Category: Austin (Page 124 of 318)

CognitiveScale, an Austin-based startup specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning, announced Tuesday it has closed on $25 million in funding including a strategic investment from Microsoft Ventures.

The Austin-based startup, founded in 2013, reports the Microsoft investment will help the company develop applications based on Microsoft HoloLens and Microsoft Azure for consumers and businesses.

Other investors include Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital and IBM. The company previously reported in August it had received $21.8 million in Series B funding.

“We are entering a new era of immersive computing in which the world is our browser and we are the cursor,” Akshay Sabhikhi, CEO of CognitiveScale said in a news release. “Our goal is to embed cognitive systems of intelligence into a whole range of new personal computing applications and business processes, from customer engagement, to procurement and regulatory compliance, using hyper-personalized holographic projections and mixed reality (MR).”

The Microsoft investment will allow CognitiveScale to develop MR applications for shopping, workforce productivity and business processes.

“CognitiveScale products can be deployed on hybrid cloud environments to meet the requirements of our customers, including the ability to bring their own data lake and allow our Cognitive Cloud technology to securely access sensitive data. We are seeing more requirements to use Microsoft Azure due to its scalability, rich set of tools, cost effectiveness, and flexibility for customers to control access to their sensitive data sources,” Matt Sanchez, Founder and CTO of CognitiveScale said in a news release.

Schedule courtesy of SXSW – all times are Eastern.

9:45 AM: Hard Things are Hard: A Conversation with James Turrell and David Adjaye (Newseum)

11:30 AM: Musical performances in the White House, including Gallant and Black Alley

12:30 PM: DJ Bev Bond (Innovation Stage)

1:45 PM: The Dap-Kings (Innovation Stage)

2:45 PM: Feeding the Future Panel (Innovation Stage) Fixing Real Problems Panel (Discussion Stage)

4:00 PM: LA: A Case Study in Innovation Panel (Innovation Stage) How We Make Change (Discussion Stage)

5:15 PM: White House Student Film Festival (Innovation Stage and Film Screen)

6:15 PM: The Lumineers (Innovation Stage)

7:00 PM: President Obama in Conversation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Dr. Katharine Hayhoe (Innovation Stage)

7:45 PM: Domestic premiere of climate documentary film Before the Flood (Film Screen)

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

Amos Schwartzfarb took over as Managing Director of Techstars Austin in 2015. Before that, he founded several companies and worked for numerous startups including Joust, BlackLocus, mySpoonful, Business.com, HotJobs.com and others. He enjoys working with entrepreneurs and in Austin’s vibrant technology startup scene.

Q. What brought you to Austin?

AS: My wife and I came here for a weekend in 2007 to visit a number of friends that had moved here and we fell in love with this city. Things were starting to bubble up here. Austin seemed to have the makings of a great tech scene plus great weather, outdoor activities, music and great people. It had everything we were looking for.

Q. What was your first startup?

AS: The first startup I was a part of was a company called Shoreline Mountain Products in 1997. It was a paper catalog company that sold rock climbing and outdoor gear. We put the company online in 1997. Although we didn’t realize it at the time, we were one of the first online retailers. We didn’t realize we were doing anything crazy. It turned out we were breaking new ground. That company sold to Mountain Gear in 1999/2000. That was in the Bay area.

Q. What attributes do you think make a good entrepreneur?

AS: Passion, tenacity, perseverance and a love for doing really hard things and enduring lots of pain to achieve success. People forget to mention that last one. Starting a company is really hard.

Q. Do you think that there’s romanticism about running a startup that isn’t reflected in reality?

AS: I absolutely do. It seems really romantic to be a founder and to start a company. It sounds so awesome. The truth is most companies are not successful and the ones that are have to work way harder and fight through more challenges than one can ever really prepare for. It is just so much more work than you can ever imagine. I think if anyone remembered how hard it was the first time that they wouldn’t do it again. But it’s also one of the most rewarding things you can do whether you’re successful or not. To create something new with your own hands and your own brain it’s a pretty powerful experience.

Q. Why did you decided to become Managing Director of Techstars Austin?

AS: The timing was right. After being an operator for over 20 years and dabbling in investing the opportunity was presented and it just made sense. This role allows me to take my experience and passion of growing businesses and combine it with choosing 10 amazing founders/companies each year who are solving real problems and growing real businesses. Getting to be a “hands on” investor is the best of all worlds for me and is incredibly rewarding.

Q. How did the first class of Austin startups under your direction do?

AS: I’m obviously biased, but I think it’s an exceptional class of phenomenal founders. Most of them are done with fundraising. They continue to build their business. In truth, only time will tell but I’m still very bullish on all of them.

Q. What surprised you about the Techstars startups?

AS: The way the teams all came together and were able to help each other. There is a lot of power in that. They were leveraging each other, as well as, the program. It was an amazing thing to witness and even more amazing to see it continue on several months after the program has ended.

Q. And what stage is Techstars Austin in right now?

AS: Applications for the next program close in three weeks on Oct. 15th. In December, we’ll make our decisions and on January 23rd the program starts.

Q. Anything in particular you are looking for in startup teams?

AS: I would say the biggest things I’m looking for are really passionate founders solving real problems.

Q. They can be from any industry?

AS: They can be from any industry and anywhere in the world. And really any stage too.

Q. Why is Austin a great place for tech startups?

AS: I think Austin is a great place for tech startups for several reasons. The energy in this town is phenomenal. The “give first” attitude makes it very friendly to early stage companies and open for collaboration. It’s not as expensive as being on one of the coasts. All of those things combined are really helpful. Then there is a sheer number of people trying to do new and exciting things that creates positive energy and innovation. It all builds on each other.

Q. What about the venture capital availability in Austin? Is it here? Do we need more?

AS: That’s a question everyone ponders. A lot of people say there is not enough capital. I think there is enough capital for great founders and companies to get funded. The market will continue to evolve as the breadth of the companies evolve. There are plenty of great companies getting funded all the time.

Q. One of the hot topics in technology is about diversity and the need for more diverse startups what is your position on that?

AS: This is a hot topic at Techstars too. I think it is an extremely important topic. The fact that we have to talk about it shines the light that we have to be involved. Personally, I try to be completely agnostic to everything and simply focus on finding awesome entrepreneurs. That said, there is more to be done.

Q. Where do you go from here?

AS: I love this job and getting to work with so many talented entrepreneurs and I love this city. This past spring I closed the next Techstars Austin fund which will fund the next four programs/years I look forward to many more years working for Techstars in Austin and with great founders from all over the globe.

Editor’s note: Amos Schwartzfarb was featured in Silicon Hills News’ 2016 Austin Technology calendar. SHN will run Q&As with all the people featured in the calendar. For information on how you can sponsor or be a part of the 2017 Austin Technology calendar, please contact Laura@SiliconHillsNews.com. Thank you.

The good news is there is an Initial Public Offering or IPO market, said Daniel Klausner, managing director of PricewaterhouseCoopers based in New York.

“At times, I think it’s been dormant or hidden,” he said. “September has been a great month.”

But overall the IPO market in the U.S. is on track to have the lowest number of companies going public since 2009, according to PwC research.

Klausner gave an overview of the market during a PwC event last Wednesday at Capital Factory in downtown Austin on IPO Readiness: Going Public and Being Public.

“The equity market has been pretty volatile in the last few years and 2016 has been no exception,” Klausner said. The themes behind that volatility are well-worn like the Federal Reserve and whether it’s going to raise interest rates, geo-political unrest around the world, Brexit or the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union and the Chinese Yuan devaluation, he said.

The S&P is up 6 percent this year, but it doesn’t feel like it because of all the volatility, Klausner said.

“On the flip side for companies it’s a good time to go public because the markets are giving companies high valuations,” Klausner said.

To gauge whether or not it’s a good time to go public, PwC looks at the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, known as the VIX, to judge the market’s anxiety level. When the VIX is under 20 it’s a good time to go public, Klausner said. It’s currently at 12, he said.

So far, 83 companies have gone public this year and they have raised $13.6 billion, according to PwC research. Last year, 196 companies went public and raised $33.2 billion. And in 2014, 304 companies went public raising $87.1 billion.
September is a very busy month but everything slows down going into November around the election, Klausner said.

“Yes the IPO market is healthy with some caveats we’re not going to have the same number of IPOs as last year,” he said.

In 2016, U.S. IPOs are being led by the healthcare sector with 33 deals that makes up 40 percent of the deals, followed by technology with 15 deals or 18 percent, Klausner said.

The technology market is now looking for profitable growth and not growth for growth’s sake, Klausner said.

It’s a busy week in Austin and for Austin Startups.

Not only is Austin Startup Week taking place and SXSL at the Whitehouse on Monday, but MedTechTX 2016, put on by the Texas State Small Business Development Center in partnership with the Austin Technology Council, kicks off its two-day conference on Monday.

The program begins at 1 p.m. at the Radisson Downtown Austin at 111 Cesar Chavez at Congress. The opening keynote features Dr. Vonda Wright, orthopaedic surgeon, UPMC Center for Sports Medicine, medical director of the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and founder of the Women’s Health Conversations Conference. Her talk is on Building Clinical Champions: Healthcare is a Team Sport.

The event agenda is posted online. If you’re not able to attend, you can follow it in real time at SiliconHillsNews.com. We will be live blogging the event on our website. The hashtag for the event is #MedTechTX2016. Check out posts on Twitter from @ATCouncil @TxStateSBDC and @SiliconHillsNews.

After the panels, a networking reception sponsored by Lee & Hayes runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. followed by ATC Battle of the Tech Bands at The Mohawk at 912 Red River St.

MedTechTX 2016 continues Tuesday morning and runs through the afternoon. Silicon Hills News will be live blogging day two of the conference as well. Check out the coverage on our website in real time and follow along with the #MedTechTX2016 hashtag.

On Wednesday, the MPO Summit starts Wednesday morning in the ballroom of the Austin Hilton at 8:30 a.m. with a welcome address from Howard Revitch, MPO/ODT publisher and Sean Fenske, MPO/ODT editor. Next, Thomas R. Kowalski, president and CEO of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute gives an overview of the industry in Texas with a focus on the medical device sector.

The full agenda for the two day conference can be found here.

It’s hard to believe six years have flown by since the first Austin Startup Week kicked off with their first event at the Tiniest Bar in Texas.

And Silicon Hills News, which is on its sixth year in business as the premier technology media startup covering Austin and San Antonio, was there to cover it.

Jacqueline Hughes and Joshua Baer founded Austin Startup Week to shine a spotlight on the city’s startup community, which has grown tremendously in the last six years.

Austin Startup Week is free, but registration is required. It features more than 150 speakers throughout the week at various meetups, panels, happy hours, coffee breaks and more. The event has certainly grown in six years with lots of diverse panels.

Here’s a link to the full schedule and here’s 15 that Silicon Hills News has highlighted to check out:

MONDAY:

The Central Texas Angels Network’s Entrepreneur Workshop with Claire England, CTAN executive director, and Rick Timmins, CTAN board chairman. At Galvanize from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. This is a great overview of the funding landscape for new entrepreneurs in Austin. CTAN is often a first source of funds for Austin startups. To get an idea of some of the topics they might cover, check out our story from last year.

Leaning in: Why People of Color and Women Must Pull up a Seat: At Galvanize from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Diversity is one of the hottest topics in technology right now. Studies show diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones. So everyone would think it would be a no brainer to add more minorities and women to the mix of tech entrepreneurs getting funded, but it’s not that easy to change a system. Panels like this highlight the issue and seek to find solutions. It’s good to be a part of this conversation.

Austin Startup Week’s ATC’s Battle of Bands: 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at The Mohawk. The best place to kick back and enjoy some good music produced by Austin’s own startup bands at startups. It’s a truly unique event that spotlights how creative Austin’s technology community is at work and outside of it.

TUESDAY:

Startups for Veterans: 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Brazos Hall. This event put on by Bunker Labs Austin and Patriot Boot Camp is focused on getting military veterans into the Austin startup scene as founders and key employees.

Austin’s Capital Landscape: Demystifying the Capital Scene: Noon until 1:30 pm. at Capital Factory featuring Paul O’Brien of Accelerate Texas, Rob Adams, director of Texas Venture Labs, Jim Brown, founder and partner of Arena Growth Partners and Kerry Rupp, general partner of True Wealth Ventures. They’ll talk money and hopefully explain how startups can get some.

Women in Tech Meetup at Galvanize from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Want to meet kickass women in Austin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem getting stuff done? Then attend this meetup. Enough said.

VentureCrushATX Panels: Mistakes Startups Make and How Startups Should Think About Cybersecurity at Umbel’s Office from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. There’s already a waitlist for these back to back panels, make this event one of the most popular events at Austin Startup Week. But if you can get in, it’s worth attending. They’ve got a stellar lineup of speakers and hot topics.

WEDNESDAY

Health Tech Austin: Winning Strategies for Taking Your Innovation and Product to Market– 7:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Capital Factory. This is a news you can use panel for health tech startups. It features Jean Anne Booth, founder of UnaliWear and Chris Loughlin, CEO of RxWiki. This is a great place to pick up a copy of Silicon Hills News’ life sciences magazine.

Pathways for Global Startups: The International Entrepreneurial Rule at noon to 1:30 p.m. at Capital Factory. The panel focuses on the power of immigrants to found companies and contribute to the nation’s technology industry.

Tech’s Emerging Role in Austin’s Politics, Policies and Philanthropy – 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Owen’s Garage. This is a powerhouse panel featuring Mayor Steve Adler, Austin Technology Council’s CEO Barbary Brunner, Capital Factory Founder Joshua Baer and with the Austin Tech Alliance, to talk about the tech industry’s role in Austin government and shaping the city.

THURSDAY

Austin Open Coffee from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Atlassian – Damon Clinkscales has been running Austin Open Coffee for years. It’s a casual gathering of Austin entrepreneurs and others to socialize and network and drink great coffee.

Techstars Open House and Fireside Chat with Amos Schwartzfarb, managing director of Techstars Austin at 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Techstars. The program is currently accepting applications for its next class. Come to this gathering to learn more.

SXSW Success for Your Startup: Leveraging March Magic in Austin – 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Galvanize featuring a talk with Chris Valentine, accelerator pitch event manager at SXSW and Hugh Forrest, chief programming officer and partner at SXSW.

Austin Startup Crawl presented by Hired – Kicks off at 5 p.m. and goes until 10 p.m. It is held at various venues around town. The megastop is at Capital Factory.

FRIDAY

Smart Policy for Smart Cities – 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. A discussion about policies to encourage Austin to adopt Smart City practices.

Caringo announced Thursday that it has received $8.8 million in additional funding.

The Austin-based company closed on its Series B round of funding and reports that so far the company, founded in 2005, has raised $33 million.

The company plans to use the funds for development, marketing and distribution of Caringo Swarm, software used to manage and store data.

“The additional funds raised in this tranche of our Round B funding will help us accelerate our product roadmap, expand in key vertical market segments and continue to invest in demand generation and awareness programs,” Jonathan Ring, Caringo CEO and Co-Founder, said in a news release. “Scale-out object storage is increasingly recognized as the best approach to providing organizations of all sizes with the massive scalability and reduced complexity that is needed in today’s data-intensive environments. Our investors understand this sea change and are helping us continue to deliver our market-leading technology to customers frustrated with their existing storage infrastructure.”

Caringo makes software that protects data and allows its customers to manage, organize and search that data at a massive scale. Its software, Caringo Swarm, lets its customers consolidate their files, find data easily and quickly and reduce storage costs. The company estimates customers can save up to 75 percent on storage costs using its software.

Some of Caringo’s customers include the Department of Defense, the Brazilian Federal Court System, City of Austin, Telefonica, British Telcom, Ask.com, Johns Hopkins University and hundreds more worldwide.