Get details below on recent funding deals: In the past week, five Austin-area companies reported a combined total of more than $377 million in funding secured. 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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Startups
Austin's FlashParking Inc. said March 16 it landed more than $250 million in a strategic investment led by Austin-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which will now have a minority stake in the business. The startup, founded in 2011 by Dean Cleaver, Eliseo Diaz and Juan Rodriguez, had previously raised about $64 million. That included a $60 million round in 2020 led by L Catterton, which is also in on the new funding round.
The startup, led by CEO Dan Sharplin, has developed a parking software platform that provides real-time data visibility and dynamic pricing for parking garage and real estate operators. In January 2021, the company merged with Chicago parking startup Arrive, which was founded in 2006 and raised about $60 million.
Flash plans to use the new money to expand its mobility operating system and payments platform. It says its software is used at over 10K locations in the U.S. and Canada. Flash also plans to hire more than 200 employees in 2022.
Triumvira Immunologics Inc., an Austin-based clinical-stage company working on tumor treatments, announced March 17 it has expanded its series A round investment to a total of about $100 million. New investors backing the company include B Capital Group, ATEM Capital and the Myeloma Investment Fund. Earlier investors adding support include Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, and Northpond Ventures.
The company, led by CEO Dr. Paul Lammers, is working on T cell therapies to treat patients with solid tumors. It plans to channel the new funding toward preclinical and clinical development of its T cell Antigen Coupler program. Meanwhile, its lead program, called TAC01-HER2, is in phase 1/2 clinical trials with patients experiencing various forms of cancer. The company, which has about 55 employees, is based in Austin and has a research facility in Ontario. It was founded in 2015 by Jonathan Bramson.
Austin real estate investment management firm Palladius Capital Management said March 14 it has raised a $15 million series A round from investors including a portfolio company of Charlesband Capital Partners, JE Dunn Chairman Timothy Dunn, Interactive Media Group CEO Robert Yallen, MiLA Capital co-founder Shaun Arora and Parcast founder Max Cutler. The real estate investing group targets multifamily, student housing and hospitality investment through its affiliates.
Credit building and bill pay app Stellar announced March 14 its launch and initial funding: $7 million from San Francisco-based Acrew Capital, Austin-based Trust Ventures and Boston's Accomplice Ventures. Stellar is led by founder and CEO Lamine Zarrad, who previously founded neobank Joust, which was acquired by Austin's ZenBusiness in 2020. Zarrad then became head of product at ZenBusiness before founding Stellar. The startup is a public benefit corporation. It wants to give credit to Americans with poor or no credit by helping them build credit through everyday purchases, which it does by consolidating bills, getting paid and reporting the payments to credit bureaus.
Modern Intelligence Inc., an Austin-based startup focused on artificial intelligence for maritime military operations and targeting, announced March 16 it has raised a $5 million seed round. The investment was led by Geoff Lewis, co-founder of New York-based Bedrock Capital. Other investors included Vine Ventures, Air Street Capital and Contrary Capital. Modern Intelligence was founded last year by software engineer John Dulin, developer and former CEO of Whiteboard Dynamics Joe Cieslik and AI scientist and mathematician Tristan Tager.
Its AI platform draws data from drones, satellites and other sensors on military equipment at sea to help operators track and target potential enemies, drug traffickers and more. The company plans to use the investment to test the its product with defense users at Naval Special Warfare's Trident Specter exercise this summer.
Investment firms
Austin-based private equity firm Serent Capital announced March 16 it has closed a $1.1 billion fifth fund. The firm, founded in 2008, focuses on bootstrapped business-to-business software startups. It invests $20 million to $200 million in buyouts and growth capital for companies with recurring revenue of $10 million to $50 million.
Serent made 38 deals last year and has completed more than 60 total investments to date. It has about $5 billion in assets across funds. The firm has its headquarters in Austin, as well as an office in San Francisco. Its portfolio includes Austin-based restaurant software maker Compeat Inc. In 2020, the firm closed its fourth fund, totaling $750 million.
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.
