Madison startup Curate Solutions Inc. has completed a $1.65 million seed-plus round of funding, said co-founder and chief executive officer Taralinda Willis.
The lead investor was Badger Fund of Funds’ Idea Fund of La Crosse, and Indianapolis- and Cincinnati-based venture capital firm Allos Ventures was a “significant contributor.”
Founded in 2016, Curate has developed artificial intelligence software used to gather information from public municipal meeting minutes and agendas to provide construction firms with early information about construction projects for which they may want to submit a bid. It has now been used by more than 125 businesses and associations across 21 states. The company now has 16 employees.
As of May, Curate was seeking investors for a $1 million round, with 30% to go, to finance its national expansion. Willis said Curate took an oversubscription on the round, and plans to complete its growth into all 50 states by year-end. The company has now raised $2.2 million in total venture capital funding.
“Curate is an essential tool for businesses and associations to monitor local decisions – there are 89,000 municipalities in the United States and keeping up-to-date with local decisions is an impossible task prior to the development of our software,” Willis said in a release. “We are excited to put this new investment to work to increase our team and accelerate our growth in all 50 states where local governments are having a more significant impact than ever on development, health, transportation, housing and economic issues that affect local, national and international businesses.”
“The Idea Fund is thrilled to be partnering with Curate again in this round of funding,” said Jon Horne, managing director of Idea Fund of La Crosse. “Curate has built out the initial concept (and) is now ready to scale. Co-founders Taralinda Willis and Dale Willis have incredible vision and direction in this solution to a decades-old problem.”
