Portfolio News: iBeat, the Lifesaving Smartwatch, Extends Seed Round to $4.5 Million; Builds Out Executive Bench with Hires from Apple and Stanford

iBeat, a wearable technology company empowering people to live longer lives, today announced it has closed another $3 million in funding, bringing its total seed stage funding to $4.5 million. New investors include WTI, SV Tech Ventures, Lee Equity, and renowned entrepreneurs and angel investors Michael Rubin, Mark Burg, and Harald Ludwig. They join original investors Maveron, Subtraction Capital, Correlation Ventures, Band of Angels, super-angels Ali and Hadi Partovi, KKR founding partner Henry Kravis, and cardiothoracic surgeon and host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” Dr. Mehmet Oz. The company is also pleased to share it is building out its executive bench with leaders from Stanford University and Apple.

Read the full article on Venture Beat

3rd America Digital Latin American Congress of Business & Technology

Band member Ron Weissman, Chair of the Software SiG, was a keynote at this year’s Latin American VC/Angel conference that was part of the Americas Digital Conference in Santiago, Chile, speaking about capital models, financing strategies, and about what makes a successful regional startup hub.

AgFood Tech SiG Visits BerriUp Accelerator Spain

Band member Jaleh Daie, Chair of the AgFood Tech Special Interest Group (SiG) visited the BerriUp accelerator in Donostia – San Sebastián. Pedro Munoz-Baroja, a former Auto executive, native of San Sebastián and Basque founded the BerriUp Accelerator in late 2015. This is the first accelerator in this region that was exclusively funded by private funds. They accelerate a broad range of technologies, including food tech, according to Pedro. The accelerator is open to companies from anywhere. More information is available on their web site www.berriup.com.

Band Portfolio Company Ciel Medical Exits to Vyaire Medical

Ciel Medical, which presented just eight months ago at our October 2016 Dinner, has been bought by Vyaire Medical. Ciel developed a catheter to prevent ventilator associated pneumonia and a second product to accurately place ventilation tubes. Congratulations to Band member Mike Bates who led this deal, and Suresh Pai, John Litz, Rakesh Sood, Michael Forrest, Rich Juelis, and Chris Meyer, and, of course, Kate Garrett (CEO) and Dan Azagury (CMO). You can read the press release here: http://bit.ly/cielexit.

Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Makers Program

The Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco — which supports entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds with free education, resources, and mentorship — has championed the idea of helping entrepreneurs define and achieve success on their own terms for the long-term, beyond the traditional Silicon Valley measures of success. That’s the inspiration behind their Milestone Makers Program, which helps early- to mid-stage entrepreneurs set, hit, and celebrate milestones that drive their businesses forward. Each founder selected for the program gets a personal business coach, 3–4 business mentors, a customized set of classes, and access to state-of-the-art resources — all valued at approximately $250,000 with no cost to the entrepreneurs. In the pay-it-forward spirit of Silicon Valley, graduating entrepreneurs will return to teach future classes of Milestone Makers.

A number of Band members participate as mentors, including Heather Crawford and Debra Vernon (pictured on the bottom right with mentor Anna Shen). Congratulations to the entrepreneurs that completed the program. Great closing bell ceremony!