The week in Boston tech news hit on all the highlights: health technology, 3D printing, crypto, blockchain, CEO moves, fintech, and plenty of venture cash. Read on for the details:
—Healthcare technology startup Medumo has been acquired by Netherlands-based Philips (NYSE: [[ticker:PHG]]). The company’s patient navigation technology provides instructions and patient resources through text message and web apps, for instance, leading up to appointments or scheduled surgeries. Boston-based Medumo says its technology reduces late-canceled appointments and no shows and improves patient preparedness. Founded in 2013, the company later graduated from popular Silicon Valley tech accelerator Y Combinator. It raised $2 million in January 2018.
Medumo says on its website it is now a Philips company and the partnership “will empower us to continue to serve our existing customers while further expanding our connection to more patients and providers.” Terms of the deal were not announced.
—A startup run by former Aveksa founder and CEO Deepak Taneja has raised $3.1 in a funding round, according to an SEC filing. (Aveska in 2013 was bought by EMC, which was acquired by Dell Technologies in 2015.) Taneja’s new company is called Zilla Security and is based in Waltham, MA. Reached via Linkedin, Taneja said the startup is still in stealth mode and declined to share with Xconomy any more details about the company until later this year. Taneja is listed as a “founding CEO” with Boston venture capital firm Pillar. It’s not clear whether the firm is participating in the funding round, but Pillar founder Jamie Goldstein is listed as a director on Zilla’s SEC filing. Xconomy reached out to Pillar and will update with its response.
—Logistics security startup Dust Identity has raised a $10 million Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and including strategic backing from the corporate venture capital arms of Airbus and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: [[ticker:LMT]]). New Science Ventures, Angular Ventures, and Castle Island Ventures also participated in the round. Dust, based in Framingham, MA, put together a $2.3 million seed round just last November. Dust says interest in its tracking tag made of tiny nano-diamonds that can be scanned for identification has spanned auto, luxury, cosmetics, oil, gas, and utility industries. The new cash is earmarked for product development, engineering, sales, and marketing.
—Boston-based physical security and operational intelligence startup Armored Things has named a new CEO: its co-founder and former Qualcomm exec Julie Johnson. Co-founder Charles Curran, the outgoing CEO and also a former exec of Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]), will become the company’s president and “support key business functions,” Armored Things says in a press release. Johnson led the company’s efforts in 2018 to land its $5.5 million seed round led by Glasswing Ventures, iNovia Capital, and MassVentures.
—Zagster, a mobility tech company producing management systems for bike- and scooter-share programs, is working with Salem, MA, on a program of 250 shared scooters. Dockless scooter company Spin is providing the scooters. Salem is looking to connect the city to businesses and institutions such as Salem State University, North Shore Medical Center, and its commuter rail station, Mayor Kim Driscoll says in a statement. The scooters cost $1 upfront, plus 15 cents per minute to rent. In May, Boston-based Zagster named longtime transportation exec Dan Grossman as its new CEO.
—3D printing startup Fortify has raised a $10 million Series A funding round led by Accel and joined by Neotribe, Prelude Ventures, and Mainspring Capital Partners. The startup, based in Boston and spun out of Northeastern University, raised a $2.5 million seed round earlier this year. Fortify’s technology uses magnetics and digital light processing to make composite parts. The company sees applications for its technology in manufacturing, aerospace, and automotive industries. The funding will accelerate its early adopter program and plans to ship beta versions of its 3D printing machines in early 2020.
—Health technology startup Zillion has named a new CEO: healthcare and life science veteran Linda McGoldrick. A behavior modification technology company, Zillion says McGoldrick has served on many corporate boards as well as had health appointments in the UK, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. She is the founder of consultancy and strategy firm Financial Health Associates International.
—Cryptocurrency analytics service Flipside Crypto says it has launched its intelligence platform to track operations of distributed applications run by businesses and other users on the Algorand blockchain network. Flipside’s tools will help developers on Algorand track how users are interacting with their applications. Access to the Flipside’s analytics will be is free for Algorand developers, says Flipside, which launched in 2017 and raised $4.5 million since.
—It’s been a busy week for the folks at Algorand. The cryptocurrency Tether—which links the value of its coins to the rise or fall of the US dollar—says it will launch on Algorand’s blockchain system. Algorand raised $62 million late last year from previous investors Union Square Ventures and Pillar, which backed the startup in a $4 million round in early 2018. Algorand’s launched its network in June, raising $60 million from an auction of its Algo coins.
—Embedded data company Tego has raised $13.7 million of an estimated $15.5 million funding round, the Waltham, MA-based company wrote in an SEC filing. Tego makes a technology system of chips, tags, and software to embed data and documents directly within assets that companies want to track and manage. Xconomy has reached out to Tego about the funding and will update with more information.
—Lendbuzz, a Boston-based software company that issues car loans to people with little or no credit record, has raised $150 million in debt and equity investments. Most of the cash—$130 million—for Lendbuzz is in the form of debt financing from four banks and an insurance company to fund car loans through the startup’s platform. The rest is an equity investment led by venture capital investor 83North.
—Two recently combined consumer cybersecurity companies are heading off under a new branding to make a run at providing some online peace of mind for regular folks, and they’re doing it with $150 million in capital from Boston-area venture firm General Catalyst and WndrCo, the West Coast technology investor run by former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. Burlington, MA-based iSubscribed completed its acquisition of Virginia-based Intersections in January and has since been focused on integrating the companies as well as rebranding the company, now known as Aura.
