The Austin tech scene is undergoing consistent growth, and companies across a variety of sectors are following suit. With a new acquisition, executive hire and plenty of fresh funding, check out the city’s latest developments. This is the Built In Austin weekly refresh.
Royal pulled in $16M. Allowing musicians to create NFTs through its platform, Royal provides a way to let music fans invest in songs and earn royalties. The digital assets are sold to fans, and, later on, the owners of those assets can buy and sell them to more users on the platform. The company, co-founded by Opendoor co-founder JD Ross and musical artist Justin Blau, pulled in a seed round led by Paradigm ahead of its platform’s official launch. [Built In Austin]
2021 is already a big year for tech companies relocating to Austin. Throughout this year, several companies hailing from places like San Francisco, Portland, North Carolina and Dallas have all sought out Austin as the best place to re-establish their headquarters. Many of them are also currently hiring to build out their presence in the Lone Star State, including fintech company Green Dot, cloud software developer NinjaRMM and AI company Markaaz. [Built In Austin]
Austin Tech Quote of the Week
ICON pulled in $207M. The company develops technology to create 3D-printed houses and has created over two dozen homes so far in the U.S. and Mexico. With its Series B funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, ICON is planning to scale through R&D, manufacturing and expanding its tech to new people and places, including building habitats suitable for space. [Built In Austin]
Modernist Studio was acquired by Gorilla Logic. Operating a studio that helps companies envision and design multi-platform products, Austin-based Modernist Studio is joining forces with Gorilla Logic, a software development services company. With the acquisition, Gorilla Logic is looking to build out its offerings of products and services to provide end-to-end support for its clients. [PR Newswire]
LawnStarter hired a new VP of product. Operating a platform that lets users access local lawn care and outdoor service providers, LawnStarter is furthering its growth with its latest executive hire. Joining the company’s team is Avinash Sharma. With his history of building online marketplaces, Sharma will be responsible for scaling the company’s team across product and design, as well as improving customer experience and expanding service offerings. [LawnStarter]
