Technology news about Austin and San Antonio
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News One of the big problems in growing San Antonio’s technology startup industry has been lack of access to capital for entrepreneurs. The Geekdom Fund has provided $25,000 to a handful of tech startups in the earliest stages of their companies, but the real need comes with follow […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Facebook, with more than 1 billion active users, has become the digital main street for small business owners from plumbers to jewelry stores. They can hang their shingle, a Facebook business page, and reach their small town customers or a global audience. And just a fraction of […]
I am very excited to have the opportunity to restart and lead the Techstars Cloud program: http://t.co/jMnKZomSuq cc @techstars — Blake Yeager (@blake_yeager) July 23, 2014 The Techstars Cloud program launched in San Antonio in 2012 with 11 companies and the next year another 11 startups participated in the 2013 program. But the program, launched […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Michael Dell never pushed entrepreneurship on his son, Zach, which may be the reason Zach started asking about business, reading tomes by people like Warren Buffet and playing stock simulators by the age of 12. “My dad and I are extremely close,” Dell said. “When I started […]
July 25 is the deadline for SXSW Interactive Panel submissions. Interactive Director Hugh Forrest said only a few hundred submissions have come in so far, though thousands are expected at the last minute. In 2014, there were 3,000, most of which came in the final week. The deadline also applies for SXSW Music, SXSW Film […]
Who uses robotics, computer vision and advanced algorithms to solve some the world’s most interesting problems? Who built the technology to handle 36.8 million items ordered in one day? The answer is AFT; Amazon Fulfillment Technologies. AFT is where virtual meets reality, and where research meets development. We are the people that set the standard […]
Rackspace Hosting has always prided itself on its customer service. The San Antonio-based web hosting company grew by offering “fanatical” customer service in an industry not known for providing excellent customer service. Today, Rackspace announced a new move to rebrand itself by focusing on its “fanatical customer service” for managed cloud services. The announcement comes […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Stephanie King attended a 3 Day Startup program at Geekdom in San Antonio last weekend with an idea for a company. “I quickly realized I needed more focus,” she said. Instead of pitching her idea, King joined Spotduct, a startup focused on creating short videos for brands […]
This weekend in San Antonio, people will be able to skip lines for select cafes and eateries thanks to Storific’s mobile-ordering app. The company, originally founded in Paris in 2009, has relocated to San Antonio and is based at Geekdom, the downtown collaborative coworking space and technology incubator. The company’s app, which is available for […]
Comfy, a startup that helps students find housing, received $600,000 in seed stage funding last week. The Austin-based company received the money from a group of investors led by Mike Lee, partner at Dominion Ventures. The round also included prominent angel investors and Austin Ventures. Comfy has developed a mobile and online platform that uses […]
Rackspace Hosting is known for innovating in old malls. The San Antonio-based hosting company moved into the former Windsor Park Mall in Windcrest in 2007. Rackspace transformed the defunct and dilapidated mall into a vibrant and dynamic space with a slide, cafeteria, wide open spaces and a conference center for its tech community. Now the […]
Joshua Baer, serial entrepreneur and cofounder of Capital Factory, has joined the board of directors of PostUp, formerly known as PulseConnect, an email marketing software company. Baer founded the Austin-based company under the name of Skylist in 1996 and later sold it. “Although I founded the company almost 20 years ago, PostUp still offers a […]
A can ban on the Comal River in New Braunfels prompted a University of Texas at San Antonio engineering team to create a solution. They created the PalmKeg, a mini-keg sized insulated beer cooler to make transporting beer on the river easy. “It’s the perfect eco-friendly beer container,” said Amber Ernst, senior at UTSA majoring […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Countless workers face the same problem every day when they get to their office. What’s for lunch? Cater2.me aims to solve that problem for companies and their employees in Austin. The San Francisco-based startup launched last month in Austin and now has nine employees in its local […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Where can an entrepreneur go to get feedback about their business and to solve problems? 1 Million Cups San Antonio, which launches Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Café Commerce at the main library in downtown San Antonio. It’s a weekly entrepreneurial educational program, which features two startups […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News Thousands formed a line that snaked through the convention center foyer Friday morning, awaiting the beginning of the three-day RTX conference that included game designers, purveyors of Internet-culture miscellany, and most importantly appearances by the well-loved Rooster Teeth crew. RTX started in 2011 as a fan […]
Thank you to Laura Kilcrease, former Entrepreneur in Residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin, for interviewing me, Laura Lorek, founder of Silicon Hills News at South by Southwest Interactive last March.
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News Most sinus infections are viral and don’t require antibiotics. But how can a patient and doctor be sure? Presently, a family doctor can’t quickly diagnose his patient’s sinus infection as viral or bacterial. ENTvantage Diagnostics aims to change that with an in-office nose swab that will […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News WP Engine, founded in 2010 at Capital Factory, has 150 employees in Austin and it’s hiring. The plucky startup also has another 10 employees in a satellite office in California. And WP Engine has just opened a San Antonio office at Geekdom, a technology incubator and coworking […]
Entrepreneurs and small businesses now have a new resource to get help in San Antonio. Café Commerce, operated by Accion Texas with funding from the city, officially opened Monday at the central library downtown. Peter French, founder of FreeFlow Research, serves as president of Café Commerce. Small businesses contribute three quarters of the new jobs […]
WellAware, an oilfield analytics startup in San Antonio, received another $37 million in funding. Billionaire Carlos Slim, Ed Whitacre Jr., former CEO of AT&T and General Motors and former vice president Dick Cheney led the investment. The company plans to use the money to further develop its software for oilfield data collection, storage, visualization, mobility […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News To cultivate a high tech industry, a city needs highly skilled workers. Yet almost every city in the country faces a shortage of workers with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills. And San Antonio is no exception. “San Antonio children face a crisis: only 63 percent of […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News “If you take one thing away with you, let it be this: 51 percent does not equal control.” Kevin Castillo of the Baylor Angel Network explained to an audience of about 30 entrepreneurs. “In a public company you can say ‘I own 70 percent of the company, […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Entrepreneurship can empower ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Yet a huge disconnect exists between what is being taught about entrepreneurship and what they are really doing, said Gary Schoeniger, co-founder and CEO of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative. And the myths lead people to the wrong conclusions, […]
A big crowd turned out for Engadget Live Austin held last Friday to showcase some of the city’s latest tech products. A customized beer brewing station controlled with a smartphone, a vaporized alcohol machine and a virtual reality Oculus Rift headset were a few of the devices on display at the Austin Music Hall. Engadget, […]
Capital Factory celebrated its 6th anniversary Friday night with a party at Kung Fu Saloon in downtown Austin. More than 800 people RSVP’d to attend the event and Capital Factory gave away 400 T-shirts. Key employees and founders of Capital Factory received giant wooden Jenga blocks with their names engraved on them to commemorate the […]
SioTex, a startup spun out of Texas State University in San Marcos, has won another business plan competition. This time the team won the $10,000 Grand Prize at the 2014 American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute business plan competition. The team snagged the prize at the 18th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Bethesda, […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News “Our first product will be the nipple,” says Laura Bosworth. And the CEO and co-founder of TeVido BioDevices isn’t talking about a silicon attachment for a baby bottle, her startup aims to 3-D print human tissue. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but making […]
Not only is Austin about tech, but it’s also about well-being. In fact, a huge movement has arisen in the tech community around mindfulness, meditation, fitness and eating well. Voice & Exit is a day-long event focused on innovation, wellbeing and community building. The conference takes place Saturday at the Austin Music Hall. It features […]
At the School’s Out Hackathon at Rackspace last weekend, Michael Girdley served as a mentor and a judge. He also noticed that out of the 500 kids in attendance, about 200 lined up to borrow a laptop computer. Most of the kids didn’t know computer programming or how to code, he said. “With so few […]
To say that the Austin startup scene is red hot would be an understatement. The funding announcements have been coming fast and furious lately and just about every day a company announces plans to open a new office or expand into the Austin market. Here’s a roundup of some of the most recent funding announcements […]
Metacloud, an OpenStack-based web hosting company for large companies, hires two key Openstack executives from Rackspace and opens a new office in Austin. The company plans to hire 20 to 30 employees during the next 24 months in engineering, operations, marketing and sales. Metacloud announced the hiring of Scott Sanchez and Niki Acosta, “two of […]
Besomebody wants to create the next economic revolution to allow people to pursue their passions. “We’re building a mobile platform that connects people based on shared passions,” Kash Shaikh said in a Youtube video at a company event. Besomebody will enable people around the world to explore, enable and unleash whatever they are passionate about […]
I started Dell 28 yrs ago with $1000. Revenues in 1984 were $6 million. Last year $62.1 billion. Impossible is nothing. — Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) June 10, 2012 To focus the globe on entrepreneurship, what better way than to put someone in charge who has been there, done that. Last week, the United Nations Foundation […]
Last week, Access the Night, a new social discovery app for travelling which the founders call “Yelp with pictures,” launched in Austin. Andrew Tuffin, co-founder, answered the following questions, by email, about the new startup and its product, which they have been developing for the past two years. Q. What is Access the Night? Access […]
By Jonathan Gutierrez Special Contributor to Silicon Hills News GroupDesk and Personal Concert won the grand prizes at the inaugural School’s Out Hackathon for high school students last Saturday. The GroupDesk team created an online collaborative platform to “nourish productivity and teamwork.” The web application helps teachers and students collaborate on school projects. “Working with […]
A Longhorn Startup company, Burpy, is among the latest crop of Techstars Austin companies selected to participate in its three month long accelerator. Burpy, founded by a group of UT undergraduates and led by Aseem Ali, is an online grocery delivery business available in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. The other team from Austin […]
Ingrid Vanderveldt’s last day as Dell’s Entrepreneur in Residence was Saturday. “It was a dream come true,” Vanderveldt said. “We more than accomplished what we set out to do to. I’m just so proud of the team and of Dell. Dell has a visionary commitment to women worldwide. It’s just been an honor to be […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Five years ago, Zeynep Young founded Double Line Partners in her dining room and has since grown it to $20 million in revenue with 120 employees. The Austin-based startup provides data system dashboards and other tools to schools to improve student performance in K-12 schools. Before founding […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News A lot of people in Austin and beyond know the story about how Michael Dell started his computer company at the age of 19 in a dorm room at the University of Texas with $1,000. He grew the company into a multi-billion dollar international computer maker and […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News The self-proclaimed “Uber” of on demand delivery, Postmates, has launched in Austin. The San Francisco-based company wants to be the “FedEx” of home delivery, said Bastian Lehmann, CEO of Postmates. Postmates chose Austin for its expansion because of high demand and a hungry consumer base wanting more […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News The Thai Board of Investment first invited a group of tech journalists to visit in February. But things were a little iffy, politically, so they held off. And we went, instead, for the two-week period before the prime minister was ousted and shortly before a military junta […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News The big takeaway from a panel discussion on big data at the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network conference is to use data and analytics responsibly. “Use data smartly,” said Matt Wolken, vice president and general manager of information management at Dell Software. Wolken referenced a story in which […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Men and women do not have equal opportunity when it comes to launching a business today. In fact, 75 percent of 30 countries surveyed for the second annual Gender Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index, commissioned by Dell, do not meet the basic needs for female entrepreneurs to […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Software developer Tony Broomes wants to see San Antonio develop into a high tech region along with Austin. He’s working to make that happen. On Saturday, Broomes participated in the Alamo Civic Hackathon held at Geekdom on the seventh floor of the Rand building in downtown San […]
For many people, this weekend will be a time to relax and kick back and enjoy the beginning of summer. But not for a group of dedicated citizens in San Antonio and Austin. They will be hacking away for free to make the world a better place for everyone. Saturday is the National Day of […]
Box announced Friday morning it has selected Austin to expand its operations. The Austin office will be the company’s first U.S. location outside of the Bay Area. The company spent more than a year on its site selection process. The office will be located at One American Center and it will include workers in a […]
Despite restrictions, Lyft, the ride sharing company known for its cars emblazoned with giant pink mustaches, launched Thursday in Austin. “The Austin community’s overwhelming calls for more transportation options have been heard,” according to Lyft’s blog post. “After a petition started by ATX Safer Streets garnered nearly 4,000 organic signatures from Austin residents – many […]
Yan Engines, a recent graduate of the Austin Technology Incubator, has closed on $2 million in funding. The company has also developed a fuel efficient car engine and landed a contract to create a truck engine for the U.S. military. Yan Engines recently graduated from ATI’s Clean Energy Incubator. The company also works closely with […]
Filament Labs raised $1 million in a seed investment led by the Mercury Fund. The Austin-based company plans to use the money to develop its Patient IO platform for health professionals. The patient portal allows doctors and other caregivers to put information about the patient’s treatment online, including doctor recommended homework and medicine and deliver […]
Malauzai Software, which makes mobile apps for banks, announced it has received a $6.48 million in venture capital. The Austin-based company received the Round C investment, led by Wellington Management Co., last week. The company, founded in 2010, has previously raised $5.3 million. Malauzai has more than 260 banks and credit unions as customers. It […]
Austin-based Skyonic Corp. announced last week that it has landed another $12.5 million in funding. The company, which creates carbon capture technology, received the funding from existing investor, ConocoPhillips and from new investor Enbridge of Canada. Skyonic plans to use the money to further develop its technology, called SkyCycle, which uses thermolytic chemical reactions to […]
Austin-based VUV Analytics has closed on $5.8 million in venture capital. The company closed on the series A round, led by S3 Ventures, to fund the launch of its laboratory-scale molecular spectroscopy instruments business. S3′s Managing Director, Brian R. Smith, will also join the company’s board. “We are really excited to close this investment with […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News The Austin Technology Council’s Startup Showdown builds a bridge between the startup community and those who have more seasoned experiences and companies, said Josh Alexander, founder of Toopher. Toopher, a security platform that helps businesses authentic and verify their customers online, won the ATC Startup Showdown in […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News A panel of women entrepreneurs in Austin managed to find funding for their ventures despite the odds being stacked against them. “There’s no ratio or statistic that has gotten in their way,” said Jan Ryan, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Women@Austin. That panel at the Austin Technology […]
When San Francisco-based Dropbox announced plans to open an office in Austin, the company had more volunteers than positions here. “We still have interest,” said Ross Piper, vice president of enterprise strategy at Dropbox. The startup kicked off its local office with a small founding team from San Francisco to maintain its corporate culture, Piper […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News In a panel titled “Austin’s Brand: Go Big or Go Home” at the Austin Technology Council’s CEO Summit three seasoned tech leaders gave their perspective on building a billion dollar company. “Something that Austin is not known for is thinking big,” said Mark McClain, CEO and founder […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News A good pitch can determine whether a startup lands money from investors to expand. But few entrepreneurs know how best to pitch. Texas State University’s Small Business Development Center held a special training session Wednesday afternoon at its Round Rock campus to help entrepreneurs titled “Pitching to […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News In the first CodeHS program at Highlands High School this year, Ernest Rodriguez learned to program a computer and to do animation. “I saw the opportunity and I took advantage of it,” said Rodriguez, a freshman. Now he wants to be a computer programmer and work at […]
Forbes names San Antonio-New Braunfels as one of America’s technology hot spots. The greater San Antonio area earned the number three spot on the list behind number one, Washington, D.C. and number two, Riverside, Calif. Forbes reported that San Antonio-New Braunfels gained 18.3 percent in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math jobs between 2011 and 2012. […]
Rackspace Hosting may be sold. The San Antonio-based company hired Morgan Stanley to evaluate potential partnerships and acquisitions. “In recent months, Rackspace has been approached by multiple parties who have expressed interest in exploring a strategic relationship with Rackspace, ranging from partnership to acquisition,” according to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission […]
The Dell Center for Entrepreneurs last week announced its first Founders Club 50, an exclusive group of high growth tech startups, including two from Austin. Dell selected ihiji, which makes remote diagnostic tools for computer networks and Open Labs, a stage lighting and technology company focused on the music industry. Dell plans to announced its […]
YouEarnedIt, a startup focused on helping companies reward employees, has received $1.5 million in seed stage funding, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company received the funding from Capital Factory, an Austin-based incubator and accelerator of tech companies led by Joshua Baer and advertising giant WPP PLC, according to the article. The Greater Austin […]
Austin-based Compare Metrics, which makes analytics software aimed at retailers, announced that is has received $3.8 million in follow-on venture capital. Austin Ventures led the investment with additional funding by existing investors Julie Allegro of Allegro Venture Partners, Bob Greene of Contour Ventures, Capital Factory, Mike Maples Jr. of Floodgate, Brett Hurt of Hurt Family […]
StepOne, an Austin-based startup that makes customer support software, announced that it secured $4 million in venture capital. LiveOak Venture Partners led the round with participation from Silverton Partners. The company plans to use the money to add employees and to expand sales and marketing efforts. StepOne has already landed Telstra, Australia’s largest telecomm company, […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News In Austin, one of the big issues facing startups, particularly in the technology industry, is lack of access to capital. Last year, Austin companies received $626 million in venture capital, or 49 percent of the venture capital dollars for Texas, said Michele Skelding, senior vice president of […]
By JAIME NETZER Reporter with Silicon Hills News The world is experiencing a data explosion. Datical seeks to help companies manage all that data flowing through their organizations. The Austin-based startup has created software that lets companies update applications on their databases easily and efficiently. Last week, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce named Datical […]
How many times have you sat around wondering if you could get someone to deliver your groceries in one hour by horse in Austin? Well today is your lucky day if you’re downtown. Instacart, a San Francisco-based grocery delivery service, will be doing that today in downtown Austin. But the horse delivery is just for […]
Phunware, a mobile advertising platform, announced it has bought Digby, marketing software for retailers to reach customers on their mobile phones. The two Austin companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. The deal adds Digby’s customers including Cabela’s, Kohls, Catalina Marketing and Hasbro to Phunware and lets the company offer consumers ads on […]
A graduate of the Longhorn Startup class for undergraduates at the University of Texas, LanternCRM just landed $250,000 in angel funding. The Austin-based startup received funds from angel investors Jason Cohen of WP Engine, Rob Taylor or Black Locus, Mikey Trafton of BlueFish, Bill Boebel of Pingboard, Pat Matthews, formerly of Rackspace, and Joshua Baer […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Mei Butler, a senior at Trinity University, needed to store some household goods while she studied in China for seven months. “I didn’t want to rent out a storage unit since I didn’t have enough belongings to take up the whole space,” Butler said. Instead, she signed […]
Oracle has announced plans to bring 200 jobs to San Antonio by 2016 in a new operations center. The deal is contingent on the approval of economic development incentives from local government. The San Antonio City Council will consider a $1 million grant for Oracle on Thursday and the Bexar County Commissioners Court will consider […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Can Austin produce a thunder lizard, a $100 billion tech startup? Mike Maples Jr., managing partner of Floodgate Ventures in Palo Alto, thinks so. He wants Austin to hatch what he calls a thunder lizard in the next 10 years. Bob Metcalfe, professor of innovation at the […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Facebook has saved $1.3 billion in the last three years by making its data centers more energy efficient. That’s enough energy to power 40,000 houses a year and saves on carbon emissions the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road, said Charlie Manese, vice president of […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News The Austin Chamber of Commerce Wednesday night named 12 companies to its A-List of Startups for 2014. In the “Emerging” category, for companies that have raised less than $1 million, the winners were Datical, Compare Metrics, Embrace, TeVido, TrustRadius and Spot on Sciences. “You look at the […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Some of the biggest trends in technology today are the cloud, a fancy name for data centers, and big data, the massive bits and bytes of information flowing through those data centers. At the University of Texas at San Antonio, more than 100 people met Wednesday to […]
Already 30 teams have registered to compete in the San Antonio MX Challenge, said Jesus Salas, head of the project. Salas gave an update on the San Antonio MX Challenge Tuesday night at the SA NewTech meetup. About 50 people attended the meetup, which was organized by Cole Wollak and Michael Girdley. The San Antonio […]
In 2007, a startup called Click Forensics began operations in San Antonio. The company, founded by Tom Cuthbert and Tom Charvet, tackled the problem of click fraud online. Austin Ventures provided its initial $500,000 seed stage funding. Click Forensics ended up moving to Austin and pivoted to become a marketing analytics firm called Adometry. On […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Austin’s Capital Factory is Google’s latest Tech Hub. Mayor Lee Leffingwell, donning a pair of Google glasses, made the announcement Tuesday at Capital Factory to more than 150 people from the startup community. He welcomed Google for Entrepreneurs and its partnership with Capital Factory, which is a […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News Emmanuel Abiodun’s first foray into bitcoin mining took place at home in London in January 2013. Today, his Austin-based company CloudHashing has mining facilities both outside Dallas and in Iceland, and he’s signing million-dollar contracts with investors looking to cash in on the cryptocurrency phenomenon. Before […]
Did you know San Antonio has the second largest concentration of cyber security professionals outside of the Washington, D.C. area? The bulk of them are at the National Security Agency’s (also nicknamed as No Such Agency) Texas Cryptology Center. The NSA leased and renovated the old Sony chip manufacturing plant in 2005 and was expected […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News IBM wants to make us all smarter through our smart phones by tapping into its Watson super computer database. To do that, IBM issued a challenge back in February to app developers worldwide encouraging them to submit apps for its IBM Watson Mobile Developer Challenge. The apps […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News It’s a feel-good startup story. Melissa Pickering quit her Imagineering job at Disney to tackle math and science education. She took a university job, then left to start her company selling educational software. On April 9, British webcam company and long-time distribution partner Hue acquired iCreate […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News On any given day, IAG Cargo might be transporting computer components, chocolates, spare parts for machinery or fruits and vegetables through Austin to London. And it might be flying in salmon, automotive and other parts into Austin Bergstrom International Airport from its hub at the Heathrow Airport. […]
Austin’s biotechnology industry is booming, according to a report released Thursday from the Austin Technology Council. The life sciences sector has 206 companies, 6,052 employees and generates more than $1 billion in economic activity to the region. The five sectors that make up the industry include pharmaceutical manufacturing, research and development in physical, engineering and […]
Are you a SAS startup or company? Then there’s a conference coming to Austin you may be interested in. And last night at Startup Grind San Antonio I announced that you can get a free ticket – but only for a handful of people so act quick. (Full disclosure the conference is an advertiser on […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Immigration laws haven’t kept pace with the digital economy, said Burnie Burns, founder of Austin-based Rooster Teeth. Burns spoke on a panel of entrepreneurs promoting immigration reform Tuesday night at Techstars’ offices in downtown Austin. Erika Sumner, co-founder of Social Good TV, moderated the event. The other […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Growing up in India, Rohit Saxena often used biodegradable bowls and plates made from leaves. When he moved to the U.S., he couldn’t believe how many disposable paper and plastic dishes get tossed into the trash and landfills every day. Saxena’s team at 3 Day Startup Green […]
BY LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Don’t put too much pressure on picking a particular career in college, said Bobby Epstein, founder of the Circuit of the Americas. “You might pivot a couple of times,” he said. Epstein gave that advice at Longhorn Startup Lab’s Demo Day Thursday night to hundreds of people […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News For six semesters, Longhorn Startup Lab has focused on turning undergraduates at the University of Texas at Austin into entrepreneurs. Some of the students, with companies like Burpy, a grocery delivery service, Lynx Labs, a 3D modeling camera, MSpaces, Airbnb apartment rentals, and Clay.io, HTML 5 game […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News In a place once known for making beer, something new is brewing. And it’s high tech. Peer 1 now has one of the hippest tech sites in town. The web hosting company recently moved into 25,000 square feet of space at Pearl, a 22-acre historic downtown development, […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News On a sunny Saturday, 12 children and young teens convened in MakerSquare’s classrooms for a little weekend coding. “What do we think these are?” teacher Drew Robinson asked a room full of kids seated before laptops. “Opening and closing HTML tags,” an elementary school boy speedily […]
AT&T announced Monday plans to roll out its ultra-fast fiber network and AT&T U-Verse TV service to San Antonio and 20 other major metropolitan areas. The company already delivers its 1 Gigabit per second broadband Internet network to Austin. It began to offer service there after Google announced plans for a 1 Gigabit network in […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News The geeks might inherit the earth eventually, but for now, they’ve got their own building in downtown San Antonio. On Monday, two Geekdom flags flew from the top of the historic Rand Building at 100 E. Houston St., signifying the move in of Geekdom members. It’s their […]
For the first time in its more than two year history, Geekdom will close its doors Friday at 2 p.m. But don’t fret. It’s only temporary. Geekdom, the downtown technology incubator and co-working space in San Antonio, is moving to the historic Rand building, which dates back to 1913, this weekend. It will reopen on […]
In 2008, Microsoft opened a $550 million, 470,000 square foot data center in the Westover Hills area of San Antonio. At the time, a Microsoft executive said that was just the beginning of Microsoft’s investment in San Antonio. She was right. This week, Microsoft announced a $1 million donation to the University of Texas at […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News It might be the biggest online entertainment production house you’ve never heard of. Rooster Teeth celebrated its eleventh anniversary on April 1, and its much-loved series Red vs. Blue, which debuted in 2003, is now the longest-running American sci-fi show and has sold 1 million DVDs. […]
By TIM GREEN Reporter with Silicon Hills News If the Dell Medical School were a startup, it would have cleared some important milestones. It’s funded. Construction will soon start on its campus. And it’s got a leader in Dr. Clay Johnston. Before being named dean of Dell Medical School, Johnston had been the associate vice […]
Bazaarvoice announced Tuesday its acquisition of FeedMagnet, a social media curation company in Austin, for $9 million in cash. The privately-held company, FeedMagnet, lets brands collect, curate and display consumer generated images, video and social content on their websites and other marketing properties. With the acquisition of FeedMagnet, Bazaarvoice reported it wants to harness the […]
By ZACH REED Reporter with Silicon Hills News After work, Punit Sheth taught himself how to build mobile apps. “It all started when I realized how much we rely on mobile applications; in almost any industry, you can see how mobile apps have helped streamline and optimize the processes they’ve been using for many years.” […]
RideScout, an app that helps people find transportation, announced it is expanding to the San Francisco area. The Austin-based company has also recently expanded its coverage to include “Sidecar, Silvercar, Muni, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, AC Transit, Blue & Gold Fleet, Baylink Ferry and SamTrans — along with Flywheel, City CarShare, Bay Area Bike […]
By JONATHAN GUTIERREZ Reporter with Silicon Hills News A growing skills gap exists in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields for workers in the U.S. One reason for this is because there is a lack of U.S. born students pursuing STEM degrees. Peter French believes something needs to be done to fill this gap. […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News A group of 30 investors from Shenzhen, China, heard pitches from tech companies Tuesday and Wednesday at the Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa. Members of the Boshang Group, which comprises about 6,000 businesses and is managed by the alumni association of Tsinghua University, spent several days […]
OP3Nvoice, the London company that last year moved to Austin has become one of six startups accepted to participate in BBC Worldwide Labs, 2014. Ironically, the company met BBC executives at SXSW Interactive. BBC Interactive provides acceleration for companies chosen for their natural alignment with BBC Worldwide’s existing business units and international brands. It integrates […]
Thank you to all of our Kickstarter backers for making the first print edition of Silicon Hills News possible and to all of our advertisers a big thank you. The magazine was a huge success at South by Southwest Interactive in March. On April 18th, we’re hosting a celebration at Ino’z in downtown Wimberley. We’ll […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News At a restaurant like Swift’s Attic, when someone is an especially good customer—perhaps because they come in a lot, host big parties or drink expensive Bourbon– you don’t reward them with a punch card good for a free muffin. You might send out a complimentary appetizer, said […]
By JAIME NETZER Reporter with Silicon Hills News Boxer’s motto is, “Email isn’t broken, it’s just unfair.” It’s about an overload problem, says Boxer CEO and co-founder, Andrew Eye. “People are all frustrated by overload, and they tend to pick a scapegoat,” he says. “Email is a convenient scapegoat, people say it’s old, it’s broken, […]
By LESLIE ANNE JONES Reporter with Silicon Hills News Remote diagnostic tools have been available to big companies with complex computer networks for many years, but the options for your average residential IT support provider were limited. It’s a waste of time and expense for the IT guy when he has to go to a […]
By ZACH REED Reporter with Silicon Hills News Nathaniel Medrano wrapped up a recent internship feeling that, while the experience gave him great exposure, the job’s DIY learning model-via telecommute no less-still had him looking for ingrained traction in the technology. His work setting up search engines for local directories at a telecommunications company had […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Picking a co-working space is like a cross between choosing a place to work and finding your favorite hangout. What’s important to you? Ergonomic chairs? Community? The vibe? The snacks? Or, as one Yelper explained, the fact that they “play the same tunes I have on my […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Codeup, a 12-week boot camp to teach technical skills to people, won the 2014 InnoTech Beta Summit on Wednesday afternoon. Michael Girdley launched Codeup last year and the first class of 28 men and women is about to graduate. The startup, based at Geekdom, charges $9,850 per […]
Spredfast has merged with Mass Relevance to create one of the largest independent social marketing companies, and will operate going forward as Spredfast. Mass Relevance has created social media management platforms for more than 350 major brands including Pepsi, Campbell’s, GE, Target, Walgreens and Microsoft. Spredfast also provides its customers with a social media platform […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News On the first Tuesday of every month, a group of people interested in the latest technology developments in San Antonio gathers at Geekdom for the San Antonio New Tech meetup. The hour-long program showcases some of the latest startups in the city along with other interesting projects. […]
BY LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News ENTvantage Diagnostics won the Emerging Medical Technology Symposium’s pitch competition on Tuesday afternoon. “ENTvantage Diagnostics provides primary care and ENT physicians with critical information on the causes of ear, nose and throat illnesses,” said Joseph Skraba, its CEO. The Austin-based company’s first product is a test its […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Kerry O’Connor, Austin’s new Chief Innovation Officer, defines innovation as “any project that is new to you and has an uncertain outcome.” Her job as innovation officer, she said, is “bringing smart people together to feel around in the dark.” O’Connor spoke at a party to welcome […]
BY STACY ALEXANDER EVANS Reporter with Silicon Hills News The Lefsetz Letter is no Slashdot or Ars Technica. Yet the blog’s founder, Bob Lefsetz—a modern day philosopher of sorts, who proselytizes on everything from popular music to aging—has some compelling thoughts with surprising relevance for the tech world and business. “If you can tell a […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Seven startups will pitch at the eighth annual InnoTech Beta Summit on Wednesday. The event, which takes place at 3 p.m. at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, will showcase some of the best and brightest new technology startups in San Antonio. Each team will have five […]
We can make @lyft & @uber work in San Antonio. They'll need to meet strong safety/quality standards. SA is moving fwd, not standing still. — Mayor Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) March 28, 2014 By LAURA LOREK Founder Silicon Hills News On March 21, Lyft, the riding sharing service, launched in San Antonio. Last week, Police Chief […]
By STACY ALEXANDER EVANS Reporter with Silicon Hills News One look around the offices at Mass Relevance in downtown Austin, and it’s clear this is where the cool kids come to work. Surrounded by colorful lockers embellished with skater-style stickers and loft-like exposed vent ducts, the employees here—like new hire Courtney White who recently moved […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News According to the PWC Money Tree, Texas was the sixth highest investment region in the country in 2013. With $1.3 billion invested it was a small player compared to Silicon Valley’s $12 billion in investments. A fact that continues to gall Austin’s startup community. The good news […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News The topic was supposed to be How Millennials are Sparking Change, but while the panels addressed the challenges of entrepreneurship, the dearth of STEM in the education system, the growing Hispanic population and the Austin startup culture, little was said about how millennials are sparking change until […]
By AMY MCCULLOUGH Reporter with Silicon Hills News While the science behind Austin’s Adometry might be complex, the company’s goals are simple: To help marketing executives answer the questions, “How’s my marketing doing?” and “What should I do different?” Sales executives have Salesforce.com. Financial executives have Oracle Financials. But marketing officers have never had a […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News San Antonio has a long history of innovation when it comes to the biotechnology and the medical industry. Dr. Julio Palmaz, then a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center invented the heart stent, which restaurateur Phil Romano later backed and they eventually sold it […]
By SUSAN LAHEY Reporter with Silicon Hills News Intellectual property should be a sexy asset to sell. After all, you’re peddling pure potential: “Take this patent and make yourself a star…or at least solve some problem faster and more cheaply than you would have been able to yourself.” But in reality, IP sellers and buyers […]
By AMY MCCULLOUGH Reporter with Silicon Hills News Aseem Ali was a carless freshman at the University of Texas at Austin living in an apartment complex. When he could work around friends’ schedules and borrow cars to get to the grocery store, he could get fresh food and produce. But due to the inconvenience, he […]
Tim Jenison will be the featured speaker at Startup Grind San Antonio at noon on March 25th at Geekdom in downtown San Antonio. Jenison is the founder of NewTek, a video graphics software and hardware company. He is an inventor, entrepreneur and now artist and filmmaker, in San Antonio. Jenison is the star of the […]
By LAURA LOREK Founder of Silicon Hills News Founded in late 2011, Geekdom has served as a catalyst for San Antonio’s technology startup industry. Graham Weston, chairman of Rackspace and Nick Longo, founder of CoffeeCup Software, founded Geekdom. Lorenzo Gomez now serves as the director of Geekdom. It hosted the Techstars Cloud program, which graduated […]
Lyft, the ride sharing app, launched Friday in San Antonio, its third city in the Texas market. Lyft is also available in Dallas and Houston. The company held a party earlier this week at the Hotel Havana downtown to celebrate its service in the San Antonio area. “San Antonio has been a longtime supporter of […]
