Love at first swipe? For my older crowd, that’s a pun on the way kids date these days, but more importantly, a nod to the biggest IPO in Austin history! Dating and networking app Bumble made its public market debut this week, and what a match… The Austin-based company raised nearly $2.2 billion in its IPO, which then saw its shares climb as much as 85% on their first day of trading, taking the company’s market cap above $13 billion. Quite possibly the more notable feat here is what CEO and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is doing for women entrepreneurs. At 31, she is the youngest-ever woman CEO to take a company public, which required that she fight through a tangled path of sexism and disputes. Her company now has 42 million monthly active users, and with an 11.6% stake, she sets a new bar of the term self-made. And the timing couldn’t be better, Happy Valentine’s Day love birds.
Austin Financing Activity
Bumble (NASDAQ: BMBL), an Austin-based dating and professional networking app, listed on the Nasdaq on Thursday in a nearly $2.2B IPO, spiking 85% in first day of trading, and settling down with an $8.3B market cap as of close of trading Friday. This proved to be very profitable for Blackstone as well, which less than two years ago acquired a majority stake in Bumble’s former parent company for $3B.
E2open, a supply chain platform, made its public market debut as well, after it acquired CC Neuberger Principal through a reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ETWO. The deal values the software company at $2.6B. The company also received $520M via a PIPE.
Stoplight, an enterprise-grade API tool kit company, reported raising approx. $11M in funding. It’s most recent prior funding was a $6M Series A in January last year co-led by Next Coast Ventures and Bill Wood Ventures.
UpEquity, a real estate mortgage software company, announced a $7.5M Series A led by Next Coast Ventures, and additionally $17.5M in venture debt as part of the round.
SupportNinja, a customer support outsourcing company, landed a new majority investment from BV Investment Partners for an undisclosed amount.
Maverick Topco, a company currently operating in stealth mode, raised $1.2M from undisclosed investors. To date, the company has raised $3.6M, according to PitchBook.
Austin M&A Activity
Aspyr Media, a provider of publishing services intended to connect audiences with games on different platforms, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Saber Interactive, a subsidiary of Embracer Group (STO: EMBRAC B), for an estimated $450M.
HID Global, an Austin-based identity management software company, acquired United Kingdom-based Technological Solutions UK Ltd., an RFID reader maker, for an undisclosed sum
Austin-based Solis Security, a cybersecurity and tech services company, and Austin-based MyITpros, an IT management provider, have merged and will operate under the latter’s name. Bill McCharen, CEO of MyITpros, will be CEO of the combined entity.
AffiniPay, an Austin-based payments company, has acquired St. Paul, Minnesota-based ClientPay, a digital payments company for the legal industry, for an undisclosed amount.
Other Texas Deal Activity
Dallas-based Signify Health, a value-based payment programs company, made its NYSE debut opening at $32 per share, which is well above the $24 per share price the company initially targeted. Overall, the company raised $564M in the offering, giving it a market cap of over $7B.
Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL), the Plano-based local government software provider, agreed to acquire Kansas-based NIC, a government tech software firm, for $2.3B. The deal is expected to close next quarter.
Dallas-based Match Group (Nasdaq: MTCH) agreed to buy Korean social network Hyperconnect for $1.73 billion in cash and stock, just days before Match rival Bumble went public. Hyperconnect backers include Altos Ventures, SoftBank Ventures Asia and Korea Investment Partners.
BeyondID, a Dallas-based cloud identity consulting firm, raised $9M in Series A funding led by Tecera.
WizeHire, a Houston-based maker of a hiring solution for small businesses, raised $7.5M Series A co-led by Amplo and Mercury Fund.
Houston-based ImmunoMet, a developer of novel anti-tumor and immuno-oncology therapies designed to treat cancer patients, raised $7M from undisclosed investors. To date, the company has raised just under $32M.
Austin People
F1 Payments, a payment processing application, announced three new board members following an investment from York Capital, last year. The new members are Ramón Martín, O.B. Rawls and Andy Sessions. Martín was previously global head of merchant sales and solutions for Visa. Rawls retired last year from Paysafe where he was CEO of global payment processing. And Sessions is managing director of Intercept Ventures.
uShip, a logistics tech company, named Parimala Rao as its CTO. She replaces former CTO and current uShip CEO, Kris Lamb, who became CEO in July 2019. Rao previously served as CTO for Spakrfund in Washington DC. uShip has raised over $50M to date.
Slingshot Aerospace, a data analytics company that focuses on space, promoted co-founder and former Chief Strategy Officer Melanie Stricklan to CEO. She replaces David Godwin who will now be the chairman of the board.
Quali, an Israeli-based software platform with its North American HQ in Austin, added three new vice presidents to the firm. Phillip Cockrell will be the new VP of business development. Most recently, he worked as the executive lead for commercial sales at Polyverse Corp. Naama Sapir, is the new VP of HR, and most recently served as the VP of HR for AnyClip, Earnix, and N-trig. David Williams will be the new VP of product strategy, and previously worked as a senior executive of product at Digital.ai, IBM, BMC, and CA technologies.
Austin News
Elon Musk predicts Austin, Texas, will be ‘the biggest boomtown that America has seen in 50 years’
These companies have moved their HQs to the Austin area so far in 2021
Austin’s office market has lost considerable steam since March 2020, with subleasing activity increasing by 210% since the start of the pandemic.
Clock runs out on sale of TikTok to Oracle and Walmart. Last August, TikTok laid out plans to roughly double its Austin headcount from close to 100 to around 200, and to eventually add hundreds of employees here.
Local leaders say $17B Samsung deal could boost middle-skill jobs
WeWork, is making moves to close some locations across San Francisco, Phoenix, and Denver, but has said there are no plans to scale back its Austin operation which consists of seven locations across the city.
Workout equipment company Eleiko moves US HQ to Austin from Chicago
Ed-tech company Vytal Studios moving HQ out of Austin
Thank you! Mason Rathe, an early stage investor with LiveOak Venture Partners Additional research and newsletter support provided by Dipesh Mehta and William Scheffrahn.