Unlike the retail industry, Northwest startups pulled in a fair amount of cash in January. Venture investing jumped from $22 million in December to $57 million in the first month of 2010. But there’s another layer of data that further attests to the state of financing in the startup landscape.
That would be last month’s list of under-the-radar deals, a group we typically characterize as debt and equity financings that range from $100,000 to $1 million, provided to us by New York-based private company intelligence platform CB Insights. Northwest startups pulled in 10 such deals last month, one fewer than the month before. But the January financings included far more equity deals (eight out of 10) than the December list, which had six deals in equity and five based in debt. Washington took home nine under-the-radar deals, and one Portland, OR-area company showed up on the list for January.
The biggest under-the-radar deal was $942,455 in equity-based funding for Seattle drug developer Kineta, a move Luke wrote about. Incline Therapeutics, a stealthy life sciences company, came in second with $440,000 in debt funding. We’ve also covered Impel NeuroPharma, a Seattle-based company working on getting drugs more quickly to the brain with a device that functions like a combination of an asthma inhaler and a nasal spray pump. Impel pulled in a $305,364 equity investment in January.
There was a range of software companies on the list, solving problems from data hosting to expense paying to analyzing and appealing property tax charges. The sole Oregon deal went to NVoicePay, an electronic payment software company that grabbed $90,030 through equity funding last month.
Some of the companies were so stealthy I couldn’t even find websites for them. That would be the aforementioned Incline Therapeutics, described by third-party websites as developing a late stage drug-device combination, and iOculi, a Seattle company that pulled in $30,000 in an equity offering, and is listed as being in the technology sector in its SEC filing.
There was even a beverage company on the list, but don’t worry, we promise that it’s high-tech enough to make our cut. That would be Pullman, WA’s Ecowell, which raised $250,000 in debt-based funding. This company is working to innovate in the vending space, with computer interfaces that consumers can use to customize a drink selection. We first heard about them at the UW business plan competition last year, where they nabbed the prize for best service/retail idea.
Check out the table below for the complete list of January under-the-radar deals.
| Kineta | Seattle, WA | Developer of treatments for autoimmune, inflammatory, and infectious diseases | Equity | $942,455 |
| Incline Therapeutics | Seattle, WA | Biotechnology company developing a late stage drug-device combination | Debt | $440,000 |
| ValueAppeal | Seattle, WA | Developer of an online tool that analyzes users’ property tax payments and creates an appeal if they are overpaying | Equity | $412,563 |
| Impel NeuroPharma | Seattle, WA | Developer of technologies for nasal delivery of pharmaceuticals to the brain | Equity | $305,364 |
| Ecowell | Pullman, WA | Maker of high-tech beverage kiosks, where customers can personalize drinks with touchscreen ordering | Debt | $250,000 |
| BlueView Technologies | Seattle, WA | Developer of underwater sonar imaging systems | Equity | $215,931 |
| Lighthouse Document Technologies | Seattle, WA | Provider of electronic data discovery, hosting, and processing services | Equity | $200,000 |
| NVoicePay | Portland, OR | Electronic payment software company | Equity | $90,030 |
| Tangerine Solar | Seattle, WA | Developer of member-based community solar power systems | Equity | $50,000 |
| iOculi | Seattle, WA | Super stealthy company, SEC filing puts it as a technology company | Equity | $30,000 |
