Tech activity is sailing along the lakefront, with a variety of companies making new growth moves last week. Find out how these Windy City startups are building out their business. This is the Built In Chicago weekly refresh.
Kin Insurance goes public via SPAC. Offering a direct-to-consumer life insurance platform, Kin is planning to go public via special purpose acquisition company Omnichannel Acquisition Corp. The deal, set to close in Q4 2021, will provide Kin with about $242 million in funding that it plans to invest in expanding its product nationally and hiring new talent. It plans to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “KI.” [Built In Chicago]
Paro secured $25M. Offering enterprises a platform to help them connect with specialized freelance finance talent, Paro has seen significant growth recently and is preparing for even more. The company closed on a Madrona-led Series B round with plans to fuel national growth, to further develop its AI-powered marketplace product and to (eventually) expand internationally. [Paro]
Chicago Tech Quote of the Week
Nature’s Fynd raised $350M. The developer of alternative meat and dairy products specializes in a fungi-derived protein called Fy. The company just pulled in a hefty Series C round led by SoftBank that it’s looking to put toward expanding its production capacity, establishing partnerships and growing its product line. Nature’s Fynd has its eye on a national launch sometime this year. [Built In Chicago]
OppFi goes public. The Chicago-based fintech platform has begun trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbols “OPFI” and “OPFI WS” following its merger with FG New American Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition corporation. OppFi CEO Jared Kaplan and CFO Shiven Shah will continue to lead the company under the deal. [Business Wire]
Rise Gardens got $9M. This company provides a mobile app to compliment its users’ IoT-connected hydroponic vegetable gardens. Rise Gardens announced the close of its oversubscribed Series A round led by TELUS Ventures. It’s investing the cash in product development, inventory, manufacturing, hiring and market expansion. The company previously raised a $2.6 million seed round last year. [TechCrunch]
Fast Radius to go public via SPAC. The company provides engineers with a cloud manufacturing and digital supply chain platform to ultimately help them fulfill orders for custom tech parts. Fast Radius is merging with ECP Environmental Growth Opportunities Corp. in a deal that will value the new company at $1.4 billion. The $445 million Fast Radius will receive in proceeds from the deal will go toward customer acquisition, software development and factory expansion. [PR Newswire]
