Category: Texas

Stealth Mode is the New Sweet Spot for Some Biotechs

This post was co-authored by Sultan Meghji. In biotech’s early days, telling a story to a wide audience used to be part of the path to success. Founders would share a compelling early narrative to potential investors, reporters, and just about anyone else who would listen. Nature papers were the coin of the realm. But … Continue reading “Stealth Mode is the New Sweet Spot for Some Biotechs”

Austin’s Tracking Point Uses Wi-Fi, Video Tech to Build Smarter Gun

It’s like a video game come to life. Tracking Point, based in an Austin, TX, suburb, has developed a firearms technology that allows shooters to harness the power of Wi-Fi, the Web, and streaming video for the kind of long-range precision shooting that can guide bullets to hunting or military targets around corners. The company’s … Continue reading “Austin’s Tracking Point Uses Wi-Fi, Video Tech to Build Smarter Gun”

Boston Vs. San Francisco: Two Cultures of Innovation

Let’s say you’re an ambitious, creative professional or entrepreneur working in the United States. You’re interested in technology, you have the luxury of mobility, and you want to be close to the center of things. Which city should you choose as your home? If you’re attracted to a specific sub-field, the answer may be obvious. … Continue reading “Boston Vs. San Francisco: Two Cultures of Innovation”

As Biofuels Lose Luster, Sapphire Goes Long with Sinopec Deal

In a ceremony held Thursday in Beijing, San Diego’s Sapphire Energy and Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil and gas conglomerate, agreed to work together to develop and produce algae-based biofuels in China. “The goal is to build a large demonstration facility here with Sinopec,” Sapphire spokesman Tim Zenk said last night from Beijing in a phone … Continue reading “As Biofuels Lose Luster, Sapphire Goes Long with Sinopec Deal”

Big Late-Stage Deals and Unicorns Drive U.S. Venture Activity Higher

Two years ago, VC firms shrugged off sluggish economic conditions to invest $8.1 billion in 812 U.S. deals in the second quarter. It was the highest total in more than a decade—and represented a high water mark for venture dollars invested that stood until the first quarter of this year. Now a surge in venture … Continue reading “Big Late-Stage Deals and Unicorns Drive U.S. Venture Activity Higher”

Wireless Seismic Obtains $2,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ea9bd325-d394-4dc2-962f-12cba2f94b63 Date 7/10/2014 Company Name Wireless Seismic Mailing Address 13100 Southwest Freeway Sugar Land, TX 77478 USA Company Description Wireless Seismic was formed in 2006 to develop and introduce the RT 1000, a revolutionary seismic data acquisition system to the exploration and production industry, which capitalizes on emerging technologies in the seismic, … Continue reading “Wireless Seismic Obtains $2,000,000 New Round”

Startup Summer School: Rice’s ProsthetiTech Builds a Robotic Arm

The slow days of summer don’t apply to student entrepreneurs at Rice University and the University of Houston. For the first time, the schools’ startup accelerators—Houston’s RedLabs and Rice’s OwlSpark—are working together, with joint mentor meetings and social hours, towards a shared demo day next month that they are calling the first “Bayou Showcase.” (Fun … Continue reading “Startup Summer School: Rice’s ProsthetiTech Builds a Robotic Arm”

Zimbra Secures $2,500,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=40d674fa-9af9-431c-9023-8161a43599cb Date 7/9/2014 Company Name Zimbra Mailing Address 3000 Internet Blvd. Frisco, TX 75034 USA Company Description Zimbra is an open source server and client technology for next-generation enterprise messaging and collaboration. Website http://www.zimbra.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Zimbra, Inc. issued shares of its … Continue reading “Zimbra Secures $2,500,000 New Funding”

Top Image Systems Acquires eGistics for $18,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=280ddb1e-2374-4a8d-b37a-bde24a3384f9 Date 7/9/2014 Company Name eGistics Mailing Address 17304 Preston Road Dallas, TX 75252 USA Company Description eGistics is leading the change in how images and data are archived, managed and delivered. Website http://www.egisticsinc.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount $18,000,000 Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Under the terms of the agreement, … Continue reading “Top Image Systems Acquires eGistics for $18,000,000”

Coding For All: Makersquare Aims to Expand the Programming Corps

Ravi Parikh was a health IT student at the University of Texas at Austin, which has one of the top computer science departments in the country. “They were teaching us about how IT worked, and how to sell and implement it, but they weren’t teaching us how to write the code,” he says. “UT doesn’t … Continue reading “Coding For All: Makersquare Aims to Expand the Programming Corps”

UniEnergy Technologies Goes from Molecules to Megawatts

Vanadium, in the eyes of energy storage innovators, is a lovely, generous element, even though it’s often found in some dirty places. It is named for a Norse goddess of beauty. Its color, when dissolved in an electrolyte solution, changes from lilac to green to blue to yellow as it easily gives and takes electrons, … Continue reading “UniEnergy Technologies Goes from Molecules to Megawatts”

Comfy Receives New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fb0b541f-9dff-48a1-9b9b-607ebc312ae4 Date 7/7/2014 Company Name Comfy Mailing Address Undisclosed Austin, TX 78704 USA Company Description Comfy is like eHarmony for the student housing search. Student housing is a very specific niche market within the multi family housing industry. Students have very different needs compared to the normal multi family housing renter, and … Continue reading “Comfy Receives New Round”

NetSocket Receives $1,750,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8271fdf9-b54a-4e8a-a578-fa7d39bf8133 Date 7/7/2014 Company Name NetSocket Mailing Address 3701 W. Plano Pkwy. Plano, TX 75075 USA Company Description NetSocket has created the world’s first real-time IP service assurance solution: the patented, award-winning, and innovative Session2Topology correlation engine. Website http://www.netsocket.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $1,750,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes … Continue reading “NetSocket Receives $1,750,000 New Funding”

Aavid Thermalloy Acquires Nuventix for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=77482958-8510-4c98-82b2-0000cb6ddee6 Date 7/7/2014 Company Name Nuventix Mailing Address 1909 W. Braker Ln. Austin, TX 78758 USA Company Description Nuventix was founded by Professor Ari Glezer and researchers, Dr. Sam Heffington and Dr. Raghav Mahalingam, at the Georgia Institute of Technology with the simple goal of removing more heat with less air. Website … Continue reading “Aavid Thermalloy Acquires Nuventix for Undisclosed Sum”

Trust but Verify: When Customer Feedback is Not Enough

[Editor’s Note: If you’re following the methodology laid out by startup strategy guru and Xconomist Steve Blank, you have begun with a hypothesis about a customer need or problem. Then you develop a “mininum viable product” (MVP), a prototype with the smallest possible feature set that still shows potential customers how your idea can help … Continue reading “Trust but Verify: When Customer Feedback is Not Enough”

Lone Star Innovation: Xconomy Texas’ Top Stories for Q2 2014

At Xconomy Texas these last three months, we started with the world’s richest business plan competition and ended with a somewhat rare event, that of a local biotech company going public. In between, the financing market for Texas startups, especially those in Austin, really took off. In addition to separate venture capital and angel deals, … Continue reading “Lone Star Innovation: Xconomy Texas’ Top Stories for Q2 2014”

Innovation Hub: The American Economy Is in Better Shape Than Ever

Despite increasingly good job numbers, pessimism about the economy persists. According to Gallup, almost 60 percent of Americans think the economy is still getting worse. Last week, Clayton Christensen told Innovation Hub that America was on its way to becoming Japan—a country that has been wrestling with stagnation for a quarter century. But Joel Kurtzman, … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: The American Economy Is in Better Shape Than Ever”

aHoyDoc Lands $20,000 Seed Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b8900adf-1c84-404a-85bd-68e61d2cc5da Date 7/3/2014 Company Name aHoyDoc Mailing Address 1513 Viceroy Dr. Dallas, TX 75235 USA Company Description ahoyDoc is a real time online chat service managed by a team of around the clock medical professionals that assist patients visiting a care provider’s website in finding health information or booking appointments. Website http://www.ahoydoc.com … Continue reading “aHoyDoc Lands $20,000 Seed Funding”

Hats Off Tech Garners $20,000 Seed Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a3c5037e-5543-43e4-8abd-ab2e133109b1 Date 7/3/2014 Company Name Hats Off Tech Mailing Address Undisclosed San Antonio, TX 78201 USA Company Description HATS OFF Technologies is a health tech startup based in San Antonio, TX. Founded by 4 entrepreneurs with extensive experience in healthcare and mobile technology, HATS is focused on developing technology that improves the … Continue reading “Hats Off Tech Garners $20,000 Seed Funding Round”

Veros Systems Garners New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=da27f896-7894-428e-9494-1436a3855d90 Date 7/2/2014 Company Name Veros Systems Mailing Address 5914 Courtyard Dr. W. Austin, TX 78730 USA Company Description Veros Systems enables industrial customers to maximize production by providing actionable intelligence on their electrically-driven machines. Website http://www.verossystems.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes We will work … Continue reading “Veros Systems Garners New Round”

AcousticEye Lands $2,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=30c38a42-7329-4878-a5c2-28a5a1ca984a Date 7/2/2014 Company Name AcousticEye Mailing Address 12 Greenway Plaza Houston, TX 77046 USA Company Description AcousticEye is a pioneer in non-traversing tube and pipe inspection for heat exchangers and boilers. Serving the global non-destructive testing (NDT) industry, the Company’s innovative solution aims to increase operational efficiency in the oil and … Continue reading “AcousticEye Lands $2,000,000 New Financing”

Climbing the Mountain: Or, Life as a Black Founder in Tech

Please give me a minute to talk about diversity in tech, even though I know whenever anyone talks about diversity in the tech industry, there are two types of responses I typically hear: The first is tokenism or the defensive argument. People will usually point to one example of the “diverse” person they hired, funded, … Continue reading “Climbing the Mountain: Or, Life as a Black Founder in Tech”

Liquid Environmental Solutions Secures $31,600,000 Series C Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=dd5cb446-a3c4-48cc-b210-03bd9563ce34 Date 7/1/2014 Company Name Liquid Environmental Solutions Mailing Address 7651 Esters Boulevard Irving, TX 75063 USA Company Description Liquid Environmental Solutions is the answer to your non-hazardous liquid waste removal needs. When it comes to waste collection and disposal, we’re here to keep: your facilities serviced and clean, your daily operations … Continue reading “Liquid Environmental Solutions Secures $31,600,000 Series C Round”

InSightec Receives $50,000,000 Series D Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7799784f-2868-44b1-9f08-85eb8ccecdf7 Date 7/1/2014 Company Name InSightec Mailing Address 4851 LBJ Freeway Dallas, TX 75244 USA Company Description InSightec developed ExAblate 2000– a product that integrates Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with focused ultrasound energy — as a new treatment modality that can replace invasive procedures and provide therapeutic alternatives to millions of patients … Continue reading “InSightec Receives $50,000,000 Series D Funding”

Austin’s Bigcommerce Taps Steve Case’s Fund to Take On Amazon

[Corrected 06/30/14, 8:22pm] Bigcommerce, an e-retail software maker in Austin, TX, has gotten a $40-million boost from one of tech’s biggest names. In the year since Steve Case’s Revolution Growth Fund made the investment, bringing the company’s total funds raised to $75 million, BigCommerce has aggressively expanded both its workforce and its target customer. [The … Continue reading “Austin’s Bigcommerce Taps Steve Case’s Fund to Take On Amazon”

CPRIT board at Houston Technology Council

Houston Technology Center is pleased to host the executive team of the  Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to review the agency’s mission, policies and priorities. This will be a comprehensive review of CPRIT goals including discussion of research, product development, and prevention. There will be a question-and-answer session. Speakers include: Wayne Roberts, Chief Executive Officer: Overview of … Continue reading “CPRIT board at Houston Technology Council”

Dream 9: Hackathon

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Outcome Prediction Challenge Morning sessions will be reserved for participants to present their ideas and approaches for the Challenge. Afternoon sessions will be reserved for participants to network and exchange ideas, and for presentations on software useful to the Challenge and to biomedical data analysis in general. • Present your approach and … Continue reading “Dream 9: Hackathon”

Bayou Startup Showcase

Established in 2014 and organized through a partnership between University of Houston’s RED Labs and Rice University’s OwlSpark Startup Accelerator, the Bayou Startup Showcase will convene startup teams from both universities. Student entrepreneurs will pitch the business innovations they developed over the course of an immersive, three-month summer program. For more information, click here.

May 10,000 Cloud Startups Bloom

The cloud services market has fueled a boom of immensely successful startups, most of which have raised millions in venture funding. Take analytics platform company Birst, which started off in the high end financial sector, raised $64 million in venture capital, and is now growing fast as a regular Silicon Valley-style pre-IPO company. Technology Business … Continue reading “May 10,000 Cloud Startups Bloom”

Saying Nothing With Style: The 2014 BioPharma Edition of BS Bingo

Several years ago, I wrote an article venting my frustrations with having to sift through the fog and jargon of poorly written analyses of the biotech/pharmaceutical industry. I recounted that, “years ago, a thoughtful co-worker passed along to me a copy of a game called ‘BS Bingo’ that was designed to keep you awake during … Continue reading “Saying Nothing With Style: The 2014 BioPharma Edition of BS Bingo”

WhiteGlove Health Garners $16,850,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a84af6f0-d0a4-4934-bc6f-152984e034f5 Date 6/30/2014 Company Name WhiteGlove Health Mailing Address 1601 S. Mopac Expwy Austin, TX 78746 USA Company Description WhiteGlove Health, a leader in service-driven healthcare, is focused on changing healthcare on a national level by lowering the cost while improving the consumers’ healthcare experience. Website http://www.whiteglove.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “WhiteGlove Health Garners $16,850,000 New Round”

Langer, Led Zeppelin, and Hookups: Three Days Behind the BIO Scenes

Don’t let the blind men groping the elephant fool you. No one can get their arms around the massive, 15,000-attendee BIO conference, the industry’s annual flagship convention, and tell you what the real zeitgeist is. It’s all selection bias: If, say, you’ve been keenly following cancer immunotherapy the past couple years, you probably went to … Continue reading “Langer, Led Zeppelin, and Hookups: Three Days Behind the BIO Scenes”

Innovation Hub: Is America Becoming the Next Japan?

For much of its history, the U.S. has been a place of innovation, where new ideas and products could flourish. But that era may be coming to an abrupt end, warns Clayton Christensen, who coined the term “disruptive innovation” and teaches at Harvard Business School. Christensen, author of “The Capitalist’s Dilemma,” believes that American business … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Is America Becoming the Next Japan?”

Neelan Choksi on Tasktop’s VC Round and Austin “Growing Like a Weed”

Tasktop Technologies wants to help improve the operations of the brains behind technology companies: the staff that makes the software. What Tasktop does is develop tools for customers that allow their developers to make software more efficiently. With the dozens of tools now in use for each part of the software development process, organizations are … Continue reading “Neelan Choksi on Tasktop’s VC Round and Austin “Growing Like a Weed””

Five Annoying Tech Problems for the Next Hot Startup to Solve

Why is it that we can put a man on the Moon, but we can’t figure out how to screen jet passengers without making everyone take their shoes off? Well, the truth is, we can’t even put a man on the Moon—not anymore. It’s not a technical impossibility, but reconstituting the technologies that helped a … Continue reading “Five Annoying Tech Problems for the Next Hot Startup to Solve”

BIO 2014: Innovations in 3-D Tissue for Disease and Drug Discovery

Editor’s Note: Sharon Presnell discussed the use of bioprinting and 3D tissue to improve predictability in preclinical drug discovery this week at the BIO 2014 convention in San Diego. —BVB The human race consists of a large population of genetically diverse organisms. This inherent diversity is compounded daily by the individualistic way we go about … Continue reading “BIO 2014: Innovations in 3-D Tissue for Disease and Drug Discovery”

WellAware Obtains $37,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=39b93fd4-8883-4777-a67e-6f0030ab2a50 Date 6/26/2014 Company Name WellAware Mailing Address 2330 N Loop 1604 W San Antonio, TX 78248 USA Company Description WellAware understands that a great company can only be built by great people, and we are always looking for accomplished, hard-working professionals that are seeking opportunities to grow with our team. Website … Continue reading “WellAware Obtains $37,000,000 New Funding”

Qualcomm Acquires Black Sand Technologies for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0b704bc4-70bd-4d06-8241-4e354ad050b8 Date 6/26/2014 Company Name Black Sand Technologies Mailing Address 3321 Bee Caves Rd. Austin, TX 78746 USA Company Description Black Sand Technologies is a mixed-signal semiconductor company currently in stealth mode. We develop high performance system solutions by mixing sensitive analog and powerful digital circuits in silicon. Website http://www.blacksand.com Transaction Type … Continue reading “Qualcomm Acquires Black Sand Technologies for Undisclosed Sum”

King of BIO: The Chairwoman of Biotech’s Top Trade Org Talks Policy

Rachel King is CEO of GlycoMimetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GLYC]]), a Gaithersburg, MD-based drug developer, and the current chairwoman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. As a heavily regulated industry, biopharma’s interactions with politicians and policy makers are crucial, and BIO has grown in recent years to become a Washington, DC power broker. Look no further for proof … Continue reading “King of BIO: The Chairwoman of Biotech’s Top Trade Org Talks Policy”

Texas Roundup: New Funds for Phunware, FTL Global; Kudos to Rice

Here is the latest innovation news from Texas. —Phunware, an Austin,TX-based company that makes mobile apps for multinational corporations, announced Monday it has completed a Series E round of $30.72 million, following an investment by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. The round was opened in March and the close of the Series E brings the total … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: New Funds for Phunware, FTL Global; Kudos to Rice”

MVPs in Health: Minimum Viable Product or Mightily Vexing Problem?

One thing the tech software industry is great at is failing fast. This concept of “failing fast” means, at least in part, rapidly bringing a “minimum viable product” to market, even if it’s a little rocky and feature-light, and then fixing it as it gets adopted by iterating with new releases. We see this all … Continue reading “MVPs in Health: Minimum Viable Product or Mightily Vexing Problem?”

BIO 2014: Two Cities, One Economy, and a Unique Innovation Ecosystem

Editor’s note: Mary Walshok will discuss how Mexican policy is using public-private partnerships to spur biotech innovation and investment in a breakout session Thursday at the BIO 2014 convention in San Diego. —BVB One of the under-appreciated features of the San Diego innovation ecosystem is the increasing significance of its proximity to one of North … Continue reading “BIO 2014: Two Cities, One Economy, and a Unique Innovation Ecosystem”

Phunware Garners Series E Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=eda7e2ff-6a65-4702-9e72-ae7f35dede56 Date 6/25/2014 Company Name Phunware Mailing Address 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, TX 78757 USA Company Description As experts in communications, networking, infrastructure, telephony, gaming and design, we combine innovative, powerful technology with beautiful design to create unparalleled branded mobile experiences. Website http://www.phunware.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction … Continue reading “Phunware Garners Series E Round”

Ziosk’s E-Waiter Device Brings Technology to Restaurant Orders

Bringing technology into a restaurant’s dining area is a matter of child’s play. Or, at least the child in all of us. Turns out that $1 tries at games like “7 Little Words,” “Field Runners” or “Operation Math” can add up to enough dough for a restaurant to pay for the installation of “pay-at-the-table” tablets … Continue reading “Ziosk’s E-Waiter Device Brings Technology to Restaurant Orders”

BIO 2014: Training Bio-Entrepreneurs to Use Coffee, Yoga, and Data

Editor’s note: Court Turner was a speaker in the bootcamp for biotechnology entrepreneurship at this week’s BIO 2014 Convention in San Diego. —BVB As a venture partner at San Diego’s Avalon Ventures, I divide my work day into three distinct activities: Coffee (at the best coffee shop in San Diego); Yoga (at a studio near … Continue reading “BIO 2014: Training Bio-Entrepreneurs to Use Coffee, Yoga, and Data”

FTL Global Solutions Garners Series C Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4ea412af-27a4-4826-b574-2d2e770a5315 Date 6/24/2014 Company Name FTL Global Solutions Mailing Address 327 Congress Ave. Austin, TX 78701 USA Company Description Founded in 2006, FTL is a leading provider of scalable, sustainable and secure solutions for humanity. ??The Company’s smart mobile systems encompass alternative and traditional power, energy efficient lighting, water purification, sanitation, communications, … Continue reading “FTL Global Solutions Garners Series C Funding Round”