$40M fund to invest in Northeast Ohio | Climate change co. raises $4.2M

$40M fund to invest in Northeast Ohio

AKRON, OH—Interstate Fusion Ventures plans to raise its second fund at $40M to pursue an investment strategy targeting Northeast Ohio. Led by fund manager Bill Manby, Interstate Fusion Ventures will invest in 40-50 portfolio companies, continuing to focus on Northeast Ohio, but with a greater inclusion of companies in Silicon Valley and New York.

Climate change company raises $4.2M

MILWAUKEE, WI—Advanced Ionics, a startup developing devices to make climate-friendly industrial production, has raised $4.2 million to pilot its technology and grow its team. The company’s founder came to Milwaukee in 2018 for the WERCBench Labs accelerator program and then decided to stay. The fund was led by Boston’s Clean Energy Ventures. The SWAN Impact Network, an angel investing group in Texas, also contributed funding.

Real estate startup raises $2.6M

CHARLES, MO—Gravy, a startup that developed a mobile app designed to help renters become homeowners, has launched its tech after raising $2.6 million in seed funding. The investors were from a group of technology and real estate investors but their names were not disclosed.

SBIR grant to develop cattle vaccine

LINCOLN, NE—Human and animal health vaccine startup Thyreos has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to develop a new vaccine to protect against Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), a disease that causes respiratory illness in cattle.