Meet Austin Inno's 2021 Fire Awards winners in the fintech and security category below. See all 50 Fire Awards winners in each category by clicking here.
This cybersecurity company went from zero to 100 (in terms of funding) in the blink of an eye. A $110 million round announced in June was the first outside funding for Brinqa, which has built a platform that allows businesses to evaluate their cyber risks. Thomas Krane, principal at lead investor Insight Partners, called Brinqa “a rare example of a bootstrapped cybersecurity company whose vision and focus have enabled them to land some of the world’s largest companies as customers.” Those have included Morningstar, Nestlé and Warner Media. Hilda Perez founded the business in 2009 and remains president, while Amad Fida is CEO.
Led by serial entrepreneur Dean Drako, Eagle Eye is taking a long-time element of physical security into the cloud. Its platform that allows customers to plug different cameras into a system to store and analyze video surveillance footage continues to gain traction: revenue growth of 403% from 2017 to 2020 ranked it No. 307 in the U.S. — and seventh in Austin — on the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. CEO Drako sees technology helping video surveillance evolve beyond security to help businesses use video for training and operations. The company, which raised $40 million from Accel last fall, announced in September 2021 the acquisition of India-based Uncanny Vision, which developed tech to recognize license plates.
You might not recognize this company at first glance, but it can certainly recognize you. FaceFirst just relocated to Austin from Los Angeles a few months ago. The startup has created facial recognition software; it can be used to spot criminals in a crowd, yes, but the company has also touted wider potential, like helping retailers ID customers and their buying history when they walk into a shop. While the company has not commented on any recent funding, in September it filed paperwork with the SEC indicating it had sold about $11 million in equity. The company was founded in 2007 and is led by CEO and Chairman Dan Merkle.
Ontic was having a busy 2021 even before it announced a $40 million series B round in mid-November. It had added dozens of employees and moved into a larger HQ. Now the company, which has a platform to detect and investigate physical threats in places of business, said it will use the money — the round was led by JMI Equity — to develop new products, reach new markets and bring on even more hires. Ontic has raised a total of $58 million since it was founded in 2017 by CEO Lukas Quanstrom, Chief Strategy Officer Thomas Kopecky and CTO Gagan Jain. In September, it bought Sigma Threat Management Associates.
Remember when apps were new, fun and novel? Now they pervade almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives. That opens up new ways for companies to be hacked. Enter Invicti Security, a company that in October raised $625 million in a majority investment from Summit Partners. Born out of a 2018 merger of Netsparker and Acunetix, Invicti has a globally distributed workforce, including new CEO Michael George, who splits his time between Boston, Austin and Europe. But the application security software developer has a growing hub near St. Elmo in South Austin, with more than 70 employees today.
Data is hugely valuable for companies. It can also be a huge liability. Altr’s software allows a business to sort, analyze and protect data, including by limiting who can access sensitive information. After rolling out this year integration with the cloud offerings of Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), Altr in April touted customers such as HumanN, The Zebra and Q2 using the feature.
The 5G future will require more powerful and smaller computer chips. Mythic is helping the tech world get there with a new take on chip architecture. Its chips make devices on the “edge” — those connecting different networks — smarter and more capable of handling large amounts of data. It announced a $50 million series C round in May — giving the company founded in 2012 more than $165 million in funding to date.
This firm started in 2017 was perfectly primed to ride the wave of public interest in cryptocurrencies and investing of the past year-plus. Founders Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain were early crypto enthusiasts who spent a lot of time writing about the opportunities in blockchain financing. Now they’re raising a $250 million third fund, on the heels of announcing the close of their $100 million second fund in May. Multicoin Capital has invested in cryptocurrencies, tokens and crypto-related companies, such as Beta Finance, Worldcoin and LayerZero.
Who knew there was money to be made in helping people improve their credit scores? That is Self Financial’s specialty, and the company this fall raised a $50 million series E funding to do even more of it. Self issues credit-builder loans — the borrower doesn’t actually get any capital, but as they make on-time payments against the balance, their credit improves. It’s a booming business: Founder and CEO James Garvery said in September that revenue was up 100% year over year, and the headcount was up to 200, compared with about 80 at the start of the year.
By not becoming too specialized, Eventus Systems is growing from heightened interest in both traditional stock market investing and alternative investments, such as Bitcoin. The company makes software that tracks and analyzes risks in financial markets. It announced in September a $30 million series B funding round led by Centana Growth Partners — giving it $48.5 million in venture funding since its founding in 2014. Eventus is led by CEO Travis Schwab.
