A rendering of the data center that Denver-based Crusoe is building in Abilene, Texas. (Courtesy Crusoe)
A data center company carried Colorado’s startup scene in October.
Crusoe, the Denver-based business that builds servers for artificial intelligence firms like OpenAI, raised $1 billion last month — the first close on a prospective $1.4 billion round, SEC form D filings show.
The total round will value the company, which Cully Cavness and Chase Lochmiller founded in 2018 as a bitcoin mining enterprise, at $10 billion, Crusoe said.
That tally accounted for the vast majority of startup funding in the Centennial State last month. Outside of Crusoe, 27 fledgling companies raised $188 million, up from the $181 million 27 deals garnered in September but down from the $429 million 49 businesses raised in October 2024.
Seven non-Crusoe Denver startups pulled in $52.5 million while four Boulder-based companies took in $43.4 million. Fifteen businesses elsewhere in the Centennial State raised $92 million.
You can view our sortable spreadsheet, which lists every October Form D, here.
BusinessDen defines a startup as a business that’s less than 10 years old and excludes real estate ventures and funds.
Here are some October highlights from BusinessDen’s startup coverage:
Local PR vets launch online marketplace for creators and small businesses
With the launch of Frameflow last month, Kelly Stoker and Gretchen TeBockhorst, of local public relations firm Prim + Co, aim to make it easier for restaurants, hotels and the like to connect with photographers and videographers.
“A lot of folks are not interested in or have the budget for full-service social media management,” TeBockhorst said. “We’ve done photographer and videographer referrals with people we trust who we’ve worked with for years. So we thought why not create a way for businesses to connect with content creators and give them the ability to work with each other to find out what a project looks like.”
Halfdays raises $10 million
The Denver-based women’s ski apparel brand raised a mountain of cash to open more retail locations and continue expanding its clothing line into non-slopeside athletics.
“This raise will allow us to fuel our growth trajectory: expanding our core winter and ski collections, continuing to grow into year-round trail and activewear, and investing in brick-and-mortar retail,” co-founder and CEO Ariana Ferwerda said in an email.
Athletic apparel startup founder said to have defrauded investors
Ty Haney, the Boulder businesswoman behind the athletic apparel startup Outdoor Voices, is being accused of defrauding local investors in her energy drink brand after they injected $3 million into the fledgling company and reportedly saved it from insolvency.
A rendering of the data center that Denver-based Crusoe is building in Abilene, Texas. (Courtesy Crusoe)
A data center company carried Colorado’s startup scene in October.
Crusoe, the Denver-based business that builds servers for artificial intelligence firms like OpenAI, raised $1 billion last month — the first close on a prospective $1.4 billion round, SEC form D filings show.
The total round will value the company, which Cully Cavness and Chase Lochmiller founded in 2018 as a bitcoin mining enterprise, at $10 billion, Crusoe said.
That tally accounted for the vast majority of startup funding in the Centennial State last month. Outside of Crusoe, 27 fledgling companies raised $188 million, up from the $181 million 27 deals garnered in September but down from the $429 million 49 businesses raised in October 2024.
Seven non-Crusoe Denver startups pulled in $52.5 million while four Boulder-based companies took in $43.4 million. Fifteen businesses elsewhere in the Centennial State raised $92 million.
You can view our sortable spreadsheet, which lists every October Form D, here.
BusinessDen defines a startup as a business that’s less than 10 years old and excludes real estate ventures and funds.
Here are some October highlights from BusinessDen’s startup coverage:
Local PR vets launch online marketplace for creators and small businesses
With the launch of Frameflow last month, Kelly Stoker and Gretchen TeBockhorst, of local public relations firm Prim + Co, aim to make it easier for restaurants, hotels and the like to connect with photographers and videographers.
“A lot of folks are not interested in or have the budget for full-service social media management,” TeBockhorst said. “We’ve done photographer and videographer referrals with people we trust who we’ve worked with for years. So we thought why not create a way for businesses to connect with content creators and give them the ability to work with each other to find out what a project looks like.”
Halfdays raises $10 million
The Denver-based women’s ski apparel brand raised a mountain of cash to open more retail locations and continue expanding its clothing line into non-slopeside athletics.
“This raise will allow us to fuel our growth trajectory: expanding our core winter and ski collections, continuing to grow into year-round trail and activewear, and investing in brick-and-mortar retail,” co-founder and CEO Ariana Ferwerda said in an email.
Athletic apparel startup founder said to have defrauded investors
Ty Haney, the Boulder businesswoman behind the athletic apparel startup Outdoor Voices, is being accused of defrauding local investors in her energy drink brand after they injected $3 million into the fledgling company and reportedly saved it from insolvency.
