Category: Austin (Page 168 of 318)

SailPoint, which makes identity and access management software, Thursday announced it has reached an agreement to buy Whitebox Security, another software security company.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Whitebox Security, which has more than 70 customers, makes software that identifies and protects sensitive data against hackers and other breaches. SailPoint plans to sell those products under its brand as SecurityIQ.

Whitebox Security, founded in 2007, and based in Sunnyvale, Calif., will join SailPoint.

“Managing access to unstructured data is a growing problem in the market due to disjointed access control models and limited oversight of data creation by end users,” according to SailPoint. “Many organizations struggle with understanding where sensitive data is stored, how it is secured and who has access to it. This creates new exposure points that put the organization at risk of loss of sensitive data, IP theft and even corporate espionage. In fact, the majority of data breaches over the last several years included theft of unstructured data.”

The Central Texas area is a hotbed of activity in the cybersecurity arena and Cybersecurity Ventures, based in Menlo Park, Calif. has named 19 local companies to its 2015 Cybersecurity 500 list.

The list shines a spotlight on the hottest cybersecurity companies to watch worldwide this year.

Absolute Software, an Austin-based mobile device management & security company, ranks the highest on the list, claiming the 36th spot, followed by Austin-based StillSecure, network access control, at the 43rd spot, Austin-based Ziften, an endpoint threat detection company, at 44, San Antonio-based Digital Defense, managed security risk assessment, at 46 and Austin-based SailPoint, an identity and access management company at 62.

Infocyte, a startup based at Geekdom in San Antonio, ranks 71st. It makes an intrusion assessment platform.

Click Security, real time security analytics, in Austin claims the 84th spot.

Brinqa Risk, analytics and management company in Austin, takes the 111th spot followed by 21CT, a security analytics & visualization company, based in Austin at 121.

Others on the list included San Antonio-based Globalscape, secure file transfer, at 147, Innove Managed Security Services of Boerne at 195, Austin-based HID Global, security identity technology, at 272 and Futurex Hardened, enterprise security cloud, based in Bulverde, at 295.

For the rest of the list, please visit Cybersecurity Ventures’ site.

Perk.com, based in Austin, announced Wednesday that its common shares began trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol “PER.”

The startup, which creates a rewards platform for users online, also raised about $20.2 million in a private placement financing as part of a qualifying transaction. Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Beacon Securities Limited served as lead agents in the private placement with participation from Cormark Securities and Haywood Securities.

Perk US, founded in 2009, launched its mobile rewards program platform in 2013. The company offers “Perk Points” as a digital rewards to people for their mobile and Internet activities and for playing social games and watching videos. Those Perk Points can be redeemed for gift cards and cash. Users can also earn points through the company’s third party partner network of apps, called Appsaholic.

The company reported revenue of $17.1 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, up from $700,000 a year ago. On April 17th, Perk US acquired the assets and liabilities of Tsavo Mobile Web, based in Canada. the combined company would have reported revenues of $36.4 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014.

“This is a major milestone in Perk’s history. Obtaining a listing on the TSX provides us a strong foundation for access to future capital and top talent,” Ted Hastings, CEO of Perk, said in a news release. “The principal purposes of the funds raised from the private placement are to expand the Company’s advertising sales team, grow the user base, product development work, and marketing for the coming year. We will continue to look for international market expansion opportunities.”

Ziften, which develops security software, Wednesday announced it has raised $24 million.

The Austin-based startup reported that Spring Mountain Capital led the funding with participation from Fayez Sarofim, an early investor in Ziften.

The company plans to use the money to market its products globally. The company has created security tools that allows companies to deploy throughout their organization within hours. Its software discovers, analyzes and responds to security problems within a network quickly and easily.

In addition to the latest funds, Red Herring recently named Ziften a Red Herring 100 award winner. CIO Review named the company one of the “20 Most Promising RSA Security Solution Providers.” It was also named the top Endpoint Threat Detection vendor on the Cybersecurity 500.

The company, founded in 2009, has raised $35.3 million in venture capital from four investors in three rounds, according to Crunchbase.

The Austin Technology Council announced Wednesday that it has hired Suzanne Kho as its executive director of the ATC Foundation.

In that role, Kho will oversee partnerships and programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, known as STEM. She will also focus on fundraising and other community initiatives in Austin and Central Texas.

ATC, which represents 1,600 technology executives and 280 technology companies, did a research report that shows the city needs to fill up to 3,500 technology jobs through 2024. ATC is looking at ways to connect members of its tech community to Austin to youth to encourage them to pursue STEM careers. The ATC created the Austin Technology Foundation in 2011 to help with that mission.

Kho has more than 25 years of experience with nonprofit organizations. She previously served as executive director of EarthShare of Texas. She has also worked at Beyond Batten Disease Foundation, the Livestrong Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of Pennsylvania.

“We’re facing a tech talent shortage in Austin, and with the addition of Suzanne to the team, we are confident that the ATC Foundation will take a critical step towards igniting the spark to inspire Austin youth to pursue STEM careers,” Julie Huls, President of the Austin Technology Council, said in a news release.

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity software as a service platform, Monday announced it has raised $100 million in Series C financing.

Google Capital led the financing which also included participation from Rackspace, a CrowdStrike customer, and existing investors Accel and Warburg Pincus.

To date, the Irvine, Calif.-based company has raised a total of $156 million.

CrowdStrike’s platform helps companies detect, prevent and respond to attacks on their computer systems. The company said the funds raised will help it further accelerate its domestic and international expansion.

“Rackspace was an early adopter of the CrowdStrike Falcon platform and we have seen first-hand the decisive advantage that CrowdStrike offers to proactively detect and prevent sophisticated attacks,” Brian Kelly, chief security officer at Rackspace, said in a news release. “Unlike other endpoint security tools, CrowdStrike’s scalable cloud-based architecture provides unrivaled visibility and enables significantly faster response time to cyber threats. CrowdStrike also will be a key component of an upcoming line of security offerings being launched at Rackspace this year.”

Google announced Monday it is now taking sign ups for its high-speed Fiber Internet service throughout Southeast Austin.

Now residents and businesses in East Riverside, East Oltorf, Montopolis and Dove Springs neighborhoods can sign up for Google Fiber. Google Fiber offers Gigabit Internet service that is up to 100 times faster than today’s average connection speed. Google is also offering TV with hundreds of high-definition channels.

“The signup deadline for East Riverside fiberhoods is Oct. 8; the signup deadline for East Oltorf fiberhoods is Nov. 19; the signup deadline for Montopolis fiberhoods is Jan. 14, 2016; the signup deadline for Dove Springs is Feb. 25, 2016,” according to a news release. “Residents and businesses living in Onion Creek areas still have a chance to signup for service before the upcoming deadline this Thursday, July 16.”

All of Google’s “fiberhoods” in Austin can be found on this map. Google plans to offer the service throughout the entire Austin city limits.

“For updates on Google Fiber in Austin and to help bring Google Fiber to your neighborhood, sign up on the website.

A couple of years ago, Angelos Angelou helped a Greek entrepreneur move his company to the U.S.

Angelou, founder of Angelou Economics and a long-time economic adviser to the tech industry in Austin, found the process of opening a bank account for the new entrepreneur, getting a Visa, and all the rest of the paperwork tedious and time consuming.

That’s when he decided to create a one-stop place for foreign entrepreneurs to get assistance. He founded the International Accelerator in 2013 to help as many as 15 foreign-born entrepreneurs set up operations in the U.S. The accelerator, based in Austin, just graduated one entrepreneur and has a second one in place, Angelou said.

And the International Accelerator had a pitch event two weeks ago with eight startups from around the world. From those pitches, the accelerator selected three companies to move to the U.S. and another two are pending, Angelou said.

“It’s pretty exciting for me, as the founder, to enable young global entrepreneurs to come to the U.S. and launch their companies in the largest market in the world,” Angelou said. “That’s what gives me a lot of hope and a lot of energy coming to work.”

Eight startups pitched to a panel of judges, investors and mentors at the event held at Andrews Kurth, an international corporate and litigation law firm.

The winning companies included Loren Medical Devices from Italy, which makes a catheter, Dextr, from Australia, a mobile app that seeks to replace the QWERTY keyboard for smartphone users and Plored, fashion social network from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The yearlong program gives the startups $50,000 cash investment from the International Accelerator and investor community in exchange in the form of a convertible note. The accelerator, which takes up to a 15 percent stake in each startup, also connects the startup with mentors and providers of professional services in exchange for a negotiated equity stake. The accelerator provides other assistance such as finding housing, legal assistant and help getting a Visa.

In December, the International Accelerator will have another event and one more next March around South by Southwest Interactive. By next year, Angelou would like to have anywhere from 15 to 20 companies working at the accelerator.

“We’re basically doing economic development,” Angelou said. “We are providing a way for a lot of these young people to fulfill their American Dream.”

The International Accelerator is also working with the MIT Forum, which has infrastructure in many countries, Angelou said. They are doing a pilot project in Greece right now.

“They just had a competition and we’re talking to three more companies to join our accelerator,” Angelou said.

The International Accelerator is also raising a $4 million seed round, of which $1 million has already been raised, Angelou said.

Last year, the International Accelerator brought 50 foreign startups to SXSW Interactive. Next year, it plans to bring a couple of hundred, Angelou said.

“Thirty percent of all entrepreneurs in the U.S. are foreign-born,” Angelou said. “This is a growing market.”

CSO Research, which makes undergraduate career service software since 2001 in Austin, has merged with MBA Focus, based in Dublin, Ohio.

Columbus-based Cozzins Road Capital and C3 Capital Partners have invested $10 million in the combined entity, said Jim Perry, spokesman. The $10 million is for the merger and future growth, he said..

CSO Research employs 32, and MBA Focus has 27 employees, Perry said. The merged companies will choose a new name in the coming months, he said.

“This deal builds the world’s leading network for matching students and employers,” Perry said.

MBA Focus, founded in 2003, provides graduate business school career service software and recruitment technology. It works with more than 2,000 companies and students at 75 graduate schools. Erik Mulloy is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of CSO Research. Jack Gainer is the Chief Executive Officer of MBA Focus.

Together the companies will create a network of 1,000 schools and career service centers. They match employers to undergraduate and graduate students looking for jobs.

CSO Research lets companies tap into information on 1.4 million undergraduate students nationwide. The combined online platform of undergraduate and graduate students looking for jobs will make the recruiting process a lot easier for companies looking for talent, according to the companies.

The online platform also gives universities and business schools a way to track student placements and career outcomes. Already, CSO Research produces “The Outcomes Survey,” with nationally standardized data on graduate career outcomes including where graduates find jobs or enroll in graduate school.

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

A group of technology entrepreneurs from Austria visited Austin this week as part of a U.S. State Department International Visitors Leadership program.

They had meetings with entrepreneurs, government officials and others at Capital Factory, City Hall, TechRanch and other locations around town.

Alexa Wesner, the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, chose the group. She used to live in Austin and previously worked for Trilogy. Global Austin coordinated the visit locally.

On Monday afternoon, the group met with Silicon Hills News at WeWork, a coworking site in downtown Austin, to learn about the city’s booming technology scene and to share information about the companies they founded. Sarah with WeWork gave the group a tour of its coworking space, which is completely full with more than 500 members. WeWork opened in Austin in February and is already exploring local expansion opportunities.

Following the tour, everyone met in a conference room and each visitor gave a brief overview of their company.

Johannes Matiasch, the CEO and co-founder of Sweazer, launched his company several weeks ago in Vienna. It “makes shopping sweet and easy,” by combining online and offline shops in one platform. It has created an e-commerce site with an interface like Tinder, the dating app. The site allows people to save likes and dislikes of different fashion items.

“When you think about fashion shopping there are so many stores out there,” Matiasch said. “It’s nearly impossible to see everything. We integrate a lot of products and provide one search interface of all the online shops and brick and mortar stores in one place.”

Hannes Leo, CEO and co-founder of cbased, has created a community based innovation and collaboration platform.

The startup is providing services for both the public and private sector. Its platform allows people to discuss a proposal online and it allows companies and government officials to arrive at better, consensual decisions, Leo said. A lot of school systems in the U.S. are also using the platform to foster classroom discussions, he said.

Thomas Schranz, CEO and co-founder of Blossom, created a project management tool for software development teams to track and develop software together. The software allows companies to track features and the development of their software quickly and easily. Its customers include Twitter, Netflix, Facebook and Apple. The company went through a European accelerator, Seedcamp, but it landed its customers by posting articles on Medium and Quora, Schranz said. The majority of its customers are in California, he said.

Florian Dorfbauer, CEO of Usersnap, has created a visual communications tool that allows a person to annotate a page with sticky notes and to send it to a developer to make corrections.

“It’s a bridge between non-technical people and technical people,” he said. “The core of the technology is done on a screen shot.”

Usersnap is a software as a service company that is seed funded and runs on cash flow, Dorfbauer said. Its customers include Microsoft and Hawaiian Airlines.

Waldemar Hummer serves in business development for Riox.io, a startup that runs a cloud-based platform for the Internet of Things. It turns data into valuable insights for companies.

And lastly, Alex Pinter, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Trayn.com, which makes customized workout plans for professional athletes. It’s working with the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and other sports organizations. It eventually plans to branch out to provide training plans for everyday athletes and semi-professional athletes.

Many of the startups plan to return to Austin next year for South by Southwest Interactive in March.