Minnesota's venture capital fortunes had little to do with the turmoil that much of the world faced in 2020, which has become one of the state's biggest years ever for growth-stage investments.
The top 10 deals of the year pulled in a combined $1.25 billion. Eight of those deals were in the health care sector, which remains by far Minnesota's largest recipient of venture capital money. Dozens of health care startups raised over $1 billion dollars in total in 2020, according to the Medical Alley Association.
Coming out before the year is totally finished, it's possible that this list could miss a major deal. After all, the largest venture capital raise of 2019, Bright Health's $635 million Series D, wasn't announced until Dec. 17. Nonetheless, these are Minnesota's 10 largest venture capital rounds of 2020 as of Dec. 8. The list was compiled using data from Pitchbook, Crunchbase, the Medical Alley Association and the Business Journal's original reporting.
- Minneapolis-based Bright Health raised $500 million in September. The health insurance startup, which has raised over $1.5 billion since it was founded in 2015, is now valued at $4 billion, according to Pitchbook.
- Eden Prairie-based cybersecurity company Arctic Wolf raised $200 million in October at the same time it announced it was relocating from its previous headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. Wolf now has a valuation of $1.3 billion; it also raised $60 million in March, though it was still based in California at the time.
- Eagan- and Houston-based Preventice Solutions raised $137 million in July. The round was led by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Vivo Capital. Preventice makes remote heart-monitoring devices and was founded to build out technology developed at the Mayo Clinic. In 2014, it combined with Houston-based eCardio Diagnostics.
- Minneapolis-based health insurance startup Bind Benefits Inc. raised $105 million in October to expand its fully insured offering to over 30 states by the end of 2021. Bind previously raised a $70 million round of venture capital in 2018.
- Bloomington-based Relievant Medsystems raised $70 million in November to commercialize its Intracept Procedure, a treatment for lower back pain. Relievant has now raised over $223 million, according to Crunchbase.
- Maple Grove-based Conventus Orthopaedics Inc. raised $66.4 million in May at least in part to acquire Flower Orthopedics, a Horsham, Pa.-based company that makes pre-packaged foot and ankle implants and surgical tools. Conventus received $24.5 million from New York-based health care investment firm Deerfield Management Co. specifically for the purchase, while it received $41.9 million from a group of investors, according to an Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
- Brooklyn Park-based CVRx Inc. raised $50 million in July to support the commercialization of its heart implant, the Barostim Neo, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2019. CVRx has raised almost $400 million bringing the device to market.
- St. Paul-based education-tech firm Trinity 3 Holdings raised $48.5 million in October according to a filing with the SEC. Trinity 3 hasn't publicized the round, which had eight investors, though the firm did combine with Arden Hills-based Firefly Computers around the same time. Trinity 3 was purchased by Rotunda Capital Partners in November 2019.
- Plymouth- and Ann Arbor, Mich.-based HistoSonics raised $40.7 million in May to continue developing its technology, which uses sonic waves to destroy cancerous tumors through a process known as histotripsy. HistoSonics is now valued at $200 million, according to Pitchbook.
- St. Paul-based Aria CV raised $31 million in February to bring an implantable device that treats high blood pressure in the lungs to market.
