Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas.
—Strangeworks, an Austin, TX-based quantum computing startup, announced it has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to a press release. Ecliptic Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, Lux Capital, BoxGroup, and Amplify Partners contributed to the funding. Strangeworks, which was founded last year by William Hurley, is currently focusing on developing quantum tools related to the aerospace, energy, finance, and pharmaceutical industries. Two years ago, Hurley sold his fintech startup, Honest Dollar, to Goldman Sachs.
—The Texas Medical Center’s accelerator, TMCx, held its sixth demo day featuring 21 digital health startups that sought to use tech innovations to improve health delivery and hospital efficiency and effectively deploy data and connected devices to support physicians and patients. In addition, TMC CEO Bill McKeon announced that the TMC Venture Fund will invest $250,000 each in medical device companies Corinnova and Intelligent Implants.
—Austin’s LiveOak Venture Partners led a $3.8 million seed round for Eventador.io, a startup that has developed what it calls “stream-processing-as-a-service” software to enable users to easily build and manage modern streaming data applications, the venture firm announced. Other investors include Deep Space Ventures, RSH Ventures, Capital Factory, and Keshif Ventures. The new funds, which include a conversion of a previous $1.3 million angel round, will be used for sales and marketing in the U.S. and Europe and to make new hires and invest in research and development, the company stated.
—SeriesX, a startup using Ethereum blockchain technology, announced it has raised $2 million in two rounds of funding, according to a Silicon Hills report. Investors include Shasta Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Capital Factory Fund 5, Yeoman’s Capital, Hampstead Park Capital, Rigel Asset Holdings, Array.VC, 11-11 Ventures, and Insiders, according to the article.
—Unchained Capital, a fintech company that lends cash to long-term crypto investors, announced it raised $2.9 million, according to a press release. Investors include Michael Komaransky, formerly of Cumberland Mining; Brian Spaly, an angel investor and co-founder of Bonobos and Trunk Club; Mike Erwin, and William Hurley of Ecliptic Capital; and Ezra Galston of Starting Line, an early venture investor in the crypto sector, the company stated. Unchained Capital was launched in November. “Crypto assets are now a nearly $500 billion asset class, but are functionally invisible to the existing financial system,” Galston said in the statement. “Holdings won’t enable consumers to obtain a mortgage, gain credit or serve as collateral. Unchained is bridging that gap.”
—A new blockchain startup has emerged in Austin. ALTR, which uses blockchain technologies for cybersecurity issues, also announced that it has raised $15 million in funding, according to a press release. ALTR only named one investor, John Stafford III, CEO of Ronin Capital, and said the remaining investors were from both institutional and private sources. ALTR says its platform is “virtually impenetrable to attack” and because it creates a blockchain-stored record of any attempt to impact data or a network. This permanent, unalterable record becomes a disincentive for offenders, the company stated.
