Despite the economic challenges presented over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Chicago startups were still raising venture capital.
While the year's total venture numbers are still being tallied, Inno wanted to bring you the top funding rounds of the past year to get a glimpse at which companies raised some serious dough in 2020.
The top funding round of 2020 went to VillageMD, a health care startup that landed $250 million from Walgreens to help the pharmacy giant open care clinics at its drugstores.
Not far behind was Tempus, the fast-growing cancer-fighting startup led by serial entrepreneur Eric Lefkofsky. The $200 million round, which was the startup’s second fundraise of the year, brought the startup's valuation to more than $8 billion.
Tempus claimed the top funding round of 2019, when it raised a separate $200 million round. To date, the company has raised more than $1 billion.
On this year's top funding list, you'll find three $100 million rounds from some well-known Chicago upstarts: Tempus, ActiveCampaign and Project44.
ShipBob, an e-commerce logistics and shipping company, raised $68 million as it grew amid the high demand for e-commerce services during the pandemic. And Cooler Screens, a maker of digital doors for retailers' refrigerated cooling doors, raised $80 million to expand its tech to Walgreens locations throughout the country.
Here are the top 12 funding rounds of the year:
VillageMD: $250 million
In July, Chicago health care startup VillageMD landed a $250 million equity investment from Walgreens. It's part of a three year, $1 billion investment that will allow Walgreens to open hundreds of full-service doctor offices at its stores as it aims to become the first national pharmacy chain to offer primary care clinics. Founded in 2013, VillageMD works with physicians to provide technology, operations, staffing support and other tools to help reduce the overall cost of care.
Tempus: $200 million
Cancer treatment startup Tempus raised another mega-round of venture capital funding in December as it continued to grow as Chicago’s most valuable startup. Tempus raised the $200 million in a Series G-2 financing round that included Google, a first-time Tempus investor. Existing investors Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, Novo Holdings, and funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price also participated in this latest round. The tech company has now raised $1.05 billion and has a post-money valuation of $8.1 billion. Tempus, founded by Chicago serial entrepreneur Eric Lefkofsky in 2015, uses machine learning and genomic sequencing to better understand a patient’s tumor, and it tailors treatment plans best suited to combat it. The startup’s platform analyzes molecular and therapeutic data at scale, enabling physicians to make real-time, data-driven decisions to better treat their patients.
Tempus (again): $100 million
Before its $200 million round outlined above, Tempus raised a $100 million round earlier in the year. The Series G funding round included Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, NEA, Novo Holdings and funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price.
Project44: $100 million
Chicago logistics startup project44 raised $100 million in a Series D round led by Insight Partners in December. Other investors Emergence Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Underscore VC and 8VC also participated. To date, project44 has raised $241 million. Launched in 2014, project44 provides software to shippers and third-party logistics firms to help them track their shipments and communicate with the supply chain in real time. With project44's technology, companies can bring an "Amazon-like" shipping experience to their customers by improving logistics efficiencies and reducing costs.
ActiveCampaign: $100 million
Founded in 2013, ActiveCampaign has built a marketing platform that lets companies send and design email newsletters, automate marketing channels and get sales leads. In January, ActiveCampaign raised a $100 million Series B round led by Philadelphia-based investment firm Susquehanna Growth Equity. Silversmith Capital Partners, an investment firm that led its Series A round, also invested in the latest funding.
Greenlight Planet: $90 million
The solar startup with roots at the University of Illinois raised $90 million in September to sell electricity kits to people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Greenlight Planet, the maker of Sun King solar-powered, pay-as-you-go electricity kits, raised the debt and equity funding from investors such as CDC Group, FMO and Norfund. Since its founding in 2007, Greenlight has raised about $160 million. Sun King kits, manufactured in China, include home lighting, mobile phone chargers, radios, televisions and fans, as well as the solar panels and batteries to power those appliances.
Amount: $81 million
Amount, a fintech startup that spun out of Chicago lending company Avant earlier this year, raised $81 million in December. The Series C round was led by Goldman Sachs Growth with participation from existing investors, including August Capital, Invus Opportunities and Hanaco Ventures. The new financing brought Amount’s total funding to nearly $140 million. Founded in 2018 originally as the tech arm of Avant, a digital consumer lending company, Amount has built tech-powered lending products for banks. Avant developed Amount as a new solution for banks who wanted to significantly enhance their digital capabilities.
Cooler Screens: $80 million
Cooler Screens, which makes digital doors for retailers' refrigerated cooling doors, raised more than $80 million in a Series C funding round in October. The round included funding from Verizon Ventures, Microsoft’s venture fund M12 and GreatPoint Ventures. Silicon Valley Bank also participated in the round by providing debt financing. The 2-year-old Chicago-based company has now raised a total of more than $100 million. Founded in 2017, Cooler Screens' digital cooler doors show shoppers what’s inside refrigerators, while also allowing marketers to serve targeted ads to customers.
Nature's Fynd: $80 million
Nature's Fynd, a startup using a fermentation process to produce lab-grown, edible protein products that mimic chicken nuggets, cream cheese and other foods, raised $80 million in March from some heavy hitting investors. Backers included Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion fund led by Bill Gates that aims to invest in companies that are combating climate change. Nature's Fynd, previously called Sustainable Bioproducts, opened a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing facility this year on the Union Stockyards site on the South Side. In December, it raised an additional $45 million, bringing its total funding raised to more than $150 million.
ShipBob: $68 million
E-commerce logistics and shipping company ShipBob raised $68 million in a Series D round of funding in September. The Chicago company said the latest round of funding was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from previous investors, including Menlo Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and Y Combinator. ShipBob allows companies to automatically manage and fulfill orders from their online stores, and get items to customers quickly.
Keeper Security: $60 million
Chicago tech company Keeper Security raised $60 million in August. The round was its first outside fundraise since the company was founded nine years ago. Keeper, a cybersecurity company that develops a password management platform, announced the $60 million minority investment was led by Insight Partners. Keeper says it has grown quickly throughout 2020 despite the coronavirus. As businesses face an increase in cybercrime amid the shift to work from home and other Covid-related chaos, companies are turning to Keeper for password security, dark web monitoring, secure file storage and other cybersecurity needs. In May Keeper said it hit one million paying customers.
Clearcover: $50 million
Clearcover, a startup that’s changing the way people buy car insurance, closed a $50 million Series C round right at the beginning of 2020 led by OMERS Ventures. Previous investors American Family Ventures, Cox Enterprises and IA Capital Group also participated in the round. The round followed Clearcover’s $43 million Series B round in 2019 and brought the company’s total funding to more than $104 million since its founding in 2016. Founded by CEO Kyle Nakatsuji, a former VC at American Family Insurance, Clearcover has built a platform that makes car coverage cheaper by making operations, marketing and distribution more cost effective, and then passes along the savings to customers in the form of lower-cost, higher-quality car insurance.