Driving investment to tech critical to U.S. national security & more
Driving investment to tech critical to U.S. national security
NATIONAL–the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced a new joint effort to establish the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative (SBICCT), designed to grow investment in critical technologies vital to U.S. national security. This new partnership will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government effort to bolster America’s leadership in global innovation and to strengthen our national security by incubating and scaling technologies.
Heartland Ventures’ new fund to serve construction tech
COLUMBUS, OH–VC firm Heartland Ventures is making a huge investment in construction technology (Contech). The firm announced a $52 million fund targeted at high-growth tech startups with B2B strategies serving real estate, construction, manufacturing, and logistics. This fund, expected to include 20 investments made over four years at the Seed and Series A stages, is more than triple the size of Heartland’s debut fund.
Milwaukee startup lands billion dollar customers
MILWAUKEE, WI–Amla Commerce, a startup that offers a business-to-business account management tool called Znode, has landed Staples, Hilfiger, and now billion-dollar manufacturing company Bradley Corp. as customers. Bradley has adapted Znode to create customized, detail-filled e-commerce interfaces for each of its customers. A key feature of Znode is that it’s “headless.” That means it’s the high-speed data engine that runs behind a user interface, pulling a large suite of other systems together into a seamless package.