Category: Austin (Page 79 of 318)

Austin’s colleges are back in session. Everyone is settling in and getting projects accomplished post-summer vacation and the city’s tech events are providing lots of opportunities for people to network, learn something new and have a good time.

Silicon Hills News is hosting two events this month: Healthcare Insurance for Startups and Entrepreneurs on Sept. 20th at Galvanize and ContentATX2 on Sept. 29th at Conde Nast. We hope to see you there or at one of these other fabulous events.

Also, Silicon Hills News is working with Igloo Software, one of Canada’s most innovative companies, to give away 50 free tickets to its digital workplace conference at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa next week. Register by Sept 9th for your chance to receive 1 of 50 ICE’18 Conference Packages (includes conference pass, 2 nights at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort Spa, and more!). Register today.

Events to Attend in Austin in September

WHAT: Austin Tech Happy Hour
WHERE: The Dogwood Downtown
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 6 – 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
WHY: Bryan Menell has run this High-Tech Happy Hour since 2007. It’s a fun gathering of the tech community in Austin and a great place to network and unwind.
TICKETS: Each month Menell gives away a handful of free tickets. Early bird tickets start at $5 and advance tickets are $7.50. Tickets are available at the door for $10.

WHAT: International Hackathon: Austin-Pune Smart Cities hosted by Blackstone Launchpad at UT Austin
WHERE: UT Blackstone Launchpad, Flawn Academic Center, 2304 Whitis Ave., Austin, Texas
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 8th at 8 a.m.
WHY: “The City of Austin Economic Development Department GBE Division is partnering with UT Blackstone Launchpad, Pune Fashion Week, and Austin Pune Sister City Initiative to host a hackathon centered on Smart City solutions and international cooperation. Pune, India and Austin, TX are both cities striving to overcome unique challenges that can be answered by innovative technology.”
TICKETS: Free, but registration is required.

WHAT: Austin Forum on Cybersecurity: Surviving and Thriving in a Connected World
WHERE: Austin Central Library 710 W. Cesar Chavez
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 11 – doors open at 5:45 pm. The event runs from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
WHY: The event features Cybersecurity Expert Earl Carter of Cisco Systems who will talk about the principles of cybersecurity, nature of common and notable hacking efforts and security breaches and ways to protect your computer.
TICKETS: The event is free, registration is required.

WHAT: Startup Grind Austin: Never Peak with Investor and Entrepreneur Justin Siegel
WHERE: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos Street
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
WHY: Damon Clinkscales, Startup Grind Austin Director, will interview Investor and Entrepreneur Justin Siegel. Siegel is the co-founder and CEO of two successful mobile entertainment companies: JSmart Technologies and JNJ Mobile.
TICKETS: $10 to $15.

WHAT: Innovation for a Better Austin: Ensuring Equity in Tech by Civic Tech for Smarter Cities
WHERE: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos Street
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 13th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
WHY: Danielle Skidmore, Civil Engineer and Commissioner for District 9, Austin LGBTQ Quality of Life Advisory Commission will moderate a panel discussion on the need for equity in the tech industry.
TICKETS: Free, registration required
WHAT: Bunker Labs Austin: Veterans in Residence Launch Party
WHERE: WeWork Domain, 11801 Domain Blvd. 3rd Floor
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 13th 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
WHY: It’s time for another Veterans in Residence Cohort. Join Bunker Labs and WeWork to learn more about the program for veterans. Also, guest speakers include Nathan Lenahan and Veterans in Residence participants from VIR Cohort 1 and 11.
TICKETS: Free, but registration is required

WHAT: Fireside Chat with H-E-B’s Chief Digital Officer and CEO of Favor Jag Bath and Dr. Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and professor of innovation at UT Austin. (Put on by Genesis)
WHERE: UT Austin (room TBA) 2501 Speedway
WHEN: Monday, Sept. 17th, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
WHY: Bath has helped to scale many companies including Favor, RetailMeNot and others. Metcalfe also scaled 3Com into a multi-billion company after inventing Ethernet.
TICKETS: Free, but registration is required

WHAT: Healthcare Insurance 101 for Startups and Entrepreneurs– hosted by SANA Benefits.
WHERE: Galvanize, 119 Nueces
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 20th 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
WHY: Will Young, CEO and co-founder of SANA Benefits will talk about what entrepreneurs and startups need to know to pick the right healthcare plan for your employees and business.
TICKETS: $7.50 – only six remain

WHAT: Entrepreneurship Live! With Julia Cheek by TexTalks at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurs in the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin
WHERE: Rowling Hall Auditorium, RRH 1.400 at the University of Texas at Austin
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 26th, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
WHY: Julia Cheek, the founder of EverlyWell, landed a $1 million line of credit from Shark Tank Investor Lori Greiner this past April. She’ll talk about her experience in the Shark Tank and how she’s building Everywell, a diagnostic testing startup, in Austin.
TICKETS: Free, registration is required

WHAT: Austin Startup and Tech Networking Mixer powered by Google by weconnect Austin
WHERE: Hotel Indigo Austin Downtown – University 810 Red River Street
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 27,
WHY: Weconnect is a networking organization that brings together tech professionals and major companies to network.
TICKETS: Start at $5 for early bird tickets to $25 at the door

WHAT: A Hack of the Drones by MD5 and Army’s Future Command
WHERE: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos St.
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Sept. 30th at 3 p.m.
WHY: For developers, designers, and hackers from the academic, military and commercial startup communities to explore ways to counter small unmanned aerial systems.
TICKETS: Free, registration is required

WHAT: ContentATX2 by Silicon Hills News
WHERE: Conde Nast 1645 E 6th St #250
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHY: ContentATX2 is a second annual conference focused on storytelling. It is geared toward content creators and entrepreneurs and focuses on writing, video, photos, podcasting, blogging, books, social media and other creative ways to tell a story.
TICKETS: $30 – only 10 remain

Upcoming:

WHAT: InnoTech Austin
WHERE: Austin Convention Center
WHEN: Tuesday, October 2nd
WHY: The 15th annual InnoTech conference has a variety of tech exhibits and talks of interest to the Austin Technology community. It even hosts a popular Women in Tech conference.
TICKETS: Tickets start at $39 a person

Assembla, a software development platform based in San Antonio, has announced plans to acquire MyGet, a software management company, based in Belgium.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Assembla, founded in 2005 and acquired by Scaleworks in 2016, is a software as a service company that sells a platform that allows coders to build projects in a secure environment. It’s like GitHub for large companies that need to make sure the software projects that they use don’t have vulnerabilities in them that can be exploited by hackers. It also scans code to make sure the code is good and isn’t proprietary.

The addition of MyGet allows Assembla to provide an even more secure environment for software development, said Paul Lynch, CEO of Assembla. MyGet manages collections of code. It has databases of clean code that software developers use as the foundation for new products.

More than 90 percent of software has open source code in it, Lynch said. That’s why it’s important to use tools to vet the software before it gets introduced into a company’s computer system, he said.

MyGet, founded in 2011, run by its two founders and a handful of contractors, has thousands of teams worldwide using its software to manage their software development process. Its customers include Johnson Controls, Microsoft, and BMW. All of MyGet’s operations will be moved to San Antonio, Lynch said.

“The whole ecosystem of development around open source apps is really murky,” Lynch said.

Protection for the application must start before the software goes live, Lynch said. Security policies and procedures must start at the development level, he said.

Assembla has more than 5,500 customers across 157 different countries. Assembla, with 50 employees including 20 in San Antonio, plans to hire five to six people to manage MyGet.

Austin-based Spredfast announced that it is merging with San Francisco-based Lithium Technologies.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

After the merger, the company will be based in San Francisco with Austin as its largest office. Pete Hess of Lithium will serve as CEO. Rod Favaron, Spreadfast’s CEO, “will work closely with the management team to help ensure a smooth and successful transition,” according to a news release.

The merger creates one of the largest customer engagement platforms online.

“We couldn’t be more excited about joining forces with the dynamic team at Spredfast,” Hess, CEO of Lithium, said in a news release. “Brands focus on improving the trust they earn with their customers. Their success depends on world-class digital engagement, and the merger of Lithium and Spredfast will provide them with the best platform to earn that trust and help grow their business.”

Together, the companies have more than 2,000 brands as customers in 100 countires. Lithium and Spreadfast manage millions of consumer engagements every day across social media, messaging and owned digital channels.

“This is a great day for Spredfast. We can’t wait to come together with the Lithium team to create the industry’s most innovative and robust suite on the market,” Favaron, Chairman, and CEO of Spredfast said in a news release. “No other company will offer the unparalleled industry and technology expertise to reimagine how businesses think about customer engagement.”

The combined companies provide a single platform for company’s to manage and interact across all of their brands and various social media channels. The platform provides the company with data analytics on its customers.

“We are thrilled to welcome Spredfast to our portfolio of high-performing software companies,” Alan Cline, Principal at Vista Equity Partners, said in a news release. “We see an incredible opportunity to unify consumer engagement in the highly fractured marketing and care industries, bringing together the power of two best-of-breed offerings into a game-changing platform for growth.”

The merger is subject to closing conditions.

Spredfast, founded in 2008, acquired Austin-based Mass Relevance in 2014 and a year later it acquired Shoutlet. In 2016, Spredfast raised $50 million. To date, the company has raised $116 million. The company had 500 employees in 2016 with 300 based in Austin.

Quake Capital this week officially launched its first Austin accelerator aimed at early stage ventures in a wide range of industries.

Quake Capital also has programs in New York and Los Angeles.

Fifteen companies are participating in the 12-week program. Each company receives an investment of $150,000.

The companies include (Descriptions provided by Quake Capital):

Aimsteady: the world’s first wearable marksmanship coach that features a ring worn during handgun training to provide adjustable training levels and data-feedback.

Aquasprouts: which designs and manufactures gardening appliances that bring the principles of aquaponics and hydroponic farming to your home, office or classroom.

Brobe: is the world’s first bra and robe combination designed to provide comfort, dignity and style for pregnant mothers or women recovering from breast surgery.

CarServ: is the machine-learning based operating system for the automotive repair industry that helps auto repair facilities increase revenue and profitability while providing a high-quality customer experience.

Citysmart: is a community-focused mobile application that helps small businesses save over 50% on digital marketing and advertising, while providing instant engagement with local customers.

Doctours: is an online healthcare platform that connects local patients with internationally based, US-educated doctors and offers a customer savings of 30-80% on costs associated with procedures.

Family Plan: is a SaaS platform that securely manages communications, schedule and payments for the 35 million divorced parents that have the challenge of coordinating between two households by creating authenticated records that are admissible in court.

Locus: uses proprietary eye tracking software to gather and analyze data on where a user is looking at their phone screen, in real-time, which helps companies optimize their user experience.

Man Outfitters: is an ecommerce destination featuring men’s apparel and accessories from premium brands.

Marqii: automates hospitality groups’ digital representation of crucial information, such as hours, seasonal menus and specials, straight from a POS system or through a mobile app or desktop dashboard.

Partify: is an online one-stop-shop for millennial parents that provides customizable birthday bundles and experiences driven by proprietary artificial intelligence.

PathwayAI: manufactures a device that evaluates a user’s driving habits by visually analyzing multiple facets of the driver’s performance in real-time in order to prevent accidents.

SolePower: is a self-powered, connected “SmartBoot” platform that helps workers in dangerous and dynamic environments by quantifying safety risks and reducing insurance rates.

Trend: is the most efficient and scalable platform for brands to acquire professional content and authentic product recommendations from talented influencers, for a fraction of costs.

Walletcard: is a SaaS platform that creates digital certification records and eliminates manual tracking of paper records for safety professionals, so they can effectively manage the full certification and retraining life cycle.

“We believe Austin is an underserved market for seed round investments, and Quake is proud to be expanding our accelerator program in the city,” Chad Burgess, founding partner at Quake Capital, said in a news release.

The program concludes on Nov. 15th with a Demo Day featuring company pitches.

New Knowledge, based in Austin, announced this week it has $11 million in additional funding, to create tools to fight misinformation online.

The cybersecurity company focuses on protecting companies from “from covert, coordinated disinformation campaigns,” according to a news release. It raised $11 million in Series A funding led by GVC Capital with participation from Lux Capital.

The company uses artificial intelligence, data mining and other tools combined with human analysis to identify and address attacks against companies. The company plans to use its funding to expand its sales and marketing and to scale into new markets.

“We are living in an age of information warfare,” New Knowledge CEO Jonathon Morgan said in a news release. “Disinformation campaigns may be highly organized and well-funded state attacks on industry, as well as individual operators trolling the internet to create chaos and division. Attacks against governments and political figures are well documented, and the problem has expanded to include attacks against companies, brands and public figures. New Knowledge’s mission is to help companies identify these threats early, and to remediate them before they gain momentum and erode a company’s reputation.”

“As disinformation campaigns and automated media manipulation have accelerated, New Knowledge has emerged as critical to helping preserve the digital media platforms that the technology sector has helped build,” GGV Capital Partner Glenn Solomon said in a news release. “While social and digital media platforms have taken important steps to thwart hackers and trolls, they cannot be relied upon solely to correct this growing problem. The team at New Knowledge has devised a solution that goes beyond social listening to combat disinformation at the source and help businesses prevent threats from spinning out of control.”

New Knowledge, which launched in 2015, has previously raised $1.9 million in seed stage funding. It has customers in the entertainment, energy, financial services, and defense industries.

Infinite io, an Austin-based data story startup, announced this week it has raised $10.3 million in funding.

Former Motorola CEO and Cleversafe Chairman Chris Galvin and his son, David Galvin of Three Fish Capital, led the investment. It also included participation from Chicago Ventures, John Anderson, Dougherty and Company, Equus Holdings and PV Ventures. The round also included investment from Dean Drako, founder and former CEO of Barracuda Networks and founder and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks, Brett Hurt, co-founder and former CEO of Bazaarvoice and current co-founder and CEO of data.world and Bill Miller, co-founder and former CTO of Storage Networks and current CEO of X-IO-technologies.

“infinite io is disrupting the data storage industry with an unheard-of value proposition: lowering overall storage costs by transparently migrating inactive data to a cloud, while also providing record-breaking performance for data that is in use,” Mark Cree, co-founder, and CEO of infinite io, said in a news release. “We are proud to welcome this exceptional group of investors onboard as we begin the journey to completely rewrite the rules in data management and performance optimization.”

The company plans to use the funding to scale its operations globally. Its customers are in a variety of industries including media and entertainment, genomics, higher education and research, large-scale website development and government.

Infinite io has created a data management system that increases performance and provides for lower cost storage for companies and government agencies. Founded in 2012, infinite io has raised nearly $14 million to date, according to CrunchBase.

Disco announced this week plans to move its corporate headquarters to Austin from Houston.

The company, which makes software for the legal industry, cited Austin’s talent pool, the city’s top universities and the overall technology community as reasons to relocate. Its new headquarters are located at 3700 North Capital of Texas Highway.
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Disco currently has more than 200 employees including 70 in Austin, according to a spokeswoman. The company plans to relocate 50 employees from Houston to Austin and plans to create up to 150 new jobs in Austin in the next two to three years, she said. The jobs will be in engineering, product management, services, sales, marketing, and finance.

“DISCO has been a part of the local Austin community since its founding, and we are excited to officially relocate our corporate headquarters to the Texas capital,” Kiwi Camara, DISCO founder and chief executive officer said in a news release. “There is no place like Austin in terms of the energy, culture, spirit of innovation and overall talent. Our enhanced Austin presence will invigorate our product development, commitment to service, and overall customer satisfaction.”

“The relocation of DISCO to Austin will help further accelerate the tremendous growth the company has demonstrated in the past five years,” Krishna Srinivasan, partner and co-founder of LiveOak Venture Partners and member of DISCO’s board of directors, said in a news release. “Not only is DISCO a game changer and leader in legal technology, but is it also a disruptor in the broader technology industry – its move to Austin will add local talent and energize the rapidly growing software ecosystem.”

Disco makes electronic discovery solutions for law firms, corporations, and government agencies.

In January, Disco announced it had received $20 million in Series B financing with Bessemer Venture Partners leading the round, with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners and The Stephens Group. To date, the company has raised $50 million.

News Corp., one of the world’s largest media companies, announced Wednesday that its subsidiary, Move, Inc. has entered into an agreement to buy Austin-based Opcity for $210 million.

New York-based News Corp. reported Opcity will broaden its offerings under its brand realtor.com and give consumers more choice when it comes to buying a home, according to a news release.

In 2016, Opcity launched. Ben Rubenstein and Michael Lam, co-founders, created a technology platform to match home buyers and sellers with top real estate agents through brokers with no initial cost. Opcity’s platform relies heavily on data and analytics.

Opcity has quickly expanded in Austin. The founders started out in Galvanize, the downtown coworking space, with just a few people and then moved into the Silicon Labs building, but it outgrew that space too. Opcity last November moved into its own building at the Bergstrom Tech Center in Southeast Austin and it had 225 employees at that time with plans to add hundreds more. Opcity also raised $27 million in Series A funding in 2017, led by Icon Ventures, based in Silicon Valley, with participation from Georgian Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners.

“Incredible story of going from seed to building a sizable business and a great exit, all in less than 24 months,” said Krishna Srinivasan with LiveOak Venture Partners. “This is a testament to the phenomenal leadership of Ben Rubenstein and Michael Lam and their terrific team.”

Opcity now works with more than 5,000 brokerages and more than 40,000 agents. Its customers include Better Homes & Gardens, Keller Williams, ReMax, Century 21, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and leading independent brokerage companies.

“This is a natural fit. Both realtor.com® and Opcity share a common purpose of simplifying a consumer’s home buying journey while helping real estate professionals connect and close more transactions,” Ben Rubenstein, CEO of Opcity, said in a news release. “Together, we’ll provide an enhanced consumer experience and more choices for brokers and their agents to grow their business.”

Opcity is Rubenstein ‘s second startup. He co-founded Yodle, which Web.com acquired in 2016 for $342 million. (Silicon Hills News did this interview with him for our Ideas to Invoices podcast in May of 2017.)

Digital real estate services have become the fastest growing segment of News Corp with Move reporting $452 million in revenue in fiscal 2019, according to a news release.