[Updated 9/19/18, 3:40 p.m. See below.] Tiny Rhode Island and its capital city Providence have always punched above their weight, for better or for worse. Better: Little Rhody’s founder Roger Williams, fleeing religious persecution in 17th-century puritanical Massachusetts, was one of America’s first abolitionists and created the concept of the separation of church and state. … Continue reading “In Boston’s Shadow, Rhode Island Fights for Life Science Jobs, Respect”
Category: Texas
UiPath Snags $225M To Expand Robotic Workforce for Businesses
Top venture capital firms continue to pour money into software robotics companies that promise to automate monotonous business operations, like processing mortgage applications, that are often performed by humans. New York-based UiPath is the latest such company to score a haul, announcing Tuesday it raised $225 million in a Series C funding round co-led by … Continue reading “UiPath Snags $225M To Expand Robotic Workforce for Businesses”
San Antonio’s Filestack Buys SF-based Content Marketing Service Tint
San Antonio—Software-as-a-service business Filestack is acquiring one of its customers, Tint, which makes software that aggregates social media posts and other online content for large corporations and organizations to use in marketing. Tint is based in San Francisco, and has an application programming interface (API) that lets a brand or business display content, which has … Continue reading “San Antonio’s Filestack Buys SF-based Content Marketing Service Tint”
Alamo Angels Aims to Expand Investing Footprint as Dizon Takes Helm
San Antonio—[Corrected 9/19/18, 8:15 a.m. See below.] Cat Dizon recently met with the founders of a San Antonio startup focused on cancer research, a complicated area of healthcare that is more often than not a highly risky investment proposition. Dizon is experienced in the startup world: She is a partner at investment firm Active Capital … Continue reading “Alamo Angels Aims to Expand Investing Footprint as Dizon Takes Helm”
TX Roundup: TMC’s BioBridge to the UK, New Execs at Fannin & TechFW
Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news in Texas. —The Texas Medical Center has announced an expansion of its BioBridge program to the United Kingdom. BioBridge is designed to help TMC and UK-based companies collaborate on a number of medical issues, including advancement of genomics and artificial intelligence technologies for cancer research. The medical center … Continue reading “TX Roundup: TMC’s BioBridge to the UK, New Execs at Fannin & TechFW”
Vision Assistance Startup Aira Inking Deals With UCSD, Retail Stores
Students and shoppers will soon be using technology developed by Aira, a San Diego startup that links vision-impaired people with “visual interpreters” via smartphone and smart glasses, to help them navigate their environments. In recent weeks Aira announced that its accessibility service would be available at no cost to those who need it while at … Continue reading “Vision Assistance Startup Aira Inking Deals With UCSD, Retail Stores”
The Rise of Robocalls and Cell Scams—and How to Stop Them
[Updated 9:15 a.m., see below.] Jen King was in a hurry to get out the door of her Bay Area home on a recent morning, and she missed a call to her cell phone because of it. The phone number that called her, she later discovered, was startling. “It was my home phone calling me, … Continue reading “The Rise of Robocalls and Cell Scams—and How to Stop Them”
Bio Roundup: CRISPR Ruling, “America’s Nobels,” IPOs & More
The long-running patent feud over CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing appears to be over, just as U.S. biotech companies gear up for the first human tests of the landmark technology. This week, a federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling handing a CRISPR-Cas9 patent to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The decision by the three-judge … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: CRISPR Ruling, “America’s Nobels,” IPOs & More”
San Antonio Startup Making Noise-Reducing Tech for Babies Adds $1.3M
San Antonio—Invictus Medical, which develops products for newborn babies, and says it added almost $1.3 million in new funding to continue developing a device that aims to help create a quiet, peaceful environment for infants in neonatal intensive care units. Invictus plans to use the new funding to bring the technology to the point of … Continue reading “San Antonio Startup Making Noise-Reducing Tech for Babies Adds $1.3M”
With Cornershop, Walmart Expands On-Demand Delivery to Latin America
Walmart is taking the e-commerce delivery business south of the border. The Bentonville, AR, retailer announced Thursday it has acquired Cornershop, an on-demand online service that delivers products from supermarkets, pharmacies, and specialty shops in Mexico and Chile, for $225 million. “We are focused on making life easier for customers and associates by building strong … Continue reading “With Cornershop, Walmart Expands On-Demand Delivery to Latin America”
Software Startup Classy Adds Ex-Okta, Civitas Execs to C-Suite
Enterprise software startup Classy, which developed a platform through which it says nonprofit organizations have raised nearly $1 billion for their causes, has hired its first-ever chief revenue and chief product officers. Adam Aarons, the new chief revenue officer, was also named Classy’s president. The company, based in downtown San Diego, is headed by CEO … Continue reading “Software Startup Classy Adds Ex-Okta, Civitas Execs to C-Suite”
Living on the Edge: Amazon, AT&T, Packet Pursue “Cloudlet” Computing
The word “cloud”—as in cloud computing, and cloud storage—has served as a handy shorthand term, but it has always been inherently vague and a little misleading. When businesses and consumers use a cloud service provider like Amazon Web Services or Apple’s iCloud, their data, photos, and music don’t get processed in the misty skies above … Continue reading “Living on the Edge: Amazon, AT&T, Packet Pursue “Cloudlet” Computing”
Exec Shuffle in Austin and San Antonio, Icon Funds, & More TX Tech
Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news in Texas. —Personify, an Austin maker of customer management software, has been sold by Rubicon Technology Partners, a private equity firm with offices in Menlo Park, CA, and Stamford, CT, to Pamlico Capital in Charlotte, NC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Personify works with associations, … Continue reading “Exec Shuffle in Austin and San Antonio, Icon Funds, & More TX Tech”
OncoResponse Nabs $40M for Cancer Drugs Based On Survivors’ Antibodies
Houston—OncoResponse, a biotech startup formed jointly with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, announced Tuesday it has raised a $40 million Series B round of funding. RiverVest Venture Partners led the round, which included new investors Redmile Group and the Qatar Investment Authority, as well as existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments, … Continue reading “OncoResponse Nabs $40M for Cancer Drugs Based On Survivors’ Antibodies”
PepsiCo Expands Nutrition Greenhouse Startup Program to U.S.
PepsiCo is expanding its Nutrition Greenhouse program from Europe to North America, adding to its arsenal of initiatives designed to connect the global soda-maker to innovative startups in the food and beverage sector. Nutrition Greenhouse will be an accelerator for 10 startups that “are helping to transform the food and beverage industry with nutritious, natural, … Continue reading “PepsiCo Expands Nutrition Greenhouse Startup Program to U.S.”
Bio Roundup: A Gene Editing 1st, China Rises, Schenkein Steps Away
If you’re still recovering from a Labor Day hangover or busy searching for the identity of the anonymous writer of the anti-Trump op-ed for the New York Times, you may have missed a few biomedical firsts. This week brought the first sliver of human data from an in-body gene editing procedure, and the results were … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: A Gene Editing 1st, China Rises, Schenkein Steps Away”
San Antonio Grocer HEB Announces New Digital Lab in Austin
Austin—HEB said Wednesday it is opening what the grocer calls an innovation center to house both HEB’s growing digital team and the staff of Favor, a delivery startup HEB purchased earlier this year. “This state-of-the-art space will be a hub for creativity and innovation as we continue to develop the ultimate digital experience for our … Continue reading “San Antonio Grocer HEB Announces New Digital Lab in Austin”
Spredfast Merger, Opcity Acquired, Disco Relocates & More TX Tech
[Updated 9/5/18 12:54 pm. See below.] Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news in Texas. —Spredfast, an Austin developer of social media management software, has merged with San Francisco-based Lithium Technologies, the companies announced Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lithium, founded in 2001, makes software for digital customer engagement. Last year, Austin-based … Continue reading “Spredfast Merger, Opcity Acquired, Disco Relocates & More TX Tech”
Health Wildcatters Splits Program in Two, Debuts Latest Startup Class
Dallas—Health Wildcatters has chosen its latest class of healthcare startups, and has also announced that the accelerator is splitting its cohort into two programs. One class will begin in the fall as usual, and the other will join a newly-originated spring session. “If we split it in half, it gives us a bigger chance to … Continue reading “Health Wildcatters Splits Program in Two, Debuts Latest Startup Class”
Assembla Buys Belgian Startup MyGet for Code Management and Security
San Antonio—Assembla, a company that San Antonio investment firm Scaleworks acquired in 2016, has bought Belgium-based startup MyGet for an undisclosed price. MyGet offers a service that helps automate a process in software development known as package management. The company sells its service to thousands of customers globally, including Johnson Controls, Microsoft, and BMW, according … Continue reading “Assembla Buys Belgian Startup MyGet for Code Management and Security”
Bio Roundup: Pfizer’s Rare Results, U.K.’s CAR-T No, IPO Go-Go & More
Before you head out for the final summer getaway, catch up on the week’s headlines. Pfizer upped the ante in the field of transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) treatment, where competition to treat the rare disease has grown increasingly complex. We’ll start with what was—and wasn’t—in Pfizer’s data release Monday, top up with more ATTR news, then … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Pfizer’s Rare Results, U.K.’s CAR-T No, IPO Go-Go & More”
Wireless Internet Firms Take On Big Telecoms in Cities and Suburbs
If you’re a city dweller, and unhappy with the big company that provides your Internet connection, chances are good there’s a scrappy little outfit that thinks it can do better for you. Metropolitan areas have become target territories for the wireless Internet service providers, or WISPs, that for a long time have been the only … Continue reading “Wireless Internet Firms Take On Big Telecoms in Cities and Suburbs”
Rivaling Google, Web-Mining Diffbot Opens Its Knowledge Graph to All
Diffbot, a tech startup that continuously scours the Web to assemble a “knowledge graph” of billions of facts in context, announced today that it’s opening up the searchable resource to the public—with starter rates as low as a cable TV bill. Mountain View, CA-based Diffbot gleans unstructured data scattered across websites, ads, blog posts, videos, … Continue reading “Rivaling Google, Web-Mining Diffbot Opens Its Knowledge Graph to All”
Austin’s Infinite.io, Maker of Data Storage Software, Raises $10M
Austin—Infinite.io announced Wednesday it has raised an additional $7.3 million in financing, bringing the data storage startup’s total financial haul to $10.3 million. The new funding comes on top of $3 million raised two weeks ago, says Mark Cree, Infinite.io’s president and CEO. The round was led by former Motorola CEO and Cleversafe chairman Chris … Continue reading “Austin’s Infinite.io, Maker of Data Storage Software, Raises $10M”
CPRIT Grants, TMC & Baird, Shipt & Drive.ai Expand, & More TX Tech
Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news in Texas. —Forbius, an Austin biotech company (also known as Formation Biologics) has been awarded an $18.75 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The funds will be used to support operations and Phase 2a development of AVID100, the company’s anti-EGFR antibody-drug conjugate … Continue reading “CPRIT Grants, TMC & Baird, Shipt & Drive.ai Expand, & More TX Tech”
Puls Snags $50M to Grow On-Call Repair Service for Smartphones, IoT
Puls Technologies, whose on-demand technicians repair broken smartphones and install connected home devices, announced today it has raised $50 million to expand its reach as a unified source of device maintenance and consumer support. San Francisco-based Puls, founded in 2015, offers to dispatch technicians quickly to a customer’s home or office to replace malfunctioning parts, … Continue reading “Puls Snags $50M to Grow On-Call Repair Service for Smartphones, IoT”
VMware Acquiring Cloud Analytics and Management Startup CloudHealth
[Updated and corrected, 5:13 p.m. See below.] VMware has agreed to acquire CloudHealth Technologies, a Boston-based company that VMware wants for its service that lets businesses analyze and manage the cost, usage, security, and performance of private and public cloud computing options. Palo Alto, CA-based VMware (NYSE: [[ticker:VMW]]) didn’t disclose the terms of the deal. A … Continue reading “VMware Acquiring Cloud Analytics and Management Startup CloudHealth”
San Antonio’s Spinal Stabilization Technologies Snags $11M Funding
San Antonio—Spinal Stabilization Technologies, a company developing a medical device for degenerating spinal cord discs, has added almost $11.2 million in new financing, according to a securities filing. Founded in 2010, San Antonio-based SST is developing a lumbar implant that can replace the nucleus of a deteriorating spinal disc. People’s discs deteriorate as they age, … Continue reading “San Antonio’s Spinal Stabilization Technologies Snags $11M Funding”
New Houston Biotech Magnolia Tejas Plans Trials with $20M CPRIT Grant
Houston—Magnolia Tejas, a new biotech company formed to develop drugs to treat neurological side effects from chemotherapy, has received a grant of nearly $20 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Magnolia Tejas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Magnolia Neurosciences, which launched earlier this month with $31 million from investors to … Continue reading “New Houston Biotech Magnolia Tejas Plans Trials with $20M CPRIT Grant”
Get Physical: Houston’s Kanthaka Offers Personal Trainers in an Hour
Houston—The excuses can come easy when it comes to exercising regularly. Kanthaka founder and CEO Sylvie Kampshoff wants to eliminate one of the most common: people can’t commit to a schedule. Kanthaka is an Uber-style service for finding personal trainers: users can book a session (nearly) on-demand, giving just one hour of notice. The app … Continue reading “Get Physical: Houston’s Kanthaka Offers Personal Trainers in an Hour”
Bio Roundup: EpiPen Shortage, Bluebird’s Bet, Biotech IPOs & More
It’s back-to-school season and that means it’s time to load up on school supplies. For many students and schools, one crucial item is in high demand but hard to come by: the EpiPen. Some schools stock the epinephrine autoinjectors so they can respond quickly to a student’s allergic reaction to food. Though the autoinjectors are … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: EpiPen Shortage, Bluebird’s Bet, Biotech IPOs & More”
Eventbrite Targets $200M IPO as Tech, Biotech Markets Remain Hot
Event tech service Eventbrite is hoping to raise $200 million in an initial public offering during what has already been a busy year for IPOs. San Francisco-based Eventbrite lets users list and sell tickets to any type of event, from fundraisers to music festivals—for a fee on each ticket. The company had $201.6 million in … Continue reading “Eventbrite Targets $200M IPO as Tech, Biotech Markets Remain Hot”
San Antonio’s Brokerage Engine Plans Funding Round After First Sales
San Antonio—Brokerage Engine, a tech company building software that helps real estate brokerages manage operations, says it should soon close on its first round of funding since its launch a year ago. The founders of the software-as-a-service businesses aren’t revealing yet who the investors are or how much in funding they will raise, but say … Continue reading “San Antonio’s Brokerage Engine Plans Funding Round After First Sales”
San Antonio’s Earth Class Mail Buys Digital Receipt Maker Shoeboxed
San Antonio—Earth Class Mail is acquiring Durham, NC-based Shoeboxed, which digitizes physical receipts, for an undisclosed price, the companies planned to announce this morning. Earth Class Mail, which is focused on turning traditional paper mail into digital records, is adding to its product offering by buying Shoeboxed. The 14-year-old San Antonio-based business recently made upgrades to … Continue reading “San Antonio’s Earth Class Mail Buys Digital Receipt Maker Shoeboxed”
New Funds for Multicoin, Infinite.io, Prism FM, Caringo & More
There has been a flurry of funding announcements from Austin startups. Here are some notable ones: —Caringo, a startup that makes software that can provide customers the ability to manage, organize, and search extremely large amounts of data, has raised nearly $3.4 million in new funding, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and … Continue reading “New Funds for Multicoin, Infinite.io, Prism FM, Caringo & More”
Facebook, NYU Pin Hope of Faster MRIs on Artificial Intelligence
The long, sometimes painful wait to complete an MRI may soon be cut down dramatically—and we might have Facebook and its artificial intelligence unit to thank for it. The social media giant announced Monday that it is working with the radiology department at New York University’s School of Medicine to potentially use artificial intelligence software … Continue reading “Facebook, NYU Pin Hope of Faster MRIs on Artificial Intelligence”
VelocityTX Lands $50K Grant for Work with Brazilian Entrepreneurs
San Antonio—VelocityTX, an organization established last year as a resource center for entrepreneurs and startups, and a Brazilian organization are being given a grant worth about $50,000 to support young companies in the South American country. VelocityTX and the Brazilian Institute for Quality and Productivity (IBQP) announced Monday they received the grant from the Small … Continue reading “VelocityTX Lands $50K Grant for Work with Brazilian Entrepreneurs”
Would Uber’s IPO Be a Revival or a Reckoning?
In its early years, Uber was a headstrong force knocking down preconceived ideas about transportation and, along with Lyft, sparking the imaginations of countless entrepreneurs who are now building a new industry called “mobility.” As it closes in on its first decade, Uber is a conundrum: A Silicon Valley unicorn with $7.3 billion in cash, … Continue reading “Would Uber’s IPO Be a Revival or a Reckoning?”
Bio Roundup: Big Approvals, ICER Influence, Drug-Price Pushback & More
[Updated 8/17/18, 10:21 a.m. See below.] We’ll start the roundup this week with two drug approvals that came late last Friday. Both were landmarks for the companies receiving the nod, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Amicus Therapeutics. We also saw a new biotech emerge in the muggy New York heat, a couple deals for new flu vaccines, … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Big Approvals, ICER Influence, Drug-Price Pushback & More”
DoorDash Valued at $4 Billion After Adding $250M in New Funding
DoorDash has upped its valuation to $4 billion with a new $250 million financing round, five months after it raised $535 million to gain its “unicorn” status. The new $250 million funding round was co-led by Coatue Management and DST Global. CEO Tony Xu told Axios’s Dan Primack that the company hadn’t been actively seeking … Continue reading “DoorDash Valued at $4 Billion After Adding $250M in New Funding”
Techstars and Heritage Group Launch Indianapolis Accelerator Program
Techstars, which works to advance early stage startups through 45 accelerator programs across the world, today announced its newest accelerator focused on construction and infrastructure materials. The accelerator, located in Indianapolis, is being run in partnership with the Heritage Group, an Indiana company specializing in environmental remediation, specialty chemicals, construction materials, and fuel products. “It’s … Continue reading “Techstars and Heritage Group Launch Indianapolis Accelerator Program”
MassChallenge Awards $510K to Eight Startups in Texas Accelerator
Austin—[Updated 2:11 p.m. See below.] MassChallenge gave out $510,000 in cash to eight startups Wednesday, including to six early stage companies from Texas. During an award ceremony in Austin, two hometown companies won $100,000 each, the top awards of the night. Environmental Quality Operations, or EQO, has developed a bioengineered diagnostic technology to “detect, monitor, … Continue reading “MassChallenge Awards $510K to Eight Startups in Texas Accelerator”
Best Buy Acquires GTCR’s GreatCall for $800M, Eyeing Aging Boomers
Best Buy is paying $800 million in cash for GreatCall, a San Diego-based healthtech company which private equity firm GTCR bought early last year. GreatCall operates a virtual mobile telecommunications network for a customer base of more than 900,000 elderly consumers. The company also sells gadgets, such as mobile devices with large screens and big … Continue reading “Best Buy Acquires GTCR’s GreatCall for $800M, Eyeing Aging Boomers”
Station Houston Names Longtime Education Executive Rowe as New CEO
Houston—Sometimes, when a startup has matured to a certain point, a founder is not considered to be the best person to lead it during the next stage of growth. At Station Houston, a startup-focused organization founded in 2016, new leadership is in place. Gabriella Rowe, a longtime education executive and former investment banker, has replaced … Continue reading “Station Houston Names Longtime Education Executive Rowe as New CEO”
Dating App Bumble Creates Fund to Invest in Diverse Female Founders
Austin—Bumble, the dating app maker that has expanded into other areas of social networking, has launched an investment fund focused on startups founded by women. The Bumble Fund plans to make early stage investments that focus on diverse female founders “who have been largely ignored by the established venture capital world,” according to news release … Continue reading “Dating App Bumble Creates Fund to Invest in Diverse Female Founders”
SF’s Full Harvest Bags $8.5M to Help Sell “Ugly and Surplus” Produce
Full Harvest, an online market for imperfect produce that previously would have been thrown out, announced it has raised $8.5 million in a Series A round of funding. The funding was led by Spark Capital and includes investors such as Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss, and John Scherr, head of strategic … Continue reading “SF’s Full Harvest Bags $8.5M to Help Sell “Ugly and Surplus” Produce”
To Avoid Trouble, Companies Must Support Harassed Employees First
When news breaks about sexual harassment at a company like Uber, the public is likely to believe that the entire business has a cultural problem. In contrast, the same isn’t true for other issues, such as financial misconduct, which the public tends to see as a “bad apple” situation. That’s according to a study released … Continue reading “To Avoid Trouble, Companies Must Support Harassed Employees First”
Ford’s Autonomic Pairs With Alibaba Cloud On Mobility Hub for China
Ford—one of the automakers competing in China’s huge car market—is now making a bid to provide China’s leading software infrastructure hub dedicated to streamlining transportation by connecting cars and riders with mobility services. Ford’s recently acquired unit Autonomic, which co-created the automaker’s Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC), inked a deal Tuesday to partner with Alibaba Cloud, … Continue reading “Ford’s Autonomic Pairs With Alibaba Cloud On Mobility Hub for China”
New Biotech Magnolia Neurosciences Gets $31M For Neuroprotective Drugs
A new biotech company, Magnolia Neurosciences, is launching with $31 million from investors to develop potential therapies for nervous system disorders based on discoveries at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Magnolia, which is based in New York, was co-founded by Seattle-based life sciences investment firm Accelerator Life Science Partners and MD Anderson … Continue reading “New Biotech Magnolia Neurosciences Gets $31M For Neuroprotective Drugs”
Exits in Austin, Pitch NASA, Diversity in Energy, & More TX Tech
Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news from Texas. —Accruent, an Austin-based maker of resource management software, is being acquired by Fortive (NYSE: [[ticker:FTV]]) for about $2 billion in cash, according to a press release. Fortive, which is based in Everett, WA, is buying Accruent from Genstar Capital, a San Francisco private equity firm, which … Continue reading “Exits in Austin, Pitch NASA, Diversity in Energy, & More TX Tech”