Regulation crowdfunding continues to push forward, with close to $70 million raised by nearly 700 companies from unaccredited investors since the Securities and Exchange Commission greenlit the practice in May 2016.
The data gleaned by StartEngine from SEC crowdfunding filings shines a light on some trends in the industry, some good, some troubling.
Bad news first.
The egalitarian spirit of equity crowdfunding doesn’t seem to have fully translated to equality between the sexes. Just 23 percent funding dollars went to female founders, according to the last two months of data pulled by Los Angeles-based StartEngine.
The good news: that’s markedly better than the rate women-founded companies receive money from accredited investors. PitchBook found that less than 5 percent of venture capital funding went to women in 2016.
Series B for 3D
Divergent 3D, a 3-D printing design shop and manufacturer, last week announced plans to close a $65 million Series B financing round in mid-December. The Series B round also has an investor option of $40 million.
The Torrance-based startup was founded by its Chief Executive Kevin Czinger in 2014, and plans to provide its 3-D printing and design services to automotive makers. Czinger also founded electric car manufacturer Coda Automotive in Pico Robertson in 2009. That startup sold about 100 electric sedans before it declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013.
Divergent 3D said in a statement that the company devised a system to build car frames out of carbon fiber tubing and custom 3-D printed metal joints. The firm claims its methods can produce cars in large volumes at significantly lower costs than traditional manufacturing methods.
“The Divergent system allows automakers and technology companies to innovate at a much faster rate – scaling up volume production at only a fraction of the cost while also alleviating environmental damage,” Czinger said in a statement.
O Luxe Holdings, an investment company in Hong Kong, led the investment into Divergent 3D. Other financiers included Horizons Ventures, Shanghai Alliance Investment and Altran Technologies.
The Series B round comes less than a year after Divergent raised $23 million in Series A funds. The January raise was led by Horizons and included financing from Divergent strategic partner Altran, an aerospace and automotive service provider.
Deal Logistics
MNX Global Logistics, a Long Beach-based global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services, acquired Melbourne, Australia-based Logical Freight Solutions last week for an undisclosed sum.
The privately owned companies both transport goods for the biopharmaceutical, medical device, aviation and entertainment industries.
The acquisition widens the global scope of MNX, increasing its worldwide offices from 18 to 30, with a new emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region, officials said. LFS has offices in New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S.
“The pace of growth in patient-centric medicine, with its strict requirements for temperature-controlled transportation and time-definite, delivery, underscores the role that specialty time-critical logistics providers will continue to play in the life sciences and health care industries,” said MNX Chief Executive Paul J. Martins in a statement.
Have a deal tip? Henry Meier can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8321.
