Pittsburgh weekly roundup: Q2’s biggest VC deal; Firefighting drones to market; $7M from Innovation Works

Pittsburgh VC slows in Q2, dominated by one deal

Companies from Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs raised $74 million across 15 deals over the past three months — with one single deal accounting for more than a third of the money.

That’s a sharp drop from Q1’s $259 million across 18 deals. And there were no local exits. Aaron Mok analyzed the latest Venture Monitor report, released quarterly by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association, and asked local VCs what’s next for the region.

➡️ Find out what three deals made up the bulk of local funding last quarter.

SWPA New Economy Collab hires board

A chunk of federal funding flows into Pittsburgh and the surrounding region via the Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge. The coalition behind its implementation, the Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative, just welcomed four new board members to the team.

Plus, a longtime Carnegie Mellon University professor got promoted to director of its machine learning department, and Duolingo tapped a healthtech leader to join its board.

➡️ Catch up on the latest Pittsburgh tech leadership changes.

News Incubator: What else to know

• During a wildfire, the smoke and confusion make an already daunting remediation task even more challenging. Low-flying drones that can relay terrain and fire information could show fire responders how to proceed. [Technical.ly]

• Skild AI closed a $300 million Series A funding round (guess next quarter’s report will look different) featuring contributions from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The East Liberty-based robotics company is now worth $1.5 billion. [Skild AI]

• Carnegie Mellon University and Meta are working on a wearable device to make tech more accessible to people with disabilities. The sensor-based inputs could replace tech like keyboards and joysticks in gaming and virtual reality. [CMU]

• Duquesne Light’s new outage management system passed its first big test. The mobile app launched at the end of June, and did a “fantastic” job tracking power disruptions during recent storms, the company said. [Pittsburgh Union Progress]

• Innovation Works invested more than $7 million into local startups last year. That money supported 60 companies, 1,154 new jobs and 73 commercial products, according to the early-stage investor. [Innovation Works]

• Point Park University is launching a Center for Entertainment Technology. Led by Don Marinelli, who cofounded the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, the program will offer a two-year master’s degree in art, design and tech. [Pittsburgh Business Times]

• Extreme weather this summer — the heat, the storms, the tornados — has kept the National Weather Service team in Moon Township busy. Read about their 24-hour rotating shifts to collect data, make forecasts and, ultimately, keep the public safe. [Pittsburgh City Paper]

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