It was a strong week for Minnesota.  Between Total Expert and ShiraTronics, Minnesota based companies brought in more than $85 million in Venture Funding.  There was a little more diversity than in previous weeks with companies in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin also raising substantial funds.  These fundings are aggregate lists created from Crunchbase, SEC filings, and Pitchbook.

Large Rounds (10+ million)

Total Expert – $52 million – St. Louis Park, Minnesota – Excerpt from the article on TechCrunch. “The future of financial services belongs to firms that combine human interaction with technology in a way that creates higher quality and more relevant experiences throughout the entire customer journey,” said Joe Welu, Total Expert’s chief executive officer. “Every interaction a consumer has with a financial services brand either erodes trust or builds trust, and legacy technology makes it difficult to deliver on the expectations of the modern consumer. Our mission is to ensure that banks and lenders create customers for life by delivering on these expectations”

ShiraTronics – $33 million – Minneapolis –  Excerpt from ShiraTronic’s press release announcing their $33 million raise – “ShiraTronics was seeded in 2019 and is the first spin off from NuXcel, a medical device accelerator managed by Mudit K. Jain, PhD, and Lynn Elliott, and backed by S.H.I.P. Supported by meaningful body of clinical evidence, ShiraTronics is developing an innovative approach to treat migraine headaches which are a disabling disorder affecting millions of patients globally.”

PierianDx – $27 million – St. Louis – We wrote a feature article about PierianDx last week.

ZAF Energy Systems – $19.20 million – Joplin – We wrote a feature article about ZAF two weeks ago.

Medium Rounds ($2-$10 million)

Innoblative – $7.20 million – Chicago – The company which is building an intraoperative ablation treatment raised $7.2 million from Bascom Ventures, Purple Arch Ventures, and the National Science Foundation.  The company’s initial

radiofrequency device, SIRA, has received initial FDA approval and is beginning to develop traction in the surgical community.  (Pictured at left)

Readout Health – $2.17 million – St. Louis – Readout has raised money multiple times in 2019 including this most recent round.  The company provides tools to use biomarkers to help patients make better choices in their daily lives.  The round was organized and led by BioGenerator, one of St. Louis’ leading technology acceleration funders and organizations.

Small Rounds (Less than $2 million)

Amper Technologies – $1.95 million – Chicago – Amper provides a hardware sensor that measures key performance indicators for tools.  In doing so, they provide real time alerts regarding downtime and other types of reports that help manufacturers maximize their production.

Gregor Diagnostics – $1.82 million – Madison – Gregor Diagnostics uses a new type of screening to identify patients with prostate cancer.

Soundwave Hearing – $.3 million – Chicago – Soundwave represents a new device for hearing using a simple – mailing program that integrates with your mobile phone.  The key to the business is the simplicity by which the device can be acquired and operated.

Piñata Technologies – $.1 million – Omaha – Founders Kyle Tautenhan and Matt Ober have built a technology company that helps manage and protect data via the blockchain.  SPN wrote an article about Tautenhan in March.  This particular funding appears to be from a convertible note – according to Pitchbook.