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Tenstorrent Raises $1.5B as Austin Counter-Drone Startup Stellios Exits Stealth

An AI chipmaker with a major Austin footprint doubles down on growth, while Oracle, HydroGraph and Aviat roll out new deals, facilities and products.

AI chip developer Tenstorrent, which counts Austin among its six operating hubs, raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation, leading a Silicon Hills news cycle that also brought an Austin-based directed-energy startup out of stealth, a new Austin headquarters for graphene maker HydroGraph and a satellite-backup product from Aviat Networks.

Tenstorrent closes $1.5 billion Series E at $6.2 billion valuation

AI chip developer Tenstorrent said it raised a $1.5 billion Series E round co-led by Trace Capital and Innovation X, valuing the company at $6.2 billion after the investment, according to a company announcement posted Oct. 19. Other backers include Fidelity Management & Research, T. Rowe Price, ARK Invest, Morgan Stanley, Eclipse, SanDisk, Tether Investments and XTX Markets.

Led by CEO Jim Keller, Tenstorrent designs AI processors, sells its Galaxy servers and licenses AI and CPU designs to other chipmakers. The company said it will use the money to deploy Galaxy servers at scale, serve open-weight large language and video-generation models, and push its licensable chip IP further. “We built one architecture and sell it at every size,” Keller said.

Tenstorrent lists Austin among its six operating hubs, alongside Santa Clara, Toronto, Belgrade, Tokyo and Bangalore, and Built In identifies Austin and Silicon Valley as its U.S. office locations. A war chest of this size gives the company room to keep hiring chip architects and engineers in a market where Austin already competes for semiconductor talent with Samsung, AMD, Apple and Arm.

Stellios Technologies emerges with $5 million for counter-drone microwave weapons

Stellios Technologies, a directed-energy hardware startup described as Austin-based by Defense Daily and Unmanned Airspace, emerged from stealth Oct. 20 with an oversubscribed $5 million pre-seed round. Investors include Sofreh Capital, Wave Function Ventures, Cubit Capital, Mana Ventures, Atoms & Bits, Output Capital, and angel investor Erik Bruckner; no lead investor was named.

Founded this year by Richard Starson, the company builds high-power microwave systems along with the vacuum-electronic devices and high-voltage power gear that drive them. Its first product, Stellios Shield, is designed to knock down drones without kinetic interceptors. Stellios is also developing an AI-driven engineering and digital-twin platform called Stellios Genesis and is doing early research on compact fusion.

The startup reported about $2 million in signed customer orders before it raised outside money. It plans to use the funding to deliver its first contracted systems, set up U.S. research and pilot manufacturing, and grow its engineering team. The debut comes less than a week after Austin Sensing Company raised $15 million for counter-drone sensing, signaling that the region’s defense-tech cluster is increasingly focused on drone defense.

HydroGraph opens Austin headquarters, nears first graphene sales

Graphene producer HydroGraph Clean Power said Oct. 21 it received a certificate of occupancy for its new Austin headquarters, which houses three Hyperion reactors with capacity to produce up to 30 tons of graphene a year, according to a GlobeNewswire release. A second plant in Bellville, Texas, is in permitting and is expected to open in the first half of 2027 with roughly 60 tons of annual capacity.

The company said several customer evaluations have moved into commercial negotiations, with first agreements expected within months, and that a new defense unit is pursuing U.S. research partnerships. More than 30 customers have sampled its new water-based graphene paste. Securityholders will vote Oct. 29 on moving the company’s legal home to Delaware, after an August financing round that raised 70.4 million Canadian dollars.

Aviat Networks adds satellite backup to wireless networks

Aviat Networks (NASDAQ: AVNW) introduced Connectivity Assurance Software on Oct. 20, which pairs low Earth orbit satellite links with terrestrial microwave and cellular connections and automatically shifts traffic to satellite when ground links fail, according to a press release. The Austin-based company is targeting public safety agencies, utilities, transportation and energy operators, and rural broadband providers.

The software runs on Aviat’s ProVision Plus management platform and supports remote troubleshooting, which can cut costly truck rolls to remote sites. “The real value is not the satellite link alone,” CEO Pete Smith said.

Also in Silicon Hills

• Tesla reports third-quarter results after markets close Wednesday. The Austin-based automaker delivered 486,532 vehicles in the quarter, beating analyst consensus of 461,974, but deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage, short of the 15.9 GWh expected. (Not a Tesla App; OANDA)
• Bazaarvoice formed a strategic partnership with AI search analytics firm Profound to help brands track and improve how their products show up in AI shopping answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google. (GlobeNewswire)
• Xojo released Xojo 2026 Release 3, adding an Agentic Mode that lets AI coding agents edit projects in its cross-platform development tool. (PR Newswire)
• Rosie, a Seattle home-help startup, raised $7 million and plans to launch in Austin in early 2027; it is hiring an in-person Austin city general manager. (GeekWire)
• Data center growth has become a central issue in the race for Texas Senate District 5, which includes fast-growing Williamson County; early voting runs through Oct. 30. (KUT)

Only in Austin

Today’s chip-and-hardware news has a famously humble local ancestor. In 1984, University of Texas freshman Michael Dell assembled and sold upgraded PCs out of Room 2713 at Dobie, the 27-story private dorm near campus then known as Dobie Mall. He launched PC’s Limited on May 3, 1984, with about $1,000 from his family, then left school after his freshman year to run it full time. The company’s 1985 Turbo PC sold for $795; the business became Dell Computer Corp. in 1987, and it eventually settled in Round Rock. (Wikipedia: Dell)

Have a news tip, funding announcement or story idea? Send it to Silicon Hills News at siliconhillsnews.com.

Oracle, AstraZeneca Team Up on AI for Clinical Trials as Fortrea Buys Austin Lab

On a quiet Tuesday in Silicon Hills, Austin-based Oracle signs an AI healthcare pact, an Austin bioanalytical lab changes hands, and a UT spinout makes its pitch for light-based chips.

Austin-based Oracle Corp. and drugmaker AstraZeneca said Tuesday they will explore using artificial intelligence and real-world health data to speed up clinical trials, leading to a slower-than-usual stretch of Central Texas tech news. Also in the past day, North Carolina contract research firm Fortrea Holdings closed a $45 million deal that includes a 60,000-square-foot Austin lab; Austin drug developer XBiotech reported Phase II cancer trial results; a University of Texas spinout described its plan to move chip data with light; and Austin software company ABBYY added a generative AI layer to its document-processing platform.

Oracle and AstraZeneca Sign AI Healthcare Pact

Oracle and AstraZeneca signed a non-binding agreement to test how AI and real-world data could help clinicians find eligible patients for clinical trials, produce evidence faster and move research findings into everyday care, according to a release issued early Tuesday with an Austin and Abu Dhabi dateline.

The companies said they may first examine cancer, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease, respiratory and immune conditions, and rare diseases. AstraZeneca will contribute scientific expertise, while Oracle will bring its health data, cloud infrastructure, and clinical workflow tools. The two plan to share governance, reusable technical components, and agreed outcome measures. They did not disclose financial terms.

“Some of the most important opportunities for AI are in healthcare,” Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia said. Oracle, which moved its headquarters to Austin in 2020, has made health care a major focus of its AI business. The agreement is exploratory and is not tied to a local site.

Fortrea Buys Worldwide Clinical Trials Unit With Austin, Pflugerville Sites for $45 Million

Durham, North Carolina-based Fortrea completed its roughly $45 million all-cash purchase of Worldwide Clinical Trials’ early-phase services division, the company announced Monday.

The deal includes a 60,000-square-foot bioanalytical laboratory in Austin that operates under good laboratory practice standards, a biospecimen storage facility in Pflugerville and a 200-bed clinical research unit in San Antonio. Fortrea said the addition lifts its global early-phase capacity to more than 570 beds. The operations will join its clinical pharmacology services business, and a strategic alliance agreement is meant to keep ongoing studies and staff in place. The company did not say how many employees are covered.

The deal puts two Austin-area drug development facilities under a new, publicly traded owner. Fortrea CEO Anshul Thakral called it “tangible progress in Fortrea’s return to growth.”

XBiotech Reports Phase II Colorectal Cancer Results

Austin-based XBiotech Inc. said its antibody vilamakitug met the primary success threshold in a Phase II trial in patients with hard-to-treat metastatic colorectal cancer, according to a Monday release.

In the randomized, double-blind study, 49 of 80 patients who received the drug with standard chemotherapy were alive at 12 months, above the protocol’s bar of 42. In the placebo group, 44 of 79 were alive. Progression-free survival and time to treatment failure did not differ significantly, while a small exploratory group of patients with right-sided tumors showed a stronger survival signal.

A French cancer center sponsored the trial, and France’s National Cancer Institute funded it. XBiotech, which develops and manufactures its antibodies in Austin, targets a protein called interleukin-1 alpha that is linked to inflammation and tumor growth.

UT Spinout La Luce Cristallina Pursues Light-Based Chip Links

La Luce Cristallina, a startup that grew out of research at the University of Texas, is growing ultra-thin crystal layers on silicon wafers that chipmakers could use to build photonic devices, CBS Austin reported Monday night.

Photonic components move data between chips with light rather than electrical signals. CEO Alex Demkov told the station the devices could be much smaller and, if development succeeds, use “probably 100 times less power.” Roger Bonnecaze, dean of UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering, said faster chip-to-chip communication could cut energy costs and speed up computing, including AI.

The report did not include details on funding or facilities. Austin Mayor Pro Tem José “Chito” Vela said the work complements the region’s growing semiconductor industry, including Samsung’s fab in Williamson County.

ABBYY Adds Generative AI Layer to Document Platform

Austin-headquartered ABBYY launched PHOENIX Plus, a set of generative AI models built into its Vantage intelligent document processing platform, the company said Tuesday.

ABBYY hosts the models and keeps customer data in the same region as the customer’s Vantage data. It charges a fixed annual fee rather than per-token pricing, and customers can also connect models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic or Mistral. The tool lets users pull fields from unfamiliar documents, such as supplier contracts, by writing prompts instead of training on labeled data. It is currently open to select Vantage customers.

ABBYY, with offices in 13 countries, said a logistics customer reported 99% first-pass accuracy in extracting handwritten and printed text from complex forms.

Also in Silicon Hills

• Austin-based Natera will have 20 abstracts, including four rapid oral presentations, at the ESMO cancer congress in Madrid on Oct. 23-26. One study found its Signatera test changed planned post-surgery treatment for about 1 in 3 colon cancer patients. (Natera via BioSpace)
• AI chip designer Tenstorrent, which has an office in Austin, raised a $1.5 billion Series E at a $6.2 billion post-money valuation, led by Trace Capital and Innovation X. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. (Rio Times)
• The American Solar Energy Society’s SOLAR 2026 national conference runs through Wednesday at the Palmer Events Center. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Austin Energy’s Stuart Reilly were among six local leaders honored at Monday’s opening reception. (ASES)
• A Houston Advanced Research Center report projects that Texas data centers could raise statewide nitrogen oxide emissions 35% by 2031 even with grid and renewable power, and nearly 400% if they rely on on-site natural gas. (Texas Tribune)
• Roamly, a mobility insurance company whose parent, The Ride Platform, is co-headquartered in Austin and London, hired Christine Franzi as head of insurance programs. (Roamly)
• Austin-based Caprock Direct Lithium Extraction said it is pursuing a patent with Texas Tech University for a method to pull lithium from oilfield wastewater and plans field operations for its first modular unit in spring 2027. (Caprock via Business Wire)

Only in Austin

Today’s deals have nothing on the one that built the Texas Capitol. The 1876 state constitution set aside 3 million acres of Panhandle public land to pay for a new statehouse, and a Chicago-backed “Capitol Syndicate” received the land in exchange for building it. Those acres became the famous XIT Ranch. The owners of Granite Mountain in Burnet County donated the “sunset red” granite. Dedicated May 16, 1888, the Capitol stands 302.64 feet to the tip of the Goddess of Liberty’s star, about 14.6 feet taller than the U.S. Capitol, though the two are measured from different points. (Texas State Preservation Board)

Have a tip about Austin tech, a funding round or a new office? Send it to Silicon Hills News.

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Flex Closes $4.4B EPC Power Deal; Expressable Discloses $25.5M Raise in Austin Tech Roundup

Austin-based Flex finished a multibillion-dollar push into data center power, while a speech therapy startup, a beverage can printer and an ad-tech veteran made deal news.

AUSTIN, Texas — Flex Ltd. completed its roughly $4.4 billion purchase of power-conversion maker EPC Power, the largest deal of a quiet weekend for Austin tech. Virtual speech therapy company Expressable disclosed $25.5 million in new equity in a federal filing; private equity firm Mason Wells took ownership of can printer Canworks; and AI engineering firm Robots & Pencils bought Austin ad-automation company Tiger Pistol.

Flex completes EPC Power acquisition

Flex, the electronics manufacturer that runs its operations from Austin, said Oct. 14 that it has closed its acquisition of EPC Power, a U.S. maker of power conversion systems for data centers and the electric grid. Flex valued the deal at $4.4 billion when it was announced in September and said at the time it would pay with a mix of debt and equity. The completion announcement did not restate the price.

EPC Power builds its own hardware, software, and controls, and Flex says its technology has been deployed across more than 15 gigawatts of capacity. The business joins Flex’s Cloud and Power Infrastructure segment, which Flex plans to spin off as a separate public company, Axiom Solutions International, in the first quarter of 2027. “We are pleased to welcome the EPC Power team to Flex,” CEO Revathi Advaithi said in the company’s announcement.

The deal deepens one of Austin’s largest corporate players in the race to supply power and cooling for AI data centers, a market that is also reshaping Central Texas through projects in Bastrop, Hutto and Taylor.

Expressable discloses $25.5 million in new funding

Expressable, an Austin company that provides online speech-language therapy, has sold about $25.5 million in equity to nine investors, according to a Form D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and signed Oct. 15 by CEO Nicholas Barbara. The filing lists a total offering of about $35.5 million, leaving roughly $10 million unsold. The company has not publicly announced the round or named its investors.

Expressable pairs licensed clinicians with families and patients for virtual sessions built around daily routines and works with hundreds of health plans, including Medicaid plans. It last raised a $28.2 million Series B in 2024, led by HarbourVest Partners, Behavioral Health Business reported. Texas CEO Magazine puts its total funding at about $74 million.

Mason Wells acquires Austin can printer Canworks

Milwaukee private equity firm Mason Wells said Oct. 14 that it has acquired Canworks, an Austin company that digitally prints custom designs on aluminum beverage cans. Terms were not disclosed. Founders Ryan Thompson, the CEO, and Marshall Thompson, the president, invested alongside the firm and will continue to run the company from Austin, according to the Mason Wells announcement. Ally Corporate Finance provided financing.

Founded in 2020, Canworks also sells can ends and PakTech carriers to beverage brands and co-packers and operates five facilities in Austin, Atlanta, St. Louis, Vista, California, and Windsor, Connecticut. Mason Wells Managing Director Damon Thome called it “a special company with a customer-centric culture.” Texas CEO Magazine reported that the transaction closed in late 2025, though it was announced only last week.

Robots & Pencils buys Tiger Pistol

AI engineering firm Robots & Pencils said Oct. 15 that it has acquired Tiger Pistol, an Austin company whose software helps franchises, enterprises and resellers launch and manage ad campaigns on Meta, TikTok, Amazon and other platforms. The release did not disclose the terms.

Tiger Pistol, led by CEO Paul Elliott, has been on the market for more than 15 years and says it has run more than 4 million ad campaigns. It has become Robots & Pencils’ customer experience transformation practice. Robots & Pencils CEO Len Pagon Jr. said brands need “integrated, outcome-driven agentic systems that work at scale.” Founded in 2009, Robots & Pencils positions itself as a faster-moving alternative to large systems integrators and has delivery centers in the U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Also in Silicon Hills

• Flux Steel Holdings, based at 804 Congress Ave., sold $15.9 million in equity to 45 investors, according to an SEC filing signed Oct. 14. Texas CEO Magazine describes the company as a producer of grain-oriented electrical steel for transformer cores.
• Tesla energy chief Mike Snyder has stepped down as vice president of energy and charging and will be succeeded by AJ Booth, The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday, according to Reuters. Tesla, which is headquartered in Austin, reports third-quarter results Wednesday, Oct. 21.
• WeWork, which runs several coworking locations in Austin, said in a mid-year report that 81% of member companies in its network kept or expanded their space in the first half of 2026, and average footprint per company rose 9.9% from a year earlier. Enterprises with 1,000 or more employees now hold nearly 40% of its seats. The report did not break out figures for Austin.
• Texas CEO Magazine’s weekly deal tally counted six Austin funding disclosures and five Austin-related M&A deals last week, led by ICON’s $200 million Series D and Bumble’s $1.3 billion take-private.

Only in Austin

Austin’s most famous commuters are packing up. Most of the Mexican free-tailed bats under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge head to Mexico around October or November and return in spring, though about 100,000 stay year-round, The Trail Conservancy says. The colony, estimated at up to 1.5 million bats, moved in after a 1980 bridge renovation and was nearly exterminated by a fearful public. In 1986, conservationist Merlin Tuttle moved Bat Conservation International to Austin to defend them and won a Texas Monthly Bum Steer Award for his trouble. Now the bats are a tourist draw and a pest-control service.

Have a news tip? Send it to Silicon Hills News. We want to hear about your funding round, launch, expansion, or new hire.

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Bumble Deal Keeps Dating App in Austin as Tesla Fans Pack Giga Texas

New details on Bumble’s $1.3 billion take-private lead a quiet weekend in Silicon Hills, along with a Tesla owners’ rally and AI upgrades from a local staffing app.

Austin-based Bumble Inc. will remain headquartered in Austin under new owner Ithaca Holdings, and new reporting on the deal’s terms shows founder Whitney Wolfe Herd will keep a sizable stake in the dating company. Elsewhere, thousands of Tesla owners gathered at Giga Texas as the automaker’s Austin Cybercab fleet grows, and Austin-based Indeed Flex rolled out new artificial intelligence tools for temporary workers. It was a light news weekend for the Austin tech scene.

Bumble: Ithaca founders to lead, Austin HQ stays put

More details emerged over the weekend on Ithaca Holdings’ agreement to acquire Bumble for $6.05 per share in cash, a deal valued at about $1.3 billion. When the deal closes, Ithaca co-founders and co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become Bumble’s co-CEOs, according to the company’s Oct. 13 announcement. The price represents a premium of about 138% to Bumble’s unaffected closing share price on Oct. 9.

Wolfe Herd, who returned as CEO in March 2025, will step down but plans to stay “actively involved with Bumble,” she said. She will roll at least 10.9 million Class A shares, roughly half her stake, into the new parent company and cash out the rest, according to a report published Saturday. That report also said the merger agreement includes no “go-shop” period for Bumble to seek rival bids and sets an outside closing date of July 12, 2027.

Bumble said it expects to remain based in Austin as a private company, with offices in London and New York. Shareholders holding a majority of voting power, including affiliates of Wolfe Herd and Blackstone, have already approved the deal by written consent. Closing still requires regulatory approvals. The company had about 580 full-time employees at the end of 2025, and the announcement included no job commitments.

The deal takes one of Austin’s best-known consumer tech brands off the public markets, five years after its 2021 Nasdaq debut.

Tesla: Owners converge on Giga Texas as Cybercab fleet grows

Thousands of Tesla owners, many from out of state, gathered at the company’s Giga Texas factory in southeast Travis County for the X Takeover, a fan event organized around Tesla owners’ clubs from Austin and Silicon Valley, CBS Austin reported Friday. Attendees toured the Cybertruck production line and traded notes on Full Self-Driving software. No new products were announced.

The rally comes as Tesla scales its driverless ride-hailing service in Austin. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Oct. 10 that its Cybercab fleet in Austin had grown from fewer than 40 vehicles to more than 300 in about a month, and Texas registration data showed about 319 Cybercabs and 420 Model Y robotaxis registered, The Motley Fool reported. Tesla has not disclosed how many vehicles operate at once or how many rides they complete.

Tesla executive Ashok Elluswamy has signaled that Dallas will be the next city to get Cybercab service, though no launch date has been set. Federal safety regulators are reviewing allegations that Tesla robotaxis sped through school zones and whether the Cybercab meets vehicle safety standards. Neither review has found wrongdoing.

Indeed Flex: AI tools aim to fill temp shifts faster

Austin-based Indeed Flex, which runs an app that matches workers with temporary shifts, is leaning on AI to speed up hiring, CBS Austin reported. Workers can now opt into an AI screening interview available at any hour, and a machine learning system offers each shift first to the workers best matched by skills and work history. The company also uses two AI agents: Alma, which helps businesses build schedules, and Lexi, which handles worker support.

CEO Novo Constare called traditional temporary staffing “slow, antiquated, and quite opaque.” The company did not disclose user counts or financial details.

Also in Silicon Hills

• Vereigen Media, an Austin-based demand generation firm, won a Gold award at the 2026 TITAN Business Awards for its human-verified lead service. (GlobeNewswire)
• Data center rules: Austin’s city manager owes the City Council an update on proposed data center regulations this month, 60 days after the council’s Aug. 27 vote. Binding rules are due by year’s end. (FOX 7 Austin)
• Catch up: Saturday’s roundup covered Samsung’s $22.84 million Taylor-area community investment and second-fab timeline, Homa’s $5 million seed round and Tesla’s Roadster unveiling. (Silicon Hills News) Friday’s roundup covered ICON’s $200 million Series D, RapidCanvas’ $29 million Series B and Daily Journal’s acquisition of Revir Technologies. (Silicon Hills News)

Only in Austin

Enjoy the Congress Avenue Bridge bats while you can. Most Mexican free-tailed bats that roost under the bridge head south to Mexico around October or November and return in March or April, though about 100,000 stay year-round, according to The Trail Conservancy. At peak season, up to 1.5 million bats live there, the world’s largest urban bat colony. The bats moved in after an early-1980s bridge renovation, and frightened residents wanted them gone. That changed after conservationist Merlin Tuttle moved his organization to Austin in 1986 and began a public awareness campaign. Today the colony eats up to seven tons of insects a night.

Have a news tip, funding announcement, or story idea? Send it to Silicon Hills News. We’d like to hear from you.

Samsung Pledges $22.8M in Central Texas as Second Taylor Chip Fab Nears Construction; Austin Sensing Co. Raises $15M

Samsung puts more money into its Taylor community programs, a counter-drone startup and an AI homebuying platform close new rounds, and Austin-based Tesla shows off its long-delayed Roadster.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor announced $22.84 million in community and workforce investments Thursday and said it will start building a second chip plant in Taylor next month. Also on Thursday, Austin Sensing Co. said it had raised $15 million for its drone-detection hardware, and Austin-based Homa closed a $5 million seed round for its AI homebuying platform. That night, Tesla unveiled the second-generation Roadster.

Samsung commits $22.84M to Taylor-area programs, sets November start for second fab

Samsung Austin Semiconductor announced $22.84 million in 2026 community and workforce investments at an event at its Taylor plant on Thursday, the Taylor Press reported. The biggest piece is a new grant program called Spark!, which gives $10 million to 14 nonprofits and public entities in Taylor and Manor. Taylor ISD gets $2.45 million, and the City of Taylor gets $1 million. Samsung is also putting $1.5 million into a skilled-trades pathway with Taylor ISD for electrical, welding, pipefitting, and HVAC training. It will expand its paid summer internships for Taylor ISD students from 24 to 30 starting in 2027. Partnerships with UT Austin, Texas A&M and other schools add about $2.66 million a year.

Construction on Samsung’s second Taylor fab will begin in November, and the plant is expected to be running by 2030, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The first fab is entering qualification. Gases and chemicals are mostly on, and tools are being started up. John Taylor, the Samsung vice president who leads its Austin and Taylor sites, said the first fab is still on track to come online by the end of the year. He added, “We aren’t stopping just at one fab.”

The first fab will make chips on 2-nanometer technology, and Tesla is its only publicly named customer. Samsung has room for up to 10 plants on more than 1,200 acres near Taylor. That makes the Williamson County site one of the region’s biggest long-term job and supplier draws.

Austin Sensing Co. raises $15M to scale counter-drone sensors

Austin Sensing Co. has raised $15 million in total, Tectonic reported Thursday. That includes an $11 million seed round led by Bow Capital, with Bling Capital, Draper Associates, Mark VC, GTMfund and Ensemble VC participating. The rest is a roughly $4 million pre-seed round from last year.

The company builds airspace-awareness systems that detect and track drones using radio-frequency, radar, and acoustic sensors. It also offers a combined tower unit and its own command-and-control software, which can plug into other counter-drone platforms. Chief technology officer Isaac Duke described the strategy simply: “We build the software, we build the hardware.” Its website lists public-safety customers including the St. Lucie County and Martin County sheriff’s offices in Florida.

The company is ramping up production at a new 20,000-square-foot factory in Austin. Austin continues to grow as a counter-drone hub. Allen Control Systems recently expanded into a large North Austin manufacturing site after winning an Army counter-drone contract worth up to $500 million.

Homa raises $5M seed for AI homebuying platform

Austin-based Homa announced a $5 million seed round Thursday, led by Quiet Capital, with Restive Ventures and Cambrian Ventures participating. Homa is a licensed brokerage that runs an AI platform covering the whole homebuying process, from search and tours to offers, financing, and closing.

Its business model is based on commission rebates. When a seller offers a buyer-broker commission of up to 3%, Homa keeps 1% and returns the rest to the buyer. The company says those credits have averaged more than $10,000. Quiet Capital partner Michael Bloch said Homa “hands the customer real money back.”

Homa launched in Florida in 2025 and expanded to Texas in June. Axios reported that its first Texas deal was an Austin home. The new money will fund expansion into California, in-platform mortgage lending, and a mobile app. CEO Arman Javaherian, a former Zillow senior director, co-founded the company with Federico Campeotto, who holds a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence.

Tesla unveils second-generation Roadster

Austin-based Tesla unveiled its long-delayed second-generation Roadster Thursday night at a livestreamed event at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Fox Business reported. Tesla says some versions reach 60 mph in under a second and top 230 mph, using cold-gas thrusters developed with SpaceX. Tesla did not announce a price. Reservations require a $50,000 deposit for the Performance version and $250,000 for the Thrust version.

CEO Elon Musk said consumer production won’t start until 2028, Spectrum News reported. Tesla executives said earlier this year that the car would be built in Texas. Tesla reports third-quarter earnings Oct. 21.

Also in Silicon Hills

• TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said the chipmaker has sent teams to evaluate a possible expansion in Texas and is in talks about the Musk-backed Terafab project. Wei insisted any fab involving TSMC must be run by TSMC (AP via KSAT, TrendForce).
• Austin’s Silverton Partners led a $10 million Series A for New York-based Chariot Claims, an AI platform for consumer mass-arbitration claims (FinSMEs).
• Thousands of Tesla owners gathered at Giga Texas for the “X Takeover” owners’ event (CBS Austin).
• The second annual Austin AI Film Festival runs Oct. 16–17 at the Topfer at Zach Theatre, screening 40 films picked from more than 700 submissions (PR Newswire).

Only in Austin

Long before Austin had a Silicon Hills, it was showing off its tech with lights. In 1894, the city bought 31 secondhand “moonlight towers” from Detroit. Each was 165 feet tall and held six carbon-arc lamps, enough to light whole neighborhoods. Fifteen still stand, though only six remain in their original spots, and Austin’s are the only known surviving moonlight towers. One famously hosted the keg party in Dazed and Confused, though that scene was actually shot at a replica. The Zilker Park tower becomes the Zilker Holiday Tree every December (in the background).

Have a tip about Austin-area startups, funding, expansions, or layoffs? Send it to Silicon Hills News, and we’ll take a look.

Bumble’s $1.3 Billion Take-Private Deal Leads a Busy Week for Austin Tech, as ICON, RapidCanvas and Austin Sensing Company Raise Money

Austin’s dating app giant agrees to go private, ICON raises $200 million to build its Titan printer, and AI and defense startups bring in new capital.

Austin’s tech scene had a big week. Bumble Inc. agreed to be taken private by Ithaca Holdings in an all-cash deal worth about $1.3 billion, and 3D-printing construction company ICON closed a $200 million Series D. On Thursday, AI data science startup RapidCanvas confirmed it raised nearly $29 million, counter-drone startup Austin Sensing Company emerged from stealth with $15 million, and Daily Journal Corp. announced it acquired legal-tech company Revir Technologies.

Bumble to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings for $1.3 billion

Bumble Inc., the Austin-based company behind the Bumble dating app, said Tuesday it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings, a technology holding company. Ithaca will pay $6.05 per share in cash. That is about 138% above Bumble’s unaffected closing price on Oct. 9 and about 119% above its 30-day volume-weighted average price, according to the company’s announcement filed with the SEC.

A special committee of independent directors recommended the deal, and the board approved it unanimously. Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd recused herself from the vote. Blackstone affiliates and Wolfe Herd have already given the shareholder approval the deal requires by written consent. The deal still needs regulatory approvals, and the company did not give a closing date.

When the deal closes, Ithaca co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become Bumble’s co-CEOs. Wolfe Herd plans to stay actively involved. “I truly believe the best is yet to come,” she said in the release. Bumble is expected to keep its headquarters in Austin and its offices in London and New York. The deal takes one of Austin’s best-known consumer tech companies off the public markets about five years after its 2021 IPO.

ICON raises $200 million Series D to manufacture its Titan printer in Austin

ICON, the Austin construction technology company, announced a $200 million Series D on Tuesday. Baillie Gifford and BlackRock-managed funds co-led the round, Construction Dive reported. ICON will use the money to start manufacturing Titan, its multi-story 3D-printing machine, at its Austin factory and to open a large research and development facility there.

Titan can print structures up to 27 feet tall and is listed at about $899,000. ICON plans to sell it to other builders. Jonathan Ladouceur, ICON’s vice president of product and engineering, called the round “a signal of confidence in our team and our technology” in an interview with CBS Austin.

ICON says it has built more than 270 homes and structures in five states and two countries. In January, it won a $62.8 million U.S. Army contract to 3D-print barracks at Fort Bliss.

RapidCanvas raises nearly $29 million Series B for AI data science agents

RapidCanvas, an Austin-based startup that builds AI agents for enterprise data teams, has raised nearly $29 million in Series B funding. Vertex Ventures and Hitachi Ventures co-led the round, according to Tech Insider, which cited CEO Rahul Pangam’s confirmation to Axios Pro. The company did not disclose its valuation.

The RapidCanvas platform combines AI agents with a no-code interface. It covers data preparation, feature engineering, model selection, and deployment. The company previously raised a $16 million round led by Peak XV and an earlier round led by Accel. Pangam said a Series C is possible but did not commit to one.

Austin Sensing Company emerges with $15 million for counter-drone sensors

Austin Sensing Company, a counter-drone startup, has emerged from stealth with $15 million in total funding: an $11 million seed round led by Bow Capital and about $4 million in pre-seed money raised last year, Tectonic reported. Bling Capital, Draper Associates, Mark VC, GTMfund and Ensemble VC also invested.

The company sells radio-frequency, acoustic, and radar sensors for detecting drones, plus a deployable tower that combines all three. Its command-and-control software is designed to work with defense platforms such as Anduril’s Lattice and Palantir’s Maven. More than 40 police and fire departments in several states, along with some military units, use its RF detector. The startup is the latest addition to the defense-tech cluster growing in Central Texas.

Daily Journal acquires Austin legal-tech company Revir Technologies

Los Angeles-based Daily Journal Corp. (Nasdaq: DJCO) announced Thursday that it acquired Austin-based Revir Technologies. Revir makes Scout, an AI platform that manages and searches large volumes of digital evidence. Daily Journal paid cash on hand and did not disclose the price, according to the company’s press release.

The deal closed Oct. 13. Revir will operate independently within Daily Journal’s new courts, justice and government technology division, alongside Journal Technologies. Founder and CEO Marc Messina will keep running the company.

Also in Silicon Hills

• Project Longhorn data center: Recent construction filings show a $366 million, roughly 498,000-square-foot data center in Cedar Creek in Bastrop County moving forward after a pause in state permits. The project is reportedly in talks with Anthropic. Construction is expected to start in late November. (Hoodline)
• WM Technology: A subsidiary of the company behind Weedmaps has ended its Los Angeles headquarters lease and signed a 114-month lease for about 26,000 square feet at 924 E. Seventh St. in East Austin, starting no earlier than February 2027. (TipRanks)
• Austin Deep Tech 50: Overmatch Ventures and seven partner venture firms have released their first list of 50 Central Texas deep-tech companies, which together raised more than $10 billion in the past 12 months, according to Built In. Honorees include Cedar Park’s Aeon Industrial and Austin’s Allen Control Systems. (PR Newswire, Built In)
• Earnings calendar: Austin’s Q2 Holdings and Asure Software have scheduled their third-quarter results. Asure reports Oct. 29. (GlobeNewswire, Business Wire)

Have a news tip, funding announcement, or story idea? Send it to Silicon Hills News.

An Austin-based cloud cost management company has been acquired in what investors are calling one of the largest venture-backed software exits in the city’s history, marking a significant win for the Texas technology sector.

Flexera, a global leader in technology spend and risk intelligence, announced Monday it has acquired ProsperOps, an AI-enabled platform that automates cloud computing cost optimization. The company also acquired Chaos Genius, which specializes in cost management for data cloud platforms.

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed, but Pat Matthews, head of Active Capital, which made a pre-seed investment in ProsperOps, said the acquisition is “likely a top 20 Austin venture-backed software exit of all time.” Part of the ProsperOps team is also based in San Antonio, making it “the most meaningful venture-backed outcome to touch San Antonio since Rackspace,” Matthews wrote on a LinkedIn post.

The deal stands out in Austin’s venture landscape because ProsperOps built its business primarily through customer revenue rather than multiple rounds of venture capital funding after Active Capital’s initial investment.

“Austin just had one of its biggest venture-backed exits ever. Yet almost nobody in Austin has heard of the company,” Matthews wrote. “They focused on building a great business fueled by customers and revenue. And it worked.”

ProsperOps manages more than $6 billion in annual cloud usage and has grown by over 90% in recent months, according to Flexera. The company automates cloud commitment management across Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

“As enterprises adopt AI across their infrastructure, the need for intelligent, automated execution has never been greater,” Flexera CEO Jim Ryan said in a statement.

ProsperOps CEO and co-founder Chris Cochran said customers increasingly want unified platforms for cloud cost management rather than point solutions.

Chaos Genius addresses cost management for Snowflake and Databricks platforms and has helped Fortune 500 companies reduce costs up to 30%, according to Flexera.

ProsperOps will continue operating under its own brand while integrating complementary Flexera features.

Autonomous vehicle developer Avride has secured up to $375 million in strategic investments and commercial commitments from Uber Technologies and Nebius Group, the companies announced Friday.

The funding will help the Austin-based company rapidly scale its self-driving car and delivery robot operations as it prepares to launch robotaxi service on Uber’s platform in Dallas by year’s end.

The investment builds on a multi-year partnership between Avride and Uber that began in 2024. Avride’s delivery robots already operate in Jersey City, Austin and Dallas, fulfilling orders for hundreds of restaurants through Uber Eats.

“We’re excited to continue deepening our partnership with Avride and look forward to introducing their impressive autonomous driving technologies to more people in more markets,” said Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility and delivery.

The capital will enable Avride to grow its fleet, advance AI-driven product development and expand into new markets. The company has been developing autonomous technology since 2017 and says its delivery robots have completed hundreds of thousands of orders domestically and internationally.

Avride CEO Dmitry Polishchuk said the company aims “to make autonomous transportation an integral part of everyday life.”

Arkady Volozh, founder and CEO of Nebius Group, called Uber “a strategic investor that shares Avride’s vision” in pioneering AI-driven autonomous transportation.

Nebius, a Netherlands-based technology company traded on Nasdaq, builds AI infrastructure and cloud platforms. Avride operates as one of its businesses alongside edtech company TripleTen. Nebius also holds stakes in ClickHouse and Toloka.

More than 150 startups will vie for recognition as Austin’s most promising innovators when the A-LIST Awards return Wednesday to celebrate the city’s growing technology ecosystem.

The annual event at the Long Center for the Performing Arts will honor companies across 10 categories, from artificial intelligence and defense technology to life sciences and fintech. Winners will be announced during the ceremony, which runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“Austin is where bold ideas become industry leaders,” organizers said in announcing this year’s finalists. “The A-LIST Awards celebrate the startups shaping the future, each playing a vital role in the Austin Innovation Ecosystem.”

New categories this year include the Defense Technology Award and the International Startup of the Year Award, reflecting Austin’s expanding role as a hub for military tech and its growing appeal to global entrepreneurs.

The AI Standout Innovation Award drew 27 finalists, the most of any category, as artificial intelligence companies continue to flock to Austin. Sunthetics earned nominations in three separate categories — life sciences, energy and AI — highlighting the overlap between emerging technologies.

Notable finalists include Base Power Company, which recently raised $1 billion to expand its residential battery network; humanoid robotics maker Apptronik; and aerospace startups Firefly and CesiumAstro.

The competition also recognizes Austin’s venture capital community, with 17 firms competing for VC Firm of the Year. Nominees include LiveOak Ventures, Silverton Partners and Next Coast Ventures.

The Emerging Startup Award features 50 early-stage companies spanning industries from flavored milk and cacao to semiconductor manufacturing and therapeutic development.

Winners will be selected by a panel of judges from Austin’s investment and business community. The ceremony will include VIP and general receptions, with an after-party following the awards presentation.

Tickets are available at the event website. The Long Center is located at 701 W. Riverside Drive.

Rivian Automotive is cutting roughly 4.5% of its workforce as the electric-vehicle maker restructures operations ahead of its midsize R2 SUV launch, CEO RJ Scaringe told employees Thursday.

“With the launch of R2 in front of us and the need to profitably scale our business, we have made the very difficult decision to make a number of structural adjustments to our teams,” Scaringe wrote in a memo to staff.

The California-based EV maker is consolidating customer-facing operations to streamline the buying experience. Vehicle operations teams will be integrated into the service organization to reduce customer handoffs, while delivery and mobile operations will move under the sales organization to create a single point of contact through the entire purchase and delivery process.

Rivian is also forming a unified marketing organization for the first time. The company previously split marketing functions across multiple departments. Scaringe will serve as interim chief marketing officer while the company recruits for the role, overseeing the Marketing Experiences and Creative Studio teams.

“These are not changes that were made lightly,” Scaringe said. “With the changing operating backdrop, we had to rethink how we are scaling our go-to-market functions.”

The layoffs could affect Rivian’s Austin operations, where the company maintains a service center and flagship showroom. The company opened a 10,000-square-foot retail space on South Congress Avenue in June 2024, featuring a rooftop patio and direct access to the Lady Bird Lake Trial. The Austin locations house sales, delivery, mobile operations and service teams — functions targeted in the restructuring.

Job postings show Rivian currently employs field sales guides, delivery specialists, service technicians and vehicle detailers in Austin. The memo indicates delivery and mobile operations roles are being consolidated under the sales organization, while vehicle operations positions are moving to the service division.

The restructuring comes as Rivian works to achieve profitability amid high production costs and intense competition in the slowing EV market. The company builds vehicles in Normal, Illinois, and maintains operations across multiple U.S. cities.

Scaringe expressed confidence in the upcoming R2, the company’s more affordable SUV starting at $45,000. “These changes are being made to ensure we can deliver on our potential by scaling efficiently towards building a healthy and profitable business,” he wrote.