Austin Weekly Deal Highlights(6-24-18)

Austin Weekly Deal Highlights

Austin Weekly Deal Highlights for June 17th, 2018

From: “Mason Rathe” <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, 24 June 2018 21:34
To: [email protected]
Subject: Austin Weekly Deal Highlights 6-24-18

Austin Weekly Deal Highlights for June 24th, 2018 by Mason Rathe

Austin ranked as the 3rd best economy in the US…. can’t say I’m surprised, I drank the Kool-Aid a long time ago. Looks like our heat wave brought on a wave of acquisitions, including PayPal’s $400M purchase of Hyperwallet. Bringing you the Austin Weekly Deal Highlights, as you enjoy that precious AC.

Austin Financing Activity

  • Convey, a supply chain visibility platform, announced $10M in funding from investors including Silverton Partners, Techstars RPM Ventures, and NextGen, bringing the company’s total funding to $25.75M.
  • NewChip, an equity marketplace for startup financing, raised $2M of seed funding from Youbi Capital, Polymath Ventures, and JadeValue Incubator. NewChip has raised $3.3M to date.
  • Shelfbucks, provider of a supply chain optimization platform, raised $1.6M in debt and other types of funding from six investors. The company has raised approximately $15M to date.

Austin M&A Activity

  • PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL) has agreed to acquire Austin-based Hyperwallet, a leading global payout platform, for $400M in cash. Hyperwallet was founded in 2000 and moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Austin in 2016. They received an undisclosed PE investment from Bratenahl Capital Partners and Primus Capital Funds in 2014.
  • Genstar Capital agreed to acquire DrillingInfo, an Austin-based provider of business-critical insights over mobile platforms to oil and gas industries. Genstar will become the majority shareholder of the business, with Insight Venture Partners retaining a significant minority stake after their $165M control investment in 2012. Drillinginfo has acquired 10 companies since it was founded in 1999.
  • TPG Growth and The Rise Fund agreed to acquire CLEAResult, an Austin-based provider of energy efficiency solutions for utility companies. General Atlantic is selling the company after buying it in 2013. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
  • Siemens AG has agreed to acquire Austin-based electronic design automation tools provider Austemper Design Systems Inc, for an undisclosed amount.
  • London-based fintech firm Finastra acquired Austin-based Malauzai, a provider of mobile and Internet banking solutions, for an undisclosed amount. Malauzai has raised over $20M to date.

Other Relevant Deal Activity

  • Dallas-based dating site operator Match Group acquired a majority stake in dating app Hinge for an undisclosed amount. Match Group already owns dating apps Tinder, OkCupid and Match, and has tried to acquire Austin-based Bumble.
  • Liongard, a Houston-based provider of unifying and maintaining system documentation for MSPs, raised $1.25M in seed funding. Investors include Station Houston Ventures, Gestalt Cybersecurity, and the Houston Angel Network.
  • SitePro, a Lubbock-based digital oilfield water management company, raised funding of an undisclosed amount. Cottonwood Venture Partners led the round.
  • Toronto-based GroupBy, provider of relevancy-focused eCommerce solutions, raised an undisclosed Series B funding from PeakSpan Capital that will allow them to double the size of their operations in Austin.

Austin People

  • Aceable, the education company and creators of the driver’s ed and real estate education apps, hired Chief Revenue Officer Eric Seifert, VP of Marketing Ben Opps, VP of Engineering Derrick Mar, and VP of Content Emily Lawrence.
  • Civitas, the Austin-based education management platform, hired Jenny Fuller as its vice president of people operations. She joins Civitas from HR and recruiting consulting company It’s All About Talent, where she served as President.
  • Firefly Aerospace, an Austin-based developer of orbital launch vehicles for the satellite market, hired Leslie Kovacs as its vice president of business development. Kovacs most recently served at United Launch Alliance as the director of executive branch affairs.
  • Tethr, an AI-powered platform for big businesses that gathers insights from audio calls, hired Matt Dixon as chief product and research officer and Dean Cruse as VP of marketing. Dixon was previously with Korn Ferry Hay Group, and Cruse was previously with Union Metrics.
  • The University of Texas hired Chris Sedore as its VP and chief information officer. He was previously president and CEO of the New York State Education and Research Network.

Austin News

  • Booming Austin topples rest of Texas to become a top economic powerhouse in U.S. Austin had the second highest rate of job growth among the 40 largest metro areas. Business Insider ranked Austin as the 3rd best economy in the US.
  • Oracle to put first U.S. accelerator at Austin’s Capital Factory. The new accelerator won’t take equity in startups and will offer its cohort companies access to 430K-plus Oracle customers.
  • BidPrime, an Austin startup that offers government contracting bid listings online, is suing similar startup SmartProcure for allegedly stealing those listings from its database.
  • Apollo Endosurgery, a lap-Band med device company, sets public offering to raise more than $20M.
  • Here are Austin’s 2018 Coolest Companies Finalists.
  • Houston-based e-discovery software provider DISCO has signed up Austin law firm Sanders Bajwa, LLP. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. DISCO is venture backed by investors including LiveOak Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.
  • Fairway Technologies, a provider of technology consulting and software development services which is based in California, selected Austin as its first, out-of-state location.
  • FloSports, an online sports broadcasting and content startup, has laid off an undisclosed number of employees.
  • Inside GM’s Austin tech center, one of city’s many corporate innovation hubs.

Upcoming Events

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