Across North Texas, companies are promoting and hiring people to take on leadership positions within their organizations. Dallas Innovates covers prominent personnel moves in Dallas-Fort Worth businesses and nonprofits—from the newest startups to well-established companies. Here are the moves tied to innovation and technology in the region.
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ModoPayments raises $13M in Series A funding
Richardson-based payments technology startup ModoPayments LLC announced that it has completed a Series A funding round of more than $13 million.
Bruce Parker of ModoPayments
According to Finsmes, the round brings the total funding raised by ModoPayments to more than $16 million. The round included Deutsche Bank and other strategic and angel investors.
ModoPayments, which was founded by Bruce Parker, said it plans to use the money to grow its team and expand its offerings, Finsmes said.
In September, ModoPayments announced that Deustche Bank had taken an equity interest in the company.
Complex Sports and Entertainment gets $850K in seed funding
Grapevine-based event consulting and management company Complex Sports and Entertainment announced in a Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it raised $850,000 in seed funding.
The company was founded earlier this year, and says on its website that its goal is to “create unique experiences at unique venues.”
Complex Sports and Entertainment provides venue marketing, booking, and management in tours, special events, and ticketed events. The company announced in October that it was partnering with the Collegiate Event and Facility Management Association to promote growth and education across intercollegiate athletics.
Neighborhood Goods raise $8M of $10M offering
Neighborhood Goods, the Dallas-based retail startup founded by Matt Alexander and Mark Masinter, said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it raised $8 million of a $10 million offering.
In May, the startup said it raised $5.75 million, bringing its total funding to $13.75 million, according to Crunchbase.
Neighborhood Goods recently opened a 14,000-square-foot store in Plano. It’s a department store that features direct-to-consumer as well as globally-recognized brands, via a rotating, curated pop-up concept, experiential events, live podcasts, and open forum discussions.
Napali Hospitality Group seeks $5.45M in equity funding round
The newly formed, Southlake-based Napali Hospitality Group announced in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has begun a $5.45 million equity funding round.
In early November, Napali Capital LLC announced that it had formed Napali Hospitality Group as the first addition to its family of companies.
Napali Hospitality Group will focus on acquiring hospitality assets with the aim of achieving the highest level of employee and guest service and profitable returns for investors and stakeholders.
Brothers Tim and Thomas Black are co-founders and managing partners of the Group. Tim Black spent the past 13 years with Great Wolf Resorts before retiring as its chief operating officer.
Joining the brothers at Napali Hospitality will be former Great Wolf Resorts CEO Kimberly Schaefer.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Wellness management company SimplyWell is acquired by Virgin Pulse
Dallas-based Viverae—which recently rebranded as SimplyWell—has been acquired by Virgin Pulse, a global health and well-being company.
SimplyWell is a wellness management company that focuses on helping organizations improve, and simplifying health for their employees. Its acquisition will give Virgin Pulse clients access to condition management across an industry-leading 22 identifiable conditions such heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
No terms of the deal were released. SimplyWell will remain a Dallas office, although the combined organization will be based in Providence, where Virgin Pulse is based. SimplyWell will be rebranded as Virgin Pulse by the end of the year.
“With employers shifting towards health management platforms that combine engagement and clinically-focused solutions, the addition of SimplyWell’s condition management coaching, claims analytics and reporting capabilities allows us to expand the breadth of our employee health and well-being offering by helping the highest-risk employees manage chronic, costly conditions,” Virgin Pulse CEO David Osborne said in a statement.
Hivelocity acquires Incero and its data centers
Dallas-based Incero.com, an IaaS provider with data centers in Dallas, Seattle, and New York City, has been acquired by Florida-based Hivelocity, a provider of dedicated services, cloud hosting, collocation, and managed services.
No financial terms of the deal were released. Incero was founded in 2008.
“Every one of our customers will benefit from the addition of our ninth, 10th and 11th data centers in what is now seven highly strategic domestic markets,” Hivelocity COO Steve Eschweiler said in a statement. “Soon, our new data centers in Dallas, Seattle and New York will be privately connected to our other data centers in Los Angeles, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta and New York City. This private connectivity between all of our data centers gives us the ability to maximize network performance and allows our customers to exchange data between geo-diverse solutions free, fast and securely.”
Car Wars acquires Vistadash to boost services to dealerships
Dallas-based Car Wars announced that it has acquired Vistadash, the agnostic digital marketing reporting platform that supplies crticial metrics to dealerships.
Car Wars is an artificial intelligence phone solution for than 13,000 dealerships, according to the company.
According to Car Wars, it developed the Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) concept decades ago when the then Van Tuyl Group—now Berkshire Hathaway Automotive—needed a method to track calls from online referral sources and keywords.
Vistadash has worked alongside Car Wars to organize how phone call “events” are pushed into analytics platforms, according to a release. Car Wars said the acquisition of Vistadash gives dealers an extra layer of transparency and uniformity.
Pharos Capital Group acquires autism services provider
Plano-based outpatient autism services provider ABA of North Texas has been acquired by Pharos Capital Group LL through its Family Treatment Network platform.
No financial details of the acquisition were released. Pharos Capital Group is headquartered in Dallas and Nashville. Founded in 2012, ABA of North Texas provides behavioral services for children and adolescents with autism and other developmental disabilities.
The company has 33 employees and serves more than 70 children across two offices in Plano and McKinney.
Emigrant Bank takes full control of Fiduciary Network
New York-based Emigrant Bank has acquired the remaining 25-percent stake it didn’t already own in Dallas-based Fiduciary Network, a consolidator of registered investment advisers.
Emigrant Bank, which traces its roots to the 1850s and Irish immigrants, bought the remain stake from former Fidcuciary Network CEO Mark Hurley and other members of its management team, according to a report in Investment News. No terms of the deal were disclosed.
Funding and Exit Successes
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R E A D N E X T
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Five local winners received up to $200,000 in funding to activate their solutions throughout North Texas.
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Two nonprofits will each receive $250,000 in grant funding. The Capital One grants are part of a $3.5 million commitment to 12 nonprofit organizations.
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To prevent suicides, hunger, and learning issues, Rhithm's emojified bio-social assessments app lets kids say how they feel.
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Women entrepreneurs in North Texas and across the U.S. have long faced challenges in finding funding for their businesses. Now Bank of America is stepping in to help "bridge the capital gap" with its new Access to Capital platform. The online resource educates women entrepreneurs on ways they can fund their businesses, and covers more than 350 sources of capital.
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Evolon Technology develops proprietary tech that turns surveillance video into real-time actionable information. CEO Kevin Stadler says market and tech trends are "creating a perfect storm" for the fast adoption of innovative security systems to protect an organization's critical assets and infrastructure.
