What companies are finding funding or having a big exit? From startup investments to acquisitions, Dallas Innovates rounds up what’s happening in North Texas money every Thursday. Sign up for our e-newsletter to stay in the loop.

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Select Milk Producers raises $12M in equity round

Select Milk Producers, a Dallas-based dairy company that says it uses innovative sustainable farming methods and takes extraordinary animal care and comfort measures, has raised all $12 million of a $50 million equity-only funding round.

According to financial website Manta, Select Milk Producers was founded in 1994 and has roughly 55 employees. It has 17 subsidiaries, seven joint ventures, 99 family dairy farm members in its collaborative, eight processing plants, transports 150,000 truckloads of milk a year, and produces 7.8 billion pounds of milk annually, according to the company website.

Minimum investment in the round was $50,000, according to the filing.

Fort Worth pharma company raises $4.025M

Fort Worth-based Actuate Therapeutics Inc. said in a Form D filing that it raised $4.025 million in a debt-only funding round.

Actuate is a private biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing compounds to be used in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases leading to fibrosis and neurodegeneration, according to the company’s website.

Founded in 2015, Actuate’s mission is to discover, develop, and commercialize new agents that target GSK-3β, an enzyme in humans that is encoded by the GSK3B gene.

Sunfinity raises $525K in debt funding round

Dallas-based Sunfinity Solar LLC said in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it raised $525,000 of a $15 million debt-only funding round.

Sunfinity is a provider of solar energy to both residential and commercial clients.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Valify acquires Nashville health-care tech firm

Chris Heckler

Frisco-based Valify, a health-care cost management company, has acquired Nashville-based Lucro Solutions Inc., a digital platform for health systems to compare and select vendor. No financial details were released.

Valify offers health-care systems a suite of technology and services that targets, prioritizes, and manages areas for cost reduction through spend visibility, benchmark comparisons, and advisory services, according to a press release.

“This transaction extends and enhances our ability to operate a marketplace, enabling our health-care system customers to effortlessly collaborate with vendors, saving time, and increasing bandwidth to realize additional cost savings through Valify’s technology,” CEO Chris Heckler said in the release.

Dallas’ Kosmos Energy buys Deep Gulf Energy

Dallas-based Kosmos Energy has completed the previously announced acquisition of Deep Gulf Energy, a deep-water company that operates in the Gulf of Mexico.

The acquisition adds to Kosmos’ deep-water Atlantic Margin portfolio and enhances the company’s scale. No terms of the deal were released.

It is expected to generate significant free cash flow, Kosmos said in a release, allowing the company to return cash to shareholders through a dividend beginning in Q1 of 2019.

Allen payments processor being acquired

Forte Payment Systems Inc., an electronic funds transfer processor based in Allen, is being acquired for roughly $85 million in cash at closing by CSG International, an international provider of customer interaction and billing solutions.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

CSG is based in Englewood, Colorado, and it said the acquisition will accelerate its ability to offer a comprehensive suite of next-generation pay solutions, enabling providers to provide differentiated customer experience, Cablefax reported.

Dallas transportation company sells for $238.5M

Mode Transportation, a non-asset third-party logistics company headquartered in Dallas, has been sold to an affiliate of York Capital Management for roughly $238.5 million.

“Mode has an excellent management team, with a strong, solid agent base and loyal customers.”
David Yeager

Oak Park, Illinois-based Hub Group Inc. sold Mode, which was a subsidiary. The deal does not include the Temstar business which Hub Group is retaining.

“Mode has an excellent management team, with a strong, solid agent base and loyal customers,” David Yeager, Hub Group chairman and CEO, said. “While Mode has been very successful, there was a lack of strategic alignment with Hub’s centralized business model. The talented Mode team, combined with York’s expertise and significant resources, positions Mode well for realizing the next chapter of its growth.”

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