Welcome to Last Week In Venture, a weekly roundup of funding rounds raised by interesting companies that you may have missed.

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A lot of other stuff was underway. Elon Musk and Joe Rogan blazed it up; if anonymous op-eds are to be believed, the U.S. executive branch appears to have delaminated itself from its titular executive; people burned their sneakers because a shoe company capitalized on a campaign against police violence; and news broke that Theranos, the beleaguered blood testing company featured in the recent best-selling book Bad Blood, plans to dissolve. What a week!

In spite of all that, though, investors continued to funnel staggering amounts of capital into startups. It’s easy to overlook what companies outside the unicorn spotlight are contributing to startup ecosystems around the world. But that doesn’t mean their stories aren’t worth sharing.

Here we go!

Market Hot Spot: Chicago

Chicago-based companies have been on a fundraising tear, and the past week’s headlines potentially point to an uptick of investor interest in the Windy City.

Here are some highlights from the past week:

Crunchbase News broke the story that SpotHero, which says it’s North America’s largest parking reservation marketplace, raised an additional $10 million from prior investors. A representative from the company characterized the deal as a “top-up” of the company’s last fundraise, but CEO Mark Lawrence pointed out that his company’s valuation was “up significantly” from its last funding round.
The following day, rival firm ParkWhiz announced a $20 million Series D round, which was led by NewSpring Capital and had participation from Jump Capital, Baird Capital, and Beringea.
Separate and apart from the parking industry, a Chicago-based food industry startup closed a big round this week. Crunchbase News covered Farmer’s Fridge‘s $30 million Series C round, which was led by Innovation Endeavors. The company, which has self-serve kiosks offering fresh salads and wraps throughout Chicago and Milwaukee, intends to use its new capital to expand to cities throughout the Midwest.
In the logistics business, there’s ShipBob, which “provides Amazon-level logistics to small to mid-sized businesses.” The company announced it raised $40 million in a Series C round led by Silicon Valley-based Menlo Ventures.

And that’s just the past week. Recently, Crunchbase News covered construction technology startup IngeniousIO’s $4 million fundraise. Other companies, including Brideside, Tempus, Attune Medical, Codeverse, and Popular Pays, have also closed funding within the past month.

Other Rounds From Interesting Companies

In this weekly roundup, we also like to share a selection of other funding rounds that may have flown under the radar.

Let’s see what’s on deck.

Some folks are lucky enough to have a vegetable patch in the backyard. Others may work in an office with plant-laden walls. Natufia Labs is an Estonian startup seeking to capitalize on recent interests in indoor and vertical farming and fresh vegetables to create what it describes on its website as “kitchen gardens” for home and commercial applications. Picture a fridge crossed with a greenhouse. Natufia Labs raised $1.2 million in a seed round with investors including Techstars Dubai and GINCO Investments.
Uppercase, a marketplace for brick-and-mortar storefront space, raised $3.5 million in a seed round, led by Lerer Hippeau, which had participation from CRV, SV Angel, Third Kind Venture Capital, and independent angel investor Tom Williams. The company asserts on its blog that “brands truly stand out once they grow from dot com to zip code.” Previously online-only brands (like Casper, Warby Parker, and Indochino) are opening physical locations, so this company may be early to an emerging trend.
Myki raised $4 million in a Series A round. Myki is a Lebanese cybersecurity company building password generators and managers, and an authentication system for over 250,000 users worldwide. It raised from a number of Middle Eastern investors, including Leap Ventures and B&Y Venture Partners (both based in Beirut), as well as BECO Capital (based in Dubai). According to an article in Forbes Middle East announcing the round, the company is intending to use this fresh capital to build out operations in the U.S.

For those of you who made it to the end, a little gift we’re abuzz about: a gif of some workers bumbling about around the hive entrance. Here’s to hoping your weekend is the bee’s knees! ?

Last Week In Venture graphic created by JD Battles. Cover and thumbnail photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash.