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A New Program Launches in Austin for Black and Latino Tech Entrepreneurs

February 2, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 2 Comments

CODE2040 has partnered with Google for Entrepreneurs to launch an Entrepreneur in Residence program aimed at fostering diversity with local tech startups.

The program is aimed at “boosting the pipeline of Black and Latino/a entrepreneurial talent and creating diverse tech ecosystems in select locations around the country,” according to a news release.

THe program called CODE2020 Residency is working with Capital Factory in Austin and two other tech hubs, 1871 in Chicago and American Underground in Durham.

“The EIR will receive a year of support through CODE2040 and Google for Entrepreneurs’ NextWave campaign,” according to a news release. “Our aim is to help the selected EIR grow a sustainable business that will impact the local economy while also assisting him or her to create programming designed to build a stronger and more diverse local entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Every person selected for the program in Austin will receive $40,000 in seed capital, workspace at Capital Factory and a trip to the Googleplex in Silicon Valley for training, networking and mentoring programs.

To qualify, applications must be Black or Latino/a, be a resident of Austin or relocate there, be a founder of an early stage tech venture and be committed to impacting the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of their local tech sector.

Applications will be accepted until Feb. 17th.

How Texas Startups Are Spurring Innovation in the Most Entrenched Industries

February 2, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Keith Cole, photo courtesy of Water Lens

By KEITH H. COLE
Founder and CEO of Water Lens in Austin
Special Editorial Contribution to Silicon Hills News

Being a startup isn’t easy to begin with, but working in a highly-regulated industry like oil and gas can be even harder, especially when it’s also slow to adopt new technologies. We all know the challenges—navigating bureaucratic red tape, getting your product in front of the right people in an extremely competitive industry, and making sure you have the financial runway needed to stay in business over the long-term. These kinds of deals don’t happen overnight, and being in a position to keep the lights on—let alone try to grow—is sometimes the biggest challenge.

When people hear the word “startup,” they typically think of the next social media, dating or food delivery app. But here in Texas, there’s a growing community of entrepreneurs focused on disrupting major industries, tackling big, previously intractable problems, and developing inventive solutions that can spur innovation for the 21st Century.

It wasn’t until the startup incubator 1776 partnered with Austin’s Capital Factory for last year’s Challenge Cup that I realized exactly how many of us there are—and how important it is for us to have resources like 1776 to help us navigate regulations and red tape.

As a veteran of the Texas oil and gas industry, I’ve always looked for opportunities to utilize the benefits of technology and work to make our efforts more efficient.

In 2011, as fracking became increasingly widespread—and yes, controversial—there was an opportunity in the market to develop a new technology that would help oil and gas companies operate more efficiently, improve their bottom line, reduce the amount of unnecessary chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, and begin to cost-effectively recycle the water used and produced in the oil and gas industry. In short, it was a win-win proposition.

In 2012, I started a company called Water Lens and developed a state-of-the-art, portable, and easy-to-use water testing system that provides accurate, immediate onsite testing results for drilling fluids and frac water in a matter of minutes. This helps oil and gas companies save costs and improve production, but it can also offer consumers additional peace of mind to know that the industry is doing its best to reduce the amount of chemicals used in the process, and is now able to cost-effectively recycle our most precious resource: water.

By 2014, Water Lens was ready to go to market, but in order to penetrate the various state markets, we needed to navigate complex thickets of regulation to grow and scale.

That’s when I heard about 1776, a global incubator and seed fund in Washington D.C. that gives problem-solving startups like mine—startups working to disrupt entrenched industries in sectors like energy, education, health, and transportation—the resources they need to succeed.

What makes 1776 different is that it’s not just about funding—though, like any other startup, we always need additional funding. It was about a special set of expertise and connections that can make the difference between a great idea and a successful one.

These connections proved invaluable as we sought to expand our reach, navigate regulation, cut red tape, and find new investors. Thanks to our relationship with 1776, we have been introduced to key mentors and regulators—including former White House officials, advisors to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and key oil and gas industry experts.

Every year, 1776 runs an international competition called the Challenge Cup, which spans 16 cities in 11 countries to identify and bring together the world’s most promising startups working to develop innovative solutions to really difficult challenges.

While Water Lens was honored to win top American honors in the energy category at last year’s Global Finals, we also gained significant exposure to mentors, policymakers, and potential investors just by participating in the Austin and D.C. events.

Last year, seven Austin startups across all four categories made it to the Global Finals of the Challenge Cup, proving that there’s clearly something special going on in Austin’s tech scene. This year, Challenge Cup 2015 is coming back to Austin on February 5th.

The competition is a great reminder that Austin and Texas are producing some of the world’s most promising, problem-solving entrepreneurs—and when we give startups the tools they need to cut red tape and succeed, we can solve really important problems. This year’s Challenge Cup could be the key that unlocks a host of opportunities for Texas’ next world-changing startup.

Keith Cole is founder and CEO of Water Lens, LLC

Austin to Encourage Space Entrepreneurship

January 28, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

By Susan Lahey
Reporter with Silicon Hills news

One of Austin’s tactics for keeping the city’s economy growing is to build on space technology, said Gene Austin, President and CEO of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Bazaarvoice. Speaking at the organization’s annual meeting, Austin said that Opportunity Austin, the chamber’s five-county economic development initiative would focus on Space Technology and Exploration as an area for growth.

“There are about 30 space startups every year and Austin is already home to seven,” Austin said. Opportunity Austin will encourage midsized companies in the fast-growing space technology and exploration category to make Austin their central Texas home. This includes companies involved with satellites, launch software and robotics.

To facilitate talent in the area, UT will offer a master’s in Space Entrepreneurship starting in 2015.

Austin’s announcement was made at the 137th Annual Meeting and Luncheon at the Hilton Wednesday which had a sold out crowd of about 850 people. He said the chamber is concerned with what he fears to be complacency on the part of the city, believing that companies will continue to move to Austin without the city having to continue to earn its popularity. After the dot.com bubble burst around 2000, he said, Austin was the last major metropolitan area to recover. The city’s economic development forces worked hard to ensure that Austin would never again have so many eggs in one basket again. But recent policy amendments at the city might create paperwork and bureaucratic processes that will hinder companies from moving to Austin.

Prior to Austin’s speech, the Chamber gave out awards for its volunteers of the year, including 2014 Volunteer of the Year for Technology and Innovation to Bob Metcalfe for his contributions in linking industry and academics around entrepreneurism and innovation.

Former Mayor Lee Leffingwell was named Austinite of the Year and was honored with a film that interviewed several local dignitaries including Texas Senator Kirk Watson and featured Leffingwell’s famous video singing in the shower.

Xenex Lands $25 Million in Venture Capital

January 28, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Mark Stibich, PhD, founder of Xenex and Morris Miller, CEO of Xenex. Photo by Gary Hartman

Xenex Disinfection Services, a startup that created germ-zapping robots for hospitals, has landed $25 million in venture capital.

The San Antonio-based company has raised $54.3 million so far, according to a post in the Wall Street Journal.

The investment came from Brandon Point Industries Limited and existing investors Battery Ventures, Targeted Technology Fund II and RK Ventures.

Xenes plans to use the funds for product development, international expansion and to hire more employees. Xenex currently has about 120 employees.

Xenex created a mobile robot that looks like R2D2 that rolls into a hospital room and sends out pulsated ultraviolet rays that kills viruses, bacteria, mold, fungus and bacterial spores.

“Hospital acquired infections are a global problem and we have proven that the use of our germ- zapping robot provides a cleaner, and therefore safer healthcare environment,” Morris Miller, CEO of Xenex said in a news release.

More than 250 hospitals and other healthcare facilities are using Xenex’s technology.

SpareFoot Wins Austin Startup Games Again

January 26, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 4 Comments

SpareFoot won the Austin Startup Games for the third year in a row.

The Austin-based startup, which bills itself as the nation’s largest marketplace for finding and booking self-storage, had a ringer this year.

The company recruited Icelandic strongman “Thor” Bjornsson to join the company as its senior vice president of Icelandic business.

Bjornsson, known as “The Mountain” on HBO’s Game of Thrones series, battled numerous contestants in the surprise “jousting” competition. In reality, Bjornsson didn’t really join SpareFoot but put in a celebrity appearance and took numerous photos with contestants and fans. He also bench-pressed quite a few people.

SpareFoot won fair and square on its team’s abilities to compete in sports including foosball, darts, shuffleboard, Pop-a-shot, beerpong, flip cup, connect four and trivia.

More than 1,000 people attended this year’s event held at Vintage Innovation’s Innovation Station on Saturday, said Gillian Wilson, the game’s president and founder. The game organizers also collected boxes of canned goods to donate to the Austin Food Bank. The event raised $50,000 for various charities chosen by the startup teams, she said.

SpareFoot received $19,000 for its charity Kure It, second place winner, Boundless Network got $12,000 for Meals on Wheels and third place winner Home Improvement Leads received $7,000 for Wikipedia. Each team got $1,000 for its charity just for participating.

“Startup Games is a day of fun and philanthropy,” Wilson said. “Today, we had 15 different companies come out to play games and let their hair down. These are the best of the best of each company as athletes. Each team chooses a charity to play for.”

In four years, the Austin Startup Games has donated $155,000 to charities, Wilson said.

Capital Factory competed in the Austin Startup Games for the third year in a row. Its team included startups that are too small to have their own team, said Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory. The games bring together technology startups from all over Austin.

“This helps build company culture and helps the teams work better together,” Baer said. “At the same time, it’s raising money for charity.”

The games also increase the visibility of the startup community in Austin, Baer said.

“One of the things it does for the startup community is this how people know there is a startup community,” Baer said. “This is it. You can see it. You can see the excitement of it.”

Baer also competed in a new event this year called “Liar’s Dice.” It was just for the CEOs of the startups.

“This is the fourth time we’re doing it in Austin,” Baer said. “But we’re expanding this year to other cities nationwide.”

The next event the Startup Games is having is in Austin in April for larger tech companies that are no longer startups. Those games will include Spredfast, BuildASign, MapMyFitness and other larger companies, she said.

The Startup Games is also looking to expand to Chicago and Boulder, Colorado, Wilson said.

The other startup teams and their charities:

 ATX Seed Ventures – Charity: The Bunker, Austin

 Buzz Points – Charity: Wounded Warrior Project

 Capital Factory – Charity: Breakthrough Austin

 Civitas Learning – Charity: Center for Child Protection

 Headspring – Charity: Lifeworks

 OneSpot – Charity: Urban Roots

 OutboundEngine – Charity: Safe Place

 RideScout – Charity: Team Red, White & Blue

 theCHIVE – Charity: Chive Charities

 TrendKite – Charity: Toast the Cure

 uShip – Charity: Communities In Schools

 WP Engine – Charity: Austin Pets Alive

XOR Data Exchange Lands $1.8 Million in Funding

January 22, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

XOR Data Exchange, a permission-based data exchange in Austin, announced this week it has closed on $1.8 million in funding.

Chicago Ventures and KBC Capital led the round.

In addition, Norm Willox, who previously founded and built the risk management and fraud analytic business for Lexis Nexis and now serves as founder and CEO of Bluewater International, will join the company’s board of directors.

XOR plans to use the funds to hire technical and analytics experts and to scale its hardware infrastructure to keep pace with customer demand. The company has 10 employees but plans to double in size by the end of the year, according to a spokeswoman.

The company’s customers are in the financial services, telecommunications and other industries seeking to monetize their data, according to Mike Cook, founder and CEO of XOR Data Exchange. The company’s data exchanges lets its customers have control over what types of data can be accessed and shared. It also provides an audit trail that shows how the data is being used.

Cook founded XOR Exchange in 2014. Cook previously co-founded ID Analytics, which he built to 5 million customers. He was also a member of the executive team that developed Consumer Credit Associates, now known as Innovis. He has also held senior management roles with Experian, Early Warning Services and American Express.

Hack Reactor Buys MakerSquare in Austin

January 22, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Hack Reactor, a computer programming bootcamp, announced this week it has bought MakerSquare, a two-year old coding school with campuses in Austin and San Francisco.

Hack Reactor, based in San Francisco, did not release the terms of the deal. It’s the two-year-old company’s first acquisition. Hack Reactor plans to continue to operate MakerSquare independently and those campuses will adopt Hack Reactor’s JavaScript programming curriculum.

“Coding bootcamps were estimated at $59 million total gross revenue for 2014 and that number will continue to rise,” Hack Reactor CEO Anthony Phillips said in a news release. “We’re collecting the best minds in the accelerated learning sector, and we’re proud to have MakerSquare on our team. MakerSquare and Hack Reactor are both leaders in terms of student outcomes, quality teaching and strength of alumni network. We share a vision for the future of education, software engineering and empowering students.”

MakerSquare also has a Dev House in Austin that provides shared housing for out of town students participating in its three month long program.

“The current higher education system does not sufficiently empower and serve people,” said MakerSquare CEO Harsh Patel. “This is a fact on a national and global level. I am confident that by joining Hack Reactor, together, we can make a large dent in transforming the old education system into one that focuses on student outcomes.”

SpareFoot is Seeking to Hire 30 More Employees

January 22, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

SpareFoot, one of the most successful startups to spin out of Capital Factory, is hiring 30 employees for its “Amazing Customer Experience” call center team.

The Austin-based startup plans to host a “speed dating” event at its corporate headquarters to find the new employees to answer calls from prospective customers looking for self-storage.

SpareFoot already has 75 call center employees. It wants to hire 30 more by April.

“As SpareFoot continues to reach more and more self-storage seekers, the ACE Team has to grow to be there to help people find the perfect storage unit for their situation. We’re projecting another huge year for SpareFoot, so we’re very excited to start adding more amazing people to our team,” Josh Lipton, leader of the ACE Team, said in a blog post on SpareFoot’s site.

To participate in the event, SpareFoot asks job candidates to apply online first by Feb. 3rd. SpareFoot plans to invite job candidates to the speed dating event by Feb. 5th. The event will be held Feb. 11th at SpareFoot’s headquarters.

To learn more about SpareFoot, visit the company’s blog.

SXSW Interactive 2015 to Feature More on Startups and a Robot Petting Zoo

January 21, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 2 Comments

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

Hugh Forrest, director of SXSW Interactive

What startup launched at South by Southwest Interactive in 2009?

One lucky woman attending the SXSW community meetup in San Antonio knew the answer: Uber, the ridesharing alternative to taxi cabs. That bit of trivia earned her a free badge to attend what has become the country’s hottest technology show.

Last year, nearly 33,000 people attended the show. It featured 2,400 speakers and 1,100 conference sessions. This year, the show takes place from March 13-17th and is expected to be even larger.

Hugh Forrest, director of SXSW Interactive, gave an overview of the conference and highlighted some of the things that are new for 2015 during a brief presentation at Geekdom’s new events center in San Antonio. About 100 people attended the event Tuesday night.

“Austin is growing like crazy,” Forrest said. “We have a new downtown hotel, the JW Marriott, with 1,000 more sleeping rooms and four more floors of meeting spaces.”

The JW Marriott at Congress and Second Street opens in February. SXSW Interactive will hold its workshops, meetups and longer sessions in the new space. SXSW Style is moving there also. And a new health and education technology expo is going to be at the new hotel.

“A new medical school will be opening in Austin in the fall of 2016,” Forrest said. “Our push into more health programming kind of parallels what is happening in Austin.”

This year, the SXSW job market will also be at the JW Marriott on March 13 and 14, Forrest said.

SXSW has held the Startup Village for the last five years at the Hilton Hotel across from the convention center.

This year, Startup Village doubles in size, Forrest said. It includes the fourth and sixth floors at the Hilton downtown, he said. That’s where the SXSW Accelerator contest will be held, he said.

“Over the last seven years, accelerator finalists have pulled in more than $1.1 billion in funding,” Forrest said. “It’s a great place to check out the future.”

Another new feature this year is SXSW SouthBites, which explores innovations in the food industry. It will be held at the Driskill Hotel and features meetups, mixers and food trucks.

This year’s keynotes speakers are Paola Antonelli of MoMA, Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud, Martine Rothblatt of United Therapeutics, Astro Teller of GoogleX and Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer of the U.S.

“Some of the top trends we think will come out of SXSW Interactive 2015 – the startup economy continues to boom, this is again reflected in our decision to double the space for startup village,” Forrest said.

SXSW is also seeing a lot of growth in international startup market. In 2014, representatives from 82 countries attended the show.

“We think that number will continue to grow in 2015,” Forrest said.

Innovations in the transportation industry are another trend SXSW Interactive organizers expect to continue to grow. And a third trend is the growing and maturation of the robot industry.

For the first time, SXSW will host a robot petting zoo at the 2015 event.

SXSW Interactive will hold a community meetup at Capital Factory Monday evening.

Driver Ed and Defensive Driving go Mobile with Aceable’s Phone App

January 21, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News
When Gretchen Deveaux needed to find a driver’s program for her 17-year-old son, she signed up for Aceable.

“I needed something that was flexible,” she said. “My son is a football player and he is always at practice. I couldn’t take him back and forth to a class.”

So her son enrolled in Aceable’s program and passed a test to get his permit after 12 lessons.

Deveaux, a widow with five children in Houston, liked the program’s flexibility, price and convenience. She’s got a 15-year-old son who is also taking the Aceable driver’s education course. Austin-based Aceable created the first driver’s education program available for mobile phones as an iPhone app.

“He always has his cell phone with him,” Deveaux said. “He just kind of flew through it. I liked that I could check on his progress on my phone.”

Her son has his permit now and he should be eligible at the end of this month to take his driver’s test.

Aceable launched its driver’s education app a year ago, said Blake Garrett, its CEO and founder. The startup, based at Capital Factory, has raised $1.1 million in venture capital and has 12 employees. They created the videos, tutorials, graphics, animations and other materials for their driver’s education courses. This month, Aceable launched a defensive driving course. The native app, Defensive Driving by Aceable is available on iOS and through the Aceable website to all Texas drivers as an alternative to classroom-based and web-based defensive driving courses.

Every teenager takes a driver’s education course, but the experience fell short of what teenagers expected, Garrett said

“I knew we could deliver something different,” he said.

Since Aceable launched its driver’s education program in May of last year, 30,000 people have signed up for it, Garrett said. The program costs $100 and it particularly appeals to teenagers who constantly have their mobile phones with them, he said. The driver’s education program contains 32 hours of instruction and students are limited to two hours a day. After the first six hours, the student is able to get their driving permit.

“It’s just a modern take on what has become an antiquated industry,” he said.

Aceable is only available in Texas but the company has plans to expand to other states this year, Garrett said. Still, they are tackling a big market in Texas with 600,000 people taking defensive driving each year and 300,000 taking driver’s education.

Aceable’s biggest online competitors are the American Safety Council and IDriveSafely.com. But Aceable differentiates itself from the competition by offering an iPhone app and by creating its own program content.

Andrea Kalmans, an angel investor, entrepreneur and mentor at Capital Factory, took Aceable’s defensive driving course after getting a speeding ticket. She liked the app’s convenience and ease of use.

“It really allows you to do it in relatively short stints,” Kalmans said. “I did it when I was having my hair done.”

She also liked the course content.

“The course is fun because they have a nice sense of humor,” she said. “They take what can be dull content and they make it interesting.”

After she completed the course, the company mailed her certificate to her within a few days.

“It’s funny how learning has changed from the classroom to videos to the desktop and now to a phone,” she said.

Dan Henry, an angel investor in Aceable, liked the idea and business model.

“I really bought into Blake, the founder,” Henry said. “He’s the kind of guy I believe that has good idea, good business sense, good ego and the tenacity to make it a success.”

The Aceable team is transforming an industry with great content and they are making it a lot easier for the student, Henry said. They plan to roll out the mobile driver’s education program to 23 other states and then they may branch into other mobile online education program, Henry said.

“I think they’ve created some great tools,” he said.