Three former employees of renowned augmented reality (AR) company Magic Leap have raised $2 million to build their own AR business in Columbus. Greg Tran, Martin Smith, and Sean Couture unveiled their company, Trace, by announcing an oversubscribed $2 million pre-seed, co-led by Rev1 Ventures and Impellent Ventures.

In Ohio, construction is well underway on Intel’s newest U.S. site in more than 40 years, the company said while sharing an update of progress at its 10 biggest projects around the world. Around the world throughout 2023, Intel used 145,000 tons of steel and poured more than 2 million cubic yards of concrete—32X more than for New York’s Empire State Building—to construct and expand its new facilities.

Columbus-based RWX has raised a $7 million seed round and launched Mint, a Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) platform. RWX was founded by Tommy Graves and Dan Manges, who was the CTO of Root, a technology-powered car insurance carrier, which he co-founded in 2015 and took public in 2020 via an IPO. Graves was a senior engineering manager at Root.

Columbus-based Drive Capital has announced a strategic investment of at least $750 million in future fund commitments while also selling a minority stake in its management company. Drive says the commitment by Collective Global and Collective Global Asset Owners will advance its ability to invest in world-class technology companies across its target market in the “Driveway”, a $12 trillion region in North America between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains.

In just six years, Women in Analytics has gone from an Ohio State University student’s idea to a national organization supporting a community of about 8,000 data enthusiasts. And its flagship DataConnect conference is now drawing attendees from around the world to Columbus.

With a string of major fundraising announcements, product developments, and new facility debuts, Columbus is shaping into a force in the biotechnology space. In fact, it’s among the nation’s fastest-growing biotech hubs, says Eddie Pauline, president and CEO of Ohio Life Sciences, a trade group for biotech, pharmaceutical, gene therapy, and academic organizations.

Redi Health, a Columbus-based provider of digital pharma support to patients with chronic health conditions, has raised $14 million in a Series B round. Redi bridges the gap between consumer technology and clinical health and support, engaging patients with medication reminders, symptom management, diet and nutrition advice, weight and activity tracking, and health literacy and education.

The Ohio State University’s annual R&D expenditures reached an all-time record of $1.449 billion last year, the university disclosed in its annual report of resources available to perform cutting-edge science and creative expression research. The total represents a 6% increase over FY 2022.

A clean energy company spun off from Ohio State and backed by Bill Gates has raised $246 million. Koloma, based in Denver but with a lab in Columbus, has developed technology to extract carbon-free hydrogen from underground deposits.

Basking Biosciences, a company developing a novel therapy to treat stroke, raised $55 million from a group of investors including The Ohio State University. Every year, 15 million people suffer strokes and more than 5 million die, according to the World Health Organization.

Several of Ohio’s biggest names in healthcare are teaming up for a first-of-its-kind partnership to produce and commercialize pediatric medical devices. With support from a $6.95 million grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University are leading the Midwest Pediatric Device Consortium - the first of its kind in the Midwest.

Clarametyx Biosciences, a Columbus-based BioTech startup, has raised a $33 million Series A round to advance its cutting-edge anti-biofilm biologics for combating serious bacterial infections. The company, founded in 2020, specializes in developing targeted, immune-empowering biologic therapies to address persistent infections linked to biofilms.

Columbus-based software consultancy Test Double has acquired product consultancy Pathfinder Product thanks to complementary services, a shared vision, and two degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Columbus-based Forge Biologics, a gene therapy development startup, announced they're to be acquired by Japanese Ajinomoto Co., Inc. for $620 million.

It’s hard to keep up with all the news about data center projects in the Columbus area, which has become one of the country’s top 10 regions for such facilities.