Austin Weekly Deal Highlights(11-11-18)

Austin Weekly Deal Highlights

Austin Weekly Deal Highlights for November 11, 2018

From: “Mason Rathe” <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, 12 November 2018 01:38
To: [email protected]
Subject:Austin Weekly Deal Highlights 11-11-18

Austin Weekly Deal Highlights

By Mason Rathe – November 11, 2018

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It is fairly common for a twenty-year old to raise a significant VC funding round…right? I, for one, would not fall in that category. Austin has produced a handful of prodigies over the decades, and it looks like we have a few more. Coder, a cloud-powered software development platform, which was founded by three 20 year old’s –John Entwistle, Kyle Carberry, and Ammar Bandukwala –announced the details of their $4.5M seed round.

Austin Financing Activity

  • Grid4C, a provider of AI and machine learning solutions for the energy industry, raised a $5M round from a group of strategic investors, led by Israel Cleantech Ventures—a VC firm backed by French energy giant ENGIE, and other investors include iAngels and AxessVentures. The company has raised $6.5M to date.
  • More details on the Coder seed round reported a few weeks ago. The cloud based software development platform raised a $4.5M round co-led by Uncork Capital and Redpoint Ventures, and was joined by investors including Founders Fund, Capital Factory, and several strategic individual investors.
  • Austin Cryo Ventures (Restore), a cryotherapy and wellness company, raised $624k in new equity. The company previously raised $1M.
  • Quansight Futures, an open source machine learning platform founded by Anaconda founder Travis Oliphant, raised $605K in equity and other options.

Austin M&A Activity

  • HNI Healthcare Inc., a physician practice management company, closed on a $25M buyout of Martin Healthcare Group, a 40- year-old staffing and clinical care business serving post-acute care hospitals. HNI has raised approx. $55M to date from investors including Bison Capital and Spindletop Capital.
  • Javelin Networks, a cybersecurity company defending enterprises against active directory-based attacks, has been acquired by cybersecurity giant Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), for an undisclosed sum, but Pitchbook has the price at $25M. Javelin was founded in Israel and relocated its HQ from Palo Alto, where it still has offices, to Austin in 2014. Javelin had raised $5M from RSL Capital, Hillsven and UpWest Labs.
  • Medici, an Austin telemedicine platform simplifying interactions between doctors and patients, is acquiring DocbookMD, an Austinbased physician communication application. DocbookMD was acquired by Scrypt in 2016 for an undisclosed amount, and Medici has raised over $50M to date from investors including Dell, Publix and Swordfish Investments.
  • Welcome Commerce, a conversation platform that helps brands connect with consumers, was acquired by Salsify, a product experience management platform with 250 employees, for an undisclosed amount. Welcome raised approx. $22M from investors including Costanoa Venture Capital, FirstMark Capital, and Lerer Ventures.
  • Bidlily, a fraternity and sorority recruitment management software company, was acquired by Togetherwork, via its financial sponsor GI Partners, for an undisclosed amount.

Austin People

  • TrustRadius, a customer voice and insights platform for B2B technology, has made several key hires. Scott Brittain was named VP of engineering, Andrew Lamb became VP of sales, Russ Somers is the new VP of marketing and Tom Sloss is the new VP of finance. Brittain was previously CTO at Snap Kitchen. Lamb was a senior director of sales at ObjectRocket. Somers is a former marketing leader at TrendKite, and Sloss is the former SVP of Finance at OutboundEngine. TrustRadius has raised approx. $13M from investors including LiveOak Venture Partners.
  • RF Code, a real-time physical asset management and environmental monitoring solutions for data centers, appointed Dale Quayle as its new CEO. Quayle is the former CEO of Digital Fuel and Integrien. RF Code recently raised $6.6M from existing investors including Charline Capital Partners and Intel Capital, and has raised approx. $59M to date.
  • TurnKey Vacation Rentals, a rental property management platform, appointed Chris Elam as vice president of guest experience. Elam was previously the vice president of global reservations at Hyatt Hotels. Turnkey has raised approx. $72M from investors including Adams Street Partners and Silverton Partners.
  • BuildGroup, an investment firm that raised $330M to invest in software companies, named Tanner Cerand as VP of investment research. Cerand was previously director of business development at Vista Equity Partners.
  • David Edmonson, executive director of the Austin Tech Alliance, is stepping down from his role. ATA’s board is now launching a search for a new director. Austin Tech Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit building a culture of civic engagement in Austin’s tech sector

Austin News

  • Austin was at one point on the shortlist for the location of Amazon’s second headquarters, but the company is reportedly choosing two (not one) other locations. Amazon is working on a deal to move into both the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City and the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, VA
  • Tech now makes up 25% of all office jobs in Austin. Austin’s tech workers only made up 16% of the office-dwelling population in 2011. Austin ranks No. 6 among the top 30 tech markets, in terms of office space usage and growth.
  • Walmart and Microsoft are expanding Walmart’s technology center in Austin. Approx. 30 technologists and engineers from both Walmart and Microsoft will work together in a “cloud factory” at Fourth and Colorado, which it expects to open in early 2019.
  • Austin tech companies raised $115M in October
  • Vista Equity makes another investment from smaller, $500M Endeavor Fund, buying into Portland data breach response company Radar. The fund is designed for investing in businesses that are under $30M in revenue, which are too small for the group’s other funds.
  • These 4 tech companies just opened new Austin offices, including Quake Capital Partners, Sana Benefits, Honor, and Resideo.
  • Dell Technologies Inc. could sweeten its offer to buy out owners of a tracking stock in order to return to the public markets.
  • HyperScience, a Spokane, Wash.-based startup using a hypersonic blaster with potential applications in oil and gas, is opening an Austin office
  • WeWork may build its own tower in downtown Austin
  • Broadcast Music, Inc. a music rights licensing company, is opening its first creative office in Austin.
  • Yotta Solar, a developer of a solar-powered battery, has been accepted into Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator
  • PepsiCo announced several Texas startups for its new Nutrition Greenhouse program, who receive $20K grants and mentorship — as well as competing for a $100K prize. Those include: Austin sugar-free kids drink maker Hapi Drinks; San Antonio grain-free snack maker Wildway; and Fort Worth nutrition supplement maker Too Fit.

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Thank you!
Mason Rathe
Phone: (713) 824-4079
Twitter: @mason_rathe
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