A look back at Flyover Country’s biggest funding deals of 2022

Firms in Flyover Country landed some big funding rounds in 2022. Here is a look at some of the biggest deals we reported on in 2022.

January

In January of last year, Cincinnati-based Enable Injections, which develops drug delivery systems designed to administer high volumes of therapeutics, raised a $215 million Series C led by Magnetar Capital. Additional investors included Cintrifuse, Ohio Innovation Fund, Squarepoint Capital, and Woody Creek Capital Partners. Be sure to read our interview with Enable Injections CEO Mike Hooven.

March

Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics, which develops robotic platforms that perform industrial inspection, closed on a $73 million Series C funding round last March. The round was led by New York-based XN, along with Founders Fund, XYZ, Drive Capital, Snowpoint Ventures, Palantir Technologies founder Joe Lonsdale, DoorDash New Horizons lead Gokul Rajaram and Pittsburgh hometown hero Mark Cuban, among others.

Also in March, Minneapolis-based tech company Branch secured a $75 Million Series C funding round. Branch, a tech company that assists gig and hourly workers in managing schedules and payments, offers instant, digital payouts of tips, wages, off-cycle, and contractor payments; free earned wage access; zero-fee banking; and an accessible paycard alternative. The funding round was led by Addition, with participation from General Atlantic, Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures, and Indeed.

May

In May, agtech company Vestaron, located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, raised $82 million in Series C funding to support commercialization of its current product lineup and fuel the R&D of new products. Its flagship product, Spear, is a peptide-based insecticide that can be used to target multiple pest species. Private investment office Ordway Selections and Cavallo Ventures, the VC arm of agribusiness major Wilbur-Ellis, co-led the round.

July

In July, Indy’s Scale Computing, which offers edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions, raised $55 million in new funding led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. Scale’s platform allows companies to run apps close to where their users are, at the edge, centralizing management of remote sites such as branch offices in a single dashboard.

Also in July, Lincoln, Nebraska’s cleantech company Monolith raised what is likely the largest single investment in Nebraska history: over $300 million in funding led by TPG Rise Climate and Decarbonization Partners, a joint venture of BlackRock and Temasek. Monolith creates clean hydrogen and carbon black using carbon-free renewable energy sources.

Ann Arbor’s autonomous vehicle technology company May Mobility closed on a $111 million Series C funding round in July to deploy its programs using the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform. The company will develop another vehicle design centered around mobility, Toyota’s e-Palete, as they seek to bring forward mobility and MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) solutions.

August

In August, PayIt, a Kansas City, Missouri-based SaaS provider of digital government services and payments, closed a $90 million investment from Macquarie Capital Principal Finance. PayIt enables governments to accept digital payments and serve their constituents across web, desktop, and mobile. Its modules span Motor Vehicle, Taxes, Courts, Utilities, and more. The new financing will support PayIt’s continued growth and product innovation.

Huntersville, NC-based Atom Power, a startup that has developed a digital circuit breaker that provides more control, flexibility, and reliability to EV charging, landed a $100 million investment from Korea’s SK Inc. SK said Atom Power’s core technology was “the primary driver” behind its decision to invest.

December

At the very end of last year, Ann Arbor-based HistoSonics, a medical startup spun out of the University of Michigan, raised $85 million in a financing. The company was formed by UM scientists who developed the technology of histotripsy–using noninvasive sound technology to break down liver tumors in rats, kill cancer cells, and spur the immune system to prevent further spread. The financing was led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., with participation from existing investors including Venture Investors, Lumira Ventures, Yonjin Venture, and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, among others.

Stay tuned to Flyover Future as we keep you updated on funding news while we move into 2023.