Last week another Austin-based flash buying Groupon competitor launched, named Spreadsy. They join other Austin competitors Adealio, Localiter, eDealTickets, and coming soon a similar offering from ValPak (the people who mail you those blue envelopes with coupons). There’s a handful of these companies in Austin, and around 100 more similar websites around the country. Spreadsy has a unique twist though. Get some friends to buy the daily deal, and yours is free. This is what [...]
Founded in Austin in 1999, Coremetrics is known as one of the high-end providers of web analytics, competing with Omniture and Webtrends. Today it was announced that IBM is acquiring the company for an undisclosed sum. Over the years the company has attracted around $167M in venture funding from such organizations as Highland Capital Partners and Accel Partners. After Bazaarvoice CEO Brett Hurt left Coremetrics the company relocated its headquarters to the bay area, but [...]
Savara, Inc., an inhalation drug delivery company, today announced that it has been chosen by the state of Texas as the recipient of a commercialization award funded through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF). The company, which produces novel respiratory therapeutics, will receive a $1.9 million award for the commercialization of its products. “Savara’s dry-powder technology holds great potential for treating asthma, lung cancer, and other lung-based diseases,” said Jack McDonald Chairman of Perficient, Inc. [...]
It seems that every other week we hear about another leading technology company opening an Austin office, or acquiring an Austin company. Unicast is the latest to relocate their headquarters here, moving into the Silicon Labs building by City Hall. Unicast is a leading interactive technology company with offices in New York City, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. The company creates and supports some of the most high-profile advertisements from big brands.
CSIdentity announced that it has added Ro Parra to its Board of Directors. Mr. Parra is a partner and co-founder of Daylight Partners, which is a group of investors who mostly share a background at Dell. Ro retired from Dell in 2007, and previously held roles at Grid and Radio Shack. Bill Morrow, Chairman and CEO of CSIdentity, states “Ro Parra’s demonstrated strategic leadership and proven track record of success in catapulting companies to the [...]
Austin’s female business community gathered together yesterday for the inaugural Sharp Skirt’s Offline Meeting at Bess Bistro. Originally founded by Carla Thompson and Stacey Higginbotham as ATX Tech Women, Sharp Skirts Offline will serve to enrich the Sharp Skirts community by connecting women in business, promoting collaboration, and increasing professional success. The evolution of Thompson and Higginbotham’s venture will also appeal to a much broader audience of women, as the focus has expanded to female business leaders, regardless of the industry.
Conformity, creators of the first suite of on-demand solutions to enable organizations to centrally govern and manage users of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud applications, today announced it has secured an additional $3 million in Series A financing led by Guggenheim Venture Partners. The new funding is in addition to the $3 million raised in January 2009 and will be used for product line expansion and accelerating sales and marketing activities. “The growth and market success [...]
Digby, the leader in mobile commerce solutions specifically designed for retailers, today announced the addition of four key executives including Ron Jennings, Chief Financial Officer; Eric Newman, Vice President of Client Services; Dan Lowden, Vice President of Marketing; and Curtis Hill, Vice President of Engineering. The new executives will support Digby’s rapid growth and recent customer expansions and wins including 1-800-Flowers, Wet Seal, Arandell and SkyMall. According to forecasts from Coda Research Consultancy, U.S. mobile [...]
Zynga announced today that they’ve acquired Austin-based social game company Challange Games. Zynga is one of the fastest growing gaming companies in history, and are the creators of the most popular facebook games including Mafia Wars and Farm Town. Challenge Games was founded by serial entrepreneur Andrew Busey, who had previously founded companies such as iChat, Living.com, Question.com, and Pluck.
Everyone in town wonders where the Superstar is: the tech company that starts in Austin, is funded by Austin, and whose successful exit brings the cache that will solidify Austin as the Silicon Valley of the 21st century. (And make no mistake, that is in our grasp.)
Doesn’t it seem like we’re perpetually *almost* there, standing on a precipice with our toes hanging off? Are we waiting on some nebulous event to occur? Or can we propel ourselves into that elite status on our own terms? My hope is the latter but my fear is the former.
