Top image via Pixabay. CC0 Creative Commons
It's not every month that Austin gets to celebrate a potentially huge exit. Heck, it's not even every year that an Austin tech company files for an initial public offering.
But October brought the first tech IPO filing in the area in years, as SailPoint filed a Form S-1 with the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission, indicating its plans to raise $100 million on the public markets. The identity management and cybersecurity company generated $150 million in sales for the 12 months ending June 30. Along with the IPO, it announced plans to lease a new space for its Austin headquarters.
Meanwhile, two Austin companies were acquired in October. And five others made acquisitions of their own.
The month also brought several major investments for Austin tech startups, including a $15 million Series A for Tethr, an artificial intelligence startup, and an $8 million round from Austin VC firms and angel investors for AlertMedia.
Now, here’s a look at all the funding events and acquisitions from Austin area companies in October.
Angel Investments, Venture Capital and Private Equity Fundings
- Bitfusion.io Inc., a software company that helps AI developers interact on projects and more quickly develop and deploy applications, reported raising $1 million in debt funding. That follows the company's $5 million Series A led by Vanedge Capital back in May. Other investors include Data Collective, Resonant VC, Emergent Ventures, INSEAD Angels and Geekdom.
- Lettuce, a subscription-based local meat and produce delivery startup, raised $541K in equity funding from three unnamed investors, a federal filing shows.
- ESO Solutions Inc., a software company that focuses on fire and ambulance technology, reported raising $15.5 million in equity funding, per this SEC filing. The new money appears likely to be tied to ESO Solution's Oct. 3 acquisition of the FIREHOUSE software suite previously owned by Conduent Government Systems (more on that below). The company previously raised $17.6 million in growth-equity funding led by Accel-KKR LLC, a Menlo Park-based investment firm.
- QVINCI Software, LLC, which makes software to consolidate financial reporting, reported raising $5 million in equity funding. The company, founded in 2007 by Charles Nagel, reported raising $2.4 million in January 2016 and $3.4 million in October 2015.
- Baxter Planning Systems, a supply chain SaaS company, announced a $25 million growth investment from Boston-based Polaris Partners, per Term Sheet. Dan Lombard, a partner at Polaris, and Bryce Youngren, managing partner at Polaris, will both join Baxter's board of directors.
- Lili Qiu, founder of Hauoli, which develops motion tracking technologies, was awarded a $750,000 National Science Foundation grant. Qiu was part of DivInc's first accelerator cohort.
- Xplosion Tech, which makes wearable technologies and is in DivInc's second accelerator cohort, closed on $30,000 in their pre-seed round.
- AlertMedia, which makes mass communication emergency and threat-monitoring alerts for large-scale, logistics-heavy companies like H-E-B, announced it raised an $8 million Series B led by Next Coast Ventures -- with continued investment from ATX Seed Ventures. Its other prior investors include Silverton Partners and Capital Factory, and it also attracted significant angel investment in Austin.
- Austin Eastciders Holdings, Inc., the company making those tasty canned ciders you see at pretty much every bar, restaurant and bottle shop, reported raising $5 million in equity funding from eight unnamed investors. The company was founded by Ed Gibson and Mark King and is led by CEO Johnny Heiselberg. It has had investment from Sweet Leaf Tea founders David Smith and Clayton Christopher (who is also a board member).
- Certain Affinity, one of Austin's biggest and most successful gaming studios, announced Hong Kong-based Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited acquired a minority stake in the company. Leyou Technologies invested $10 million for a 20 percent ownership stake in Certain Affinity. That follows a $5 million infusion from Austin private investment firm Capstar Partners in August. Leyou retains an option to buy all the remaining shares of Certain Affinity in 2021 based on an undisclosed valuation formula that won’t exceed $150 million. Certain Affinity was founded in 2006.
- Real Savvy, Inc., the real estate startup founded by former TabbedOut CEO Rick Orr, reported raising $1 million in new debt funding from two unnamed investors. That, per SEC filings, follows a $2.7 million round of equity funding last year, and roughly $750,000 in other equity and debt funding. The 2016 round came from FF Angel, which is part of Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund; Stephen Oskoui, a venture partner at Founders Fund; and Capital Factory.
- Tethr, a startup launched by two former Best Buy corporate workers in 2012, is adding to that cluster of highly-valued startups leveraging AI. The company announced a $15 million Series A led by Grotech Ventures, a Vienna, Va.-based early-stage venture capital firm, and MissionOG, an early and growth stage B2B firm based in Philadelphia. Tethr is actually a product of CollabIP Inc. -- though the company largely brands itself as Tethr.
- AppClose, Inc., an Austin company with a co-parenting app, raised an additional $505,000, according to a new SEC filing. That adds to the $335,000 the company raised in March this year. The company's app, which helps divorced parents communicate and schedule, launched last year.
- Compassionate Buds, LLC, a local pharmaceutical company with little web presence, reported raising $350,000 in equity funding from six unnamed investors. The company's only listed director is Thomas C. Amiss, a local real estate agent. The company just formed in late September.
Acquisitions & IPOs
- SailPoint, an Austin-based identity management and cybersecurity company, filed preliminary paperwork for an initial public offering. The company, founded in 2005 by Mark McClain, Kevin Cunningham and Jackie Gilbert, is looking to raise $100 million through the IPO. No word yet on how many shares will be offered or at what price.
- Austin-based Asure Software Inc. (NASDAQ:ASUR) acquired Birmingham-based Associated Data Services. No financial details provided. ADS is a 40-year-old company that provides HR and payroll services to small- and mid-sized businesses in Alabama. Asure, meanwhile, has been on a tear in recent months. This is its sixth acquisition this year.
- Novati Technologies, an Austin-based company that makes semiconductors, was acquired by Albuquerque-based Skorpios Technologies Inc., the ABJ reported. Novati, founded in 2012, will lose its name and assume Skorpios'. No financial details were released. But it seems the fast-growing company probably fetched a high price given it reported $40 million in revenue last year -- that was up from $4.6 million in 2012. The company makes chips for healthcare companies and the defense industry.
- Austin-based Goodybag Inc. was acquired by Bite Squad, which also operates here. Minneapolis-based Bite Squad has gobbled up 16 other food-delivery startups nationwide, the ABJ reported. No financial details shared.
- Austin's ESO Solutions, which makes software for emergency response services, has acquired the FIREHOUSE Software business previously owned by Conduent Government Systems, which is based near Des Moines. The acquisition gives ESO Solutions new tools and clients in the healthcare and fire service sectors. The FIREHOUSE software suite is used by about 11,000 fire departments nationwide.
- Austin's Threshold, a marketing firm, has acquired Carve Creative + Strategy, which is based in Ontario, Canada. The combined firm will now be called Threshold/Carve. No financial details provided.
- Seranova, an Austin call center software maker, is acquiring Dallas-based Telstrat. Telstrat, founded in 1993, provides call recording, quality, analytics and workforce management solutions. You might recall that last year Seranova emerged as part of a rebranding of LiveOps Cloud as Seranova. No word on how much Seranova is paying to acquire Telstrat.
- Magnitude Software, an Austin analytics and data management software company, has acquired Agility Multichannel, a product information management company based in the United Kingdom. No word on financial terms. Magnitude raised $100 million in capital investment led by Audax Group in 2014. This acquisition follows the company's 2016 buyout of Simba Technologies.
