Flywheel Exchange Inc., a Minneapolis-based software startup that manages data for medical researchers, has closed on a $15 million Series B round of fundraising — its second round of major institutional investment — the firm announced Wednesday.
The round was led by Detroit- and London-based Beringea and San Francisco-based 8VC. Other investors include Minneapolis- and St. Cloud-based Great North Labs, San Jose-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Basel- and San Francisco-based Novartis dRx Capital, and existing investor St. Louis, Mo.-based iSelect Fund.
Flywheel was co-founded by Dr. Brian Wandell, a Stanford University researcher who needed a tool to better manage and organize neural-imaging data, as well as Chief Technology Officer Gunnar Schaefer and Board Chair Troy Kopischke. Wandell is currently an advisor to the firm.
Some of the firm's clients include St. Jude's Children's Hospital and Columbia University.
"It is our strong belief that the leading life science institutions of the next decade will succeed by taking advantage of their biomedical data. Flywheel’s product is the best-in-class infrastructure to fulfill this vision," 8VC Partner Francisco Gimenez said in a statement.
In December, Flywheel CEO Jim Olson told Minne Inno the Series B would be used to develop new products and continue to scale. The firm had raised about $14 million of the Series B at the time.
Flywheel previously raised an $8.5 million Series A in 2019. It had over 30 employees at the end of 2020.
