GI Therapeutics raises $50m | Robots for salespeople

Oncology company GI Therapeutics raises $50m

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC–Oncology company G1 Therapeutics announced the closing of an underwritten public offering of 7.7 million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $6.50 per share. The company received about $50.1 million in gross proceeds through the transaction before deductions. The company’s product, Cosela, is a myelosuppression agent approved in February 2021 as an adjunct to chemotherapy in later stage small cell lung cancer patients. The $50 million public offering will help advance the company’s drug development programs, according to a securities filing.

Robots for salespeople

KANSAS CITY, MO–Saile, Inc., maker of “robots for salespeople,” closed on a $1.35 million seed funding round led by Georgia-based Valor Ventures, with KCRise Fund participating. Saile offers a SaaS AI solution that automates the sales prospecting life cycle through “Sailebots” that perform Digital Labor sales tasks for mid-market and global enterprise businesses. Sailebots are personality-driven AI technologies that generate actionable revenue opportunities, as well as read and react to text. The money will be used to double the company’s team and invest heavily in engineering and sales.

Iowa startups get innovation funding

IOWA–The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) has approved innovation funding for two Iowa startups located in Coralville and Des Moines. The first company is Coralville-based CartilaGen, a medical technology startup spun out from the University of Iowa’s Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation. CartilaGen’s tech offers a therapeutic capable of preventing osteoarthritis after a traumatic injury.

The second startup is Des Moines-based Hummingbirds, a marketplace that helps brands find and work with hyper-local content creators and influencers. Companies hoping to spread the news about their brand set up a campaign inside the Hummingbirds platform. Once approved, hummingbirds (influential locals) get notified of new campaigns, which they will review to see if they will engage in the campaign.