Midwest Funding Report: April 25th – May 1st

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 (hello@mug.news), 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.

Three big rounds headline the week in Chicago.  LocusView, Catch Co., and Halo Investing all raised more than $30 million.  These rounds plus four others help explain why many on the coasts see Chicago as the only meaningful deal source in the Middle.  This week helps lend credibility to that argument.  But, Columbus, Ohio had the largest round in Forge Biologics, and the diversity of deals across the region remains.  The Middle consistently provides lots of deals just not from a single source – as large population centers on the coasts do.