mobileTech Tuesday by Steve Guengerich As the supremacy of the freemium app and appcommerce business models over the fee-based, paid apps becomes more evident every month, deals have become among the most hotly contested mobile app categories. Given the heat of competition and that one of the hotter Austin-headquartered ventures WhaleShark Media is a deals-oriented consolidation of a fragmented market (not unlike Homeaway is, in the travel sector), I thought deals apps were worth a [...]
Austin-based The Dachis Group announced this evening that it has acquired international company Headshift, Ltd. Headshift has its headquarters in London, and also has offices in New York, Paris, Sydney, and Zurich. Back in April of 2008, Austin Ventures first announced that it was backing Razorfish founder Jeff Dachis with a $50M capital commitment to build a company focused on enterprise class social software. Since then the company has hired talented analysts and strategists in [...]
Austin-based RenewData, a leading provider of services for the discovery, archiving, and governance of electronically stored information (ESI), today announced it has successfully completed an acquisition of Digital Mandate, provider of discovery lifecycle management solutions including Vestigate document review software. This acquisition further strengthens RenewData’s commitment to investing in technology that delivers market leading information governance solutions, significantly lowers costs to clients, and meets requirements for both legal and IT professionals. To support the acquisition [...]
TAKE Supply Chain (formerly ClearOrbit), a leading provider of software solutions to power demand-driven value networks, today announced the acquisition of the product division of privately-held, Gardena, CA-based, EntComm. In April, the two companies partnered to combine TAKE’s supplier collaboration capabilities with EntComm’s software as a service (SaaS) commerce platform. The acquisition solidifies TAKE’s portfolio expansion of SaaS-based applications and leverages TAKE’s global presence across North America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific to provide [...]
The ink is just getting dry on our report of Austin Ventures partner John Thornton’s new startup, and the hiring of Alisha Ring and Evan Smith. Now, incoming Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith announced today that the non-profit public media organization has acquired Texas Weekly, the premier newsletter for government and politics in Texas, and has hired longtime Texas Weekly editor and owner Ross Ramsey as its managing editor. Smith also formally announced the hiring [...]
Mumboe, an Austin-based company designed to give businesses a simple, affordable way to track and manage their agreements with customers, partners and employees, has announced a partnership aimed at helping companies reduce contract costs and improve business accountability General Counsel Solutions, a leading provider of corporate legal services. We’ve previously covered Mumboe here and here. With the new deal, GCS’s corporate legal services with be paired Mumboe’s on-demand software application, providing customers with a complete [...]
Boundless Network, a technology-enabled branded merchandise distributor, announced today that Chicago-area distributor Big Frey Promotional Products has joined the company. Boundless Network has completed 11 acquisitions since the beginning of 2008, including the addition of four branded merchandise distributorships in the Midwest region, significantly expanding the company’s presence in the area. The company continues to seek additional branded merchandise partners across the country. “Seth Frey is a thought leader in the promotional products industry. It’s [...]
Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that Virgin Mobile USA is using Bazaarvoice Ask & Answer on www.virginmobileusa.com. Shoppers can simply click the “Got Questions? Get Answers” link available on every product page to get the information they need on the full line of stylish and affordable prepaid cell phones for sale through Virgin Mobile USA. A “Got Questions?” tab in the product detail section [...]
Austin Ventures, one of the nation’s leading venture and growth capital firms, and Century Payments, a payments services company funded by AV, today announced the acquisition of National Merchant Solutions. In January 2009, AV announced the formation of Century in partnership with AV CEO-in-Residence Robert Wechsler and the completion of three initial acquisitions. AV committed up to $50 million of equity capital to support management’s strategy of additional acquisitions and organic growth. Following the acquisition, [...]
Austin-based Versata announced the acquisition of Alterpoint today, but there aren’t many details arising out of the deal. In a moment of news release clarity, Versata says it will operate Alterpoint as a “standalone entity” yet will bring all customers into Versata’s “Customer Success” program. It is unclear how much of Alterpoint was actually remaining in operation. The Alterpoint executive team seems to have left Motive around the time that the earnings overstatements were being [...]
