Midwest Funding Roundup: Nullable of Columbus Ohio Closes $50.5M

The Funding Roundup is a weekly note about companies that raised venture capital.  We use four sources – 1) those that are sent to us via press release ([email protected]), 2) Form D filings in the sixteen states that we cover, 3) Databases to which we subscribe (particularly Pitchbook, Crunchbase), 4) Other sources (such as SBIR grant database).  The goal of the funding roundup is to provide a quick synthesis of companies that are actively raising money.  This is not a value judgment placing VC backed companies over bootstrapped – only a recognition that VC backed companies often file paperwork that puts them on our radar. 

This week, Chicago dominated the funding report with five of the eight largest investment rounds.  The companies represent some interesting new startups – including Smokeball, a legal management and analytics firm.  Omaha National made the cut with its B round, and Nullable from Columbus was the largest coming.  Overall, the funding report continues to illustrate relative weakness at the sub-$2m level, but at least in part, we believe that this is tied to a lack of information rather than a lack of deal flow.  We will be efforting over the next couple of weeks to increase our knowledge of local startup ecosystems and their funding efforts.  Lastly, there are some awesome names for companies this week – near the bottom of the report – brooqLy, Townee, and the Juggl are excellent attempts to be short and catchy (but remain weird).