Swivel and Sunroom, two new startups founded by well-known local founders, emerged from stealth mode in July. Meanwhile, venture capitalists poured millions into deals with Austin startups, including Kony and Blink Identity.
Meanwhile, about seven local companies either acquired another startup or got acquired by another company in July.
That’s just a glimpse at all the activity from last month. Below, we’ll find all the local tech startup funding announcements, mergers, acquisitions and venture capital fund activity from July 2018.
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Fundings
Key Travel Concierge, an Austin startup that creates custom itineraries for specialized travel, reported raising $3 million in new equity funding. The company previously reported raising $3.7 million in 2016 and an additional $3.8 million in 2017. No word on who led this round, but prior investors include ATX Seed Ventures and Wildcat Venture Partners. The company was founded by CEO Kim Shrum in 2014.
Blink Identity, an Austin company using facial recognition to get people through the gates at concerts faster, raised $1.5 million. The round was led by Sinai Ventures with participation from Live Nation, Techstars and other entertainment-related funds. The company was founded by Mary Haskett and Alex Kilpatrick, and it recently went through the Techstars Music Accelerator in Los Angeles.
CrowdOut Capital, an Austin-based online marketplace for corporate loans and middle market companies, reported raising $33 million in debt funding as part of a $100 million round. The SEC filing comes a couple weeks after the company announced it has funded more than $112 million in loans in two years. CrowdOut funds loans as small as $3 million for companies with revenue of $10 million-$500 million. One of its recent deals helped Schweizer RSG carve out a couple of Lockheed Martin’s helicopter operations. The company was co-founded by Alexander Schoenbaum and Brian Gilmore.
Cosential, an Austin-based maker of software for architects, engineers and construction firms, closed a $34 million strategic growth investment from JMI Equity, a Baltimore-based firm. Bob Nye, a general partner at JMI, will join Cosential’s board of directors as part of the deal. Cosential was founded in 1999 by Dan Cornish. According to Crunchbase, Cosential previously raised about $1.2 million in funding, much of it via debt financing.
Swivel, a flexible office space startup that recently emerged from stealth mode, reported raising $4.8 million in new equity funding to help it expand its offerings in Austin and beyond. The new investment was led by San Francisco-based First Round Capital. Fuel Capital, Correlation Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Hack VC, Capital Factory and Abstract Ventures also joined the round alongside prior investors, including Maples’ firm, Floodgate, and Austin’s Next Coast Ventures. The company is stacked with experienced founders and engineers. Swivel was quietly formed in 2016 by Scott Harmon and Mike Maples Jr. Since then, four others have also been listed as co-founders — Greg Kattawar, David Proft, Tabrez Syed and Wade Cohn.
Pi-top, a London-based company with offices in Austin that helps students learn coding on custom built laptops, has closed a $16 million round of funding to continue expanding its product and help find schools that want to use it. The investment round was led by Hambro Perks and Committed Capital, and it brings the startup’s overall funding to $22.5 million since its founding in 2014.
Seismos, an Austin company that makes software to monitor hydraulic fracturing oil and gas extraction, reported raising $9.9 million in new equity funding. This appears to be the company’s first reported equity funding. Seismos is led by founder and CEO Panos Adamopoulos, who has previously founded two other startups in China and been an advisor at the Austin Technology Incubator.
Smart Picture Technologies, an Austin startup that makes the PLNAR app to measure room dimensions and more, raised $3.9 million in new equity funding. Learn more about how the company capitalized on updates to the iPhone’s AR capabilities in our story from last fall.
Ben Doherty and Zac Maurais, who founded delivery startup Favor (acquired by H-E-B), launched a new startup called Sunroom, which helps people find apartments. The company also announced it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The investment comes from Founders Fund Angel, Tim Draper of Draper Associates, Joshua Baer of Capital Factory, Active Capital and Boost.VC.
Kony, an Austin-based app development, digital banking and enterprise mobility company, reported raising $26.3 million in new equity funding. The filing didn’t list investors, per usual, but Kony’s prior investors include SoftBank, Diebold Nixdorf, Insight Venture Partners, Hamilton Lane, Georgian Partners, W Capital Partners and Delta-v Capital.
ScaleFactor, an Austin startup that makes software to automate back office operations, raised a $10 million Series A round. The new round was led by Westport, Conn.-based Canaan Partners, with additional investment from Broadhaven Ventures, Citi Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Flyover Capital, Firebrand Ventures and a few other individual and strategic investors. ScaleFactor previously raised a $2.5 milion seed round in November last year, which followed their run at Techstars and a $370,000 angel round back in 2015.
RF Code, an Austin-based data center management company, has raised $6.6 million in new equity funding, according to a Form D filing. The company, founded in 1997, makes real-time data sensors and IoT platforms.
Personify, an Austin-based maker of software for nonprofits, has received a strategic investment from affiliates of Charlotte-based Pamlico Capital. No details on the size of the investment.
VUV Analytics, a Cedar Park-based material analytics startup, reported raising $2 million in debt funding. That follows news from a little over a year ago when the company reported $2.2 million in equity funding. The company uses vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy to help companies analyze pharmaceuticals, gases and other materials and gases. The company previously reported raising $3.5 million in 2014 and $2 million in 2016.
Mergers, Acquisitions & IPOs
Dell announced it’s going public once again, albeit in a rather complicated way. Dell and Silver Lake have reportedly reached a $21.7 billion deal to buy shares that track the performance of VMWare, which Dell partially owns, back from investors. The cash piece of the deal will be financed by a dividend VMWare pays to its shareholders, Reuters reported. Dell owns most of it and will get roughly $9 billion.
Mood Media, an Austin company focused on in-store music, art and design, has acquired all the assets of focus4media, a Mood affiliated business that provides sight, sound and scent systems. No financial details were provided.
Austin-based Xplore Technologies, the maker of tablets and other portable hardware for rugged conditions, has been acquired by Zebra Technologies for about $6 per share (roughly $90 million).
Hyliion, an Austin startup that converts semi trucks into diesel hybrid electrics, announced it has acquired the battery business of Gentherm Inc. The move fills a critical gap for Hyliion by giving them full control over battery supply chains and development.
Student Loan Hero, which produces tools and content to help students manage debt, was acquired by LendingTree for $60 million.
SolarWinds, an Austin IT management software company, recently announced it has acquired Trusted Metrics, which makes real-time threat monitoring and management software. The move came a couple weeks after SolarWinds filed draft paperwork indicating it will file for an initial public offering. SolarWinds, which initially IPOed in 2009, was bought out by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and Thoma Bravo for about $4.5 billion in 2015.
Austin data security company OnRamp was acquired by Des Moines-based data and IT company LightEdge. Financial details weren’t provided.
Denver-based Galvanize announced it will acquire one of its chief competitors, San Francisco-based HackReactor. Both organizations have spaces and services in Austin.
Chicago-based human resources software startup HighGround has been acquired by YouEarnedIt, an HR software company based in Austin. The companies announced the acquisition Thursday, saying that the partnership will help both of them grow their businesses as they gradually integrate their softwares to create a “unified employee-first engagement platform.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but YouEarnedIt and HighGround said they will continue to operate as individual companies.
Austin resource management software maker Accruent has agreed to be acquired by Fortive Corporation, an industrial growth equity company based in Everett, Wash. Fortive will acquire Accruent from Genstar Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, for about $2 billion cash. The move comes a little over two years after Accruent announced it would be acquired by Genstar Capital. Mark Friedman, CEO of Accruent, started his company in the basement of his California home in 1995. The company got the majority of its investments following 2013, when TA Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm started fueling the company’s growth.
Venture Capital Funds and Other Activity
Strattam Capital Management, an Austin-based private equity firm, has raised $200 million plus for its second fund. The funding comes about a year after the firm opened its offering, SEC filings show. Strattam, co-founded by Bob Morse and Adrian Polak, makes majority investments in business IT companies — that includes enterprise software, digital infrastructure and more. Its target companies have revenues of $10 million-$30 million. It lists four current investments: Blacksmith Applications, Contegix, SSB and Trax Technologies.
