SiliconHills

Swivel, an Austin-based office leasing platform, announced Tuesday that it has raised $8 million. The Austin-based startup plans to use the funds to expand nationwide starting with the Denver, Colorado market, said Scott Harmon, Swivel’s co-founder, and CEO. Swivel’s $8 million Series A round was led by Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital. Breyer was one […]

PurPics, a Generation Z intelligence, and brand advocacy platform announced recently that it has raised $2 million in total funding. The Austin-based startup closed on $920,000 this round, bringing total funding to $2 million. Felton Group, the family office of Jaffray Woodriff, led the round with participation from The Syndicate Fund and Techstars Ventures. “PurPics […]

LiveOak Venture Partners, founded in 2013, this week announced it has added four executives to its Venture Advisors Program. The venture capital firm, which invests in early-stage companies, is adding Lynn Atchison, Peter Klante, Dave Rubin and Keith Zoellner to the program. Last year, LiveOak Venture Partners closed a $105 million fund, its second fund. […]

Silicon Hills News’ 2020 Austin Startup Calendar Party took place on January 23rd at The Riveter in downtown Austin. At the party, Silicon Hills News gave away a desktop or wall calendar to 175 guests. To order additional calendars please visit our Eventbrite Form for our follow up event, BigIdeasATX, on February 27th at Galvanize. This […]

Pattern Bioscience this week announced $13 million in grant and venture capital funding. The Austin-based company, formerly known as Klaris Diagnostics, plans to use the funding to develop its Digital Culture technology, a rapid bacterial identification, and susceptibility testing platform. The funding includes a $6.8 million award from CARB-X, a nonprofit based at Boston University. […]

The Zebra, an insurance comparison marketplace, this week announced it has closed a $38.5 million funding round. The Austin-based startup, founded in 2012, has raised $101.3 million to date. Accel led the funding round with participation from existing investors Silverton Partners, Daher Capital, Floodgate Fund, Ballast Point Ventures, The Zebra’s CEO Keith Melnick and new […]

SXSW recently announced the finalists for its 12th annual SXSW Pitch event including five from Austin. The variety of the finalists shows the breadth and depth of Austin’s booming startup community. The finalists come from a wide range of industries including beauty care, gaming, biotechnology, drones, and biodegradable plastics. The Austin finalist in the Consumer […]

Elon Musk posted a poll on Twitter asking people to vote yes or no for Giga Texas. The vote is 80.2 percent “Hell Yeah” in favor late Wednesday night with two hours left to vote. A gigafactory in Texas would presumably produce Tesla cars or trucks. But Musk did not provide any specifics on what […]

The new year is off to a great start. Silicon Hills News held its sixth annual Austin Calendar Party on Jan. 23rd. The Riveter hosted the party. And thank you to our sponsors the Austin Chamber of Commerce, BuildGroup, InnoTech Austin, Kronologic, Sana Benefits, Egan-Nelson Law Firm, Silicon Hills Lawyer, Kronologic.ai  Active Capital, LumenInsuranceTechnologies, Thiken, QuesitonPro,  Zoho and Realtor.com. And In-Kind Sponsors: MassChallenge Texas and Nine Banded Whiskey.  This year, Silicon […]

Invoicing is Jared King’s passion. “It really is, King said. His family recognized his penchant for collections at an early age. In fourth grade, King was a bit of a loan shark. He would loan kids a dollar and he would collect $2 in repayment, he said. King’s entrepreneurial spirit continued when he went to […]

Capital Factory, an Austin-based accelerator, last week announced it has expanded operations into Houston by merging with Station Houston. It is part of the Texas Startup Manifesto strategy Capital Factory Director Joshua Baer has articulated in the past about the major Texas cities working together to create a vibrant statewide technology industry. “Capital Factory is […]

At the South Congress Hotel last week, MassChallenge Texas officially kicked off its next application cycle for its accelerator programs in Austin and Houston. The MassChallenge Accelerator has completed two cohorts in Austin and one in Houston since launching in 2017. The Houston and Austin application cycles kicked off simultaneously with a giant video screen […]

South by Southwest Conference and Festivals announced Thursday nominees for its 23rd annual SXSW Innovation Awards. Sixty-five companies made the list including seven from Austin. Austin had two finalists in the AI and Machine Learning category including Cortex Certifai by CognitiveScale and Yonder Narrative by Yonder. Hypergiant Industries’ Eos Bioreactor is a finalist in the Climate, Culture & […]

Nine Banded Whiskey Co-Founder Sean Foley seized an opportunity to create an Austin-based whiskey. After noticing a moderately priced, Austin-made whiskey brand didn’t exist, in 2014, he founded the Nine Banded Whiskey company and launched its first bottles of whiskey a few years later. Today, Nine Banded Whiskey is in 12 states and last year […]

QuestionPro has moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Austin. The company, which has 200 employees including 15 in Austin, creates online survey and insights solutions software. The company’s Austin headquarters is in the Arboretum area. “Austin is like where Seattle used to be in 2005, small, but ready to go,” said Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO […]

Space is a finite resource and needs environmental protection, according to Moriba K. Jah, astrodynamicist. “People, in general, take for granted the number of services and capabilities every day that are space-based,” said Jah, director of the Advanced Sciences and Technology Research in Astronautics (ASTRIA) program at The University of Texas at Austin. And Space […]

Galvanize has been bought by K12, a publicly traded learning company based in Herndon, Va., for $165 million in cash. The deal, which closed on Monday, includes Galvanize’s campus in downtown Austin in the Northshore building at Second and Nueces and seven other campuses across the country. In the deal, K12 gets Denver-based Galvanize’s management, […]

Austin had another outstanding year with startup activity overall on the rise. And VC funding in Austin reached levels the city hasn’t seen since the Dot Com boom of 2000. In 2019, Austin-based private companies raised $1.7 billion, up almost 28 percent from 2018, another record year, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PwC […]

Locale, a hospitality startup that rents upscale apartments for short and long stays, recently announced that it has received $11 million in venture capital funding. The Austin-based company, founded in 2016, has raised $14 million to date. Amplo Ventures led the Series A round of investment with participation from Susa Ventures, Malkin Holdings, Rogue Insight […]

At Firefly Aerospace’s 200-acre testing and manufacturing facility in Briggs, Texas, a fire broke out when the company tested the first stage of its rocket last week. The fire occurred at 6:23 p.m. on Wednesday when the rocket’s four engines were fired “a small fire broke out in the engine bay at the base of […]

Austin-based data.world had its best year ever in 2019, said Brett Hurt, CEO, and Co-Founder. “2019 will go down in history as the year data.world found enterprise product-market fit and revenue has taken off in a big way,” Hurt said. data.world is like GitHub, the world’s largest software development platform, but it’s an open platform […]

Jessica Ewing, co-founder, and CEO of Literati called the founding of her company the summer of the pivot. She pitched so many different versions to investors including Etsy for authors, a curated enterprise book service for businesses, the first data-driven publishing house and others. “You name it, I pitched it,” Ewing said. “It just kept […]

BuildGroup, an Austin-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 which raised a $330 million fund, launched an analytics platform for investors and startup founders last week. It’s called Open.Exchange focused on matching investors with the best startups, and vice versa, said Jim Curry, head of BuildGroup Data Services. “We built it for ourselves, but it […]

The Future of Real Estate Summit took place at the Hotel Van Zandt last Wednesday in the Rainey Street District. The 4-Star boutique hotel, which opened in 2015, is a symbol of the transformation that has taken place in downtown Austin in the last decade. The neighborhood once filled with single-family homes is now an […]

Austin has become an eCommerce hub. And that’s thanks, in part, to homegrown startups like Wikibuy, which was acquired by Capital One for an undisclosed sum in November of 2018. Other major Austin players in the eCommerce industry include RetailMeNot, Bazaarvoice, BigCommerce, Dosh, Convey, H-E-B Digital, Black Locus/Home Depot, and Favor. And Austin is also […]

Finding a parking space in downtown Austin is an increasingly difficult task that FlashParking seeks to solve. And the Austin-based company landed $60 million in strategic investment from the Growth Fund of L Catterton, a private equity firm. FlashParking plans to use the funds to scale its parking solution into connected mobility hubs. Founded in […]

Happy New Year! A little late to post the January events this year. But that’s because of the 2020 Austin Silicon Hills News Austin Calendar. It’s made it back from the printers and it’s being prepared for its debut at the sixth annual SHN Calendar Party. This year, the party is being held at The […]

In 2019, Austin-based private companies raised $1.7 billion, up almost 28 percent from 2018, another record year, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PwC and CB Insights. The report found investors did 151 deals in 2019, up almost 22 percent from 2018. And in the fourth quarter of 2019, Austin-based startups raised $295 million, […]

Carl Deckard, 58, one of the pioneers of 3D printing died in Austin over the holidays. Deckard died on Dec. 23, according to his obit. Deckard was one of the inventors of “Selective Laser Sintering,” the technology at the forefront of 3D printing. Deckard developed the technology at the University of Texas at Austin while […]

Telemedicine has come to the pet market. Austin-based Televet, an online platform that connects veterinary clinics to existing clients, announced that is has raised $2 million in seed-stage funding. Dundee Venture Capital and Mercury Fund, co-led, the round with participation from GAN Ventures. Founded in 2015, TeleVet has raised $2.3M to date. The company plans […]

ePayPolicy, a digital payment processor for the insurance industry, announced last week that it has received a significant investment from Serent Capital, a private equity firm with offices in Austin and San Francisco. Austin-based ePayPolicy, founded in 2014, did not disclose the amount of the investment. The company plans to use the investment to accelerate […]

argodesign is expanding again. This time the Austin-based design firm is opening a studio in New York. Mehera O’Brien will run the studio as head of creative. argodesign launched its European studio in Amsterdam last March. “Our New York studio centers around cross-pollinating technology with the traditional approach of user-centered design,” O’Brien said in a […]

Billie, a startup that makes shaving products for women, just got acquired by P&G. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the deal. Billie, founded in 2017 in New York, is a portfolio company of Austin-based Silverton Partners. That same year, Silverton Partners led a $6 million seed-stage investment for the company with […]

By LAURA LOREK, Publisher of Silicon Hills News SKU, a consumer-packaged goods accelerator, on Tuesday officially kicked off its SKU 8 cohort. The seven companies accepted into the 14-week program are Aura Bora, Blenders & Bowls, Cheddies, Esker, Ladybird Provisions, Mushroom Revival, and Paleo Powder Seasonings. More than 150 people attended the SKU launch party […]

Silicon Hills News had a great year in 2019 with hundreds of thousands of visitors to our website and social media feeds, several thousand downloads of our Ideas to Invoices podcastand more than 1,000 people attending our annual events and monthly lunch and learn gatherings. And 2020 promises to be even brighter. We’ll be kicking […]

Verb, an Austin-based startup focused on teaching leadership skills, announced recently that it has raised $6.4 million in seed-stage funding. The funding came from angel investors including Brett Hurt, Nav Sooch, Andy Roddick, Leon Chen, and Barshop Ventures. Verb plans to use the money for sales and marketing as well as the development of its […]

Austin has become a hotbed of activity for consumer-packaged goods companies. And Sku Accelerator, founded in 2011, has been a major catalyst for helping brands do well. And now SKU is teaming up with another well-known name in Austin – WeWork, which has seven locations throughout Austin. The newest site is WeWork at the SXSW […]

A consulting company focused on data and artificial intelligence, Sense Corp., is moving its corporate headquarters from St. Louis to Austin. The company, founded in 1996, already had an office in Austin. It also has operations in Dallas, Houston, Columbus, and Minneapolis. “While a large portion of our business has always come from Texas, we […]

Connectivity is not new, said Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and professor of innovation at the University of Texas at Austin. It harkens back to rivers and roads. The Chinese expression is “If you want to get rich, first build a road,” he said. His ancestor, Blind Jack Metcalf, built the first 180 miles of […]

Infinitum Electric, an electric motor maker, announced Thursday that is has raised $12.5 million in funding. The Austin-based startup, founded in 2016, closed the Series B round of funding led by Cottonwood Technology Fund with participation from Chevron Technology Ventures and AJAX Strategies and other investors. The latest funding follows a $1.8 million Series A […]

Cerebri AI, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve customer relations for companies, announced Wednesday that it has raised $7 million in venture capital funding. The Austin-based startup raised the funds from new investor Arcris Capital Partners and existing investors. Cerebri AI has raised $16.4 million to date. The company, founded in 2016, develops […]

Techstars Austin announced its 2020 class this week, including five Austin-based startups among the ten participating in the program. Another startup comes from Dallas and the remaining ones from New York, Florida, Ohio, and India. Also, this is the 10th Techstars program in Austin since it kicked off in 2014 and the fifth being run […]

The lights are twinkling bright in Austin and there’s still a lot to do in December as the technology community celebrates another stellar year. Be sure to check out Mozart’s Christmas Light Show daily from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. through Jan. 5th. And Dec. 10th – Austin’s Trail of Lights kicks off at Zilker […]

Austin-based Cloudsnap announced recently that it has closed a $1.8 million funding round. In addition, Matt Bradley, a former Rackspace Chief Strategy Office, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Cloudsnap. Active Capital, based in San Antonio, led the investment round along with Houston-based Mercury Fund. To date, Cloudsnap has raised $4.1 million. When Bradley worked […]

Shotgun Seltzer, Austin’s first craft spiked seltzer, announced recently that it has received a $1 million investment from Unorthodox Ventures. It is the second investment since Unorthodox Ventures moved to Austin. The firm, founded by Carey Smith, founder of Big Ass Fans, has also invested and acquired GoFish Cam. Austin-based Shotgun Seltzer launched in July […]

Next Coast Ventures announced this week it has closed on its fund of $130 million. The Austin-based venture capital firm previously raised an $85 million fund in March of 2017. “Next Coast Ventures’ progress is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of the founders in our portfolio,” Michael Smerklo, co-founder and managing […]

REX, a home buying startup that uses big data and artificial intelligence, announced this week that it has raised $40 million in a Series C funding round. The company, founded in 2014 in the Los Angeles area, moved to Austin a year ago. To date, REX has raised $110.5 million in total funding. REX plans […]

Apple has begun building its new campus in Austin. And on Wednesday afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Donald Trump flew into town to tour Apple’s Mac Pro computer production facility. The Mac Pro facility is near where Apple is investing $1 billion to build its largest campus outside its headquarters in Cupertino, California […]

Technology is the instrument that can lead to a brighter future, according to Amir Husain, founder, and CEO of Austin-based SparkCognition. SparkCognition is doing significant projects with partners all over the world to build and deploy technology to shape the future, Husain said. But the biggest question he gets asked from companies is what is […]

Ten years from now, if DivInc, an accelerator program aimed at helping women and founders of color, didn’t exist, then it would have achieved its goal, said Preston James, founder, and CEO. “We set out to transform the ecosystem by making it more authentically inclusive,” James said. Austin-based DivInc launched in 2016 and has had […]

Fast-growing startup tech companies outgrow office space quickly. That’s led to the popularity of co-working sites like WeWork but the WeWork model comes with shared space with others and doesn’t include company branding, said Scott Harmon, Founder, and CEO of Swivel, an Austin-based office leasing platform. “It’s like working at the mall,” Harmon said. That’s […]

An investor group including several Austin founders have joined together to buy Nautilus, a literary science magazine founded in 2013. The New York-based magazine has 10,000 paying subscribers and has an online reach of more than 10 million. Daily Dot co-founder and CEO Nicholas White is leading the investment group that is acquiring Nautilus. He […]

November is jam-packed with lots of fun events to attend. Silicon Hills News is hosting its first SpaceATX event on Wednesday, Nov. 6th. We hope to see you all there. And Silicon Hills News is currently taking photos for our 2020 Austin Tech Calendar. There is only one spot left for a startup to be featured. […]

Rainmaking, a corporate innovation and development firm, has opened an office in downtown Austin. The organization, founded in 2006 in Denmark, runs Startupbootcamp accelerator programs throughout Europe. It launches impact-focused startups, builds them into successful companies and eventually exits them. To date, Rainmaking has scaled more than 700 ventures in 15 different industries, which collectively […]

Brands have worked with influencers to sell products through social media for a long time. But it’s been more difficult for them to engage with regular customers who might like their products. And that’s where LoudCrowd saw an opportunity. The Austin-based startup sells software directly to brands that allow them to reward customers who promote […]

Sana announced Tuesday that it has received an additional $3.6 million in seed funding, bringing its total seed funding raised to date to $6.3 million. The Austin-based healthcare insurance startup reported that the seed funding was led by Gigafund and Trust Ventures. Other investors include Greenlight Re and Mark VC as the other major institutional […]

In the modern era, every company is a global company, said Arlo Gilbert, CEO, and Co-Founder of Osano. Today, more than 65 laws exist worldwide governing how companies handle customers’ data online and privacy laws, Gilbert said. Most notably, the General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR, went into effect in May of 2018. It […]

Shipwell, which makes an online platform for any business to ship and track freight easily, announced Thursday that it has raised $35 million. Georgian Partners, based in Toronto, Canada, led the Series B round. Other investors include Fifth Wall, Global Founders Capital, Box Group and Aspect Ventures. To date, Shipwell, founded in 2016, has raised […]

Literati, a children’s subscription book service, announced Wednesday that it has received $12 million in new funding. Nikhil Basu Trivedi at Shasta Ventures led the Series A round. Jessica Ewing and Kelly Carroll founded Literati in 2016. Literati is a children’s book club aimed at children from birth to 12 years old. The company plans […]

Hypergiant announced Wednesday a new partnership with Dynetics to develop space mission solutions for government and commercial customers. The companies plan to use Amazon Web Services and its cloud for artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics, Internet of Things and AWS Ground Stations to deliver mission and payload on-demand services. “These services will support the current […]

Opcity plans to double in size hiring 600 more employees in the next couple of years, said Ben Rubenstein, the company’s CEO and Co-Founder. Already, Opcity has 660 employees. It grew from zero to 660 in less than four years, he said. Opcity plans to hire 500 new employees next year, he said. Opcity is […]