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 … Continue reading “Tour of Texas: SXSW Updates, Traxo, John Arnold, San Antonio Tech”
Category: Texas
Jungle Disk CEO: After Machines Learn, Hacking Methods Will Evolve
San Antonio—[Corrected 1/17/2017, 5:05 p.m. See below.] When people consider the potential downside of machine learning and artificial intelligence, it often leans toward the extreme: “The Terminator” or, perhaps, “The Matrix.” But other threats that may be less ominous are likely far more realistic. An example: A hacker could use an artificial intelligence tool, which … Continue reading “Jungle Disk CEO: After Machines Learn, Hacking Methods Will Evolve”
Bio Roundup: NY Rises, Prez Inks Cures, Ophthotech Crashes & More
The 21st Century Cures Act is now law. New York wants to play in the biotech big leagues. The FDA under Trump will have license to approve drugs faster and could have a former top official back on board as commissioner. An eye drug failed, an Alzheimer’s drug got scrutinized, and a new antibiotic passed … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: NY Rises, Prez Inks Cures, Ophthotech Crashes & More”
TVA Medical Lands $7,000,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cc4f2228-ecd4-4dfb-80c4-1b72709c5617 Date 12/16/2016 Company Name TVA Medical Mailing Address 7000 Bee Cave Rd. Austin, TX 78746 USA Company Description TVA Medical, Inc. (TVA) is a medical device company developing minimally invasive therapies for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Website http://www.tvamedical.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $7,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds from … Continue reading “TVA Medical Lands $7,000,000 New Funding”
Lookback Garners $6,000,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b2819ba4-ec2d-4f85-9dc5-36227a4b398c Date 12/16/2016 Company Name Lookback Mailing Address 14900 Landmark Blvd. Dallas, TX 75254 USA Company Description Lookback is creating a suite of beautiful and simple tools for collecting, understanding and sharing user experiences. A great user experience underpins every successful tech business today, but obtaining experiences has always been too complex. … Continue reading “Lookback Garners $6,000,000 New Financing”
Traxo Garners $5,200,000 Series B Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8ee877d5-8787-4bc4-94f9-66ace704a836 Date 12/16/2016 Company Name Traxo Mailing Address 5600 W Lovers Lane Dallas, TX 75209 USA Company Description Traxo serves as a travel home base, offering travelers a single location for managing travel. Trips are seamlessly brought into a user’s Traxo account, wherever they are booked, adding efficiency that frees the traveler … Continue reading “Traxo Garners $5,200,000 Series B Funding”
New SXSW Interactive Event To Focus On Nexus Of Cancer And Tech
Austin—South By Southwest Interactive is adding another healthcare-related event, reflecting a growing emphasis on the intersection between technology and the life sciences. The “Connect to End Cancer” event is a joint project between the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the AT&T Foundry for Connected Health, both based in Houston. Organizers are scouting … Continue reading “New SXSW Interactive Event To Focus On Nexus Of Cancer And Tech”
Hexadite Teams With Carbon Black & Others to Automate Cybersecurity
A new alliance between cybersecurity companies from across the U.S. aims to more tightly integrate their products and advance efforts to automate key security processes. The initiative—dubbed the Automated Security Alliance Program, or ASAP—is led by a Boston-based startup, Hexadite. Its initial group of partners includes some big names in the cybersecurity world: Carbon Black, … Continue reading “Hexadite Teams With Carbon Black & Others to Automate Cybersecurity”
50 Podcasts You Should Be Listening To—and 5 New Ways to Find Them
If you’re not much of a podcast listener and you have a sense that you’re missing out on a lot of great content, you’re absolutely right. But now is a good time to fix that, thanks to a new profusion of listening options. And to get you started, I have a few shows to suggest. … Continue reading “50 Podcasts You Should Be Listening To—and 5 New Ways to Find Them”
Philadelphia’s goBooze Starts Beer, Wine Delivery in Austin
Austin—This past summer had been the season of alcohol delivery startups. As we go into the year-end festivities, Philadelphia-based goBooze announced today that it has expanded service to Austin. GoBooze is the alcohol delivery arm of goPuff, a delivery service company that delivers all manner of consumer products and food that says it fulfills orders in … Continue reading “Philadelphia’s goBooze Starts Beer, Wine Delivery in Austin”
In San Antonio, an NBA Star Helps Launch City’s First Angel Network
San Antonio—In a crowd of sport coats, collared shirts, and Oxford shoes, it was easy to spot Brent Barry, and not only because the former NBA player towers above almost everyone. He was also dressed more casually, trading in business attire for a warm jacket, beanie, jeans, and a pair of New Balances. Barry’s outfit … Continue reading “In San Antonio, an NBA Star Helps Launch City’s First Angel Network”
Geekdom Touts Five-Year Rise of Downtown San Antonio’s Tech Scene
San Antonio—Downtown San Antonio has been better known for its tourist attractions in recent decades than its business activity. In the last five years, however, a tech corridor has emerged in the sprawling city’s urban core. Multiple co-working spaces, various accelerator programs, and infrastructure investments like a new tech-focused high school are helping San Antonio’s … Continue reading “Geekdom Touts Five-Year Rise of Downtown San Antonio’s Tech Scene”
Tour of Texas: Technium, Vapogenix, StemBioSys, & OneTeam Collective
Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —Dallas-based Technium has launched as a big data analytics platform to match entrepreneurs with intellectual property ready to be commercialized. The startup has built a database of patents and what co-founder Jonathan Van calls “scout software” that analyzes and serves up intellectual property … Continue reading “Tour of Texas: Technium, Vapogenix, StemBioSys, & OneTeam Collective”
Technium Crunches Big Data to Match Entrepreneurs with Researchers
Dallas—Universities and other institutions are chock-full of intellectual property, but it can be difficult for entrepreneurs, interested in turning those ideas into products, to find what they’re looking for. Now, a Dallas-based firm called Technium has launched an online matchmaking service of sorts to connect “entrepreneurs with the inventors,” says Jonathan Van, Technium’s co-founder. “I … Continue reading “Technium Crunches Big Data to Match Entrepreneurs with Researchers”
Bio Roundup: Fast “Cures,” Trump In Time, CRISPR In Court & More
What a week. The 21st Century Cures Act is now waiting President Obama’s promised signature after easy passage through Congress. President-elect Donald Trump re-stirred the drug-pricing pot with comments in Time Magazine and a reported FDA commissioner candidate who doesn’t seem to think much of the regulatory process. And a trio of judges met to … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Fast “Cures,” Trump In Time, CRISPR In Court & More”
Houston Biotech Vapogenix Raises $8.2M for Phase 2 Trial
Houston—Vapogenix, a biotech developing a topical non-opioid medication for localized pain, announced Thursday it has raised $8.2 million in a Series C round of funding. The capital will be used for a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study for its drug candidate, AWARD, (short for A Wound Analgesic with RapiD action). The funding comes from previous investor … Continue reading “Houston Biotech Vapogenix Raises $8.2M for Phase 2 Trial”
San Antonio Company Cytocentrics Renames Itself CytoBioscience
San Antonio — Cytocentrics, the maker of instruments that can be used to screen if and how cells might react to drugs, has changed its name to CytoBioscience. The name change is happening in part because the San Antonio company is expanding its footprint in bioscience, CEO James Garvin said in a press release. The … Continue reading “San Antonio Company Cytocentrics Renames Itself CytoBioscience”
Gurnet Point Invests $92M in Crossover Health to Fund Growth
Cambridge, MA-based Gurnet Point Capital has invested $92 million in Crossover Health, a six-year-old company that provides membership-based healthcare services to employers that are self-insured. The funding is intended to increase the capital available for Crossover Health’s expansion and to buy out a portion of the company’s existing shareholders, the company said. The deal enables … Continue reading “Gurnet Point Invests $92M in Crossover Health to Fund Growth”
Wake Up, Pharma—Trump Is Not Your Savior
Since the election, leaders in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals are acting like they got away with robbery. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index went up 9 percent overnight on November 8th. With Donald Trump coming into office, the whole industry seems to have breathed a sigh of relief that the status quo—a continuous race toward higher prices—will last … Continue reading “Wake Up, Pharma—Trump Is Not Your Savior”
Senate Approves 21st Century Cures Act, Sending Bill to Obama
The U.S. Senate has voted overwhelmingly to approve the 21st Century Cures Act, a wide-ranging healthcare spending and reform bill that aims to infuse medical research with new funding and also speed up the regulatory approval process for new drugs and medical devices. With the Senate’s 94-5 vote on Wednesday, the bill now advances to … Continue reading “Senate Approves 21st Century Cures Act, Sending Bill to Obama”
StemBioSys Secures $2,662,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cd75d6cf-328d-4862-9f9a-3d60fa0d60c2 Date 12/7/2016 Company Name StemBioSys Mailing Address 3463 Magic Drive San Antonio, TX 78229 USA Company Description BM-HPME offers a number of advantageous benefits. Multiple studies have shown that BM-HPME enhances isolation and provides a higher quantity of usable stem cells, with a higher quality and motility, when compared to cells … Continue reading “StemBioSys Secures $2,662,000 New Funding”
FreshLime Acquires Dasheroo for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b086e558-824f-429f-847c-911bcf15ec39 Date 12/7/2016 Company Name Dasheroo Mailing Address 8920 Business Park Dr. Austin, TX 78759 USA Company Description Track your important KPIs for overall business analytics, web analytics, marketing, social media and sales, in one great-looking free business dashboard. Website http://www.dasheroo.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A … Continue reading “FreshLime Acquires Dasheroo for Undisclosed Sum”
StemBioSys Takes In $2.7M, Signs New U.S. Distribution Deal
San Antonio — [Updated 12/7/2016, 12:32 p.m. See below.] StemBioSys, a small life sciences firm that sells stem cell products, has raised $2.7 million in equity and debt, according to a regulatory filing. The San Antonio company is in the process of raising an additional $3 million in equity funding, about half of which it … Continue reading “StemBioSys Takes In $2.7M, Signs New U.S. Distribution Deal”
TX Roundup: Blue Star Accelerator, Industrial Tech at SXSW, UT’s Foundry
Let’s catch up on the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —The Big Cities Health Coalition released its “Big Cities Health Inventory Data Platform” this week, which allows users to use databases to compare the healthy of 28 large urban cities across the country. The effort, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and … Continue reading “TX Roundup: Blue Star Accelerator, Industrial Tech at SXSW, UT’s Foundry”
ASH Roundup: CAR-T Shuffle, Hemophilia Updates, Checkpoint Progress & More
Two years ago at the American Society of Hematology conference, excitement, not blood, was running in the streets of San Francisco. The cancer immunotherapy known as CAR-T was the star of the show, thanks to dazzling early data that showed more patients than not saw their leukemias and lymphomas knocked into remission by the living, … Continue reading “ASH Roundup: CAR-T Shuffle, Hemophilia Updates, Checkpoint Progress & More”
With Nod To Biden, Senate To Say Yes To “Cures” Spending, Reform Bill
The U.S. Senate cleared the way for the 21st Century Cures Act, an omnibus healthcare spending and reform bill, by voting 85-13 to end debate this evening. It passed the House with 392 votes last week. After a final Senate vote as early as tomorrow, it will head to President Obama’s desk. The president used … Continue reading “With Nod To Biden, Senate To Say Yes To “Cures” Spending, Reform Bill”
With Cowboys’ Backing, Blue Star Set to Boost Sports Startups
Dallas—Partners with a deep well of subject matter expertise and capital are on the top of any entrepreneur’s wish list. Now an accelerator tailored to sports technology startups might be giving those founders a connection to the ultimate in sports and marketing royalty: the Dallas Cowboys. The new Blue Star Accelerator, aimed at nurturing young … Continue reading “With Cowboys’ Backing, Blue Star Set to Boost Sports Startups”
The Xconomy Immuno-Oncology Resource: A Mid-ASH T Cell Update
[Updated, 12/5/16, 4 p.m. See below.] If you’re following cancer immunotherapy, you might feel a bit swamped by this week’s wave of clinical data from experimental programs that turn living T cells into revved-up cancer fighters. We’re updating our ongoing cancer immunotherapy trial resource with American Society of Hematology results, plus a few others we’ve … Continue reading “The Xconomy Immuno-Oncology Resource: A Mid-ASH T Cell Update”
Get Smart Content Garners $1,750,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6a88e854-79ff-475f-b86e-c8a07daf04b7 Date 12/3/2016 Company Name Get Smart Content Mailing Address 3000 East Cesar Chavez Street Austin, TX 78702 USA Company Description Use Get Smart Content to implement content personalization on your website, helping you make your website and each of your marketing investments smarter. Website http://www.getsmartcontent.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “Get Smart Content Garners $1,750,000 New Funding Round”
Infrastructure Networks Secures $3,773,805 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=055fc3d2-cf94-4e9d-8656-d21d42f2829d Date 12/3/2016 Company Name Infrastructure Networks Mailing Address 1718 Fry Road Houston, TX 77084 USA Company Description Infrastructure Networks provides services for the acquisition and delivery of natural energy resources required to power a modern economy. Website http://www.infrastructurenetworks.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,773,805 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Infrastructure Networks Secures $3,773,805 New Financing”
This Week in Drug Pricing and Post-Election Healthcare Policy News
Healthcare news has been coming fast and furious in the fallout of the election, particularly this week. Read on below for the latest on the 21st Century Cures Act, the Trump Administration’s latest nominees, and a biopharma CEO’s warning to his peers on drug pricing. IN WASHINGTON… —The House of Representatives passed a sweeping healthcare … Continue reading “This Week in Drug Pricing and Post-Election Healthcare Policy News”
Bio Roundup: CAR-T Ups & Downs, Lilly’s Failure, Myeloma & More
We’ve packed some extra stuffing into the roundup this week to account for some burnt turkey delivered by biopharma in the few days before Thanksgiving—starting with Eli Lilly’s failed gamble in Alzheimer’s disease. Lilly wasn’t alone, however. Several companies, among them Juno Therapeutics, Arrowhead Pharmaceutials, and Nivalis Therapeutics, have had some bad news for investors … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: CAR-T Ups & Downs, Lilly’s Failure, Myeloma & More”
UT’s Foundry Highlights Tech’s Role in Arts and Entertainment Programs
Austin—At the University of Texas at Austin’s new Foundry, the art of science and the science of art are fused through technology. The Foundry, which opened at the start of this school year, is based in UT’s College of Fine Arts, a seemingly atypical home for 3-D printers, a Roland 3-D mill machine, and a … Continue reading “UT’s Foundry Highlights Tech’s Role in Arts and Entertainment Programs”
An Innovation Snapshot of Medellin, Colombia
As we fly over Cuba en route from Fort Lauderdale to Medellin, I am already imbibing the upcoming culture change from the happy chaos at the departure gate in Florida. The plane is surprisingly not full and my fellow passengers, primarily Hispanics, are in a sleepy good mood. We will be arriving at 1am and … Continue reading “An Innovation Snapshot of Medellin, Colombia”
San Antonio Cybersecurity Firm With Federal Government Ties Gets $3M
San Antonio—A cybersecurity firm in San Antonio called Delta Risk, which has owners and board members who once held high-ranking federal government posts, has raised $3 million only a few months after acquiring a Philadelphia-based competitor, according to a regulatory filing. Delta Risk hasn’t responded to a request for comment on how they plan to … Continue reading “San Antonio Cybersecurity Firm With Federal Government Ties Gets $3M”
Brushing Aside Critics, House Votes in Landslide for Cures Act
By a 392 to 26 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the omnibus healthcare legislation called the 21st Century Cures Act, bringing new funding for top Obama administration health priorities a big step closer to the outgoing president’s signature. While critics of the bill questioned whether that funding would actually materialize in coming … Continue reading “Brushing Aside Critics, House Votes in Landslide for Cures Act”
RAM shift phase 2
[Editor’s note: Seattle-based sci-fi author Greg Bear has contemplated a day when intelligent machines, which are already assisting or replacing humans in manufacturing and transportation, could do his job, too. Indeed, a World Economic Forum study (PDF) predicts that technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics will replace some 5 million jobs by 2020, while … Continue reading “RAM shift phase 2”
Texas Roundup: UH Food Tech, Orb Health, NASA, CPRIT Grants, & More
Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —Orb Health, a startup alum of the Health Wildcatters accelerator in Dallas, announced it has raised $3.2 million in Series A funding from Mt. Vernon Investments in Dallas, along with Green Park & Golf and other seed investors. Phoenix-based Orb plans to use the … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: UH Food Tech, Orb Health, NASA, CPRIT Grants, & More”
Trump Tabs Fiscal, Social Conservatives To Run U.S. Health Agencies
Two big pieces of the Trump healthcare puzzle have fallen into place. The President-elect’s transition team has nominated Georgia Republican congressman Tom Price to be Health and Human Services secretary. It has also tabbed Indiana health consultant Seema Verma to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In a statement, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), … Continue reading “Trump Tabs Fiscal, Social Conservatives To Run U.S. Health Agencies”
The Tough Questions You Must Discuss Before You Take the Money
If all goes well, the day will come when just one small thing will stand between you and funding for your startup: your signature on a term sheet. Most founders quickly sign on the line and get back to the business of growing their business. Smart ones set aside the paperwork, grab their business partners, … Continue reading “The Tough Questions You Must Discuss Before You Take the Money”
Iris Plans Uses Telemedicine to Innovate Delivery of End-of-life Care
Austin—Iris Plans is using telemedicine for an often overlooked part of health care: advanced care planning. Iris recently announced a partnership with the University of Utah Health Plans, and is now providing technology-enabled advanced care planning for about 50,000 members. Iris has created an online office where doctors, nurses, or social workers can advise patients … Continue reading “Iris Plans Uses Telemedicine to Innovate Delivery of End-of-life Care”
Should We Rewrite the Human Genome?
Scientists are engineering a new living thing: a radically modified version of the lowly bacterium E. coli. In an article in Science from August, researchers at Harvard University described an ongoing project to build the genetic code of E. coli from scratch, but with major revisions to create a new strain unlike any in existence. The modified E. coli is … Continue reading “Should We Rewrite the Human Genome?”
Under Terrier, NASA’s JSC Seeks to Support Space Innovation
Houston—As chief technologist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Douglas Terrier focuses in part on fostering innovation within his own organization. But his duties also involve seeking outside commercial partners that can use space technologies in other fields. “Our legacy system is the government invests in technology unique to NASA applications and somewhere down the road … Continue reading “Under Terrier, NASA’s JSC Seeks to Support Space Innovation”
The Convergence of Information Technology and the Life Sciences
We are at an incredible inflection point in the traditionally distinct fields of information technology and the life sciences. These broad disciplines are converging to advance fields of study like computational biology and systems biology, resulting in new forms of therapeutics and diagnostics that could have a monumentally positive impact on human health. At DFJ … Continue reading “The Convergence of Information Technology and the Life Sciences”
Sluggish Year for IPOs, But Signs Abound of Post-Election Surge
Uncertainty surrounding this year’s presidential election has kept U.S. IPO activity at a sluggish pace—so sluggish, in fact, that this year could end with the fewest IPOs and the lowest level of capital raised since 2009, according to PitchBook data for the first nine months of 2016. But this is no time to trash talk … Continue reading “Sluggish Year for IPOs, But Signs Abound of Post-Election Surge”
Message.io Receives $2,500,000 Seed Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6cf8b1b9-af5e-4659-abd7-9c6dc7f0ae0e Date 11/21/2016 Company Name Message.io Mailing Address Undisclosed Austin, TX 78751 USA Company Description Deploy your existing Slack app to other messaging platforms in 15 minutes with no coding changes. Website http://www.message.io Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,500,000 Transaction Round Seed Proceeds Purposes The company intends to use the funds … Continue reading “Message.io Receives $2,500,000 Seed Financing”
Bio Roundup: Trump’s Rx Silence, PCSK9 News, Amgen’s Migraines & More
Speculation swirled this week around the incoming U.S. president’s intent to make good on his angry campaign rhetoric on drug prices, while the Associated Press reported that naming-and-shaming—that is, Congress hauling executives into hearings and penning angry letters—certainly hasn’t done the trick. For one new kind of cholesterol drug, insurers and their agents have tried … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Trump’s Rx Silence, PCSK9 News, Amgen’s Migraines & More”
M87 Secures $5,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=839d126e-5fa9-42e3-9813-8075b8a877c7 Date 11/18/2016 Company Name M87 Mailing Address 211 E. 7th Street Austin, TX 78701 USA Company Description M87’s Routing at the Edge (RATE) technology improves the performance of data networks by moving routing intelligence and network selection decisions to the device, which is most aware of real-time connectivity conditions. Website http://www.m-87.com … Continue reading “M87 Secures $5,000,000 New Funding Round”
Biomed Researchers at San Antonio’s UT Health Pitch for $25K Awards
San Antonio — For biotech researchers, even a few thousand dollars in early funding can provide that extra runway that turns a simple (or complex) idea into a startup. At the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, that thinking created a fund that provides researchers who work at the university up to … Continue reading “Biomed Researchers at San Antonio’s UT Health Pitch for $25K Awards”
Bellicum, Molecular Templates Granted $32M for Immuno-Oncology Work
Austin — The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has awarded about $32 million in grants to two Texas immuno-oncology drug developers working on blood cancer treatments. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BLCM]]) has been awarded $16.9 million to work on developing its T-cell therapy called BPX-501 for acute myeloid leukemia, says CPRIT, the cancer research … Continue reading “Bellicum, Molecular Templates Granted $32M for Immuno-Oncology Work”