The NFT market has officially landed in Austin, meanwhile, Austin is officially launching to Mars..? Let’s start with the former. Congrats to Royalon their $16M seed round and for also being the first NFT business model that I partially understand – the company is launching a marketplace where users buy shares of songs, earning royalties as the music gains popularity. And now the latter, holy cow…Icon raised a massive $207M Series B, as they blast their 3D printed homes through the stratosphere - working with NASA to develop habitats on the Moon and eventually Mars.
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Austin Financing Activity
ICON, an Austin, Texas-based developer of 3D-printed homes, raised $207M in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led, and was joined by 8VC, Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, Citi Crosstimbers, Ensemble, Fifth Wall, LENx, Moderne Ventures and Oakhouse Partners. ICON is focused on tackling homelessness, but it’s also focused on profound opportunities to build lunar space stations and Mars habitats
OsteoCentric Technology, a developer of an orthopedic implant technology, raised $30M of venture funding in a deal led by Squadron Capital and OnPoint Advisors
Royal.io, NFT-based music platform designed to allow buy ownership in songs, raised $16M of seed funding in a deal led by Founders Fund and Paradigm
Austin M&A Activity
Telestax, a communications-platform-as-a-service company, was acquired by Mavenir, a leader in mobile messaging and business messaging monetization solutions for service providers, for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition enhances Mavenir Engage, Mavenir’s omni-channel messaging monetization and customer engagement offerings. Telestax has raised over $7M from investors including LiveOak Venture Partners and Pinnacle Ventures.
Other Texas Deal Activity
Resi, a Plano-based video broadcasting platform reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Pushpay Holdings (ASX: PPH) for $150M.
Recuro Health, a Richardson -based digital holistic health platform raised $15M in Series A funding. Arch Venture Partners led, and was joined by insiders OLSF Ventures, Cortado Ventures, 1843 Capital and Sage Venture Partners.
iOFFICE, a Houston-based leader in workplace experience and asset management software solutions, and SpaceIQ, a leading Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS), space management, and employee experience provider, merged following strategic investments in the companies by global private equity firms Thoma Bravo and JMI Equity.
Masergy – a Plano -based pioneer in software-defined networking (SDN) and cloud platforms for global enterprises, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Comcast (NAS: CMCSA) for an undisclosed sum. The company was previously acquired by Berkshire Partners for $900M in 2016.
BreachQuest, a Dallas-based incident response platform, raised $4.4M in seed funding from backers like Slow Ventures, Tinder co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen and Lookout founder Kevin Mahaffey.
Centerbase, a Dallas-based provider of legal practice management software, received an undisclosed investment from Mainsail Partners.
Selerix Systems, a McKiney-based benefits administration and employee engagement platform received an undisclosed amount of capital from NexPhase Capital.
SurviVR Systems, a Dallas-based virtual reality training platform intended to help first responder, was acquired by InVeris Training Solutions, a provider of integrated virtual and live-fire training systems and services for domestic and international law enforcement customers, for an undisclosed amount.
Austin People
Hyliion Holdings Corp. (NYSE: HYLN) a leader in electrified powertrain solutions for Class 8 commercial semi-trucks, has announced that Dennis M. Gallagher has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Gallagher brings over 20 years of experience leading high-performing business units with a focus on global manufacturing and commercial vehicles.
LawnStarter, on-demand lawn service provider,has hiredAvinash Sharma as its first vice president of product. Before LawnStarter, Sharma spent nearly six years at health care marketplace RealSelf, where he helped grow the company from 100,000 users to more than 10 million. LawnStarter has raised $27M to date from backers including Binary Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Edison Partners, Bull Creek Capital, Gary Vaynerchuk, Cotter Cunningham, Rony Kahan, and Varsha Rao.
Austin-based Incline P&C Group, an insurance program market services firm, have been adding new members to their team. Sheel J. Patel will join as Chief Financial Officer and Sameer Khan, will join as Chief Risk Officer, Allen Halbrook has been named Chief Legal Officer.
Austin News
Firebrand Ventures, who recently opened an Austin office, closed $40M seed fund for ‘authentic’ founders in emerging communities; adds Leo Morton as advisor and Claire Hansen as Principal. Claire leads the Austin office. Claire was previously at Capital Factory, CTAN, and most recently the Army Applications Laboratory.
These Tech Companies Moved Their Headquarters to Austin in 2021
Apple buys Austin office building on Capital of Texas Hwy
Elon Musk has filed a new subsidiary of Tesla to get in on the Texas energy market. Tesla Energy Ventures, has filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas to sell electricity.
UTEP, UT Austin, UT System Join U.S. Space Force Partnership
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