Austin ranked third on Milken Institute’s list of 2020 Best Performing Cities.

It ranked third last year as well.

The greater San Francisco area claimed the top spot on the list, followed by Provo-Orem, Utah.

Rounding out the top 10 list was Reno, Nevada in fourth place, followed by the greater San Jose area, the greater Orlando area, Boise City, Idaho, the greater Seattle area, the Dallas metropolitan area and Palm Bay, Melbourne and Titusville, Florida. 

The Milken Institute, which has been publishing its index since 1999, ranks 200 of the nation’s metro areas and 201 small cities. It focuses on job creation, wage growth, and innovation industry metrics.

In Texas, Austin, 3, and Dallas, 9, ranked in the top ten, followed by San Antonio-New Braunfels at 30, Fort Worth-Arlington at 56, Waco at 90, and Houston, the Woodlands and Sugarland at 117. Other large Texas cities on the list included Lubbock at 131, El Paso at 141, Killeen-Temple at 143, Laredo at 149, Beaumont-Port Arthur at 184, Corpus Christi at 185 and Brownsville-Harlingen at 194.

 “The top-performing cities have cohesive strategies that allow them to weather economic storms and leverage their assets for sustained growth,” Kevin Klowden, executive director of the Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics, said in a news release. “San Francisco’s legacy of innovation, research universities, and abundance of skilled labor and tech startups highlight the depth and dynamism of the region’s economy.”

California continues to dominate the list with four metro areas ranking in the top 25 including San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Riverside-San Bernardino.

“While San Francisco has returned to the top spot in this year’s index, the most compelling story is the rise of non-traditional tech and employment centers in other parts of the country,” Klowden said. “These emerging centers include cities like Reno, Boise, and Melbourne, which experienced an incredible rise to break into this year’s top-10.”

Reno made the list this year because it’s home to “Tesla’s Gigafactory 1, an emerging cluster of data centers, and a thriving logistics and drone sector, including the first commercial drone delivery company in the U.S.,” according to the Milken Institute.

“Among small cities, Bend-Redmond, Oregon, retained its first-place ranking for the fourth year running, boasting a well-diversified economy, the best five-year wage growth, the second-best five-year job growth among all small metros, and nascent vehicle technology and hemp industries,” according to the Milken Institute.

2020 Top-10 Best-Performing Large U.S. Cities (prior year’s ranking)
1.    San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, California (4)
2.    Provo-Orem, Utah (1)
3.    Austin-Round Rock, Texas (3)
4.    Reno, Nevada (11)
5.    San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California (2)
5.    Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida (7)
7.    Boise City, Idaho (12)
8.    Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington (8)
9.    Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (5)
10.    Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida (57)

Swivel, an Austin-based office leasing platform, announced Tuesday that it has raised $8 million.

The Austin-based startup plans to use the funds to expand nationwide starting with the Denver, Colorado market, said Scott Harmon, Swivel’s co-founder, and CEO.

Swivel’s $8 million Series A round was led by Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital. Breyer was one of the first institutional investors in Facebook. Breyer is investing $5 million with the remaining investment coming from JLL Spark, which is the largest real estate brokerage firm in Austin.

“The future of real estate will continue to be defined by the demand for flexibility,” Breyer, founder, and CEO, Breyer Capital, said in a news release. “Swivel is positioned to redefine the entire office leasing experience for startups and established companies alike by eliminating upfront costs and move-out penalties. Swivel brings an innovative fintech-based approach that allows landlords to streamline leasing through terms that deliver the value of flexibility to tenants, as well as their investors.”

Swivel, founded in 2016, previously raised $6.6 million in seed-stage financing. It officially launched last November with its agile leasing platform targeting middle tier, growing companies seeking to level-up from co-working spaces or expand into bigger private spaces. Swivel works with tenants such as Dremio, Graylog, Guideline 401K, hOp, Plivo, Samcart, TalentRobot and Vertify.

 “We’ve been testing the Swivel platform out primarily in Austin for two years now,” Harmon said. Swivel has been perfecting its model in Texas before launching it nationwide, he said.

“Late last year we felt like we had enough landlords and tenants that had used Swivel to go nationwide,” he said.

Swivel, which has 10 employees, plans to hire 10 to 20 more people this year to take Swivel beyond Texas to eight or nine cities, Harmon said.

In addition to Denver, Swivel is considering expanding to Boston, New York, Northern Virginia, Charlotte, NC, Los Angeles, Salt Lake, and San Francisco.

“Swivel works hand and glove with landlords,” Harmon said.

The company looks for landlords that want to offer more flexible leases ranging from one year to three years for their buildings. Those short-term leases appeal to fast-growing companies in the technology industry, but also to marketing firms, financial services companies, and creative firms, he said.

“That’s really a trend that started in tech but has grown really rapidly,” Harmon said. The number one requirement is companies want a more flexible way to lease office space today, he said.

Swivel has primarily been in the Austin market, but it has partners in Dallas and Houston, Harmon said. It doesn’t have a presence yet in San Antonio, but it is working on launching one, he said.

Austin remains a real tight real estate market, Harmon said. The prices continue to go up and downtown is becoming prohibitively expensive, he said. Now, the number one requested area is East Austin for office space, he said. But most California companies relocating to Austin are still asking for downtown locations, he said.

“They want their first office to be in a cool space,” he said.

Companies like to be in areas where there are good restaurants, Harmon said.

And the prices are still relatively inexpensive in Austin compared to the Bay area, he said

“The workforce whether they are engineers, sales or marketing people they want to be where the action is,” Harmon said.

PurPics, a Generation Z intelligence, and brand advocacy platform announced recently that it has raised $2 million in total funding.

The Austin-based startup closed on $920,000 this round, bringing total funding to $2 million. Felton Group, the family office of Jaffray Woodriff, led the round with participation from The Syndicate Fund and Techstars Ventures.

“PurPics is led by a phenomenal team that understands how to reach Gen Z consumers in a meaningful way. They already enable some of the best brands in the world to engage, learn from and work with this generation in a way that is beneficial to everyone, and we believe they’re just getting started. We are excited to watch PurPics continue to grow as they become the go-to platform for brands and the next generation of consumers,” Brett Brohl, founder and managing director of The Syndicate Fund and managing director of the Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator, said in a news release.

PurPics is a software as a service marketplace that connects brands with Generation Z consumers around a cause. The company recently released a new product called PurPics Insights.

“Our platform already tracks real-time campaign analytics for our brand partners. By seamlessly integrating our Insights product on our current platform, PurPics can now power and measure marketing and sales strategies through the combination of social media data and consumer insights,”  Raahish Kalaria, PurPic’s Chief Technology Officer, said in a news release.

PurPics, which launched in 2017, has more than 40 brand customers such as Shake Shack, Clif Bar, and Vita Coco, and is working on more than 60 campuses and it has helped student organizations raise more than $750,000 for various causes.

“there’s a fundamental shift coming in the way brands will interact with and understand this next generation of consumers, and it’s going towards more authentic and purposeful strategies. What I’m most proud of is that as our company grows, so does our ability to give back. We’re very grateful for this round of funding and are excited for our next stage of growth,” Aneesh Dhawan, the company’s founder, and CEO said in a news release.

Correction: The headline and story have been updated to reflect that PurPics closed on $920,000 this round, bringing total company funding to $2 million.

LiveOak Venture Partners, founded in 2013, this week announced it has added four executives to its Venture Advisors Program.

The venture capital firm, which invests in early-stage companies, is adding Lynn Atchison, Peter Klante, Dave Rubin and Keith Zoellner to the program.

Last year, LiveOak Venture Partners closed a $105 million fund, its second fund.

Atchison is the former Chief Financial Officer of Spredfast, HomeAway and Hoovers. She currently serves on the boards of Q2 Technologies, Absolute Software, Convey, and RealMassive.

Klante previously worked in executive leadership positions for CA Technologies, Vignette, IBM and Cognos and he served as CEO or Chief Marketing Officer for four Austin-based startups.

Rubin is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of OJO Labs, one of LiveOak Venture Partners’ portfolio companies. Rubin has more than 30 years of experience building, operating and scaling technology companies. He has built five successful startups including ProfitFuel, which merged with Yodle in May of 2011. He also founded and ran HomeCity, an online real estate company with offices in Austin and Dallas.

Zoellner is currently Chief Technology Officer of DISCO, a LiveOak Venture Partners’ portfolio company. Previously, Zoellner worked in leadership positions at Spredfast and StoredIQ.

“Driving portfolio company success by leveraging a strong bench of experts has been a central element of our playbook as value-added investors and board members here at LiveOak. We are launching the Venture Advisors program to supercharge that effort,” Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner at LiveOak said in a news release. “The first four advisors in this program have demonstrated decades of proven success across multiple successful companies in Austin and guided numerous next generation of leaders across them. They have been providing similar guidance to LiveOak entrepreneurs in an ad hoc manner and as such, we are thrilled to formalize our longstanding relationships with them and welcome them to officially be a part of the LiveOak family.”

Silicon Hills News’ 2020 Austin Startup Calendar Party took place on January 23^rd at The Riveter in downtown Austin.

At the party, Silicon Hills News gave away a desktop or wall calendar to 175 guests. To order additional calendars please visit our Eventbrite Form for our follow up event, BigIdeasATX, on February 27^th at Galvanize.

This is the sixth Silicon Hills News Austin startup calendar that shines a spotlight on some of Austin’s most innovative startups and technology advocates. The event honored the following 2020 calendar subjects: Whurley, OJO Labs, Kronologic, Techstars Austin, SKU Accelerator, Osano, Hypergiant, The Riveter, The Mentor Method, Sana Benefits, Firefly Aerospace and Techson IP.

The event featured entertainment by The Extra Special Band of San Antonio featuring Nathan Lugo and Hannah Elizabeth Martin, and specialty coffee drinks by Brooke Burnet of Cactus Café, and catering by Central Market.

Thank you to our drink sponsors: Lumen Insurance Technologies and Thiken. Silicon Hills News offered Cosmopolitan punch, margaritas, Shiner Beer, White Claw, and a full bar featuring Austin-based spirits: Nine Banded Whiskey, Tito’s Vodka and 512 Tequila. Silicon Hills News also had a whiskey tasting table set up featuring Nine Banded Whiskey.

Thank you to our calendar and event sponsors: Austin Chamber of Commerce, BuildGroup, InnoTech Austin, Kronologic, Sana Benefits, Egan-Nelson Law Firm, Silicon Hills Lawyer, Active Capital, Question Pro, Zoho, and Realtor.com.

And a big thank you to our host and venue sponsor: The Riveter.

Other in-kind sponsors included MassChallenge Texas and Nine Banded Whiskey.

Please join us for our next event, BigIdeasATX, on Feb. 27^th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Galvanize featuring talks by some of the innovators in the calendar including Arlo Gilbert, co-founder of Osano, Janice Omadeke, founder of The Mentor Method, Michelle Breyer, Chief Operating Officer of SKU Accelerator and Eric Salwan, Business Development Director with Firefly Aerospace. And thank you to Galvanize, our venue host, and Zoho, which is hosting Zoholics in Austin on April 28-30^th, for sponsoring the event. We’ll be serving beer and pizza and we have desktop calendars for attendees while supplies last.

We are also hosting BigIdeasATX2 with others featured in the calendar on April 23^rd.

Silicon Hills News 2020 Austin Calendar Party

No Description

Pattern Bioscience this week announced $13 million in grant and venture capital funding.

The Austin-based company, formerly known as Klaris Diagnostics, plans to use the funding to develop its Digital Culture technology, a rapid bacterial identification, and susceptibility testing platform.

The funding includes a $6.8 million award from CARB-X, a nonprofit based at Boston University. The grant is for Pattern Bioscience to accelerate its early stage antibacterial research and development to address the rising global threat of drug-resistant bacteria, according to a news release. And the company could be eligible for additional grants if it is successful.

In addition to the grant, Pattern Bioscience also closed on $6.4 million in Series B funding. Omnimed Capital, based in Dallas, led the funding round. Pattern Bioscience plans to use the money to hire additional employees, expand its facilities and product development. It’s working toward the Food and Drug Administration clearance of its diagnostics platform.

“We can’t imagine a better partner than CARB-X to carry out our shared mission, and we’re honored by this recognition of our unique potential to transform antibiotic treatment decisions,” said Nick Arab, Pattern Co-Founder, and CEO. “We’re also pleased by the continued support of our lead investor, Omnimed Capital. This funding will allow our remarkable and growing team to advance development of Pattern’s life-saving technology.”

The problem Pattern Biosciences is addressing is huge. Doctors and Hospitals prescribe patients antibiotics that they don’t need about half of the time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pattern Biosciences, founded in 2016, has developed patented tests that can give test results within four hours. That rapid diagnosis will lead to proper treatment and a reduction in antibiotic prescriptions.

“Rapid diagnostics are urgently needed to improve the treatment of drug-resistant infections,” Erin Duffy, chief of research and development at CARB-X, said in a news release. “They can provide vital information about the bacteria causing an infection and take the guess-work out of treatment decisions in the first critical hours of illness.”

The Zebra, an insurance comparison marketplace, this week announced it has closed a $38.5 million funding round.

The Austin-based startup, founded in 2012, has raised $101.3 million to date.

Accel led the funding round with participation from existing investors Silverton Partners, Daher Capital, Floodgate Fund, Ballast Point Ventures, The Zebra’s CEO Keith Melnick and new partner Weatherford Capital

The Zebra also reported its website gets 1.3 million visitors per month. And its revenue grew almost 200 percent to nearly $37 million in 2019, according to a news release.

The company’s annual run rate is now more than $60 million, according to a news release.

 “2019 was a great year for The Zebra with outstanding growth and I couldn’t be more pleased with where we are headed into 2020,” Keith Melnick, CEO, The Zebra, said in a news release. “We have a great team, a great product that keeps getting better, a fantastic group of investors and are positioned to continue our exponential growth in 2020.” 

The Zebra works with more than 100 auto insurance carriers to provide price comparisons for shoppers.

“I think The Zebra is the most interesting company in insurtech and one of the fastest-growing consumer businesses we work with globally. Over time, I think consumers – whether they’re buying insurance products from 200-year-old companies or startups – are going to want to compare options and get the best price possible. We expect The Zebra will be the first place consumers go when they want to buy insurance,” John Locke, Partner at Accel, said in a news release.

The Zebra is also focusing on growing its new homeowner’s insurance comparison product in 2020.

The Zebra, which has 199 employees, recently moved into a 43,000 square foot custom-built office on Austin’s East Side with a capacity for 300 employees.

SXSW recently announced the finalists for its 12^th annual SXSW Pitch event including five from Austin.

The variety of the finalists shows the breadth and depth of Austin’s booming startup community. The finalists come from a wide range of industries including beauty care, gaming, biotechnology, drones, and biodegradable plastics.

The Austin finalist in the Consumer Technology & CPG Category is Renzoe Box, which created a customized portable makeup kit.

In the Health, Wearables & Wellbeing category, TruPigment, is a cell-based pigment restoration procedure by Austin-based TeVido Biodevices, is a finalist.

In the Entertainment & Content category, St. Noire, an AI-hosted cinematic board game by Virsix Games, based in Austin, is a finalist.

In the Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics category, Flugauto, which designs and operates cargo drones, of Austin is a finalist.

And in the Social & Culture category, Applied Bioplastics, which is working to mass-produce biodegradable plastics, is a finalist.

The pitch event takes place on March 14-15^th at the downtown Hilton Austin. Winners will be selected in each category including one “Best in Show” winner.

The pitch competition received more than 900 applications globally. The finalists include representatives from India, Australia, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea, Denmark, Egypt, the U.S. and Germany, and others.

The competition’s judges come from NEA, Accel, Backstage Capital, Mayfield Fund, Google X, Flybridge Capital, Kapor Capital, and more.

This year, SXSW Pitch added three new categories: consumer technology and consumer packaged goods, smart cities, transportation and logistics, and innovative world technologies.

“With our largest class of applicants yet, we’re pleased to see that SXSW Pitch continues to be a stage for the tech industry’s best and brightest to showcase their groundbreaking ideas and take their companies to the next level,” SXSW Pitch Event Producer Chris Valentine said in a news release.

For a complete list of finalists visit SXSW.

Elon Musk posted a poll on Twitter asking people to vote yes or no for Giga Texas.

The vote is 80.2 percent “Hell Yeah” in favor late Wednesday night with two hours left to vote. A gigafactory in Texas would presumably produce Tesla cars or trucks. But Musk did not provide any specifics on what Giga Texas might entail.

Some speculate it could be the site for making Tesla’s new Cyber Truck. When Toyota wanted to grab bigger market share for its Toyota Tundra truck, launched in 1999, it opened a plant in San Antonio, Texas. California is the state with the most pickup truck owners, followed by Texas.

Tesla, based in Palo Alto, makes electric cars and last year it launched the Tesla Cybertruck, with prices starting at $39,000. It is expected to enter production next year. Telsa’s main plant is in Freemont, California.

Elon Musk on Twitter: “Giga Texas? / Twitter”

Giga Texas?

In addition, Musk changed the location of his Twitter bio to Austin, Texas, which got a lot of people talking on Twitter. He has since changed it back. Apparently, Musk is in Texas on Thursday, according to his Tweets, to visit SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica for career day. SpaceX is building its Starship testing prototype in South Texas.

Elon Musk on Twitter: “Starship career day at the Stargate building (Boca Chica Blvd, TX) this Thursday from 3pm to 9pm! / Twitter”

Starship career day at the Stargate building (Boca Chica Blvd, TX) this Thursday from 3pm to 9pm!

The career fair is in the Stargate building from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and SpaceX is hiring to staff four production shifts for around the clock operations seven days a week, according to Musk’s tweets.

But aside from the Space operations, the news site, electrek, posted a story at 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday speculating about a Texas gigafactory. Tesla already has a gigafactories in Nevada and New York and a gigafactory in Shanghai, China with plans for a new one in Berlin, Germany, according to the article.

“Texas has been in Musk’s thoughts recently. On Monday, he announced an AI hackathon amid a recruiting effort for Tesla’s autopilot team, stating that Tesla is also looking for “world-class” chip designers to join Tesla’s team in Palo Alto, California, or Austin,” according to electrek.

But Texas hasn’t historically embraced Tesla.

“Texas also currently bans Tesla from selling their cars in the state, and even recently tried to stop the company from even servicing cars in-state. That effort thankfully failed, but Texas has not yet rolled out the welcome mat for Tesla,” according to electrek.