Austin tech companies and startups had a massive month in April. Meanwhile, local companies reported several major acquisitions and mergers. Plus, at least two venture firms announced they've raised new money to invest in Austin startups.
A few quick highlights:
- BigCommerce, a fast-growing ecommerce platform, closed a $64 million growth equity deal led by Goldman Sachs.
- PeopleAdmin, an Austin ed tech software company that helps institutions recruit and onboard teachers and find substitutes, is merging with PowerSchool, creating a combined company valued at about $3 billion.
- Trust Ventures, a newly-launched venture capital firm that is partnered with Koch Industries, has opened up shop in Austin and is raising up to $50 million to invest in disruptive startups.
Those are just some of the top deals from last month. Below, we’ve listed all the local tech startup funding announcements, mergers, acquisitions and venture capital fund activity from March 2018.
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Austin Startup Funding
BigCommerce closed a $64 million growth equity deal led by Goldman Sachs. It’s likely to be the company’s last big funding before an IPO or some other form of exit. BigCommerce’s existing investors General Catalyst, GGV Capital and Tenaya Capital also pitched in on the new round. The new money will help BigCommerce compete with other major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce.
Dosh, an Austin startup providing automatic rebates on a variety of purchases through its app, closed a $44 milion Series A financing round led by Goodwater Capital, PayPal and others. It appears to be the largest Series A for an Austin startup in recent memory. Dosh previously raised $18.4 million since its 2015 founding. Most recently, it added $4.9 million in its fourth seed round. Investors in that included Goodwater Capital, Extol Capital and Austin’s Next Coast Ventures.
YouEarnedIt, a software company specializing in employer/employee retention and performance management, announced it landed a strategic investment from Vista Equity Partners’ Endeavor Fund. Austin’s Silverton Partners and San Francisco’s Ridge Ventures also contributed to the investment. The company didn’t say how much was invested. As part of the deal, YouEarnedIt added James Mann, former COO of Twyla, as its CFO and Michael Logan, VP of sales at Base CRM, as executive VP of sales. YouEarnedIt, which made it to the Final Four of Austin Inno’s Tech Madness competition, has more than doubled in size since raising its Series A funding round in January last year. They now have 75 employees.
PullRequest, a startup providing on-demand code review, raised $8 million in new money in a Series A led by Gradient Ventures. Prior investors include The Slack Fund, Fika Ventures, Lynett Capital, FundersClub, Defy Ventures and Liquid2 Ventures, created by former NFL star Joe Montana. The startup was founded in May this year. It was in San Francisco in the Y Combinator accelerator last summer.
TheWaveVR secured a $6 million Series A funding round to expand its VR concert experiences and grow its social network within the platform. The founders even signed a term sheet inside its VR platform. The investment was led by RRE Ventures in New York, which has backed companies including Venmo, Giphy and Palantir. Other investors included Upfront Ventures, KPCB, Greycroft VR Gaming Tracker Fund, The VR Fund and Capital Factory. Angel and strategic investors include Giphy co-founder Alex Chung, General Assembly co-founder Matt Brimer and Andy Ross from OK Go.
inKind Cards, an Austin-based startup with an app to create house accounts for prepaid restaurant customers, has raised about $5.2 million in equity and debt funding, according to an SEC filing. The startup was founded by Johann Moonesinghe, who previously founded madKast (acquired by ShareThis) and has invested in other startups and restaurants. It creates house accounts for restaurants that allow customers to pay through their app and get discounts for their loyalty.
Student Loan Genius, an Austin-based startup that assists employers as they work with employees to drive down their student loan debt, has raised a $4.7 million round of equity financing, according to a Form D. The startup, which previously raised a $3 million seed round, had targeted a $5.8 million round.
Metricstory, a Seattle data analytics company that went through Techstars Austin in 2015, has closed a $2 million round led by Seven Peaks Ventures and Birchmere Ventures, GeekWire reported. The round also included prior investors Elementum Ventures, Wisemont Capital and San Antonio-based Geekdom Fund.
TFF Pharmaceuticals, an Austin-based biopharma company working on dry powder drugs that are inhaled by people with lung conditions, has closed a $14 million Series A funding round. The funding was sourced by Liquid Venture Partners, which is part of National Securities Corporation, which is owned by National Holdings.
Olea Edge, an Austin startup making advanced monitoring systems for water meters, has raised $3.1 million in equity funding, according to a Form D. The company was founded in 2014, and it is led by CEO Dave Mackie.
MineralSoft, an oil and gas investment management software startup, reported in February it had closed a $4 million Series A round led by Houston-based Cottonwood Venture Partners. Today, a new Form D shows that the round grew to $5.1M. The Austin startup, founded in 2015, recently partnered with fellow Austin oil and gas startup DrillingInfo. MineralSoft recently moved its headquarters to a larger facility. It plans to expand its marketing and sales teams.
Waterloo Sparkling Water reported raising $4 million in debt funding as it carves out a space in the increasingly crowded market. The company’s founders and executives include Sean Cusack, an investment advisor at UBS and co-founder of Mighty Swell; Clayton Christopher, who co-founded Sweet Leaf Tea and Deep Eddy Vodka before co-founding CAVU Venture Partners; Brandon Cason, who is CMO at Waterloo and former VP of marketing at Deep Eddy; and Bader Alam, a senior VP at CAVU and former VP at Bespoke Capital Partners.
Banyan Water reported raising about $927,000 in equity funding of a planned $2 million round. The startup uses real-time data analytics to help businesses monitor water systems to save money on leaks and other disruptions.
Klaris Diagnostics, an Austin startup analyzing and predicting the right antibiotics to use, has raised $3.5 million in equity funding, according to an SEC filing. The biotech startup was founded by Nicolas Arab, Bryan Gammon and Ross Johnson.
ZEEP Inc., an Austin methanol plant developer, reported raising $3 million in new equity funding. It’s the latest in a string of about 20 investments the company has landed since 2008. The company is also the co-owner and lead developer of South Louisiana Methanol.
Core 20/20 LLC, an Austin-based management advisory service for big regional banks, has raised $1.5 million in new equity funding, according to a federal filing. The funding came from a single, unnamed investor.
ClearCam, which makes an intraoperative disposable laparoscope lens cleaner, won the $150K Houston Angel Network Investment Prize, as well as the $25,000 Texas Business Hall of Fame Best of Texas Prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston. ClearCam was one of only two Texas teams to win a major prize.
Veros Systems, an Austin-based startup with tech to monitor industrial motors, has raised $3 million in equity funding, according to a new SEC filing. The new money came from five unnamed investors. Veros previously raised $2.8 million in equity funding in 2014, $5.9 million in 2013 and $715,000 in equity and debt in 2012. Its prior investors have included Chevron Technology Ventures, Austin Ventures and LiveOak Venture Partners. It also received a $1.5M grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund in 2010. The company was founded by Texas A&M University professor Alex Parlos.
BeatBox Beverages, an Austin-based wine-based beverage company that has landed investment from Mark Cuban, has reported raising $1.6 million in new equity funding. The new money adds to a prior round of $2.7 million reported in April last year.
Revolution Insurance Technologies, an Austin company that makes software and tools for insurance agents, raised $1 million in new equity funding, per this Form D. The company is led by CEO Greg Feste, and its previous investors include Cagan McAfee Capital Partners.
TreeHouse, an Austin-based home improvement store with eco-friendly products, reported raising an additional $2.4 million in equity funding and other securities, per this Form D. The new money adds to an existing funding round, which now totals $4.5 million.
Easy Expunctions, a San Antonio startup that helps you clean up your criminal background, won Capital Factory‘s $100,000 San Antonio Startup Challenge on Tuesday evening, according to the Rivard Report. The company emerged from 100 applications that was whittled down to six finalists.
AdBm Technologies, an Austin acoustical engineering company, reported raising about $181,000 in equity funding. That follows about $1.9 million in prior equity funding since 2014. The company’s acoustical tech started with research at The University of Texas at Austin’s Applied Research Laboratories.
The Waggle Company, a Charlotte-based dog walking startup that’s in Techstars Austin, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding from Kansas City-based Firebrand Ventures. Firebrand Ventures Managing Director John Fein told me his firm’s investment adds to the $750K in funding the startup raised in Charlotte and elsewhere.
DroneSense, a startup making video and data software for drones used by public safety officials, received a strategic, minority investment from FLIR Systems, an Oregon-based maker of sensor systems for environmental monitoring, security and other use cases. DroneSense was founded in 2015 by Christopher Eyhorn and Gerard Juarez.
GitLinks Inc., an Austin-based maker of software to monitor open-source code inventory and licensing, reported raising about $555,000 in new equity capital. The company was founded in 2016 by Cornell Tech grads Ian Folau and Nwamaka Imasogie.
Acquisitions, Mergers and IPOs
Austin self-storage marketplace SpareFoot is acquiring SiteLink, which makes software for self-storage businesses and was founded in Raleigh in 1996. In a related move, Boston-based private equity firm Cove Hill Partners has acquired a majority stake in the combined company. SpareFoot CEO Chuck Gordon will lead the company as CEO. Ross Lampe will remain president of SiteLink, which will continue to be headquartered in Raleigh.
PeopleAdmin, an Austin edtech software company that helps institutions recruit and onboard teachers and find substitutes, is merging with PowerSchool, Reuters reported. Both companies are owned by Vista Equity Partners, and the deal was facilitated by an investment from Onex Corp. The combined company is said to be valued at about $3 billion.
Asure Software, which makes software for human resource and workplace management professionals, announced it has acquired the customer portfolio of payroll platform Evolution HCM, a division of Wells Fargo Business Payroll Services. The company also announced it has acquired Austin HR, which provides outsourced human resource services, including payroll, benefits, recruiting and development. Terms of the deals weren’t released. Asure also announced it is acquiring OccupEye Limited, a sensor technology company built out of Cad-Capture Data Services in the United Kingdom in 2012.
Executive Answers, an Austin software consulting firm, agreed to be acquired by Menlo Park, California-based Winning By Design. Executive Answers founder and CEO Ryan Cahill will become a partner at Winning By Design and lead the Austin office.
Banker’s Toolbox, a risk management and money laundering detection company, is acquiring Georgia-based MainStreet Technologies, a loan risk management startup. Banker’s Toolbox is backed by private equity firm Accel-KKR. It was founded by Daniel Cho in 2000.
San Francisco-based Pivotal Software, a cloud-software company majority-owned by Dell Technologies, has raised $555 million in its initial public offering and will trade on the NYSE as PVTL, which kind of sounds like someone’s XBox Live name. The tech company priced 37 million shares at $15, giving it a fully-diluted market cap of $4.3 billion.
Austin’s Great Feats, a social engagement and fundraising startup, is being acquired by OneCause, a mobile fundraising startup that helps nonprofits raise money. Great Feats co-founders John Abraham, Dave Hart and Amy Van Wyngarden will join OneCause as part of the deal. No financial details were provided.
Austin lighting company, Ketra, is being acquired by Pennsylvania-based Luton Electronics for an undisclosed price. Ketra was founded in 2009 and provides customizable lighting for retailers, businesses and homes that can be controlled through an app or integrated with Amazon Alexa.
Austin-based Miratech, maker of enterprise legal management software, has acquired ThinkSmart, a San Francisco-based software startup. Deal terms weren’t disclosed. Miratech, founded in 1987, has made several previous acquisitions, including Hitech Laboratoriesand CMO Software Ltd. in 2016. At that time, the ABJ reported the company had 300 employees, including 120 in Austin. It was previously backed by Vista Equity Partners and was purchased by Boston-baed TA Associates Management LP.
Venture Fund Activity
Trust Ventures, a newly-launched venture capital firm that is partnered with Koch Industries, has opened up shop in Austin and is raising up to $50 million to invest in disruptive startups. Trust Ventures will work closely with Koch’s government and policy group to help disruptive startups identify rules that might slow their growth — and then advocate to change regulations. While Trust Ventures won’t be lobbying, its partners with Koch will be able to connect startups to the most effective lobbyists for their issue, as well as proactively engage lawmakers and start working on policy issues before they become a major controversy.
Firebrand Ventures, a Kansas City-based venture capital firm, has raised $17.7 million to invest in startups anywhere from Austin to Minneapolis and Columbus to Boulder. The firm has already made 12 investments, including funding for local startups ScaleFactor and Threatcare. Firebrand plans to make 10-12 investments each year and back about 35 companies from the new fund. It’s mostly a seed fund that invests an average of $200K to a variety of startups. Firebrand Managing Director John Fein was previously managing director at Techstars, and the firm counts Techstars CEO David Cohen, former Google executive Brian McClendon and Next Coast Ventures co-founder Tom Ball as advisors. Fein said Firebrand initially targeted a $7 million fund, but it was oversubscribed by about 250 percent to reach $17.7 million.
TechCrunch reported Makers Fund has closed on a $180 million fund to invest in interactive entertainment startups. Makers Fund co-founder Jay Chi specifically mentioned Austin as one of the hubs the fund will target. They plan to cut $1 million to $10 million checks for Series A rounds.
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas will be offering grants of up to $3 million under a new program intended to bolster early-stage biotech startups, Xconomy reported. The organization will be accepting applications through August.
