Get details below on five recent funding deals that totaled $290 million. These kinds of deals are a useful gauge of a company's evolution, and are sources of leads for real estate pros and other service providers.
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Devolver Digital Inc., a gaming company established in Austin in 2009, went public Nov. 4 on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. The offering raised $261 million at a roughly $950 million valuation, VentureBeat reported. Of that, $211 million is going to selling shareholders and $50 million will go to the company.
Devolver was founded by Graeme Struthers, Harry Miller, Mike Wilson, Nigel Lowrie and Rick Stults, according to Crunchbase. It's known for popular titles like Hotline Miami, Serious Sam, Fall Guys and Loop Hero.
Last year, it acquired Croatian gaming development company Croteam. The company has also acquired Dodge Roll, Nerial and FireFly Studios. It's not clear who all of Devolver's investors may be, but Sony's Playstation Twitter account revealed that Sony is an investor.
"Shoutout to our friends @DevolverDigital on their public offering today! We’re honored to be an investor. Keep shining a light on those great indie games," the tweet said.
The public offering is a major milestone for the company and Austin's gaming ecosystem.
"At first blush that can certainly sound like a departure from a group of friends starting a boutique game label, but really it’s a kind of validation for our team and our partners," the company wrote on its website. "We’re insanely proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last decade, and we genuinely believe this will make us even better."
As Texans begin to get nervous about the state's electrical grid heading into a new winter season — following widespread failures last year — an Austin startup has secured new investors for its rooftop solar storage technologies.
Yotta Energy Inc. said Nov. 2 that it has raised a $13 million series A funding round led by Wind Ventures, the San Francisco-based corporate venture arm of Chilean energy company Copex. Others in on the round included Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and Riverstone Ventures, as well as returning investors EDP Ventures and SWAN Impact Network. That brings its total funding since its founding in 2017 to $20 million.
With Wind's strong ties in Latin America, the money will be used to help Yotta expand its rooftop solar deployments down south, as well as in the U.S. The startup, led by CEO Omeed Badkoobeh, now has 20 employees, including 17 based in Austin. It plans to grow headcount by 80% — or about 16 new hires.
Houston- and Austin-based startup BrainCheck Inc. raised $10 million in series B capital to develop its cognitive health screening technology. The funding round was led by Austin-based Next Coast Ventures and Austin-based S3 Ventures. Additional investors included Austin-based True Wealth Ventures, Chicago-based Tensility Venture Partners and Leawood, Kansas-based Nueterra Capital.
UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization arm of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Overland Park, Kansas-based insurance company SelectQuote joined as strategic investors for BrainCheck. To date, BrainCheck has raised $20 million in capital, the company said. The startup has about 40 employees across its offices in Houston and Austin, co-founder and CEO Yael Katz said.
Austin-based farm-to-doorstep grocery delivery startup MilkRun Inc. said Nov. 5 it has raised a $6 million series A round led by Boston-based Spark Capital. Also in on the round were Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Social Impact Capital and Congruent VC. The startup is led by founder and CEO Julia Niiro, who is also founding partner of Oregon-based Revel Meat Co.
MilkRun has a recurring subscription model for locally farmed eggs, meat, dairy and produce with no minimum orders, and it shares details about where the food comes from. The company, which was founded in Portland in 2017 and moved to Austin last year, operates in Portland, Seattle and Austin.
Austin-based lighting device startup Moon Ultra Inc. has landed TV personality Steve Harvey, as well as his daughter, Lori Harvey, as new investors. The undisclosed funding amount will go toward product development. Moon, founded by Ed Madongorere and Dishen Yang in 2017, makes small lighting devices that attach to mobile phones that can be used to illuminate your face on a video call or when creating content. Its first iteration was named one of Time Magazine's best inventions of 2020.
”MOON Ultra is exactly the type of company that I gravitate towards,” Harvey said in a statement. “They are driven by their values to shine a light on individuals’ voices, visuals and visions. I value technology that helps people.”
