Monthly Archives: September 2007

Red McCombs and Austin Startups

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Red McCombs has been very active in the  Austin startup space in the past month.
In late August, the media tycoon launched Faithvine.com, which offers
social networking, news, commentary and Bible study tools and resources.  According to Red McCombs Media CEO Jon Flatt, "the
main vision behind Faithvine.com is to provide a forum for visitors to discuss
real issues, while supplying information and entertainment to the Christian
community." Faithvine will be headquartered out of Red McCombs Media’s Austin office.

The Austinconnection continued this week as McCombs increased his investment in Austin-based
Media Excel, which develops real-time software for visual media applications
for distribution over networks. Media
Excel’s main product, the 3200f file transcoder appliance, is tailored for
broadcasters, content owners and aggregators VOD systems.

It is great to see someone with such an impressive track record
actively participating in the Austin community. Hopefully, more companies
will benefit from the wisdom and equity offered by the founder of Clear Channel
Communications and Red McCombs Auto Group.

30 Second Software, Phurnace Get Funding

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30secondsoftware
In Tech Monday in the Plugged In section, the Statesman has been going through some state filings to look for investment activity in Austin. The uncovered an investment in stealthy 30 Second Software founded by Dave Sikora. The company has a website located here, and their first product named Digby is a mobile electronic commerce service for the Blackberry. Sikora moved to Austin in the late 90′s and has been at the helm of Ventix, Question.com, and Pervasive Software.

The same article also reported that Phurnace, which won the 2006 MOOT Corp competition, received $1.3M from DFJ Mercury. Phurnace makes software that helps organizations deploy Java-based applications.

The Journal Spots Austin Retail Trends

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In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, reporter Teri Agins takes note of Austin’s growth in high-end retail. Local Austin entrepreneur and investor Eric Simone was on to this trend a while ago, with investments in local clothing startup Erebelle and the retail store Girl Next Door, which recently moved to the 2nd Street district. Don’t worry, Eric is still a tech guy at heart with his early investment in Bazaarvoice.