Under the Radar Financings in the Northwest: Foodista, PhotoRocket, EnergySavvy, and More

OK, usually when we pull out our monthly “under the radar” deals, it’s companies we haven’t heard much about before. Not so this time.

I’ve been lamenting the relative dearth of financing deals for early-stage software startups around Seattle lately. This month’s news won’t really change that, but at least there are a few intriguing companies on the list that we’ve had our eye on. We define “under the radar” deals as financings worth less than $1 million, in innovation areas like software, Web services, networking, medical devices, diagnostics, and energy. The latest stats, which list six companies for April, were provided by our partner CB Insights, a New York-based private company intelligence platform.

One of the familiar companies on the list is Seattle-based Foodista, a wiki-based online encyclopedia for cooking, which has raised $750,000 in equity funding from undisclosed investors. The company was founded by Amazon veterans Barnaby Dorfman and Sheri Wetherell, and rolled out its website in December 2008. It raised $550,000 from Amazon and angel investors in 2009.

Another company we’ve been watching is PhotoRocket, the new stealthy photo-sharing company led by Scott Lipsky of Amazon, aQuantive, and GalleryPlayer fame. PhotoRocket has raised more than $377,000 on its way to a $1.25 million first-round close.

EnergySavvy (formerly called Evoworx) is an energy-efficiency startup focused on home energy use. It raised about $320,000 in debt financing last month, according to CB Insights. The company is led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder, a former Microsoftie and newly named “Pivotal Leader.” It also has Leo Shklovskii and Karl Siebrecht involved as co-founders.

Last but not least, I wanted to mention Shelby SuperCars of West Richland, WA. Normally we probably wouldn’t report on a car maker. But these are supercars (they look pretty cool).

So here’s the list of our “under the radar” company financings from April:

CoCo Communications Seattle,              WA A maker of software for interoperability between radios, cell phones, and computers Debt* $953,453
Foodista Seattle,               WA A provider of an editable, online cooking encyclopedia Equity $750,000
PhotoRocket Seattle,              WA A stealthy photo-sharing startup Equity $376,917
EnergySavvy Seattle,              WA A Web company that aims to improve home energy efficiency Debt $320,450
Shelby SuperCars West Richland, WA A maker of supercars Debt $200,000
StreamiT Bend,                  OR A stealthy online video company Equity $135,000

*Includes options and/or warrants

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.