Get details below on recent funding deals. Last week, seven Austin companies disclosed funding or filed notices with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about equity sales. A total of about $107 million was reportedly on the move.
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Dr. Dustin Freckleton and the other co-founders of Austin-based Happy Health Inc. — including Tinder co-founder Sean Rad — are ready put their young startup into overdrive, thanks in part to a $60 million series A funding round. A product launch and big hiring plans are in the works.
The product: A high tech ring that detects stress and helps the wearer reduce it.
Though the series A round was just disclosed, Happy Health actually raised the funds in early 2020, with the majority of it being funneled into research and development. The round was led by ARCH Venture Partners. Entrepreneurs Freckleton and Rad noticed they were absorbing a lot of stress from work, so they collaborated in making a ring that measures stress levels and offers user ideas to unwind. The two met when Rad invested in Freckleton's previous company, LVL, and became friends through the process. In addition to Rad and Freckleton, other co-founders of Happy Health include Sue Smalley, Paul Berns and Robert Nelsen.
INK Games, which is the interactive gaming arm of InfluenceInk Inc., said Aug. 25 it landed an $18.7 million series B round. The company, which started moving to a new HQ at Domain Northside last summer, raised a $9.5 million series A last fall. So it now has $28.2 million in total funding. The company, led by CEO Robert Towles, didn't note who invested in its new round. Its prior backers included skateboarding star and influencer Nyjah Huston, Zaxby's CEO and co-founder Zach McLeroy and Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin. With the new money, INK plans to double its staff from 45 to 90 by the end of the year.
The startup is focused on developing ways for influential gamers to monetize their reach from the convenience of a smartphone. Towles compared it to "the Netflix of games, except we pay users for the value of their connections and viral reach."
An Austin startup that helps connect manufacturers with suppliers in the U.S. just raised a fresh round of capital to fuel its growth in Texas and beyond. Sustainment Technologies Inc. raised a $12 million series A investment led by Boulder-based Unless Ventures LP, Sustainment CEO Bret Boyd said. University of Texas alumni venture group Congress Avenue Ventures and Oklahoma City-based Victorum Capital also got in on the round along with several family offices and angel investors.
That adds to a $2.1 million seed round in late 2020 that included local angels such as Brett Hurt, Andrew Busey and Chris Shonk. Boyd, a West Point grad and former Army Ranger, co-founded Sustainment in 2020 with Michael Morford, who is also an Army vet. Initially, Sustainment was focused on developing software, along with a network of U.S. parts suppliers, for the U.S. Air Force, which remains an anchor customer today. Its platform uses AI and machine vision to analyze the text of technical specifications and extract information about parts based on images.
Austin AI-powered restaurant ordering platform ConverseNow Technologies Inc. said Aug. 23 it has closed a $10 million funding round led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments, a fund co-founded by Shake Shack co-founder Danny Meyer. As part of the deal, the startup, which automates order-taking with virtual assistants, has already embedded its tech at 1,200-plus restaurants nationwide, including Domino's Pizza and Fazoli's.
ConverseNow, led by co-founder and CEO Vinay Shukla, raised a $15 million series A last year led by Craft Ventures. Its total funding is now at $28.8 million.
Austin medical-technology startup The Shape Sensing Company Inc. reported in an Aug. 26 securities filing raising $2.5 million in equity funding and other securities in what appears to be its first venture round. The company spun out of Sensuron earlier this year. It is led by CEO Pierrick Vulliez, and it also has offices in Santa Barbara, Calif. The company's technology reconstructs and displays the entire shape of thin optical fiber and integrates them into medical devices to help surgeons and robotic platforms guide surgical tools.
Identity governance and administration startup BalkanID Inc. has landed another vote of investor confidence, announcing Aug. 25 a $2.3 million add-on to its seed funding round, boosting it to $8.1 million. The additional funding brought in new investors such as K2G Tech Fund, GIT1K Club, Firsthand Ventures, MGV, NKM Capital and others. The startup, led by serial entrepreneur Subbu Rama, said the new funds will fuel growth, as well as buffer against market fluctuations. Venture capital funding has been falling this year after hitting record highs in 2021, depressed by stock market turmoil and recession fears.
Facial recognition startup FaceFirst Inc., which last year relocated to Austin from Los Angeles, reported in an Aug. 22 securities filing raising $1.6 million in new equity funding. The financing follows an $11M equity round reported a little over a year ago. The company's software can be used to spot criminals in a crowd, and it is also used to help retailers ID customers and their buying history when they walk into a shop. The company, which was one of Austin Inno's Fire Awards winners last year, was founded in 2007 and is led by CEO and Chairman Dan Merkle.
