—Pinpoint, an Austin startup that makes analytics tool to measure software engineering’s contribution to businesses, has raised $13.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Other investors include Storm Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Slack Fund, Social Capital, and Cherubic Ventures. The new money brings Pinpoint’s total funding to $16.5 million.
—A Texas-based startup will be among the participants at the Hatch Pitch competition at South By Southwest on March 11. Dallas-based Mambo is a website that enables users to find social activities around them based on their interests and preferences. Another startup in the contest is Edwel Energy, a Sydney-based app that lets users compare the carbon footprint of various products and services. The other two entrants are both based in Philadelphia: eHealthNow, which focuses on helping cancer patients in China find overseas oncologists. and NeuroFlow, a behavioral healthcare app.
—The Dallas Entrepreneur Center has started a smart cities incubator called Innov8te, according to DEC founder Trey Bowles. The program will support startups developing tech tools to promote citizen engagement and services, equity and inclusion, infrastructure, governance, mobility, sustainability, and public health and safety. Entrepreneurs will be able to work with corporate partners such as AT&T and Microsoft. In 2015, Dallas launched its Smart Cities Living Lab program in the city’s West End neighborhood, which will host the Innov8te program.
—Bill.com, a Palo Alto, CA-based payments processing company, is opening a second location in Houston, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. The fintech company is expected to employ about 125 people in Houston, including software developers and customer service associates.
—Richard’s Rainwater, an Austin-area company that is filtering and bottling rainwater, has raised $1 million in equity funding from a single investor, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company captures rain before it hits and ground and is filtered through a reverse osmosis process. Founder Richard Heinichen first began filtering rain in 1994 at his house in Dripping Springs, TX, where the company is headquartered.
—The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has appointed Cindy WalkerPeach as chief product development officer. WalkerPeach most recently was the Innovation Corps program director at the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, VA, and was the head of health and biosciences at the Austin Technology Incubator at the University of Texas at Austin.
