Loop 1 Corridor http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com Tracking venture-backed startups in Austin, TX Fri, 23 Jun 2006 03:40:24 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ en hourly 1 http://www.gravatar.com/blavatar/a8f99d27f694af145bb202014862d1ed?s=96&d=http://s.wordpress.com/i/buttonw-com.png Loop 1 Corridor http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com Wintegra lowers price range for IPO http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/wintegra-lowers-price-range-for-ipo/ http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/wintegra-lowers-price-range-for-ipo/#comments Fri, 23 Jun 2006 03:38:37 +0000 Jason Morio, Director of Products @ ReachForce https://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/wintegra-lowers-price-range-for-ipo/ ]]>

We have an attempted IPO about to go down here in Austin. Looking to raise approximately $65M, semiconductor company Wintegra set their strike price at $14 to $16 a share, but then backed it down to $12 to $14. They're looking for a $300M valuation on $20M ttm. Best of luck. We need a good Austin IPO.

>> Press Release

]]> http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/wintegra-lowers-price-range-for-ipo/feed/ 0 jmorio Asuragen Closes Series A Funding of $49 million http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/asuragen-closes-series-a-funding-of-49-million/ http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/asuragen-closes-series-a-funding-of-49-million/#comments Fri, 23 Jun 2006 03:33:35 +0000 Jason Morio, Director of Products @ ReachForce https://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/asuragen-closes-series-a-funding-of-49-million/ ]]>

Industry: Biotech
Round:A

Participating Firms: Telegraph Hill Partners, Growth Capital Partners

Been Around Since: 2006

Total Money In To Date: $49M

Spinoff of parent Ambion. Can't knock putting money behind a company looking to develop highly effective early cancer detection tools.

>> Company Site

>> Press Release

]]> http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/asuragen-closes-series-a-funding-of-49-million/feed/ 0 jmorio Austin Ventures buys two web survey companies http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/austin-ventures-buys-two-web-survey-companies/ http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/austin-ventures-buys-two-web-survey-companies/#comments Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:57:11 +0000 Jason Morio, Director of Products @ ReachForce https://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/austin-ventures-buys-two-web-survey-companies/ ]]>

AV acquired Perseus Development (started in 1993) and WebSurveyor (1997) and is combining the two companies to apparently create a hosted provider of "enterprise feedback management products".

Always "interesting" when VCs outright buy companies.  Like when AV bought Staktek Holdings a few years ago and took it public.

>> Press Release 

]]> http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/austin-ventures-buys-two-web-survey-companies/feed/ 1 jmorio Spiceworks Lands $5M series A http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/16/spiceworks-lands-5m-series-a/ http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/16/spiceworks-lands-5m-series-a/#comments Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:19:51 +0000 Jason Morio, Director of Products @ ReachForce https://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/16/spiceworks-lands-5m-series-a/ ]]>

Industry: Software

Round:A

Participating Firms: Austin Ventures

Been Around Since: 2006

Total Money In To Date: $5M

Couple of execs from Motive trying their hand again on software for IT. Good luck…

>> Company Site

>> Press Release

]]> http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/16/spiceworks-lands-5m-series-a/feed/ 1 jmorio Luminary Micro Raises $14M Series B http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/luminary-micro-raises-14m-series-b/ http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/luminary-micro-raises-14m-series-b/#comments Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:49:36 +0000 Jason Morio, Director of Products @ ReachForce https://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/luminary-micro-raises-14m-series-b/ ]]>

Industry: Semiconductor

Round: B

Participating Firms: New Enterprise Associates, ATA Ventures

Been Around Since: 2004

Total Money In To Date: unknown

Good to see NEA putting money into Austin again, along with Motion Computing and HelioVolt

>> Company Site

>> Press Release

]]> http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/luminary-micro-raises-14m-series-b/feed/ 0 jmorio Unsexy hardware stuff, tedious IT plumbing and power supply makers http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/unsexy-hardware-stuff-tedious-it-plumbing-and-power-supply-makers/ http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/unsexy-hardware-stuff-tedious-it-plumbing-and-power-supply-makers/#comments Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:25:11 +0000 Jason Morio, Director of Products @ ReachForce https://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/unsexy-hardware-stuff-tedious-it-plumbing-and-power-supply-makers/ ]]>

Not sure if this guy lives in Austin or not, but here's an interesting and fairly truthful comment that was posted on the Startup Centers post on the O'Reilly Radar blog, where Austin ranks 7th for "relative size of startup job market"…

"Austin? Hmm. You might be able to suggest statistically that Austin has start up activity, but it certainly doesn't feel that way on the ground. Or if there is, it's in areas this site doesn't generally cover: unsexy hardware stuff, tedious IT plumbing, or power supply makers. There's little community around software startups, and effectively none of the young, exciting kind that gets press on Radar."

The truth hurts. From my own experience in pitching our company to a well-known tier 1 west coast VC a few weeks ago, we were told that (even though we are not an enterprise software company) west coast VC's perception is that Austin is still focused on the enterprise and that the enterprise software market is fading out.

So where are the hot new-tech web2.0 sexy deals, Austin?

]]> http://loop1corridor.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/unsexy-hardware-stuff-tedious-it-plumbing-and-power-supply-makers/feed/ 1 jmorio