š It's Out! 22 Boston Companies That Raised Over $200M
A light summary of last week's macro events follows a roundup of the 22 startup fundings, including an AI-powered brain tumor detection and measurement device and satellites for weather intelligence.
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If youāre new here, Iām Abigail! Iām a mechanical-engineer-turned-investor at Hyperplane, a venture capital firm in Boston investing in seed-stage machine learning companies. Every two weeks, this newsletter serves to list Bostonās latest financings and highlight ecosystem players and happenings. Be sure to open this email in your browser to get the full issue.
If you were forwarded this email, join the community of thousands of Bostonās best tech and finance folks reading alongside you!
And so, with that, letās get into it.
Welcome back!
š I was in Nashville this weekend with the fam celebrating my cousinās birthday š¤š¼š¤ šš“, and so for those who know about my obsession with live music, hopefully we can excuse the lack of Local Features in this weekās issue. It was a Monday afternoon full of cough drops and tea, because yes, my voice took the brunt of the weekend festivities. But weāll make up for it in the headlines section. š
š The Juneteenth holiday brought about a few well-attended Boston events over the weekend, including a three-day Embrace Ideas Festival, followed by parades yesterday through Cambridge and Roxbury. Another great Boston happening of last week was Mass General Brigham Innovation's World Medical Innovation Forum, and this one I was fortunate enough to attend (thanks, @ Bailey of BLOCH Quantum!!!). I wrote up a summary of some interesting takeaways on LinkedIn (yep, totally plugging myself here).
šø This week, we have over $200M in fundings across 20 privately held companies, plus 2 companies weāre not totally sure what the story is yet, but alas, what I know, you will also know, so I wrote a brief sentence or two about them. This weekās fundings include a few blockchain deals (welcome back?), an AI-powered brain tumor detection and measurement device, a company automating certain aspects of the IVF process, and a Harvard i-Lab-original sending up satellites for weather intelligence, among others.
And so, with that, letās get into it.
Boston Financings: 6/7 - 6/19
Financings are listed from smallest to largest. Biotech financings over $80M+ are usually not covered.
The total amount of disclosed funding over the last two weeks hit $201M.
GenH | $20K grant | Climate Tech
Rapidly deployable modular hydropower system, GenH, was among 20 teams to have received $20K for the MilkenāMotsepe Prize in Green Energy, a competition awarding $2M to entrepreneurs who expand access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity in Africa. Businesswire has more.
EdgeIQ | $150K debt | DeviceOps
Device operations platform for connected (IoT) product development, EdgeIQ, has raised $150K in the form of convertible notes from 3 investors towards a total offering amount of $3M. EdgeIQās API platform optimizes device operations, data management, cloud integration and workflow orchestration managing the lifecycle of connected (IoT) devices. EdgeIQ last raised a $8.5M Series A round from First Analysis, Mathers Associates, and Koa Labs.
Headlamp | $275K | HR Tech
An accelerator offering professional transition opportunities to veterans, Headlamp, has raised $275K from 2 investors towards a total offering filed for $1M. Founded by veteran Steve Chang, Headlamp matches veterans with a Career Liaison Officer to find SkillBridge opportunities with employers and government agencies, upskilling high-potential veteran talent.Ā
Waev Data | $375K | Blockchain
Decentralized data exchange, Waev Data, has raised $375K from 15 investors towards a total offering amount filed for $12M. Founded by Phil McMannis, Waevās offerings include tokenized data sharing and permanent records of consent. The company reportedly raised $250K from FTX Ventures in 2022.Ā
Vysioneer | $750K | Healthcare
Developer of VBrain, an FDA cleared AI-powered brain tumor auto contouring solution, Vysioneer, has raised $750K from 1 investor. Founded by Princeton University PhD, Jen-Tang Lu, Vysioneer reproducibly detects and measures brain metastases in brain scans, helping pharma companies identify tumor characteristics to accelerate clinical trials. The company recently announced a data sharing agreement with Pfizer to augment clinical oncology trials.
Impairment Science | $1.4M | Digital Health
Impairment Science, developer of Druid, a mobile app that tests sobriety or impairment from drugs, alcohol, fatigue, or chronic conditions has raised $1.4M from 17 investors towards a total offering amount of $1.5M. Founded by UMass professor, Michael Milburn, and led by CEO Robert Schiller, Druid has received media attention for its ability to test marijuana impairment of drivers.
Dew Drops | $1.5M | Web3
Consumer art platform for digital collectibles (NFTs), Dew Drops, has raised a $1.5M pre-seed round led by venture incubator Dream Ventures with participation from VaynerFund and Slow Ventures, among others. Dew Drops offers daily curated digital art via SMS and is unveiling Bryan Brinkman, animator and digital pop artist, as the first artist to launch an art collection through the text-to-collect platform. More on the fundraise here.
iQ3Connect | $1.5M various securities | Dev Infrastructure
Development platform for VR/AR training, iQ3Connect, has raised $1.5M in a combination of equity and options from 26 investors. Developed based on research at MIT, the platform aims to make immersive 3D development fast and collaborative on the web. iQ3Connect was a winner of the MassChallenge 2021 Platinum Award, and a winner of the LG Nova Mission for the Future Challenge 2022. Their most recent product release was announced on May 3rd.
Revere Pharmaceuticals | $1.6M various securities | Healthcare
Precision oncology therapeutics developer, Revere Pharmaceuticals, has raised $1.6M from 22 investors in the form of equity and other securities. Revereās cancer treatments target Rac1 GTPase, a target in the progression of different cancers. The company acquired Geneyus LLC in 2021 to āconsolidate key assets, intellectual property, and expertise in Rac1 cancer biologyā.Ā
Botanix Labs | $2.1M | Blockchain
A company described as, āa fully Ethereum equivalent second layer blockchain built on top of Bitcoinā, Botanix Labs, has raised $2.1M from 16 investors. For those who speak crypto-speak, Botanix is (*deep breath*) āa decentralized Turing-complete Layer 2 solution, called the Spiderchain, engineered to run an equivalent EVM on the native currency of synthetic BTC.ā The company was founded by William Schroe, an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School.
AutoIVF | $2.6M debt | Healthcare
A spin-out from Mass General Brigham developing high-throughput microfluidic technologies targeted at aspects of the IVF procedure, AutoIVF, has raised $2.6M in convertible debt from 15 investors. Co-founded by a Founding Director of Massachusetts General Hospitalās IVF Department, Thomas L. Toth, and serial biotech entrepreneur, Ravi Kapur, AutoIVF aims to automate central IVF procedures to drive reliability and accessibility.
Tour24 | $3M debt | PropTech
Tour24, a self-guided tour platform for multifamily owners, operators, and major proptech partners, has raised $3M of debt financing from 18 investors. Tour24ās platform allows property managers to manage tours and includes features that capture the workflow of scheduling, alerts, security, unlocking, smart tours, and the application process. The company last raised $5.5M towards their Series A round from Middleburg Communities, LAB Ventures, and 29th Street Ventures.
SightStream Biotherapeutics | $3.1M | Healthcare
Acquired by Alpine Therapeutics in 2022 for technology that prevents and reverses the death of cells in the ocular cell system, SightStream, has raised $3.1M from 21 investors on a SAFE note. According to Pitchbook, the company previously received funding from 7G Bioventures and ShangBay Capital in July 2021. SightStream is led by CEO, Jason Werner.
Embue | $3.8M debt | Climate Tech
Energy efficiency monitoring and optimization platform for increasing the efficiency of multifamily homes, Embue, has raised $3.8M in the form of a loan from MassDevelopmentās Emerging Technology Fund. Embueās platform offers whole building intelligence and control for multifamily housing developments, improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions by 25% or more.
STAT Health | $5.1M equity+grant | Healthcare
STAT Health, an in-ear wearable that measures blood flow to your head to measure and monitor symptoms such as dizziness, brain fog, headaches, fainting, and fatigue that occur upon standing, has raised a $5.1M Seed round from from J2 Ventures and BonAngels VP, in addition to a grant from the US Air Force. Founded by former Bose engineers and clinically tested at Johns Hopkins, STATās device has been shown to predict fainting minutes before it happens. The company is now taking pre-order reservation deposits. More in their press release here.Ā
MatrixSpace | $10M | Sensing
Radar-based collaborative sensing solution for the outdoors, MatrixSpace, raised a $10M Series A round led by Raptor Group with participation from Intel Capital and others. MatrixSpace is building the smallest radar system integrating feeds from multiple sensor technologies ā cameras, lidar, infrared, GPS and drones ā for integrated outdoor surveillance in 4D, capturing size, location, and movement of objects in time.
JuliaHub | $12.9M | Dev Infrastructure
MIT-founded open-source language platform, JuliaHub, has closed $12.9M from 17 investors towards a total offering filed for $19.4M. AstraZeneca, BlackRock, Microsoft, NASA, and the FAA are among over 10K companies using their Julia coding language. The JuliaHub platform facilitates the deployment of Julia programs for a variety of engineering and computational disciplines. JuliaHub last raised a $24M Series A in July of 2021 from Dorilton Ventures, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, and HighSage Ventures.
Laudio | $13M | Healthcare IT
Operations platform for healthcare managers, Laudio, raised a $13M Series B round led by Define Ventures with participation from .406 Ventures, InHealth Ventures, among others. The āwhy nowā answer for their solution is in the platformās ability to drive labor productivity amidst the burnout crisis amongst frontline workers. According to a press release, Laudio has experienced 100 percent YoY growth, fueling an opportunity for a strong fundraise.
Lyndra Therapeutics | $20.4M | Healthcare
Developer of long-acting and sustained-release medication, Lyndra Therapeutics, has raised $20.4M towards a total filing amount of $179M. Lyndraās platform enables daily medication to be administered once weekly or even once monthly. Their IP portfolio comprises more than 50 granted patents and 100 pending patent applications, including those licensed from MIT and Brigham & Womenās. The company last raised a $60.5M Series C round led by PineBridge Investments and American International Group in 2021.Ā
CloudZero | $32M |Ā Cloud Ops
A platform for managing cloud cost and usage, CloudZero, has raised a $32M Series B round from Innovius Capital, Threshold Ventures, Matrix, Underscore VC, and G20 Ventures. CloudZero provides a platform for managing cloud spend, optimizing cloud costs and preventing accidental overspend. The company last raised an $8M Series A in 2020 from Matrix and Underscore VC.
Tomorrow.io | $87M | Climate Tech
Weather intelligence and climate adaption platform, Tomorrow.io (formly ClimaCell), has raised an $87M Series E round from Activate Capital, RTX Ventures, Seraphim, and Chemonics. Tomorrow.io recently launched of the worldās first commercially built satellites carrying a Ka-band weather radar, and the industryās first weather and climate generative AI, nicknamed āGale.ā According to the announcement, the funding will be used to accelerate the completion of its full constellation.
The Elusive Onesā¦
Breach Insurance | $ Undisclosed | InsurTech
Global insurance underwriter for the crypto economy, Breach Insurance, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by RW3 and LightShed Ventures. The company last raised a $2.5M Seed round co-led by Global Founders Capital and Ted Rogers. Newswire has more.
Bestpass | $ Undisclosed |Ā Mobility
Toll management and payment platform for fleets and trucking owner-operators, Bestpass, has received a multi-million dollar minority investment of an undisclosed amount from Insight Partners.Ā
All for now!
Your Macro Briefing + Headlines š
Covering the upcoming numbers to watch for (š)Ā , the relevant numbers of last week (š), and the tech headlines of the last two weeks (š).
š Economy watch this week:
Too much to cover from last week- check out the number release calendar here.
š Economy watch last two weeks:
In keeping up with the updates on how the government is thinking about and acting on inflation, the FOMC meeting along with the Consumer Price Index release (a measure of the change in prices of goods and services, a strong instrument to measure inflation) were two major indications last week of how weāre doing.
Key takeaways from CPI? Letās debrief:
Not a whole lot of surprises to sway the Fedās next economic evaluation. Gas prices declined 5.6%, food was up 0.2%, 4.4% increase in used car prices, and the two rental measures were up 0.5%. All-in-all, the release was overall an indication that inflation is cooling.
The housing market continues to freak everyone out for a couple of reasons, all of which stem from sky-high mortgage rates relative to years prior. People arenāt moving, which makes sense for those who locked in lower rates last year. This ultimately results in a lower overall supply of homes to buy.
Extrapolate what you will about this signaling for coming monthsā¦ but remember that real estate is generally a lagging indicator (it takes a few months for housing to reflect what the economy is saying today).
š®āšØ Donāt hold your breath: The Fed kept interest rates unchanged in June after 10 consecutive increases- holding the benchmark rate at 5- 5.25%. But donāt get too excited- by their forecast, rates will still need to rise to 5.6% by the end of the year, implying two more hikes.
šŖāThis improvement is fragileā: The OECDās Economic Outlook (itās actually a pretty interesting read with some good data visualizations) was released, and this yearās growth is expected to be the slowest - at 2.7% - since the global financial crisis.
š Global economies:
šŖšŗ The European Central Bank hiked interest rates to their highest in more than two decades- 3.5%.
šØš¦ The Bank of Canada similarly surprised markets with a 25bps rate hike, bringing rates to 4.75%, the highest theyāve been since 2001.
š¼ Employment: The week of June 5th, we saw unemployment benefit applications rise to the highest levels since October 2021.
š° Under pressure: In Q1, costs from increased interest rates at US companies rose by 22% in compared to a year earlier, according to a recent survey of ~1,700 businesses by Calcbench Inc.
š AI Headlines (because at this point, we need a separate section):
š Global regulation corner: šŖšŗ The European Union has started making moves, drafting the AI Act, legislation that includes a ban on using AI in biometric surveillance, requirements for disclosure of AI-generated content, and various assessments for āhigh-riskā applications.
šŗšø The SEC will consider regulation around how wealth management firms are using AI with their customers.
š¬š§ OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic have committed to providing āearly or priority accessā to their A.I. models to the U.K. government. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said he wants the U.K. to be a global leader in A.I. safety regulation and will host a summit on the topic this fall.
š° Consulting goes all in: Accenture is the latest consulting firm to announce it will be investing heavily ($3B to be exact) in AI over the next three years. PwC and EY have committed $1B and $2.5B, respectively.
McKinseyās new report on AI is chock-full of interesting (apocalyptic?) claims. The report claims ācurrent technologies have the potential to absorb 60-70% of employeesā time todayā and that āthe AI boom could potentially add up to $4.4T to the global economy annuallyā.
š Edtech enters the race: Khan Academy released an experimental A.I.-assisted tutoring bot for schools called Khanmigo. The company is currently piloting the project with school districts.
š Automotive leans in too: Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft announced a partnership to roll out an optional beta program featuring in-car ChatGPT.
š The winners are in the infrastructure: Oracle is having its best year since 1999. The company reported revenue and profits that beat expectations on Monday, as the A.I. hype wave has driven sales of cloud computing services.
š Headlines:
š£ The stuff youāve already heard about: Iām skipping features of these widely covered stories, but click links to go deeper: PGA Tour and LIV Golf merge (although not without antitrust skepticism), Donald Trump pleads not guilty to a 37 count indictment over his handling of classified documents, Sequoia Capital announced separation by Q1 2024 of its U.S. and its China- and India-based venture practices, and Lionel Messi signed with US club Inter Miami in a deal expected to include profit-sharing terms with Apple and Adidas.
šŗ Media turmoil. CNN CEO, Chris Licht, has announced he will step down after The Atlanticās brutal exposĆ© of his handling of the media network. Two VPs, Amy Entelis and Virginia Moseley, will take over in the interim.
š®āāļø National securityās problem child: Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the six counts he is charged with.
šŗš¦ Ukraine update: Russia launched massive air attacks at the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday, just as Ukraine's military said there is also heavy fighting happening along southern fronts. Meanwhile, Putin has claimed the firstĀ tactical nuclear weapons will be stored in Belarus. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration is closely monitoring the situation.
Also in the news, Ukraine is reportedly cracking down on potential sources of corruption to qualm concerns of siphoning international donations from Western countries.
ā³ļø An underdog win: Wyndham Clark, a golfer who had never finished better than a tie for 75th in a major championship, beat the worldās number one golfers on Sunday to win the US Open.
š Will they do it?: The Financial Times reported on SEC filings showing that after eight months, Tiger Global has raisedĀ $2.7B in a first close for a fund targeting $6B.
š„¶ Shaking up an icy IPO market? Mediterranean restaurant chain, CAVA, announced an IPO: a $318M raise at $22 per share. On Thursday, shares ended the day at $43.78- a market value of $4.9 billionāwell above the initial valuation of $2.45 billion.
š„ Donāt act like you werenāt affected: Netflix cracking down on password sharing had investors feeling good- their stock was up 13% after it saw more new subscriptions between May 25 and May 28 than in any other four-day period since 2019.
š©āš¦³ Female executives who are on to their next chapters:
Former CEO and founder of the RealReal, Julie Wainwright, has started a new personalized nutrition startup, Ahara.
Former founder of Glowbar, Neha Govindraj, has launched Bonside, a financing platform to support brick-and-mortar businesses, with $4.35M of her own capital.
Former Yahoo! CEO, Marissa Mayer, has transitioned to both a full-time and first-time founder, building Sunshine, an A.I.-powered contacts tool.
š¤ Binance update: Binance said on June 8th that its banking partners have decided to pause āUSD fiat channelsā after the SEC sued its parent company earlier this week, alleging it broke U.S. securities laws.Ā
Separately, crypto trading volumes on Robinhood were down 43% MoM and 68% YoY in May.
šø Paying up: JPM has settled the Jeffrey Epstein victim lawsuit for $290M over the ignored internal warnings and red flags about the disgraced client.
š Women to watch: Of Fortuneās list of 11 executives who could be the next CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, 5 were women. Sarah Bond, corporate VP of Xbox at Microsoft, Kathryn McLay, CEO of Samās Club (she boosted revenue by 42% to $84 billion in the latest fiscal year), and Que Thanh Dallara, EVP and president of the diabetes segment at Medtronic are three of them to watch for.Ā
šŖšŗ Google vs. EU: The European Union is accusing Google of violating antitrust laws. The EU is alleging Google has leveraged its position for an unfair advantage while charging competitors high prices.
š Automotive is on the move: Headlines from auto companies include Toyota announcing plans for a new line of EVās using a next-gen battery, claiming a range of 1,000 kilometers. Also, GM announced plans to invest $632M into new pick-up trucks out of a plant in Indiana, and separately announced plans to partner with Tesla to use their charging network alongside Ford, starting next year.
Tesla will rake in an additional $3B in revenue by 2030 as a result of the last mentioned partnership with GM and Ford, allowing their vehicles to use Teslaās EV charging networks.
Select Events
š§āš¼ Tech and Biz
Tuesday, June 20th 5:30PM: Boston DAO Meetup hosted by 186 Ventures.
Tuesday, June 20th 5:30PM: InnoCrewās Monthly Founder Dinner - Request an invite.
Wednesday, June 21st 5PM: Startup Boston is hosting a panel on types of capital raises and financing types for different startups.
Thursday, June 22nd 5:30PM: Greentown Labs hosts Scaling Clean Tech: Operators and Investors.
Wednesday, June 28th 2PM (virtual): Scroobious hosts AMA: Raising Your Round Using Cold Outreach with Julie Griggs.
Wednesday, June 28th 5:30PM: AI Meetup hosted by Founder Collective and 186 Ventures.
š¤ Other
June 24th-25th 11AM-6PM: Boston Pizza Festival hosted at City Hall Plaza!
Wednesday, June 28th 7PM: Museum of Science hosts Portraits of Pride.
Relevant Reads (Just a few!)
How companies should think about pricing AI features.
The people who could actually stop AI, according to Signalās Meredith Whittaker.
McKinseyās report on AI and resulting predictions for quantified global impact.
More of a non-Boston recent funding than a relevant read- but one that I was able to nerd out on thanks to a much enjoyable flag from Matt Hawkins of Pryzm.io (thanks, Matt!!!)- a new company leveraging magnetic levitation (maglev) propulsion recently emerged from stealth mode.