Verdant Frontiers, Relay, and more

Your weekly update on Christian-related startups, founders, and VC

May 02, 2023

Good Morning!

Welcome to this week's edition of Faith Factor, your weekly overview of Christian-related startup and VC news.

Startup of the Week: Verdant Frontiers

Founded in 2013 by Scott Friesen, Verdant Frontiers is a VC and social entrepreneurship firm aiming to build large-scale businesses in Africa. Their hope is to help build up Africa by creating thousands of new jobs and a range of new ventures. Since their founding, Verdant Frontiers has launched nine companies and has created over 3,000 new jobs. Their portfolio companies have garnered $145 million in investments so far, and have impacted thousands of people in areas including real estate, agriculture, hospitality, consulting, and healthcare. Their work has directly impacted and improved lives in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and Mozambique. However, none of that would have happened without Friesen's drive to do good for Christ. Although he had several previous successful startup exits and could have retired, he instead chose to start Verdant Ventures, saying "the best thing about me is that I am a child of God, beloved, saved by grace & created to do good works." With their strong mission and experienced management team, Verdant Frontiers is likely to see further success.

Faith-Based News

Startups

  • Profit Inc Holdings, a fintech startup, raised funding from Eagle Venture Fund (link)

  • Relay, which develops wireless communication equipment, raised $13 million in Series A funding including contributions from Sovereign's Capital (link)

Incubators, Programs and Competitions

  • None this week

Impact News

Startups

  • HumanForest, a UK-based electric bike company, raised ~$15 million in Series A funding (link)

  • Pinecone, a database startup for AI, raised a $100 million Series B (link)

  • Energy Dome, a developer of energy storage technology, raised ~$44 million in Series B funding (link)

  • Therini Bio, which aims to treat neuroinflammatory diseases, raised a $36 million Series A (link)

  • Pattern Bioscience, which hopes to better treat life-threatening infections, raised $28.7 million in Series C funding (link)

  • TympaHealth, a developer of a platform designed to help patients get treatment for hearing issues more quickly, raised a $23 million Series A (link)

  • Hived, a parcel delivery network startup, raised $12.4 million in Series A funding (link)

  • Orbital Therapeutics, a biotech startup, raised $270 million in Series A funding (link)

  • Ohmium, which focuses on green hydrogen, raised a $250 million Series C (link)

  • Ursa Major, an aerospace startup developing rocket engines, raised $100 million in Series D funding (link)

  • Cyclic Materials, a metals recycling startup, raised a $27 million Series A (link)

  • Reverion, a Germany-based developer of clean power plants, raised ~$9.3 million (link)

  • Avalanche Energy, a nuclear fusion startup, raised a $40 million Series A (link)

  • Radiant Industries, a developer of portable nuclear reactors, raised $40 million in Series B funding (link)

  • Span, a home-electrification startup, raised a $96 million Series B (link)

  • Woodoo, which aims to turn damaged wood into useful materials, raised $31 million (link)

Around the Network

Select Articles

  • 18 Christian Colleges Closed Since the Start of Covid-19 (link)

Select Podcasts

  • Leading a Techwise Life (link)

Job Boards

All Levels

See you next week!