SEED ROUND DELIVERS $3M TO DALLAS-BASED FETCH

Dallas-based off-site package solution startup Fetch announced this week that it raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by Austin-based Silverton Partners.

[Photo courtesy of Digital Dallas]

Founded in 2016, Fetch provides package solutions for apartment buildings by accepting packages at local warehouses, and then providing scheduled, door-to-door delivery directly to the apartment residents.

Fetch said the funding will be used to expand across Texas to partner with clients in Houston and Austin. The funding also will go toward further development of the Fetch software platform and allow for more delivery services such as “hassle-free” package returns and dry cleaning.

Michael Patton

“The e-commerce explosion has flooded apartment buildings with packages, and the industry is looking for a way to get out of the package business,” Fetch founder and CEO Michael Patton said in a release. “The current alternatives are short-term fixes, so we started Fetch to provide a complete and permanent solution to the package problem. The only way to truly solve the problem is provide a high-touch, personalized resident service with exceptional customer service.”

In announcing the funding, Fetch said that Kip McClanahan of Silverton Partners will join the company’s board of directors.

You can find out more about Fetch here.

HEDERA HASHGRAPH RAISES $100M FOR BLOCKCHAIN ALTERNATIVE

Dallas-based Hedera Hashgraph announced Wednesday that is has raised $100 million from institutional investors and individuals — including $10 million from its own employees — for a new distributed ledger platform it has developed.

Mance Harmon

Hedera said its platform is faster, more secure, and stable than blockchain and is capable of processing 100,000 transactions per second using a decentralized public ledger.

“We are seeing tremendous demand for our fast, fair, and secure public network,” co-founder and CEO Mance Harmon said.

Harmon said the funding will help the firm accelerate development of key services such as cryptocurrency, file storage service, and smart contract platforms.

Bryan Chambers, director of the University of Texas at Dallas’ Blackstone Launchpad, told Dallas Innovates at the SVB Cryptocurrency Panel Luncheon Wednesday that Hedera’s announcement is important news.

“It’s a really big deal for the nation, and it just happens to be in Dallas,” he said. Panelists agreed with Hedera that the platform could have a $6 billion valuation.

You find out more in Nicholas Sakelaris’ report here.

COLLEYVILLE STARTUP RAISES $10M IN SERIES A FUNDING

Service Fusion, a Colleyville-based startup that offers software to construction contractors has raised more than $10.1 million in a Series A funding round from Kansas City investment firm Five Elms Capital, according to a filing with the federal government.

The Dallas Business Journal reported that Service Fusion is showing rapid growth by offering a trove of digital tools to help field-service technicians with tasks such as work-order entry, scheduling, invoices, and paymants. 

DBJ reporter Brian Womack wrote that the funding will help Service Fusion double the company’s roughly 40 employees by year’s end, and then double that number again the end of 2019.

REVTECH CLOSES $10M FOLLOW-ON FUND

Dallas-based retail seed fund and venture accelerator RevTech announced the initial close of a $10-million follow-on fund that will allow it to support portfolio companies as they scale. RevTech Investments range from preseed to series A funding.

David Matthews

RevTech Managing Director David Matthews said this follow-on fund is RevTech’s “largest fund to date, enabling us to make more investments that will accelerate the growth of our innovators and entrepreneurs.”

Matthews said the follow-on fund will be beneficial to retail innovation in Dallas.  

“This fund will be critical to allowing us to invest in the success of our program’s graduates and strengthen the retail tech industry in the area,” he said.

This fund is larger than the total of all RevTech funds prior to this year.

SPARTAN CRYPTO RAISING $5M FOR SPECIALIZED SERVERS

Spartan Crypto, a Dallas-based company that will offer computing power for cryptocurrency mining and machine learning via a remote cloud-based system, announced in a filing it is raising up to $5 million. 

The DBJ reported that Spartan Crypto — run by Carter Graves, a former executive with Carrollton-based Datascan  — plans to buy and build specialized servers for its process that then will be leased out.

Spartan Crypto is among a group of companies forming in Dallas seeking to capitalize on the rise of cryptocurrencies and the underlying technology, blockchain, according to the DBJ.

PLANO-BASED JAPAN POWER & GAS RAISES $2.2M

A Plano-based company seeking to enter the retail electricity and gas market in Japan has raised $2.2 million from roughly a dozen investors, according to a filing.

Former Stream Energy executive Greg Martin founded Japan Power & Gas in summer 2017, according to the DBJ.

The DBJ said that officials in Japan recently relaxed regulations. The electrical sector reform in Japan was prompted following the massive 2011 tsunami knocked out power for much of the country.

MALIBU POKE PARTNERS RAISING MORE THAN $2.2M

The DBJ also reported that the business partners behind Dallas poke restaurant Malibu Poke are raising more than $2.2 million for growth, citing a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The restaurant was launched by Jon Alexis, who runs TJ’s Seafood Market, along with brothers Eric and Ben Kusin, the publication said. The DBJ said that the partners announced earlier this year that they’re opening a location in Austin after unveiling plans for another Dallas location at the McKinney & Olive high rise.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

INVESTMENT GROUP BUYS BOOTMAKER, OPENS DALLAS LOCATION

Texas-based investment group GG&E Boots LLC announced this week that it has bought Wichita Falls-based Olsen-Stelzer Boot Co. and already opened a location in Dallas at 2911 Turtle Creek Blvd.

Olsen-Stelzer Boot Co. specializes in custom cowboy boots, and its history dates back to 1934. Its founders, Carl Olsen and Julius Stelzer, founded the company in Henrietta, Texas, after meeting while working for H.J. Justin of Justin Boots. According to a release, the boot maker’s location on Turtle Creek will be by appointment only.

Such luminaries as presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, actors John Wayne, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers — as well as the King and Queen of Norway in the 1940s — wore Olsen-Stelzer boots, according to the company.

You can find out more about the acquisition and the company here.

ATLANTA COMPANY BUYS FRISCO-BASED JAMBA JUICE

Jamba Juice, which moved almost two years ago from California to Frisco, has been bought by Atlanta-based Focus Brands in an all-cash deal valued at $200 million.

Dave Pace

“We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Focus Brands and are confident that it will result in a positive outcome for our guests, our franchisees, and our employees,” Jamba Inc. CEO Dave Pace said in a release. “Over the last few years, we have worked hard to strengthen our foundation and reposition this iconic brand for the future. Partnering with Focus Brands will allow us to build on this work and further accelerate the company’s growth.”

Following the close of the deal, Jamba will become a privately held subsidiary of Focus Brands, which already owns restaurant chains including Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s, and McAlister’s Deli. The Dallas Morning News reported there is no word yet on what will happen with Jamba’s Frisco headquarters at Hall Office Park.

Last year, Pace talked with the Dallas-Fort Worth Real Estate Review about Jamba’s move to Frisco. He told the magazine that the company “wanted to explore a new location that would offer us competitive operating costs, a region with extensive access to skilled restaurant talent, an attractive cost of living for our current and future team members, and a geographically central location that facilitates our ability to expand our store base, particularly towards the east coast.”

TTI AGREES TO BUY SILICON VALLEY SPECIALTY DISTRIBUTOR

Fort Worth-based TTI Inc. announced that it has entered into a letter of intent to buy RFMW Ltd., a privately held specialty distributor based in Silicon Valley.

TTI is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is an authorized, specialty distributor of interconnect, passive, and electromechanical components for industrial and consumer electronics manufacturers worldwide. After the deal is completed, RFMW will operate under the RFMW brand name, but report through the TTI Seminconductor Group, according to a release.

No financial terms were released. The deal should close on Oct. 1.

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