Lots of news to catch up on in the Boston-area tech sector. This week, we’re tracking an acquisition in healthcare data, the expansion of autonomous vehicle testing in the city, a stealthy cryptocurrency venture fund, and several venture investments. Read on for details.
—Shyft Analytics agreed to be acquired by New York-based Medidata (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MDSO]]) in a deal valued at $195 million, which includes Medidata’s existing 6 percent ownership stake in Shyft. Waltham, MA-based Shyft provides cloud data management and analytics services for the life sciences industry, while Medidata sells software and services for clinical research. Shyft raised at least $39 million from investors, according to SEC filings. In addition to Medidata, its venture investors included McKesson Ventures, Health Enterprise Partners, and Milestone Venture Partners.
—The city of Boston has cleared NuTonomy, the Boston-based autonomous vehicle software startup, and its parent company, Aptiv, to expand self-driving vehicle tests to public roads citywide, according to a blog post. The companies had been limited to tests in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood.
—Two former Fidelity employees, Matt Walsh and Nic Carter, are raising money for a new venture fund called Castle Island Ventures that will focus on cryptocurrency and blockchain deals, according to reports by Business Insider and Axios. An SEC filing for Castle Island Ventures lists Walsh as a manager of the fund; it doesn’t give a target fundraising amount. Walsh declined to comment.
—Woburn, MA-based energy storage company Vionx Energy raised nearly $26 million in new equity funding, according to an SEC filing.
—Boston-based Renoviso shared more details about a $7 million funding round that was disclosed in an SEC filing in February. The investment was led by Corigin Ventures, according to a press release. Previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, NextView Partners, and FJ Labs also contributed. Renoviso previously raised $4.9 million in venture funding. The startup provides a technology-enabled service that helps homeowners connect with contractors to complete renovation projects.
—Elucidata also shared more details about an investment previously revealed in an SEC filing. In a press release, the startup said its recent $1.7 million funding round was led by Hyperplane Venture Capital; unnamed wealthy individuals also contributed to the investment. Elucidata, which has offices in Cambridge, MA, and New Delhi, India, is developing data science tools to aid drug discovery.
—CallMiner, a Waltham, MA-based company that sells cloud-based speech analytics software for customer service operations, pulled in $3 million in equity funding, per an SEC filing.
—Mightier, a behavioral health technology startup born at Boston Children’s Hospital, said it closed a seed funding round totaling $2.4 million. The investment was led by Slow Ventures, with contributions from Bolt, Founder Collective, Project 11 Ventures, and individual investors.
