[Updated 7/10/19, 11:41 am CT. See below.] Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news in Texas.
—Austin startup Vyopta, which makes a video conference system dashboard for businesses, raised $7.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Elsewhere Partners, according to a press release. The investment will be used for additional technology development and sales and marketing. The startup’s customers include companies and institutions such as AIG, AstraZeneca, Stanford University, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
—ABB Robotics will open a new facility at the Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute in October, according to a press release. Switzerland-based ABB will work with TMC researchers, scientists, and others from TMC institutions as well as area startups and investors to develop non-surgical medical robotics systems. “We are proud to co-develop collaborative robotics systems for the Hospital of the Future with one of the world’s most advanced partners and to test them in real-world laboratories to ensure they add value to healthcare professionals, driving innovation, and transforming how medical laboratories operate worldwide,” Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s robotics and discrete automation business, said in a prepared statement.
—Procyrion, a Houston medical device startup, announced it raised $30 million in a Series D funding round led by new investor Bluebird Ventures. Returning investors included Fannin Partners, Scientific Health Development, and the State of Texas, the company said in a press release. Procyrion, which has raised more than $59 million in total, has built a circulatory support pump named the Aortix that essentially serves as a crutch for the heart. The pump helps the organ push more blood through the circulatory system and to vital organs. The device, which is thinner than a pencil, can be implanted in the aorta of heart failure patients via a catheter threaded through the femoral artery.
—OncoNano Medicine, a Forth Worth-area company developing an imaging agent to help surgeons better remove tumors, announced it has raised $23.7 million in a second tranche of Series A funding. The new cash infusion brings the total size of the round to $35.4 million. Salem Partners recruited the investors, which included individuals and family offices, the biotech said. OncoNano said proceeds from the investment will go toward clinical trials. The company previously raised $11.7 million last year and received $6 million in grant funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
—[Updated with new item.] Guy Walsh, a retired US Air Force Brig. Gen. who has worked in the Department of Defense’s cybersecurity operations since 2011, has been hired by the University of Texas at San Antonio as its first executive director for the university’s National Security Collaboration Center. UTSA announced plans in 2018 to open the center, which will include a physical space that aims to be a central gathering place for government agencies and businesses who are seeking both future cybersecurity workers, as well as contemporary research by students that might aid the organizations’ existing projects. The space may also house a startup incubator, a computing center for research, a data visualization lab, and other research and training facilities. Walsh was appointed to work in cybersecurity operations in US Cyber Command in 2011, and previously served in the Air Force, including as a commander in Afghanistan as recently as 2009.
—Next Ventures, founded by cyclist Lance Armstrong, has raised $24.5 million of a planned $75 million fund, according to Austin Inno citing documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Armstrong is joined in the fund by Lionel Conacher, a former Canadian football and hockey star who went on to work as an investment banker. Conacher served as CEO of Westwind Partners, a Canadian investment bank, before its acquisition by Thomas Weisel Partners for $145 million, according to his bio on Next Ventures’ website.
—Remedy, an Austin-based telemedicine startup, raised $10 million in a Series A round, according to a press release. The investment was led by Sante Ventures, also based in the Texas capital. Patients can use Remedy’s telemedicine portal to connect with a doctor in less than 15 minutes via video chat; the idea is to prevent visits to the ER for medical issues that aren’t emergencies. If the patient needs additional assistance, they can schedule a same-day home visit by a doctor. Remedy has contracts with health insurance providers such as UnitedHealthcare, BlueCross BlueShield, and Aetna, the company said.
Xconomy National Correspondent David Holley contributed to this report.
