Austin Startup

How Important Are Industry Clusters To Startups?

George Dearing — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:19:00 +0000

If I suggested a way for your clean energy startup to set-up shop near a bunch of companies involved in things like renewable technology and the smartgrid, what would you say? If I sweetened the deal and told you the list of companies included a few of the Fortune 500 and a slew of established mid-market companies, you’d probably say, “sign me up!” So goes part of the argument for industry clusters, a term [...]

Capital Factory Aligns Schedule with SXSW

Bryan Menell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:05:00 +0000

Historically, SXSW is the peak season for applications to Austin’s technology accelerator program Capital Factory. The program has run during the Summer for the past 3 years. Capital Factory is announcing that the program schedule going forward is going to align with the SXSW Interactive Festival and Conference. There are several reasons for the shift including: Companies in the program enjoying the mild winters in Texas Mentors and supporters typically taking vacations in the summer [...]

Tango Health Raises $4 Million in Series B Funding

Bryan Menell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:55:51 +0000

Tango Health, the premier provider of Health Savings Account (HSA) management software and services, announced today that it has closed $4 million in Series B funding led by S3 Ventures and angel investor Mike Turner, founder and CEO of Waveset (acquired by Sun Microsystems). The new funds will be used to increase marketing and sales, expand product development into adjacent markets, and support the rapidly expanding base of Tango Health users. “Tango Health is transforming [...]

Sparefoot Opens New Headquarters

Bryan Menell — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:50:06 +0000

Austin-based Sparefoot moved into new Headquarters last week, celebrating with an office party last week. Having been to their previous offices, which was substantially smaller and required storing massive amounts of snacks in the hallway, their new digs are downright luxurious. The space features 99% re-purposed materials, graffiti art by Austin artist Sloke, an 18 foot shuffleboard table, dart board, foosball, a Super Mario mural (one of the co-founders is named Mario), sushi-inspired conference room, [...]

Andrew Busey Joins AV as Venture Partner

Bryan Menell — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:38:30 +0000

Austin Ventures (”AV”), the most active and established early-stage venture capital firm in Texas, today announced that Andrew Busey, former VP/GM at Zynga (ZNGA), has joined the firm as venture partner. Andrew brings extensive leadership and operational experience from his years of working with high-growth companies as an entrepreneur, leader, investor, and advisor. “In his new role, Andrew will help the venture team identify and attract very early-stage companies,” said John Thornton, General Partner, Austin [...]

Latest ATI Graduates Show Incubator Has A Pulse On What’s Hot

George Dearing — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:01:43 +0000

Incubators are usually pretty adept at gauging which companies have upside. And while business moves fast, the coaching, mentoring and preparation that aids young startups has to move faster. That’s where the network comes into play for Austin Technology Incubator (ATI). “We want to bring the genetics of ATI into the fold,” said ATI Director Isaac Barchas. “It’s really about activating the alumni network.” The network Barchas refers to spans more than 200 companies, $1 [...]

CopperEgg Expands Server Monitoring into Windows Azure Environments

Bryan Menell — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:20:28 +0000

CopperEgg, a real-time monitoring company, today announced the support of Windows Azure server monitoring with RevealCloud Pro. RevealCloud Pro is a SaaS-based server monitoring service that provides a detailed, common view of all of your servers, running any OS, across public and private clouds, and virtual and physical environments. It provides real-time, in-depth insight into all the components participating in application and service delivery, which is critical for monitoring changing loads as well as identifying, [...]

Tabbedout Names Paul Fiore as New CEO

Bryan Menell — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:13:48 +0000

Tabbedout, the mobile payment solution that enables customers to open, view and pay their bar or restaurant tab with their phone, today announced that Paul Fiore has been named Chief Executive Officer. Fiore brings more than twenty years of executive leadership experience in the technology and financial services industries to Tabbedout. His previous roles include general manager of bank products for prepaid financial services company Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT), vice president of strategy for XP [...]

Austin-Based Startups at Accelerator 2012

Bryan Menell — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:10:29 +0000

The finalists have been announced for the SXSW Accelerator 2012. A handful of Austin-based companies made the cut out of the 670 that submitted. Here are the local companies you will be seeing up on stage! Umbel Austin, TX umbel.com Umbel empowers publishers, advertisers and agencies with a deep understanding of audience engagement by leveraging vast amounts of aggregated, real-time social data. The knowledge and insights Umbel provides to clients translates into more effective research, [...]

MapMyFITNESS Launches New Social Fitness Apps for Facebook Timeline

Bryan Menell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:37:56 +0000

MapMyFITNESS, one of the fastest-growing online health and fitness communities, launched a fitness app for Facebook Timeline. The integration enables people to personalize their Facebook Timeline by sharing their fitness activities with friends. “We’re always seeking innovative ways to enable our six million members to express themselves through fitness” The new Timeline integration provides users with an easy means to post their personal fitness accomplishments, favorite routes, workouts and nutrition log to their Facebook Timeline, [...]