INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.
This morning we&re
dialing into some late-stage venture activity in Utah
Why? Because Utah has become a hotbed of startup activity, yielding both IPOs and huge acquisitions
And as Utah isn&t a media hub in the way that San Francisco and New York City are, it often a bit undercovered.
So what better place to cast
our eye?
Today we&re going to look at the seven largestventure rounds in the state that have been recorded by Crunchbase in 2019 (no
post-IPO action, no grants, no secondaries, no debt, no private equity)
We&ll quickly explain each company, look at its investor list, and then ask ourselves how soon we think the company might go
public.
Ready?
Countdown
Exploring our seven largest rounds, let start from the smallest of the cohort and proceed up in dollar-scale (full
list here).
HZO $40 million Series D
Based in Draper, Utah, HZO tech coats electronics with tiny particles so that the elements can&t wreck
The startup does more than just coat phones, working with industrial equipment, automotive tech, and IoT tooling.
It a business that has
attracted well over $100 million in capital to date, according to Crunchbase
That sum includes a $20 million Series B led by Iron Gate Capital, a smaller, $15 million Series C led by Iron Gate Capital, and HZO latest
$40 million investment led by, you guessed it, Iron Gate Capital
Horizons Ventures has also put money into the company, while Cathay Bank lent it $30 million.
Using our patented gut-check-o-meter, we
aren&t expecting an S-1 from HZO soon.
Public investors loved SaaS stocks in 2019, and startups should be thankful
Nav $45 million Series
C
Another Draper, Utah, company raising large sums this year, Nav is a credit information marketplace for smaller companies
Investigating this morning, Nav feels a bit like Credit Karma, but for SMBs looking at taking on additional credit.
The model has attracted
lots of external funding, including a 2015-era Series A from Kleiner that tipped the scales at $8.4 million
Nav 2017 Series B weighed in at $37.7 million
And, most recently, it picked up a $44.9 million Series C that was co-led by Experian Ventures, Goldman, and Point72 Ventures.
What our IPO
guess? Given that it raised a Series C this year, we&d expect at least another round — maybe two — before we see SEC filings of interest
from Nav.
Weave $70 million Series D
Weave Series D is notable in that it valued the company within spitting distance of unicorn status
Indeed, the $70 million round brought its valuation up to $0.97 billion according to Crunchbase.
