Running Tide quietly raises $54M, Roux announces new accelerator cohort, Pumpspotting secures new funding, and more...
Maine Startups Insider is your source for news, goings-on, job opps, and events in Maine’s startup community
☀️ Good afternoon. This is the 270th edition of Maine Startups Insider. Welcome to the 36 new subscribers since my last email!
Here are today’s highlights:
Running Tide delivers first carbon credits, quietly raises $54 million
Roux Institute picks 10 startups, including 5 from Maine, for its next accelerator program
Pumpspotting, a breastfeeding-support app and platform, raises another $2.2 million to fund its business development efforts
Maine native and former Hannaford exec who co-founded an AI startup arrested on charges of securities and wire fraud
-Whit
PS - If you don’t already, subscribe to receive this newsletter in your inbox.
/News
Climate-tech startup Running Tide delivers first carbon credits, quietly raises $54M to remove gigatons of carbon from the oceans
Running Tide Technologies, which emerged from stealth in 2020 with a major investment and a big, bold plan to use floating kelp farms to remove gigatons of carbon from the oceans, raised another $54 million last year to fund its mission, but never announced the financing news.
The company, based in Portland, recently delivered its first carbon credits, generated from a successful pilot project off the coast of Iceland, to its first customer—Shopify.
I learned of the news by reading a blog post the company published on Aug. 31 titled, “Killing Godzilla, 100 Tonnes of Carbon at a Time.”
The post details the company’s pilot project, which it says successfully removed 275 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, and mentions the company raised a $54 million Series B to reach the milestone.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
🙏 MSI is sponsored by Eaton Peabody, a Maine law firm with particular expertise in structuring startup investment transactions—from early seed investment, friends/family and angel investors, through later stage venture capital funding. Meet Jeff, a member of the team.
Roux Institute picks 10 startups, including 5 from Maine, for next accelerator cohort
The Roux Institute at Northeastern University recently announced the 10 startups accepted to its new Founder Residency cohort, an accelerator program focused on serving founders from populations that historically have lacked access to investment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
The 12-month program, which kicked off this week, includes five startups from Maine, with the rest coming from California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Chile. The Roux provides each founding team with a $25,000 living stipend in the form of a non-dilutive grant.
The five Maine startups are Chargely, P3RD, Reach My Teach, Small Wins Dashboard, and Zal.ai.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
Pumpspotting raises $2.2M to cont
Pumpspotting, a B2B breastfeeding support platform based in Kittery, announced earlier this month that it raised $2.2 million to fund its ongoing business development efforts.
The company said the new funding “will support enterprise acceleration, continue pumpspotting’s commercial product expansion and allow them to launch pumpspotting Healthcare.” Pumpspotting previously raised $1.15 million in 2021.
Sincere Corporation and Maine Venture Fund led the round, which also included Unum Business Ventures and the Maine Technology Institute.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
Shoot for the stars: New pitch contest for space-themed startup ideas happening in November
The Maine Space Grant Consortium, along with the Maine Space Corp. and Maine Center for Entrepreneurs, is launching a new pitch event for entrepreneurs with space-themed startup ideas that could contribute to Maine’s efforts to foster a flourishing space industry.
The event will take place at the Maine Space Conference, scheduled to take place in early November in Portland, and is part of the Maine Space 3030 campaign to make Maine “an integral player in the emerging global network of suborbital and orbital transportation to space.”
Deadline to apply for the pitch event is Oct. 6. Applicants must be based in New England, but don’t need to currently own a business or be involved in the space industry as long as they can demonstrate how their idea will support Maine’s space economy.
More info can be found here.
✅ Don’t miss Maine’s premier live pitch event, where five Maine founders will compete live for a $50,000 cash prize.
Maine native and former Hannaford exec arrested for defrauding investors in his AI startup
Michael Brackett, a Maine native and former Hannaford exec, was arrested in Maine last month by federal authorities after being indicted on charges of defrauding investors in Centricity Inc., a New York-based AI startup he co-founded in 2019.
Brackett is accused of lying about his company’s revenue figures to an investor who subsequently wired him $500,000, according to the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan. Brackett, who now allegedly lives in Switzerland, shut down the company shortly after receiving the money, according to the indictment.
Brackett grew up in Bath and helped run his family’s grocery store, Brackett’s Market IGA, before joining Hannaford Supermarkets, where he managed its $650 million dairy portfolio, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Brackett co-founded Centricity alongside Jason Nichols, the former head of artificial intelligence at WalMart, according a 2020 news brief about Centricity’s launch published in Brunswick’s Times Record newspaper.
The company claimed it monitored “almost a billion points of internet traffic daily” and then used AI to predict product trends that could help brick-and-mortar grocery stores and other retailers “make proactive decisions that are aligned with customers’ desires – now, and in the future.”
The news release claimed Centricity was backed by VC firm Bowery Capital, as well as other “Silicon Valley investors,” and the founder of a major East Coast grocery conglomerate.
Brackett is charged with one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, each of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
/ Funding Corner
I occasionally use this section to aggregate funding-related news I’ve gleaned from Form Ds companies have filed with the SEC. Please note: These blurbs only reflect what the company reported to the SEC; I have not independently confirmed the details.
Nearpeer Inc., a Portland-based edtech startup that aims to improve the retention and graduation rates for college students, reported earlier this month that it raised $406,000 in debt and/or other securities—such as options, warrants, or convertible debt—from 10 investors.
Mobile Price Card Inc., a Bangor-based company that provides in-store marketing technology to wireless retailers, filed a Form D in August stating that it raised $2.9 million in equity financing from seven investors.
Memoro Inc., a startup in South Portland offering a streaming media platform designed to stimulate memories of people living with Alzheimers and dementia, reported in June raising $50,000 in equity capital.
Reconnect Inc., a Cumberland-based company developing software and hardware to improve outcomes for individuals in the justice system, reported back in May that it raised $2.2 million in equity financing from 21 investors.
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/ Briefly Mentioned
📝 Bite-sized news items from Maine’s startup community and beyond
Here’s an interview with Katie Weiler, founder of Viable Gear, a Portland-based startup with the mission to replace equipment made from petroleum-based plastics used in the fishing and aquaculture industries with equally viable gear (see what I did there? 😉) made out of a seaweed polymer.
BostInno has published a series of articles about Portland’s startup community (unfortunately, you need to be a paid subscriber to read them): a profile of KinoTek, a look at the impact the Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator and Roux’s own accelerators have had, and WEX launching its $100 million EV-focused venture fund. (I had coffee with one of the reporters a while back and glad to see they pursued a few of the stories I suggested.)
Mainebiz published a guide to Maine’s various entrepreneurial hubs: Portland, Brunswick, Bangor & Orono, Skowhegan, Augusta & Waterville, Lewiston & Auburn, and Presque Isle.
ElleVet Sciences, a pet-health startup in Portland, recently received a federal patent covering its specific formulation of hemp extracts (i.e., CBD and CBDA) for the treatment of pain and other conditions in animals.
/ ICYMI
MyHealthMath merges with UK company, growth planned in Portland
5 Questions about the Maine Startup Challenge with Nina Scheepers, principal at Maine Venture Fund
Local food ecommerce platform Forager acquired by Canadian firm
ReachMyTeach, an edtech startup, wins 2023 Top Gun pitch event
👩🏽💻 Startup Founders & Hiring Managers: Are you looking to hire skilled talent now, or in the near future? The Greater Portland CareerCenter is organizing a free Startup Job Fair this fall. We are seeking all stages of startups interested in participating. If interested, please contact Krista.Campbell@maine.gov for more information.
/ Jobs
If you apply for a job you see here, let them know you saw the opportunity in Maine Startups Insider.
+ Benefeature, a relatively new insurance-tech startup, is looking to add two Sales Account Executives to its team.
+ Theory and Principle, a legal-tech product design and development startup in Portland, is hiring a Senior Full Stack Developer.
+ VETRO Inc., a SaaS company in Portland, is looking for a Senior Devops Engineer, a Senior Software Engineer, and a Telecom Product Manager.
+ HighByte, an industrial software startup, is hiring an Account Executive.
+ Nearpeer, a Portland-based edtech startup that aims to improve student retention and graduation, is hiring a Director of Marketing and a Sales Director.
+ MedRhythms, a Portland-based digital therapeutics startup, is looking to hire several Neurologic Music Therapists.
+ Defendify, a cybersecurity startup in Portland, is hiring a Senior Software Engineer (SaaS) and a Sales Development Rep.
Seeking a full-stack engineer? A technical co-founder? A sales or biz dev superstar? Send me your job postings to make this a great resource!
/ Calendar
Please send me your event or calendar item for possible inclusion.
Roux Institute’s Healthcare Innovation Start Summit
Fri.-Sat., Sept. 29-30 — UNE’s Innovation Hall in Portland
Application Deadline: Maine Startup Challenge
Fri., Sept. 29
VR / AR Hack Night
Tues., Oct. 3, 7-10 p.m. — Big Room Studios (30 Danforth St #105) in Portland
Big Gig Pitch Event
Tues., Oct. 3, 5:30-7 p.m. — Maine Savings Amphitheater in Bangor
Grow Your Business Online- Create My Site
Tues., Oct. 3, 10-11:30 a.m. — Online
Startup Marketing on a Budget
Wed., Oct. 4, noon-1 p.m. — Online
EforAll Maine Pitch Contest
Wed., Oct. 4, 6-8 p.m. — Lewiston Public Library
The Better Maine Conference: Growing a Diverse Workforce
Thurs., Oct. 5, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. — Downtown Waterville
The Maine Biomedical Innovation and Technology Conference
Oct. 17-18 — Sheraton Sable Oaks in Portland
Maine Startup Challenge Showcase
Wed., Oct. 18, 4-6 p.m. —Roux Institute in Portland
AI Business Leaders Conference
Wed., Oct. 18, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. — Northeastern University in Boston
Roux Institute’s Workforce Innovation Start Summit
Oct. 20-21 — UNE’s Harold Alfond Forum in Biddeford
Gorham Savings Bank’s LaunchPad Pitch Competition
Tues., Oct. 24, 4:30-6:30 p.m. — Innovation Hall on UNE's Portland Campus
The Maine Space Conference
Nov. 5-7 — Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland
Blue Venture Investment Summit
Thurs., Nov. 9, 8 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. — Ocean Gateway in Portland
Speaker Series: Daring Women Shaping a New Economy 2.0
Tue., Nov. 14, 12:30-5:30 p.m. — Kensington, N.H.
Opportunity Knocks: The Growing Blue Economy in The Gulf of Maine & Beyond
Wed., Nov. 29 • 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. • Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland