MORE►
Startup
Wyatt Smith, founder and CEO of UpSmith. [Photo ASU+GSV Summit]
UpSmith, a Dallas Startup Led by Former Elevate Leader, Raises $3.3M to ‘Combat the Skilled Worker Shortage’
by Kevin Cummings | Oct 27, 2022
As founder and CEO of Upsmith, Wyatt Smith is on a mission to combat America's skilled worker shortage while bringing career opportunities to veterans, immigrants, recent high school graduates, and “stuck workers." UpSmith's platform helps employers find, train, and retain skilled workers with the help of paid, eight-week "training accelerators."
Its two pilot programs include one in Dallas working with American Residential Services to train HVAC technicians for jobs in Dallas and Houston.
by Lance Murray |
Oct 26, 2022
Frisco-based MAX, a tech marketing company that powers brand and music partnerships, raised $6 million in 2017. A new round led by Interlock Partners will help fund the development of SET.Live. The new platform lets artists engage with fans at live shows while creating unique sponsorable assets for brands like Ford, McDonald's, and more.
“This investment allows MAX to continue fulfilling its mission to automate and digitize artist sponsorships and create a new marketplace for the creator economy,” says CEO and founder Nathan Hanks.
“This investment allows MAX to continue fulfilling its mission to automate and digitize artist sponsorships and create a new marketplace for the creator economy,” says CEO and founder Nathan Hanks.
MORE►
by Quincy Preston |
Oct 26, 2022
Dallas-Fort Worth ranked No. 10 for patents out of 250 metros. Patents granted include: Capital One's system and method for social home buying, Hunt Energy Enterprises' subsurface electrical storage batteries, Intellective AI's pixel-level based micro-feature extraction, and Walmart's systems and methods of product identification within an image.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 24, 2022
In this week’s North Texas deal flow, you’ll also find news about Sinclair Digital Services’ $5 million fundraising effort; Energy Spectrum Capital helping to launch a new energy firm; Darling Ingredients’ $1.2 billion acquisition; the Dallas Cowboys’ official accounting firm merging with BKM Sowan Horan; and more.
MORE►
Two of the MavPitch winners, L to R: Luz Lopez, founder of Vicious Creatures, and Zuriel Lopez, creator of the WeWant App [Photos: UTA]
Students Get $185K in Funding for Fledgling Businesses at UT Arlington’s MavPitch Competition
by Kevin Cummings | Oct 19, 2022
UT Arlington students have bright business ideas—from hydrogen-powered drones to 3D-printed concrete homes to K-pop themed T-shirt lines. The university shone a light on 10 of them—along with $185,000 in total funding—at the finale of the MavPitch Business Competition.
“We use the generous awards and other resources to encourage, grow, and mentor these fledgling student-run firms,” says UTA's Jeffrey McGee.
MORE►
by Quincy Preston |
Oct 19, 2022
Dallas-Fort Worth ranked No. 10 for patents out of 250 metros. Patents granted include: Bank of America's multi-tiered digital wallet security, Nike's ground-engaging structures for articles of footwear, Capital One's systems and methods for training machine learning models, Raytheon's policy engine for cyber anomaly detection, and more.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 18, 2022
Dallas-based Nanoscope Therapeutics is accelerating the development of therapies that could restore sight in patients with the help of a publicly traded firm. The retinal degenerative diseases-focused biotech company announced a new gene therapy manufacturing partnership with contract research organization Charles River Laboratories International.
MORE►
by Quincy Preston and David Seeley |
Oct 18, 2022
Bringing 36 years of experience from his Best Buy days, Brad Anderson isn't just joining Spacee's advisory board. He's also investing in the startup—which aims to transform retail businesses with its HoverTouch interactive experiences, while helping industries track inventories with its Deming shelf-mounted robots.
"I was attracted to the company’s learners and adapters," Anderson tells Dallas Innovates. "They're a team of people that when you have a problem, they are unencumbered in their ability to innovate to solve the problem."
MORE►
[Illustration: ImagePixel via iStock]
Follow the Money: Medical Device Firm Orthofix Merges to Form Nearly $700M Revenue Business, Stealthy Men’s Health Startup Looks to Raise $2M, Dallas SPAC Targets $200M IPO, and More
by Kevin Cummings | Oct 17, 2022
In this week’s North Texas deal flow, you’ll also find news about Mavenir’s $155M raise, Pinnacle Realty Advisors raising $5M for ‘brokerage-as-a-service’ platform, Exela Technologies taking its European business unit public, American Airlines’ hydrogen fuel distribution investment, and more.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 13, 2022
Launched last year with $100 million in debt-free equity capital, Dallas-based Foundry Brands is an acquisition platform that aims to amass a portfolio of 30 to 50 direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands. It's already acquired eight—most recently the Fort Worth-based men’s grooming product company, Supply. Co-founder Matt Rhodes told Dallas Innovates that Foundry seeks brands who've developed "micro-tribes."
“Ultimately, we're looking to be a multibillion-dollar business," Rhodes told us.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 12, 2022
Aaron Pierce, the co-founder and board chair of Venture Dallas, has a deep investment background and a history of supporting the local entrepreneurial community. As partner at Perot Jain, his role is "all encompassing." One item on his agenda is overseeing the firm's investments in Major League Cricket—along with managing the firm's investment portfolio of more than 60 companies.
“We have the ingredients required to be a major player in the national investment landscape," Pierce says, "especially as the family office and private investment focus grows from funds to direct investments in venture-backed companies.”
“We have the ingredients required to be a major player in the national investment landscape," Pierce says, "especially as the family office and private investment focus grows from funds to direct investments in venture-backed companies.”
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 12, 2022
To create a device for the world of quantum computing, you have to think small. Richardson-based Zyvex Labs has been developing a device since 2007 that acts as a type of microscope that can manipulate atomic structures on a surface. That's led to the ZyvexLitho1 system, which enables more precise, automated patterning at a sub-nanometer resolution. It's also led to $28 million in funding from agencies like DARPA.
John Randall, the company's CEO, says the new system will be "really useful for research that's going to lead to better quantum computers"—eventually leading to one "that can do the ridiculous number of fabulous things that they say it's going to do.”
MORE►
CEOs of the 100 fastest-growing privately held companies in the Dallas area packed into the SMU Cox Crum Auditorium prior to the Dallas 100 CEO Reception in their honor. [Photo: SMU]
SMU Cox Caruth Institute of Entrepreneurship Releases Alphabetical Dallas 100 List
by Lance Murray | Oct 7, 2022
CEOs of the 100 fastest-growing privately held companies in the Dallas region joined the SMU Cox Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship for the kickoff of its annual celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit on Thursday.
Now the countdown begins for the institute's Nov. 2 reveal of which one is THE fastest-growing privately held company in Dallas-Fort Worth. Here are the contenders.
Now the countdown begins for the institute's Nov. 2 reveal of which one is THE fastest-growing privately held company in Dallas-Fort Worth. Here are the contenders.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 5, 2022
Founded in 2020, Dallas-based Sonara Health has a big mission: "We want to end the opioid epidemic and save lives." To help tackle it, Sonara secured a patent last month for a take-home methadone monitoring system. With the new funding and earlier support from backers including Mark Cuban, the startup has raised $5M to date.
"In a world where we send billionaires to space in reusable rockets, I thought we ought to be able to create a solution that helps patients with opioid use disorder to get their daily medication in a way that does not disrupt their daily lives," said CEO Michael Giles, M.D.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 4, 2022
Venture Dallas 2022—a full-day conference to be held Nov. 3 at the George W. Bush Presidential Center—will connect investors from all over the U.S with the “best founders in our region” with the goal of sparking “collisions” and “meaningful connections," co-founder Aaron Pierce says. He adds that those could potentially lead to fundings—and successful exits.
Here's a look at why the North Texas startup and VC scene is hopping, and what Venture Dallas 2022 could mean for you.
MORE►
by Kevin Cummings |
Oct 4, 2022
AccelerateHER—a partnership between the Texas Woman’s University Center for Women Entrepreneurs and Stoke Coworking—has named eight local small businesses to its female founder-focused incubator program. Next up: The program aims to expand beyond Denton to Dallas, Houston, and Abilene.
“Members will be walking away with stronger foundations to their businesses, and the tools they need to grow,” says Stoke Executive Director Heather Gregory.
MORE►
