March and the first couple of weeks of April were full of personnel moves. Below we wrap up the news from Austin Inno's recent Beat newsletters. To sign up for daily Beat updates, go here.
Sameer Gulati, former president of business-to-business payments platform Plastiq, has been named president of financial technology at Austin-based business operations platform ZenBusiness Inc. Before his time at Plastiq, he was chief operating officer at LendingClub. The fresh hire comes as the startup is rapidly expanding following a $200 million funding round at a $1.7 billion valuation in November. It currently has about 15 job openings on its careers page. The company, led by founder and CEO Ross Buhrdorf, says it is adding about 15,000 new customers a month.
Cirrus Logic Inc., a publicly traded circuit maker based in Austin, said April 12 it has named Venk Nathamuni as its new chief financial officer, starting next week. He was previously head of corporate finance, M&A and investor relations at Arista Networks. Before that, he was at Maxim Integrated Products Inc. as vice president of M&A. He replaces Thurman Case, who is stepping down and will stay on as an adviser until his retirement in November.
Dino Pietropaolo is the new chief technology officer at Austin-based hotel software company Optii Solutions Inc., according to an April 13 announcement. He was previously CTO at Neocova, a St. Louis-based fintech company. Before that, he was senior director of solutions engineering at Altr, an Austin-based data security company. Pietropaolo was also founder of access management startup Good Dog Labs. Optii Solutions, founded in 2006, had raised about $8.6 million in venture funding prior to its 2021 acquisition by hotel owner-operator company MCR for an undisclosed amount.
Austin-based bitcoin mining company Core Scientific Inc., which debuted on the Nasdaq in January following a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, has a new chief financial officer. Denise Sterling, who had been a senior vice president of finance, was appointed to the top finance role and plans to move to Austin later this year. She joined the company in 2021, and replaces former CFO Michael Trzupek, who is leaving the company after the transition for "new opportunities," according to an April 5 announcement. Prior to Core Scientific, Sterling was senior VP of finance at financial services company Oportun. Before that, she was a senior VP of risk management at Visa Inc.
Along with the promotion, the company announced March was its best digital mining month, as it minted 1,143 bitcoins, which it says is the most in a month for any U.S.-based mining company. It held 8,497 bitcoins as of the end of March.
Late last month, Israeli electric vehicle company REE Automotive Ltd. picked a 120,000-square-foot space in Pflugerville as the spot for its U.S. headquarters and its roughly 125 employees. On April 5, the publicly traded company announced it has appointed Josh Tech as chief operations officer. He'll be based in the U.S. and lead all domestic operations, although the announcement did not specify which city he'll be based in. He was most recently VP of manufacturing at Plant Prefab in California. Prior to that, he was head of the new product and manufacturing group at Tesla's office in Fremont, Calif. Tech replaces Michael Charlton, who is now a strategic advisor for the company.
While REE has yet to set a move-in date at its Pflugerville space, it plans to start production there next year, and the company says it's getting ready for full vehicle prototype testing for customers this year
Austin-based Epicor Software Corp. said April 4 it has appointed Lisa Pope as president. Pope joined the company about five years ago as executive VP of the Americas. Prior to that, she was a senior VP at Infor, and she has also worked at Oracle and QAD.
“Lisa has been a major force for growth, scale and profitability over the last five years as we pursue our mission to be the Cloud Vendor of Choice for the make, move, and sell economy,” Epicor CEO Steve Murphy stated.
Austin HR and office tech startup Pingboard Inc. said March 31 it has appointed Laith Dahiyat as CEO. He fills the shoes of founder Bill Boebel, who will stay on as an advisor and board member. Dahiyat was most recently general manager of Weedmaps. Prior to that, he was chief strategy officer at Chargify. Pingboard, which has raised $7.5 million in VC funding from investors including Austin's Silverton Partners and Capital Factory, became profitable in 2020, according to an announcement.
Austin book club startup Literati Inc. said March 31 it added Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai as its first-ever chief education advisor. She had previously partnered with the company in 2020 to launch her book club featuring works written by women and first-time authors with unique perspectives. Often known simply as Malala, the Pakistani woman won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, in part for speaking out against the Taliban's burning of girls' schools and surviving a Pakistani Taliban assassination attempt when she was 15.
“As a result of the pandemic, so many kids have fallen behind,” Literati CEO Jessica Ewing stated. “Literati wants to be a resource to parents and educators in turning the tide. Malala has been an incredible partner to us, and I can’t think of a better champion for education and reading to join us in this important work.
Austin- and Houston-based cognitive assessment platform BrainCheck Inc. said March 30 it has appointed Trey Swain as chief financial officer and Matthew Cerullo as chief revenue officer. Swain was most recently a consulting CFO and senior VP of finance at Consero Global. Cerullo was most recently VP of sales at Real Time Medical Systems. BrainCheck, founded in 2015 and led by co-founder and CEO Yael Katz, raised a $10 million series B round in November.
Austin canned cocktail company Canteen Spirits said March 28 it appointed Brian Smith as chief sales officer. He was previously chief sales officer at Pabst Brewing Company. Canteen, founded in 2019 by Brandon Cason and Daniel Barnes, last year raised a $31 million round of equity and debt funding led by ATX Global Co-Invest, which is part of ATX Venture Partners.
Austin digital health and at-home testing startup Everly Health said March 28 it has hired Dr. Liz Kwo as chief medical officer. She was most recently deputy chief clinical officer at health insurance company Anthem. Before that, she was VP and GM of provider networks at telemedicine company American Well. She was also founder of New Pathway, which was acquired by EIC Education in 2014.
E2open LLC CFO Jarett Janik, who joined the company in 2018, is planning to retire once the company identifies a replacement. The search has already begun. The company, which develops a supply chain management platform, is led by CEO Michael Farlekas. Last month, it acquired Logistyx Technologies, a global parcel and e-commerce shipping and fulfillment company.
Clinical-stage pharmaceutical startup Ninnion LLC announced March 23 it has set up its scientific advisory board. Members include Rick Strassman, Charles B. Nemeroff, Ede Frecska, Attila Szabo, Patrick Finan, Brent Turnispeed, Mathias Egermark, Jair Soares and Bill W. Massey.
The board, which includes doctors and scientists from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas, as well as founders, will help set up the company's research and pipeline development priorities. The company is focused on second- and third-generation psychedelic therapies for brain injuries, chronic pain and addiction disorders.
Invzbl LLC, an Austin company with products that use ultraviolet light to disinfect air, surfaces and more, said it has hired Scott Knuckles as VP of customer success. He was previously director of customer success at Aeries Software. Before that, he worked at Lightspeed Systems. Invzbl , led by founder and CEO Chuck Morrison, was founded in Charlotte in 2019. It moved its HQ to Austin last spring.
The spiked seltzer boom continues, and Austin-based Mighty Swell Cocktail Co. has added new talent to its team to help it grow. It announced March 17 that it hired Andrew Pieri as VP of operations, Jon Aronson as VP of finance and Anthony Avizenis as VP of sales. Pieri was previously regional supply chain director at Anheuser-Busch InBev. Aronson was previously VP of revenue management at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. And Avinzenis previously was VP of U.S. field sales at Founders Brewing Company. The startup, founded in 2016, was recently ranked No. 93 on Inc.'s regional southwest list of fastest-growing private companies.
Invicti Security Corp., an Austin-based app security startup, said March 16 it added Steven Fitz as chief revenue officer. He was previously CRO at Sumo Logic. Prior to that, he had worked at MapR, Avaya and rand Dell EMC Isilon's APAC-Japan region. Inviciti, led by CEO Michael George, was born in 2018 out of a merger of Netsparker and Acunetix. Last year, it sold a majority stake to Boston-based growth equity firm Summit Partners for $625 million.
Austin's LiveOak Venture Partners said March 15 it promoted Creighton Hicks and Mike Marcantonio to partner. They join founding partners Venu Shamapant and Krishna Srinivasan atop the organizational chart. Hicks, a former team member at Dell Technologies Capital, joined LiveOak in 2020, with prior stops at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, VMware and Tivoli Software. Marcantonio joined LiveOak in 2018 after working at early-stage venture firm Blue Heron Capital in Virginia. He has also worked at American Capital, Harris Williams and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The promotions follow LiveOak's launch of a $210 million third fund in November.
Austin emergency communications and monitoring company AlertMedia Inc. announced March 9 it has appointed a new CEO. Christopher Kenessey will take over for founder and former CEO Brian Cruver, who moved to executive chairman of the board. Kenessey was most recently CEO of NetMotion, a Seattle-based network security company. Before that, he was chief of sales and marketing officer at The Foundry, which makes creative software for animation and more. AlertMedia, founded in 2013, raised about $57 million before landing a private equity investment from Austin's Vista Equity Partners about a year ago.
Austin-based VC firm Next Coast Ventures said March 8 it added Kaitlyn DeBernardo as a partner and head of platform. She was previously interim director of financial operations at Austin-based unicorn Workrise. Before that, she worked at Chevron and Bank of America on the equity desk in New York.
