Category: San Antonio (Page 8 of 62)

Google Fiber Will Continue to Roll Out in San Antonio and Austin

October 26, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 2 Comments

google-fiber-jefferly-com-llogo Google confirmed plans on Wednesday to continue to roll out its high speed Internet network in San Antonio and Austin despite retracting in other markets.

Google Fiber first announced plans to come to Austin in April of 2013. The service is currently live there and continues to roll out to different parts of town.

“Google Fiber isn’t leaving Austin. We’re still thrilled to be your neighbor and continue to offer superfast Internet to residents,” according to a statement from a Google Fiber spokesperson.

In August of 2015, Google announced plans to provide its “Gigabit” Internet network to San Antonio. Google’s network is about 100 times faster than what most broadband users currently experience in the city.

“Google Fiber will continue in San Antonio. We can’t wait to deliver high-speed connectivity to San Antonio residents, and are even looking at innovative new ways to deploy, as enabled by One Touch Make Ready and a new construction method we’ll be piloting called Microtrenching. In Austin we’ve already seen a 10x improvement in digging speed (i.e., laying Fiber) with no strikes to utility lines using microtrenching,” according to a statement from a Google Fiber spokesperson.

But overall, Google Fiber is winding down plans for some of its new markets.

“In terms of our existing footprint, in the cities where we’ve launched or are under construction, our work will continue,” according to a blog post form Craig Barratt, SVP, Alphabet and CEO of Access. He also announced plans to step down as CEO of the Google Fiber operations.

Google plans to pause operations in its “potential Fiber cities,” those cities where its been in exploratory discussions, according to Barratt.

“In this handful of cities that are still in an exploratory stage, and in certain related areas of our supporting operations, we’ll be reducing our employee base,” he wrote in the blog post.

Techstars Cloud Shuts Down in San Antonio

October 26, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Blake Yeager, former managing director of the Techstars Cloud in San Antonio. courtesy photo

Techstars Cloud launched in January of 2012 in San Antonio with 11 startups.

Since then, Techstars Cloud has had four graduating classes. The program took a year-long hiatus in 2014 when its managing director Jason Seats moved to Austin to head up Techstars Austin. It returned in 2015 under the director of Blake Yeager, who previously served as a mentor to the program and worked at Rackspace.

But now the program is going on permanent hiatus. Techstars has decided to no longer operate the Techstars Cloud program in San Antonio, according to a statement from Yeager.

“When we first came to San Antonio five years ago, the startup ecosystem was still largely undeveloped,” he said in the statement. “It has come a long way since that time. The city now has more active angel investors, more seed funds, and more infrastructure for startups. We’ve been thrilled to be a part of that.”

Graham Weston and Rackspace brought the program here in 2012. It served as a catalyst for the technology startup community in San Antonio. And it was one of Techstars first thematic accelerators.

But now the “cloud” focus of the program isn’t as relevant, according to Techstars.

“All of our programs around the world, now regularly accept companies building the “Cloud” so we no longer need a specialized program,” according to Yeager. “Instead those companies are applying to our dozens of other accelerator programs around the world, and nearby in Austin. Our partnership with the leadership of the San Antonio startup ecosystem remains in place, and we will continue to run Techstars programs like Startup Weekend and Startup Week in San Antonio. We are also open to the possibility of launching a new accelerator program in San Antonio in the future.”

Yeager has accepted a new role as the VP of Engineering for Techstars. Seats, Techstars first managing director, is now a partner at Techstars. Kara Gomez who also worked at Techstars Cloud is exploring other employment opportunities within Techstars and other companies, Yeager said.

San Antonio Raises Money for a New High Tech High School

October 25, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

castlogo The world is preparing for a new industrial revolution with artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality and more.

To meet the workforce needs of the future, schools need to do more than teach reading, writing and arithmetic. They must teach students skills that are actually in demand in the workplace today.

That’s what a new kind of high school in San Antonio is aiming to do.

Centers for Applied Science and Technology, known as CAST Tech High School in downtown San Antonio will focus on technology and entrepreneurship.

And the new school got a big boost on Tuesday when Tech Bloc and the 80/20 Foundation announced the launch of the TechBloc-4-TechEd Foundation, which is being supported through the San Antonio Area Foundation. Graham Weston’s 80/20 Foundation gave a $600,000 grant to kick off the new foundation’s capital fundraising campaign to support the construction and development of CAST Tech. It will welcome its inaugural class of 150 ninth graders next fall.

H-E-B and its Chairman Charles Butt has also given $3.6 million to build the school.

Weston’s grant is a challenge grant which Tech Bloc will be seeking a dollar-for-dollar match. Tech Bloc has created “$10-4-Tech,” public crowd-funding campaign to encourage everyone to support CAST Tech.

Individuals who give $100 or more will be honored on a digital “Friends of CAST Tech” installation planned for the high school.

“Access to talent is still our greatest challenge across the tech industry,” David Heard, Tech Bloc Co-Founder and CEO said in a news release. “One of our best opportunities is to grow our own, especially inside our historically underserved populations, and keep it here. This high school can be part of that solution, and its location inside our downtown tech district is key to connecting kids from our urban core to entrepreneurial opportunities beyond the classroom.”

CAST Tech will be operated as an SAISD in-district charter school and will be located in two vacant buildings at Fox Tech High School’s campus in the 600 block of North Flores Street.

“I see CAST Tech as being a tech immersion experience for high school students, with its focused curriculum, continued workplace exposure, and built-in student support from industry professionals, all of which will ensure our students are well prepared for the tech-sector jobs that await them,” Pedro Martinez, SAISD Superintendent, said in a news statement.

H-E-B, SAISD and Tech Bloc announced the creation of CAST Tech at the Tech Bloc Summer Rally last July.

CAST Tech plans to offer students college coursework, internships, job shadowing and other opportunities to prepare them for jobs upon graduation. Students can earn up to 30 hours of college coursework and graduate with an associate’s degree along with their high school diploma.

SXSL Kicks Off Monday at the Whitehouse

October 2, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

sxsl Salon Magazine dubbed President Obama “Commander in Cool” for launching the first SXSL: South by South Lawn festival which takes place on Monday at the White House.

The day-long celebration is fashioned after Austin’s highly successful SXSW, which President Obama attended and spoke at last March. The SXSL event features a number of talks on subjects like augmented reality, art, innovation, food and technology, music performances by The Lumineers and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, film workshops and screenings.

The festival is invitation only. The White House allowed people to nominate themselves or others in their community who were making a positive impact. The White House received more than 20,000 nominations. It culled through them and sent out invitations to several hundred who will attend the event. For those that cannot be there, it will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov, Facebook.com/WhiteHouse, and sxsw.com/live and the hashtag for the event on social media is #SXSL.

sxsl_potus_dicaprio One of the highlights is a talk with President Obama, Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio and climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe on climate change. And the premiere of DiCaprio’s new documentary film “Before the Flood” during a film screening on the South Lawn.

In the morning, a breakfast session “The Hard Things are Hard” takes place at the Newseum with artist James Turrell and architect David Adjaye and moderated by Michael Govan on the rewards of taking on hard challenges and doing ground breaking work.

The SXSL festival is designed to entertain, engage and inspire people to take action in their own communities to make things better for everyone.

Silicon Hills News Publishes its Third Annual Life Sciences Edition

September 19, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

Pills on wooden table By LAURA LOREK
Founder of Silicon Hills News

NarrativeDx is an Austin startup pioneering a social-based feedback system that gives hospitals and clinics timely information about their patients’ experiences.

The Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin selected its inaugural class of 50 students this past summer. They are working to transform the way medical care is delivered. And the campus is flourishing with the Dell Seton Medical Center opening in May of 2017 and the creation of a healthcare innovation zone. And the Dell Medical School is looking to work with startups to improve patient care.

New medical technology startups are sprouting up all the time in Central Texas and we’ve compiled a list of ten to watch in Austin and ten to watch in San Antonio.

These are just a few of the stories you will read about in this third annual issue of Silicon Hills News focused on the life sciences industry in Central Texas. This issue is possible thanks to our advertisers: BioMed SA, Texas State University Small Business Development Center, bank SNB, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, PotentiaMetrics, Novobi, Unaliwear, MPO Summit, InnoTech Austin, Moreland Properties and everyone else who has offered assistance and support.
Silicon Hills News turns five years old in September. It’s amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish in five short years. We built our website up to 40,000 unique visitors monthly and our newsletter and social media channels continue to grow with more than 10,000 collective followers. We completed two successful Kickstarter projects to launch the magazine and create an annual technology calendar. We’re also working to launch a weekly podcast. We’ve done all this as a bootstrapped startup with great empathy for the companies we cover. But many individuals have contributed to our success. I will not name them, since I haven’t received their permission to disclose their names publicly, but I will just say thank you. I appreciate all that you have done for Silicon Hills News. This would not be possible without your contributions.

And all of our success at Silicon Hills News has been possible in a large part to our stellar staff of contributors including Susan Lahey, who has been with Silicon Hills News since the first month. Thanks also to veteran business reporter Tim Green who has contributed to every paper issue of the magazine. And last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to Hojun Choi, a journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin and a stellar reporter. He also contributed several stories to our last life sciences edition and served as Silicon Hills News’ first intern.

And thank you to you, the readers, for your time and attention. We truly appreciate you.

Open Cloud Academy Launches Cybersecurity Program for Veterans

September 9, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 2 Comments

David Gibson, a veteran enrolled in the Open Cloud Academy’s first cybersecurity class.

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

David Gibson retired from the U.S. Air Force as a cryptographic specialist after 18 years in 1995 in San Antonio and then worked construction jobs until he hurt his back.

Since then he’s been looking for steady work.

And that’s why he enrolled in the first class of cybersecurity training for veterans at the Open Cloud Academy downtown. His $16,000 tuition for the three-month program is paid for through Project Quest, a workforce development program, using a U.S. Department of Labor training grant with additional support from the City of San Antonio and Bexar County.

When he completes the course, he will be certified as a cybersecurity professional.

“Everybody wants that and it’s hard to get and it’s expensive,” Gibson said.

Once he finishes the Open Cloud Academy course, he goes into an internship with Rackspace. He is guaranteed $18 an hour during the course of his internship, he said.

“If I’m successful in that, then they’ll pick me up,” Gibson said.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff at the Open Cloud Academy’s event to launch its cybersecurity program.

On Friday morning, the Open Cloud Academy officially welcomed its first cybersecurity class with 15 veterans. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff attended the event along with Sister Pearl Caesar, Executive Director of Project Quest.

The academy has partnered with Coley and Associates, which will be providing the instructors for the class, said Deborah Carter, director of the Open Cloud Academy.

“Vets are great for this program because many of them have security clearance which makes them highly qualified candidates for cybersecurity roles,” Carter said.

Future classes in cybersecurity at the Open Cloud Academy will be open enrollment, Carter said. No information is available yet on when the next class will take place, she said. They are going to learn lessons from this program to tweak it and improve it for the next round, she said.

All of the veterans will be paired with a company for an internship upon completing the program, Carter said. The academy is working with seven companies that have agreed to employ them, she said.

The Open Cloud Academy had 20 openings for veterans in the class, but only 15 qualified in this round, Carter said.

The Open Cloud Academy has several open enrollment programs, Carter said. It hosts information sessions at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month on the fifth floor of the Rand Building at 110 E. Houston St., she said. Every summer, the Open Cloud Academy offers a Linux for Ladies scholarship program, she said.

Charles “Chuck” Rodriguez, a retired Major General, served for 33 years in the military, in active duty for eight years and Army reserves for 11 and the Texas National Guard for 14. He also spent 24 years in higher education and the last nine years at Texas A&M San Antonio.

Rodriguez graduated from the Open Cloud Academy in December of 2015. He now works as a support technician at Rackspace.

Military veterans are great candidates for cybersecurity jobs, Rodriguez said. In addition to the security clearances many of them hold, they are also punctual, disciplined workers with great temperament.

“They do whatever it takes to get the job done,” he said.

The Top Texas Healthcare Accelerators and Incubators

September 2, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

test tubes with colorful chemicals

Launching a new venture is extremely difficult. That’s why healthcare incubators and accelerators can play a vital role in a company’s success early on by connecting them with financing, work space, mentors, customers, business programs and more.

Healthcare is a $5 trillion industry globally and about half that is U.S. healthcare expenditures. And it’s a growing industry. The Austin and San Antonio region is a hotbed of healthcare activity. It’s surprising San Antonio doesn’t have a healthcare accelerator considering all of the major cities in Texas do. San Antonio has been extremely active in commercializing technology spinning out of the University of Texas Health Science Center and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Austin has a few incubators and accelerators focused on the healthcare industry and there are a few more in Dallas and Houston. Here’s a list of the top ones in Texas.

AthenaHealth More Disruption Please – Austin – this accelerator provides seed stage capital and access to healthcare experts and exposure to clients. It also provides workspace in downtown Austin and mentoring and other tailored programming. Companies are admitted on a rolling basis. The accelerator generally lasts seven months to a year. AthenaHealth also recently acquired Patient IO, an Austin-based startup, that participated in its program.

Austin Technology Incubator’s Health and Bioscience Program – Austin – this accelerator is based at the University of Texas at Austin and is a program of UT’s IC2 Institute. It is more than 25 years old and is Austin’s oldest incubator and one of the oldest in the country. It doesn’t provide funding but has connections to many angel and VC investors and a vast network. It does provide coworking space, mentoring and lots of other programs. Startups are admitted on a rolling basis.

Capital Factory – Austin – This accelerator is not solely focused on the healthcare industry, but it has many healthcare startups that got their start there like Chiron Health and Macromoltek. It provides co-working space and access to capital and mentoring, networking and other programs.

Texas Health Catalyst – Austin – this is the newest accelerator in Austin as the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas just admitted it inaugural class in June. This is just for Dell Medical School clinical affiliates, UT Austin faculty members and Seton healthcare clinicians. The program, administered by the Dell Medical School, provides up to $100,000 in seed stage financing for one year. The program accepts applications in June.

Health Wildcatters – Dallas – This accelerator is on its fourth class of startups. Its program runs for 12 weeks each Fall. The program provides $30,000 in seed investment for an 8 percent equity stake, co-working offices in downtown Dallas, meeting spaces and access to a network of mentors. It culminates with the Pitch event at the end.

TMCx – Texas Medical Center Accelerator – Houston – This accelerator, located at TMC Innovation Institute, gives startups work space, tailored programs, access to 120 advisers. It doesn’t take any equity or charge membership fees. It is a four-month long program that ends with a Demo Day.

Austin and San Antonio Ranked Top Metros for Startups

August 26, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Austin Skyline photo, licensed through iStockphoto

Austin is the top spot in the country for startup activity and San Antonio is number 13 on the Kauffman Foundation’s latest Startup Index.

The five metros with the highest startup activity in the 2016 index were Austin, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Austin ranked at the top spot in 2015 also.

San Antonio was listed as a metro area that experienced the biggest negative shift going from seventh in 2015 to 13th in 2016, according to the Kauffman report.

To rank metro areas, the Kauffman Index of Startup activity looks at new business creation including the rate of new entrepreneurs in a location, the opportunity share of new entrepreneurs, calculated as the percentage of new entrepreneurs driven primarily by opportunity vs. necessity and startup density.

And the good news is most U.S. states and metro areas are experiencing higher rates of new business creation, following the national trend, according to 2016 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity State and Metro Trends data released this week by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

“The startup numbers for states and metro areas dovetail with the national Startup Activity Index report, which showed entrepreneurship recovering from the Great Recession slump,” Arnobio Morelix, senior research analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, said in a news release. “While there is considerable variation from one locale to the next, the aggregate data bodes well for business startup activity around the country.”

Among the 25 largest states by population, the five states with the highest startup activity in the 2016 Index were Texas, Florida, California, New York and Colorado. In particular, Texas went from the third spot in 2015 to the number one spot in 2016 for startups.

Kauffman Index – 2016 – Startup Activity – Metropolitan Area Ranking

Apollo Global Acquires Rackspace for $4.3 Billion

August 26, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

rackspace_logo Apollo Global Management Friday announced plans to acquire San Antonio-based Rackspace for $4.3 billion.

Apollo plans to acquire the company for $32 a share in cash and will take the company private in the process. As part of the deal, funds managed by Searchlight Capital Partners will make a strategic equity investment in Rackspace.

The stock price of $32 per share is a 38 percent premium compared to Rackspace’s closing stock price on August 3, the last day before news reports began circulating about the possible buyout.

Rackspace’s board of directors unanimously approved the deal. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. It is now pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

“This transaction is the result of diligent analysis and thoughtful strategic deliberations by our board over many months. Our board, with the assistance of independent advisors, determined that this transaction, upon closing, will deliver immediate, significant and certain cash value to our stockholder,” Graham Weston, Rackspace co-founder and chairman of the board, said in a news release. “We are also excited that this transaction will provide Rackspace with more flexibility to manage the business for long- term growth and enhance our product offerings. We are confident that as a private company, Rackspace will be best positioned to capitalize on our early leadership of the fast-growing managed cloud services industry.”

Apollo is expected to keep Taylor Rhodes, president and CEO of Rackspace and it plans to keep the company in San Antonio. Rhodes wrote about the company’s plans in a blog post titled Why Rackspace is Becoming a Private Company.

“We are tremendously excited about the opportunity for our managed funds to acquire Rackspace,” David Sambur, Partner at Apollo, said in a news release. “We have great respect for the company’s talented employees and their commitment to deliver expertise and exceptional service for the world’s leading cloud platforms. We look forward to working with Taylor and the entire management team and Searchlight to help advance Rackspace’s strategy and continue the company’s strong heritage of innovation.”

Founded in 1998, Rackspace is one of San Antonio’s largest technology companies with about 5,000 employees worldwide. The bulk of them are based at its headquarters in Windcrest, which the company converted an old shopping mall into a tech campus. The company reported 2015 revenue of $2 billion. Its customers include many Fortune 100 companies. It has been publicly traded, under the symbol RAX on the New York Stock Exchange since 2008. It serves customers in more than 120 countries and has offices and data centers on four continents.

Apollo is a private equity firm with offices worldwide and it has about $186 billion of assets under management. Searchlight is also a global private investment firm.

Best Buy Selects San Marcos for E-Commerce Sales Operation

August 16, 2016 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Bestbuylogo Best Buy has selected San Marcos as the location for its e-commerce sales operation with plans to hire 25 employees.

The Greater San Marcos Partnership announced the deal Tuesday.

“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement to bring this e-commerce sales operation to the City of San Marcos and Hays County,” Best Buy spokesman Shane Kitzman said in a news release. “Not only will it provide local jobs, but this partnership will also benefit the City, County and Best Buy.”

The Best Buy center plans to occupy a vacant 20,000 square foot building at 900 Bugg Lane. It is expected to begin operations in October.

“Having a brand-name, Fortune 500 company, select the City of San Marcos and Hays County for its sole e-commerce sales operation in Texas speaks loudly to the assets of the community,” Adriana Cruz, President of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, said in a news release. “The Best Buy e-commerce sales operation will have a tremendous economic impact on San Marcos and Hays County, not only through primary jobs but also as a significant sales tax generator.”

The City of San Marcos and Hays County voted in favor of providing Best Buy with a ten year sales tax rebate at 75 percent with two ten-year automatic renewals upon the meeting of the terms of the agreement and a ten-year personal property tax rebate at 50 percent. “The economic impact of the deal is an expected $43 million and $14.4 million to the City of San Marcos and Hays County, respectively, at the expiration of the 30-year agreement,” according to the news release.