Startup funding slowed a bit in December, but it followed a few of the biggest months in Austin's venture capital and startup funding history. Some of the largest rounds of the month went to LeanDNA, Infinitum Electric and Terradepth.
Please note: We report on funding rounds, acquisitions and other transactions in our daily newsletter, The Beat. You can sign up to get that here.
Now, let’s get to the details of Decembers startup funding rounds, acquisitions and VC firm activity.
Fundings
Cerebri AI, an Austin-based AI-powered customer experience platform, announced a $7M investment from New York-based Arcis Capital Partners and other previous backers. Cerebri is led by CEO and co-founder Jean Belanger. Last year, it closed a $5M Series A round led by M12 (formerly known as Microsoft Ventures). University of Texas Horizon Fund, WorldQuant Ventures and Leawood Venture Capital were also in on that round.
Allstacks, a Raleigh-based forecasting and risk management platform with offices in Austin, landed a $4.7M seed round led by Boston-based Hyperplane Venture Capital. Others in on the round were Polaris Partners, Uncommon Denominator, and Wildcat VC. Existing investors S3 Ventures and Moneta Ventures, both in Austin, and Bala Investments also participated. Allstacks plans to expand its teams in Austin and Raleigh as part of the deal.
Round Rock-based Infinitum Electric Inc. announced that it raised a Series B funding round of $12.5M. Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Cottonwood Technology Fund led the round, which included participation from Chevron Technology Ventures, AJAX Strategies, as well as other individual investors. The company makes electric motors used in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, otherwise known as HVAC, as well as in the oil and gas and electric vehicle industries.
MP Cloud Technologies, an Austin EMS management software startup founded in 2018, reported raising $2.1M of a planned $3.1M round of equity funding. The company is led by President and CEO Rob Rodrigues. In October, the company announced it became the billing provider for Delaware Medical Management Services. It doesn’t appear to have reported raising any prior funding.
Austin digital consulting firm Zilker Technology reported raising $2.5M in equity funding. The company, founded in 2014 and led by CEO Rob Thomas, has offices in San Francisco, Serbia and India. It wasn’t clear who invested. Last year, Zilker Technology announced a strategic investment from Cleveland-based private equity firm Next Sparc. At the time, the company had more than 200 employees. The company recently was granted a 2.11%, eight-year Job Creation Tax Credit in Cleveland that will create 56 full-time positions, Crain’s reported.
Popspots announced it raised $5M in Series A funding to expand its operations with new customers and go beyond the checkout lane. The investment was led by Austin venture capital firm Silverton Partners, with support from other private investors and Capital Factory. Popspots was founded in 2016 and formally launched last year by CEO Marlow Nickell, COO Donald Oelke and CTO Edward Cates. It won $25K in equity-free funding from MassChallenge Texas in 2018.
Verb, a local learning and development startup, announced it raised a $6.4M seed round to expand its marketing and sales teams and further develop products. The investment was led by data.world co-founder Brett Hurt, Silicon Labs Chairman Nav Sooch, tennis legend Andy Roddick, Tiff’s Treats co-founder Leon Chen and Barshop Ventures, which has offices in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas. The startup was founded in 2013 by Suzi Sosa, who previously was executive director of Dell Social Innovation Challenge.
FlowBelow, an Austin company making aerodynamic tech for trucks, landed an undisclosed amount of funding from Barton Creek Equity Partners. FlowBelow’s wheel covers and other products help trucking companies save money on gas and reduce emissions. It was founded in 2009 by Josh Butler.
Televet, an Austin startup connecting veterinarians to clients with web and mobile apps, reported raising $1.3M in equity funding. The company, previously named Horse Facts, was founded in 2015.
LeanDNA, which was founded in 2014 by CEO Richard Lebovitz, raised $15M in new funding to expand its team. it uses predictive analytics to help factories avoid shortages and be more consistent with deliveries. The new investment was led by Austin-based S3 Ventures. Also in on the new round were Next Coast Ventures and Rony Kahan, co-founder of Austin-based careers site Indeed, which backed LeanDNA’s $4.5M Series A in 2017.
Local property management software startup Ender announced it raised $7M in seed funding. The round was led by Global Founders Capital. Others in on the deal included Tuesday Capital, LeFrak, HOF Capital, Cherubic Ventures and Circle Ventures. It also announced it hired Jason Ellefson, who is experienced in the hotels industry, as its head of operations. The startup was co-founded by CEO Jon Lonsdale and CTO Jason Mirra.
Terradepth, founded by former Navy SEALs Joe Wolfel and Judson Kauffman, is focusing its business on using fleets of autonomous subs to collect data. It plans to begin testing in the water next year, and it raised $8M in new funding, TechCrunch reported. The new funding comes from Seagate Technology. The startup is aiming to make deep ocean mapping, imagery and data collection less expensive using a blend of hardware, software and data science. It’s operating as a data-as-a-service business.
Austin-based venture capital firms LiveOak Venture Partners and Next Coast Ventures led a $5.4M Series A investment round in Osano, the company announced. That brought its total funding to $8.4M. Osano’s platform analyzes thousands of privacy policies from heavily-trafficked websites and ties into federal court databases to review privacy policies and monitor for new lawsuits that could indicate an incoming wave of litigation.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Locally based IT services firm Flux7 was acquired by Plano-based NTT DATA Services. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Flux7 was founded in 2013, and it’s led by CEO and co-founder Aater Suleman and CTO and co-founder Ali Hussain. Last April, it announced a new round of funding (amount undisclosed) from Bay Area firm NewWave Partners to build out its platform and expand its sales team.
Snow Software, a Swedish tech company with major offices in Austin, announced it acquired Canadian hybrid cloud management company Embotics. No word on the price tag.
Austin hotel tech startup Hotels for Hope was acquired by Charlotte-based ticket and hospitality company QuintEvents. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but QuintEvents said the it will help it add customizable, white-label booking platforms that centralize the hotel booking. Hotels for Hope, founded by Neil Goldman, has been a booking provider for Formula 1, Lollapalooza and other events. Hotels for Hope bills itself as a for-profit social enterprise, with $2 from every actualized room night going to nonprofits that help children.
ESO, an Austin emergency medical services software company that was founded in 2004, acquired Boston-based Lancet Technology. Its the third in a string of deals that also included acquisitions of Digital Innovation and Clinical Data Management. No financial details were provided.
VIRTEX, an Austin electronic manufacturing services provider, announced it acquired Plano-based Precision Technology (PTI). No financial details provided.
Austin-based A Cloud Guru, a startup focused on teaching people how to use the cloud through training courses, videos and hands-on labs, announced it acquired Keller-based multicloud training platform Linux Academy. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the acquisition came with a “significant investment” from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, Elephant, Summit Partners and AirTree Ventures. See our full story on the deal here.
