Another work week in the books.
For Southeast startups, this week brought some big acquisition news and its fair share of early-stage funding headlines. To round out your Friday, we’ve curated the biggest innovation news from across the region to make sure you are up-to-date with all the latest.
Here are the stories you need to know:
The Big News
The week is wrapping up on a sad note. Women Who Code, a global nonprofit based in Atlanta, announced late Thursday that the organization’s board of directors voted to dissolve the organization. The decision to close was “due to factors that have materially impacted our funding sources – funds that were critical to continuing our programming and delivering on our mission,” according to a press statement. Previous Hypepotamus reporting on the organization can be found here.
M&A Activity
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Ticketing giant AXS announced it has acquired a majority stake in WRSTBND, a New Orleans-based EventTech company with access control and credentialing technology for events and festivals. Details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Hypepotamus wrote about WRSTBND back in early 2022 as the startup was gaining traction in the event world.
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Raleigh-based fintech Karma Wallet, which offers prepaid, reloadable debit cards that provides cashback for sustainable spending, acquired Denver-based DoneGood. Karma Wallet, which is run by the father-and-son team Jayant Khadilkar and Kedar Karkare, did not disclose the
Funding News
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Neighborhood “work club” concept Switchyards, which has made its mark across Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville, announced it closed a $5 million funding round. The funding will help the team open 200 locations over the course of the next five years. More details on the funding round here.
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Condoit, a Birmingham-based energy management startup, closed its $4.25 million seed round. The round was led by The Westly Group (backers of Tesla, Procore) with participation from Fontinalis Partners (backers of Lyft, Postmates), Navitas Capital, C2 Ventures, Studio Management, and Overline VC. Southwire, a global wire and cable manufacturer, also made a strategic investment. Hypepotamus wrote about the Techstars Alabama graduate most recently in 2023.
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LunaJoy, a Tampa-based maternal health care startup, announced it had raised $4.2 million in venture funding from Y Combinator, FoundersX Fund, Goodwater Capital, Magic Fund, VentureSouq, Nurture Ventures, NorthSouth Ventures, and a group of healthcare angels. More on LunaJoy here.
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Atlanta-based Cookonnect raised a $1 million pre-seed round, per Crunchbase. The platform, which brings chefs to the homes of busy families, was founded by Erica Tuggle after her tenure as Brand Director at Coca-Cola.
In Other News….
Three startups walked away with checks after the inaugural Cleantech Innovation Challenge at Georgia Tech last week. Read our recap of the event here.
