Get details below on recent funding deals: In the past week, three Austin-area companies reported a combined total of about $684 million in funding deals and contracts secured.
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• The Boring Company, the Elon Musk-founded startup that now calls Pflugerville its headquarters, announced a $675 million funding round — the largest venture capital round in Austin history, although there have been larger private equity and majority investments. The company said the round gave it a nearly $5.7 billion valuation as it attempts to pioneer new ways of digging tunnels, which could lead to new kinds of transit.
• An Austin startup developing spaces in the metaverse has raised $8 million in new funding. White Sands said the round was raised through two mints stemming from its sale of a virtual community. The money will help it build upon its virtual realms, which are built on NFT Worlds and the Ethereum platform. White Sands, led by Adam Hollander and Brandon Brown, said it has invested $1.25 million to purchase 36 NFT Worlds, which are built on the Minecraft engine, to build upon.
"The rise of social media changed the way that people interact online. The metaverse is an inevitable evolution," Hollander stated. "White Sands will be a place where people can meet, interact, play, learn, work, conduct commerce and do a variety of things that they otherwise might do in the real world."
• Local edtech startup Unmudl has raised a $1.2 million seed round led by Stand Together Ventures Lab. Other investors included WGU Labs and Wondercide founder and CEO Stephanie Boone. Unmudl, led by founder and CEO Parminder K. Jassal, partners with accredited community and tech colleges to provide people with a course marketplace designed to help them quickly enroll, take the class and find job placement.
"The need for higher education, corporate skills, and training has never been greater, especially with all the barriers in the current system," Jassal stated.
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.
