Category: Texas

Rice Alliance Taps Northwestern’s Hochberg to Boost Entrepreneurship

Rice University has brought some of Northwestern University’s entrepreneurial prowess to Houston. While a team from the Chicago-area institution did not win this year’s Rice Business Plan competition—healthtech startup Innoblative came in 4th—Northwestern teams won the previous two years, and consistently place in the finals. In July, Yael Hochberg, a Northwestern professor of finance who … Continue reading “Rice Alliance Taps Northwestern’s Hochberg to Boost Entrepreneurship”

EyeQ Receives $25,000 Seed Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6e9bdaf6-9b58-4692-a162-afab89f93d16 Date 4/15/2014 Company Name EyeQ Mailing Address 3925 West Braker Lane Austin, TX 78759 USA Company Description Today, consumers shop using a multichannel environment, fluidly switching between brick-and-mortar, and online retail outlets. The increased use of the internet and social media provides consumers with a greater amount of information to make … Continue reading “EyeQ Receives $25,000 Seed Funding”

Office on iPad: Reports of its Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

The day that iPad users and Microsoft Office suite lovers have been waiting for has finally arrived. Now the fate of dozens of third-party applications like Prezi and SlideShark hang in the balance. In a break with tradition, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the release of Office iPad on March 27. Under former CEO Steve … Continue reading “Office on iPad: Reports of its Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated”

Big Money Follows Big Talk at Rice University’s Startup Competition

All weekend long, Rice Alliance director Brad Burke needled members of the Goose Society with affectionate trash-talk, urging them to live up to their reputations as generous investors. After all, the “Grand Order of Successful Entrepreneurs” has provided much of the drama over the years on the final night of the Rice Business Plan competition. … Continue reading “Big Money Follows Big Talk at Rice University’s Startup Competition”

Drones, Oculus, WhatsApp & the Future of Communication

[Corrected 4/14/14, 6:13 pm. See below.] Facebook is aiming to become a telco. Drones are the towers. Oculus are the phones. WhatsApp is the service. Twenty-one billion dollars is cheap for a next-generation telco. There is more behind the WhatsApp and Oculus deals than the apparent need to bring teens and gamers under Facebook’s fold. Facebook and … Continue reading “Drones, Oculus, WhatsApp & the Future of Communication”

They Still Call it Telemedicine? Tracking the Evolution of HealthIT.

Recently, the Houston Technology Center asked me to join a panel discussion on “The Future of Telemedicine” at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. I was a bit surprised as I’ve never thought of myself as being part of the telemedicine industry. My business partner, Bryan Haardt, and I last year co-founded Decisio Health to sell software … Continue reading “They Still Call it Telemedicine? Tracking the Evolution of HealthIT.”

Diagnosis On-demand: Methodist Develops V-chip Medtech Device

Methodist Hospital Houston wants to make disease diagnosis as simple as a pregnancy test. That’s the idea behind the “V-chip,” a credit card-sized medical device being developed at the hospital that is designed to allow doctors and other caregivers to immediately diagnose as many as 50 diseases with just a drop of blood or urine. … Continue reading “Diagnosis On-demand: Methodist Develops V-chip Medtech Device”

Venture-Backed IPOs & Late-Stage Investments Surged in Q1

Venture capitalists saw the public markets awaken in the first quarter, and they’re betting the trend will continue. A new report from New York-based venture capital research firm CB Insights counts 35 venture-backed IPOs through the end of March, more than any single quarter since the fall of 2000. Mergers and acquisitions were also strong, … Continue reading “Venture-Backed IPOs & Late-Stage Investments Surged in Q1”

NASA On a Mission to Seek New Ideas at Hackathon for Space Tech

Space can be a frontier—in a non-Star Trek way. Like gold miners of old, some technologists see opportunities for disruption and commercialization beyond our atmosphere. NASA’s annual International Space Apps Challenge, coming up this weekend, will be a chance for innovators around the world to spawn ideas that might boldly go amongst the stars. The … Continue reading “NASA On a Mission to Seek New Ideas at Hackathon for Space Tech”

Rice Business Plan Contest In Gear, with Almost $2M Up for Grabs

The Rice University Business Plan competition begins today, a weekend of “April madness” that will see a starting lineup of 42 startups get whittled down to just one grand champion Saturday night. Now in its 14th year, the contest has grown into one of the highest profile platforms for student-led ventures in the world, attracting … Continue reading “Rice Business Plan Contest In Gear, with Almost $2M Up for Grabs”

State-Level Equity Crowdfunding: The Next Big Thing

Just a few weeks ago, Facebook’s surprise $2 billion purchase of virtual reality headset developer Oculus riled up some of the startup’s earliest financial backers, who said they got a raw deal while the founders got rich.  We’re talking about pre-order backers on Kickstarter here, not investors. But if new equity crowdfunding rules had been … Continue reading “State-Level Equity Crowdfunding: The Next Big Thing”

The Rise of the “People’s Web”

Silicon Valley is one of the most dynamic engines of capitalism the world has ever seen. For decades, technology providers focused on creating cutting-edge hardware and software designed to optimize efficiency, productivity, and data-based knowledge for large corporations. But today, many technology innovators are also working hard to level the playing field by providing individual … Continue reading “The Rise of the “People’s Web””

Kauffman Study: Weaker Entrepreneurship Spells Stronger Job Market

The U.S. saw slightly fewer businesses created last year, but there’s a silver lining: the poorer numbers nationwide likely indicate that a stronger job market relieved some of the pressure on people to start companies out of necessity. That’s among the takeaways from the latest Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, an annual study from the … Continue reading “Kauffman Study: Weaker Entrepreneurship Spells Stronger Job Market”

Announcing Napa Summit 2014: Get An Invite to Xconomy’s Elite Confab

For the past two years, Xconomy has held an invitation-only event in the heart of California wine country with a general focus on the economy, emerging technology, competitiveness, and jobs—and spanning the range of topics we cover, from information technology to life sciences, healthcare, energy, cybersecurity, food, and much more (read on). We convene some … Continue reading “Announcing Napa Summit 2014: Get An Invite to Xconomy’s Elite Confab”

Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services Acquires Datacert for $290,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b30e8460-9d60-41dd-89b1-68b22fded526 Date 4/8/2014 Company Name Datacert Mailing Address 3040 Post Oak Blvd. Houston, TX 77056 USA Company Description Datacert is the industry leader in corporate legal and IP spend and matter management solutions. Website http://www.datacert.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount $290,000,000 Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Additional terms were not disclosed.

Zombies, Cowboys, & Aliens Dish Up for BioHouston Chili Cookoff

BioHouston hosted its 11th annual Chili Cookoff Friday, bringing together the city’s life science and biotech communities for some culinary innovation. Twenty-two teams set up tents at the Bayou City Events Center with decor that featured the 1970s, Alice in Wonderland, Margaritaville, and alien and zombie worlds. A DJ mixed tunes in between sets of the … Continue reading “Zombies, Cowboys, & Aliens Dish Up for BioHouston Chili Cookoff”

Crowdfunding Startups: Opportunities and Bottlenecks

There has been a bit of action for a while now in the crowdfunding world, and certain startups have been able to get themselves off the ground using Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and similar sites. By and large, these types of financings have gone to companies that are building physical products, digital games, and the like. Fundings … Continue reading “Crowdfunding Startups: Opportunities and Bottlenecks”

A Letter to the Year 2061 (If We Make It That Far)

Dear Citizens of 2061, If you’re reading this, congratulations. You’ve survived the first half of the 21st century, and you’ve evidently still got computers, libraries, virtual-reality visors, or some kind of communications system that enabled you to dig up these old scribbles. I have some questions for you. I know you can’t really write back, … Continue reading “A Letter to the Year 2061 (If We Make It That Far)”

Roundup: Capital Royalty, Buzz Points, Q1 Media, SCIenergy & More

The latest innovation news from around the Lone Star State includes new fundraising, the launch of a cloud software company in Dallas, and a Minneapolis medical device company’s move to Austin to tie up with the city’s growing healthtech community. Capital Royalty announced Friday a loan agreement with NanoString Technologies, a Seattle-based biotech.  The company … Continue reading “Roundup: Capital Royalty, Buzz Points, Q1 Media, SCIenergy & More”

Patients Are Customers. Who Knew?

I was finally getting to my giant pile of reading this week when I saw an article in Health Care Information Week that included the following sentence:  As consumer satisfaction begins to have a bigger impact on the bottom line, more hospitals are hiring a chief patient experience officer (CXO) to treat patients like valued … Continue reading “Patients Are Customers. Who Knew?”

Houston Startup Energy Funders Aims to Crowdfund the Oil Patch

The global energy business is dominated by multinational corporations and state-owned conglomerates. But the wildcatters of the oil age’s early days are still out there exploring holes and hoping for a big strike. Two Houston attorneys say they have developed a 21st-century way to help those smaller operators raise money. The pair has founded Energy … Continue reading “Houston Startup Energy Funders Aims to Crowdfund the Oil Patch”

Rice Business Plan Competition

The 2014 Rice Business Plan Competition features 42 startup teams. This year, for the first time, a team from Kenya will compete as well as one from Taiwan. For the full schedule, click here.

Austin Social Media Marketers Spredfast, Mass Relevance Merge

[Updated 04/02/14, 12:42 pm. See below.] Two Austin social-media software companies—Spredfast and Mass Relevance—announced today they are merging. Rod Favaron, Spredfast’s CEO, says the combining of the firms gives them “unparalleled ability” to stay on top of market trends to enable clients to build relationships with customers through social media. [Story updated to include quotes from … Continue reading “Austin Social Media Marketers Spredfast, Mass Relevance Merge”

Note to Government: Mandate Cybersecurity, Then Get Out of the Way

The digital economy stands on uncertain ground. From Target to Adobe, cybercriminals have infiltrated the networks of some of the largest businesses in the United States, turning 2013 into a record-setting year for data breaches. Companies lost more than 800 million records in nearly 2,200 incidents, doubling the loss of the previous highest year, 2011, … Continue reading “Note to Government: Mandate Cybersecurity, Then Get Out of the Way”

Buzz Points Obtains $19,000,000 Series D Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6c114b96-9f53-41e4-b6ce-a5f410a63723 Date 4/2/2014 Company Name Buzz Points Mailing Address 3815 S. Capital of Texas Highway Austin, TX 78704 USA Company Description Buzz Points is a next generation loyalty and rewards programs which brings consumers, locally owned businesses and community financial institutions together to support the local economy and make your money work … Continue reading “Buzz Points Obtains $19,000,000 Series D Funding”

Q1Media Secures $8,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9d5e6b60-3efa-4dcc-8852-e80b1fef9e69 Date 4/2/2014 Company Name Q1Media Mailing Address 11401 Century Oaks Terrace Austin, TX 78758 USA Company Description Our mission for the past 10 years has been to create the most innovative and valuable inventory yielding more effectiveness for our Advertisers and more revenue for our Publishers. Website http://www.next.q1media.com Transaction Type Debt … Continue reading “Q1Media Secures $8,000,000 New Funding Round”

Spredfast Acquires Mass Relevance for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=93c73f33-d1cc-472e-8a12-be4159599be3 Date 4/2/2014 Company Name Mass Relevance Mailing Address 800 Brazos Street Austin, TX 78701 USA Company Description The company aims to help entertainment, media, retail and manufacturing brands to find, filter, organize and display relevant social content to the right audience in real-time. Website http://www.massrelevance.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed … Continue reading “Spredfast Acquires Mass Relevance for Undisclosed Sum”

Lone Star Innovation: Xconomy Texas’ Top Stories of Q1 2014

Our strange, icy winter has finally given way to spring here in Texas, a perfect opportunity to reflect back on Xconomy Texas’ most notable stories of the last three months. Many of these stories attracted your attention as well, as measured by readership. These entrepreneurs and their innovations span the range of the Texas economy … Continue reading “Lone Star Innovation: Xconomy Texas’ Top Stories of Q1 2014”

SCIenergy Secures $12,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0fc95a66-6a3e-4b8f-bb23-d453bd4e0e40 Date 4/1/2014 Company Name SCIenergy Mailing Address 4100 Alpha Dallas, TX 75244 USA Company Description SCIenergy is an international energy management company headquartered in the USA. Dedicated to elevating building performance across owner portfolios, we are unique in combining high-tech software solutions and high-touch expertise, together with capital to deliver sustained … Continue reading “SCIenergy Secures $12,000,000 New Financing”

Tech Startups Bringing Information, Action to Disaster Recovery

When calamity strikes, emergency responders offer the most vital form of relief to those affected—but technology can also lend a helping hand. New tools are being created to find out what happened in a disaster and then take action, thanks to innovations startups have developed. That can mean anything from getting quick access to live … Continue reading “Tech Startups Bringing Information, Action to Disaster Recovery”

Appearing Briefly at Your Next Conference: “Whac-A-Mole” Speakers

Whac-A-Mole, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is a fast-paced arcade game in which mechanical moles pop quickly in and out of holes on a large board. You earn points by whacking them with a giant hammer whenever they pop out of their holes. You need really good reflexes to do … Continue reading “Appearing Briefly at Your Next Conference: “Whac-A-Mole” Speakers”

4 IT Mistakes All Startups Should Avoid

Information Technology (IT) can be a startup’s biggest asset. Take, for instance, the cloud, mobile devices, and social media—they have all opened up exciting new business opportunities for startups, while also offering them the tools to grow their business powerfully. Yet, we have seen multiple startups make critical IT mistakes. Consequently, their business operations become … Continue reading “4 IT Mistakes All Startups Should Avoid”

AirStrip Acquires Sense4Baby for Monitoring High-Risk Pregnancies

AirStrip, a mobile healthtech company based in San Antonio, TX, has acquired FDA-approved technology developed by San Diego’s Sense4Baby that enables doctors and other healthcare providers to monitor maternal-fetal vital signs on a smartphone or tablet. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The San Diego-based Gary and Mary West Health Investment Fund put … Continue reading “AirStrip Acquires Sense4Baby for Monitoring High-Risk Pregnancies”

Think Like a Founder Before Becoming One

February 2014 will go down in history as a month with two huge startup exits: Nest (acquired by Google for a whopping $3.2 billion) and WhatsApp (acquired by Facebook for an even more whopping $19 billion). If you haven’t caught the startup bug, there’s a good chance you will have caught it after this. What’s … Continue reading “Think Like a Founder Before Becoming One”

Sugary Foods Are Killing Us. The Internet, Not So Much.

When I’m jittery from too much caffeine, I don’t blame it on Starbucks. It’s not entirely Hershey’s fault that I have an unhealthy love of chocolate. And if, in a moment of idleness, I click on a headline like 35 Foods From Your Childhood That Are Extinct Now, I don’t blame BuzzFeed for wasting three … Continue reading “Sugary Foods Are Killing Us. The Internet, Not So Much.”

GenSpera’s Targeted “Death Carrot” Toxin in Trials for Two Cancers

Craig Dionne has a record of experience in drug development and a lot of friends in the pharmaceutical industry. But when his friends first heard about the experimental drug he started working on some years ago, he says their initial reaction was alarm—to put it mildly. “They told me I was a fool,” Dionne says … Continue reading “GenSpera’s Targeted “Death Carrot” Toxin in Trials for Two Cancers”

Houston’s RedLabs Creates Prep Program for New Summer Accelerator

At RedLabs, we found that having an accelerator isn’t enough to support student entrepreneurs. A brief background: The University of Houston founded RedLabs in 2012 to serve as the hub for technology entrepreneurship by helping students either launch startups or encourage them to join startups as early employees.  Our first class joined the accelerator last … Continue reading “Houston’s RedLabs Creates Prep Program for New Summer Accelerator”

Why Internal Ventures Are Different from External Startups

This post follows directly on Steve Blank’s earlier excellent post, Why Companies are not Startups. The question of how corporations can be more innovative is one I have wrestled with for a long time. For those who don’t know, I wrote the book Open Innovation in 2003, and followed it with Open Business Models in … Continue reading “Why Internal Ventures Are Different from External Startups”

Austin’s Phunware Plans Aggressive Global Expansion with New Funds

Five years after its founding in the depths of the Great Recession, Phunware has done more than survive. Its mobile apps are now spread so wide that founder and CEO Alan Knitowski says the company’s software has been a part of 1 trillion transactions over mobile devices worldwide. And that was before a $26.2 million … Continue reading “Austin’s Phunware Plans Aggressive Global Expansion with New Funds”

Calling All Angels: Practically Anyone Can Be an Angel Investor

I’m a big fan of angel investing. The thrill of helping innovative entrepreneurs launch their dreams is as exciting as anything I’ve ever done. I once heard someone say your life is divided into thirds—you spend the first third learning, the second third earning, and the last third returning. I like that. For me, angel … Continue reading “Calling All Angels: Practically Anyone Can Be an Angel Investor”

Houston Medtech Firm Procyrion Aims to Help Heart Heal Itself

Procyrion says it’s developed a crutch for your heart. The Houston medtech startup’s device is called Aortix, a circulatory support pump that is thinner than a pencil and can be implanted in the aorta, the major artery coming from the heart, through a catheter threaded up from the thigh through the femoral artery. The device … Continue reading “Houston Medtech Firm Procyrion Aims to Help Heart Heal Itself”

Austin Software Firm Spanning Works to Back Up the Cloud

More and more companies are doing business on the cloud, but is that information safe? One Austin, TX, company is offering an insurance policy of sorts for data in the cloud. “People are starting to realize the risk that their data is facing,” says Jeff Erramouspe, Spanning’s CEO. “There are all kinds of ways that … Continue reading “Austin Software Firm Spanning Works to Back Up the Cloud”

Little Insights About ‘Big Data’

A little over a year ago I became the CEO of a company in the “big data” space that is developing predictive analytics software. My CTO is the “data guy,” and I’m the “business guy.” While my background is technical, I had very little experience in data or analytics and only knew about big data … Continue reading “Little Insights About ‘Big Data’”

San Antonio’s Geekdom Fund Aims to “Pre-Seed” Tech Entrepreneurs

Austin gets a lot of the startup spotlight in these parts, especially as the spring brings in the hordes of South By Southwest. But about an hour south, in San Antonio, boosters are working more quietly on a number of programs to kick-start entrepreneurship in South Texas. Among those efforts is Geekdom, an Alamo City-based … Continue reading “San Antonio’s Geekdom Fund Aims to “Pre-Seed” Tech Entrepreneurs”

The Missing Middle Class: Jobs in the Second Machine Age

Technological change is not a tide that lifts all boats in our economy. The truth is that it’s more like a tsunami. It threatens to overturn all the boats and drown their occupants, sparing only the lucky few who have already reached safety in the hills. That’s the kind of admission you won’t often see … Continue reading “The Missing Middle Class: Jobs in the Second Machine Age”

Lessons From Pat McGovern for Entrepreneurs

Very sad about the passing of Pat McGovern, the Chairman of International Data Group (IDG). He was my mentor and friend for over 30 years, and a giant in the technology, media, market research, and venture capital fields. Today, I took some time to reflect on what Pat taught me as an entrepreneur and investor. … Continue reading “Lessons From Pat McGovern for Entrepreneurs”

Austin Mobile Apps Firm Phunware Nets $26M for Expansion

Phunware, which develops mobile apps for multinational corporations, has raised $26.2 million in a Series E financing round. The Austin, TX-based company said in a press release yesterday that it expects to close on an additional amount in the next 60 days to bring the total funding to $30 million. At that point, the five-year-old … Continue reading “Austin Mobile Apps Firm Phunware Nets $26M for Expansion”