From acquiring companies to participating in investment rounds, these Dallas-Fort Worth organizations have recently made news due to their money moves.

Arcosa acquires StonePoint Ultimate Holding for $375M

Headquartered in Dallas, infrastructure product and solution provider Arcosa, Inc. has agreed to acquire StonePoint Ultimate Holding, LLC and its affiliated entities for $375 million in cash.

StonePoint is one of the 25 largest aggregates companies in the U.S., according to a statement, with a pipeline of organic growth projects making the companies confident the acquisition will be beneficial to Arcosa’s earnings and margins in 2021.

StonePoint believes Arcosa will be an excellent long-term owner of the company’s platform and will be able to catalyze the business’ growth.

Trinity Private Equity Group leads biotech company’s $14M funding round

Nuclein has closed its $14 million Series B funding round, which was led by Southlake’s own Trinity Private Equity Group. 

Nuclein is recognized for its hand-held PCR platform designed as a disposable, all-in-one, self-test for infectious disease diagnosis. This funding round is expected to allow Nuclein to commercialize the real-time PCR platform.

Trinity is excited to partner with Nuclein as it works on delivering a quick and easy PCR test providing valuable data for healthcare professionals as well as patients and companies worldwide. 

The company was founded in 2017 in response to the Zika epidemic and has raised approximately $20 million to date.

Plano VC firm Sentiero closes $10M funding round

In all, the funding round had 20 investors, reports the Dallas Business Journal. 

Plano-based Sentiero Ventures plans to make 10 investments of up to $500,000 into companies at the outset, according to a statement. The venture capital firm plans to focus on Texas-based startups that are in the fields of business services, software, marketing, real estate, financial services, and entertainment.

Sentiero wants to take a different approach to investing in startups by opening the vetting process to the fund’s investors.

Dallas digital talent agency part of Lolli’s star-studded $5M Pre-Series A round

Night Media, a local multimedia talent management company led by Reed Duchscher, has invested in Lolli, a bitcoin rewards application that lets people earn and own bitcoin when they shop online. Other participants in the funding round include Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, Casey Neistat, and Phil Defranco.

The New York City startup Lolli has partnered with 500+ top brands to increase sales and conversions on its site. By shopping with Lolli’s partner sites, not only does the partner benefit, but Lolli also splits a percent of its sales with the customer.

The funding will contribute to Lolli’s mobile app development and international expansion.

According to a statement, Night Media is thrilled to help fuel mainstream adoption of bitcoin and looks forward to encouraging creators to be a conduit to consumers.

Mark Cuban supports crypto data startup in $2M funding round

Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank “Shark” Mark Cuban has invested in Esprezzo, a decentralized finance (DeFi) startup, which builds data automation tools. Cuban was part of its oversubscribed $2 million investment round, which also had Arrington Capital, CMS Holdings, and Longley Capital among its participants.

This round boosted the three-year-old Boston company’s capital, allowing for its data automation suite rollout to be released sooner, according to a statement.

As an advocate for decentralized tech, Cuban plans to continue integrating crypto technology into the Dallas Mavericks organization.

Cuban also invests $500K in Mad Rabbit Tattoo on Shark Tank

During a recently aired episode of Shark Tank, Mark Cuban offers Mad Rabbit Tattoo, a company that sells tattoo aftercare products, a $500,000 investment for 12 percent equity.

Mad Rabbit founders Oliver Zak and Selom Agbitor accepted the deal, which values the company at around $4.2 million, reports CNBC.

In 2019, the company began as a side hustle while the founders went to Miami University. In its first year, Mad Rabbit sold $400,000 worth of products, per CNBC. In 2020, its sales reached $3 million.

ERA Capital Partners contributes to User Interviews’ $10M funding round

Dallas-based private portfolio enhancing company, ERA Capital Partners, took part in User Interviews’ $10 million series A funding round.

Founded in 2015, the recruiting company has focused on quickly finding quality candidates for companies. The new round of funding will allow the company to refocus on its participant panel, as well as recruit and research hub user experience, according to a statement.

The round was led by Teamworthy Ventures with Las Olas, Accomplice, FJ Labs, Trestle Partners, and ValueStream also participating.

The company states it plans on removing all of the “friction” around recruitment so companies can make better, user-centric decisions.

Denton cargo bicycle company Bunch Bikes receives $100K investment

After going on Shark Tank to pitch Bunch Bikes, founder Aaron Powell has garnered $100,000 in equity with an additional $150,000 as a loan from “Shark” Barbara Corcoran.

As part of the deal Corcoran will have a 15 percent stake in the Denton startup, according to North Texas Inno. 

After riding around Sweden and Denmark on eco-friendly bicycles that were all equipped with a box for his daughter to sit in, Powell decided to create Bunch Bikes, which was originally named Urban Tribe Cargo Bicycles.

Lauren Hawkins contributed to this report.

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