Fueling the Future: AI powering deals, $33M for a risk management SaaS, & a food safety grant

What is fueling Flyover Country innovation? In this weekly feature, we share a variety of announcements covering funding, acquisitions, exits, grants, and everything in between. Got something to celebrate? Click here to share your story.

• AI-powered supply chain company Llamasoft, based in Ann Arbor, has been acquired by business spend management company Coupa. The purchase price was roughly $1.5 billion.

• Kentucky’s Venminder, located in Elizabethtown, has landed a $33 million Series C funding round led by a new investor, Silversmith Capital Partners, with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and MissionOG. Venminder has developed a SaaS platform to provide third-party risk management solutions.

• Purdue University biological engineer Mohit Verma has been developing a way to test produce in the field to detect contamination—such as Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli. Current testing methods require sending samples to a lab, resulting in reporting delays. The Center for Produce Safety has awarded Verma a grant of almost $400,000 to help further his work.

• Healthcare company Centene Corp., based in St. Louis, MO, has struck a deal to acquire Silicon Valley tech company Apixio, whose AI platform mines and analyzes unstructured patient data. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals.