FUELING THE FUTURE: AgBiome lands $116M | $175M for Madison tech center | $36M for data innovation
- RALEIGH, NC—AgBiome, a company that discovers and develops innovative biological and trait products for crop protection, has landed $116 million in a funding round co-led by Blue Horizon, Novalis LifeSciences and multiple new and existing investors. The latest investment gives AgBiome over $200 million in total funding to date.
- PITTSBURGH, PA—Cascadia Capital, a Seattle-based investment banking firm founded more than two decades ago, filed last month to raise $150 million for its own SPAC called Cascadia Acquisition Corp. The firm aims to purchase a tech company as part of the “fourth industrial revolution,” in sectors such as AI, computer vision and blockchain and is currently eyeing the Pittsburgh area.
- INDIANA—Fueled with a $36 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership has launched an initiative called AnalytiXIN to promote innovations in data science throughout Indiana. The strategy is to build connections between the state’s manufacturing and life sciences companies and university researchers who can help them use AI and data analytics to tackle big challenges.
- MADISON, WI—A $175 million commitment is helping to launch University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences, a new beacon for tech in Wisconsin housed in a state-of-the-art facility in the center of campus. A commitment of $125 million came from alumni John and Tashia Morgridge, along with $50 million from WARF, a nonprofit foundation that provides patenting, licensing and technology development for UW–Madison research.