Despite the global pandemic, dozens of emerging startups in between early-stage and established companies raised about $200 million in 2020, found entrepreneur Scot Wingo, who released the 2021 Triangle Tweener List that tracks technology companies with at least $1 million in sales revenue or 10 full time employees on payroll.

That came in a very challenging year, as the coronavirus pandemic contributed to a “bi-furcated situation” when it came to company growth, said Wingo.  The fortunes of companies specializing in travel, youth sports, restaurants, or music and bands turned from bullish to bearish dramatically, while trends toward e-commerce, at home products or services, and on demand services or products accelerated dramatically.

While the total dollars invested in the companies on this year’s “Tweener” list were down 54% after peaking in 2019, about $200 million poured into companies, often in $1-2 million investments, found Wingo.

Based on Wingo’s tracking, about $150 million was invested in Triangle Tweeners in 2018.  For 2019, as the Tweener list grew, so too did the total amount invested in Tweener companies, swelling to $300 million, including mega deals for four Triangle companies that totaled nearly half of all invested dollars for the year.  Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, the nearly 230 companies on the Triangle Tweener list raised about $200 million in 2020, found Wingo.  The list of funding is below:

Local entrepreneur releases 2021 Triangle “Tweener” list

  • $40m — Well Dot — 12/14/20 — Series A — General Catalyst, John Doerr, Mosaic health Solutions
  • $30m — ServiceTrade — 8/4/20 — BCVP and Frontier Growth
  • $28.6m — Virtue Labs — 11/12/20 — undisclosed investors
  • $26.6m — Teamworks — Series C — Delta-V Capital, General Catalyst, and many more
  • $16.4m — Second Nature (FilterEasy) — Arsenal, Bonaventure, Idea Fund, etc.
  • $15m — Zaloni — 9/30/20
  • $11.1m — ETON Solutions — 6/25/20
  • $7.7m — K4Connect — AXA Venture Partners, Forte Ventures, Intel Capital, Revolution Ventures — 4/17/20
  • $6m — Levitate — BCVP, Tippet Venture Partners — the company raised another $8m in 2021, but that round isn’t reflected in this notation of 2020 funding
  • $5m — Hip eCommerce — Next Coast Ventures — 10/29/20
  • $3.8m — The Climate Service — Persei Ventures — 4/14/20
  • $3.5m — Global Data Consortium — Refinitive, Village Capital — 6/1/20
  • $3.3m — MemberHub — AIM Group, Venture South, Miami Angels — 5/8/20
  • $3m — Tyrata — 10/21/20
  • $2.8m — Corevist — Jurassic Capital — 3/1/20
  • $2m — LearnPlatform — 1/16/20
  • $2m — Reveal Mobile — IDEA Fund, BCVP, Alerion, Charleston Angel Partners — 4/28/20
  • $1.2m — CureMint — Cofounders Capital — 4/27/20
  • $1m — Improved Nature — 1/13/20
  • $1m — ZynBit — 3/27/20
  • $800k — FeedTrail
  • $250k — Revibe Technologies
  • (amount not announced) — Diveplane — Calibrate Ventures — 10/27/20
  • (amount not announced) — Field2Base — Black and Veatch — 7/13/20
  • (amount not announced) — Keona Health — Riverside Acceleration Capital — 3/25/20
  • (amount not announced) — WeaveUp — Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores — 1/15/20

Which Triangle tech companies joined “Tweener” list this year?