As temperatures warmed up in New England in the month of May, so did smaller startup investments. There were 19 financings worth less than $1 million last month, and they went to companies spanning the medical devices, social media, energy, and software spaces. (A huge jump from April, when we rounded up seven such deals for Northeast tech and life sciences companies).
We refer to these sub-$1 million deals as “under-the-radar” financings, which come to us courtesy of private company intelligence platform CB Insights. (Earlier in the month, we rounded up venture deals worth more than $1 million in May, where we saw a total of 20 transactions amounting to about $190 million in Massachusetts.)
The life sciences field was the all-star sector in the roundup of bigger venture fundings, and the industry also showed up strong in our list of smaller deals. Medical devices startups were especially prominent, developing technology in the areas of tissue preservation, drug delivery, and spinal disease. (One of these startups, Littleton, MA-based Audax Medical, filed for two separate equity-based financings last month, recorded below.)
The May under-the-radar transactions consisted of 14 financings in equity, and another five debt-based transactions. Massachusetts took the majority of these small deals, with 15 fundings recorded. Two Rhode Island companies showed up on the list, as well as one startup each in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
A few companies that made the list are working on some pretty unconventional gadgets. There’s Hopkinton, MA-based Trenergi, which wrapped up a $610,000 debt-based financing. The company’s website says it’s making an appliance out to be a green source of residential electricity, heat, and hot water.
InfoMotion Sports Technologies doesn’t sound like it would typically fall into our coverage area, but it’s developing a smart technology to bring analytics to the basketball court, in the form of sensors that can be implanted in a basketball to analyze a player’s ball-handling skills. The Attleboro, MA-based startup brought in $200,000 in an equity offering last month. Call it diagnostics for athletes.
I’m looking forward to seeing which of these companies take off and continue to bring new technologies to areas they didn’t really intersect with before, like basketball. Read below for the full list of May under-the-radar financings.
| Tarpon Biosystems | Marlborough, MA | A developer of technology for enhancing efficiency in biomanufacturing. | Equity | $855,000 |
| Trenergi | Hopkinton, MA | Makers of a 3-in-1 residential appliance, designed to be a green source of electricity, heat, and hot water. | Debt* | $610,000 |
| Nanigans | Boston, MA | Connects paying users with developers of social apps and games. | Equity | $600,592 |
| Location | Woonsocket, RI | Developers of an online search site for residential neighborhoods. | Equity | $571,464 |
| Audax Medical | Littleton, MA | A medical device company developing a product to treat diseased components of the spine. | Equity | $551,250 |
| Genstruct | Cambridge, MA | A maker of biomarkers and molecular diagnostics for drug development. | Equity | $500,000 |
| NitroSecurity | Portsmouth, NH | A maker of information security software. | Debt | $500,000 |
| SpineFrontier | Beverly, MA | A maker of medical instruments, devices, and diagnostic equipment for the treatment of spinal diseases. | Debt* | $500,000 |
| iQuest Analytics | Barrington, RI | A maker of data analysis software. | Equity | $450,000 |
| CampusLive | Amherst, MA | A provider of campus-specific websites. | Equity | $340,000 |
| Global Data Management Software | Boston, MA | A stealth-mode software company. | Debt | $300,000 |
| NuOrtho Surgical | Fall River, MA | A medical device company in the area of tissue preservation. | Equity | $250,000 |
| Outsmart Power Systems |
Natick, MA |
A maker of technology for networking and electricity consumption management in commercial buildings. | Equity | $200,000 |
| InfoMotion Sports Technologies | Attleboro, MA | A maker of implantable sensor devices for basketballs that analyze an athlete’s skills. | Equity* | $200,000 |
| Polybiotics | Hamden, CT | A developer of a dental device for administering medicine in the space between the tooth and gums. | Equity | $175,000 |
| LocaModa | Cambridge, MA | A provider of place-based social media software. | Equity*† | $150,000 |
| Audax Medical | Littleton, MA | A medical device company developing a product to treat diseased components of the spine. | Equity | $135,000 |
| MindChild Medical | North Andover, MA | A developer of fetal monitoring technology. | Debt* | $125,000 |
| Thinking Screen Media (formerly Frame Media) | Wellesley Hills, MA | A company that pushes content to Internet-connected screens. | Equity | $100,000 |
*Includes options and/or warrants.
†Includes some debt.
