“Always be pitchin’.” That’s the mantra of student entrepreneurs from the University of Houston and Rice University today as they practice for a first joint demo day this afternoon. We’ll report back on the event tomorrow, but, in the meantime, here are news highlights from the Texas innovation community in the past week.
—Castle Biosciences, based in the Houston suburb of Friendswood, said Wednesday it raised $11.8 million to market and develop its biomarker diagnostic assays for rare cancers, including melanoma and esophageal cancer.
—Quarri Technologies, an Austin, TX-based security software maker, reported raising $697,169 of a planned $750,000 financing.
—SailPoint Technologies said it has sold a majority stake of the Austin company to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm with offices in San Francisco and Chicago. Terms were not disclosed. SailPoint makes identity management software.
—Looking to make money doing something you love? Austin’s Besomebody is gearing up for a beta for its online self-improvement network for people to buy, sell, or trade skills related to their passions.
—Omni Water Solutions, an Austin-based company that makes water treatment technology for use in fracking operations, raised $1.84 million in an equity round.
—Austin-based storage software maker Pivot3 raised $12 million for product development, sales, and marketing. The investment round was led by S3 Ventures in Austin, as well as InterWest Partners and Mesirow Financial.
