With HQ2 plans in trouble, Amazon goes bigger in Austin
The Washington Post reported this week that Amazon execs are considering pulling out of its plan for a massive campus in Queens, NY. Meanwhile, in Austin, it appears the company is ready to expand with a newly signed lease at The Domain. The Austin Business Journal reported that Amazon has signed a lease for almost half of the space in the Domain 10 tower, where construction is expected to be completed by early 2020. [Austin Business Journal]
RapidDeploy scores $12M in funding
RapidDeploy, the South Africa-founded emergency responder software provider that relocated to Austin over the summer, has raised $12 million in funding. GreatPoint Ventures and Samsung NEXT co-led the Series A round of financing that will be used to accelerate RapidDeploy’s next phase of growth. Scaling efforts include hiring between 15 to 25 more people in Austin across customer success, change management, project management and engineering. [Built In Austin]
StreetCred’s contest dishing out $50K in Bitcoin
StreetCred, a New York-based open mapping software startup, has launched a contest for Austinites willing to add cool locations throughout the city on StreetCred’s Austin map. The top 50 participants will receive a split of 15 bitcoin, and the top StreetCred poster will receive two bitcoin — the equivalent to nearly $7,000. The contest will run for a month beginning March 1. [StreetCred]
Ladder names 6 executives to leadership team
The Austin-based fitness and wellness coaching platform Ladder recently announced six executive hires. Joining the team are President Tom Digan, Director of Product Justin Forte, Director of Design Chad Geraci, Director of Magic Zach Allia, Head of Recruiting Jamie Brooks, and Head of Digital Growth Greg Drewganis. [Press Release]
