Top image via Pixabay. CC0 Creative Commons
Austin tech startups have had a strong 2017, so far, according to new data compiled by Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. Area startups raised more than $486M in Q2 this year -- that's 73% more than Q2 2016.
And, looking at the first six months combined, the ABJ reports that Austin startups drew $675M through the end of June -- up from $551M in the first half of 2016.
We write about tech and startup funding deals in the Beat newsletter, where we also report all of the day’s top Austin tech and startup news and share links to other interesting stories.
Now, here’s a look at the top deals we’ve seen through SEC filings and company announcements in August.
Angel Investments, Venture Capital and Private Equity Funding (August 2017)
- Convey, a shipping and delivery software startup, closed an $8.25M Series B funding round. The round was led by Techstars Venture Capital Fund, with participation from RPM Ventures and other investors. Techstars was also part of Convey’s $4.5M Series A in June 2016, along with Silverton Partners, Capital Factory and Corsa Ventures. This new funding round brings Convey’s venture capital funding to $15.7M since its launch in 2013.
- Waterloo Sparking Water, a new canned water startup, closed on a $3.2M round. The company is led by industry veterans -- Mighty Swell founder Sean Cusack, Deep Eddy Vodka head of marketing Brandon Cason and Treaty Oak owner Daniel Barnes.
- Upland Software, a cloud-based enterprise work management application company, announced a $200M credit facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance and CIT Bank. According to a release, Upland will use the capital infusion towards acquisitions.
- Certain Affinity, the maker of the "Call of Duty" and "Halo" series video games, has raised $5M of equity funding from a single investor, a new federal filing shows. The company has generated more than $100M in revenue in the past 10-plus years, and it has recently moved to a new headquarters in north-central Austin. It has 121 full-time employees and plans to hire 180 more by 2020. Company executives declined to comment on the funding.
- Vyze, a fintech startup that helps retailers give consumers more financing options at checkout, raised a $13.1M Series C led by Austin Ventures, the company announced. New York-based Starvest Partners, which was in on Vyze’s Series B, also contributed to the deal — as did newcomer Fathom Capital, which was created by a former Austin Ventures associate John Komkov. As part of the Series C deal, Ken DeAngelis, co-founder and general partner at Austin Ventures, will join Vyze’s board of directors. Austin Ventures, as you may recall, stopped making new early-stage startup investments in 2015. But it continues to make follow-on investments in portfolio companies.
- Press, an on-demand laundry and dry cleaning startup, raised a $500K seed round from a group of high-profile Austin investors. Investors include Convey founder Rob Taylor, 1-800-Contacts founder JonathanCoon, Sparefoot co-founders Chuck Gordon and Mario Feghali, former SolarWinds CEO Mike Bennett and Capital Factory. Press was founded in 2015 and got its start in the Austin area before entering Capital Factory's accelerator program and expanding to Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Oklahoma City and Chicago.
- LVL Technologies, Inc., a startup that makes a wearable hydration monitor, reported raising $7.2M in equity funding from eight unnamed investors. The company, also known as BSX Athletics, launched LVL last year. The wearable measures hydration in real time, and it measures heart rate, calories and sleep quality. Its Kickstarter campaign raised $1.1M from 7,501 backers -- it had sought to raise only $50K. Among those listed on LVL's board is Shankar Chandran, managing director at Samsung Catalyst Fund.
- Mangstor, Inc., an Austin data storage startup, reported raising $7M in new equity funding. The company's website says it's undergoing an epic redesign. It was founded in 2011 by Trevor Smith and Ashwin Kamath, according to CrunchBase. The company has been quiet on social media since last year. SEC filings show Mangstor has raised about $24M since 2013.
- ClearBlade, an IoT software platform, raised $2.6M in equity funding, a new SEC filing shows. This follows a $2.3M round in November last year.
- Molecular Templates, a clinical stage biopharma company, reported raising $60M in equity funding across two new SEC filings. The $40M equity financing was led by Longitude Capital. An additional $20M came from CAM Capital, BVF, Perceptive Advisors and others, including certain affiliates of Molecular Templates. The reporting follows the Aug. 2 completion of its merger with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- High Brew Coffee, Inc., an canned coffee company, reported raising an additional $5.2M, which adds to the prior $11.2M round.
- SecureLink said it received a strategic investment from Vista Equity Partners, a big private equity firm with a primary office in Austin. The company didn't disclose how much was invested. But it said the new money comes from Vista’s Endeavor Fund, which targets small cap enterprise software and data businesses. SecureLink, which was founded in 2003 and provides third-party access and remote support, says it has 400-plus customers in highly-regulated industries, including financial, legal and gaming.
- Outdoor Voices Inc., an outdoor clothing company, raised $6.5M in debt funding, a new SEC filing shows. The startup, founded in 2013 by Tyler Haney, opened its first retail store in Austin in 2014, and it opened another store in Manhattan last year after raising a $13M round of equity funding.
- Veggie Noodle Co., the makers of spiraled squash, zucchini and sweet potato noodles, got a minority equity investment from San Francisco-based private equity firm Encore Consumer Capital, the company announced. No word on how much money was involved. But Veggie Noodle Co. has had a hot start since Mason Arnold launched it about two years ago. It's now in thousands of stores, including Whole Foods and H.E.B.
- We reported earlier that SparkCognition won a Department of Defense Defense Innovation Unit Experimental award. But it wasn't until Aug. 18 that we knew how much money that represented. The ABJ reports SparkCognition is getting $1.1M to help the U.S. Air Force use resources more efficiently. ABJ reporting also showed the AI startup now has annual revenue in the "eight figures."
- Active Capital I LP, a local venture capital fund, raised an additional $13M, bringing its fund to a total of $20M, the San Antonio Business Journal reported. Active Capital was formed by Rackspace co-founder Pat Condon and former executives Pat Matthews and Cat Dizon.
- Guild Travel, LLC, which made a platform for renting out higher-end modern condos to short-term renters, has raised about $1.3M in new debt funding, SEC filings show. The startup bills itself as "boutique accommodation amongst the locals." It features properties in Austin with high-quality photos and shares local insights about the neighborhoods where those properties are located. The company was co-founded by Brian Carrico and Chris Herndon.
- CrowdOut Capital, a fintech startup, raised $4M in debt funding, an SEC filing shows. The company, led by CEO Alexander Schoenbaum, is a platform for investors that specializes in loans to middle and lower middle market companies.
Acquisitions
- Forcepoint, a cybersecurity company formerly known as Raytheon Websense, acquired Baltimore-based security analytics startup RedOwl. No financial terms were shared. This follows two other Forcepoint acquisitions in recent years -- Stonesoft (January 2016), Skyfence (February 2017).
- GloFish, an Austin company making bioluminescent pet fish, sold its IP for $50M, the ABJ reported. Yorktown Technologies LP sold its GloFish brand and intellectual property to Madison-based Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. GloFish was founded in 2001 by Alan Blake and Richard Crockett.
- Amazon completed its $13.7B acquisition of Whole Foods. And it had an immediate impact at the cash register. The company dropped prices on a wide range of foods, including organic avocados, brown eggs, organic salmon, almond butter and more.
