For a moment there, it looked like June might be a relatively quiet month for fundings and acquisitions in the Austin tech scene. Then, Amazon came along and acquired Whole Foods in a monster deal valued at $13.7B. A week or so later, SparkCognition announced the biggest venture capital deal for an Austin startup so far in 2017 with a $32.5M Series B round.
Ambiq Micro, Inc., maker of low power microcontrollers, also had a big month, reporting a $23.4M round. Meanwhile, CognitiveScale, Everfest and DOSH also had big funding rounds this month.
We write about all the Austin tech and startup funding deals in the Beat newsletter, where we also report all of the day's top Austin tech and startup news and share links to other interesting stories.
Now, here's a look at the top deals we've seen through SEC filings and company announcements in June.
Angel Investments, Venture Capital and Private Equity Funding (June 2017)
- SparkCognition, the Austin-based AI startup, raised a $32.5M Series B round led by a couple big time players -- Verizon Ventures and Boeing's HorizonX. That comes atop the $16M SparkCognition has raised from Michael Dell's private equity group, MSD Capital, The Entrepreneur's Fund, CME Ventures and others. The company was founded by Amir Husain in 2013.
- HeatGenie Inc., an Austin-based maker of self-heating cans for ready-to-eat products, reported raising $400K in equity funding. The company makes cans that, with a press of a button, heat up their contents within about two minutes. The new money brings the company's total reported funding to about $3.3M. HeatGenie was founded by Brendan Coffey and is led by CEO Mark Turner.
- Kony, Inc., an Austin-based app company and app-building platform, reported raising $479K in equity and other securities, a new SEC filing shows. The company has previously raised more than $39M. Prior investors have included SoftBank Capital, Insight Venture Partners, Telstra Ventures, and Georgian Partners.
- Phlur, Inc., an Austin-based fragrance startup, raised $4.3M in equity and other securities. The new money adds to about $2.7M in equity funding the company raised in 2015 and a $1.7M in debt funding last year.
- Austin-based GenXComm Inc. closed a $1.5M seed round that includes equity funding and grant money led by the UT Horizon Fund, the venture capital arm of the University of Texas System, the Austin Business Journal reported. GenXComm is working on technology they say can double the capacity of wireless networks. The company plans to double its current staff of 15 over the course of a year.
- Plum, Inc., an Austin-based maker of smart home lighting systems, raised about $2.5M in debt funding, a SEC filing shows. The company, founded in 2012 by Utz Baldwin and Glen Burchers, says the debt funding is a bridge round to carry them until they close on a Series A round from institutional investors - probably later this year.
- Austin-based Ambiq Micro Inc. reported raising $23.5M in equity and other securities. The company makes small, low-power chips for wearables, vehicles and other devices. It was founded in 2010.
- Remedy Applications LLC, better known as just Remedy, raised $1.7M in equity funding, according to an SEC filing. Remedy provides on-demand doctors visits. You can book a visit online or through an app and, typically, they send someone out within an hour or two. They also do on-site visits for companies that want to provide that extra service to employees. (See our 2016 profile of Remedy)
- Mosie LLC, an Austin-based self insemination company, raised $50K in debt financing, documents show. They make a specialized syringe for home insemination designed as an alternative to intercourse for couples trying to have a baby.
- Dosh, an Austin startup that offers cash back on credit card purchases with select businesses, raised $5.1M. But it's not the typical equity or debt deal. The Form D says the money consists of options, warrants or rights to acquire other securities. I couldn't immediately reach Dosh to clarify what that means in this case.
- KEY Travel Concierge, Inc., an Austin-based startup that can plan a vacation for you, reported raising an additional $3.8M in an SEC filing. That comes atop a $3.7M raise last year. No word on who's in on this round. Investors in the prior round included California-based Wildcat Venture Partners and ATX Seed Ventures. KEY Concierge was founded in 2014 by Kim Shrum. It operates in 17 markets, including Austin.
- CognitiveScale, a fast-growing AI startup in Austin, raised $15M in additional equity funding. The investment was led by Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures, The Westly Group and USAA. And it brings CognitiveScale's total funding to just over $50 million since its founding in 2013. Additionally, USAA announced it would integrate CognitiveScale's augmented intelligence software into its systems, giving the startup yet another big name customer.
- Liveoak Technologies, an Austin-based workplace collaboration software startup, raised $1.7M in equity funding, an SEC filing shows. The company, a 2015 graduate of the Barclays Techstars accelerator in New York, had previously announced in January it had secured investment from Wild Basin Investments, Techstars, Zelkova Ventures, MATH Ventures, Gibraltar Ventures and John Hancock, which is using Liveoak's software for onboarding corporate customers.
- Gridmates, an Austin startup that helps people donate electricity to others in need, has raised $204K of equity funding, an SEC filing shows. The startup, founded by George Koutitas and Costas Tzaras, created a platform for people to donate money to go directly toward energy expenses of those in need or other peers you'd like to give to. The company previously raised $75K in debt financing, records show.
- BigCommerce, an Austin-based startup that helps other businesses set up online e-commerce stores, added $5M to its Series E round, a federal filing shows. This is the second infusion of money, coming from 19 unnamed investors, added to the existing Series E, which was initially $30M. April's $4.5M add-on and today's $5M bring the round to about $39.5M. BigCommerce's total funding, based on SEC filings, is about $95M.
- Digital Pharmacist, an Austin-based healthtech startup formerly known as RxWiki, closed a $6.5M Series B. The round was led by New York's Activate Venture Partners and Austin's LiveOak Venture Partners. While operating as RxWiki, the company raised a $5.6M Series A in 2015, which was led by New York-based Milestone Partners and LiveOak. It also raised about $2M from angel investors prior to that. The new round brings in Activate Venture Partners, which previously invested in Austin's MapMyFitness before it was acquired by Under Armour in 2015.
- Poquito Inc., a stealthy startup led by former Noesis Finance co-founder and CEO Scott Harmon, reported raising $1M in equity funding, a filing shows. The filing doesn't hint at what the company, also known as Swivel, is doing, but it shows, as an $850K round filing last year did, that Floodgate's Mike Maples Jr. is on the board. Harmon, meanwhile, has an extensive resume, including being CEO of AlterPoint (acquired 2009); co-founder of Motive Communications (IPO) and a member of Tivoli Systems, one of Austin foundational tech companies (where Maples also once worked) that sold to IBM in 1996. On its site, Swivel had described itself as a "workshifting" platform, CNBC reported.
- EverFest, an Austin festival tech startup, announced it closed on a $3.6M Series A. The round was led by events giant Live Nation Entertainment. ATX Seed Ventures co-led the round, giving the local company a local partner. Other investors in the new round include Red Frog Events, which does the Firefly Music Festival; Chip Conley, head of global hospitality and strategy for Airbnb; and Bob Kagle of Benchmark Capital. As part of the deal, ATX Seed Ventures Partner Chris Shonk and Charlie Walker, co-founder of C3 Presents, will join Everfest's board of directors. Everfest says the new funding will go toward a variety of key hires, product expansion and marketing. The company is also moving its headquarters to a new space near South Lamar and Oltorf. Everfest was founded by Jay Manickam, Brad Dixon and Paul Cross in 2014.
- Alegion, an Austin-based crowd-sourcing platform, raised a $3.6M Series A from RHS Investments, the Statesman reported.
- Civitas Learning, a fast-growing edtech startup in Austin, announced it added a pair of new investors for its Series D round. And the additional funding appears to by symbiotic for impact investors Lumina Foundation and Valhalla Charitable Foundation. The company isn't disclosing the size of the investments. The company says this brings its total funding to over $70M. That's the official number the company uses, although other investments, including private equity, appear to total nearly $89M.
- SpyCloud, an Austin cybersecurity startup that had been in stealth, announced it has raised $2.5M, the Statesman reported. The funding was led by Austin-based Silverton Partners and Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners. SpyCloud was founded by HP's head of threat intelligence, Ted Ross, and David Endler, who founded Jumpshot and was senior director of security research at TippingPoint, which was acquired by HP. Endler also organized Manifest, an Austin cybersecurity networking and advisory group.
Acquisitions
Image by Mark Skrobola via Flickr. CC by 2.0
- Whole Foods, the organic grocer and perhaps the most well-known Austin-based company, agreed to be acquired by Amazon, the ecommerce giant, for $13.7B. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2017. Under the deal, Whole Foods will still operate under its usual Whole Foods Market brand and Co-Founder John Mackey will stay on as CEO. Also, Whole Foods Market's headquarters will remain here in Austin near Lamar and 6th Street.
- OwnLocal, an Austin company that turns print ads in newspapers into online ad campaigns, acquired Chico, Calif.-based Wanderful Media. No financial details provided. OwnLocal is led by founder and CEO Lloyd Armbrust. According to TechCrunch, 10 of Wanderful's employees will immediately join OwnLocal, including some who will relocated to Austin. But Wanderful will operate as an independent business and retain its Chico office.
- Edgecase, an Austin-based retail data software company, announced it has been acquired by Toronto-based ecommerce company GroupBy Inc. Financial terms weren't disclosed. As part of the move, Edgecase's former office will become GroupBy's U.S. HQ. Edgecase was founded in 2012 by Garrett Eastham -- who was replaced as CEO by Susanne Bowen in 2015. The company has worked with several Austin area investors -- or those with strong ties to Austin. To date, Edgecase has raised more than $15M. Among Edgecase's investors are Austin Ventures, Capital Factory, Mike Maples Jr. (Floodgate) and Brett Hurt (data.world and formerly Bazaarvoice). Austin Ventures, which has since stopped making new startup investments, led the company's Series A and B rounds. Other investors include Mack Capital and Allegro Venture Partners.
- Eagle Eye Networks Inc., an Austin-based video surveillance company, announced it acquired Panasonic Cloud Management Services Europe BV. Both companies offer cloud-based surveillance that lets property owners and security officials monitor video and other data online. And this acquisition gives Eagle Eye a variety of new devices and software options. That comes just a few months after Eagle Eye rolled out several new products and integrations. The company was founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneur Dean Drako.
- Kinnser Software, Inc., an Austin-based software developer for healthcare and hospice work, agreed to be acquired by Kansas-based Mediware Information Systems. Kinnser was owned by Insight Venture Partners. Mediware, meanwhile, is owned by TPG Capital. Kinnser was founded in 2003 by CEO Chris Hester.
- Mood Media Corporation, an Austin-based customer experience and engagement company, was acquired by Apollo Global Management LLC, GSO Capital Partners LP and other stakeholders. The move takes the company back into private ownership. Mood Media will keep its HQ in Austin.
Venture Capital
- San Antonio-based GeekdomFund announced it has raised a $20M fund to deploy with Central and South Texas tech startups. It appears to be the largest tech-oriented seed fund raised in South Texas history. Geekdom had announced last November it was seeking to raise $15M. The fund has been pretty active with Austin startups. Among Austin companies in Geekdom's portfolio are Bitfusion, Bold Metrics, Patient IO and TenFold.
Editor's Note: This post will be updated with any new funding announcements or acquisitions reported before July 1.
