This week, we’re tracking venture capital deals in digital health, augmented reality for the enterprise, wellness, and food tech. Read on for details.
—Buoy Health said it snagged $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures, which was joined in the investment by Humana (NYSE: [[ticker:HUM]]), F-Prime Capital Partners, and Optum Ventures. Boston-based Buoy developed a chatbot that provides users with information about health symptoms they’re experiencing, and can guide them through next steps, such as visiting a nearby pharmacy or calling their doctor.
Buoy previously raised at least $9.2 million from investors. Last year, it formed a partnership with CVS Health (NYSE: [[ticker:CVS]]) to make it simple for patients who use Buoy’s app or website to get checked out at one of CVS’s MinuteClinic locations.
—Polarity, a Farmington, CT-based company that says it developed desktop augmented reality software for knowledge workers, pulled in $8.1 million in a funding round led by TechOperators. Shasta Ventures, Strategic Cyber Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures also participated in the deal, per a press release.
Polarity’s software uses computer vision algorithms and other technologies to help users recall and share information, presenting it with on-screen overlays when they need the data. Its users include IT administrators, cybersecurity workers, analysts, and other business professionals.
—Boston-based Baze grabbed $6 million in Series A funding led by nutritional supplements manufacturer Nature’s Way. Baze sells subscriptions to shipments of vitamin supplements that vary based on the results of blood-based tests that customers take at home.
—Cambridge Crops said it raised $4 million in a seed funding deal led by The Engine, the venture fund and startup incubator created by MIT in 2016. Refactor Capital, Closed Loop Ventures, Bluestein & Associates, SOSV, and Supply Chain Ventures also invested in the round.
Cambridge Crops is developing a silk-based product that would be applied to food to try and slow its decay, thereby reducing food waste. The technology comes from Tufts University and MIT, according to a press release.
—Lastly, check out analysis of this summer’s wave of digital health IPOs by Xconomy’s Jeff Buchanan. None of the companies that recently made their market debut are based in Boston, but Buchanan did interview locally based investor Michael Greeley of Flare Capital Partners, who says that the mostly successful IPOs could pave the way for more healthtech companies to go public.
