Pingboard, an Austin-based startup spun out of Capital Factory, has raised $4.3 million of a $5 million round, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company, founded in 2013, makes organizational chart software for companies. It now has more than 1,000 customers, including “GoFundMe, Popsugar, Udemy, Sequoia Capital, WPEngine, and the Linux Foundation.” according to a post in Venture Beat by Bill Boebel, Pingboard’s Chief Executive Officer and co-founder.

To date, Pingboard has raised $7.5 million, according to Boebel. Its latest investor is Active Capital, a new fund based in Texas and led by former Rackspace executive Pat Matthews and Rackspace Co-Founder Pat Condon. Matthews also founded Webmail.us, an email hosting company, with Boebel in 1999 in Blacksburg, Virginia and sold it to Rackspace in 2007. Active Capital led the round with participation from previous investors including Boebel, Silverton Partners, and Capital Factory.

Boebel wrote a very detailed post on Venture Beat about his company’s latest funding round and why, in his words, he’s building a flywheel and not a rocket ship.

After eight years at the helm of 3 Day Startup, Cam Houser has moved into the founder and chief innovation role and Alexis Taylor will take over as Chief Executive Officer.

“I saw Alexis as our future CEO two years ago,” Houser said in a news statement. “She is one of the most impactful individuals I have ever encountered and possesses qualities that make her a one-of-a-kind individual. Her love of international collaboration, empathetic leadership style, and ability to build relationships that lead to outcomes will make her an excellent CEO of 3DS. There’s no one I would feel more comfortable taking over 3 Day Startup.”

Taylor has worked with 3 Day Startup since 2013 when she launched a program at Creighton University. During the past five years, Taylor has helped to scale the organization to mroe than 500 programs. She has led the expansion to Australia, Southern Africa and the Middle East including a program in Iraq.

Taylor has been recognized by the State Department, the World Economic Forum, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network as a leader in empowering people and communities through entrepreneurship. And, has been locally recognized by the Austin Young Chamber as a Young Changemaker and for her work on the ATX+PAK: Launch program by the Mayor of Austin.

“3DS has amazing potential,” Taylor said in a news statement. “Over the past ten years, we empowered 13,000 emerging leaders with the entrepreneurial skills to impact communities in 30 countries around the world. Thinking about the next decade, we have the unique opportunity to democratize the practice of entrepreneurship for everyone, everywhere. I’m honored to work alongside such a strong team and build upon Cam’s success and leadership as we activate 3DS’ own unbridled potential together. We’re gonna crush it!”

Xeris Pharmaceuticals, founded in 2005 in Austin, filed on Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange with an initial public offering valued at $75 million.

The company, now based in Chicago, has strong ties to the Austin startup community.

Xeris has raised $202 million to date in funding, according to its CrunchBase profile. The company makes patient-friendly injectables for the treatment of diabetes, epilepsy and immunology. It is working to get Food and Drug Administrative approval for its G-Pen, a glucagon injection program for severe hypoglycemia.

“Xeris first came through CTAN for a seed round in 2011 and it was our largest investment that year,” said Claire England, executive director of the Central Texas Angel Network.

CTAN members have followed on in every round that Xeris has raised, England said. Because of that, it is the third largest investment in CTAN’s portfolio in terms of dollars invested and numbers of investors, she said. Around 30 CTAN members have invested in Xeris.

“It’s a very significant investment in our portfolio,” England said. “It’s highly unusual for a company to go from a seed round and have angel investors follow on at every single round to IPO.”

And Doug Baum, a CTAN investor led the company as President and CEO from 2012 to last year. Xeris still has an office in Austin.

In January of 2017, Xeris hired Paul R. Edick as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. That’s when the company moved its headquarters to Chicago.

By Laura Lorek
Publisher of Silicon Hills News

For the eighth time, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce celebrated Austin’s hottest startups at its A-List Award ceremony.

“Startups are trailblazers, risk takers, and pioneers,” said Hugh Forrest, programming director of South by Southwest, which co-sponsors the awards.

At the event, the A-List awards went to 25 companies in four categories: emerging, growth and scale and a new category, culture. A standing room only crowd turned out for the evening at ACL Live at the Moody Theater.

“It’s my belief that innovation and Austin are synonymous,” said Doreen Lorenzo, master of ceremonies for the A-List awards and assistant dean of the School of Design at the University of Texas at Austin. “I really do think it’s in our DNA.”

In addition to the awards, the event featured a series of speakers from the Austin innovation ecosystem. First up, EverlyWell’s Founder Julia Cheek and SailPoint Technologies’ Founder Mark McClain spoke to the crowd about their entrepreneurial journeys.

Last year, EverlyWell won in the Austin A-List emerging category, and at the time the company had just five employees. Today it has a team of more than 40, Cheek said.

“The journey has been fun so far,” McClain said.

SailPoint went public last fall.

“What kills a lot of great companies in not lack of a good idea or funding, it’s people fighting,” McClain said.

Teammates in companies need to be hungry, smart and humble, McClain said.

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less,” McClain said.

Next up, Samantha Snabes, co-founder and CEO of re:3D spoke about what it’s like to bootstrap a high-tech company in Austin, Texas. Her venture started in 2013 when re:3D raised $50,000 on Kickstarter to create its first Gigabot, an industrial size 3D printer to print large objects. The company then joined the Startup Chile accelerator and has won a series of pitch competitions and run more crowdfunding campaigns. Snabes won $1 million in the WeWork creator awards last year.

“You got to hustle for every dollar,” Snabes said. “And it’s really hard to take money and put it into R&D when you’re still working on raising the salary of your discounted teammates.”

Today, re:3D has created a new 3D printer that prints items from recycled plastic trash. It launched the project at SXSW and it just raised another $55,000 on Kickstarter from 50 backers for that project.

Snabes credited Bunker Labs with helping it win the WeWork pitch competition She also thanks Capital Factory, WeWork, Dell, Mass Challenge Texas, Austin Chamber of Commerce and others in the Austin community for helping the company to succeed. Last year, its factory in Houston and its operations in Puerto Rico both got hit by massive hurricanes. The Austin community banded together to provide resources to help the company and its employees recover, Snabes said.

“When people ask me every day right now why we are successful, I tell them it’s because we’re a Texas company, I tell them it’s because we have roots in Austin and I tell them about you, from our product, our team and our community, thank you,” Snabes said.

The quote of the night came from Colette Pierce Burnette, Ph.D., president and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University. She gave the featured inspirational speech.

“I am a badass,” Burnette said.

“Moments like this go beyond keeping Austin weird. Moments like this are what keeps Austin magical,” Burnette said. “Moments like this are what keeps Austin audacious, honoring the A-List Austin hottest startups with mad innovation. And to be on the hottest list of anything is a good thing.”

This year, the Austin Chamber and SXSW received more than 150 nominations for the A-List awards. The judges selected the winners based on how novel their idea is and whether the idea can spawn a sustainable and growing business, Lorenzo said. And does the company have the right leadership to execute its vision and also, the level of funding received, and revenue generated, she said.

The Austin A-List award recipients in the emerging category with less than $5 million in funding and $2 million in revenue included: Advanced Scanners, Apptronik, Compassionate Cultivation, Friends + Allies Brewing, Medici, New Knowledge, Olono, RocketDollar and Systemsurveyor.

In the growth category with less than $20 million in funding and $25 million in revenue, the winners included: Acessa Health, AlertMedia, Austin Eastciders, Cece’s Veggie Noodle Co., eRelevance Corp., LiveOak Technologies, and PullRequest.

And the scale or large stage winners who have received funding of $20 million or more or have annual revenues of at least $25 million included Dosh, RigUp, Rhythm Superfoods, SparkCognition, and TurnKey Vacation Rentals.

The new awards this year focused on culture. Those winners included WP Engine “Prelude to an Exit,” Outdoor Voices “Welcome to Austin,” SailPoint “Triple Crown,” and ICON “One to Watch.”

HanAra Software, a subsidiary of South Korean-based BNF Technology, has selected Austin as its North American headquarters and plans to triple in size.

The company, which provides data management and predictive analytics solutions for plant management, has six employees in 1,000 square feet at 3410 Far West Blvd. They are hiring and plan to add three to four new people this year, according to a spokeswoman.

HanAra initially launched its technology in the United States through a program with IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. It landed its first client, Carl J. Eckhardt Complex at UT, through the institute.

BNF launched HanAra in late 2016 to support the relationship with UT and to explore other opportunities in the U.S.

“Through our relationship with the Carl J. Eckhardt Complex management team, we have had the opportunity to explore the North American market, and better understand the challenges faced by process plants throughout the region,” Hojoon Seo, CEO and President of BNF Technology, said in a news release. “We discovered that our expertise and technology provide an innovative alternative to what is currently in the market.”

HanAra chose Austin for the strength of its technology and business community and Texas’ strong energy industry, according to Seo.

“Austin provides lots of opportunities for our growth,” Seo said.

Austin has a growing base of South Korean technology companies including KoMiCo, NCSOFT, Samsung, Neosem Technology and SK Hynix, according to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Both KoMiCo and SK Hynix also have U.S. headquarters in Austin.

The Austin Technology Council on Thursday announced the appointment of Amber Gunst as interim Chief Executive Officer.

Gunst takes the reins from Barbary Brunner who has served as the organization’s CEO for the past two years. Brunner announced last week that she had left to join Phunware, an Austin-based software company, as its Chief Marketing Officer.

“I am honored to continue the great work ATC has done under Barbary’s tenure, and look forward to further increasing ATC’s support for our member companies, along with reinforcing the close relationships we have developed with our community partners,” Gunst said in a news release.

ATC has created programming geared to meet the “goal of growing 10 Austin-based tech companies to their first billion in revenue, and another to 100 companies to $100 million is key to growth in our community. My mission is to keep ATC and our members at the forefront of Austin’s future,” Gunst said.

Gunst, who has more than 20 years of experience in sales and business development, previously worked as the head of sales and membership services at ATC. She previously worked at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, and at a global staffing firm. She also serves as a mentor for the Founder Institute’s global accelerator program.

“We have refined and refocused our offerings to member tech companies, most of whom are established and scaling companies, assisting them as they grow their businesses and expand their markets,” Mark McClain, CEO and Founder of Sailpoint and Chairman of the Board of ATC, said in a news release. “As the voice for this largest segment of the tech community, ATC is committed to helping Austin grow its established tech companies to become next-generation leaders in the market. We are grateful to Barbary for her contributions and wish her well on her new role.”

The ATC, founded in 1992 as the Austin Software Council, operates as an independent nonprofit 501-C6 organization. It also runs the ATC Foundation, a separate 501-C3 organization. The organization has more than 200 companies as members representing 60 percent of the Austin technology workforce.

ATC also retained Prime PR as its public relations firm.

Editor’s note: Jennifer Gooding, principal at Prime PR is a patron of Silicon Hills News.

Inc. Magazine Wednesday named ten Austin-based companies to its list of best places to work.

The companies included Arrive Logistics, Embark, Munck Wilson Mandala, Opcity, Peddle, Praetorian, Salcora, Square Root, Student Loan Hero, and The Zebra.

Out of thousands of applicants, Inc. singled out just under 300 winning companies nationally.

Inc. recognized Square Root, creators of enterprise Store Relationship Management software, for its exceptional workplace culture.

“Building a culture where our team thrives is at the center of everything we do,” Chris Taylor, CEO of Square Root said in a news release. “Our success is the direct result of the dedication of everyone at Square Root, and it’s an honor to be surrounded by such a talented team and to be recognized for the culture we all created.”

Square Root’s benefits include flexible work schedules, unlimited paid time off, $3000 per year to learn anything, and a peer-to-peer recognition program. Other company perks include regular team building activities, fully stocked kitchens, exercise and wellness programs, frequently catered lunches, family-friendly events, and both paid maternity and paternity leave.

Opcity, a real estate technology startup with more than 400 employees, also made the list.

“We are really proud to be included on Inc.’s Best Workplace list,” Ben Rubenstein, CEO, and Co-Founder of Opcity, said in a news release. “So many awards are pay-to-play these days, and it’s really meaningful to be included in this list that was voted by our own employees. We invest a lot in culture and our employees’ professional development, and we’re happy to see that it’s been successful.”

LiveOak Venture Partners announced this week that it has expanded its staff.

LiveOak, based in Austin, added Mike Marcantonio as principal and Mason Rathe as a senior associate. They will focus on new investments and support the firm’s portfolio of companies.

Marcantonio previously worked at Blue Heron Capital and focused on venture and growth stage investments in technology and healthcare – information technology companies. He also worked at Harris Williams focused on mergers and acquisitions and American Capital, a private equity firm.

“Mike’s extensive background in working with early-stage companies and ability to nurture strong value-added relationships with entrepreneurs will be an asset to LiveOak and our portfolio companies as we look to scale the firm to the next level,” Krishna Srinivasan, founding partner at LiveOak Venture Partners, said in a news release.

Rathe previously worked as an intern at LiveOak while completing his MBA at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. He previously worked in the Technology and Life Sciences division of Comerica Bank, where he underwrote over $350 million in capital commitments to early-stage companies. He also worked at US Capital Partners in business development and he created a “weekly newsletter that chronicled key developments in Austin’s startup environment and grew virally to thousands of subscribers,” according to a news release.

“Mason has already shown terrific value-add as an intern at the firm and demonstrated strong leadership in nurturing the local startup environment with his newsletter. These team expansions underscore our intense focus on the Texas venture opportunity and the support of local entrepreneurs with resources to scale their business and reach their full potential,” Venu Shamapant, founding partner at LiveOak Venture Partners, said in a news release.

Ben Scott, Srinivasan and Shamapant founded LiveOak and closed on its first fund in 2014. The firm focuses on early-stage investments in Texas. Its portfolio of companies includes CS Disco, Digital Pharmacist, NSS Labs, Ojo Labs, and Opcity.