The Weekly Nectar- May 26, 2021

Got a buzz? Read this.

On this day in 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 returned to earth after orbiting the moon 31 times, just weeks before man would walk on the moon. The sky-high goal that was set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 was this: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. Can you imagine being part of the teams that made it happen? Long days, long nights, and literal years of work on a national and global stage. Some of the brightest and most innovative minds came together, and IT WORKED. Well guess what? The space program was like a super intense startup. 

You’ve got your idea, so circle your people, get to work, and reach those rocket-ship goals!

Here’s the news in the hive:

• Utah deal flows on the teeter totter

  According to a study done by MountainWest Capital Network, Utah’s deal flow was incredible- especially during a global pandemic. Crunchbase reported that “...public and private deals came out to $26.4 billion, up from $25 billion in 2019. The deal count, however, came to 289, down from 474 in 2019.” This means that while we had less deals, we had investors who were confident in us. Woohoo!

• Chargeback + Sift

  Chargeback, a customer dispute software, has been acquired by Sift, a leader in digital trust and safety. Chargeback had a successful Series A1 just last year, and they’ve experienced incredible growth since then. Now if they could just figure out how to sort out the creep frauds on dating apps we’d be set…

• HR departments deserve awards too

  The Utah Business HR Achievement Award Winners have been announced, and we’ve got some startups on the list. HR people were more important than ever in the last 12 months, and it’s great to salute them. See the winners here. 

• Bringing the recycling can to you

  I don’t know about you, but taking my recycling to the containers is a huge pain in the rear. Recyclops to the rescue! Recyclops uses technology to bring recycling options to areas where it’s not really an option. The company recently welcomed a $3M seed round led by Lerer Hippeau and Glad, a member of The Clorox Company. Yay for the earth, yay for Recyclops!

There you have it friends. We’re happier than a middle schooler taking off their headgear to report on startup news in Utah. Do you have something to share? We want to hear about everything happening in the community! Go ahead and email us at emily@beehivestartups.com or hello@beehivestartups.com.