Form D Friday: Nanotech, robotics, energy companies raise $172M

Form D Friday is a Boston Business Journal feature highlighting regulatory filings from Boston-area companies raising capital for new projects or expanding their businesses. Form D reports are a type of SEC form used to file a notice of exempt offerings of securities. The SEC requires companies file the notice within 15 days after the first sale of securities in the offering. These forms don’t include a lot of details but can provide clues as to what investors and business owners are planning. If you have any tips or comments about new Boston-area fundraises, email Lucy at lmaffei@bizjournals.com

Nanotechnology, robotics, solar energy — and the usual large fundraise in biotech. The companies we tracked between Aug. 10 and Aug. 14 raised over $172 million. Here are some of the companies that raised money this week:

Pyramid Biosciences: $8.8 million. Pyramid Biosciences Inc. raised $8,797,942 in a new offering of equity and other securities, according to a Form D filed on Aug. 13. A total of 48 investors already participated in the offering, which has a total amount of $18 million. The company is developing therapeutics for disorders that are regulated by the TRK family, a family of receptors crucial for the cellular growth and the nervous system.

Dyne Therapeutics: $115 million. Waltham-based Dyne Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapies for patients with muscle diseases, closed $115 million in an equity financing round. New investors Vida Ventures and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company) led the round. In a Form D filed on Aug. 13, the company disclosed it raised $115,699,984 from 19 investors.

Manifold Biotechnologies: $5.4 million. Manifold Biotechnologies Inc. raised $5,400,694 in a new equity offering, according to a Form D filed on Aug. 10. Six investors participated. "Manifold Bio is a VC-backed biotech startup from George Church’s lab engineering the next generation of biologics," according to the company's website. CEO is Gleb Kuznetsov, who got a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University in 2018.

Actnano: $10 million. Nanotechnology company Actnano Inc. raised $10,027,243 in a new equity round, according to a Form D filed on Aug. 13. The company is developing thin-film coatings that can protect materials from water damage and harsh environmental conditions, with applications in automotive and consumer electronics. Actnano was founded in 2012. On its site, the company says it has offices in Boston, Germany, South Korea and China.

Root AI: $7.2 million. Root AI Inc., a Woburn-based robotics company that has developed a specialized crop-picking robot, has brought in $7.2 million in seed funding, sister publication BostInno reported this week.The oversubscribed round was led by Rob May of PJC. Josh Lessing and Ryan Knopf, both veterans of Bedford startup Soft Robotics, co-founded the company in 2018. In a Form D filed on Aug. 10, the company said it raised $7,904,896 in equity.

Solstice Power Technologies: $3.1 million. Cambridge solar energy company Solstice Power Technologies Inc. raised $3,132,500, according to an amended Form D filed on Aug. 10. A total of 19 investors participated in the debt offering. In May, the company also raised just short than $1 million in debt. Last year, Solstice Power Technologies (formerly known as Solstice Initiative Inc.) was awarded $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand access to solar power to low-income communities.

Zmags: $5.2 million. Boston-based Zmags Corp. raised $5,250,000 in a new equity round, according to a Form D filed on Aug. 10. One investor participated in the offering. The company, a provider of marketing software for e-commerce, has offices in Boston and London. David Powell, a certified public accountant and former corporate controller at Newton-based TechTarget Inc. (Nasdaq: TTGT), is the CEO.

ClimaCell: $15.9 million. ClimaCell Inc., a microweather tech startup whose platform generates high-definition weather maps, raised $15,932,876 in an equity round, according to an amended Form D surfaced on Aug. 10. Two investors have participated in the offering. Last month, the Boston-based company said it raised $23 million in a Series C round led by Pitango Growth and Square Peg Capital. This spring, as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the startup economy, ClimaCell furloughed 10 employees.

Stavvy: $1.5 million. Stavvy Inc., a fintech company that designs software to manage security risk, eliminate fragmentation and increase speed and transparency in real estate transactions, raised $1.5 million in debt, according to a Form D surfaced on Aug. 10. One investor participated in the offering, which has a total amount of $4.5 million. Kosta Ligris co-founded Stavvy in 2018, after graduating from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

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