Finishing up the month over $68 million, Cognitive Scale led Austin tech companies with the biggest funding round of August. Compared to July, venture capital increased by $8 million. Here are the largest funding rounds from last month.
5. TheWaveVR, $2.5 million, Aug. 4
Investors: KPCB Edge, Presence Capital, Rothenberg Ventures, RRE Ventures, The VR Fund, Seedcamp, and angels Mike Fischer (ex-CEO Square Enix North America) and Joe Kraus (of GV, formerly Google Ventures).
Bio: TheWaveVR is a platform for people who love music, enabling them to view, host, and socialize in shows worldwide, anytime, anywhere through virtual reality.
News: The funding will be used for its beta launch coming later this year and for the additions of audio-visual artist David Wexler and entrepreneur with ties to SoundCloudDave Haynes as advisors. Read more here.
4. Owlchemy Labs, $5 million, Aug. 3
Investors: Qualcomm Ventures, HTC, The VR Fund, Colopl VR Fund and Capital Factory.
Bio: Owlchemy Labs is an independent game and virtual reality development studio that offers silly, highly polished games for download.
News: With a reputation for off-the-wall content, Owlchemy Labs plans to keep producing notable content and roll out new projects. The company recently received made a few headlines when it announced it would be bringing the TV show Rick and Morty into the VR world. Learn more here.
3. Ambiq Micro, $9.4 million, Aug. 10
Investors: 35 unnamed investors
Bio: Ambiq Micro is a fabless semiconductor company based in Austin, TX developing the world’s most energy efficient integrated circuits.
News: The company could not be reached for comment regarding use of the funding. August's Series D round of funding represents the third consecutive year Ambiq Micro has received investor backing.
2. FloSports, $21.2 million, Aug. 15
Investors: DCM Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and Discovery Communications
Bio: The sports media and event company shows live streams of premier sporting events, original video programming, weekly studio shows and branded entertainment, and supports event creation and execution.
News: FloSports plans on using the funding to expand its streaming verticals into new sports and put more into its existing ones. They have already added four new verticals since the start of this year with volleyball, combat, tennis and the fighting game community. Read more here.
1. CognitiveScale, $21.8 million, Aug. 2
Investors: Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital
Bio: CognitiveScale creates industry-specific machine intelligence software to accelerate decision making, enhance customer engagement and improve employee productivity.
News: The funding will be used to increase global sales and expedite development of its product portfolio by scaling up their operations through the expansion of the sales team, enhancing their brand, and strengthening their products with an emphasis on specific industries where their products make the most impact. Learn more here.
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