Flex Raises Outlook on AI Data Center Demand; Georgetown’s Dotwork Buys Arcario Group

Austin-based Flex posts a 25% sales jump and lifts its full-year forecast, while a Georgetown software startup makes an acquisition and Paradromics opens its brain-implant study to patients nationwide.

Austin-based manufacturer Flex reported record adjusted earnings Wednesday and raised its full-year outlook, crediting surging demand for the power and cooling gear that goes into AI data centers. Elsewhere in Silicon Hills, Georgetown-based Dotwork bought consulting firm Arcario Group, Austin neurotech company Paradromics won Food and Drug Administration approval to recruit patients from anywhere in the country, and construction fintech Billd took its revolving credit line national.

Flex reports 25% sales growth, raises forecast

Flex said net sales for its fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept. 25, rose about 25% to $8.49 billion from $6.80 billion a year earlier. GAAP net income climbed to $263 million, or 70 cents a share, from $199 million, or 52 cents. Adjusted earnings reached a record $1.18 a share, up from 79 cents, according to the company’s earnings release. Free cash flow slipped to $261 million from $305 million.

The company raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings forecast to $4.84 to $5.16 a share, up from a prior range of $4.42 to $4.74, and now expects net sales of $34.9 billion to $35.9 billion. For the current quarter, Flex projects sales of $8.87 billion to $9.17 billion. It guided for 75% to 85% sales growth in its Cloud and Power Infrastructure segment, compared with 8% to 11% for its other businesses.

Flex plans to spin off that fast-growing data center unit as a separate company called Axiom. CEO Revathi Advaithi pointed to the recently closed EPC Power acquisition and the new name as steps toward splitting into two companies. Flex, one of the largest publicly traded companies based in Austin, makes electronics and infrastructure products for other brands and has become a major supplier for AI data center buildouts.

Georgetown’s Dotwork acquires Arcario Group

Dotwork, a Georgetown-based software company, has acquired Arcario Group, a consultancy that helps large companies redesign how strategy, people, processes and data fit together. The deal closed Oct. 23, and the company did not disclose financial terms, according to its announcement.

Dotwork pitches itself as an AI-native operating platform for enterprises. Its software maps a company’s plans, spending, and results as a connected graph and works alongside existing systems rather than replacing them. Arcario’s team will form the core of Dotwork’s services and forward-deployed engineering group, which embeds staff with customers to solve specific problems.

“We’re building Dotwork around those decisions — not another workflow or dashboard,” said founder and CEO Steve Elliott. The acquisition gives a Williamson County startup a ready-made services arm as enterprise software companies increasingly pair AI products with hands-on implementation teams.

Paradromics opens brain-implant study to patients nationwide

Austin-based Paradromics received FDA approval to amend the protocol for its Connect-One early feasibility study, dropping a rule that participants live within a four-hour drive of a clinical site. The company said in a release issued Monday that eligible people anywhere in the U.S. can now be considered, though they must still be able to travel to a study site.

The study is testing the long-term safety and performance of Connexus, a fully implantable, wireless brain-computer interface, in people with severe motor impairment. Its first focus is restoring communication by translating intended speech from individual neurons. Sites include UC Davis Health, Mass General Brigham and University of Michigan Health, where Paradromics completed its first long-term human implant in June.

The company said it will work with each site’s review board over the coming months to set up support for participants traveling long distances. The change widens the pool of candidates for one of Austin’s most closely watched deep-tech companies as it competes in the emerging brain-computer interface field.

Billd takes subcontractor credit line national

Austin-based Billd launched Flex Line, a revolving line of credit for commercial subcontractors, nationwide. The credit is issued through Cross River Bank, isn’t tied to any single project, and charges no fees on unused funds, according to the company’s announcement. Billd did not disclose credit limits or interest rates.

Founded in 2018, Billd finances materials and labor for subcontractors, who often wait months to be paid on construction jobs. Founder and CEO Chris Doyle called it “the simplest and easiest line of credit subcontractors will ever use.”

WP Engine hires Gabe Karp to lead new ventures

Austin-based WordPress hosting company WP Engine named Gabe Karp vice president of new ventures, a role focused on bringing its AI features to market with customers and agency partners, the company said. Karp was most recently chief revenue officer at agency Fueled and previously held leadership roles at 10up, Siberia and Blue State.

Also in Silicon Hills

• Austin-based Virtuix, maker of the Omni treadmill for virtual reality, said it expects to report strong revenue growth for its fiscal second quarter after launching Omni One for Meta Quest, and will hold its earnings call Nov. 16. GlobeNewswire
• ThisWay Global, an Austin sovereign AI and high-performance computing infrastructure company, hired former AWS solutions architecture leader Radu Alexander as vice president of cloud operations. GlobeNewswire
• Austin edtech company SchooLinks earned 1EdTech certification for the Open Badges 3.0 and Comprehensive Learner Record 2.0 standards, adding a digital credential wallet for K-12 students. GlobeNewswire
• Austin gene therapy company Genprex will present research on its TUSC2 gene and aging-related cell resilience at the Gerontological Society of America meeting Nov. 4. PR Newswire
• Austin Tech Week continues through Friday, Oct. 30. Silicon Hills News

Only in Austin

With Halloween days away, guests at the Driskill on Sixth Street may want to look up — and then over their shoulder. Cattle baron Jesse Driskill opened his Romanesque hotel in 1886, and it hosted Gov. Sul Ross’s inaugural ball less than two weeks later. Limestone busts of Driskill and his sons still gaze from the facade. The hotel nearly faced demolition around 1970 before Austinites raised more than $700,000 to save it, and Lyndon Johnson took Lady Bird on their first date there in 1934. Its longest-running guests may be its ghosts: legend says several never checked out. (Historic Hotels of America)

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