šø Two Maine startups raise capital, SVB's local ripple effects, and more...
āļø Good afternoon. This is the 266th edition of Maine Startups Insider.
Hereās a round up of news and goings-on in Maineās startup community over the last month or so, from a few Maine startups raising capital to the local ripple effects of Silicon Valley Bankās failure.
-Whit
/ News
VETRO raises $7M in growth capital
VETRO, the Portland-based developer of fiber management software for the telecom industry, last week announced itās raised $7 million in growth capital.
Existing investors Baltimore-based Resolve Growth Partners and Maine Venture Fund led the round, which the company said would be used to help accelerate product innovation and global expansion.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider Ā»
š MSI is sponsored by Eaton Peabody, a Maine law firm with particular expertise in structuring startup investment transactionsāfrom early seed investment, friends/family and angel investors, through later stage venture capital funding. Meet Jeff, a member of the team.
In other financing newsā¦
BlueTrace raises $4.3M to scale its seafood traceability software business
BlueTrace, a Castine-based software startup that provides traceability solutions for the seafood industry, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding to continue scaling its business and modernizing the seafood industry, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The fundingāled by York IE, Maine Venture Fund, and CEI Ventures, with participation from SeaAhead and several angel investorsābrings BlueTraceās fundraising total to more than $5 million.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider Ā»
Did Silicon Valley Bankās failure impact Maineās startup community?
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank sent ripples throughout the countryās banking and tech sectors, but was there much impact here in Maine?
If you ask Liam Sullivan, founder and CEO of Alakazam Inc., a local startup building a cloud-based extended reality platform, the answer is a definite āyes.ā Alakazam banked with SVB and was caught unable to access its funds, making it difficult to pay its handful of employees, according to the Portland Press Herald. The company, which is now banking at least temporarily with Bangor Savings Bank, was lucky to have an investor check on hand to help it cover payroll.
āIt was an exceptionally bad week,ā Sullivan told the newspaper.
While Alakazam was impacted, as well as Mingle Health, another Maine startup the newspaper identified as having banked with SVB, the broader verdict from others within Maineās business community is that the bankās failureāand subsequent bank failuresādid not have a widespread impact in Maine or its banking or business sectors.
Read more at the Press Herald Ā»
/ Briefly Mentioned
š Bite-sized news items from Maineās startup community and beyond
Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), a Lowell, Mass.-based nonprofit, is launching a business accelerator in Maine focused on serving underserved entrepreneurs. The program was made possible by the Maine Technology Institute, which will fund the program for three years. Mainebiz has more.
Maine ranked #39 on Wallethubās list of the Most and Least Innovative States. The rankings were based on 22 key indicators of āinnovation-friendliness,ā ranging from share of STEM professionals to R&D spending per capita to tech-company density. These lists donāt tell the whole story and are based on lagging data, but still worth having on the radar as the rankings do get picked up by news outlets and inform larger narratives.
Jason Harkins has been named executive dean of the Maine Business School, effective April 1. Readers of this newsletter may remember that besides teaching at UMaine, Harkins also co-founded and led the Scratchpad Accelerator in Bangor.
Skowhegan Savings Bank is sponsoring the Dirigo Labs Pitch Competition Prize of $25,000.
We got an update from Colby College magazine on Josh Kim, the student-turned-startup-founder who took a leave of absence from the school a few years ago to build The Cubby, an online marketplace for college artists and makers. After growing the business, Kim told the schoolās magazine he sold the startupās underlying technology to a group in Denver and split the money between the team members, all of whom had equity in the company. MSI published an article about The Cubby back in 2021.
Gorham Savings Bank has moved its LaunchPad startup-pitch competition to the fall after hosting its every spring since its inception in 2013. The bank said it was moving the competition to the fall in part because of how busy Maineās entrepreneurial ecosystem is in the spring. This year will mark the 10th annual LaunchPad event.
/ ICYMI
Healthcare startups take home top prizes at Maine Startup Challenge
Finetune, a Maine Venture Fund portfolio company, is acquired
/ Jobs
If you apply for a job you see here, let them know you saw the opportunity in MaineĀ Startups Insider.Ā
+Ā VETRO Inc.,Ā a SaaS company in Portland,Ā is looking forĀ a Product Marketing Manager and a Senior Software Engineer, among other roles.
+ The Maine Angels is hiring a part-timeĀ Operations and InvestmentĀ Associate.
+ HighByte, an industrial software startup, is hiring a Software Developer, Sales Engineer, and an Account Executive.
+ Theory and Principle, a legal-tech product design and development startup in Portland, is hiring a Software Project Manager and a Product Manager.
+ KinoTek, a Portland-based digital health startup, is hiring a business development rep.
+ Nearpeer, a Portland-based edtech startup that aims to improve student retention and graduation, is hiring a Director of Marketing and a Sales Director.
+Ā MedRhythms, a Portland-based digital therapeutics startup, is hiring for several engineering positions, including a Senior Audio Software Engineer, Senior Backend Engineer, Frontend Engineer, and a React Native Developer.
+Ā Defendify,Ā a cybersecurity startup in Portland,Ā 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!Ā
/ Calendar
April HODL Maine Meet-Up
Mon., April 3, 6-8 p.m. ā Luxolo Financial in Portland
VR/AR Hack Night
Tues., April 4, 7-10 p.m. ā Big Room Studios in Portland
UpStart Maine Innovation Nights
Wed., April 5, 5:30-7:30 p.m. ā Eastport Hall in Bangor (part of UMAās Bangor campus)
āThe Lean Launchā Workshop
Wed., April 5, 6-7:15 p.m. ā Dirigo Labs in Waterville
Roux Institute Start Summit: Outdoor Rec & Tech
April 6 + 7 ā Skowhegan
Big Gig Entrepreneur Pitch-Off Finale
Tues., April 11, 5:30-7:30 p.m. ā KANĆ, 283 Main St., Old Town
Game Hack Night
Tues., April 11, 7-10 p.m. ā Big Room Studios in Portland
Application Deadline ā Maine Angels Funding
Wed., April 12, 5 p.m.
āThe Big Ideaā Workshop
Wed., April 19, 6-7:15 p.m. ā Dirigo Labs in Waterville
From Research to Real World: Commercialization Training Series
Thurs., April 20, 4-5 p.m. ā Virtual
Roux Instituteās Future of Healthcare Founder Residency Kickoff Event
Wed., April 26, 5-7 p.m. ā The Roux Institute in Portland
āThe Lean Launchā Workshop
Wed., April 26, 6-7:15 p.m. ā Dirigo Labs in Waterville
Roux Institute Start Summit: Innovation in Coastal Communities
April 28 + 29 ā Rockland
Application Deadline ā Roux Institute Founder Residency
April 30
Dirigo Labs Startup Pitch Event
Thurs., May 4, 5-8 p.m. ā Maine Film Center in Waterville