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Few things indicate the health of a startup ecosystem better than the amount of money its companies are raising. The year started out slow, but wrapped up with two significant triple-digit capital raises by Bright Health and Sezzle.
Medical-technology and medical-device companies led the way throughout 2018, typically raising the largest rounds each month.
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Here are the top fundings each month for the last year:
JANUARY
- Metavention, a startup developing a medical device to treat Type 2 diabetes, closed on $65 million in venture capital, which the company said it would put toward clinical trials testing its technology.
- Tech startup Upsie closed on a $1.7 million round of funding led by an investor group that included Techstars Ventures. Upsie makes a mobile app that lets consumers compare, buy and track extended-service warranty plans.
- Kaleidoscope, a scholarship-building startup that participated in gener8tor’s first Minneapolis accelerator in 2017, raised $1.3 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Gopher Angels.
FEBRUARY
February was a relatively quiet month for venture capital, with little funding news reported. However, it was the month with the largest venture capital round of Q1.
- Bind Benefits, a health-benefits startup led by serial entrepreneur Tony Miller, closed a $60 million round of funding and announced plans to expand to new markets and ramp up hiring.
MARCH
- Learn to Live, a company developing programs that aim to treat mental and behavioral-health disorders, raised about $4.3 million and announced plans to move into new states and relocate to larger digs.
- Growing big data startup phData closed on a $2.5 million round of funding from Arthur Ventures. At the time, phData said that it would put the capital toward ramping up hiring and product development.
- Minneapolis-based UroCure raised about $2.5 million in funding from angel investors to pursue regulatory clearances for modified versions of its products, which treat urinary incontinence.
APRIL
- Online-learning company Edmentum closed on $25 million in financing in a deal that allowed the company to extend the maturity of its debt, the Biz Journal reported. New Mountain Finance Corp., a New York-based investment firm, and Santa Monica, California-based Tennenbaum Capital Partners provided the financing. Both companies were already investors in Bloomington-based Edmentum.
- Financial-technology startup Sezzle raised around $9 million after revamping its business model. Sezzle was founded in 2016 and splits a customer’s order from participating sites into four installments spread over six weeks without charging interest or fees.
- Techstars alum Local Crate raised $1.4 million in seed funding in a round co-led by several Midwestern venture capital firms. The startup plans to use the funding to expand its local food distribution platform into Illinois. Minneapolis-based Local Crate works with local chefs and farmers to create meal kits with ingredients and recipes from the region. The company also aims to cut back on waste by using less packaging than national meal kit services like Blue Apron.
MAY
- Business-software company KeyedIn Solutions closed on $15 million in financing to ramp up sales and marketing. KeyedIn launched in 2011 and soon acquired Bloomington-based Datacom International, along with several other businesses. It now sells professional-services and project-management applications. Arrowroot Capital led KeyedIn’s Series C round of funding.
- Med-tech startup Cardionomic Inc. raised $9 million to further test a medical device that aims to treat heart failure. The New Brighton-based company’s technology uses electrical pulses to stimulate nerve branches in the heart. The company is led by former Medtronic executive Steve Goedeke.
- Healthcare startup Gravie closed on roughly $3.4 million in equity financing. The Minneapolis-based company guides small and mid-sized employers’ workers through the process of buying and managing their health coverage. Gravie has raised more than $45 million since its launch five years ago, including a $14.1 million round in summer 2017.
JUNE
- Health insurance startup Bind Benefits landed another $10 million in funding and partnered with UnitedHealthcare as part of a national expansion plan.
- Vergent Bioscience, a biotech startup that aims to make it easier for physicians to see cancerous tissue during surgery, raised $8.7 million to fund clinical trials. New York investment firm Spring Mountain Capital led the Series A round of funding.
- Structural, a software startup led by tech veterans Scott Burns and Chip House, closed on $2.5 million to fund growth efforts. Investors in the round include the Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, which this spring established a presence in Minneapolis by bringing on Mary Grove on as partner. High Alpha, Matchstick Ventures, The Syndicate Fund and Great North Labs also participated.
JULY
- Miromatrix Medical, a biotech startup using research from the University of Minnesota to turn pig organs into transplantable human organs, closed its Series B round at $15.7 million. Miromatrix surpassed its original goal of $10 million for this round, and welcomed its first large strategic investor – a “multibillion-dollar healthcare company” that Miromatrix did not name in its release.
- Praestan Health, a startup that launched just last year as a behavioral-healthcare provider and has since expanded into the software business, closed on a $12 million round of funding. Praestan started out embedding behavioral-health clinics inside primary care clinics. The company’s goal was to work closely with primary care doctors to better identify and treat patients who also need care for conditions such as depression and anxiety.
- Inspectorio, a startup that makes tech for supply chain inspections, closed on a $10 million Series A round of funding from an investor group that includes Techstars and Ecolab. Minneapolis-based Inspectorio develops tech that walks users through the inspection process and lets factories, vendors and retailers better share information.
AUGUST
- Gene-editing startup Recombinetics raised $34 million in funding that went partly toward accelerating development of its “oinkubator” technology, which could eventually let scientists grow human organs inside pigs.
- Urotronic Inc. raised $20 million in venture capital to fund clinical studies and double the size of its 14-person staff. Urotronic aims to bring the tech behind drug-coated balloon devices, now used to treat vascular disease, into the urology market.
- Foodsby, a tech startup that orchestrates delivery of restaurant food to office buildings, closed on $13.5 million to expand into new markets and ramp up hiring. Piper Jaffray’s merchant banking business led the round of funding. The company’s previous investors (Chicago-based Corazon Capital and New York-based Greycoft Partners and Rally Ventures) also participated.
SEPTEMBER
- Med-tech startup 4C Medical Technologies closed on a $17 million round of funding, which the company says will go toward product development. The company raised about $9 million last summer to lay the groundwork for a clinical trial of its device, which aims to treat mitral-valve regurgitation, a condition that causes blood to flow backward into the heart.
- Capita3, a Minneapolis-based venture capital firm led by serial investors and entrepreneurs Sara Russick and Pam York, has closed on $1.2 million for its first fund, which will back women-led health startups. Capita3 will provide seed-stage funding for seven to 10 women-led companies in the Midwest over the next two years. Capita3 aims to back startups in innovative health sectors such as genomics, digital health, women’s health and food-as-medicine.
OCTOBER
- Growing financial-technology company Total Expert has closed on a $20 million round of venture capital to accelerate growth. Emergence Capital, a San Mateo, California-based venture capital firm that counts Salesforce, Yammer and Crunchbase among its portfolio companies.
- Matchstick Ventures, which has been an active investor in Minnesota tech startups in recent years, raised $12.3 million for its planned $25 million fund, according to a regulatory filing. St. Paul-based Matchstick Ventures launched in 2013 and is led by Managing Partner Ryan Broshar, who also runs the Target + Techstars retail program. Matchstick recently expanded its footprint into Colorado, hiring Natty Zola to serve as a partner based in Boulder, Colorado.
NOVEMBER
- Bright Health, an insurance startup led by a group of healthcare veterans that includes former UnitedHealthcare CEO Bob Sheehy, closed on a $200 million round of venture capital that will go toward expanding into new markets. Bright Health is now valued at approximately $950 million, according to Pitchbook. If Pitchbook’s calculations are correct, that puts Bright just $50 million away from “unicorn” status.
- Sezzle, a startup that makes it easier for consumers to pay for online purchases in installments closed on $100 million in financing. The Minneapolis-based company landed the capital from Stamford, Conn.-based investment firm Bastion, which provides debt capital to finance companies. Sezzle said that it would put the capital toward expansion efforts.
- Medical-device company NeoChord raised $25 million in venture capital to fund further development of its technology, which treats a heart condition.
DECEMBER
Stay tuned. We'll add the top fundings from December at the end of the month.
