Money Moves: Aperiomics adds $1.2M to Series A and launches a bridge funding round

Money Moves is a column where we chart the funding raises of tech companies across the region. Have a tip? Email us at dc@technical.ly.

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Sterling, Virginia-based biotech company Aperiomics closed an additional $1.2 million in Series A funding, to close the round at $3 million. The company announced the first $1.8 million in Series A funding in August 2019.

Founded in 2014, the company uses genomic analysis to detect every known pathogen from a sample of any nature in just one test. Aperiomics also launched a test quickly back in March that could detect COVID-19.

This latest Series A funding round was led by VentureSouth and includes investments from Pipeline Angels, Atlanta Technology Angels, The Launch Place and the Central Texas Angel Network. With the official close of its Series A, Aperiomics is also raising a $1 million bridge note to help fund the company until it closes a Series B. The bridge note lead investor, Tamiami Angel Fund IV, has already invested $300,000, and Aperiomics reports that investments from its executives will be included in this note.

“Thanks to the financial support of Aperiomics’ family of investors, our next-generation testing platform will be available to more doctors and can be integrated into the healthcare system as a new gold standard in diagnostic testing care, drastically improving our understanding of rare and hard-to-diagnose medical conditions caused by infection,” said Aperiomics CEO Crystal R. Icenhour in a statement.

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Reston, Virginia-based battleface raised a $12 million Series A to fund its growth and expand with a headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The company is a travel insurance tech startup that provides specialty insurance services and benefits to international travelers. The funding round was led by Columbus-based Drive Capital.

Battleface’s team is comprised of a global network of travel insurance experts and the company is led by CEO Sasha Gainullin, who previously developed global operations for AIG Travel Guard. Battleface has received seed investments from Greenlight Re Innovations and Fintech Ventures Fund. The company’s gain is a loss for the region: It’s planning to officially close its Reston office, and fully relocate to Ohio.

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Georgetown-based digital health startup Babyscripts raised $4 million from various health systems including Phoenix-based Banner Health, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund and WellSpan Health. This new funding comes as part of the company’s strategic partner program, with an investment round specifically meant to introduce health system clients into Babyscripts’ product development process.

“From the beginning, we’ve understood that the clinician has to be part of building solutions for better health outcomes, and the most ‘cutting-edge’ technology is only as good as its ability to move the needle on those outcomes,” said Juan Pablo Segura, cofounder and president of Babyscripts, in a statement.

This investment comes after the telemedicine demand increased because of the pandemic. To meet the demand, Babyscripts began offering virtual care to its pregnant patients back in April. The six-year-old company also raised $6 million in venture capital in Jan. 2019.

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D.C.-based Dobby raised $1.7 million in seed capital from Dundee VC, B5 Capital and other participants. The curator of an AI-powered home maintenance platform plans to use the seed funding to power its growth initiatives, expand to more markets and advance its proprietary tech.

“During my days at DataRobot, I saw an opportunity to build an AI-first company from the ground up in a large and unsexy industry,” said Dobby cofounder and CEO Satadru Sangupta in a statement; Sangupta previously worked as GM and data scientist for global insurance at artificial intelligence tech services company DataRobot. “Dobby’s AI-first design enables us to become embedded in the homeownership journey, help homeowners increase the property value, and yes, make home maintenance fun.”

Using Dobby’s AI platform, homeowners can match with service providers like plumbers and electricians for contracted work. Service providers and homeowners can communicate using Dobby’s online chatbot and service providers are paid out within 24 hours of finishing a job.

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D.C.-based Cyrano Therapeutics, a six-year-old clinical stage medical company working on taste and smell loss treatments, has raised $12.8 million in Series A funding led by Remiges Ventures and Lumira Ventures. The company will put the fresh funding toward the second phase of its clinical trial in the U.S. and Europe which is trying to restore patients’ chronic loss of taste and smell, especially for those who have suffered from COVID-19.

Cyrano was founded after its CEO Rick Geoffrion lost his sense of smell and taste long term after having the flu. He teamed up with Robert Henkin, the director of The Taste and Smell Clinic in D.C., to launch the company to bring restorative treatments to patients suffering from the same conditions.

With this latest funding round, Taka Koda of Remiges Ventures and Gerry Brunk of Lumira Ventures have joined Cyrano’s board of directors.

P.S. If you’re not clear on why the company is (probably) called “Cyrano,” here’s a clue.