Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news in Texas.
—Chevron Technology Ventures Thursday launched a $90 million fund for energy investments. The fund is CTV’s seventh and investments will be made in high-growth startups with technologies that have the potential to improve Chevron’s core oil and gas business performance, says CTV President Barbara Burger. “We are using venture capital as a conduit for early access to innovation and to build a pipeline of innovation for Chevron,” Burger said in a press release. The announcement comes as the California energy giant celebrates the 20th anniversary of CTV, the statement said. Since its founding, CTV has made 90 investments, the company said.
—Medical Informatics, a Houston health IT startup, is one of 14 AI-related companies receiving a total of $117 million from Intel Capital, according to a press release. Phoenix-based Intel Capital, which is tech company Intel’s investment arm, aims to deploy between $300 million and $500 million into innovations each year, the firm said. “Intel has driven disruption for the last 50 years,” Wendell Brooks, Intel senior vice president and president of Intel Capital, said in the statement. “Intel Capital is continuing that legacy of disruption with these investments.”
—ActivTrak, a Dallas maker of employee productivity software, has raised a $20 million round of funding from Austin-based Elsewhere Partners—and is relocating its headquarters to the state capital. ActivTrak says its software provides data analytics around employee productivity that gives managers insight on how to improve performance, keep track of sensitive information, and improve operational efficiency.
—Haven Connect, an affordable housing startup that was part of the Techstars Impact Accelerator in Austin, has raised $2.7 million in a seed round. The San Francisco-based startup said it is also moving its headquarters to the Texas state capital, according to Built in ATX. Haven Connect has developed software for property managers to better manage applications for affordable housing online. The startup says managers are also able to email, text, and mail letters to those on a waitlist in “just a few clicks.”
—Dallas Startup Week kicks off Monday with a variety of seminars in fintech, travel and hospitality tech, virtual reality/augmented reality, and other topics. Notably, tech billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will give a keynote address Tuesday. (Cuban recently was one of three investors in a $1.9 million seed round for Wobo.tv, a China-based Internet HD TV box, according to Dallas Innovates.) This year marks the fifth startup week held in the North Texas city.
—Speaking of North Texas startups, Fort Worth-based Linear Labs has raised $4.5 million in seed funding to market the company’s electric motor, called the Hunstable Electric Turbine, across the electric vehicle industry as well as for scooters, wind turbine, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning industries, according to a press release. Science Inc. and Kindred Ventures led the round with participation from investors Chris and Crystal Sacca, Ryan Graves of Saltwater Ventures, Dynamic Signal CEO Russ Fradin, Masergy executive chairman and former-CEO Chris MacFarland, and Ustream co-founder Gyula Feher.
