After taking some time off around the July 4 holiday, we're once again wrapping up recent fundings on the Austin-area business scene. In the past two weeks or so, 10 companies reported raising more than $146 million in announcements and securities filings.
Meanwhile, the latest numbers from PitchBook Data and the National Venture Capital Association show that venture funding has plateaued in Central Texas. Austin-area companies raised about $1.1 billion across 94 deals in the second quarter, compared with nearly $962 million across in 109 deals in Q2 2022.
Cedar Park-based advertising compliance software maker Red Oak Compliance Solutions said June 29 it has raised $51 million in funding from San Francisco venture firm Mainsail Partners. Red Oak was founded in 2010 by Stephen Pope, Cathy Vasilev and Rick Grashel, though it reorganized into several different units in 2017. Last year, the company made the Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing companies for the fourth year in a row.
"As regulations continue to evolve and regulatory requirements increase, compliance, marketing teams, and their respective organizations face greater challenges to streamline and effectively manage internal processes," Pope stated. "This investment will help us accelerate our product development and scale our operations to help our customers increase efficiency and effectiveness in their compliance management operations."
Steadily Insurance Agency Inc. has $28.5 million in fresh series B funding. Founded in 2020, the direct-to-consumer insurance provider targets owners of single-family and small multifamily rentals nationwide. To date, the company — co-headquartered in Austin and Overland Park, Kansas — has raised $59.5 million in funding, including a $27.2 million series A round in 2021.
New York City-based venture capital firm Zigg Capital led the series B, which included participation from Matrix Partners, Koch Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures and Nine Four Ventures.
"As property investors ourselves, we understand the unique challenges and needs of rental property owners," Steadily co-founder Datha Santomieri said. "The ongoing support from our investors enables Steadily to continue scaling quickly to meet the growing demand of our product with investors nationwide."
Last month, we reported that Verifiable Inc., an Austin startup with automated credential verification software, had reported raising $27 million in new equity funding. On July 10, the company revealed fresh details, including that the series B funding was led by San Francisco-based Craft Ventures. Others backing the company included Highland Capital Partners, 137 Ventures and Cooley, as well as earlier investors The Altman Fund and Struck Capital.
The startup is led by CEO and co-founder Nick Macario, who previously co-founded blockchain startup Dock, as well as Remote and Branded.me. It plans to use the new funding to scale go-to-market teams and expand its verifications infrastructure for credentialing, compliance and network management. The company also noted that over the past year it has tripled its revenue and doubled the size of its team.
Optisense Inc., an Austin-based Earth observation startup doing business as SkyFi, reported July 5 raising $14.4 million in equity funding. This SEC filing may be related to a prior $7 million seed funding round the company announced in late May. That round was led by Balerion Space Ventures and including backing from J2 Ventures and Moving Capital, along with SkyFi co-founder Bill Perkins. At the time, the company said its total funding had exceeded $17 million.
The company partners with satellite and aerial imaging companies, and it has simplified the process of ordering Earth observation imagery and analytics through its apps and enterprise-grade API. It targets a wide variety of industry, including agriculture, construction, real estate, insurance, and mining. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Luke Fischer.
Austin real estate-tech startup Flueid Software Corp reported July 6 raising $10 million in new equity funding. The company, led by co-founder and CEO Peter Bowman, announced a $20 million round last October. That round included $15 million in series B funding and a $5 million extension with Silicon Valley Bank.
The startup's platform extracts data and embeds it into core operating systems of point-of-sale platforms, lender operating systems, title production systems, servicing platforms and marketplaces to help with real estate decisions. In May, the company said its platform was integrated with Encompass by ICE Mortgage Technology.
Austin-based Sigo Seguros, an insurtech startup that offers auto insurance services for immigrants and working class communities, on July 11 announced a $5.1 million pre-series A funding round. It's an interesting step for a company that first came across our radar in late 2021 when it claimed the top prize in Fintech Frontier's Cincinnati pitch competition.
Zeal Capital Partners and Listen Ventures led the latest round for Sigo Seguros, which also attracted existing investors Chingona Ventures, Revolution's Rise of the Rest, Fiat Ventures and Remarkable Ventures to the raise. The startup aims to expand its customer-facing technology and invest in digital underwriting with the fresh funding, according to the announcement.
The startup focuses on transparency in pricing and simple-to-use features with a platform that caters to Spanish-speaking communities, which it says are typically ignored by larger competitors.
"We’ve been overwhelmed by the demand for our product, with referrals driving the majority of our growth," said Nestor Hugo Solari, co-founder and CEO of Sigo Seguros. "Our differentiated product starts with a deep understanding of our community and its needs. Zeal understands that access to the right financial products can turbocharge economic mobility for our customers, and this makes them an ideal partner for us to welcome to the team."
Austin-based mental health startup Heading Health said June 29 it raised a $4.5 million series A funding round. The startup was founded in 2020. It focuses on patients with depression and trauma, and it offers novel approaches and personlized care covered by insurance. That includes the use of ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin, Spravato and other treatments.
The company, which has locations in Austin and Dallas, said its new funding was led by Gron Ventures and Jam Fund, with additional backing from the One Mind Accelerator, Thiel Capital, Mystic Ventures, Gaingels, and Antifund. The company had previously raised about $5.5 million, according to Crunchbase.
"A segregated and one-dimensional mental health system has failed patients, many who wait too long to experience care that offers real and lasting relief. We're proud to have the support of like-minded investors who believe this needs to change," Heading founder and CEO Simon Tankel stated.
Austin-based fintech startup Equabli Inc. said July 11 it secured nearly $3.4 million of new funding. The round was led by Social Leverage, an early-stage investing firm in Scottsdale, Ariz. Other investors included BankTech Ventures and Cross River Digital Ventures.
Equabli, founded in 2020 and led by CEO Cody Owens, has a software platform that helps lenders and their borrowers with debt recovery. The company said the new money will help it with hiring, market expansion and product.
Betterleave Inc., an Austin startup that helps families navigate funerals, memorials, estate planning and other tough administrative tasks that come up when someone loses a loved one, reported June 30 raising $2.3 million in new equity funding.
The company, which teams up with employers and insurance companies as well as hospice care and other organizations, was selected as one of Austin Inno's Startups to Watch in 2023. It is led by founder and CEO Cara McCarty.
Omaiven Health, which makes front-office automation software, is getting a boost from Google. Founder and CEO Jerold McDonald on July 13 was named among six founders in Texas to receive $150,000 of non-dilutive funding, as well as $100,000 worth of Google Cloud credits and a variety of mentoring and networking connections through the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund.
"Funding like this is such a great opportunity," McDonald said. "What it does for us specifically is it allows us to work with more collaboration partners. Those are hospitals, those are medical clinics where we're learning what are the exact most valuable automations that can happen — is it just in the call center? So we'll be able to dig deeper with a few new partners as well as with the existing ones."
Omaiven's call center automation software, powered partly by artificial intelligence, can manage a lot of the administrative busy work of documenting everything and understanding scheduling issues for clinics and patients, as well as answering questions. The startup, founded in 2018, was initially bootstrapped by McDonald and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ani Bagepalli.
Compiled by Will Anderson. Reporting by Paul Thompson and Brent Wistrom.
For more local deals, check out another recent funding wrap. And subscribe to Austin Business Journal for startup resources such as lists of venture capital and private equity firms, incubators and accelerators, angel investors and coworking providers.
