As investment in Austin-based companies continues to break records, eight area businesses reported raising about $123 million this past week. A company ferrying packages to apartment dwellers led the way. Meanwhile, two venture capital firms also closed fresh funds, and a legal-technology company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Click on the links below for more details about the transactions. This weekly roundup of money moving is often a good resource for job seekers, real estate pros and those interested in keeping an eye on future competition or potential strategic partners.
• Fetch Package Inc. announced July 21 it had closed a $50 million series C round of venture capital, as well as $10 million in new debt funding. The Austin-based last-mile delivery service for apartment communities is on a quest to hire a few hundred people and bring its services to 24 new markets over the next two years. The round was led by Austin-based Ocelot Capital, with Greenpoint Partners, Alpaca VC and Rose Park Advisors making first-time investments. Meanwhile, earlier investors Iron Gate Capital, Signal Peak Ventures, Venn Ventures, Pando Ventures and Seamless also backed the new round. The venture debt was provided by Signature Bank. Fetch has now raised about $92 million total. The company was founded in Dallas in 2016 by CEO Michael Patton. It relocated to Austin in 2018. It has 386 employees, including 101 in Austin.
• Austin-based Paradromics Inc., a company Bloomberg identified as a competitor to Elon Musk's Neuralink, announced July 22 it had raised $20 million in seed funding. The company makes high data rate brain-computer interfaces. Jackson, Wyoming-based Prime Movers Lab led the round. Other backers included Westcott Investment Group, Dolby Family Ventures, Synergy Ventures, Pureland Global Venture, IT-Farm and Alpha Edison. Paradromics, led by CEO Matt Angle, makes the Connexus communication device that helps patients who have lost the ability to speak due to paralysis. The company raised the capital from 42 investors, according to an amended regulatory filing. Paradromics had previously raised $10 million in venture funding as well as $15 million worth of public funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. As part of the deal, Prime Movers Lab Partner Dr. Amy Kruse will join Paradromics' board.
• Verifiable Inc., an Austin startup with automated credential verification software, reported July 21 it had raised $19.9 million from 38 investors, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which launched out of Y Combinator in 2020, raised $3 million in October from investors including Tiger Global, Liquid2 Ventures, Struck Capital, Soma Capital, Jack Altman, Max Mullen and Sahil Lavingia. Verifiable is led by CEO and co-founder Nick Macario, who previously co-founded blockchain startup Dock, as well as Remote and Branded.me. Verifiable recently teamed up with fellow Austin startup Wheel to provide real-time source verifications and streamline provider network operations.
• Eterneva Inc. reported July 23 it had raised about $14.9 million from 47 investors, according to a regulatory filing. That total "includes $9,999,956 in new cash investments and $4,936,300 in conversion of previously issued [simple agreement for future equity notes]," the filing states. The company creates memorial diamonds from the remains of deceased loved ones and pets. CEO Adelle Archer co-founded the company in 2017. She and co-founder Garrett Ozar in 2019 appeared on the TV show "Shark Tank," where they agreed to a $600,000 deal with Mark Cuban.
• Moon Ultra Inc. reported July 23 it had raised about $3 million in equity and securities options from 47 investors, out of a planned total offering of roughly $3.3 million, according to an SEC filing. CEO Edward Madongorere co-founded the company in 2016, according to his LinkedIn page. Moon has created a "touch-controlled mobile lighting device that clips onto any smartphone" or tablet, according to the company's LinkedIn page.
• Wander.com Inc. reported July 23 it had raised about $2.8 million from 46 investors, according to a regulatory filing. The company appears to be in stealth mode. Its LinkedIn page states the startup is "building the infrastructure to experience the world." CEO John Andrew Entwistle founded the company in May, according to his LinkedIn page. He is co-founder and former CEO of Coder, which created a cloud-based platform that developers at large enterprises, including government agencies and big banks, use to write more code and accelerate workflows.
• Renovate Simply Inc., which does business as Rabbet, reported July 23 it had raised about $1.8 million from 11 investors out of a planned total offering of roughly $2.8 million, according to an SEC filing. It announced closing an $8 million series A round in 2019. The Austin-based company makes software to simplify construction financing. Rabbet CEO Will Mitchell co-founded the startup in 2017.
• Colorcast Inc. reported July 21 raising about $552,000 in equity and debt funding in five separate SEC filings. President and CEO Evan Kirkham co-founded the live-audio commentary app company in December 2019 in Dallas, according to Crunchbase. Colorcast appears to have moved to Austin during the past year. The filing lists the company's address as 1200 Elm St. To view the regulatory filings, go here, here, here, here and here. Colorcast reported in June raising $115,000.
Investment firms
• Austin's Capstar Ventures LP announced July 21 it had closed its first fund with $41.3 million to back early-stage consumer startups. The firm, which has already made local investments in startups including Eterneva Inc., was founded by Kathryn Cavanaugh in 2019. The new fund is part of Project Spark, created by J.P. Morgan Asset Management to help bolster minority- and women-led VC funds. Investors in Capstar Ventures' Fund I fund include J.P. Morgan, Capital Creek Partners and Tiger Partners LP. Capstar Ventures invests at the seed and series A stage "in digitally native brands, consumer goods and services, and technologies that power these startups," according to the announcement. Cavanaugh is also a director at Capstar Special Purpose Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company that plans to take public Gelesis Inc., a Boston-headquartered biotherapeutics company.
• Moonshots Capital LLC revealed July 22 it had closed the Austin venture capital firm's $36 million second fund. With it the firm also continued to demonstrate its commitment to non-traditional founders. Though Moonshots’ investment thesis does not overtly state any commitment to non-traditional founders, in practice that’s precisely what it does, said co-founder and General Partner Craig Cummings. He and fellow West Point alumnus Kelly Perdew launched the Austin-based firm in 2017. Moonshots also has a Los Angeles office, where Perdew is based. The firm’s $20 million first-fund portfolio boasts a non-traditional founder in 86% of its companies, Cummings said. As Army veterans themselves, he and Perdew consider vets non-traditional founders, along with women, people of color and “those who have overcome extreme circumstances." Moonshots closed its first fund in 2018 at $20 million.
Public companies
• Legaltech upstart CS Disco Inc. went public July 21 on the NYSE. The business said July 23 it closed the initial public offering, selling 7.7 million shares at $32 apiece, with underwriters exercising their options in full to buy extra shares. Shares closed July 23 at $44.81, giving Disco a market capitalization of roughly $2.5 billion. Speaking by phone from the NYSE, Disco founder and CEO Kiwi Camara said that standing on the podium, ringing the bell and seeing his company go public was "a magical moment." Disco was founded in 2013 out of Camara's law office in Houston. The company uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to help legal teams discover and catalog evidence, documents and other materials.
The prior week, seven businesses reported raising about $399.5 million.
