I don’t care who you are, you must take notice of any company that can hit an $800M+ valuation within 2.5 years. Sure, I’m a tad biased with this one, but what the team at Austin-based Homeward has built is remarkable (and in such a short period of time!). During my long and illustrious VC career ;) at LiveOak Venture Partners, I had the pleasure of working very closely with Homeward, and I’m just proud to get to play a small part in their journey - they are truly transforming the way buyers approach home purchasing. Congrats to the team over there, took a lot of hard work to get to this point!
Now without further ado, I am bringing you the first company to be featured in the Austin Weekly Deal Highlights’ Company Spotlight, MapRight! Subscribe below to get your company featured on an upcoming newsletter.
Austin Financing Activity
Homeward, a residential home-buying enablement platform, raised $371M in financing including a $136M Series B led by Norwest Venture Partners at a valuation “just north of $800 million.” The company has also secured $235M in debt. Existing investors participated in the Series B including Adams Street, Javelin, and LiveOak Venture Partners.
Infinitum Electric, an electric motor company, raised a $40M Series C round led by Energy Innovation Capital with participation from Cottonwood Technology Fund, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Ajax Strategies. The company has raised $55M to date and will use the new funds to double its 30 person headcount.
True Wealth Ventures, a VC firm focused on women founders, plans to raise a $30M second fund, according to a filing with the SEC. Their $19.1M first fund has generally invested $500K to $750K in startups since its inception in 2018.
Virtuix, a VR omni-directional treadmill company, raised $19M in a Series A-2 round through a crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest driven by over 6.5K investors. This raises Virtuix’s total funding to $35M.
Vertalo, a platform that helps issue and manage digital securities, has raised $5M in funding from investors including U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and participation from the Tezos Foundation, Wedbush Capital and others.
The Skinny Confidential, a provider of facial beauty tools and beauty products, raised $1M of seed funding in a deal led by Dear Media
Austin M&A Activity
E2open Parent Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ETWO), an Austin-based supply chain management company, is acquiring BlueJay Solutions, a UK-based shipping logistics software maker, in a $1.7B stock and cash deal. This move follows E2open’s SPAC merger in February which took it public with a valuation of $2.8B.
Iodine Software, an Austin-based company using AI to improve revenues in healthcare institutions and a Bain Capital Ventures portfolio company, announced it acquiredArtifact Health, a Colorado-based mobile platform designed to streamline physician queries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Other Regional Deal Activity
Simplifi Holdings, a Fort Worth-based advertising tech platform, had their SPAC deal fall through this week. The company was attempting to raise $300M through a merger with D&Z Media Acquisition Corp. in a deal which would have valued Simplifi at almost $2B, however several larger funds passed with worries it was overvalued.
Thryv Holdings, a Dallas-based end-to-end client experience software for growing small businesses entered into an agreement to sell a 10.39% stake in the company (NAS:THRY) for $85.75M.
Retractable Technologies, a Little Elm-based syringe maker, landed $27M in new funding from the U.S. government as a part of the country’s ongoing vaccine delivery response. This new funding brings Retractable’s total funding from government contracts to $137M, with the latest funding set to help them install two new assembly lines.
MacroFab, a Houston-based cloud-enabled platform for optimizing electronics manufacturing, raised a $15M Series B round led by Edison Partners, with participation from ATX Ventures and Altium Limited. This brings MacroFab’s total funding to nearly $31M.
Asylia Therapeutics, a Houston-based biotech company focused on safe and effective medicines for cancer and auto-immune diseases, raised a $14.5M Series A led by Sporos Bioventures.
Centraforce, a Dallas-based platform to providing population-centric data for healthcare decisions, raised $1.95M of convertible debt financing from undisclosed investors, according to Pitchbook.
Upgrade Boutique, a Houston-based ecommerce platform for custom wigs, extensions, and other curated beauty products, raised $1.7M of seed funding in a deal led by The Artemis Fund and Mercury Fund.
Zollege, a Cedar Park-based tech-enabled apprenticeship and skill-based training company, received an undisclosed amount of development capital from Serent Capital.
Stingray Therapeutics, a Houston-based developer of immunotherapies intended to treat various types of cancer, raised $1.5M from Catalytic Impact Foundation.
DVSAnalytics, a San Antonio-based workforce optimization platform, and subsidiary of Noble Systems,was acquired by Dura Software for an undisclosed sum.
Jarvis Analytics, a Dallas-based dental practice management platform was acquired by Henry Schein (Nasdaq: HSIC) for an undisclosed amount.
eDynamic Learning, a Southlake-based digital curriculum provider with funding from Gauge Capital, acquiredKnowledge Matters, a Massachusetts-based interactive educational software company. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Austin People
Beam, an Austin-based nonprofit organization which funds and supports women founders, selected Leigh Christie as its new CEO and executive director. Christie previously served as senior VP of global tech and innovation with the Greater Austin Area Chamber of Commerce and executive director of Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas.
Still Austin Whiskey names first COO amid growth spurt. Brandon Joldersma has been promoted from general manager to COO
Austin News
Firefly Aerospace, which recently was elevated to unicorn status, landed a $4.3M economic development agreement with Cedar Park. Firefly will create 682 jobs with a mean salary of $90K over the next 9 years and purchase a 40K sq ft facility.
Rev.com, a provider of artificial-intelligence-powered, voice-to-text transcription services, is revving up its presence in Austin with the addition of 130 employees by the end of this year
Austin’s robust gaming sector has a new player. Crystal Dynamics, producer of Marvel’s Avengers and the Tomb Raider trilogy, has opened a game development studio here called Crystal Southwest.
Austin to welcome new, world-class arena opening in 2022
SKU and Naturally AustinSelect 10 Startups led by Diverse Founders for new SKU M/O Track
Pandemic caused fintech company Treslto hire 100 already this year, with up to another 40 to be hired by the end of December
Startup accelerator FedTechopens Austin office to work with Army Futures Command
Austin’s music and arts community to receive windfall from American Rescue Plan
Austin leads Heartland metros in foreign-born population growth
Thank you!
Mason Rathe
Additional research and newsletter support provided by William Scheffrahn.