This week, the organization hosted a virtual “demo day,” allowing 13 of its portfolio companies to make four-minute pitches to 250 investors from around the country. The hope is the brief presentations will ignite investors’ interest, generate follow-up meetings, and ultimately get the funds flowing.
Everything we do at 43North is community-first, and for that reason we have made the incredibly difficult decision to cancel our $5M startup competition for 2020. It is our responsibility to do what is best for our community, and with the great level of uncertainty surrounding the global pandemic, moving forward as planned would be contradictory to that commitment.
43North moved into its sleek new offices inside Seneca One tower just a few weeks before the state put much of the economy on pause. The seven prize winners from last October’s 43North competition switched to working from home, while remaining in the region.
Barbershop management platform and 43North portfolio company Squire announced today that it has closed a $34M Series B, led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm CRV. Squire received a $650K investment from 43North in 2017, and currently has a customer success and operations team headquartered in Buffalo at Seneca One Tower.
A Buffalo startup played a key role in helping researchers obtain quick approval for a Covid-19 test that relies on a person’s saliva, rather than using swabs.
Keeping kids engaged while parents work from home – a familiar challenge nowadays – was the $10,000 first-place project in 43North’s “Code:Buffalo” hackathon.
Two local startups have received infusions of capital to the tune of a combined $10 million. CleanSlate UV, which makes technology that disinfects mobile devices, raised $7 million in funding, led by Prolog Ventures. SparkCharge, a maker of portable electrical charging devices aimed at serving the automotive industry, closed on a $3.3 million round of seed funding, led by PJC.
Odoo, which offers a suite of business management software, is based in Belgium and has a large office in San Francisco. The company has more than 900 employees, and expects to eventually hire up to 300 in Buffalo.
SparkCharge came to Buffalo last year after winning the $1 million grand prize in the 43North business competition. The company is poised to further solidify its presence here after completing a $3.3 million round of private financing.
A European technology company with its major U.S. base in California has confirmed plans to occupy one floor of Seneca One Tower for its new East Coast operations center, with the potential to take up more space as the business grows.
Hundreds of hackers are working to build something for Buffalo this week. That was the prompt that 43North gave them for this year’s event, which they switched to a virtual competition in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The startup – which splits operations between Buffalo and Toronto – announced that it has raised a $7 million round of venture capital. The money will support heavy demand not just in health care but also food processing, biotechnology, hospitality and corporate offices.