Get details below on recent funding deals: In the past week, three companies based in the Austin area or with a second headquarters here reported a combined total of $65.5 million in funding secured. Plus, an investment firm announced it is raising a $200 million third fund. 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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Enboarder, an Australia-based startup making human resources software, plans to grow in Austin after raising $32 million. The company has developed a platform that can be used for things like onboarding new hires, career training and diversity and inclusion training. The Feb. 9 announcement said the new investment will “support Enboarder’s next phase of growth and US expansion.” That means doubling the current headcount of about 125, spread across offices in Austin, London and Sydney.
Of the 125 headcount, a spokesperson said Enboarder has roughly 40 Austin employees. Chief Financial Officer Jay Harry (previously a senior VP at Spredfast) is the top exec on the ground, with an office at 728 Northwestern Ave., Building B, in East Austin.
The series B round was led by NewSpring Capital, based in the Philadelphia area, while previous investors also chipped in: Greycroft and Austin-based Next Coast Ventures. Also in on the round were new investors Golub Capital, Escalate Capital Partner, Alumni Ventures and Gaingels. The company has raised a total of $50M, according to VentureBeat.
“In a time when employees are more overwhelmed and disconnected than ever before, and uncertainty in hybrid work plans continues, ensuring workers are connected and engaged is crucial,” CEO Brent Pearson, who founded Enboarder in 2015, said in a statement.
Enboarder has its U.S. headquarters in Austin. It operates legally as Enboarder LLC in the United States, and as Enboard.Me Pty Ltd. in Australia.
Wander.com Inc. closed a $20 million series A funding round, a fair amount of capital for the nascent company that specializes in helping people rent “smart” vacation homes.
Virginia-based QED Investors led the round, announced Feb. 9, with additional money from Redpoint Ventures, Vibe Capital, Kevin Durant and others. Representatives from QED and Redpoint will join the company’s board of directors.
This funding follows Wander's seed round announced in October, bringing the fledgling company’s total funding to $27 million. Wander was only founded in May 2021 but said it now has more than 30,000 users.
The company is based in Austin, though its operations are almost entirely remote — part of a growing trend of businesses with an Austin address but executives and workers spread across the nation or even globe. In its latest securities filing, Wander listed an address of a residential property in Southwest Austin, but all 15 of its employees are remote workers.
Adthena Ltd., a marketing software company, said Feb. 10 it secured a $13.5 million junior credit facility to help it grow in the United States. The company, which was started in London, has its U.S. headquarters in Austin. The money came from Espresso Capital, a Canada-based venture debt firm.
Adthena co-founder and CEO Ian O’Rourke said in a statement that bringing the “non-dilutive capital into our funding mix was the logical and sensible thing to do at this stage of our growth." He also noted the business is growing 100% year-over-year in the U.S.
Adthena, which makes software for things such as measuring the impact of marketing campaigns, announced its $14 million series A round in 2019.
Investment firms
Austin-based venture capital firm Trust Ventures announced Feb. 8 the launch of a $200 million third fund that aims to support early-stage startups trying to solve major social issues.
The VC firm has 22 companies in its portfolio at present, including 3D-printing homebuilder Icon, employee benefits startup Sana Benefits and The Helper Bees, a technology platform which helps people age in place.
“We founded Trust Ventures on the belief that the obvious is not the inevitable: solutions to many of society’s greatest challenges are already out there, but many are being held back because of outdated or unnecessary policy barriers," Trust Ventures General Partner Salen Churi said in a statement. "We help our companies overcome those barriers and bring those solutions to those who need them most.”
Austin-based Ecliptic Capital led a $3.5 million funding round for Houston-based health technology company Koda Health.
Koda Health develops a platform for advanced medical care planning made for health care systems and payers. The platform takes in patient needs and care preferences and generates all of the necessary legal documents, like advance directives for emergency treatments. Using Koda Health's platform, patients also can witness or notarize documents to be sent to attorneys.
Ecliptic Capital was founded in 2018 as an early-stage investment fund. The VC firm counts startups such as Unchained Capital, Nano Shield and Earbuds among its portfolio companies.
Colorado River Partners LLC has invested $25 million in Design Pickle, an Arizona-based subscription graphic design company. The Feb. 7 announcement noted it was for a minority stake and that Design Pickle will use the money “to double down on development of transformative technology, accelerate expansion of creative offerings and build greater brand awareness within the advertising, marketing, and creative industries.”
Colorado River Partners, led by Managing Partner William Kuntz, invests in “growing recurring revenue software and tech-enabled services businesses,” according to the announcement.
As part of the investment, Kuntz and Brian Sharples, the co-founder and former CEO of HomeAway (now Vrbo), have joined the Design Pickle board of directors. The company, founded in 2015, has appeared on the Inc. 5000 for three straight years, ranking No. 1,760 in 2021.
Get ABJ's latest list of local venture capital firms here, and see the list of angel investors here. A list of local startup incubators can be found here.
