Category: Austin (Page 66 of 318)

When the Austin Technology Incubator launched in 1989, Austin was a much different city.

Austin had one of the highest commercial vacancy rates in the country. Its economy struggled to recover after the Savings and Loan Crisis.

The technology industry was in its infancy.

Thanks to ATI, the longest running incubator in the country, Austin diversified its economy and became a technology boom town, said Mitch Jacobson, ATI director and director of UT Blackstone LaunchPad.

On Monday evening, about 400 invited guests celebrated ATI’s 30^th anniversary at an event held at the AT&T Conference and Education Center. ATI is part of the University of Texas at Austin.

To date, ATI has helped more than 300 companies, which have graduated from its incubator. They have gone on to produce 10 public companies, 50 mergers, and acquisitions, and raised $1.7 billion in funds, according to ATI. It estimates the companies have had a $3 billion economic impact.

Throughout the evening, everyone kept recognizing one man who made it all happen: George Kozmetsky, former Dean of the University of Texas School of Business and founder of the IC2 Institute and ATI. He had a long-term vision of Austin developing as a major Technopolis.

Laura Kilcrease, the founding executive director of ATI, who Kozmetsky recruited to run the incubator as an unpaid employee, headed up the ATI’s founder panel at the event.

ATI ran on $125,000 for each of the first two years and by the end of the third year ATI had become self-supporting because of the county, chamber and the business community, Kilcrease said.

Kozmetsky, who had previously co-founded and run Teledyne in Silicon Valley, started calling on companies in California and recruiting them to relocate to Austin.

In 1992, 92 companies visited Austin to talk about relocating, said Carol Thompson, tech entrepreneur and former board chair, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and ATI board. Out of that, 25 companies expanded to Austin, she said.

“We didn’t have a lot of jobs in Austin early on so university graduates had to go elsewhere always yearning to come back to Austin,” Thompson said.

MCC was one of Austin’s early technology companies. A spinoff from that, ETI, Evolutionary Technologies Inc, owned by two females including Kay Hammer went into ATI had a robust life, Thompson said.

“Today the emphasis is on entrepreneurs in Austin and the emphasis is on minorities and female entrepreneurs in Austin,” Thompson said. “We’ve had some success; you’ve heard about the steppingstones so far, but we still have a long way to go I think for us to be a total expanding global city. We still have to make a concerted effort with women and minorities in the city of Austin.”

Former Austin Mayor Lee Cooke recalled meeting in a parking lot with Kozmetsky for a 75 second conversation that was the beginning of the money and the gas in the gas tank to put ATI together.

ATI was key for Austin to diversify its economy, Cooke said.

In 1992, Cooke founded Medical Polymers Technologies which spent three years at ATI. Today, the class one medical device maker is still in business, he said.

ATI is still needed today, and the city also needs a medical incubator to take the city forward with UT Dell Medical school, he said.

ATI exceeded all expectations when it launched, Kilcrease said. It was supposed to create 200 jobs and fill one million square feet of office space within 10 years, she said. ATI created 350 jobs in three years and within seven years, it had filled more than one million square feet of office space. In the first two years, ATI raised more than $70 million for its startups, Kilcrease said.

ATI started an angel network, the Austin Software Council, which is now the Austin Technology Council and many other infrastructure organizations, Kilcrease said.

“That was the beginning then. What we have today is a new beginning,” Kilcrease said. “Because ATI has never stayed the same from any one period. It has evolved, improved, grown. And today is a new beginning under Mitch Jacobson’s leadership for the next phase of ATI and the next phase of what we’re going to do in the greater Central Texas community.”

Next, ATI gave the 2019 Laura Kilcrease Civic Entrepreneurship Award to Capital Factory. Previous winners included Michael Dell, Pike Powers, Gary Farmer, Lee Walker

Capital Factory, founded in 2009, went through Texas Ventures Lab, said Joshua Baer, its co-founder and director.

“We all work together in Austin,” Baer said. “It takes a whole bunch of people to make this all work.” Capital Factory has 80 people on its team, he said.

“We would not be here if it weren’t for ATI,” Baer said.

The event also included remarks from Dan Jaffe, vice president for research, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Austin President Greg Fenves, and Austin Mayor Steve Adler. It also included panels from former students and entrepreneurs who graduated from the ATI incubator. And KLRU created a special video focused on ATI’s founding and contributions to the city’s technology industry.

And John S. Butler, director UT Texas Venture Labs, former director of IC2 Institute, gave the John S. Butler Distinguished Student Award to Katherine Allen, Plan II honors and mechanical engineering senior. As a sophomore, she co-founded Genesis, a venture capital fund, to provide capital to student-run startups. Genesis raised $1.2 million and has funded more than 20 student led startups. Those startups have raised $7 million in follow on funding. Allen also founded Flo Recruit.

ATI also awarded graduation certificates to the 2019 ATI graduating companies include AdBm, Aiqueous, Apptronik, Enervalis, LungTherapeautics, Seachange Technologies, SimplifySolar, Smarter Sorting and Water lens.

Admiral Bobby Inman and Pike Powers both received the George Kozmetsky Lifetime Achievement Award for their ecosystem contributions to the Austin tech economy.  Greg Kozmetsky, CEO and president of KMS ventures, chairman and president of RGK Foundation, presented the award.

By LAURA LOREK, publisher of Silicon Hills News

At Hypergiant’s Austin headquarters, Ben Lamm, CEO, and Co-founder takes to the conference room’s whiteboard to explain its structure and expansion plans.

Hypergiant launched out of stealth mode in February of 2018 and has been growing steadily with 140 employees in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Seattle. Its Austin office is on the fourth floor of the iconic 110-year-old Scarbrough building, Austin’s original office tower at Congress and Sixth Street in the heart of downtown.

Lamm, a native of Austin, splits his time between homes in Austin and Dallas and often rides the Vonlane luxury bus between the two cities. He’s already built and sold Chaotic Moon to Accenture and Conversable, which sold to New York-based LivePerson. Hypergiant is his third tech startup in less than a decade. But Hypergiant is his most ambitious undertaking to date.

“It’s been a good first year,” Lamm said.

Hypergiant’s Austin office is space-age cool with murals of “Tomorrowing Today: the space where impossibility intersects reality.” It’s like something out of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland theme park – a poster of which hangs in its conference room. The office features exposed brick, original doors and fixtures, hardwood floors, high ceilings and an open floor plan. Hypergiant’s vibe is a Venn diagram of “high fashion, meets government lab, meets retro futurism,” Lamm explained.

And Hypergiant is serious about conquering the next great frontier, which is outer space. Its swag is even Hypergiant branded freeze-dried astronaut ice cream, the kind they have at the International Space Station and in the gift shop at the Kennedy Space Center. It harkens back to the nostalgia around the great space race.

This summer, July 20, marks the 50^th anniversary of the first humans landing on the moon as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar mission, and it seems like the right time for Hypergiant to be focused on outer space.

Lamm explains the somewhat complex structure of Hypergiant on the company’s whiteboard. He draws an org chart showing Hypergiant Industries as the overall parent company. It is the “AI Industrial complex” for Fortune 500 companies and government agencies and federal contractors, Lamm said. It builds and buys companies focused on AI and machine learning to work on problems for customers.

Since Hypergiant emerged from stealth mode last year, it has launched Hypergiant Space Age Solutions, Hypergiant Galactic Systems and Hypergiant Sensory Sciences. Its investment division, Hypergiant Ventures, has also acquired two companies, Black Pixel in Seattle and S.E.O.Ps in Houston.

“We are building the brand for artificial intelligence and changing the world in a lot of different industries. I don’t think all the best ideas will be invented here by me or the founders” Lamm said. “I think the right scenario is let’s go find great girls and guys to build full product companies around areas of expertise that they are passionate about that we can then take to market and wrap additional services around.”

Each one of these companies is individually capitalized, and partially capitalized by our parent Hypergiant, Lamm said. Hypergiant has not disclosed how much in venture capital it has raised to date, but it’s a significant sum, he said.

Hypergiant Space Age Solutions is the service company focused on system integration, custom software development and strategy services for the Fortune 500 on the commercial side and then also working with some great folks on the federal side as well, Lamm said.

 “You can go build the greatest enterprise artificial intelligence system to solve XYZ problem, but you still need humans to go train it and integrate it with back end systems,” Lamm said.

Hypergiant builds or buys custom AI software companies that it takes to market through Hypergiant Space Age Solutions, Lamm said.

Last November, Hypergiant Sensory Sciences launched and is focused on spatial intelligence or creating a software platform that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and neural networks to harvest information from data streams collected by companies through cameras and sensors. It will turn that information into actionable insights a company can use to operate better and more efficiently.

Hypergiant Sensory Science’s initial focus will be on the oil and gas industry, the Department of Defense and healthcare.

 “A lot of Fortune 500 companies are excited about AI, but they really don’t understand AI,” Lamm said. “They are more excited about the hope of AI more so than anything.”

This leads into Hypergiant’s Space division, Lamm said.

The latest division to launch is Hypergiant Galactic Systems, which focuses on AI-driven software and hardware products for the space industry. As part of that strategy, Hypergiant acquired Satellite & Extraterrestrial Operations & Procedures, also known as S.E.O.P.s, a Houston-based satellite deployment and services provider for the CubeSat and MicroSat markets. It plans to launch a series of miniature satellites next year.

The first satellite will use  Hypergiant’s new Smart Satellite Platform, which is an AI-driven satellite operating system. It will contain special sensors and cameras that allow it to scan the space environment and make sense of the data it collects.

“We can launch our own satellite imaging systems,” Lamm said. “We can sell data from  our satellites and leverage our deep learning platform on that data.”

Each one of these divisions have a lot of different market sectors but the goal is to add up all these divisions and leverage them to create something even larger, Lamm said.

Hypergiant has two more companies to announce later this summer, Lamm said. And it will continue to look for new opportunities, he said.

“It’s a big vision, it’s an exciting vision” Lamm said. “This is not a $100 million venture; this is a $100 billion venture. “

And he plans on building a 1,000-year-old company, he said.

Hypergiant has projects that are further out there and other ideas that have shorter return event horizons, said John McKinley, a strategic adviser and investor in Hypergiant.

“It’s trying to get people to stretch their own collective visions of what’s possible,” McKinley said.

“I think there is an incredible demand for people who can deliver innovation in the AI sector reliably. That’s why you’ve seen them grow so quickly over their first year,” McKinley said. “Clients appreciate the fact they are able to deliver on their innovation commitments.”

“Hypergiant is already doing a great job in helping clients reinvent their customer-facing experiences dramatically change their cost structures and deliver a next generation set of products and services to their customers,” McKinley said.

For example, Hypergiant created an AI-powered bartender for TGIF restaurants.

 “The AI powered bartender has the ability to understand a specific guest’s likes, dislikes, mood and create a one of a kind drink for that guest for just that meal and just that night,” said Sherif Mityas, Chief Experience Officer of TGIF.

TGIF is piloting the technology in several restaurant and it is starting to roll it out across the chain, Mityas said.

The interactive experience involves a person answering questions on an iPad at the bar around their preferences and whether they like pomegranate, cinnamon and what kind of allergies they have and what they want to eat that night. The AI then creates a recipe for a one of a kind drink.

“Our bartenders love it,” Mityas said. “They get to make cool new drinks.”

TGIF is looking at other AI tools to help it create that one to one connection with guests, he said.

“AI will never replace our people at Fridays, but it is making them much better and enhancing the experience they provide to our guests,”  Mityas said. “We’re working with a number of things with Hypergiant. They think differently and help our teams focus on what’s next.”

Startup activity for the consumer package goods industry in Austin is booming.

That was evident as the seventh cohort of the SKU Accelerator did their pitches for Demo Day at Native Hostel Tuesday night.

It was a standing-room-only crowd as Bhoomi Cane Water, Grocery Pup, LAMIK, Pure Active CBD, MODEQ, PickleSmash and YVY presented their ventures to investors and the community.

The evening kicked off with remarks from Kirstin Ross, SKU’s managing director, followed by the husband and wife team of Taylor Collins and Katie Forrest, co-founders of EPIC Provisions. EPIC is a SKU alumni company that makes high protein meat snacks such as EPIC Bars in flavors including Bison Bacon Cranberry, Beef Habanero Cherry, Chicken Sesame BBQ, and Pulled Pork Pineapple.

Taylor and Katie, both former vegans and competitive athletes, founded the company in 2013 after their plant-based diet started to cause health problems for them. Their solution was to add the meat back to their diets. They created meat bars using regenerative agriculture and sustainable ranching techniques. In 2016, they sold EPIC Provisions to General Mills for $100 million, according to Inc Magazine.

Two years ago, they bought a ranch where they raise Bison and chickens and focus on best practices for ranching and agriculture. They are conscious carnivores who believe in eating better meat.  Taylor Collin’s advice to the SKU startups comes from a story from his ranch. He noticed the Bison run into approaching storms to get through them. He advised the startups to “run into the fucking storm.”

The SKU Accelerator, founded by Austin Attorney and Entrepreneur Sheri Wynne Ressler in 2011, has earned a reputation as being one of the city’s best accelerators. The 12-week program is highly selective. That’s because the startups get mentoring by some of Austin’s most successful entrepreneurs including Clayton Christopher, founder of Sweet Leaf Tea and Deep Eddy Vodka, Doreen Lorenzo, former president of frog and Quirky, Michelle Breyer, founder of Naturally Curly, and Scott Jensen, founder of Stubbs BBQ Sauce and co-founder of Rhythm Superfoods, among many others.

Austin’s connections to Whole Foods, which is based here, and H-E-B, based in San Antonio, also make it a hotbed for consumer product innovation and an ideal place to launch new drinks, snacks, and other consumer goods.

Here are the companies in the latest cohort with a brief description of their operations from their pitch.

Bhoomi Cane Water – Bhoomi means “Mother Earth” in Sanskrit. The New Orleans-based startup makes cane water beverages infused with Turmeric, Moringa, Ashwagandha, Ginger and other botanicals. Its mission is to change the way people think about sugar cane, said Elora Turner, its director of communications. Cane juice is cold press juice with no chemical solvents and lots of vitamins and minerals that creates sustained energy, she said. The company launched in the Louisiana market in 2017 and later entered the Texas market. It has raised $880,000 in funding to date. It’s sold through Amazon and select retailers.

A Pup Above – The wife and husband team of Ruth Stedman and Javier Marriott founded the company to create healthier, non-processed dog food in 2016 when they got their own pup, Lola, a Pomeranian Husky. They make dog food, which is prepared sous vide style with fresh ingredients, in a 200,000-square-foot plant in Round Rock. They are going after the $12.6 billion market for homecooked and wet dog food. Grocery Pup is sold through subscription online and through select retailers like Tomlinson’s and Whole Foods. The founders have bootstrapped the company and they already have $22,000 in reoccurring monthly revenue.

LAMIK – Kim Roxie created LAMIK, a vegan, non-toxic cosmetic line for women of color. She previously ran a cosmetics store in Houston. The market for cosmetics for women of color is a $12 billion market, Roxie said. LAMIK has already launched its celebrity brow kit and vegan brushes and plans to launch more products like foundation in the coming months. Its manufacturing facility is in Houston.

PickleSmash – The wife and husband team of Liz and Brian White created White’s Pickle Salsa and have recently rebranded to Picklesmash. For 2019, they project total sales of $120,000 from 60 retail stores and online sales. The Waco-based startup makes salsa from pickles without tomatoes. It is sold through Ace Hardware stores regionally and it is sold directly to consumers online.

YVY – Rodrigo Tostes and Marcelo Ebert created YVY, pronounced Evee, a green cleaning system that uses subscription cleaning pods, water and reusable cleaning spray bottles. The pods come in three varieties – an all-purpose cleaner, kitchen, and bathroom pods. It’s good for the environment and it’s good for individuals and their homes, Tostes said. The U.S. cleaning market is worth $41 billion annually and the green cleaning market is worth $8.5 billion.

Pure Active CBD – Jonathan Kelley, a third-generation farmer from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is part of the seed to shelf movement in the hemp industry. He converted his family farm from soybeans and wheat to hemp. One acre of hemp is equal to 183 acres of soybeans and 272 acres of wheat, Kelley said.  “I’m not a wheat or soybean farmer anymore,” he said. Currently, 22 million people in the U.S. take CBD oil for insomnia, joint and pain relief. CBD oil sales were $600 million in 2018 and it’s on track to be $23 billion in 2025, Kelley said. Pure Active CBD is creating sparkling citrus-flavored beverages infused with CBD oil. It’s going to be rolled out to retail and convenience stores and direct to consumers soon.

MODEQ – This startup, formerly known as stackables, has created modular outdoor equipment like portable grills and coolers that can connect. Its gear is perfect for tailgating or camping, said Megan Grigsby, marketing director. “With modularity, we’re allowing you to customize your outdoor experience,” she said.

MassChallenge Texas announced it has accepted 74 startups into its latest program in Austin which kicks off in June.

The startups hail from five countries, 14 states and five industries, said Mike Millard, managing director of MassChallenge Texas.

The largest industry represented is high tech which comprises 42 percent of the startups, followed by general at 26 percent, healthcare and life sciences at 19 percent, social impact at 8 percent and clean energy at 5 percent.

And 56 percent of the compares are led by female founders, up from 32 percent last year, Millard said.

The startups come from U.S., Israel, Chile, Mexico and the Netherlands.

And 22 of the startups are from Austin and another one each from Round Rock and Georgetown. There is also one startup from San Antonio and Houston.

This year, MassChallenge received 689 applications, about a 31 percent increase from 527 last year.

The startups will compete for $500,000 in equity-free prize money at the end of the 16 week accelerator.

As part of the program, the startups receive $250,000 worth of deals and discounts, free coworking and at attend events, and classes at WeWork at Barton Springs.

Also, new this year, MassChallenge Texas kicked off in Houston recently and expects to have about 25 startups in its program in the first year, Millard said. Eventually, MassChallenge Texas would like to run programs in Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio too, he said.

The following is a complete list of the chosen companies with descriptions supplied by Mass Challenge:

17TeraWatts (Texas, USA): 17TeraWatts’ digital personal assistant helps solar companies engage their homeowners and generate more referrals and follow-on sales.

AdaptaFit (Texas, USA): Adaptafit magnets, into the clothing of people with diseases/disabilities, in order to help them get dressed independently.

Aliro Immigration (California, USA): Aliro Immigration is like TurboTax for immigration applications.

Alpaca Market (Texas, USA): Alpaca Market makes eating healthy easy by serving farm fresh food daily through a network of innovative vending kiosks and smart fridges.

Arva Intelligence (Utah, USA): Arva Intelligence provides technology to farmers and agriculture service partners to lead economic and environmental stewardship in managed ecosystems.

AVIRTEK, Inc. (Arizona, USA): Avirtek is developing Autonomic Cybersecurity that is analogous to human nervous system that can self-protect cyber systems and applications.

Axion Technologies LLC (Florida, USA): Axion Technologies produces High Speed, Truly-Random Number Generators for use in High Performance Computers (HPC) and Encryption devices.

Beatbox Instruments, LLC (Texas, USA): Beatbox Instruments provides a cheap, effective, fun and educational solution for teenagers to start music production.

Beltech, LLC (Illinois, USA)

Blipic (Texas, USA): Blipic is correcting the path of the employee health and engagement industry through community and outdoor recreation.

BuyChain (Texas, USA): BuyChain is an online construction marketplace focused on revolutionizing the $750B annual wholesale construction supply chain.

Catalyst Education (Texas, USA): Catalyst Education is founded by experienced and proven STEM EdTech entrepreneurs targeting the $1.3B Higher Ed. lab course learning market.

Civdrone (Tel Aviv, Israel)

ClassNotes (Texas, USA): ClassNotes helps students ace their academic examinations and standardized tests with guaranteed results.

ClearFlame Engines (Illinois, USA)

Coco College (California, USA): Coco College is an app that exclusively connects students within their own university, where they can buy and sell books, TV’s, couches and more.

Collective Liberty (Washington, DC, USA): Collective liberty facilitates anti-trafficking collaboration across industries and stakeholders to create ground-breaking, data-driven approaches that work.

Crewcollar (Texas, USA): Crewcollar’s mission is to transform hiring for the desk-less workforce, using imaging technology to better match and provide steady opportunities.

Day Dreamer (Texas, USA): Day Dreamer is a location based social app that allows creatives from 9 different mediums to find their ideal collaborator.

Emergent Tree Education (Texas, USA): Harnessing technology, Emergent Tree Educations provides training, consultation and data tools to help teachers improve behavioral outcomes for students

FADE (Texas, USA): Fade is a mobile platform connecting local barbers and their clients.

FlapMX (Texas, USA)

Freudensong, LLC (Texas, USA)

Good Neighbor Rx (Texas, USA)

GotSpot, Inc (Texas, USA): GotSpot is short-term space for your business. This is a marketplace where entrepreneurs borrow Main Street space to grow their businesses.

Grant Source (Texas, USA): Grant Source helps organizations find money for their mission. Our revolutionary platform can find, write and track grants all from a mobile app.

Guide Change (Texas, USA): Guide Change helps families and professionals make better financial decisions to keep their money safe and maximize government benefits.

Guzo (Texas, USA): Guzo is the world’s most user friendly and functional group travel planning platform.

Haima Therapeutics (Ohio, USA): Haima Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing bio-inspired therapies for the treatment of bleeding.

Hangio (Texas, USA): Hangio is a hanger company focused on optimizing the everyday closet

experience through innovative hanger technology.

HyperLinq (New Jersey, USA): HyperLinq is a secure real-time trading efficiency tool that aggregates prices from multiple exchanges and allows order execution.

Intry (Texas, USA): Intry uses AI to unlock hidden variables in resumes and job applications to connect employers and candidates, improving visibility by 240%.

JuiceBox Hero (Texas, USA): JuiceBox Hero is an online platform helping busy parents find daycare & preschool matches. We gather key social impact & consumer insights.

KJ Scientific (Texas, USA): Innovative technology for chemical testing to advance product safety for human and environmental health.

Lazarus 3D (Texas, USA): Lazarus 3D uses 3D printing to build realistic copies of patient body parts overnight so surgeons can rehearse upcoming operations.

LGI Foods Inc (Nuevo León, Mexico): Did you know that 50% of adult Americans have diabetes or are prediabetic? LGI Foods is here to talk about a new Superfood that can beat diabetes.

Ludibuk (Región Metropolitana de Santiago, Chile): Ludibuk is a digital library solution aiming to improve literacy skills among Spanish speaking K-12 students.

MakersValley LLC (Texas, USA): MakersValley is the AirBnB of small batch apparel manufacturing. We aim to democratize the manufacturing industry.

MDM Wound Ventures LLC (Texas, USA): MDM Wound Ventures LLC, develops and manufactures innovative and disruptive products, for wound care providers, to improve patient outcomes.

MensGoldBoxx (Texas, USA): MensGoldBoxx is a Big & Tall ecomm revolution. Intuitive customer profiles make finding your fit and style easy. Tech built to be licensed.

MicroRio (Texas, USA): MicroRio is bringing to market the first affordable plastic that is 100% biodegradable, renewable, and bioabsorbable.

Modello Learning (Texas, USA)

Moolah U (Texas, USA): Moolah U is creating financial intelligence in the next generation through programs and learning tools for kids and parents.

MµZ Motion, LLC (Texas, USA): MµZ Motion is driving the future of robotics with the next generation in high-oerformance motion.

NetObjex, Inc (California, USA): NetObjex is an Intelligent automation platform for Smart Cities and Connected Enterprises utilizing IOT, AI and Blockchain.

NOVAM (Texas, USA): NOVAM is a patent-pending distributed security company providing IoT device and data integrity using a blockchain security fabric and cloud

Olifant Medical (Texas, USA)

OrthoBistro (Louisiana, USA): The OMSAD (Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal Assessment Device) is a fully autonomous, non-invasive physical exam station that standardizes the collection of patient data into the health record.

Pack Elephant (Texas, USA)

Phylomics Diagnostics (Texas, USA)

Pilot Plus (Texas, USA): Pilot Plus has created a logistical relay based on a scheduling algorithm that will allow truck drivers to be home daily.

Pocket Innovations LLC (Virginia, USA): Pocket Innovations solves the common complication of pocket hematoma associated with pacemaker implants with a device that stops them from ever happening.

Prolitfic (Texas, USA): Prolitfic is a digital platform crowdsourcing novel evaluations from readers and editors: SoundCloud for the publishing industry.

Reap (New Mexico, USA): We help ranchers boost productivity and reduce labor and losses with a mobile app that talks to cattle-worn health and location trackers.

ROOG, Inc (Texas, USA): ROOG is a social marketing and e-commerce platform that connects consumers to small businesses in diverse communities.

Saikou Bioscience (Texas, USA)

Salt Athletic (Colorado, USA): We are creating sleek athletic bags with patent-pending technology in the lining of the bags that eliminate bacteria and neutralize odors. Previously known as EVO & Co.

Sancura Biotechnologies (Virginia, USA): Sancura Biotechnologies delivers a comprehensive solution to smoking cessation by targeting the physical and mental challenges of quitting.

Single Baked Sweets (Virginia, USA): Single Baked Sweets provides single-serve, bake-at-home dessert kits.

SipScene (Tel Aviv, Israel): The social alternative to pubs and bars, SipScene is the AirBnB of social events – connecting people at popup social events in homes.

Snack Jack (Texas, USA): Snack Jack’s mission is to heal the planet one bag of jackfruit jerky at a time, impacting the environment and the community in major ways.

SolGro (Texas, USA): SolGro increases greenhouse crop yields by converting photosyntheticly inactive sunlight (O,Y,G,I,V) into photosynthetic light (R,B).

SurviVR (Texas, USA): SurviVR is a VR platform for immersive and accessible police training. Our mission is to improve public safety through improved training.

SwipeMeIn (Texas, USA): SwipeMeIn is a marketplace that connects on-campus students with extra meal swipes with off-campus students who want a cheap on-campus meal.

Tablee (Virginia, USA)

teleCalm, Inc (Texas, USA): teleCalm’s phone service can be life-changing for seniors living at home and in senior living. Keeping them connected and protected.

TitleFlow LLC (Texas, USA)

Topl (Limburg, Netherlands)

TRAXyL, Inc (Virginia, USA): TRAXyL is dramatically reducing the cost of broadband communications by essentially painting optical fiber onto the road surface.

VioLume (Texas, USA): Delivering non-touch room disinfection and energy efficient lighting in a single platform.

Whiskey Morning Coffee (Texas, USA): Whiskey + Coffee… Nuff’ said. All our coffee is aged in whiskey barrels.

Winnow Analytics (Texas, USA): Winnow solves the “last mile” analytics communication problem by mining dashboards, delivering custom-tailored and data-triggered prescriptions.

Xelpha Health (Texas, USA): Xelpha Health increases access to high quality medical care in resource constrained settings by providing a mobile-first simplified EMR.

Yaupon Wellness Company, Inc (Georgia, USA)

May 1-2

FUND Conference

When: May 1^st and May 2^nd

Where: Fairmount Hotel in Downtown Austin

Why: FUND Conference hosts an event in Austin annually to promote connections among entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, and industry experts. It features panel discussions on a variety of topics, exhibits, and networking. For more info.

May 2^nd

Austin Tech Open Coffee Downtown

When: 8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Where: Houndstooth Coffee, 401 Congress Ave, (Frost Bank Tower)

Why: Hosted by Open Austin Coffee, created by Damon Clinkscales and sponsored by Egan Nelson, is an informal gathering of Austin’s tech community to network over coffee. For more info.

UT Austin Longhorn Startup Demo Day

When: Starts at 5 p.m.

Where: Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium, 2313 Red River Street, Austin, TX 78712

Why: This annual event features student-led startups from the Longhorn Entrepreneurship program at UT Austin. It also features a keynote speaker: Nagraj Kashyap, global head of M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund. For more info.

May 4^th

Maker Faire Austin 2019

When: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Where; Palmer Events Center 900 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX

Why: “Maker Faire Austin is a locally grown celebration of innovation, invention, craft, creativity, science, robotics, technology, homesteading, lego, fire, food, music, performers, and MORE!” For more info.

Latinitas Future Chica Conference

When: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM 

Where: Oracle, 2300 Cloud Way, Austin, TX 78741

Why: Latinitas invites all girls between 9-18 years old to attend Future Chica Conference 2019 on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 at Oracle in Austin. For more info.

May 6^th – May 10^th

Innovation Week ATX – by PeopleFund

When: Starts May 6^th at 9 a.m. and runs daily with featured speakers every hour and concludes May 10^th.  

Where: PeopleFund 2921 E. 17th Street Building D Suite

Why: This weeklong series of free events are put on by PeopleFund for entrepreneurs – primarily aimed at small businesses but businesses of any size could benefit from some of these talks. For more info.

May 6^th

Austin Impact Accelerator Info Session

When: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Where;  Impact Hub Austin, 5540 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, TX 78756

Why: “Join us for an information session at Impact Hub Austin’s Lamar’s Inspire Room to learn more about our Austin Impact Accelerator and how your business, venture, or idea can participate.” For more info.

May 7^th

Female Founder Roundtable: Smashing Ceilings and Raising the Bar

When: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Where:  The Riveter 1145 W 5th St. Austin 

Why: Featuring Austin female entrepreneurs talking about how they are building their companies. For more info.

Philanthropitch Austin

When: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: LBJ Auditorium, 2313 Red River St., Austin, TX 78712

Why: It’s a social impact fast-pitch competition. The organization provides funding to nonprofits. For more info.

Out in Tech ATX: Meet Flatiron School (Info Session)

When: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Where: WeWork Westview, 316 W 12th St 5th Floor, 5th Floor, Austin, Texas 78701

Why: “Join Flatiron School to learn more about our programs, meet our staff and alumni, and network with your future classmates and Out in Tech!” For more info.

May 8^th

Startup Grind Welcomes Monica Landers of Storyfit!

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos, Suite 150

Why:  The event features “Monica Landers, Founder and CEO of StoryFit, a rapid-growth technology company which provides AI analytics for the publishing and entertainment industry.” For more info.

May 9^th

Austin Technology Council Roundtable: Women in Tech

When: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Where: Galvanize 119 Nueces St., Austin

Why: “Roundtable: Women in Tech “Intergenerational Conflict & Mentorship” Let’s have an open discussion about engaging with co-workers of all ages in the workplace and multigenerational mentorship trends.” For more info.

Let’s Talk About Diversity in Tech

When:  11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Where: Rowling Hall at The McCombs School of Business: 300 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Austin, TX 78712

Why: The Texas Tribune is putting on this event, moderated by Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith and featuring Mellie Price, entrepreneur and now executive director of commercialization, health ecosystem for the Dell Medical School, Eugene Sepulveda, CEO of the Entrepreneurs Foundation, and Joah Spearman, founder, and CEO of Localeur. For more info.

May 14^th

Austin Technology Council Roundtable: Engineering Leadership

When: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Where: Galvanize, 119 Nueces Street, Austin, TX

Why: “Monthly breakfasts targeted to specific groups within the Austin technology community to come together in a small group of 25-40. These events include a featured speaker who kicks off open discussion amongst attendees.” For more info.

5G: Ushering in the Fourth Technology Revolution

When: 5:15 p.m. check in

Where: Austin Central Library, 710 W. Cesar Chavez

Why: 5G is the new standard for the communications industry. The event features Fawzi Behmann, TelNet Management, Amber Gunst, Austin Technology Council, and Arun Ghosh, AT&T Labs. For more info.

Don’t mess with Texas! – Fighting insurance fraud using Machine Learning

When: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM 

Where: Walmart Technology, 409 Colorado St, Suite B, Austin, TX 78701

Why: “In our second Data on Tap event, Matthew Tichenor will be talking about fraud in Texas’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) system” For more info.

May 15^th

Austin Technology Council: Leadership Dinner

When: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM 

Where: Z’Tejas, 1110 West 6th Street, Austin, TX 78703

Why: A discussion with tech executives about hiring and promoting veterans into leadership roles. For more info.

May 20^th

Speed to Capability: Defense Innovation from Research to Tech Transfer

When: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Where: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos Street, Austin, TX 78701

Why: “Join TDIF’s growing network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, defense contractors, technology investors, consultants, and science & technology gurus for the next installment in a series of networking and educational events encouraging collaboration among Austin’s Defense Innovation Ecosystem and the broader National Security community.” For more info.

May 21^st

Texas Smart Cities Summit

When: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Where: Austin Central Public Library, 710 West Cesar Chavez Street Austin, TX 78701

Why: “The Texas Smart Cities Summit will bring together thought leaders, policy makers, designers and developers to share ideas & experiences, trade lessons learned, and develop plans & priorities for Texas cities. Using urban data, new & emerging technologies, and advanced analytics we aim to accelerate smart city efforts and improve the quality of life in our cities. ” For more info.

Founder Hotseats: The Art of the 60-Second Pitch

When: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: Galvanize 119 Nueces St. Austin, TX

Why: “Do you have a startup, or a strong idea for a startup? Could you use blunt, honest feedback on your ideas from experienced entrepreneurs? Then join us for the Founder Hotseat event, from the Founder Institute. During this event, members of the audience will pitch their ideas to a panel of experts, who will then rate each pitch on a score of 1-5 (no 3’s allowed!), and provide helpful feedback.” For more info.

May 22

Construction Technology Forum

When: 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: JE Dunn Construction, 2010 South Lamar Boulevard #Suite 201, Austin, TX

Why:  “The forum will include discussions over implementation challenges and ongoing research in the field of Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation (VIMS), a demonstration of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), and the ongoing changes in the construction technology field.” For more info.

Entrepreneur’s Game plan: Addressing Fear, Focus and First Steps to Start or Scale

When: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Where: The Riveter 1145 West 5th Street, Austin, TX 78703

Why: “People say the hardest part of entrepreneurship is starting, but we know the challenge doesn’t stop there. Join Prowess Project’s CEO & Founder Ashley Connell and Chief Mom Officer Leah Steinkirch for an interactive lunch-n-learn where together we’ll walk through a holistic view at taking the next step to start or grow your business.” For more info.

May 23

Austin Chamber of Commerce’s A-List Awards

When: 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Where: ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Why: The A-List awards go to Austin’s most innovative companies in various stages of development. It also added some other awards last year to recognize established companies for culture and leadership. For more information.

QuantHub

When: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where: MoonShine Grill, 303 Red River, Austin, TX

Why: “Facilitated conversation around what is and what isn’t working in the quest to build exceptional advanced analytics teams.” For more info.

May 29-31

Dig-In: The Future of Digital Insurance

When: May 29-31

Where: Austin Convention Center, 500 East Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX 78701

Why: “Dig|In 2019 offers a glimpse of the industry’s future, as well as presents the current state of disruption within the insurance market.” For more info.

 A Cloud Guru announced Monday that it has closed a $33 million growth equity investment.

Summit Partners led the round with participation from AirTree Ventures and existing investor Elephant.

A Cloud Guru, which provides online cloud computing training and talent development, will use the funding to add new employees, expanding its content library with new courses and to build out features in its existing technology.

Brother Sam and Ryan Kroonenburg founded A Cloud Guru in 2015. The company started out by providing one cloud certification course and has expanded to offer courses and labs covering Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure cloud platforms.

Today, the company has helped more than 850,000 users across 186 countries acquire new skills and certifications. The platform is aimed at individuals and businesses.

“We are humbled by this level of support from our investment partners,” Sam Kroonenburg, co-founder and CEO of A Cloud Guru, said in a news release. “We are eager to continue building our engineering, content, and go-to-market teams to support our customers and partners. We are now even better positioned to help more businesses and individuals learn to cloud.”

“Enterprise workloads continue to move to the cloud at an enormous pace, requiring a new set of IT skills to design, manage and secure applications,” Tom Jennings, Managing Director at Summit Partners said in a news release. He also joined the company’s board of directors as part of the deal.

A Cloud Guru’s customers include Dow Jones, Capital One DevExchange, and Qualcomm.

Upland Software of Austin announced recently that it has acquired PostUp, an Austin-based email marketing company for $35 million.

Upland, which makes cloud-based enterprise work management software, reported that PostUp “is an important addition to Upland’s Customer Experience Management solution suite.” And the acquisition will add approximately $11 million in annual revenue to Upland.

Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory, originally founded what has come to be known as PostUp in 1996. Back then, the company was known as Skylist, an email service provider. Then PulsePoint, a digital marketing agency, acquired it, according to CrunchBase.

“At the beginning of 2014, PulseConnect and UnsubCentral were acquired by Transition Capital Partners and branded under the new name PostUp,” according to CrunchBase. “The founder, Joshua Baer, rejoined the company as board member and investor. The rebrand positions PostUp as an email marketing solutions provider that is focused and innovating around the needs of our customers.”

“PostUp adds deep market expertise, sophisticated audience development solutions, and an established customer base in media and publishing to our CXM solution suite,” Jack McDonald, chairman and CEO of Upland Software, said in a news release.

Also, McDonald said Upland is “actively pursuing additional opportunities to build out our solution suites.”

PostUp offers companies in the media and publishing sector drive customer engagement, grow their audiences and monetize their communications by generating new advertising and subscription revenue streams. Is customers include AdWeek, HBO, Clear Channel, and Univision.

Upland expects revenue of between $202.4 million and $206.4 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019.

Upland Software, which is traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol UPLD, has more than 9,000 customers and one million users of its software.

KERV Interactive, an Austin-based video ad startup, has raised $11 million in funding.

Vestech Partners, a private equity group, led the investment.

KERV has created interactive video technology that helps brands engage with consumers. Its customers include eBay, Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, Fisher & Paykel, and Lamborghini.

“KERV represents the next generation of consumer experience in visual technology,” Riadh Fakhoury, founder and managing partner at Vestech Partners, said in a news release.  

Vestech Partners has led rounds in multiple technology companies and participates in high-end technology opportunities with huge institutional investors such as Lightspeed, Blume, Magma Ventures, Samsung and Bessemer.

KERV has created a digital video platform that uses its patented technology using Ai and machine learning techniques to recognize objects in a video and lets viewers click on them to learn more about products and services and other content.

“In 2018 and 2019, KERV was awarded for its technology, alongside other digital advertising wizards representing Hollywood’s elite, and received a Lumiere Award for “Best Interactive Brand Experience,” according to a news release.

Jon Flatt is the CEO of KERV Interactive. Previous to KERV, Flatt was the founder and former CEO of Red McCombs Media. In 2009, LIN Digital, an online advertising and media services company based in Austin,  acquired Red McCombs Media.

Atmosphere, a TV entertainment platform spun out of the Chive Media Group, announced this week that it has raised $10 million in funding.

The Austin-based startup plans to use the funding to further the distribution of its TV platform, on technology, data and monetization, according to a news release.

Atmosphere is like a Netflix-type platform offering different channels of entertainment programming to bars and restaurants and other establishments, said Charlie Plauche, partner with S3 Ventures. It curates, licenses and produces the videos from content creators.

S3 Ventures, based in Austin, led the Series A investment round with participation from Capstar Capital and other local angel investors. Plauche is also joining Atmosphere’s board of directors as part of the deal.

Resignation Media, which owns TheChive.com, moved to Austin in 2013 from California. Brothers Leo and John Resig founded the company in 2008. It has 113 employees, according to an interview with Entrepreneur Magazine in March.

“I was interested in them because I believe the current video options in bars and restaurants outside of live sports is often very limited with closed caption talking head video that is not engaging,” Plauche said. “I believe it’s the future of how restaurants will entertain their patrons.”

Atmosphere provides “ambient TV” or audio-optional content to businesses. Its Chive TV is currently streaming at more than 4,300 restaurants, bars, gyms and other venues. It is installed in hundreds of locations in Austin. The platform also lets businesses run promotions on their TVs to engage their customers. Chive TV launched in 2017 and has grown by 170 percent annually since then adding 450 new venues a month, according to a news release.

“As a society, people are migrating to urban areas and are growing increasingly mobile, with 70% of our waking hours now being spent outside the home,” Leo Resig, CEO of Atmosphere said in a news release. “There are screens everywhere with sub-par content. We are helping business establishments take control of their screens with content that’s superior to current programming options that are designed for in-home viewing with audio—leading to improved customer experience, increased visitors and dwell-time.”

Atmosphere gets revenue from subscription fees and advertisements.

By LAURA LOREK, publisher of Silicon Hills News

Homes are increasingly becoming smarter with devices like Nest thermostats, Ring doorbells, voice-activated assistants and more connecting them to the Internet.

And Austin-based Affinegy, a 13-year-old company that creates software to manage Wi-Fi for the Internet of Things, has been at the forefront of the industry.

This week, Affinegy, a privately-held company, announced it has been acquired by National Information Solutions Cooperative, known as NISC, based in St. Louis.

Affinegy, founded in 2003 by Melissa Simpler and Art Lancaster, did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction. The company is based at 1705 S. Capital of Texas Highway and has about 20 employees.

 Affinegy raised a small Series A round of funding in 2007 from angel investors and later bought most of them out, said Simpler, Affinegy’s CEO. It has been bootstrapped and running on revenue since then, she said.

Affinegy will rebrand as NISC User Services and maintain its Austin office, Simpler said. In fact, NISC plans to add more employees in Austin as Pedernales Electric Coop., based in Johnson City, is one of its largest customers in Texas, she said.

Affinegy and NISC made the acquisition announcement in Chicago at the NTCA Technology and Business Conference.

“I’m really happy. It is such a good fit for our whole team. They bought us for very strategic reasons,” Simpler said in a phone interview.  “This is the way they define how they go forward in the marketplace. That’s how strategic they view what we do to their future.”

Affinegy provides connected device management and service enablement software for the home and small business to telecom and broadband providers. Its software offers seamless integration of video, data, voice over Wi-Fi for broadband, managed service and customer support providers. It also has an app for consumers to manage their connected devices in the home.

Affinegy’s CHARIOT software platform makes it easy to turn on  entertainment, internet, security, home automation, and wellness services, Simpler said.

NISC has launched the NISC User Services System which uses Affinegy’s software. NISC is offering it independently to its customers or part of its customer car and billing solutions along with NISC’s Smarthub web and mobile tools for payment processing and order management. NISC’s customers are primarily electric and telecom providers in rural communities.

NISC offers a product called iVUE which provides accounting, engineering and customer care functions. Affinegy’s products will be available across its platform and will allow its members to provide enhanced broadband services to its customers. NISC has 835 energy and telecommunications members in all 50 states, American Samoa, Palau and Canada. It has offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Lake Saint Louis, Mo., Mandan, North Dakota and Shawano, Wis.

 “The NISC User Services System offers fast, automated diagnostics and single-click repairs for the most common Wi-Fi connectivity and performance issues in broadband homes,”  David Bonnett, NISC vice president of product management, said in a news release. “It also provides consumers with all the self-care capabilities for managing their home Wi-Fi networks and adding new services.”

The NISC-Affinegy combined product also lets broadband providers file reports with the Federal Communications Commission to access funds set aside for providing high-speed Internet service to rural areas. Many electric utility providers have installed fiber cable to homes in rural areas and are now using those networks to provide Internet service, Simpler said.

Simpler graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in electrical engineering. She also later received an MBA from UT Austin. Before co-founding Affinegy, Simpler was a co-founder of Entregate. She has also served in corporate business and engineering management roles at Motorola, Dell and National Instruments.