COINFLIP SECURES SEED ROUND FUNDING FROM 3 INVESTORS

Plano-based financial services company CoinFlip Solutions announced that is has raised seed funding with the participation of Shoreline Venture Management, JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Heads or Tails Investments.

CoinFlip is a cloud-based platform that enables electronic points and benefits to be applied as payments. The amount of the seed round was not released.

According to the company, it offers retailers and partners a variety of integration options, including direct point of sale, loyalty platform, payment terminal, receipt scan, and use of the ISO 8583 payment standard.

GOFF COMPANIES REGISTER 2ND REAL ESTATE FUND SEEKING $350M

Fort Worth billionaire John Goff and his companies — Crescent Real Estate and Goff Capital — are seeking $350 million in seed funding for new real estate deals, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

This will be the second invitation-only private equity campaign for Goff. The first fund raised $200 million and eventually reached $4 billion in capacity, the DBJ said.

ENTECH SALES & SERVICES RAISES $3.9M IN EQUITY FUNDING

Dallas-based Entech Sales & Service announced in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has raised nearly $3.9 million of a $30 million equity funding round.

The total amount of the raise so far is $3,874,092, Entech reported in the filing.

Entech has grown from a mechanical service business in Dallas to a diversified, employee-owned company with offices in several Texas cities. It is composed of several business groups that work together to offer services for commercial and industrial buildings. Its expertise is in such areas as mechanical services, building automation, card access systems, chemical water treatment, as well as rental HVAC and generator equipment.

DALLAS ANGEL INVESTS IN $665K SEED ROUND FOR UPCODES

Dallas angel investor Kevin Moore was one of seven investors who have put $665,000 in a seed round for UpCodes, a San Francisco-based tech company that provides team collaboration tools to simplify coordination to help the AEC industry deliver code-compliant buildings.

Moore is the president of KRM Interests of Dallas, and UpCodes is one of 12 companies in which he has invested, according to Crunchbase.

DEEP SPACE VENTURES INVESTS IN EVENTADOR.IO

Dallas-based venture capital firm Deep Space Ventures is one of five investors in a $3.8 million seed round for Eventador.io.

Austin-based Eventador.io is a fully managed, enterprise grade Stream Processing as a Service platform that was founded in 2016 to alleviate the complexities and enable building applications that use real-time data at their core, according to Crunchbase.

The round was led by Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners.  

ASPECT INVESTORS RAISES $25M FOR ACQUISITIONS FUND

Dallas-based Aspect Investors has raised $25 million for a fund to finance new acquisitions, according to a filing with the federal government.

The DBJ said that 6-year-old Aspect was founded by Andy Love to invest in what are known as “search funds.” These funds are for people who to run a small business supported by investors with the intent of being acquired by a company through a private equity deal, rather than building one from the ground up, according to the DBJ. 

Love told the Business Journal via email that the new fund would support its future deals, but he declined to offer any other details. 

MERGER & ACQUISITIONS

MATCH BUYS CONTROLLING INTEREST IN RELATIONSHIP APP HINGE

Dallas-based Match Group Inc. has acquired a 51 percent ownership stake in Hinge, a New York City-based relationship app, and Match has the right to acquire all of the remaining shares within the next 12 months.

No other terms of the deal were disclosed. Match operates a portfolio of brands, including Tinder, Match, PlentyOfFish, OkCupid, OurTime, Meetic, and Pairs,

Match made its first investment in Hinge in September 2017 after Hinge redesigned its product eliminating the “swipe” feature and enhancing its focus on real relationships. Since the redesign, Hinge’s user base has grown 400 percent, Match said in a release.

RENT-A-CENTER SELLS ITSELF TO VINTAGE CAPITAL FOR $800M

Rent-A-Center has been sold for more than $800 million to the Florida-based investment firm Vintage Capital, a move that will take the Plano-based furniture and electronics rent-to-own company private.

Under the terms of the deal, Vintage Capital will pay Rent-A-Center stockholders $15 per share. The company said the transaction represents a total consideration of roughly $1.365 billion, including net debt.

“The Rent-A-Center board, having just completed a comprehensive review of strategic and financial alternatives in consultation with outside legal and financial advisers, unanimously supports this transaction and is confident it maximizes value for stockholders while delivering a significant and immediate cash premium,” Rent-A-Center CEO Mitch Fadel said in a statement.

AT&T CLOSES ON TIME WARNER ACQUISITION AFTER JUDGE’S RULING

Dallas-based telecom giant AT&T has completed its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner after a federal judge ruled last week that the mega merger could go through. 

The U.S. Justice Department had challenged the merger on antitrust and competitive grounds, but announced shortly after the ruling that it would not seek an injunction to stop the merger. The Justice Department still could file an appeal of the decision, even after the deal’s closing, according to The New York Times.

The acquisition gives AT&T a huge media and entertainment portfolio from Time Warner, including CNN and HBO, rights to broadcast sports major leagues, and a treasure trove of film franchises.

TPG GROWTH, RISE FUND ACQUIRE CLEARESULT

TPG Growth and The Rise Fund have reached an agreement to buy Austin-based CLEAResult, a provider of energy efficiency solutions for utility companies, the Fort Worth Business Press reported.

TPG Growth is a middle-market and growth equity platform within Fort Worth and San Francisco-based TPG. The Rise Fund is a global impact investing fund managed by TPG. The funds will be co-investors in acquiring CLEAResult from General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, the publication reported. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

MORE FUNDING

The DBJ reported that FCI Capital, a pooled investment fund headed by Blair Silverberg, is raising up to $25 million for a new private equity fund out of Fort Worth, according to a filing with the federal government. So far, FCI has raised $4.967 million. Silverberg is a former investor with California-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson. 

Citing a Form D filing, the DBJ reported that Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital has raised almost $1.4 million for a deal. The publication said that the commercial real estate investment company is giving funds to a 272-unit apartment community in San Antonio called the Westmount at Three Fountains. 

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