Handraise Lands $6.3 Million in Funding to Create AI-Powered PR Platform

Former TrendKite Founder and CEO Matt Allison has raised $6.3 million in seed funding to launch Handraise. Austin-based Handraise will create a platform powered by artificial intelligence to help companies increase the impact of their press coverage. Allison built TrendKite into a top media monitoring and analytics platform, which Cision acquired in 2019 for $225 […]

Samsung Austin Semiconductor Donates $1 Million to Taylor ISD for a Career and Technical Education Center

Samsung Austin Semiconductor announced Tuesday that it has donated $1 million to the Taylor Independent School District for a new career and technical education center. The money will pay for equipment, staff, and training needed for classrooms, dual credit labs for coursework, robotics and automation, and other manufacturing-related program-specific laboratories at Taylor ISD’s new CTE […]

Turning Trash into Treasures: The Startup Rockstars and Origin Tale of SXSW

The founders of SXSW got the idea for the event from New Music Seminar or NMS, a New York-based music festival in the mid-80s. NMS always featured many Austin-based bands, said Hugh Forrest, Co-President and Chief Programming Officer of SXSW. After a plan to organize NMS South in Austin fell through, the four founders created […]

Startup Valuations Take a Hit as Investors Demand Profitability: Austin’s Evolving VC Landscape and Entrepreneurship Realities

Startups’ Valuations are down, and entrepreneurs must do more with less money and focus on their core business to become profitable. The days of startups valued at 20 times revenue are over, and now, it’s more common to have five-, six– or seven-times revenue as a valuation, according to Mike Dodd, general partner of Silverton […]

Wise Expands Austin Operations and Relocates to Domain Tower II, Anticipates 50% Workforce Growth in 2024

Wise, a global fintech company, announced last week it is expanding its Austin operations and moving its office to The Domain Tower II. Wise has announced plans to increase its Austin-based workforce by 50 percent in 2024. “As our North American business continues to grow, having a full-stack operation based in Austin has allowed us […]

Sana Lays Off Half of its Staff

Sana laid off 74 employees last Wednesday, about half of its staff, according to a post on its website. “This is one of the hardest things we’ve ever had to do at Sana,” Will Young, co-founder and CEO of Sana, wrote in a blog post on the company’s website. “We have had to say a […]

Cruise Halts “Robotaxis” in Austin and Nationwide

Cruise, an autonomous vehicle company of which General Motors owns 80 percent, announced Thursday the shutdown of its Robotaxi operations in Austin. “The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust,” Cruise wrote in a post on Twitter. “Part of this involves taking a hard look inwards and […]

Lenovo and AMD’s Joint Vision: AI-Infused PCs

The number one PC maker, Lenovo, came to Austin this week for its annual Tech World event to promote artificial intelligence PCs. At the Tech World event, Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang announced a $1 billion investment in AI research and development efforts. As part of the event, Advanced Micro Devices, known as AMD, […]

StretchDollar Launches to Provide Access to Healthcare Plans for Small Businesses

When Decent, a healthcare startup, wound down the bulk of its operations earlier this year, a small group of employees decided to start StretchDollar. “Four of the five of us came from Decent,” said Marshall Darr, CEO and co-founder of  StretchDollar. He previously worked at Decent with StretchDollar Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Kaiza Molina. […]

Claire England Leads GPG Ventures’ Austin Office Focused on Healthcare

As an investment partner, Claire England will lead a new office in Austin for Dallas-based GPG Ventures, a venture capital firm. GPG has invested in more than 100 startups nationwide. Its investments range from the seed stage to Series B. Most of its investments are in healthcare, including medical devices, therapeutics, digital health, healthcare diagnostics, […]