Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tiger Global co-led the Series C round. New investors included Coatue and Salesforce Ventures along with existing investors CRV, Tusk Venture Partners, and Silverton Partners.
To date, Wheel, founded in 2018, has raised
$216 million, including a $50 million Series B round last May.
Wheel plans to use the latest funding to accelerate
sales of its virtual care platform. The company created a virtual care platform
and nationwide clinician network. It has delivered 1.3 million patient visits
in 2021 and is expected to triple that this year. The company also grew its
clinician network by more than 60 percent year over year while maintaining a 90
percent retention rate.
Wheel’s platform lets patients access care
from anywhere at any time. It assesses the patient and then matches them with
the best clinician for their care needs and facilitates any follow-up care.
“Telehealth 1.0 brought healthcare visits
online but companies are still struggling to meet their patients’ care needs,”
Wheel CEO and Co-Founder Michelle Davey said in a news release. “We recognized
that in order to move the healthcare industry forward and truly deliver on the
promise of virtual-first care, we need both the infrastructure and workforce
that can deliver ‘anytime, anywhere”’ care. We’re excited to continue leading
the charge and making personalized care a reality.”
With the new funding, Wheel also plans “to
double its employee headcount, continue growing its clinician network, invest
in its clinical platform, and expand its clinical onboarding and continuing
education programs,” according to a news release.
The year 2021 marks the year of the biggest funding deals
for Austin startups since Silicon Hills News began covering the market in 2011.
Austin had several big funding deals worth more than $100 million. In fact, all the top ten deals for Austin in 2021 were worth $100 million or more. The pandemic might have slowed the economy but it didn’t slow down the money flowing into startups.
Overall, the venture capital industry had its best year ever raising $329.6 billion nationwide in 17,054 deals, nearly double the previous record of $166.6 billion in 12,173 deals in 2020, according to Pitchbook-National Venture Capital Association Venture Monitor data.
“Exits were a huge part of the story of 2021, with
approximately $774.1 billion in annual exit value created by VC-backed
companies that either went public or were acquired,” according to Pitchbook. “The
overwhelming majority of these dollars, some $681.5 billion, was realized
through public listings.”
Austin also had a record-breaking year.
In 2021, companies in the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area raised $4.9 billion in venture capital in 387 deals, more than double the $2.3 billion raised in 2020, according to Pitchbook-National Venture Capital Association Venture Monitor data.
But the 3,445 deals in Silicon Valley still accounted for
the bulk of the venture capital funding of $120.3 billion, a third of the overall
venture capital raised in the U.S. in 2021. New York had the second most deals
with 2,295 and $53.8 billion raised, followed by Los Angeles with 1,621 deals
and $34.3 billion. And Boston ranked fourth with 1,103 deals and $34.9 billion
raised.
Other tech hubs outside of Silicon Valley raising huge amounts of venture capital included Philadelphia with 441 deals and $8.1 billion raised, Seattle with 494 deals worth $8 billion, Chicago with 374 deals worth $7 billion, Denver 399 with $6.1 billion, and Washington, D.C. with 415 and $5.7 billion raised.
Even though Austin had a record year, it ranked 10th in regions for the most venture capital raised and deals done in 2021. And Miami with 272 deals worth $4 billion and Atlanta with 246 deals and $4 billion raised were not far behind.
Austin’s top 10 VC Fundraising Deals of 2021
In the largest deal of the year, Homeward raised $371 million. In late May of 2021 Homeward announced it had secured funding of $371 million, including $136 million in equity and $235 million in debt. Norwest Venture Partners led the equity financing, with participation by Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, Breyer Capital, and existing investors, Adams Street, Javelin, and LiveOak Venture Partners.
Workrise in May raised $300 million in funding led by Baillie Gifford, an existing investor. The company also rebranded itself from RigUp to Workrise.
ICON Technology announced in August of 2021 that it had raised $207 million in a Series B round of financing led by Norwest Venture Partners.
Everly Health in March raised $200 million in later-stage capital.
Zen Business in November raised $200 million.
The Zebra in April raised $150 million in a Series D round.
CrowdOut Capital in February raised $150 million in later-stage venture capital.
Ambiq in March raised $145 million in later-stage venture capital.
Elligo Health Research in September raised $136 million in later-stage venture capital.
Outdoorsy announced in June that it had raised $120 million in equity and debt financing.
The Helper Bees announced Thursday that it has raised $12.8 million in funding to help elderly people stay in their homes as they get older.
Trust Ventures led the Series B round with participation
from Silverton Partners, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Impact Engine,
and Congress Avenue Ventures.
The Helper Bees has seen its revenue increase by three times
this past year and it has grown its team size by eight times.
The Helper Bees works with insurance carriers to allow older
people to stay in their homes and receive treatment as they age. That results
in cost savings for Long Term Care Insurance and Medicare Advantage carriers.
The Helper Bees acquired healthAlign earlier this year that
allowed it to enter the Medicare Advantage market.
More than 90 percent of aging Americans would prefer to stay
in their own homes rather than move to a nursing home or assisted living facility,
according to an AARP study. The Helper Bees’ network of in-home service
providers allows them to do that. It created a platform that can handle
everything from in-home care to pest control services.
“Because all of these aging in place services live on the
same platform, payers have access to standardized data and next-level insights,”
said Char Hu, CEO and co-founder of The Helper Bees. “When combined with our
industry-leading digital claims tools, the two-way data stream allows for a
completely personalized aging experience. This means that The Helper Bees is in
a position to understand aging-in-place in America better than any other
provider.”
“The Helper Bees’ platform is about giving flexibility for
seniors to live in independence and comfort, which is something the majority of
them want but far fewer are able to maintain as they age,” said Salen Churi,
general partner at Trust Ventures. “Today, older folks end up losing their
independence because of complexity – it’s hard to access these disparate services
within a broken and myopic healthcare system governed by a web of complex regulations.
The Helper Bees brings together a fragmented market of services, each of which
alone doesn’t fully unlock a senior’s independence, but together they represent
something you can’t put a price on.”
The Helper Bees plans to use the Series B funds to expand
its Aging-in-Place Marketplace services and delivery to reach more customers,
according to a news release.
The Helper Bees was part of the 2016 Techstars Austin
cohort. The company, founded in 2016, previously raised $6 million in Series A
funding in July of 2020.
“Austin, you’ve got the #greenlight to travel in style to the UK from May 25th as I am THRILLED to announce that Virgin Atlantic will be launching services from Austin to London,” Simon Hawkins, head of Virgin Atlantic North America, posted to LinkedIn.
“I’m personally a huge fan of Austin and have called it a second home with so many friends moving there in recent years,” Hawkins wrote. “I’m incredibly excited to bring a splash of red to this innovative city and up the airline game along with our partners Air FranceKLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines in 2022.”
Virgin Atlantic is a British airline founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson.
Virgin Atlantic’s direct flights to Austin come nearly 8 years after British Airways began offering direct flights and cargo service from Austin to London. British Airways touted its luxury service on its Dreamliner aircraft when it launched in 2014. British Airways offers direct service from Austin to London three days a week on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday on its 787 Dreamliner. It also offers cargo service.
The Austin to London direct route is Virgin Atlantic’s first
new route to the U.S. since 2015.
And the new flights come as the COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to loosen its grip on the Texas, U.S., and U.K. economies. Even though the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has been wreaking havoc with the economy for the past two months, and Austin is in Stage 5 restrictions from COVID infections some think the worst may be behind the U.S. and the world.
Virgin Atlantic will provide four times a week service, launching on May 25th on the airline’s 787-9 aircraft. Economy tickets start at $555 per person, premium from $965, and upper class at $2,322 per person.
“Austin is the fourth most populated city in the state, with 29 million residents and 7.7million passengers traveling through the airport in 2019,” according to a Virgin Atlantic news release. “The city is known as the “live music capital of the world” and is famed for its art and foodie scene as well as a wide range of outdoor activities. To capitalize on the increased leisure tourism to the region, Virgin Atlantic Holidays will be launching a holiday portfolio in Austin and throughout Texas including hotels and fly-drive holidays.”
In making its announcement, Virgin Atlantic also cited Austin’s booming tech hub “with businesses such as Apple, Tesla, Facebook, IBM, and Oracle all opening up bases, giving the city the nickname “Silicon Hills”.
This booming region is a key focus for Virgin Atlantic and its expanded joint venture partners, with Delta Air Lines offering connections from Austin to 10 US cities, Seattle, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Raleigh Durham, JFK. KLM also looks forward to launching three-times-weekly services from Amsterdam to Austin on 28th March 2022 offering even more choice for customers on both sides of the Atlantic to connect between the US and Europe.
Virgin Atlantic is also offering cargo capacity on each flight.
“We are incredibly excited to launch this new service to Austin, Texas,” Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, said in a news release. “ With an impressive food, arts, and music scene, we know it’s a destination our customers will love to explore.”
“The US has been our heartland for more than 37 years since our first flight to New York City in 1984,” Jarvinen said. “Since US borders opened to UK travelers on 8 November, it feels extra special to be launching new flying, especially to the fantastic city of Austin.”
In a sign the economy is starting to open again after the
COVID-19 Pandemic, a delegation from Poland visited Austin this week.
The group held a special luncheon at The Driskill Hotel on Thursday to showcase organic polish food exports.
Those in attendance included members of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, The Polish Investment and Trade Agency, Foreign Trade Office in Houston, the Polish Association of Processors and Producers of Organic Food, the Polish Chamber of Commerce Promotion Centre, Austin Mayor Adler’s office, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office, and Naturally Austin.
Others included:
The Polish Association of Breeders and Producers of Native
Breeds: its mission is to promote the traditional breeding of Poland’s native
livestock (with special emphasis on their welfare and natural habitat) and the
local, traditional and ecological products they produce.
Bio Berry Poland produces, and processes certified organic fruit products for export to Western Europe and the U.S., and Asia. Their organic frozen fruits and organic purees can be used to produce such items as jams, fruit preserves, baby food products, fruit juices, yogurts, frozen food, and muesli.
Bioconcept-Gardenia is a leading producer of organic fruit and vegetables in Poland. It produces fresh, precooled, and frozen fruit and vegetables, as well as purees and concentrates.
Jablka Grojeckie – or apples from Grojec are registered as
an EU Protected Geographic Indication products. This means that a product has a
specific quality and characteristic related to a specific region. The region grows 27 apple varieties and
produces 40 percent of Poland’s apples.
LEI Food & Drinks is a manufacturer and exporter of premium European food. They are the exclusive representative of many well-known food producers from Poland. A large portion of their product portfolio consists of 100 percent NFC juices, fruits, organic products, healthy food, low sugar, and gluten-free products.
Family Organic Farm “FIGA” is located on the board of Poland’s Beskid and Bieszczady mountain ranges. The farm’s 400 goats, coupled with methods passed on through generations, produce cheese and other dairy products that are uncompromised in quality and in flavor.
Podkarpackie Flavors is a regional industry association that is comprised of more than 60 companies from the agricultural industry in Southeast Poland. Its activities include the development and promotion of the products, as well as the wholesale distribution of products in their portfolio. Bio Polaska Co-op in Dukla markets and distributes high-quality food products including ecological products from Poland’s
The startup has 150 employees in Austin and
plans to double in the next 12 months, according to a news release.
Capital Factory recently named Cart.com its Startup of the year. The company, founded in September of 2020, is an end-to-end eCommerce services provider. It reports a year of “explosive growth and funding.”
Cart.com has raised $143 million in venture funding and bought nine major companies, launched nine new fulfillment centers, and built a team of more than 300 people.
“With more and more Silicon Valley tech companies relocating to Texas, and Elon Musk moving Tesla’s HQ to Austin, the “Silicon Hills” area is increasingly seen as the country’s most exciting and fertile space for high-tech innovation,” according to a news release. “Cart.com has been a key driver of this trend, growing from a landmark Houston success story into a national eCommerce powerhouse rooted firmly in the Lone Star State.”
Cart.com supports some of the city’s most exciting omnichannel retail and DTC brands, including Whole Foods, YETI, Kendra Scott, Howler Bros, Titos, Bumble, and Tecovas Boots.
Cart.com also launched a new partnership with Google Cloud to deepen its focus on machine learning and its
investments in robust data science.
“There is nothing that makes me happier than to see an impactful mentor and investor in the Capital Factory community like Omair launch and lead one of our state’s fastest-growing startups,” Bryan Chambers, president, and co-founder of Capital Factory said in a news release. “Cart.com embodies all that’s best about the Texas tech ecosystem and is an example of why Texas is the No. 1 state for startups. This award honors Cart.com’s tremendous contributions, and its continuing mission to inspire growth and innovation in Texas and beyond.”
“We’ll forever call Houston our home, but I’m beyond excited to be opening Cart.com’s corporate headquarters in Austin — not only the country’s top tech town, but also the home to so many of the iconic brands we love,” Omair Tariq, Cart.com’s CEO said in a news release. “Today, the world’s best and brightest engineers, coders, creatives, and tech leaders are flocking to Texas — and Cart.com is part of the reason why. There’s no better place than Austin for a brand-obsessed company like Cart.com to plant its flag as we reimagine eCommerce and drive growth for today’s top merchants.”
Cart.com offers business solutions including online store software;
digital marketing, fulfillment, and financial services; customer service
capabilities; and unified analytics across all areas of commerce and marketing
performance.
In 2015, Carolyn Lowe founded Austin-based ROI Swift, which helps market emerging consumer brands.
So far, ROI Swift has helped nearly 200 companies including Tiff’s Treats, Tecovas, Austin Eastciders, and Esker Beauty. Her team grew an apparel and footwear company from $0 to $12 million in sales in 18 months. Her goal is to help 1,000 companies by 2030.
Lowe moved to Austin in 1999 to work for Dell. Through that experience, she discovered her passion was working with early-stage growth companies.
ROI Swift works with companies that have at least a $75
average order value. It likes to work with great founders and great products,
she said. Lowe also works with SKU’s consumer packaged goods companies.
Increasingly consumer packaged goods companies have found a lot of success in Austin and have contributed to the city’s vibrant startup culture. Overall, Austin, as a brand, has been one of the hottest cities for startups, established tech companies, and others in the last decade and Lowe thinks it is going to continue to grow. But there is going to be a lot that needs to be done to make sure that Austin doesn’t have the same problems as San Francisco, she said. City leaders must continue to address infrastructure problems like affordable housing, transportation, and provide living wages for musicians, artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, and others who make up Austin’s rich culture.
To be successful in eCommerce, brands also need to understand their customers, Lowe said. They also need to create a good website that loads fast, she said. They don’t need to spend a lot of money on advertising before they have the basics of a great website and other fundamentals first, she said.
“Emerging brands need to figure out who they are,” Lowe
said.
Companies also make mistakes by rebranding or going in a different direction, Lowe said. Companies must be true to the brand, she said. They also must have a repeatable customer acquisition model. Companies that are bringing in a $100,000 a month in revenue can afford to spend $25,000 on advertising and marketing, she said.
Companies need a multi-faceted approach to marketing their companies through several different channels.
“You sort of need to be everywhere,” she said.
For more, listen to the entire podcast, pasted below, or wherever you get your podcasts – available on Google play store, Apple iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Libsyn, and more.
Hitch, the ride-sharing company launched by University of Texas at Austin students in 2018, has expanded to Florida.
The Austin-based company has already facilitated 60,000 rides in Texas, said Kush Singh, the company’s co-founder, and CEO. It operates in every major Texas city.
“Things have gone phenomenally well in Texas,” Singh said.
“We were thinking about where to go next. Florida had a lot of similarities in
terms of route lengths to Texas.”
A couple of months ago, Hitch began providing long-distance ride-share service in Florida.
“We’ve launched in nearly every major city in Florida,”
Singh said.
Hitch reports that trips of more than 50 miles are typically
five times less expensive with Hitch than Uber and Lyft. Hitch drivers can also
deliver packages like forgotten computer cords, medicines, etc. between cities
that are needed the same day.
Hitch connects drivers and riders through its app, available
for IOS or Android. Trips can be booked up to 60 days in advance or on the same
day as travel.
The idea for Hitch was born out of frustration Singh and
Cofounder Tanuj Girish experienced firsthand trying to get rides home from
Austin to Houston and Dallas. They created Hitch as a more affordable
alternative to a plane ride or bus. Both dropped out of UT Austin to run the
venture full time.
Hitch’s customers book
rides using an iPhone or Android app and Hitch’s system connects them with a
driver with as little notice as one hour before departure. The parties meet at
a coffee shop near the route and drop off at a similar location in the
destination city.
Next year, Hitch plans to launch an electric fleet of vehicles, Singh said. The company has already helped to reduce carbon emissions through ride-sharing and reducing the number of vehicles on the road.
The COVID-19 pandemic also affected Hitch’s business. Before the pandemic, 90 percent of the rides on Hitch’s platform were shared rides. It turns out that during the pandemic more people shifted to the private ride model which now makes up 60 percent of all rides.
Buses were incredibly unattractive to people during the pandemic, Singh said. As a result, people looked for alternatives, and Hitch’s business grew more than 400 percent during 2020.
“One of the things we learned is there is a lot of fluidity on the rider and driver side of the marketplace,” Singh said. A lot of Hitch’s riders drive and vice versa, he said.
Another reason why the Hitch app is popular with riders is
that people don’t like to plan, Singh said. Ninety-five percent of Hitch’s
bookings are done on the same day or the night before the trip, he said.
Hitch operates from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and it has departures every two hours, Flexibility is baked into the model.
Next year, Hitch also plans to expand to more states in the Midwest and Northeast, Singh said.
Hitch has raised seed-stage funding. The company has 30 employees in Austin and offices on East 11th Street.
Samsung Electronics has announced plans to build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor and invest $17 billion in boosting the production of semiconductors in the U.S.
“This is the largest foreign direct investment in the state of Texas
ever,” said Gov. Greg Abbott during a press conference announcing the project.
The new plant will make chips for mobile devices, 5G, high-performance computers, and artificial intelligence.
“As we add a new facility in Taylor, Samsung is laying the
groundwork for another important chapter in our future,” Kinam Kim, Vice
Chairman and CEO, Samsung Electronics Device Solutions Division, said in a news
release. “With greater manufacturing capacity, we will be able to better
serve the needs of our customers and contribute to the stability of the global
semiconductor supply chain.”
“In addition to our
partners in Texas, we are grateful to the Biden Administration for creating an
environment that supports companies like Samsung as we work to expand
leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.,” Kim said. “We
also thank the administration and Congress for their bipartisan support to
swiftly enact federal incentives for domestic chip production and
innovation.”
Samsung plans to break ground
on the new 5 million square foot plant in the first half of next year and it
expects it to be operational in the second half of 2024.
Samsung began operations in the
U.S. in 1978. With the latest investment, Samsung’s total investment in the
U.S. is more than $47 billion and the company has more than 20,000 employees in
the U.S.
“Companies like Samsung continue to invest in Texas because
of our world-class business climate and exceptional workforce,” Abbott
said in a news release. “Samsung’s new semiconductor manufacturing
facility in Taylor will bring countless opportunities for hardworking Central
Texans and their families and will play a major role in our state’s continued
exceptionalism in the semiconductor industry.”
Samsung chose the Taylor site
for its plant based on the local semiconductor ecosystem, infrastructure
stability, local government support, and community development opportunities. It
is also only 25 kilometers from Samsung’s current manufacturing site in Austin.
The Samsung plant is expected to create more than 2,000 high tech
jobs. It is also creating a Samsung Skills Center for the Taylor Independent
School District to help students develop skills to work at the plant.
Samsung is receiving a $27 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant
for its job creation. Also, Samsung has been offered a $20,000 Veteran Created
Job Bonus.
“Samsung
Austin Semiconductor has been proud to call Texas home for more than 25
years,” Dr. Sang Sup Jeong, President of Samsung Austin Semiconductor said
in a news release. “We are excited about our growth and future
opportunities in Central Texas and appreciate the support from all Central
Texas leaders.”
“Samsung’s decision to
locate its cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication plant in Taylor is the single
most significant and consequential development for the local economy since the
International & Great Northern Railroad laid tracks here in the
1870’s,” Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell said in a news release.
“Williamson County has
again proven to be a leader in attracting the world’s top technology
companies,” said Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell. “With the addition
of Samsung on the east side of our county, Apple on the west side, and Dell
Computers World headquarters in the center, Williamson County is now home to
the technology superhighway of the world.”
Ten Austin-based companies made Deloitte’s “North America Technology Fast 500,” an annual ranking of the fastest-growing North American
companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech,
and energy tech sectors.
The highest-ranking Austin-based company, Shipwell
claimed the fourth spot on the list with 32,670 percent growth from 2017 to
2020.
The companies that make the Technology Fast 500
list are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2017 to
2020. Overall, the 2021 winners achieved revenue growth ranging from 212
percent to 87,037 percent over the three-year time frame with a median growth
rate of 521 percent.
“Each year the Technology Fast 500 shines a light
on leading innovators in technology and this year is no exception,” Paul
Silvergate, vice chair, Deloitte LLP, said in a news release. “In the face of
innumerable challenges resulting from the pandemic, the best and brightest were
able to pivot, reinvent and transform and grow.”
Altogether, 26 Texas-based companies made up 5
percent of the list with Silicon Valley-based companies dominating the list
with 21 percent, the highest percentage.
L7 Informatics ranked 26th with 8,288
percent increase in revenue growth from 2017 to 2020.
OJO Labs claimed the 29th spot and saw a 6,731 percent increase in revenue growth over the past three years. In addition to landing the 29th spot on the national list, OJO Labs has also been ranked #3 among fastest-growing companies in the Texas region alongside companies like Crayon, Eagle Eye Networks, and Alkami.
AlertMedia
ranked 172 with 773 percent increase in revenue growth during the last three
years and Molecular Templates took the 241st spot with 549 percent increase in
revenue. Blue Prism came in at 269th
with 469 percent increase in revenue.
Eagle Eye Networks claimed the 307th
spot. Eagle Eye
earned the number 12 overall spot in the category of Electronic
Devices/Hardware. The company grew 403 percent during that period.
Crowdstreet claimed the 337th spot,
Digital Turbine took the 366th spot, and ActivTrak ranked at 404.
