Recent Venture Capital Raises in St. Louis

Venture Capital investment is the current metric most entrepreneurs, economic developers, and ecosystem builders use to evaluate the state of their local ecosystems. However, finding the most recent funding data about venture dollars in the middle of the country and organizing it can be challenging. And quite often the data is old, inaccurate, or missing. The logical outcomes from any analysis on the state of local ecosystems is old, inaccurate, and non-representative. 

To fix this problem, we have narrowed our lens to the ecosystems in the middle of the US. This allows us to focus the picture on the venture networks, dollars, and geographies that are familiar to us but foreign to most. Since October of 2020, Mug.news is following the money in the middle across our 15 state footprint. In this article, we tighten the focus to one ecosystem – Saint Louis. We examine the venture data to get a look at recent activity and funding events. And we get to help tell stories about entrepreneurs from the middle – our favorite thing to do.

Here is a snapshot of the most recent funding data from in and around the Saint Louis MSA. The list contains venture rounds and grant funding.

What does recent funding data tell us about the Saint Louis ecosystem?

The current trend appears to be in ag-tech companies with Benson Hill leading the pack. Agwiki, Stratodyne, Impetus Agriculture, and ATR Thrive all represent different opportunities within the broader ag-tech marketplace. We also see ag-tech companies at distinct points in the development pipeline. Benson Hill is at the end and not really considered a startup anymore. In 2013, Benson Hill received its first investment from Biogenerator – a bioscience investment organization founded in 2003 to help early-stage entrepreneurs and scientists build companies. In comparison, Stratodyne and ATR Thrive are just beginning. Both ag-tech companies received grant funding from ArchGrants.org last fall. 

Another trend worth watching is in the IoT space. Several companies on this list, such as Kwema and Atomation, are focused on developing products that can communicate digitally. In the case of Kwema, the everyday badge you wear to work becomes a smart badge that can be used in emergencies and contact tracing. As IoT technology continues to transition to new products from old offline products, new companies following this path could see an expanded role in the Saint Louis ecosystem. 

The data shows Saint Louis is a maturing ecosystem. The biosciences and ag-tech companies are leading the way in overall funding and early-stage funding. This is a direct result of a twenty-year intentionally focused effort involving industry experts, funders, companies, universities, and government. Bioscience experts and founders are moving to Saint Louis because they know this supportive community exists. Additionally, having an organized pipeline of deals is another indicator of a maturing ecosystem.

Funding on average twenty early-stage companies a year, ArchGrants.org deploys 1 million dollars into the ecosystem each year. This is a fuel source for future follow-on investment rounds, future tax revenue, future wages, and future jobs in Saint Louis. The actors in the Saint Louis ecosystem clearly understand this fact. More cities in the middle are also taking this approach. For example, Lincoln (NE) has a Launch LNK program that is based on the Arch Grants model.

Our intention at Mug.news is to follow the money to find out. 

Has your startup raised funds recently in St Louis? – Tell your story on Mug.news. Shoot us an email –  [email protected].