VC Deals Only: Sqreen Closes $14M Series A Funding Round

VC Deals Only: Sqreen Closes $14M Series A Funding Round: Sqreen , a San Francisco, CA-based Application Security Management (ASM) company, closed a $14m Series A funding. The round was led by Gre...

Sqreen Closes $14M Series A Funding Round

Sqreen, a San Francisco, CA-based Application Security Management (ASM) company, closed a $14m Series A funding.

The round was led by Greylock Partners with participation from Y Combinator and previous investors Alven Capital and Point Nine. In conjunction with the funding, Greylock partner Sarah Guo joined the board. To date, Sqreen has raised more than $18 million in total funding.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations.

Led by Pierre Betouin, CEO, Sqreen provides an ASM platform giving companies visibility and protection in production for web applications and cloud workloads. It is currently used to protect more than 500 companies around the world today.

Sqreen goes beyond the HTTP layer and uses dynamic instrumentation logic to detect malicious activities within the application. It provides visibility into web application security and risk, down to the code level. The platform features dynamic protection modules – ranging from runtime application self-protection (RASP), to in-app web application firewall (WAF), and account take-over (ATO) protection.

With no software code modifications, the solution can be up and running and protect any web application in under five minutes. Its hybrid SaaS architecture allows instant and safe deployment through smart microagents, without having to redirect traffic or install complex on-premises software.

Source. FinSMEs, April 2, 2020

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VC Deals Only: Inari Raises $45M in Debt Financing USA

VC Deals Only: Inari Raises $45M in Debt Financing USA: Inari , a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company developing next-generation seeds, entered into a $45m loan and security agreement wit...

Inari Raises $45M in Debt Financing USA

Inari, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company developing next-generation seeds, entered into a $45m loan and security agreement with K2 HealthVentures (K2HV), a life sciences-focused investment firm.

The funds complement Inari’s recent $89m equity raise.

The company intends to use the capital to accelerate the development and commercialization of gene-edited crops.

Led by Ponsi Trivisvavet, chief executive officer, Inari uses genetic technologies and data science to develop next-generation seeds that reduce the natural resources required to grow food.

The company was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2016 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., with additional sites in West Lafayette, Ind., and Ghent, Belgium.

Source. FinSMEs, April 23, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

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VC Deals Only: Equispheres Raises $30M in Series B Funding

VC Deals Only: Equispheres Raises $30M in Series B Funding: Equispheres , an Ottawa, Ontario, Caanda-based material science company, raised $30m in Series B funding. The round was led by HG Ventur...

Equispheres Raises $30M in Series B Funding

Equispheres, an Ottawa, Ontario, Caanda-based material science company, raised $30m in Series B funding.

The round was led by HG Ventures, with participation from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), BDC, Canada’s bank for entrepreneurs, and other undisclosed contributors.

The round was comprised of:

– $10m in equity investment from HG Ventures,

– $8m dollar grant from SDTC,

– $5m subordinated financing from BDC,and

– $7m in undisclosed funding.

The company intends to use the funds to scale up production, and invest in R&D partnerships in automotive, aerospace & defense industries. Specifically, the areas the company will focus on are:

– Improve reactors for higher volume and lower cost production

– Accelerate research and development projects with strategic partners in the automotive, aviation, space and defense industries

– Hire and develop talent, creating high quality jobs

– Develop application support services for the automotive, aviation, space and defense industries to facilitate advanced manufacturing opportunities made possible with the materials Equispheres has developed.

Led by Kevin Nicholds, President and CEO, Equispheres is a materials science technology company focused on additive manufacturing applications. Equispheres focuses on engineering and providing ultra-high-performance, mono-sized metal powders and invests heavily in R&D around metallurgy and alloy development.

Source. FinSMEs. April 22, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

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VC Deals Only: Biobot Analytics Raises $6.7M in Seed Funding

VC Deals Only: Biobot Analytics Raises $6.7M in Seed Funding: Biobot Analytics , a Somerville, Mass.-based a wastewater epidemiology company, raised $4.2m in seed funding bringing its total amount of th...

Biobot Analytics Raises $6.7M in Seed Funding

Biobot Analytics, a Somerville, Mass.-based a wastewater epidemiology company, raised $4.2m in seed funding bringing its total amount of the round to $6.7m.

The round was led by The Engine, with participation from AmFam Institute Impact Fund and previous investors Y Combinator and DCVC.

The company intends to use the capital for growth of operations to address pandemic challenges, additional market expansion and product development.

Biobot is a technology company that deploys wastewater monitoring equipment and analytical tools to provide novel public health insights at the community level.

Co-founded at MIT by Mariana Matus, PhD, and Newsha Ghaeli, who combined their computational biology, wastewater epidemiology and urban planning backgrounds to develop the technology, the company uses anonymous data collected from sewage to trace health indicators that provide insights into drug use, the presence of viruses, environmental contaminants and nutrition.

The company conducted its first commercial implementation of the technology with an opioid analytics program in Cary, NC. The analysis gave local officials accurate information on the use of opioids, so they could better lead productive interventions, reducing overdoses by 40% and lowering their associated cost to the healthcare system.

Today, seven cities in Massachusetts are conducting initial studies with the Biobot opioid product. In March, in collaboration with researchers at MIT, Harvard and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Biobot launched a campaign to solicit wastewater from facilities across the U.S. Its research protocol and findings from an initial review of samples from a large urban facility in MA were detailed in the academic paper which can be found on MedRxiv called “SARS-COV-2 titers in wastewater are higher than expected from clinically confirmed cases.” Findings indicate that COVID-19 prevalence is orders of magnitude higher than confirmed cases suggest.

Source. FinSMEs, April 21, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

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VC Deals Only: Slite Raises $11M in Series A Funding

VC Deals Only: Slite Raises $11M in Series A Funding: Slite , a Paris, France-based startup that provides a workspace collaboration platform, raised $11m in Series A funding. The round was le...

Slite Raises $11M in Series A Funding

Slite, a Paris, France-based startup that provides a workspace collaboration platform, raised $11m in Series A funding.

The round was led by Spark capital, with participation from existing investors (which include Index Ventures, Y Combinator and eFounders, as well as individuals).

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations, and increase its development efforts and business reach.

Founded in 2016 by Christophe Pasquier, CEO, and Pierre Renaudin, CTO, Slite provides a collaborative documentation tool that allows businesses to write and centralize docs and organized. The company says the tool is used by teams at approx. 4,000 companies worldwide, including Airbnb, Spotify and WeTransfer, among others.

A graduate in Winter 2018 Y Combinator batch, the company has a team of 18.

Source. FinSMEs, April 19, 2020

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VC Deals Only: SafeBreach Secures $19M in Series C Funding

VC Deals Only: SafeBreach Secures $19M in Series C Funding: SafeBreach , a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of a breach-and-attack simulation (BAS) platform to validate security controls, visualize se...

SafeBreach Secures $19M in Series C Funding

SafeBreach, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of a breach-and-attack simulation (BAS) platform to validate security controls, visualize security risk and prioritize remediations, secured $19m in Series-C funding.

The round, which brought the total amount of capital raised to date to over $50M, was led by OCV Partners with participation from previous investors Sequoia Capital, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, DNX Ventures, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, and PayPal. In conjunction with the funding, Hemi Zucker, Managing Principal at OCV Partners, will be joining the SafeBreach board of directors.

The company will use the funding to accelerate product development and sales channel and partnership growth on a global scale, and add a suite of new services.

Led by Guy Bejerano, co-founder and CEO, SafeBreach provides a breach-and-attack simulation (BAS) platform to validate security controls, visualize security risk and prioritize remediations. The company’s patented platform provides a near real-time “hacker’s view” of an enterprise’s security posture to proactively predict attacks, validate security controls and improve security operations center (SOC) analyst response capabilities. SafeBreach automatically and safely executes thousands of breach methods validating network, endpoint, cloud and email security controls by leveraging its Hacker’s Playbook™ of research and real-world investigative data.

Customers include dozens of multi-billion dollar entities in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, retail and other industries. In addition, SafeBreach has added key industry experts and practitioners to its Advisory Board including Christine Herman, VP and Head of Operational Assurance at Morgan Stanley, Yaron Levi, CISO of Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas City, and Dr. Sunil Lingayat, Chief of Cybersecurity Strategy and Technology at T-Mobile.

Source. FinSMEs, April 16, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

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VC Deals Only: Choco Raises $30.2M in Funding GERMANY

VC Deals Only: Choco Raises $30.2M in Funding GERMANY: Choco , a Berlin, Germany-based company focused on simplifying how restaurants order from suppliers, raised $30.2m in funding. The round...

Choco Raises $30.2M in Funding

Choco, a Berlin, Germany-based company focused on simplifying how restaurants order from suppliers, raised $30.2m in funding.

The round was led by Coatue Management with participation from previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Atlantic Labs, Target Global and Greyhound. In conjunction with the funding, Coatue Chairman Dan Rose, a 20-year industry veteran and former senior leader at Facebook, will join Choco’s board of directors, along with Coatue Partner Bennett Siegel.

The company, which has raised a total of $71.5m since 2018, intends to use the funds to expand into new markets and scale its team to 200 employees by the end of the year.

Founded by serial tech entrepreneurs Daniel Khachab, Julian Hammer and Rogerio da Silva Yokomizo, Choco is launching a direct-to-consumer program to link increased consumer demand for groceries delivered to homes, with the excess supply of restaurant-quality, locally-sourced produce from wholesale food suppliers. The company will provide next-day delivery to buyers, with increased sustainability measures as products are sold fresh, locally and with less packaging.

Choco is rolling out this program in all 17 of its global markets (in eight countries that include Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Brazil and the United States), with dedicated direct-to-consumer e-commerce websites set up for suppliers and consumers in each market. The company combines mobile e-commerce tools with a chat app platform to enable restaurant managers and food suppliers to digitally migrate their supply chain operations.

Additionally, as part of this initiative Choco will donate 100% of profits, until restaurants reopen, to regional funds to help local restaurants stay afloat.

Source, FinSMEs, April 17, 2020

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Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audience. 

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VC Deals Only: RDMD Secures $14M in Series A Financing USA

VC Deals Only: RDMD Secures $14M in Series A Financing USA: RDMD , a San Francisco, CA-based healthcare technology company focused on accelerating drug research for patients with rare diseases, raised...

RDMD Secures $14M in Series A Financing USA

RDMD, a San Francisco, CA-based healthcare technology company focused on accelerating drug research for patients with rare diseases, raised $14m in Series A financing.

The round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from existing seed investors Lux Capital, Village Global and Garuda Ventures, and new investor Maveron Capital. In conjunction with the financing, Nabeel Hyatt, general partner at Spark Capital, joined the company’s board of directors.

The company intends to use the funds to: 

Expand into 20 additional rare diseases 

Launch corresponding research studies for each of the new conditions, which will help researchers better understand the natural progression of each disease and design better trials as a result 

Offer new and improved research experience and research insights to participants in each rare disease community 

Expand collaborative partnerships with patient organizations and academic consortiums ready to build a regulatory-grade evidence platform in their conditions 

Grow its commercial partnerships with new and existing biopharmaceutical customers 

Further expand its international platform capabilities

Expand its team, including key senior leadership hires

Ensure continuity of research programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond 

Led by Nancy Yu, co-founder and chief executive officer, RDMD has developed an FDA-ready technology platform that generates deep clinical evidence to accelerate rare disease research and drug development, as well as a patient application that empowers patients and families to participate in research from home.

The company also announced a partnership with UCB for up to five years to enable research in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease. UCB will leverage RDMD’s platform of real world evidence to advance UCB’s drug discovery and development efforts in PSP.

In addition, RDMD is now partnering with patient advocacy organizations and physician consortiums across its 12 conditions, including the Children’s Tumor Foundation, Cure GM1 Foundation, Cure IBM, Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, International Foundation for CDKL5 Research, Myositis Support and Understanding Association, National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association, NF2 Biosolutions and the PSP & CBD Foundation.

Since the launch, the company’s patient application has grown to more than 1,000 users in 12 conditions, including neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), Myasthenia gravis (MG), GM1 gangliosidosis (GM1), inclusion body myositis (IBM), Sanfilippo syndrome (MPS III), thymidine kinase type 2 deficiency (TK2d), Hunter syndrome (MPS II), Wilson disease and CDKL5 deficiency.

Source, FinSMEs, April 16, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audience. 

Serving Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa and Halifax.

VC Deals Only: ByHeart Raises $70M in Series A Financing

VC Deals Only: ByHeart Raises $70M in Series A Financing: ByHeart , a NYC-based company providing infant & baby nutrition products, closed a $70m Series A funding round. The round was led by...

ByHeart Raises $70M in Series A Financing

ByHeart, a NYC-based company providing infant & baby nutrition products, closed a $70m Series A funding round.

The round was led by Polaris Partners, D1 Capital Partners, and OCV Partners, with participation from Red Sea Ventures, Sean Parker, and existing investors Bellco Capital and affiliates of Two River.

In conjunction with the funding, Amy Schulman, Managing Partner at Polaris Partners, and Hemi Zucker, Managing Principal of OCV, joined ByHeart’s Board of Directors. Mike Tully joined the board as an observer on behalf of D1 Capital Partners. These new Board members joined biotechnology entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Bellco Capital, Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, as well as Josh Bradley, Chief Investment Officer of Bellco Capital, Joshua Kazam, Co-Founder and Partner of Two River Group, and Guy Oranim, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Media.

The company is using the funds to continue to expand its development efforts.

Co-founded in 2016 by Mia Funt and Ron Belldegrun in 2016, ByHeart is developing baby foods and formulas based on nutrition science, and production transparency to sit at the forefront of immune, cognitive, digestive and microbiome health. Founded in 2016, and based in New York City with facilities in Pennsylvania, the company is conducting a multi-site, infant-growth monitoring clinical study in accordance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s requirements, to support first product launch in 2021.

Source, FinSMEs, April 15, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audience. 

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VC Deals Only: SafetyCulture Raises US$35.5M in Series C-1 Fundin...

VC Deals Only: SafetyCulture Raises US$35.5M in Series C-1 Fundin...: SafetyCulture , a Sydney, Australia-based provider of an enterprise software company that manages security and compliance checks at companie...

SafetyCulture Raises US$35.5M in Series C-1 Funding

SafetyCulture, a Sydney, Australia-based provider of an enterprise software company that manages security and compliance checks at companies around the world, secured $AU60.5m ($US35.5m) in Series C-1 funding.

The round, which brought the total amount of investment raised to more than $AU150m since 2014 and valued SafetyCulture at $AU1.3 billion, was led by TDM Growth Partners, with participation from Blackbird Ventures, Skip Capital, Index Ventures and former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy.

The company intends to use the funds to reward early employees, hire people and accelerate product development.

Led by CEO Luke Anear, SafetyCulture provides iAuditor, an app that simplifies the auditing process by making it easy for frontline workers to effectively manage safety and quality from a mobile device, report issues quickly to prevent an incident due to inefficiency and limited visibility. More than 500,000 workers and 26,000 organisations in 85 countries use its core iAuditor app to complete more than 600 million checks per year. The company has teams in Sydney, Townsville, Kansas City, Manchester and Manila.

Source. FinSMEs, April 9, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audienc. 

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VC Deals Only: AcreTrader Secures $5M Seed Round To Advance Farml...

VC Deals Only: AcreTrader Secures $5M Seed Round To Advance Farml...: AcreTrader, which is trying to make it easier to invest in United States farmland, closed on a $5 million seed round of funding. Leading ...

AcreTrader Secures $5M Seed Round To Advance Farmland Investment Platform

AcreTrader, which is trying to make it easier to invest in United States farmland, closed on a $5 million seed round of funding.

Leading the round for the Fayetteville, Arkansas-based online farmland investing platform was RZC Investments. It also included Revel Partners, the company’s founder, and private investments from technology, finance and agricultural leaders.

The new investment bring’s AcreTrader’s total funding to more than $5 million since its 2018 inception, according to Crunchbase data.

Proceeds will go toward expanding investment offerings, improving investor education about farmland and continuing to scale operations to support surging demand on the platform, according to AcreTrader’s founder and CEO Carter Malloy.

“We want to expand our due diligence process, which is very important,” he said. “We look at 100 to 200 farms per week and talk to that many farmers, and we may find only one farm to put on our platform.”

The company has 20 employees, and Malloy said AcreTrader is actively hiring to help manage the platform’s user base that is increasing 20 percent to 30 percent each month.

Farmland investing typically has a high barrier to entry, largely in part because of the difficulty in identifying parcels of land, many of the deals require large capital in the millions and knowledge of farm management, Malloy said.

“It can be a difficult transaction, especially the due diligence,” he said. “What we do as a company is provide a truly passive transaction for the investor: we do the diligence on the farms, and help an investor make an investment in under five minutes.”

AcreTrader also then handles all aspects of farm management, reporting and administration. The investors are able to receive annual distributions from farmers renting the land and can also capture land value appreciation when the land is sold.

Farmland investment platforms are gaining traction. San Francisco-based FarmTogether raised a $1.8 million seed round in January 2019, and in March of this year was selected to join the EvoNexus fintech incubator.

Meanwhile, in February a report on farm investment by Motley Fool said the main reason investors are seeking out farmland is due to “a long history of producing solid returns.”

Investors make money on farmland in two ways: the first is annual rent from farmers, and the other is appreciation in asset price, Malloy said.

“Farmland has incredibly low vacancy and turnover,” he said. “Meanwhile, asset prices consistently grow over time due to supply and demand. In fact, we are losing three acres every minute. At the same time, our population is growing and there are more mouths to feed.”

Source. Crunchbase, Christine Hall, April 10, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audienc. 

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VC Deals Only: Brazilian digital freight broker Cargo X raises $8...

VC Deals Only: Brazilian digital freight broker Cargo X raises $8...: Brazilian digital freight marketplace Cargo X announced that it raised $80 million in Series E investment. This was Cargo X’s fifth inves...

Brazilian digital freight broker Cargo X raises $80 million

Brazilian digital freight marketplace Cargo X announced that it raised $80 million in Series E investment. This was Cargo X’s fifth investment round, which was led by LGT Lightstone Latin America, with participation from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Valor Capital and Farallon Capital among others. This funding round brings the total investment in Cargo X to $176 million.

Frequently called the “Uber of Brazilian trucking,” Cargo X is revolutionizing the Brazilian freight industry, which suffers from fragmentation and visibility issues like in the U.S., but on a larger scale. A substantial part of the Brazilian trucking processes is still dependent on paper-based documents and communication over fax, phone and email. 

Cargo X looks to sort this out, connecting carriers and shippers over a digital platform. The largest digital brokerage in Brazil, Cargo X employs 400 people and connects about 20,000 carriers and their 400,000 truckers with freight. It also offers financial services and a technology edge that keeps the company competitive in the market. 

“Cargo X is implementing an innovative business model and bringing disruptive technology to a segment that has not been digitized yet. With that, it makes the productivity of the road logistics sector in the country increase in a sustainable way, reducing idle capacity in the truck fleets, increasing the income of drivers and decreasing freight costs for shippers and transporters,” Federico Vega, the CEO of Cargo X, told FreightWaves.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has also necessitated enabling touchless operations within supply chains. Vega explained that Cargo X is positioned to offer digitalization and reduce physical interaction via process automation.

“In addition to helping our partner carriers when they need us the most, the new investment will be focused on continuing to develop cutting-edge technologies that allow them to operate 100% online and pave the future of road freight transportation,” said Vega. 

Cargo X has shown enviable 20% month-on-month growth in 2020, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Vega mentioned that customer feedback has also been positive, with the net promoter score (NPS) standing at 62% for carriers and 57% for shippers. 

The Brazilian freight startup ecosystem has challenges with raising venture capital to execute business – an issue that Cargo X seems to have solved with its Series E round. Vega called LGT Lightstone – the lead investor in the round – one of the most exclusive and select investors in the world, and that it was “strongly aligned” with Cargo X’s goals and values.

For LGT Lightstone, Cargo X was a relevant investment as it satisfied the objectives of the fund in the Latin American region – having high growth and impact with differentiated technological solutions. 

“We believe that this new partnership will help to accelerate Cargo X even more and consolidate the company’s leadership in the sector, particularly at such an important time for the country,” said Gustavo Verdelli, the managing director of LGT Lightstone, on the reasons for the investment.

Source. Techcrunch, Vishnu Rajamanickam, April 9, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

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Serving Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa and Halifax.

VC Deals Only: Monarch Biosciences Closes Over $1M Seed Financing...

VC Deals Only: Monarch Biosciences Closes Over $1M Seed Financing...: Monarch Biosciences, Inc. , a Los Angeles, CA-based advanced life sciences company, closed its seed round financing of more than $1m. T...

Monarch Biosciences Closes Over $1M Seed Financing

Monarch Biosciences, Inc., a Los Angeles, CA-based advanced life sciences company, closed its seed round financing of more than $1m.

The round was led by by Checkmate Capital Group. In conjunction with the funding, Checkmate Capital’s CEO, Tom Paschall, will join the MonarchBio Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds for the development of its biomaterial-based neurovascular stent and platform for local delivery of cell therapies.

Led by CEO Leon Ekchian, Ph.D., MonarchBio is an advanced life sciences company that is developing a pipeline of products based on its proprietary thin-film nitinol (TFN) biomaterial. Its lead product – the Titan Flow Diverter™ – offers rapid occlusion of cerebral aneurysms compared with current leading neurovascular products in the market. The second product in its pipeline, the Engineered Lymph Node™ (ELN), is a TFN-based device for local delivery of cell therapies treating solid tumors.

The seed funding, which supplemented several million dollars of NIH funding, has been pivotal for the development of MonarchBio’s Titan Flow Diverter. In preparation for first-in-human trials expected later this year, MonarchBio completed preclinical animal and human simulator testing conducted by a team headed by David Kallmes, M.D., Professor of Radiology, at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota.

MonarchBio has thirteen issued U.S. patents in addition to having exclusively licensed a portfolio of patents from UCLA and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center related to various applications of TFN technology.

Source, FinSMEs, April 8, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audienc. 

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VC Deals Only: WorkJam Secures $50M in Series C Funding

VC Deals Only: WorkJam Secures $50M in Series C Funding: WorkJam , a Montreal, Canada-based digital workplace solutions provider for organizations with frontline employees, closed a $50m USD Serie...

WorkJam Secures $50M in Series C Funding

WorkJam, a Montreal, Canada-based digital workplace solutions provider for organizations with frontline employees, closed a $50m USD Series C round funding.

The round was led by Inovia Capital, with participation from Fonds de Solidarité FTQ and Claridge and existing investors Lerer Hippeau, Blumberg Capital, Harmony Partners and WorkJam’s management team. In conjunction with the funding, Inovia Capital’s partners Dennis Kavelman will be joining WorkJam’s board of directors.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to innovate, expand geographically, seek acquisitions, and invest in its employees.

Led by Steven Kramer, CEO and President, WorkJam provides a digital workplace platform for large-enterprise and mid-market companies to communicate across their non-desk workforce, understand and execute tasks, provide them with training, offer schedule self-service and a multi-location open shift marketplace, recognize, and reward employees and more — all through any mobile or desktop device. It is available in over 28 languages and deployed in over 35 countries.

Source, FinSMEs, April 6, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering strategic communications & public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audienc. 

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VC Deals Only: Tailscale Raises $3M In Seed Funding

VC Deals Only: Tailscale Raises $3M In Seed Funding: Tailscale , a Toronto, Canada-based corporate VPN company, raised $3m in seed funding. The round was led by Heavybit with participation f...

Tailscale Raises $3M In Seed Funding

Tailscale, a Toronto, Canada-based corporate VPN company, raised $3m in seed funding.

The round was led by Heavybit with participation from Uncork Capital and others.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.

Established in 2019 is led by Says Avery Pennarun, CEO, David Crawshaw, CTO, and David Carney, COO, Tailscale is a new kind of corporate VPN launched to help remote teams securely access the services they need, without the long setup times of traditional VPNs. It is based on Google’s BeyondCorp architecture, and built using the WireGuard protocol. Tailscale reduces VPN setup by using a team’s existing identity provider such as GSuite and Office365, connects authorized devices in a peer-to-peer mesh, minimizing latency and improving reliability.

Source, FinSMEs, April 5, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the Canadian startup market; offering public relations services to Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a pre-seed to late stage funded Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audience.

Serving Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa and Halifax.

VC Deals Only: Aspen Neuroscience Raises $70M in Series A Financi...

VC Deals Only: Aspen Neuroscience Raises $70M in Series A Financi...: Aspen Neuroscience , a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology company developing the first autologous neuron replacement therapy to treat Parkins...

Aspen Neuroscience Raises $70M in Series A Financing

Aspen Neuroscience, a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology company developing the first autologous neuron replacement therapy to treat Parkinson disease, closed a $70m Series A funding round.

The round was led by OrbiMed with participation from ARCH Venture Partners, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Domain Associates, Section 32, and Sam Altman.

Led by Dr. Howard Federoff, Chief Executive Officer, Aspen Neuroscience is a development stage, private biotechnology company that uses innovative genomic approaches combined with stem cell biology to deliver patient-specific, restorative cell therapies that modify the course of Parkinson disease. Aspen’s therapies are based upon the scientific work of stem cell scientist, Dr. Jeanne Loring, who has developed a novel method for autologous neuron replacement.

The company’s lead product, ANPD001, is currently undergoing investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies for the treatment of sporadic forms of Parkinson disease.

The second product, ANPD002, combines gene correction and autologous neuron therapy for the treatment of genetic forms of Parkinson disease.

The funding will support the completion of all remaining IND-enabling studies and FDA submission of the IND relating to Aspen’s lead product (ANPD001), as well as the recruitment and screening of a trial-ready cohort of persons with Parkinson disease and the manufacture of their cells for the lead product. Additionally, the capital will allow the company to obtain meaningful data from the Phase 1 clinical study to show evidence of biological effect of the therapy and lay the foundation for the Phase 2 multi-center randomized controlled study.

The financing will also support the continued R&D pipeline which includes autologous gene-corrected dopamine neurons for heritable forms of Parkinson disease risk (ANPD002) and programs that extend beyond dopamine neurons and explore the treatment of diseases marked by neuroinflammation.

In addition to the funding, Aspen added several executives to the Board of Directors including the new Chairman, Faheem Hasnain, who is Founder and Chairman of Gossamer Bio.

Other additions include: 

Tom Daniel, Chairman of Locana and Venture Partner at ARCH Ventures, and Peter Thompson, Co-founder and Chairman of Silverback Therapeutics and Partner at OrbiMed. 

These members join existing Directors which include Federoff, David Barker, former CSO of Illumina, and Stephen Squinto, Co-founder of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Co-founder and former CEO of Passage Bio and Executive Partner at OrbiMed.

Source, FinSMEs, April 1, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the venture capital, private equity and startup markets; offering strategic communications, public relations & investor relation services to Canadian VCs, PEs, Angels, Endowments/Trusts, Family Offices, and Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a Canadian GP/LP/CI or a Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audience.

Serving Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa and Halifax.

VC Deals Only: Olive Raises $51M in Funding

VC Deals Only: Olive Raises $51M in Funding: Olive , a Columbus, Ohio-based company creating an AI workforce for healthcare, closed its $51m funding round. The round was led by Gener...

Olive Raises $51M in Funding

Olive, a Columbus, Ohio-based company creating an AI workforce for healthcare, closed its $51m funding round.

The round was led by General Catalyst with participation from existing investors include Drive Capital, Oak HC/FT, Ascension Ventures and others. In conjunction with the funding, Ron Paulus, former president and CEO of Mission Health, a $2 billion integrated health system, will join Olive’s Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its growth.

Led by Sean Lane, CEO, Olive provides an AI workforce that automates healthcare’s most repetitive, high-volume administrative processes, across departments such as Revenue Cycle, Information Technology, Supply Chain, Clinical Administration, Human Resources and more, to deliver improved efficiency, reduced costs, and increased employee capacity. In 2019, the company’s presence grew to over 500 U.S. hospitals across 41 states, including 25 of the nation’s largest health systems.

Source, FinSMEs, April 1, 2020

This post was brought to you by Woewoda Communications, your partner in the venture capital, private equity and startup markets; offering strategic communications, public relations & investor relation services to Canadian VCs, PEs, Angels, Endowments/Trusts, Family Offices, and Canadian startups involved in ICT, IoT, blockchain, life sciences, healthcare, agribusiness, clean energy, fintech, AI and robotics.

Are you a Canadian GP/LP/CI or a Canadian startup that needs to grow or scale? Give us a call! One of our representatives would love to explain how we vertically design, and then systematically layer each of our communication platforms to effectively reach niche target audiences for our clients. WC offers a unique synergistic approach to effectively communicate our client's message to their target audience.

Serving Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa and Halifax.

VC Deals Only: Espressive lands $30M Series B to build better hel...

VC Deals Only: Espressive lands $30M Series B to build better hel...: Espressive , a four-year-old startup from former ServiceNow employees, is working to build a better chatbot to reduce calls to company help ...