New hires. Big funding rounds. Startups in expansion mode.

Even in the middle of the dog days of summer, not all startups are taking a holiday. Here are the big headlines you need to know from the week of July 22, 2024:

The Big Story

• Fulcrum Equity Partners, one of Atlanta’s largest and most active growth equity firms, is adding to its investing team with the announcement of Junior Gaspard as the firm’s new Principal. Read more on Hypepotamus.

Funding News

• •  Loyal, an Atlanta-based healthcare technology company focused on digital patient engagement, today announced it has closed on a $33.5M Series B financing. The round included support from existing investors, Concord Health Partners and multiple strategic investors. More on the round in the startup’s press release here.

• • Star Catcher, a Jacksonville, FL-based company which specializes in space-based energy generation, raised $12.25M in Seed funding. Details here.

• • Newly-founded Nashville, Tennessee company District Cover has raised over $7M in funding. The seed round was lead by Mosaic General Partnership. More on the InsurTech startup here.

• • •  South Carolina Research Authority’s investment affiliate, SC Launch Inc., has invested $250,000 in Bubble Paper as part of a $10 million Series A funding round. The Greenville-based company is revolutionizing the packaging industry with its higher-performing, eco-friendly replacement for the plastic shipping solutions of yesterday. More here.

   

  • Atlanta-based Silicon Road Ventures’ latest portfolio company came out of stealth mode today with big plans to change how companies get those all important business leads. Pitchit, founded in San Francisco by Paul Kleen, is an AI Lead Qualification as a Service (LQaaS) Platform that helps automate the first 24 hours of manual labor required to qualify inbound leads. More on Hypepotamus.

M&A News

• • Charlotte, North Carolina-based robotics startup Lucid Bots announced it has acquired  Avianna, an Illinois-based AI company that enables robots to understand human language and operate autonomously. Press release with more details here.

• • HID, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions, today announced it has acquired Vizzia Technologies (Vizzia), a leading provider of hardware-agnostic, full-service real-time location systems (RTLS) platforms designed for healthcare and hospital applications. Press release here.