Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas.
—EverlyWell wants to deepen our knowledge of our quantified selves. The year-old startup sells what it calls “health and wellness” at-home assays that can check hormone and blood sugar levels, among other biological markers. EverlyWell partners with certified labs that process the samples, and the startup provides the customer with easy-to-understand explanations of the lab work.
—Austin is the latest hub for the U.S. Department of Defense’s “Defense Innovation Unit Experimental” program, or DIUx, the Austin-American Statesman reported. The effort, which also has programs in Silicon Valley and Boston, is aimed at connecting the Pentagon with U.S. tech ecosystems.
—Peloton Therapeutics raised $52.4 million in a Series D round of funding to help the biotech pursue its lead drug candidate to fight kidney cancer. Investors included Foresite Capital Management (a new investor) and previous backers Remeditex, The Column Group, Tichenor Ventures, Topspin Fund, and Nextech Invest.
—The Dallas Entrepreneur Center and the Tech Wildcatters accelerator, along with Comerica, are hosting an election-themed pitch contest called Pitchocracy. Interested startups (Texas-based only) have until October 1 to apply, after which a group of mentors will narrow the list down to 10 semi-finalists. Those candidates will campaign for and receive votes online. The top vote-getter gets a place in the final four, who will all pitch in front of judges in mid-November. Click here for more information.
—South Texas is now home to its own network of angel investors. The San Antonio Angel Network formed this past summer to connect accredited investors in South Texas who are interested in making technology and biotech investments. Last week, the network announced it had hired David Burney, a former Rackspace finance manager and analyst, as executive director.
—Scraffic launched in the Alamo City with the goal of providing software that monitors retail traffic so that managers can staff stores according to how busy they are. Scraffic also offers metrics on how many customers become buyers. The company is self-funded so far and is operating out of the Geekdom co-working site.
