Here is the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas:
—Houston-based FlexGen Power Systems announced Monday it has raised a $25.5 million Series A round of financing to further market and install its hybrid energy storage software in oilfield and power generation sites. The round was led by Denver-based Altira Group and includes investors such as GE Ventures and Caterpillar Ventures.
—Q2 Holdings, an Austin, TX-based company that sells software to community financial institutions, has acquired a Lincoln, NE-based company with software that detects fraud and manages risk. Q2 announced the acquisition of Centrix Solutions last week.
—MacroFab, a cloud-based electronics manufacturing platform, has raised $2 million in seed funding in an investment round led by Techstars. The company will use the money to make hires and expand software capabilities in order to turnaround prototypes in around 24 hours. The Houston-based company can reduce manufacturing costs for small businesses by making small-batch manufacturing easier and more affordable, the company says.
—Neos Therapeutics announced last week the closing of its initial public offering, which contained 5.52 million shares of common stock at $15 per share. That amount includes an exercise by underwriters to purchase up to 720,000 additional shares of the stock. The Dallas-area company is developing a controlled-release technology for ADHD drugs, which attempt to deliver liquid and pill medications in a controlled manner over time, instead of all at once.
—Castle Biosciences announced last week the closing of $11.7 million tranche of a $20 million financing. The tranche was led by existing investor Industry Ventures to help support the company’s molecular diagnostic tests–particularly the clinical adoption of its gene expression profile test for identifying metastatic risk in early stage cutaneous (skin) melanoma. The company currently markets molecular diagnostic tests for fie other cancers, including uveal (ocular) melanoma.
—An Austin, TX-based company is using sensors and smart locks to combat fuel and cargo theft. Nuve’s customers include the Mexican state oil company Pemex; Femsa, a bottling company based in Mexico City; Cemex, the giant Mexican cement company in Monterrey; and AHMSA, the largest steel plant in Mexico. The startup is now looking further south for opportunities in Latin America.
—Austin’s International Accelerator is targeting foreign-born entrepreneurs for the sort of help available to their many native American counterparts. The program, founded by business consultant Angelos Angelou, goes beyond the traditional aspects of a startup accelerator to also help entrepreneurs with visa, legal, and other hurdles to starting a business in the United States.
—The Texas Medical Center has established a new fellowship, the TMC Biodesign Fellowship, which will start this fall. The program, which has eight slots, is aimed at boosting entrepreneurship in digital health and medical devices on the part of academic researchers.
—Nanoracks, a private space company based in Houston, is partnering with Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Amazon founder Blue Origin. NanoRacks sells to researchers transportation and access to lab space at the International Space Station. With Blue Origin, NanoRacks will lift experiments to the edge of space, some 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.
—Dallas/Fort Worth wants to get in on the booming life sciences innovation scene. A biotech-focused advocacy group called BioNorthTX has formed with the idea of bringing together entrepreneurs, executives at large healthcare companies, venture capitalists, and academia to promote translations and the formation of new companies.
