Startup

Follow the Money: Aerwave Lands $20M for Connectivity Platform, Align Capital Partners Raises $620M for Third Fund, and More

by | Nov 7, 2022
In this week’s North Texas deal flow, you’ll also find news about automated payment solutions startup UPAY raising new funds; Fort Worth’s Star Castle Ventures' $5.25M raise; Carlyle Group acquiring a majority stake in Dallas’ Aspen Power Partners; CenterOak Partners selling Wetzel’s Pretzels for $207M; and other deals.
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DI People: Dynata, AMN Healthcare, Mary Kay Announce Moves at the Top
by | Nov 4, 2022
In this week’s roundup of hires, promotions, and accolades in North Texas, you’ll also find news from Allied Electronics & Automation, Cooksey Communications, Stream Data Centers, NexBank, McKissack & McKissack, Zirtue, and more.
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Meet the Finalists: The Innovation Awards 2023, Presented by Dallas Innovates and D CEO
by | Nov 3, 2022
Now in its fourth year, the program from Dallas Innovates and D CEO honors 68 disruptors and trailblazers driving a new vision for innovation in North Texas. Finalists will be recognized in the January/February issue of D CEO magazine and online at DallasInnovates.com. Winners will be revealed at an exclusive awards event in January.
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The Dallas 100: SMU Cox Unveils Its Ranking of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in DFW
by | Nov 3, 2022
Collectively, the 100 privately held companies contributed $9 billion to the Dallas-Fort Worth economy from 2019 to 2021—creating over 12,000 jobs with average sales growth of 141%. Irving-based ShiftKey, which connects healthcare professionals with healthcare facilities that have immediate shift vacancies, took the top spot in the annual rankings. Here's the complete list.
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In-Seat Ordering App StadiumDrop Finds a Home in McKinney

by | Nov 2, 2022
Via the StadiumDrop App, fans order food and beverages straight from their seats. Runners then deliver food directly to them, ensuring they never miss a moment of the event they're attending. Venues and events using the app include AT&T Stadium, Concacaf, Oklahoma State University, Goodyear Cotton Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Oklahoma, Nissan Stadium, and Wrestlemania.
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CodeLaunch DFW is Bringing its Seed Accelerator Competition Finals to Dallas for the First Time
by | Nov 2, 2022
After years of holding its annual event in Frisco, CodeLaunch DFW is coming to Southside Music Hall at Gilley’s in Dallas on November 16. Six companies will face off for the top prize in an event that comprises a tech tradeshow, a startup conference, and a “raucous networking event.” And this year it's modeling itself after local favorite Digital Fight Club. “CodeLaunch is a startup and rock-n-roll show like nothing you've ever seen before,” promises President and Founder Jason Taylor.
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RCS Secure Completes Series A Round, Rebrands as Third Wave Innovations
by | Nov 2, 2022
The fresh funding will allow the cybersecurity company to expand its customer base and invest in new parts of its core products and services, which include managed security, data, and IT services. Third Wave Innovations is eying growth. As the company puts it, "data security is no longer a luxury."
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Co-Founders Behind Fort Worth’s Rollin’ n Bowlin’ Launch Snacking Brand realsy to ‘Disrupt’ the Industry
by | Nov 1, 2022
Co-Founders Sophia Karbowski and Austin Patry launched Rollin' n Bowlin' as a food truck offering healthy smoothie and açaí bowls at TCU in Fort Worth. Now it's grown to brick-and-mortar locations at multiple U.S. universities and products on store shelves, leading to its latest new CPG brand launch: realsy nut butter-filled dates. “We're so excited to disrupt the better-for-you snacking industry with an actually good-for-you snack,” Karbowski wrote on LinkedIn.
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Local Innovators, Fastest-Growing Company Honored at Annual Tech Titan Awards Gala

by | Oct 31, 2022
Some of the top players in the North Texas technology ecosystem were honored Thursday at the annual Tech Titans awards gala. Fujitsu North America CEO Doug Moore was inducted into the Tech Titans Hall of Fame, and Charlie Vogt, CEO of telecommunications firm DZS, won the Corporate CEO Award. The fastest-growing tech company award went to Fort Worth's TimelyMD. "The need to come together as an industry, reconnect with friends, and build new business connections were really what this year’s awards gala was all about," said Tech Titans' Paul Bendel. See the full list of winners here.
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UT Dallas to Host Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers’ 2023 Conference
by | Oct 31, 2022
The GCEC has over 200 university members from across the U.S. and around the world. At its annual conference, the centers work together to share best practices, develop programs and initiatives, and collaborate and assist each other to advance, strengthen, and celebrate the role of universities in teaching tomorrow's entrepreneurs. "We look forward to our peers from entrepreneurship centers all over the world joining us to learn, connect, grow, and better our efforts in the entrepreneurship space," says UTD's Dresden Goldberg.
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Dallas Invents: 137 Patents Granted for Week of October 18
by | Oct 30, 2022
Dallas-Fort Worth ranked No. 10 for patents out of 250 metros. Patents granted include: 7-Eleven's machine-learning algorithm trained to identify algorithmically populated shopping carts as candidates for verification, AT&T'S Quantum tampering threat management, Bank of America's real-time processing distributed ledger system, Care View Communications's patient video monitoring systems and methods having detection algorithm recovery from changes in illumination, GE Precision Health Care's motion correction systems and methods of propeller magnetic resonance images, Lockheed Martin's plasma engine with leptonic energy source, Prilenia Neurotherapeutics, UT System use of pridopidine to improve cognitive function and for treating Alzheimer's disease, Texas A&M's hybrid bluegrass named DALBG 1201, and TMGCore's external robotic system for liquid immersion cooling platform
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The Last Word: ENO8’s Jeff Francis on How Rushing Doesn’t Always Win the Software Startup Race
DFW-based Francis says he helps tech founders launch their digital products "with clarity and confidence while increasing success raising capital and reducing risk in execution."  He's been putting some interesting advice up on LinkedIn. Last week he shared this: "I have two kids, and a phrase you will NEVER hear me say to them is, 'Second place is first loser.'"
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funding acquired

Follow the Money: ParkHub Acquires Parking Software Startup, UpSmith Raises $3.3M, Maverick Bancshares Seeks $17M for new Fort Worth Bank, and More

by | Oct 28, 2022
In this week’s North Texas deal flow, you’ll also find news about Taysha Gene Therapies landing a $50M investment; music tech startup MAX’s Series B raise; Dallas Venture Capital’s latest investment; Tyler Technologies’ $68M acquisition of Rapid Financial Solutions; NaturalShrimp hitting the Nasdaq Capital Market; and more.
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THE LAST WORD on Dallas Innovates. Find "who said what" in our collection of quotes on Dallas-Fort Worth Innovation.
Every Last Word: Quotes About All Things North Texas
Read “who said what” in our roundup of quotes about all things North Texas, including ENO8's Jeff Francis; MyndVR's Chris Brickler and Ted Werth; Axxess' John Olajide; the Urban Land Institute's Ron Pressman; Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson; the Mavs Foundation's Katie Edwards; UT Arlington's Yi Hong; HomeUSA.com's Ben Caballero; ParkHub's George Baker Sr.; and more.
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UpSmith, a Dallas Startup Led by Former Elevate Leader, Raises $3.3M to ‘Combat the Skilled Worker Shortage’
by | 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.
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Nathan Hanks
Tuning Up: Frisco-Based Music Audience Exchange–aka MAX–Raises Series B Funding To Expand
by | 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.

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