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Sprout Social closes $40.5 million deal
CHICAGO, IL – Spout Social raised $40.5 million in Series D venture funding on December 19 in a deal lead by The Future Fund. Round participants also included New Enterprise Associates and The Goldman Sachs Group. The company will use the funds to expand internationally and add more functionality to its platform. Sprout Social is…
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Reflection Sciences raises angel funding
Reflection Sciences, based in Saint Paul, MN, and founded in 2014 raised $775,000 in angel funding from undisclosed investors on December 3. The educational software provides an executive function skills training platform. Executive function is a term used to describe cognitive skill development associated with planning, organization, time management, and sustained attention. Issues with executive…
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Iowa Startups of 2018
Since the beginning of 2016, more than 150 Iowa companies have received a venture investment according to Pitchbook – totaling more than $100 million in venture activity in the state. Surprisingly, the Iowa City region has received more $1 million+ investments than any other community in Iowa, including Des Moines. And in that group from…
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Virtual experience company Geniecast brings the speaker to you
Looking to book a thought leader for your next event? Look no further. Imagine gathering a group of friends, flipping on your flat screen, and voilà – your favorite chef greets your guests for an interactive cooking class. Perhaps your company is looking to engage a notable author for a company retreat, or you are…
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Clever Real Estate raises $1.5M for nationwide expansion of tech platform
Clever Real Estate has successfully closed a bridge funding round of $1,000,000, bringing the St. Louis startup’s total financing up to $1.5 Million. The bridge round was led by Cultivation Capital through its Spirit of St. Louis Fund, seven months after Clever’s first $500,000 seed round in April 2018. “Almost all of Clever’s original investors…
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Columbus-based Ikove debuts $10M Startup Nursery Fund
Ikove Venture Partners, a Midwest venture development company that commercializes early-stage technologies, announced on Thursday its first venture development fund, the Startup Nursery (SUN) Fund. The $10 million vehicle will be used to launch 10 to 15 early-stage technology companies through its proprietary Startup Nursery. Ikove’s venture development model identifies and cultivates cutting-edge technologies at leading research institutions,…
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St. Louis based SwipeSum raises $1 million
SwipeSum is a St. Louis based startup that uses technology to discover better merchant processing options for businesses. The technology is premised on identifying lower rates for merchant processing and creates an auction for merchant processers to bid on the work at businesses. The company was formed in 2016 by brothers, Michael and Stephen Seamen.…
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Kidney function monitor company raises more capital in St. Louis
St. Louis based Medibeacon filed paperwork with the SEC last week regarding their $1.25 million raise. This brings their total raise for the year to more than $7 million. The filing identifies these raises as debt-only raises. Medibeacon has created a hardware device that helps monitory kidney function. This device, called a Transdermal GFR (Glomerular…
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G2 Crowd makes first acquisition following $100M in funding
Chicago-based G2 Crowd recently announced the acquisition of Siftery, the group’s first acquisition following a recently raised $100 million in total funding. G2 Crowd, whose also recently announced a $55M Series C round, is revolutionizing the way businesses discover, buy, and manage software and services. More than two million users per month rely on G2 Crowd…
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Ensmarten Saturday: What to do with unpopular or negative social situations
How to respond when something bad happens Many organizations have faced adversity because of gradual changes – reduced profits, shrinking customers, or an employee that drives the team crazy. Sometimes challenges occur that are so bad that they put the organization in major danger of failure or dramatic reduction in success or influence. This is…