Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas.
—Organizers for the upcoming South By Southwest Interactive Festival are starting to make known some of this year’s new events. Namely, two days of programming named “Tech Under Trump” will take place March 15-16. “The goal of this programming is both to inform attendees about how the tech/startup ecosystem will likely change over the next four years, as well as to inspire registrants on how to bridge the many gaps and divisions that the election has revealed,” organizers said in a press release. The discussion is one of several topics being evaluated in light of President-elect Donald Trump; on tap are different tracks such as government, journalism, social impact, and startup village.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and AT&T’s Foundry for Connected Health are jointly hosting a “Connect to End Cancer” event as part of the festival’s growing focus on technology and healthcare innovation. Event organizers are scouting for startups innovating in areas like patient engagement and experience, clinical trials management, and cybersecurity.
—TripAdvisor, the Needham, MA, travel information company, is the lead investor in a $5.2 million Series B funding round for Traxo, a Dallas-based online travel dashboard that is increasingly focusing on the corporate travel market. The app helps companies keep track of itineraries for transportation and accommodation and aggregates airline, hotel, and other travel and entertainment itineraries, even if employees do not book travel through a company’s agent.
—Houston philanthropist John Arnold is among investors, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, and John Doerr, chairman of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who say they will invest more than $1 billion in cleantech ventures as part of the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund. They are members of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, which has the goal of supporting technology that can mitigate climate change.
—Austin’s getting an alcohol delivery service just in time for holiday festivities. Philadelphia-based goBooze has started wine and beer delivery service in the city, which is the company’s first Texas market. GoBooze is the alcohol delivery arm of goPuff, a delivery service company that says it fulfills orders of consumer products and food in 30 minutes or less. The company is in 10 other markets across the U.S.
—Despite being the country’s 7th largest city—and home to U.S. Air Force’s cyber-command as well as a growing healthcare innovation ecosystem—San Antonio did not have an angel investor network of its own. Brent Barry, an investor and former San Antonio Spurs player, decided to help change that. Barry recently held an event at his Alamo City home to draw in more investors for the fledgling San Antonio Angel Network.
—Five years ago, Geekdom put down roots in downtown San Antonio as a co-working space seeking to make the area a tech destination. Started by Rackspace co-founder Graham Weston and fellow entrepreneur Nick Longo, Geekdom now has 1,200 members who operate more than 500 companies. That information was part of an economic impact report on how downtown San Antonio’s tech scene has grown since 2011. Since that time, the report stated that Geekdom companies have raised $68.8 million in capital, while five of them have been acquired.
