VC Report: Q1 2019 investments in Indiana technology companies
There were 14 publicly announced capital raises in the first quarter of 2019 by Indiana tech companies totaling nearly $88 million. In addition, 11 Indiana tech companies were involved in mergers and acquisitions. The financial details for all but one of these transactions were undisclosed.
Below is a list of public investments and acquisitions involving Indiana technology companies that occurred in the first quarter of 2019. For information review our 2018 VC reports from Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
JANUARY
January opened with a $1.1 million dollar seed funding investment in Encamp, one of three gBETA incubator companies (past or present) that made our report. The Indianapolis company’s environmental software helps companies save time, minimize risk, and protect human and environmental health. Investment came from undisclosed angels and $250,000 from the Indiana University Philanthropic Venture Fund (IU PhV).
Diagnotes, Inc. of Indianapolis also secured money from IU PhV via a $500,000 investment announced in early January. This healthcare IT firm provides HIPAA-compliant communications between patients, physicians and care teams.
DoubleMap announced their merger with Ride Systems LLC of Salt Lake City. The two companies will remain semi-independent as part of the newly formed Journey Holding Corp. based in Salt Lake City. DoubleMap’s technology enhances the rider experience for small transit systems and fortune 500 companies while Ride Systems produces real-time vehicle tracking software.
Surf Air Wireless of LaPorte took a $40 million investment from Post Road Group of Stamford, Connecticut. Surf Air Wireless is a wireless Internet provider that provides high speed broadband internet to Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. In the same announcement the company announced the acquisition of FreedomNet, another wireless internet provider based in Central Michigan.
Fishers-based ClearObject made some of the biggest news in January when they were acquired by private equity firms Egis Capital of New Jersey and ABS Capital Partners of Baltimore. The infusion of capital will allow the IoT systems innovator to grow with the addition of new customers and top-tier talent. ClearObject will continue to be based in Fishers with John McDonald as CEO. Details of the investment were not shared.
Woven announced a $425,000 pre-seed raise from High Alpha along with angel investors Ade Olonoh, John Qualls and Christopher Clapp. Based in the Union 525 building in downtown Indianapolis, Woven’s evidence-based developer hiring platform is used by companies to find quality candidates and often overlooked candidates for their open technical positions.
Heliponix, winner of the Best New Tech Product Mira Award for 2018, and Karyosoft, a genomics data aggregator each added $50,000 investments from Purdue’s Ag-Celerator.
Harena Data of Franklin announced a $500,000 seed raise from undisclosed investors to further develop their GYO Esports Data Analytics sabermetrics platform used to analyze competitive player performance using machine learning and artificial intelligence.
A meeting at the 2018 Mira Awards led to the acquisition of Vemity by Rover180. The acquisition will enable Rover180 affiliates like FreightRover to leverage Vemity’s technology to cut costs associated with invoicing and accelerated payments. Financial details of the acquisition were not shared.
FEBRUARY
MetroNet Fiber, Inc, a regional Fiber-optic internet, TV and phone service provider in Evansville, announced the acquisition of LightSpeed Fiber Communications, a fiber-optic internet company serving Lansing, Grand Rapids, Southfield, Huntington Woods and Ypsilanti, Michigan. Details of the transaction were not announced.
mAccounting, a technology-focused accounting firm based in Indianapolis with two Mira Award nominations was recently acquired by InDinero, an accounting and tax software company based in Portland, Oregon. Financial details of the acquisition were not shared.
Determine, a Carmel-based global provider of SaaS Source-to-Pay and Enterprise Contract Lifecycle Management (ECLM) solutions, was acquired by Corcentric, Inc. of Cherry Hill, New Jersey for $32 million. Determine, formerly traded publicly on NASDAQ, was originally started in Silicon Valley and moved to Carmel in 2016.
Jobvite, a recruitment software leader based in San Mateo, California with offices in Fishers, made headlines when it received a $200 million private equity investment from K1 Investment Management of Los Angeles. The company then proceeded to roll out three acquisitions of emerging HR tech companies including Canvas of Indianapolis. Canvas will continue to function as a separate company with Aman Brar serving as president.
Indianapolis-based Powderkeg, a connections engine for tech founders, investors, and professionals at startups between the coasts, announced a $900,000 raise led by Elevate Ventures, Stout Street Capital of Denver and local entrepreneur, Scott McCorkle.
MARCH
Formstack, with new headquarters in Fishers, acquired Bedrock Data of Boston. The acquisition will immediately provide a number of valuable advanced integrations with platforms like Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle NetSuite, HubSpot and Marketo.
OpenMartech, formerly known as ZIO, raised $1.5 million through their founders, industry insiders, angel investors, Elevate Ventures, Indiana University Philanthropic Venture Fund and the Innovate Indiana Fund. The company’s open source marketing hub will soon be available to all retailers.
Indianapolis-based Kerauno’s $25 million Series A raise could be the largest ever Series A raise by a tech company in Indiana. Investors include IndyCar team owner and former driver Michael Andretti and The Joan Hanley (Steinbrenner) Trust. The company’s mobile-centric communications workflow platform is used by their customers to optimize business processes, enhance customer and employee engagements and drive revenue to the bottom line.
Headquartered in Carmel, Olio recently announced a $2.5 million seed raise led by Innovatemap Ventures. The company’s platform enables collaboration between acute and post-acute healthcare providers, so patients receive more coordinated care. Olio was one of the seven featured healthcare startups at the recent Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Startup Day event held at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis.
Sharpen announced a $15 million growth raise from three Indiana venture capital funds: Allos Ventures, Elevate Ventures and the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund. The raise also included Rodger Riney, founder and former CEO of Scottrade. Sharpen is a cloud native contact center platform that enables customer experience teams to establish better customer relationships.
PERQ recently announced their acquisition of Who’s Up, makers of a retail CRM used in the home furnishings industry. PERQ has been partnering with Who’s Up of Oklahoma City since April and has now fully integrated the new CRM system into its Marketing Cloud. Details of the acquisition were not shared.
MomentPath, a care relationship platform that brings together care providers and the families of those for whom they are caring, announced $150,000 in funding from the Innovate Indiana Fund. The Carmel-based company was formerly known as tend.ly.
Studio Science, a twenty-year-old design and innovation consultancy, was sold by original founder Kristian Andersen to a group of investors that includes current CEO Steve Pruden. Pruden spent nearly eight years with Appirio.
Woven made news again this quarter with their first acquisition. The company acquired Headlight, a tech screening platform based in New York City with founders hailing from Etsy and Bloomberg.
Each quarter we report public investments in Indiana technology companies. Interested in sharing your funding deals? Email roger@techpoint.org.