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Gig Wage gets $1M in funding from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund

Dallas-based Gig Wage, a payments platform aimed at independent contractors, has closed the first $1 million of a $2 million seed round. with funding coming from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.

Craig Lewis at the 2017 State of Entrepreneurship in Dallas. [Photo: Dallas Innovates]

Gig Wage said in a release that the funding from Revolution’s $150 million Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, confirms that the booming on-demand workforce expects and on-demand paycheck.

“The Gig Economy is the biggest macro shift in the workforce in over 100 years. All four generations are working in the Gig Economy; Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z,” Gig Wage CEO and founder Craig J. Lewis said in the release. “This shift is driven by economics, policy, technology, and cultural forces. This funding will allow us to issue payments of over $1 billion to contractors and roll out our new API in 2019. We are excited to help power the future of work.”

Gig Wage said that it is a tool that helps businesses recruit and retain world-class contractor talent, an essential part of the modern workforce.

“Current payment solutions for gig economy workers lack sufficient speed and accuracy. Gig Wage identified this pain point in the growing gig economy market and designed a solution to help employers better manage compensation for independent contractors,” J.D. Vance, managing partner of Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund said in the release.

$80M in funding backs AN Global’s deal for 4th Source

Private credit asset management firm Monroe Capital LLC, which has an office in Dallas, acted as sole lead arranger and administrative agent on the funding of an $80 million senior credit facility to support AN Global’s acquisition of 4th Source Inc.

AN Global, co-headquartered in Dallas and Mexico City, is owned by its management, Nexxus Capital, and Credit Suisse Asset Management.

According to a release, AN Global is a strategically focused consulting firm that supports end-to-end transformation of corporations through specialized practices, including digital transformation services, business analytics, eCommerce, cloud services, digital marketing, and application life-cycle management.

Tampa-based 4th Source is a provider of outsourced information technology services specializing in the complete software life-cycle, including development, testing, deployment, and support of custom and package applications.

Astrapi gets funding from Ascend Venture Capital

Astrapi Corp. announced Wednesday that Ascend Venture Capital is the lead investor for an undisclosed amount in its most recent funding round. This is the first investment out of Ascend’s second fund, Ascension II LP.

“I’m tremendously excited about the opportunity to partner in Astrapi’s growth,” Ascend General Partner Dan Conner said in a statement. “The company is commercializing a transformative technology that offers a rare step-change in the advancement of signal performance, including data throughput. I’m thrilled to be playing a part in enabling the Astrapi team to realize their full potential and to partner in their growth.”

Astrapi said it has transitioned its proprietary and patented Spiral Modulation into a Software Defined Radio platform, and is in the process of testing and optimizing the results. Astrapi is a pioneer of spiral-based signal modulation, a technology that opens an unexplored area for innovation in telecommunications. 

Mansfield Microhospital seeks $2M in funding round

Mansifield Microhospital LLC is seeking $2 million in equity funding, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing said that the minimum investment accepted under the offering is $50,000.

Microhospitals are small community hospitals that are a growing trend in the industry. D CEO Healthcare reported that smaller operations make sense in some communities, typically having five to 15 hospital beds.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

RiskPro Global Partners acquired by Risk Strategies

Dallas-based RiskPro Global Partners—a full-service property, casualty, and employee benefits firm—has been acquired by Risk Strategies, a Boston-based privately held insurance brokerage and risk management firm.

No financial terms of the deal were released.

RiskPro Global Partners was founded in 2017 by industry veterans Gary Griffith and Travis King. The company focuses on a variety of industries that complement existing risk strategies markets, including financial services, healthcare, real estate, construction, and technology. It also has practices such as employee benefits, executive risk, and cyber liability.

“We believe that delivering value for clients in today’s complex, fasted-paced business world requires specialized knowledge,” Risk Strategies CEO and founder Mike Christian said in a statement. “We saw in RiskPro Global Partners an organization of smart people who understood their market and the industry.”

Ryan buys Paris-based VAT Systems, bolsters European presence

Ryan, the Dallas-based global tax services and software provider, has acquired Paris, France-based VAT Systems, a tax specialty firm that serves as a one-stop-shop for all international value-added tax (VAT) compliance and recovery services.

Ryan said that the acquisition of VAT Systems bolsters its European presence, with deep client and policy-maker relationships across the regions that are key to Ryan’s client base. 

The Dallas firm said that by leveraging the recent investment by private equity firm Onex Corp., the acquisition of VAT Systems will serve as a platform to build the largest indirect tax practice in North America and Europe.

Ryan calls itself the largest firm in the world dedicated solely to business taxes. The company has a multidisciplinary team of more than 2,200 professionals serving more than 14,000 clients globally, including many of the world’s most prominent Fortune 500 companies.

D.R. Horton acquires North Carolina home-building company in $60M deal

Arlington-based D.R. Horton Inc. has made another acquisition, announcing that it has bought North Carolina-based Terramor Homes in a $60 million cash deal.

The deal will bring Horton 305 lots, 156 homes in inventory, and 63 homes in sales order backlog. Also, Horton will gain control of 535 lots via options contracts.

This deal adds to a busy 2018 for Horton. It bought Des Moines, Iowa-based Classic Builders on Dec. 4, and on Nov. 13, paid $190 million for Westport Homes, a Midwest company that is building homes in Columbus, Ohio; Fort Wayne; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

ClubCorp buys controlling interest in Florida golf entertainment company

ClubCorp, the Dallas-based operating of golf and private clubs has bought controlling interest in BigShots Golf, effectively expanding its technology holdings.

BigShots operates entertainment centers at which guests can play on physical and virtual golf courses, along with food and beverages. Its proprietary technology will broaden the future of golf entertainment and recreation, ClubCorp said in a release.

While BigShots has one facility in Vero Beach, Florida, its is seekign expansion via franchising, and wants to make its indoor golf simulators available for both at-home and commercial use, the comany said. ClubCorp said that it will implement BigShots Golf technology at some of its locations.

“The outdoor golf and gaming entertainment category has experienced prolific growth over the past several years and now two unique franchise options will be available to entrepreneurs and investors interested in entering this exciting growing business,” ClubCorp’s CEO David Pillsbury said in the release. “Not only does BigShots Golf provide state-of-the-art unique technology for golf gaming, which makes the experience both fun and challenging for all.”

California company acquires Dallas-based home-builder Dunhill Homes

In a cash deal valued at $50 million, Dallas-based Dunhill Homes has been acquired—along with its brand, Nathan Carlisle Homes—by Irvine, California-based TRI Pointe Group.

Both Dunhill and Nathan Carlisle were Winchester Carlisle companies, and both will be begin operating under the name of Trendmaker Homes effective Jan. 1. That is TRI Pointe’s established regional home-building brand in Houston and Austin, according to a report in Streetinsider.

This article was updated at 9:50 a.m., Dec. 14, to add news about Gig Wage.

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