SiliconHills

Like a lot of educational programs, driver’s ed hasn’t changed much in the past 30 years. For the most part, it’s still taught in a classroom with an instructor, worksheets, quizzes, videos and some time spent driving with an instructor. That’s where the founders of Aceable saw an opportunity to disrupt the driver’s education industry. […]

In Austin, the hunt for venture capital is not easy. But one group plans to make it a little easier. The TEN Capital Group is holding the Texas Venture Summit 2016 on Oct. 6th at the Brazos Hall in downtown Austin. The event is invitation only and brings together national and statewide investors and qualified […]

William Hurley, known as Whurley and co-founder of Honest Dollar and Chaotic Moon in Austin, is on a global mission to help women and girls learn technology skills and find jobs. International Telecommunications Union and United Nations Women announced Tuesday that they have teamed up with Whurley to drive an intensive global engagement and outreach […]

By Laura Lorek Reporter with Silicon Hills News Nurturing professor led startups to help them take their inventions out of the laboratory and into the marketplace is the focus of the Innovation Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The center, which is part of the Cockrell School of Engineering runs The StARTup Studio, […]

San Antonio doesn’t attract as much venture capital as Austin, Houston and Dallas. But now a group of high net worth individuals are trying to change that. Last week, they launched the San Antonio Angel Network and announced Chris Burney, a former Rackspace executive, as its executive director. While San Antonio has had investment funds, […]

The Department of Defense on Wednesday officially launched a Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, known as a DIUx, at Capital Factory in Austin. The defense department already has DIUx offices in Silicon Valley and Boston. The Austin office will focus on national security challenges and cutting edge technologies to help the nation’s warfighters. Secretary of Defense […]

Q.  In your role as Senior Vice President Global Technology and Innovation what are the goals you wish to accomplish? MS: I work on behalf of Austin’s Economic Development Corporation and Opportunity Austin with the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. I lead the organization’s vision for Austin to be a top global region for technology […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News If you have a bad experience at a hospital—and just having to go to the hospital is often a bad experience—you may write a letter of complaint, post something in social media or blast the hospital on your patient survey. And there’s a good chance that if […]

By Michael Dell Reprinted with Permission I grew up in a family of brothers. As you might guess, competition was a way of life. A game of cards or tag or Battleship was serious business. My brothers and I have our mom to thank for much of our competitive spirit. Her usual parting words when […]

Shopify is on the hunt for five people to participate in its newly launched Shopify Partner Accelerator in Austin. The company just opened up applications on Wednesday and is accepting them until Sept. 23rd. Then it will choose five people to work at WeWork University Park in Austin from Oct. 3rd until the end of […]

In a $60 billion deal, Dell Technologies Wednesday closed its acquisition of EMC Corp. launching a new chapter for Dell, a 32 year old company founded in a dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin. It is the largest tech deal ever. And Dell gets the award for coolest aerial stunt to introduce […]

Just coming off Labor Day, it’s hard to get back into the swing of things. So Silicon Hills News has made it easier by culling a few tech events worth attending this week. Tuesday – How to Meet Investors in Austin: Ask Me Anything with Joshua Baer at Capital Factory starting at 4:30 p.m. to […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin is home to a small, but growing biotech and medical technology industry with about 200 companies, according to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. That number is sure to skyrocket in coming years as the city feels the full effect of the new Dell Medical School […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News San Antonio has a robust bioscience and healthcare industry which contributes more than $23.9 billion to the city’s economy annually, according to the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. In fact, one in every six San Antonio employees works in the bioscience and healthcare industry. The industry is […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News For most people the concept of the “corner drugstore,” with or without a soda fountain, is a quaint anachronism befitting the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but not modern society. In fact, though, there are more than 22,000 small, independently owned pharmacies in the U.S. Some will […]

athenahealth, the nation’s largest healthcare network, announced Monday its acquisition of Austin-based Filament Labs, doing business as Patient IO. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Patient IO, a mobile and web-based app, is a care coordination platform used by healthcare providers to engage patients and caregivers outside the clinic. Patient IO, which […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Monica Berrondo pulls up a digital schematic of an antibody. It resembles remnants of different-colored ribbon stuck together by someone with no sense of design. Each color and bend represents information about the amino acids that comprise the antibody, explains Berrondo, whose company, Macromoltek, made this model […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News A panel of Austin entrepreneurs talked about the integration of marketing, sales, and software yesterday at a Salesforce event for small business users of the monolithic Customer Relationship Management platform. Key takeaways included: Just because you can build your own solution doesn’t make it a good idea […]

ThousandEyes, a San Francisco-based network intelligence company, announced Wednesday plans to open a sales and customer service office in Austin. The company also named Victoria Abeling to head up the office as director of corporate sales. ThousandEyes plans to hire about 30 sales and customer service employees by the end of the year to staff […]

One of the things Austin is known for is its runners, bikers, hikers, swimmers and endurance athletes looking for the next challenge. A new site, Thea.com just launched a search engine and events site this week that makes finding that next sporting challenge easier. Thea.com lists events in the greater Austin area for cyclists, triathletes, […]

By TIM GREEN Special Contributor to Silicon Hills News In July, after several years of preparation and construction, the Dell Medical School started instruction with its first class of students. The school, students and the Central Texas Community are walking hand-in-hand not only for a medical education, but to change how health care and medicine […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News The culture that Chris Dillie has implemented into his company is simple: be passionate about what you’re doing, and the money will follow. ESO Solutions, a health data exchange startup, provides software to help ambulance services better monitor their performance, and helps hospitals use that data to […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News A few years ago, Michael Klug left his job as co-founder and chief technology officer at Zebra Imaging. At Zebra, Klug worked for 17 years on its dynamic 3D holographic and light-field display products. He helped the company raise money and launch its products. Klug, who has […]

Austin-based Magnitude Software announced Tuesday plans to buy Simba Technologies, a data and analytics firm. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. “This acquisition furthers our strategic vision to enable enterprise-wide visibility and insights for corporate performance management,” Chris Ney, Chairman & CEO of Magnitude Software, said in a news release. “As data heterogeneity […]

Ten years ago, FloSports started out with just two brothers driving a used van around the country to cover track and field events and wrestling tournaments. Today, Austin-based FloSports has 165 employees and they report on 14 different sports categories including gymnastics, cheerleading and boxing. And Monday, the online sports network announced it has closed […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Apoorva Bapat had a whole academic year to learn the concepts that she and other teachers imparted to 17 girls in Austin during the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program this summer. “They would learn the concepts in the morning and by afternoon they were using them […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News When Charlie Kolb, co-founder of telemedicine startup Chiron Health, made the decision to enroll in classes for his master’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin, he did so with the dreams of one day starting his own company. “I wasn’t interested in investment banking, or […]

Alafair Biosciences, an Austin-based medical device startup, announced Wednesday it has received $2 million in venture funding. ATP Fund led the Series A investment with participation form existing and new investors including the UT Horizon Fund. To date, the company, founded in 2011, has raised $5.9 million. The latest funds will help Alafair Biosciences expand […]

Owlchemy Labs, an independent virtual reality game developer, announced this week the company has closed on $5 million in venture capital. The Austin-based startup moved here from Boston, where Alex Schwartz founded the company in 2010. Owlchemy Labs raised a $5 million Series A round from Qualcomm Ventures, HTC, The VR Fund, Colopl VR Fund, […]

Private Equity Firm Vector Capital announced Wednesday it has entered into an agreement to acquire Austin-based Sizmek, an advertising technology company, for $3.90 a share, valuing the deal at $122 million. San Francisco-based Vector Capital, founded in 1997, has invested $1.6 billion in more than 40 technology companies. “We believe this transaction provides Sizmek with […]

Austin-based CognitiveScale announced Tuesday it has landed $21.8 million in venture capital. Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital co-led the round. CognitiveScale plans to use the money to expand its salesforce and on research and development of its product portfolio. As part of the deal, Norwest’s Promod Haque and Intel Capital’s Vibhor Rastogi will join […]

Austin-based BP3 Global announced this week it has raised $10 Million from Petra Capital Partners, LLC., a Nashiville, Tenn-based private equity firm. The company plans to use the funding to speed up development of its Brazos platform, a data and analytics software program. “The big disconnect in the analytics space is that, while software gives […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Twenty years ago, healthcare planners tucked research parks into suburban environments, away from the buzz of the city. Today, innovative healthcare centers serve as the centerpiece of urban cores like the new Dell Medical School and the Dell Seton Medical Center and campus at 15th street and […]

Renovate Simply, based in Austin, announced it has received seed stage funding from the Digitech Venture Capital Fund, Central Texas Angel Network and a number of angel investors. Renovate Simply is a marketplace business that connects homeowners with vetted contractors to simplify the renovation process. The amount of the seed stage funding was not disclosed. […]

KUKA ATX is a new robotics research and development center in Austin focused on industrial robots for factory production. The German-based company established its newest center of excellence at 11921 North Mopac Expressway. The center will focus on web, cloud and mobile software platforms to augment KUKA robotics, customer experience and overall productivity. The Austin […]

TriNet, a human resources solutions company, has expanded its Austin office in the Research Park area and has hired more than 80 new engineers. The company, based in San Leandro, Calif., now occupies 33,557 square feet of offices with employees focused on technology, sales and service. TriNet is focused on serving small to midsize businesses […]

The Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin just launched with its first class of students this summer. Its goal is to rethink and reinvent the way healthcare is delivered to patients. And this week, Dell Medical School and the future Dell Seton Medical Center won a $300,000 grant to help resident […]

NewCo Austin is a new kind of conference that takes people into the work spaces of some of Austin’s most innovative companies. The conference takes place on July 26th and 27th at various locations around town, and Capital Factory is hosting several sessions as an affiliate partner of the conference. This year, NewCo Austin expanded […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin is still doing well when it comes to attracting venture capital investment into its technology startups. During the second quarter, venture capitalists invested $152 million in 24 deals in Austin, according to the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association, based on […]

Twitch, the video platform and community for gamers, has opened a new office in Austin with six employees and plans to hire more this year. Twitch’s office is located on South Congress. Ken Demarest, director of product development for Twitch’s Developer Success team, will lead the new office. The company is also hiring front and […]

The world is awash in data. Yet only a tiny amount – less than one percent – of all the data that gets collected and stored is ever analyzed, according to an IDC report. An Austin-based startup, data.world, led by serial entrepreneur Brett Hurt, officially launched Monday with $14 million in venture funding, with the […]

Facebook is quadrupling the space at its Austin office at 300 W. Sixth, according to Buildzoom, which pulled several building permits the company filed with the city. Facebook applied for building permits to connect floors nine through 12 at its office. The company currently is located on the 10th floor. Since the beginning of the […]

Austin ranks first in the nation for the best place for startups, according to a new survey from Sungard Availability Services. Austin claimed the top spot, followed by New York, Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, Miami, Los Angeles and Houston. The survey ranked the cities based on startup survival rates, graduate talent and density […]

Google has issued a report showing it had an economic impact of $8.93 Billion for Texas businesses, nonprofit organizations and website publishers in 2015. The company reports 141,000 Texas businesses and nonprofit organizations used Google’s AdWords and Adsense tools in 2015. And Google donated $16.3 million in free advertising to Texas nonprofit organizations through its […]

The key to a thriving technology center is tech talent. And Austin has it, according to a new report from CBRE Group, a commercial real estate services and investment group. The city ranks fifth, up three spots from a year ago, in its annual Tech Talent Scorecard which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets. The […]

Another startup has entered Austin’s ride hailing market. iCars, based in San Francisco, launched its web and mobile platform on Wednesday to connect customers to executive car service operators and chauffeurs in Austin. The company first began offering service in the San Francisco Bay Area in February. “iCARS’ expansion into Austin signifies the growing demand […]

KKR, a global investment firm, has entered into a deal to buy Epicor Software Corp. from Apax Partners. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bloomberg News is reporting the deal is worth about $3.3 billion. Austin-based Epicor provides software to customers in the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries in more than […]

Convey, a Techstars Austin graduate, announced Wednesday it has raised $4.5 million in Series A funding. To date, the company has raised $6.9 million. Silverton Partners led the latest round with participation from Techstars Ventures, Capital Factory and Corsa Ventures. Rob Taylor is the CEO of Convey and Dan Bebout is the founder and vice […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News It has been an almost surrealistic couple of weeks for Fred Schmidt. First, the director of international for Capital Factory learned from the British Consulate in Houston that he had been named a Most Excellent Member of the British Empire for his services to U.K.-U.S. relations, a […]

At the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, 1776 and Dell announced a partnership with Microsoft and Capital Factory to create Union, an international startup platform. The platform is based at Startup Federation, a worldwide network with more than 30 startup campuses and mega-hubs. Union is designed to help entrepreneurs worldwide […]

In January, Spiceworks turned 10 years old and Jay Hallberg, its CEO and co-founder, said the Austin-based company planned to hire 100 new employees this year. But things changed and this week Hallberg, in a post on the company’s community site, now reports Spiceworks plans to layoff 12 percent of its workforce. In January, the […]

Lightspeed Systems, which makes education software, announced plans to relocate all of its operations and employees from Bakersfield, Calif. to Austin. Lightspeed originally moved its corporate headquarters to Austin in 2013 and the company’s founder, Rob McCarthy, moved to Austin a year later. The Bakersfield Californian reports Lightspeed has about 80 employees and most of […]

Savara Pharmaceuticals, which creates drugs focused on rare respiratory diseases, announced it has acquired the assets of Serendex Pharmaceuticals. The addition of Serendex adds new drugs to its portofolio including Serendex’s flagship product, Molgradex, an inhaled drug in later stage clinical trials in Europe and Japan to treat autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. The acquisition is […]

Austin lost its bid to become the winner of $50 million in the Smart City Challenge from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Vulcan Philanthropy to Columbus, Ohio, according to a report in The Columbus Dispatch. Columbus beat Austin, Denver, Portland, Oregon, Kansas City, Missouri, Pittsburgh and San Francisco to win the first Smart City […]

NSS Labs, an information security research and advisory company, announced it has raised $16 million in new equity and bank financing. The Austin-based company plans to use the funds to finance the growth of its security products and cloud-based security and risk management platform. Delta-v Capital led the round with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners. […]

Stamps.com Tuesday announced its acquisition of Austin-based ShippingEasy for $55 million in cash. ShippingEasy, which makes software to allow online retailers to organize, process, fulfill and ship their orders easily, relocated to Austin from Sydney, Australia in 2012 and is run by Katie May, an Austin native and serial entrepreneur. May has worked as head […]

Umbel, an Austin-based data software company, announced its acquisition of Lodestone, a fan engagement company, in a blog post. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mark Drosos founded Lodestone Social Media in Austin in 2008. The company raised $100,000 in investment, according to its Crunchbase profile. Umbel, founded in 2010, raised $20 […]

Urban Mining Co., which recycles magnets, announced Tuesday it has completed a $25 million round of financing. The Austin-based company plans to use the Series A funds to build and operate a magnet recycling and manufacturing plant at its headquarters. “The first step towards commercializing our technology is capital intensive,” Scott Dunn, Urban Mining’s CEO, […]

Aunt Bertha, a social services search and referral platform, announced it has raised $5 million in venture capital. Techstars Ventures led the Series B round of financing and as part of the deal, Jason Seats, partner at Techstars Ventures, will join the company’s board. “There’s a lot of unnecessary suffering going on for many Americans […]

ePatientFinder, a matchmaking platform for physicians, patients and clinical trials, announced this week it has received $8.2 million in venture capital. The Austin-based startup has raised a total of $11 million since its founding in 2013. Tom Dorsett, Tushar Jain, Greg Sweatt and Dillon Krug co-founded the company. Silicon Hills News did this profile on […]

Ellevest, a new investment platform aimed at women, launched this week in Austin. Ellevest’s co-founder Sallie Krawcheck, created the investment platform to “close the gender investing gap and redefine investing for women with a practical, goals-based approach,” according to a news release. Krawcheck has nearly 30 years of experience leading financial services companies on Wall […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News The Internet of Things is making us safer. V5 Systems created a portable outdoor security system that doesn’t need to be plugged in, can capture video, detect a gunshot and pinpoint the location it was fired from to alert authorities in real time. V5 Systems won Dell […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News In light of the growing prevalence of services making up the state’s “sharing economy,” the Texas House Committee on Business and Industry met Wednesday to discuss the impact of city regulations associated with peer-to-peer exchange platforms. Responding to the testimonies given at the hearing, Committee Chairman Rene […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News It’s hard making a mobile app. Just ask 80 fourth, fifth and sixth graders who just finished Hello World’s first engineering program and created 12 prototypes. Hello World, a new after school program, teaches kids web and mobile development, game design, data science and design thinking. The […]

Vyze, a financial technology company, has raised $13 million in venture capital to fuel its growth and expand into new markets and product lines. Austin Ventures and StarVest Partners of New York led the Series B financing round. The company, founded in 2008, has raised $35 million including the latest funding round. “We’re building a […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News After a grueling 35-mile bicycle ride in the Hill Country to prepare for a triathlon, Steven Welch felt some aches and pains in his legs. He agreed to go to a Cryotherapy session with his friend. He didn’t much believe that it would help his recovery, but […]

The search engine giant, Google, want to deliver packages to shoppers in Austin through its Google Express service. Google on Wednesday launched the service, which offers overnight and two-day shopping and delivery service, in Austin and surrounding areas. It also launched the service in Oklahoma and other Texas markets including Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Google […]

One of Austin’s newest spirit companies, Milestone Brands is on a buying spree. The company announced Wednesday its acquisition of American Born Moonshine from Windy Hill Spirits, based in Nashville. Milestone recently acquired Dulce Vida Tequila. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Chad Auler, co-founder of Deep Eddy Vodka,and Eric Dopkins, former […]

Austin is a hotbed for social media marketing and the city’s biggest startup focused on the industry, Spredfast, just raised $50 million to further expand its business. New investor Riverwood Capital led the Series F financing round. Other existing investors in the round include Austin Ventures, InterWest Partners, OpenView Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital. […]

Rocket Software, a Waltham, Mass.-based company, announced Tuesday the opening of its first office in Austin. Rocket Software’s local office is located at The Domain in the same building as Amazon and across the street from IBM, according to a news release. Rocket Software also recently opened offices in Japan and China. Rocket Chief Technology […]

San Francisco-based Wingz announced it has launched a peer-to-peer ride service in Austin with a focus on providing rides to and from the airport. Wingz allows customers to pre-book a driver to take them around town at a flat rate, surge-free price, according to a news release. The rides start with a minimum price tag […]

EyeQ, a shopper intelligence platform, announced it has received $3.5 million in Series A funding. Align Capital, a new investor, led the round with participation from existing existing investors. As part of the deal, Lisa Harris, managing partner of Align Capital, joins eyeQ’s board of directors. The Austin-based startup plans to use the funds for […]

Austin tech leaders Monday announced a new ride-hailing service based on a nonprofit model. The service is called RideAustin and plans to rollout starting in June. It plans to expand its service to the entire city of Austin by the end of the year, according to information on its website. Joe Liemandt, founder and CEO […]

In the startup community, it’s very well understood that bigger does not always mean better. In fact, bigger can often mean slower, more bureaucratic, and in many cases overly complex and expensive. Yet for all their focus on new business models and disruption, Silicon Valley startups are extremely conservative in their choices of law firms. […]

Genstar Capital, a private equity firm, last week announced its acquisition of Austin-based Accruent, which makes real estate, facilities and asset management software. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Accruent, founded in 1995 in California, had raised $32 million from two investors in two rounds, according to its Crunchbase profile. The company […]

The Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund is expanding to Austin in August. The fund is a joint initiative among Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox web browser, the National Science Foundation and U.S. Ignite. Mozilla is providing $150,000 in grant funding to Austin projects and tools that use the city’s Google Fiber network. The projects might […]

On a vacation, booking a place to stay is just part of the adventure. OnceThere, an online concierge service, seeks to provide a platform for travelers to book their hotel or vacation rental along with activities and tours once they reach their destination. The Austin-based startup, founded in January of 2015, last week launched its […]

By Steve Guengerich Special to Silicon Hills News I’m excited to announce that a revised and updated 2016 edition of the Naturally Caffeinated ebook is now available for download. (For the impatient among you, you can scroll to the bottom for the download link!) 2016 Edition Highlights Guest Contributors Whereas the original ebook was only […]

Bloomfire, which makes a software platform for companies to share information, Thursday announced it has closed on $12.8 million in Series B funding from Austin Ventures. Bloomfire plans to use the funds to hire more people for its sales and marketing teams and on research and development of its platform. “This capital shows that Bloomfire […]

The benefits of having Google Fiber in Austin go far beyond higher broadband speeds. That can be seen in Google’s latest gift to the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation. This week, Google and Google Fiber awarded $145,000 to the foundation to support a new digital inclusion program. The funds will go to buy new videoconferencing […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Comparing his journey this week to that of an American Idol judge, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx visited Austin Tuesday morning to meet with leaders from one of seven finalists vying for a $40 million Smart City Challenge grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Foxx […]

Today is an historic day for startup investing and fundraising. Title III of The Jobs Act goes into effect four years after President Barack Obama signed the act into law. That means companies, ranging from restaurants and bars to video game makers and software companies, can now raise funds through equity crowdfunding portals from mom […]

Opinion: By Courtney Powell Special to Silicon Hills News This has been a difficult week for many Austinites. The Prop 1 campaign has galvanized the community, and rightly so. There was no shortage of opinions, interests, or ego on either side of the debate. I believe it was a poorly executed campaign on both sides, […]

Austin’s home-grown delivery service, Favor, has just moved into some cool new digs in downtown Austin. The company, with 121 local employees, now occupies 12,000 square feet of office space at 1705 Guadalupe Street. It’s decked out with murals of Austin landmarks and favor delivery items in blue and white, Favor’s signature colors. The company’s […]

At the Austin A-List awards ceremony Wednesday night, the organizers chose to honor Isabella Rose Taylor as its entrepreneurial rising star. Taylor, 15, is from Austin and is one of the world’s youngest fashion designers and artists. “I really got into fashion through my art,” Taylor said. “I’ve been selling my art since before I […]

In a standing room only theater, a dozen Austin startups, ranging from emerging companies to bigger ventures, received awards Wednesday night as part of the Austin A-List of the Hottest Startups. The Austin Chamber, through its Innovate Austin initiative, and South by Southwest Interactive put the event on every year at ACL Live at the […]

BigCommerce, an ecommerce platform, announced Tuesday that it has closed a $30 million round. GGV Capital led the funding round with participation from existing investors including General Catalyst, Revolution Growth, Softbank Capital, Tenaya, Split Rock, Telstra Ventures and American Express Ventures. BigCommerce, founded in Australia in 2009, has previously raised $125 million. The company has […]

It’s finally here. The special election for Austin voters to cast their ballots on Proposition One. A vote yes means the regulations City Council adopted last December to require fingerprinting background checks of all ridesharing drivers get thrown out. And Lyft and Uber and other so called Transportation Network Companies, known as TNCs, will continue […]

By Laura Lorek Reporter with Silicon Hills News A year ago, Ryan Norton didn’t have a car and he needed to get to the dry cleaner and back from the University of Texas at Austin campus. “Dry cleaning is really inconvenient,” Norton said. “As we looked at this space we recognized the entire industry is […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Mike Maples Jr., general partner of Floodgate Ventures in Palo Alto, has a golden touch for making early investments into successful tech startups. That skill earned Maples the 19th spot on Forbes’ 2016 Midas list of the most successful venture capitalists for his astute investments which recently […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin has become a new hotspot for healthcare, technology and startup funding and a conference held downtown this week combined all of those ingredients. The inaugural HealthCare Texas Innovation Capital Conference held at Brazos Hall Wednesday and Thursday attracted more than 450 attendees including more than 100 […]

OutboundEngine, which makes an online marketing platform for small business owners, announced Wednesday that it has closed a $16 million Series C funding round. Austin-based S3 Ventures led the round with participation from previous investors Silverton Partners, Noro-Moseley, Harmony Partners, Altos Ventures and Capital Factory. To date, the company has raised $33.8 million. OutboundEngine plans […]

From the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail to Mount Bonnell, Google Maps now provides a virtual view of some of Austin’s remarkable landmarks. Google Maps announced on Tuesday that more than 80 Texas landmarks are now live for people to explore online through Street View in Google Maps for both Android and iOS […]

Chiron Health will represent Austin at the annual Google Demo Day on Wednesday at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View. “It’s really great exposure for us,” said Charlie Kolb, co-founder and vice president of business development for Chiron Health. “It gives us exposure to those West Coast VCs. It fosters new connections and the right kind […]

Since its founding in 2008, SpareFoot has always tended to have some outrageous marketing projects. Silicon Hills News reported on its annual pinup calendar. And its unusual recruiting mockumentary video. (The video no longer seems to exist.) Now SpareFoot has launched a new series of videos. It’s working with Austin-based ad agency, Titled Chair, to […]

At South by Southwest this year, Spotify created the biggest and best-ever Spotify House at 1501 E. 6th Street. But what happened after SXSW is as cool as the immersive, interactive journey created at the Spotify House. Spotify donated all materials from its venue to be recycled to build a recording studio for students of […]

The City of Austin is fighting to win up to $40 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $10 million from Vulcan Philanthropy, Paul Allen’s investment company, in the Smart City Challenge. To gather information on how other smart cities are operating, recently Mayor Steve Adler traveled to Amsterdam, a city in which 50 […]

Austin always has a ton of activities for entrepreneurs going on, but this is a particularly busy week for tech events. Silicon Hills News has highlighted a few below that are worth checking out including two focusing on the city’s emerging medical technology industry. HealthTech Breakfast On Tuesday, Silicon Hills News will be moderating a […]

AlertMedia, a platform for interactive mass notification, announced Tuesday it has raised $4 million more in a Series A-1 funding round. Silverton Partners led the round which included ATX Seed Ventures and other current investors. The Austin-based startup announced last June that it had raised $4.16 million in Series A funding. The latest round is […]

In Austin, startups do eventually become big businesses but that that doesn’t mean they still don’t like to have fun. And that’s the reason behind the second annual Startup Games: Level Up event, which takes place Saturday at Fair Market and features ten bigger companies competing against each other in games like ping pong, foosball, […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News At the April meeting of the StARTup Studio on Tuesday night, Ultimate EOR, People Pattern and AwiaTech Corp. presented their ventures. All of them have University of Texas at Austin professors at the helm. The monthly StARTup Studio invitation-only meetings take place at WeWork on Congress and […]

In 2006, Bill Morrow founded CSIdentity in San Antonio. A few years later, he moved the company to Austin, which had a much more developed technology industry. This week, Experian, the global information services company, announced plans to buy CSIdentity for $360 million. The deal is pending regulatory approval. “The acquisition of CSID accelerates executive […]

Tripchamp, a corporate booking platform for travel, announced Tuesday that it has raised $2 million in funding from The Bird Group, owners of Amadeus India, a global platform for the Indian travel industry. The Austin-based startup plans to use the funding to boost its customer service channel and for corporate growth, according to a news […]

EverlyWell announced Tuesday that is has raised $2.5 million in seed funding and launched a beta test of its at-home healthcare diagnostics tests. The Austin-based company is led by CEO Julia Cheek, who recently moved to Austin from Dallas. The startup has six employees and its headquarters is at West 6th Street and Guadalupe. “We […]

The good news is venture capital flowing into Texas topped $591.9 million in the first quarter of 2016, up nearly 40 percent from $423.5 million for the same quarter a year ago. But venture capital flowing into Austin during the first quarter of 2016 dropped 49 percent to $141.3 million, compared to $277.8 million for […]

Houston-based Alert Logic announced it has acquired Austin-based Click Security. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alert Logic, security as a service solutions provider for the cloud, acquired Click Security to bolster its security analytics and threat detection solutions and to add to its security and engineering talent. The companies also provide complementary […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News WeWork opened its second Austin location, “WeWork University Park” on Monday. The new space is located on the 7th floor of the University Park business center at 3300 N. Interstate 35, near the University of Texas at Austin’s North Campus area. The building also houses one of […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Bryan Menell hosted his longstanding, monthly, Austin Tech Happy Hour Thursday at the Dogwood, except this time he was wearing an AngelSpan t-shirt. The serial entrepreneur sold his most recent company, Mahana, to Crunchtime in 2015 and has been looking for opportunities since. At the February Austin […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News In Austin, entrepreneurs get funding from a wide variety of sources to launch or accelerate a new venture. Those sources include friends, family, fools, banks, grants, incubators, angel investors, strategic partners, venture capital, private equity and other sources. A panel of funding experts gathered Wednesday afternoon in […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin-based RideScout and Portland Ore.-based GlobeSherpa are merging under one brand: moovel North America. Under the rebranding, Joseph Kopser, co-founder of RideScout, will be taking on the position of president of moovel Group GmbH, a subsidiary of German automobile titan Daimler AG – most famously known for […]

With the first Dell Medical School class kicking off in June with 50 students, the medical technology and biotechnology industry in Austin is set to boom. Already, dozens of startups have launched in Austin and more are in the works. So it’s the perfect time to gather for a conference to bring startups, investors and […]

LiveOak Venture Partners announced Friday it has added Ram Velidi of Dallas as a new venture partner. Velidi has had extensive experience as a venture investor over two fund cycles at Sevin Rosen Funds. He also has experience working with entrepreneurs as an executive with Net.Orange/NantHealth and Xybridge/ZHNE. Velidi will focus on investments in the […]

Music Meets Video, a new user generated content platform for emerging music artists, launched this week in Austin. The startup has partnered with We Are the Hits, a leading music publisher, that allows it to host content from Universal Music, Sony/ATV, Warner/Chappelle and Kobalt Music Group’s song catalogs with more than six million hit songs. […]

Aeglea BioTherapeutics went public on the NASDAQ Stock Market Thursday at $10 a share with an Initial Public Offering bringing in $50 million. Shares in the biotechnology company, which develops enzyme-based therapeutics in the field of amino acid metabolism to treat inborn errors of metabolism and cancer, closed down two percent at $9.77 a share. […]

RetailMeNot, a platform for deals and coupons, Thursday announced that it has acquired Phoenix-based GiftCard Zen, a secondary marketplace for gift cards. The Austin-based company acquired GiftCard Zen for $22 million in cash and up to $11 million more if it meets specific targets and continues to employ a key employee after April 5th when […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Startups and investors engage in a complicated dance in Austin’s funding ecosystem. It is a topic which has generated a lot of discussion about whether enough investors and funds exist to finance entrepreneurs in Austin or whether the startups just aren’t good enough to land investment. On […]

A new accelerator program, Tarmac TX, is launching in Austin. Esteban Fabiao, its director, answered a few questions via email about the nine month long program that offers coworking space, mentorship, events and workshops for seven startups. The program kicks off May 1st. The deadline to apply is Friday. Q. SHN: What is Tarmac TX? […]

The Central Texas Angel Network, known as CTAN, was the most active individual angel group in the country in 2015, according to the HALO Report recently released by the Angel Resource Institute and PitchBook. Members of CTAN, a nonprofit organization of more than 150 accredited angel investors, invested more than $13.3 million into 43 startups […]

Silicon Hills News has covered the Central Texas technology scene for five years now and we have noticed a huge gaping gap in coverage. The Austin and San Antonio region simply does not have a technology reality show that showcases all of the innovation gurgling up from the natural springs of this fertile cutting edge, […]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visited the University of Texas at Austin on Thursday followed by a trip to Capital Factory to talk tech with entrepreneurs. During his visit to UT, Carter met with the Chancellor of the University of Texas System, Bill McRaven. “At the University he met with the Institute on Domestic […]

The Zebra, a car insurance comparison and aggregation startup, introduced its ICSPA or In-Car Selfie Prevention Alarm, a new vanity monitoring technology on Friday. Aceable, the driver’s ed app, announced that Willow Smith, the 15-year-old daughter of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, contacted the Austin-based startup through her assistant because she’s interested in […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News To get ahead, women must advocate for themselves, negotiate for equal pay, surround themselves with a supportive team and learn from mentors. Those are a few of the tips gleaned from a panel of five executive women who have accomplished a great deal during their careers in […]

eRelevance Corp., which makes a marketing platform for small to medium sized businesses to engage customers, on Thursday announced it has raised $4.5 million in its Series A round of funding. The Austin-based startup, co-founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur Bob Fabbio, has raised $8.6 million since launching. The company plans to use the money […]

South by Southwest Interactive not only showcases Austin’s technology scene to the world, but it has also become a global stage for international startups to showcase their products and services. This year, International Accelerator, based in Austin, held its first FastPitch competition at SXSW at the Mexican American Cultural Center. Flavr, a food tech app […]

Dell announced on Monday plans to sell its IT and digital business solutions division to Tokyo-based NTT Data for $3.05 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The division includes solutions for healthcare, financial services, insurance and the public sector. The sale helps Round Rock-based Dell raise cash to complete its $67 billion acquisition of […]

The wait is over for Austin residents and businesses in the outlying areas of Westlake and 360 to get Favor, the Austin-based on demand delivery service. This week the company announced it has expanded its Austin delivery zone to include Westlake. Its zone expanded west with Texas State Highway Loop 360 as its new border. […]

During South by Southwest, Chaotic Moon showed off some of the latest applications created by its research and development team. Chaotic Moon is known for some outrageous tech displays at SXSW. A few years ago, the studio launched a drone and tasered an intern in its offices. This year, no interns were tasered. But the […]

AVAI Mobile Solutions, based in Austin, announced it has been selected as the primary mobile technology partners for Austin-based C3 Presents, which produces Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza. AVAI, which Silicon Hills News wrote about in 2013, did not disclose the terms of the deal. AVAI Mobile will be working with C3 to […]

Uber, the San Francisco-based ride sharing company, just launched UberEats in Austin. UberEats, a smartphone app available on iOS and Android, lets people order food from local restaurants. It just launched in Austin. It launched March 15th in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. “For the past year and a half we’ve been […]

In 2003, the U.S. Defense Department launched the DARPA Grand Challenge to have a car drive 150 miles by itself across the Mojave desert from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. That’s when Google’s Chris Ursom, director of its self-driving car project, first got involved with autonomous cars. More than 100 teams registered the first year […]

The word innovate has become such a buzzword at South by Southwest Interactive that Onion did a parody on it. “Word “Innovate” Said 650,000 Times at SXSW So Far,” by the Onion is worth checking out. But all joking aside, Innovation is serious business. And SXSW every year gives out Innovation Awards to the startups […]

Q. What is BNB Shield LLC? A: BNB Shield LLC finds, reports on and challenges illegal, contract-breaking and unlicensed short-term rentals. We report these to the proper channels to ensure they are promptly removed from third-party rental platforms that include AirBnB, Craigslist, Home Away, Overnight, FlipKey, VRBO, VacationRentals.com, among others. A proliferation of short-term rental […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News SXSW goers listened to experts and leaders from the tech industry discuss the intersections between new innovations and government policy during Innovation Policy Day on Tuesday. The event, which featured four different panels, was organized by the Consumer Technology Association, which provides its members market research, education […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News It’s rare that a SXSW session gets a standing ovation but NASA’s Journey to Mars presentation Tuesday left a packed audience inspired and on their feet. NASA panelists made it clear that there is not, currently, a mission planned to Mars. Instead, preparations are being made on […]

What’s the secret to a successful panel discussion at South by Southwest Interactive? Puppies and cookies and a talk about happiness. At the panel Designing Happiness on Saturday, Lippencott, Disney and SoulCycle had huge lines waiting to fill their 500 seat room. It was one of the highest attended panel’s of the day not including […]

By CHELSEA COLLIER Special to Silicon Hills News It used to be that the phrase “tech policy” would send people running for more interesting conversation. But today, public policy and regulations are the hot topic at every meet-up, coffee gathering and cocktail party at SXSW and beyond. In fact, the intersection of tech and policy […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News Community leaders from the heart of Atlanta’s tech scene had a chance to strut their city’s entrepreneurial spirit at ChooseATL’s Tech Square Takeover event on Monday. The free SXSW event was open to the public, and was one of many events hosted at the ChooseATL House at […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News If Richard Garriott de Cayeux gets his way, Austin’s nightmare traffic will soon be mitigated by little electrically powered pods that resemble storm trooper helmets, drive on an elevated roadway, and can get you from St. Edwards to the University of Texas in about eight minutes. According […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin’s Pop Up Play won first place in the Entertainment and Content category at the SXSW 2016 Accelerator Awards. The company creates cardboard play sets—castles, spaceships–that children can design and customize online then order. Winners in other categories were Enterprise and Smart Data: Parknav uses real time […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News After years of complaints that SXSW was getting “too big” and “too crazy” and “too much of a zoo,” many people who have been at the Interactive conference over the years have commented that the conference seemed quieter this year…less crazy. Even with the President of the […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News “When the three of us moved here you could fire a shotgun down Congress Avenue and not hit anyone,” said Neal Spelce, founder of AustinLetter.com. “It was a small town and everyone knew everyone.” Today, Austin is the nation’s 12th largest city and the fastest growing in […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News A woman headed up the team for the onboard flight software for the Apollo space mission. Cruise control was invented by a blind man. Most of the startups that succeed have founders who are over 40. These were some of the takeaways from Tech Inclusion, an all-day […]

In huge news coming out of South by Southwest Interactive, the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs announced plans on Monday to buy Honest Dollar, a web and mobile-based retirement savings platform that launched at the show last year. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. William Hurley, known as Whurley, former founder of […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin has got a problem, said Michael Henderson, founder and CEO of Developers Doing Development. The city’s black population is now around 8 percent, and city projections show it could fall to as low as 5 percent in coming decades, according to an article last summer in […]

Do you feel a case of FOMO coming on? That knot in the stomach that keeps getting tighter the closer South by Southwest gets? It doesn’t matter if this is your first SXSW experience or you go every year, one thing is certain: you will sign up for something and you will not go because […]

Condé Nast, the publisher of Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ and The New Yorker, Monday announced plans to open a new digital innovation center in Austin with 50 employees. The center will serve as the company’s outpost for its digital teams with a focus on engineering and product development for Condé Nast’s digital portfolio. Condé Nast […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Indeed started out in 2004 to build a better search engine for jobs. Today, Austin-based Indeed is the world’s largest job site attracting 200 million unique monthly visitors. Indeed is focused on how people will find jobs in the 21st century, said Chris Hyams, its president. “More […]

By SHION DEYSARKAR Founder of Datainfiniti Special Contributor to Silicon Hills News SXSW will be upon us in less than two weeks. As everyone in Austin is well aware, the annual music-film-tech festival brings in hordes of visitors, turning downtown Austin into one long queue for everything. At this point, it’s become a well-worn cliche. […]

RealMassive, a commercial real estate data marketplace, Wednesday announced it has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with CoStar Realty Information Inc. for $1 million. “We are glad to have this lawsuit resolved,” Craig Hancock, Chief Executive Officer of RealMassive, said in a news release. “CoStar’s claim that we deliberately added its photos to our database […]

By CHRIS VALENTINE Special Contribution to Silicon Hills News Startup enthusiasts and innovation seekers around the world are preparing themselves for the week-long whirlwind of conferences, pitch competitions, panels, and networking events that make up SXSW Interactive. With so many event opportunities for you to choose from, it’s best to prepare ahead of time and […]

South by Southwest just announced Wednesday morning President Barack Obama will participate in a keynote conversation at SXSW Interactive. The president will speak on Friday, March 11th. He will participate in a fireside chat with Evan Smith, Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Tribune. In addition, First Lady Michelle Obama will give the opening keynote […]

In a post on Medium, Austin Mayor Steve Adler announced a new pitch competition at South by Southwest aimed at providing solutions for America’s biggest cities. The competition is open to startups with products or programs that can solve tough challenges for cities, according to the post. A panel of mayors and industry experts will […]

Savara Pharmaceuticals Tuesday announced it has closed on $20 million in Series C financing. The Austin-based company plans to use the funds to test AeroVanc, an antibiotic that can be inhaled to treat Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, also known as MRSA, lung infection in people with cystic fibrosis. “The new financing will help support the AeroVanc […]

GoPro on Monday announced it has acquired Splice, a video editing app developed by Vemory, an Austin-based startup. The San Mateo-based company also acquired Replay, another video editing app, and plans to merge them to deliver mobile editing solutions to GoPro customers and other smartphone users, according to a news release. GoPro paid $105 million […]

WigWag, the maker of a platform for connecting devices in the home through the Internet, announced this week it has raised $3.175 million in seed funding. The Austin based startup, founded in 2011, received the funding from Palo Alto-based CSC Venture Capital. It plans to use the money on product development and to hire more […]

The Austin Chamber of Commerce Thursday began accepting nominations for the 2016 Austin A-List. The awards, put on by the chamber and South by Southwest Interactive, seek to showcase Austin’s most innovative startup companies at three different stages of development. • Emerging (Early/Seed Stage) – Raised under $1 million; • Growth (Mid-Stage) – Raised $1 […]

By HOJUN CHOI Reporter with Silicon Hills News Entrepreneurs from around Austin gathered at WeWork downtown for the second stARTup Studio of 2016, and had a chance to hear about innovations being developed at The University of Texas at Austin. The event, which began in 2013, is co-sponsored by WeWork, the Austin Chamber of Commerce […]

Shopgate, a German-based mobile ecommerce company, announced Wednesday it is moving its U.S. headquarters to Austin from Palo Alto and plans to hire 50 local employees. Shopgate also announced Marc Biel as its Chief Executive Officer to lead its expansion into the U.S. market. Biel previously served as chief financial officer and chief operations officer […]

The focus of the Innovation Center in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin is to help professor led startups. To that end, the Innovation Center formed a grant fund and Wednesday announced its first two grant recipients. The center awarded grants to Professor Luis Sentis, who runs a robotics […]

Student Loan Genius announced it has raised $3 million in seed funding. The Austin-based startup received the funds from Gibraltar Ventures, an affiliate of Prudential. Other participants included Kapor Capital, Capital Factory and Village Capital. Tony Aguilar co-founded Student Loan Genius to allow companies to help their employees pay off their student loans faster through […]

Twenty finalists from all over the world will be in Austin on Saturday to compete in the 2016 Food+City Challenge Prize Showcase Day. A panel of 17 judges will evaluate the finalists and select the winners of $50,000 in prize money and perks from Food+City partners. The showcase day runs from 10 a.m. to 4:00 […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News A new startup, OJO Labs just closed on $5.8 million in Series A funding from local investors. Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners and Silverton Partners led the financing. John Berkowitz, co-founder of Yodle and David Rubin, founder and former CEO of ProfitFuel founded OJO Labs in February of […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News The birth of a new microscope industry is taking place at the University of Texas at Austin that can change the way scientists view living cells at the smallest stage. On Tuesday night at the Austin Chamber of Commerce, a small group attending UT’s Startup Studio got […]

Austin-based Pivot3 announced Wednesday it will acquire NexGen Storage, a privately held maker of hybrid storage appliances based in Louisville, Colorado. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pivot3 intends to market and enhance all current and planned NexGen products. “Everyone talks about the need for agility in terms of business needs, but […]

This is the kind of warm and fuzzy story that warms our hearts and our stomachs during the height of flu season in Austin. Austin-based Favor, the on-demand delivery service, has teamed up with Kinsa, the maker of the smart thermometer that tracks the spread of illness, to send out hot soup via Soup Peddler, […]

The Zebra, which created an auto insurance aggregation and comparison site to save consumers money, has raised $17 million in Series A funding. The Austin-based company’s investors included Silverton Partners, Daher Capital, Ballast Point Ventures, Mark Cuban and Mike Maples Jr. “Insurance shopping is a major pain point for the 250 million-plus U.S. drivers on […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News uShip won the 2016 Austin Startup Games on Saturday afternoon at Fair Market on Austin’s East side. SpareFoot, a three-time champion, came in second, followed by LawnStarter, a new competitor to the games. More than 1,000 people attended the event, which raised $57,500 for local charities, said […]

Civitas Learning announced Wednesday it has acquired College Scheduler, a web-based class scheduling platform for students at colleges and universities. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. College Scheduler, based in Redding, Calif., was founded by a student, Robert Strazzarino, at California State University at Chico, to solve his problems with scheduling classes […]

Austin Technology Incubator at the University of Texas at Austin has teamed up with the Austin Community College District to launch business mentoring services aimed at life sciences startups. The services will be available at ACC’s Advanced Commercialization ACCelerator, opening later on this year at the ACC Highland Campus. That locations will have biotechnology equipment, […]

j2 Global, based in Los Angeles, announced this week it has completed the acquisition of two Austin-based companies. j2 Global bought Offers.com, a digital media company based in Austin and MX Toolbox, founded in 2004, which provides managed IT services for small businesses worldwide. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Offers.com, a coupon, […]

OneSpot announced this week it has hired Jon Driscoll as its chief revenue officer. Driscoll previously worked at Spredfast. At OneSpot, Driscoll will be responsible for sales strategy and business development. He reports directly to OneSpot CEO Steve Sachs. Austin-based OneSpot has created a content marketing platform and its clients include Kraft Heinz, Mondelēz International, […]

Lawn care is a big business nationwide. But it’s a highly fragmented industry with a lot of mom and pop businesses. That’s where LawnStarter has found its sweet spot. The on-demand lawn care service has found success in Austin, Orlando, Florida and Washington, D.C. hooking up lawn care providers with customers and now it’s branching […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News South by Southwest, the nation’s largest technology conference, has worked hard to tackle diversity in technology to get more people who are not middle aged white guys as speakers and participants, said Hugh Forrest, director of SXSW Interactive. Last year, SXSW declared diversity in tech as its […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Developing new products for the medical industry requires special facilities like mock surgery rooms and lab space and the community in which to brainstorm ideas. “Whatever policy, procedure or product you’re working on we want it in an operating room environment so we can mimic those same […]

Vendini, a San Francisco-based live events company, announced Friday it has acquired CrowdTorch, an Austin-based consumer ticket and live event platform, previously owned by Cvent. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Its Vendini third acquisition since its founding in 2001. Vendini plans to keep the CrowdTorch ticketing platform and operate it as […]

TabbedOut, a mobile payments app for bars and restaurants, announced Friday it has raised $2 million more in its Series C venture round. Miami-based Aeterna Capital provided the funds. That increases TabbedOut’s Series C round to $23.5 million. The other investors include lead investor Wellington Management Company and participating investors NEA and Morgan Creek Capital […]

CBANC, a network for bank and credit union professionals, announced it has raised $4 million in venture capital funding. The Austin-based network with 22 employees plans to use the funds to hire new employees, expand membership and launch new products CBANC founder Hank Seale led the Series B funding with participation from Texas Independent Bancshares, […]

Austin took the fourth spot in the Milken Institute’s annual Best Performing Cities index for 2015, down two spots from last year. “Austin-Round Rock, Texas, remains among the Top 5 best-performing large metros at fourth place, slipping from second last year,” according to the report. “It accomplished this feat despite a couple of shocks to […]

Younicos, based in Austin and Berlin, announced Tuesday it has signed agreements for $50 million in venture capital. The company plans to use the funds to scale sales of its intelligent energy storage solutions. First Solar, a global provider of solar energy solutions and Grupo ECOs, a sustainable investment-focused private equity firm, invested along with […]

Revionics, which makes price optimization software for retailers, announced Tuesday that it has acquired Marketyze, based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Onn Manelson and Nave Ronen founded Marketyze in 2011. The company has six employees and offices in Phoenix, Arizona and Tampa, Florida, according to its LinkedIn […]

Everfest has launched a new festival photography program to complement its marketplace for discovering festivals worldwide. The Austin-based startup just launched the program to give photographers a chance to have their work published on Everfest. Photographers can apply on the site, upload links to their portfolio and if they are approved they get press passes […]

Videotape, based in Austin, announced it has released its new iOS app to help people create interactive videos. The startup created the app’s technology, called Jumpcut, that lets users share videos and receive interactive video responses. Other people can add to the new with new video and audio for up to 40 seconds. “We wanted […]

Zilliant, based in Austin, announced Tuesday that it has hired Steve Hale as vice president of its newly launched worldwide channel sales. Hale will lead, design and execute Zilliant’s new channel program. Its channel partners will sell Zilliant data science solutions. Zilliant, founded in 1999, makes price optimization and price management software. “We’re very excited […]

Austin has another coworking site. Luke Filipos and Chris Sica founded Austin Coding Academy and then decided to create Open Source Coworking to expand their current business and launch a new one. “Our hope is to build a community whose network includes all of the human capital necessary to build any technology,” Filipos said in […]

BidPrime, which moved to Austin last year, is expanding. The company doubled the space on its headquarters from 2,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet at 1301 S I-35. The company moved to Austin last year and had 16 employees. It’s currently at 22 employees. BidPrime, founded in 2009, provides real-time notification of new federal, […]

Q2 Holdings, an online banking company, announced this week the acquisition of Social Money, a financial services software company based in Des Moines, Iowa for $10.6 million. The Austin-based company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol QTWO, said Social Money is best known for its cloud-based platform called SmartyPigproduct that assists […]

Is the technology industry’s investment bubble about to pop? WBUR Radio Host Tom Ashbrook tackled that topic Wednesday morning on his On Point Radio show on National Public Radio. The conclusion was we’re already seeing the bubble deflate, but it’s not going to be as big of a bust as when the Dot Com bubble […]

San Diego-based everyStory, a cloud-based story sharing mobile app and platform, announced it has acquired StoryPress of Austin. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mike Davis, CEO of StoryPress, launched the website in 2013 and a year later completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and raised $500,000 in seed stage capital. The company […]

Austin-based Favor, the on demand mobile delivery service, announced Wednesday that it has expanded to three more Texas cities: Arlington, Frisco and McKinney. Favor is also making every restaurant and store in the cities available for on-demand delivery with an average delivery time of 35 minutes. Favor is now available in 18 cities in the […]

CPA Global, based in Saint Helier, Jersey, announced it has acquired Austin-based Innography, a patent search and analytics software provider. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Innography, founded in 2006, raised $16.5 million in four rounds including participation from Austin Ventures, according to its CrunchBase profile. CPA Global reported that the acquisition […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News They were a group of space geeks, scientists, engineers and artists who met at NASA but, because of cutbacks in the U.S. space program, considered they might never get a chance to slip the bonds of earth’s orbit. So instead, they started a company to tackle two […]

With just a few hours left in its Kickstarter campaign, Makerarm has raised $429,716 exceeding its initial goal of $349,750. Austin-based Makerarm has created a complete digital fabrication system that is a sleek and slender robotic arm that can serve as a 3D printer, laser cutter, ink printer, fabrication and assembly machine. The product is […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Consero Global started out in 2006 with the goal of taking the pain out of finance and administrative duties for small to medium sized businesses. The Austin-based company has since grown tremendously earning it a spot on Inc. 500’s list of fastest growing companies in the U.S. […]

In 2013, Favor launched in Austin to deliver food to homes and offices. Zac Maurais and Ben Doherty initially founded the company while students at California Polytechnic State University and they ran a pilot program in San Luis Obispo. Now the company has announced it has reached another milestone. It has surpassed one million deliveries […]

The Newspaper Association of America is looking for startups with innovative ideas in the print, digital, mobile or advertising areas. The NAA is soliciting submissions for its third annual Accelerator Pitch program. The event will take place at NAA mediaXchange 2016 in Washington, D.C. April 17-20. The program is open to media startups founded in […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Six years ago, Jenny Fleiss founded Rent the Runway with Harvard Business School classmate Jenn Hyman. Today, the New York-based company has more than five million members and 500 employees. And to scale their venture, Fleiss and Hyman have raised $114 million in venture capital from Bain […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News The new Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin is going to have a technology medical accelerator to nurture new startups. Whether the Dell Medical School operates it or partners with an existing accelerator is something they are looking at right now, said Dr. […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Is a bootstrap mentality holding Austin’s entrepreneurs back from breaking through to big markets and venture capital opportunities? That question sparked a lively discussion from seven panelists attending an event put on by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Austin Technology Council Thursday night at Carmelo’s […]

Assured Enterprises, based in McLean, Va., is moving its corporate headquarters to Austin with plans to hire 150 new employees in the next 12 months. The company is in the red-hot cybersecurity space. It makes an assessment tool to detect known vulnerabilities in software applications running on a workstation. It is hiring employees in software […]

Expedia, based in Bellevue, Washington, announced Wednesday plans to buy Austin-based HomeAway in a deal worth about $3.9 billion. That represents a per share price for HomeAway of $38.31, based on Expedia’s closing price on Nov. 3. Under the terms of the deal, Expedia will offer to acquire each outstanding share of HomeAway’s common stock […]

IBM Tuesday announced that is has acquired Gravitant, a cloud-based software maker based in Austin. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Gravitant provides cloud brokerage and management software for the hybrid cloud environment, delivered in a software as a service model. The company, founded in 2004, has raised a total of $40.3 […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News OSLO, NORWAY – Amid the hovercraft and kits with giant colored straws building kits and drones and 3D printed Rubik’s cubes at the Oslo Innovation maker fair in October, one presenter didn’t really think of what his company—Teenage Engineering—does as making. Though Jesper Kouthoofd acknowledges that the […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new crowdfunding rules last Friday allowing companies to raise money from anyone. The new rules allow companies to offer up to $1 million a year in securities through online equity-based crowdfunding portals. The difference is up until the change, only so-called accredited investors, high net worth individuals, could […]

Edgecase, which provides data and analytics for e-commerce sites, announced this week it has received $7.5 million in venture capital. The Austin-based startup received the funds from lead investor Austin Ventures and other investors. The company plans to use the money for research and development and sales and marketing. To date, the company, founded in […]

Gest, an Austin-based startup, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to manufacture its wearable hand device that replaces a conventional keyboard. The company first launched in 2014 as AirType out of the Longhorn Startup program at the University of Texas at Austin. For the past two years, the team has worked to perfect its product. In […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News At the Dell World press conference on Tuesday, the music gave a clue to what’s on Michael Dell’s mind these days. American Authors’ song “Go Big or Go Home” blared over the speakers as a few hundred people waited for Dell to take the stage. One of […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News OSLO, NORWAY: Despite a remarkable collection of Nordic startups, the surprising winner of the 100 Pitches competition at Oslo Innovation Week, which included two outliers from London and Austin, was the London company: Skin Analytics. The device attaches to a smart phone and when people upload photos […]

NASA has selected Firefly Space Systems, based in Cedar Park, for a $5.5 million contract to demonstrate a CubeSat launch by March of 2018, according to a news release. Firefly, a private aerospace firm founded in 2014, plans to launch small to medium sized satellites to orbit. NASA awarded the contract as part of its […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Atlas Wearables officially launched sales of its new $249 Atlas Wristband fitness tracker at a party Tuesday night. After two years in development, the Austin-based startup is now shipping the devices to its customers and taking orders on its website, said Peter Li, CEO and co-founder. The […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News OSLO, NORWAY – At SXSW 2015, Austin and Oslo announced a memorandum of understanding to forge a Creative Cities Alliance. At the time, Oslo had its own SX lounge and Norwegian company Kahoot!, which has most of its customers in Texas, announced that it would office in […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News OSLO, NORWAY – Just as the event got underway, master of ceremonies Torgny Amdam—among whose credits are as a singer in a hardcore band—announced: “Let’s all stand for the Crown Prince Haakon!” The crowd of about 200 people stood, the prince came forward, and the rap song […]

ROIKOI taps into the wisdom of employees to rate their online networks of friends and associates to help companies find the best employees. The Austin-based startup has helped its customers, HomeAway, Zenoss, Intouch Solutions and Squareroot recruit employees. The company, founded in 2013, has also raised $1.7 million from angel investors like Brett Hurt, Rob […]

In one of the largest tech deals ever, Dell announced Monday plans to acquire EMC Corp. for $67 billion. Dell is partnering with Silver Lake and MSD Partners to complete the deal. VMware, a cloud computing company in which EMC owns 80 percent, will remain as a publicly-traded company. Dell will remain a private company. […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Austin is one of the country’s leading centers for research and development of autonomous cars. Google is already operating self-driving cars on the city’s roadways. It’s just the second location for testing the vehicles outside of Google’s Mountain View headquarters. And the head of the project, Chris […]

In a parody movie trailer “Forget Steve Jobs, get ready for Michael Dell’ the Conan O’Brien show had a little fun taking a poke at Michael Dell last week. But Dell showed he had a sense humor. In a tweet on Friday, Dell posted a picture of himself with a sleek new Dell laptop and […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News There was the story about a really fun, crazy marketing plan with no return on investment, the entrepreneur who thought she could let her bills and health slide while she built her business, the visionary pivoter who didn’t bother to do any market validation before buying $100,000 […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News During Austin Startup Week, Austin Mayor Steve Adler declared Oct. 7th as “UK Day in Austin.” Officials with the United Kingdom, which is comprised of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, showcased some of the opportunities U.S. companies, and in particular Austin-based companies, have in expanding their operations […]

Kixer, a mobile advertising platform with its technical team based in Austin, just got acquired by LAKANA. Kixer is based in Los Angeles, but Jake Moilanen, its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, lives in Austin and so does the company’s technology team. LAKANA, based in St. Paul, Minn., did not release the terms of the […]

Mozido, a digital payments company, and TabbedOut, an app that lets people pay tabs at restaurants and bars, are partnering to improve the experience of consumers through a mobile application. Through the partnership, the companies will create a new mobile app that will allow their customers to discover new restaurant locations, join wait-lists, make reservations, […]

Several media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and the New York Times are quoting inside sources saying Dell is in talks to buy EMC, a data storage and software development company. In 2013, Dell went private in a $25 billion buyout deal which left its founder Michael Dell with a 75 percent ownership […]

HomeAway, a vacation rental business, Wednesday announced its acquisition of Dwellable, an online vacation rental search engine and app based in Seattle. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Dwellable, founded in 2012, had raised $2 million in one round from three investors, according to its CrunchBase profile. A time of six employees including […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News TripChamp, a company that saves organizations thousands on airfares through access to unpublished fares as well published ones, won a free trip to pitch at Oslo Innovation Week’s 100 Pitches competition October 16. TripChamp was one of six Austin companies to pitch before the panel of judges […]

CURB, an Austin-based energy startup, announced Tuesday that it has closed on $1.25 million in seed stage funding form angel groups, strategic partners and Capital Factory. The three year old company recently completed an Indiegogo campaign in which it raised nearly $118,000, more than 400 percent of its sales goal and sold hundreds of units […]

RetailMeNot Tuesday named Marissa Tarleton as its new chief marketing officer for North America. Tarleton will be in charge of “all consumer brand advertising, customer acquisition and retention, search engine marketing, public relations, internal communications, business-to-business marketing, and customer relationship management,” according to a news release. “I’m so excited that Marissa, a skilled marketer who […]

Next year, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, is breaking ground on a five mile test hyperloop outside of Los Angeles, said Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. The company wants to test out the technology, proposed by Tesla and SpaceX Founder Elon Musk, to ultimately create a high-speed transportation system between Los Angeles and San Francisco. […]

South by Southwest Eco kicks off on Monday and runs through Wednesday with a packed schedule focused on cities, corporate social responsibility, startups, design, energy, water, policy and more. The event is only open to registered participants and takes place at the Austin Convention Center. The walk up rate is $495. Here’s a few of […]

Are you ready for Austin Startup Week? Five days of fun events for the technology community to learn and celebrate its uniquely Austin culture. There’s definitely something for everyone. Here’s just a few of the top picks on our list for this week. (It’s a busy week in Austin tech since South by Southwest Eco […]

RunTitle announced last week it has closed on $8 million in Series A financing led by the Founders Fund. The Austin-based startup also received funds from Deep Fork Capital, existing investor Austin Ventures and several individuals. RunTitle plans to use the funds on engineering, marketing and sales and to expand its dataset of mineral title […]

Aceable, a startup seeking to disrupt the driver’s education market, announced Thursday it has received $4.7 million in seed stage funding. The Austin-based company plans to use the money to hire employees and to enter new markets that require professional certificates. Silverton Partners led the funding with participation from Floodgate Ventures, NextGen Angels and Capital […]

Taking the pain out of moving is a problem that Bellhops seeks to solve in the quickly evolving on-demand economy. The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based startup launched into the Austin market a few years ago and now has more than 65 contractors, University of Texas at Austin students, who work part-time to move people around Austin. Bellhops […]

In its continued expansion across the country, Austin-based Favor announced this week it has launched in Washington, D.C. Favor is now available in 14 cities nationwide and in Canada. For the launch, the company is offering its first time customers in D.C. free delivery using the promo code “District.” The company employs errand runners which […]

InforcePro, a life insurance technology platform, announced Tuesday that it has closed a $4 million venture capital round. To date, the Austin-based startup, with 25 employees, has raised more than $5 million. It launched its platform in 2014. Its software now monitors more than two million life insurance policies. Cameron Jacox and Karan Kanodia founded […]

Civitas Learning announced Monday that Warburg Pincus is leading an investment of up to $60 million in the company. The Austin-based startup, founded in 2011, has created analytic software and services for universities. The goal is to help the universities better engage with students and lead to higher graduation rates. Civitas Learning plans to use […]

Applications for Techstars Austin are open, said Amos Schwartzfarb, its new managing director. The Techstars program is accepting applications Sept. 18th through Nov. 18th. The next class kicks off Feb. 15th and runs three months. Schwartzfarb is looking for ten to 12 companies for this next cohort. They can come from anywhere in the world […]

Austin-based infinite io announced it has completed $3.4 million in funding led by Chicago Ventures. “We are very excited to be building a world-class enterprise software company here in Austin, Texas, where there is a wealth of talent to support our growth plans,” Mark Cree, CEO of infinite io, said in a news release. “The […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Increasingly, startups want to provide dashboards, analytics and data analysis to hospitals, doctors and patients. Filtering and crunching big data into smaller and more consumable pieces providing valuable insights for clients is a huge emerging industry in Austin and nationwide. That’s the big takeaway from the Austin […]

In Austin, an emerging area of startup activity is in the medical technology and healthcare area, said Mellie Price, founder and CEO of SoftMatch. In fact, one third of Capital Factory’s new startups are in the medical field. Price spoke Thursday at the Austin Technology Council’s Emerging Austin: Healthcare Tech summit at the AT&T Education […]

Reports on the death of South by Southwest have been greatly exaggerated to paraphrase Mark Twain. In fact, SXSW has never been doing better. In 2015, the music, interactive and film festival and its SXSWEdu and SXSWEco events had an economic impact on Austin of $317.2 million, according to a new report by Greyhill Advisors. […]

By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Oslo, Norway, is the home of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, the Viking Ship Museum, and a growing innovation conference where, this October, some intrepid central Texas startup will get the opportunity to pitch against contenders from Hackney and several Nordic countries, all expenses paid. Capital Factory is […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News CarForce, a connected car startup, won the IBM SmartCamp Austin 2015 pitch competition last week at Capital Factory. CarForce provides a hardware diagnostic device that plugs into a car’s dashboard to allow dealerships to know when the car needs maintenance. It is going into trial this fall […]

Google announced Friday that its self-driving prototype vehicles have now begun testing on Austin streets. The cars will have test drivers onboard with the cars equipped with a removable steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal that allow the test drivers to take over if needed. A few weeks ago, Austin Mayor Steve Adler announced […]

San Antonio-based Rackspace plans a $422 million data center in the Reno Technology Park, according to an application with the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The company has pledged to create at least 50 jobs with an average annual wage of $29.75 per hour in exchange for 20 year tax abatements, according to the […]

Judd Lyon and Sebastian Brocher accomplished what a lot of entrepreneurs strike out to do in Austin. They bootstrapped their startup and sold it for a handsome profit. They recently sold SiteCondor, website auditing tools for digital agencies and content marketers, to gShift Labs, based in Toronto, Canada. The terms of the deal were not […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Every year, Silicon Hills News highlights South by Southwest Interactive PanelPicker pitches put forth by the Austin community. One of the best parts of SXSW Interactive is it lets you tap into the minds of some of the best and brightest in Austin to learn first hand […]

Able, a non-bank commercial lender, Tuesday announced it has closed on $6 million in venture capital and plans to expand its services nationwide. Blumberg Capital and RPM Ventures led the round with participation from Peterson Partners and Expansion Ventures AngelList Syndicate. The Austin-based startup plans to use the money to begin offering loans in 40 […]

Tiff’s Treats announced this week it has closed on $14 million in funding and plans to add additional stores. The Austin-based cookie company reported the investment round was led by private equity firm, Capstar Partners, private investor Lew Little and included other institutional and individual investors. As part of the deal, Little joins the company’s […]

IBM will be kicking off its annual startup pitch competition called SmartCamp next month. This year, IBM is collaborating with Jason Calacanis and his organization Launch Media. The Austin competition will take place at Capital Factory on Sept. 16th. Finalists from Austin and other cities around the world will travel to San Francisco to attend […]

Galvanize, a tech school and coworking space, announced this week it is opening its seventh campus in Austin. The Denver-based company leased 25,000 square feet in a building in the 2nd Street District in the North Shore development. It will feature classrooms, private suites, open work areas and event areas. The campus will be able […]

People Pattern announced recently it has appointed Doug Wolfe as its Chief Operating Officer. Wolfe, previously served as head of operations for Atlas at Facebook. He has a lot of experience in marketing technology and digital media. As COO, Wolfe will oversee People Pattern’s product, sales, finance, partnership, recruitment and marketing. “People Pattern is taking […]

Everyone who has ever run a small business can tell you there is a lot of red tape and bureaucracy to deal with to get the venture off the ground. Now the City of Austin is aiming to make the process as simple as possible. This month, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced Austin as […]

Plum, maker of WiFi-enabled smart light dimmers, has raised $5 million in seed stage funding and is raising another $700,000 in funding before its round closes. Plum reports the money will allow it to manufacture and ship its flagship product, the Plum Lightpad, which allows homeowners to control their lights with their smartphone from anywhere. […]

President Barack Obama is hosting the nation’s first Demo Day at the White House to showcase innovative technology startups from all over the country. Among them, Jeanette Hill, CEO and founder of Spot On Sciences, will show off its portable and easy to use blood test kits. The company has created a product, HemaSpot, that […]

Integreon, a global outsourcing firm, held a grand opening reception at its new office in Austin on Thursday night. The New York-based company plans to create more than 100 jobs initially with the potential to reach 300 jobs in the next few years, according to a news release. The company currently has 30 employees in […]

By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News At well over six feet tall with a strong build, Rodney Curry, a retired member of the U.S. Army’s 101st airborne division, wears a camel colored bag slung over one shoulder. He’s still got the close-cropped haircut of a soldier but instead of an army uniform, Curry […]

Continuum Analytics has closed on $24 million in Series A funding led by General Catalyst Partners and BuildGroup. The Austin-based startup plans to use the funds on product development, sales and marketing and community development. Continuum makes Anaconda, the leading modern open source analytics platform built on Python, an open data science language. The company […]

Accenture has scooped up an Austin original: Chaotic Moon. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Chaotic Moon, founded in 2010, is known in Austin as a creative technology studio, that pushes the boundaries of technology. In 2014 during SXSW, the studio launched a drone and tasered an intern at its offices. It has […]

Main Street Hub, which makes a marketing platform for small businesses, last week announced the closing of $25 million in venture capital to support its rapid growth. The Austin-based startup, founded in 2010, has raised $66 million to date, according to CrunchBase. The company closed on its Series C equity financing round from Vista Equity […]