FUELING THE FUTURE: Record-setting Series A round in Nebraska | John Deere invests $250M in robotics & AI | Google & Ohio
- COLUMBUS, OH—Google Cloud has committed to expanding its presence in the Columbus, Ohio region by investing an additional $1 billion into its data center operations. The plan is to triple the size of its operations.
- OMAHA, NE—Insurtech startup Breeze raised $10 million in record-setting Series A round. It’s the largest first round of institutional capital ever invested in a Nebraska software startup.
- MOLINE, IL—Deere & Company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bear Flag Robotics, a Silicon Valley company that retrofits existing tractors with patented artificial intelligence (AI) technology, for $250 million. The deal will accelerate the development and delivery of automation and autonomy on the farm.
- COLUMBIA, MO—Construction fleet and digital solutions startup EquipmentShare is using a recent $230 million investment round to launch a new core tech solution and expand its national footprint.
- INDIANAPOLIS—San Diego-based Seismic has acquired Lessonly, an Indianapolis-based developer of sales training, coaching and enablement solutions. Seismic plans to keep 19-employee-strong Lessonly’s existing office in Indianapolis when the acquisition closes.
- AMES, IA—As stricter federal water quality requirements are set, many municipalities and industries struggle to meet those requirement cost- effectively. Gross-Wen Technologies, which has a patented wastewater treatment technology that uses algae to clean wastewater, raised $6.5 million in a Series A funding round to advance its tech.
- BLOOMINGTON, IN—SummaForte, a company that produces health and wellness products for competitive video game players, has received $460,000 from the IU Angel Network.
- NASHVILLE, TN—Belmont University is investing $60 million in the launch of its new Belmont Data Collaborative. The goal is to deliver curricula and programming to help fill the need for data skills in nearly every workforce environment.