based Vensana Capital.
We cover funding news and other tech headlines every day in our newsletter, The Beat. Be sure to sign up to stay on top of the latest startup and innovation news in Minnesota.
Read Minne Inno’s past funding roundups here.
CVRx
- CVRx, a medical device company based in Brooklyn Park, raised $50 million to support the commercialization and continued development of Barostim Neo, a heart failure device. The company is one of the largest venture capital recipients in Minnesota, according to the Biz Journal. It has now raised about $390 million and was the state's biggest venture capital winner in 2016.
Histosonics
- Histosonics, a medical technology company creating a non-invasive device that destroys cancerous tissue, closed on $40 million in an oversubscribed Series C round of funding. The round was led by Yonjin Venture, a firm investing in early-stage and mid-size life science companies. Histosonics specializes in histotripsy, a non-invasive method of destroying body tissue using sonic waves. Its Edison device uses real-time visualization technology to destroy cancerous tumors while keeping healthy tissue safe.
Conventus
- Conventus Orthopaedics raised $24.5 million to buy Flower Orthopedics, another orthopedics company, according to the Biz Journal. The entire round came from New York-based Deerfield Management Co.
Lifesprk
- Local senior care tech company Lifesprk raised a $16.1 million Series A round of funding in a round led by California-based Virgo Investment Group. The company said at the time that it planned to use the capital to invest in an electronic records system.
Dispatch
- Dispatch, a local tech company offering an on-demand delivery platform, secured $11.15 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Trinity Private Equity Group along with continued support from previous investors such as Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, Great North Labs, and Labora. Trinity also led Dispatch’s last round of funding in 2018.
Omnia Fishing
- Omnia Fishing, a startup building an e-commerce platform that recommends tackle based on the lakes anglers plan to fish, closed on $1.15 million in seed funding. Omnia received the investment from a handful of Twin Cities firms and angel investment groups, including Twin Ignition Ventures, Gopher Angels and the Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund. Denver-based GAN Ventures also participated.
Other moves
- A group of seasoned Twin Cities startup veterans with backgrounds in fundraising, investing, marketing, mentorship and more have teamed up to launch a new venture capital firm called Bread and Butter Ventures. The firm’s founders are Brett Brohl, Mary Grove and Stephanie Rich. Shortly after launch, Bread and Butter backed Indianapolis-based ConverSight.ai.
- Jamf, the Minneapolis-based maker of software for managing Apple devices, confirmed that it had filed with the SEC to list its common stock under the NASDAQ market stock ticker JAMF. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Jamf had confidentially filed for an IPO. At the time, the tech company declined to comment. The company remains in a quiet period because of the IPO filing.
