Money Moves: Bucks County-based Astarte Medical raises $7.6M

Bucks County-based Astarte Medical, maker of NICUtrition, a suite of digital tools and diagnostics that supports feeding protocols, practice and decision-making in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) for premature babies, has raised $7.6 million.

The company was first on our 2020 RealLIST Startups list and has previously raised $8.5 million. This $7.6 million is considered an a-1 raise, and investors include Viking Global Investors LP, Lunsford Capital, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, OCA Ventures, Next Act Fund, Capita3, Leatherneck Ventures, and Social Venture Circle.

“We were thrilled to double the size of the team in early 2020 and then the pandemic hit. Selling our NICUtrition solution to hospitals was challenging as they were all laser-focused on COVID-19, however we are now seeing movement from our hospital clients and are optimistic about the remainder of 2020,” cofounder Tammi Jantzen told us last year. “In addition, we have completed analysis of our NICUbiome dataset and plan to introduce the solution by the end of the year.”

This round will focus on scaling the NICUtrition technology and its sales, the company said in a statement. Wendy Slatery, a seasoned sales exec and CCO at Aspect Imaging, will be joining the company’s board.

“As seed stage investors focused on technology’s ability to put more in the hands of clinicians for the betterment of patients, we can hardly imagine a more lasting impact than that of the lives of babies in the NICU,” said Jennifer Hartt, managing director of healthcare investment group of BFTP said in a statement. “As an investor who is also a mother who once had a preterm infant in the NICU, I understand what it means to have a fragile baby who we hope grows up to have a meal just be a meal.”

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Mainfactor, an ecommerce company which buys and builds direct-to-consumer businesses announced it had raised $69 million in a mix of seed equity capital and a credit facility led by Upper90.

The nearly two-year-old company was cofounded by Mike Fieback, Meredith Franzese and Jamie Ross, with experience in the ecommerce and entertainment industries. They plan to use this capital to acquire direct-to-consumer businesses and grow them through digital marketing and collaborations with creators and artists.

Mainfactor will also acquire direct-to-consumer and merchandise rights for entertainers and making brand acquisitions. It plans to develop tech that will allow entrepreneurs to receive valuations and exit their e-commerce businesses in a fast way.

“We believe in the power of e-commerce brands with a dedicated following, and the acceleration that experienced operations, creative collaborations, and digital marketing can bring to those businesses,” Fiebach, Mainfactor’s CEO, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Upper90, a world-leader in e-commerce investments, to build a next generation direct-to-consumer platform that grows brands while generating new revenue streams for creators and artists.”

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Car wash industry-focused subscription management software platform EverWash announced Thursday that it had closed a $5 million debt deal with Flow Capital Group, a spokesperson told Technical.ly.

This is the company’s first fundraise, the spokesperson said, outside of some financing from friends and pros in the cash wash industry in 2016. This capital will be used to help scale the business and capitalize on growth opportunities. The company welcomed a new CTO at the end of 2019, Jamie Pritz, who leads its DevOps team.

“My goal is to make sure the EverWash platform is able to scale to support millions of users,” Pritz said in a statement at the time. “Building new features into the mobile app, such as targeted promotions, more in-app communications, and robust analytics tools will help us achieve this goal.”

The company provides a mobile platform for subscribers and end-to-end solution for car wash operators. Its team currently sits around 40 full-time employees.

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Ten Philly small businesses were the recipients of the Job Creators Quest Grant, created to help diverse businesses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey retain and grow their workforce in underserved communities, national small business support nonprofit Founders First announced Thursday.

Grant recipients receive a cash award, full tuition to a Founders First growth accelerator program and membership in the Founders First platform. The Philadelphia recipients are:

• Pharma Solutions
• TWEE
• The Greater Knead
• Remark Glass
• Cake Life
• Flip Out Productions
• Kingdom Builders & Industrial Maintenance
• Math Foundations
• PeaceTree
• Prelude