In February, the Austin digital tech sector raised $75.8 million collectively in the shortest month of the year. The average deal size was $6.9 million, compared to the $154 million raised in January (including BorrowersFirst's $100 million round of debt financing). Here are the top five rounds of a strong February.
5. SubVRsive, $4M, Feb. 6
Investors: WPP
Bio: Launched in 2015, SubVRsive develops live, 360-degree virtual reality experiences for brands and entertainment. Last year, they partnered with Showtime Networks to create a boxing match filmed entirely in VR. The end product earned them a Sports Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Digital Innovation category.
News: The funding will be used to continue storytelling through VR and augmented reality while adding leadership roles to their roster. In addition to announcing the Series A, SubVRsive named former Hulu executive Johannes Larcher as the startup's CEO. Additional positions they'll be filling include a full stack VR developer, a motion graphics designer, a VP of business development and a VP of finance.
4. Javelin Networks, $5M, Feb. 8
Investors: RSL Capital, Hillsven Capital, UpWest Labs, Tomer Weingarten, CEO of SentinelOne and other private investors
Bio: Launched initially in 2014 in Palo Alto, the cyber security startup Javelin Networks moved to Austin in late 2016. Their AI-driven platform defends enterprise databases that hold all the information about every user, server, endpoint and application. Their solutions also provide autonomous breach prevention, containment, threat hunting and incident response capabilities.
News: Javelin welcomed Greg Fitzgerald, an industry pro, as the company's new COO. The 20-person local team will also be adding roles in marketing, sales, support and operations in 2017 as they accelerate growth.
3. Tenfold, $15.M, Feb. 24
Investors: Undisclosed
Bio: Tenfold's Phone Intelligence Platform helps sales teams manage pipelines faster and more accurately with click-to-dial calling abilities, in-call note recording, call disposition scheduling, notes, reminders and more. Founded in 2014, the company originally launched as Callinize before rebranding as Tenfold in 2015.
News: Although Tenfold was not available to comment, February's round follows the company's December fundings totaling $1.76M collectively over two rounds.
2. data.world, $18.7M, Feb. 21
Investors: Chicago Ventures, Fyrfly Venture Partners, Hunt Technology Ventures LP, LiveOak Venture Partners, Shasta Ventures, Sherpa Asset Management AG, angel investors
Bio: data.world hosts collaborative public and private data spaces, connecting people over data sets to better the world. Some organizations they’ve partnered with include The White House Opportunity Project, The Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Department of Defense.
News: This funding marks data.world's second round in under a year following its launch in July 2016. Having now raised a total of $32.7 million, the startup is one of the top five venture-backed Certified B Corporations of all time in the tech sector.
1. uShip, $25M, Feb. 15
Investors: DB Schenker
Bio: uShip launched in 2003 and has gained a spot among other Austin startup success stories. Their online shipping marketplace now operates in 19 countries with 800,000 service providers to compete for online shipping, transport and freight business.
News: The investor, logistics company DB Schenker, began a five-year partnership with uShip beginning in July of 2016. This involved the development of “Drive4Schenker," an enterprise freight automation software built on uShip PRO, which launched in February. February's funding will be used to continue the development of uShip’s software for high-volume enterprise shippers and small and midsize businesses shipping less-than-truckload freight.
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