Austin is always teeming with interesting new developments, and its growth shows no signs of slowing. Today, we peek into three emerging companies worth keeping on the radar screen — Citysprout, Pingboard and Ambiq Micro — spanning the realms of locally-sourced food delivery, small business payment platforms, HR apps and low-energy semiconductor design.
A common, albeit not readily visible, thread running throughout this quartet: environmental consciousness.
Citysprout, a semifinalist in the SXSW Eco startup showcase, aims to bring more locally-grown food delivery options to the greater Austin area through a series of convenient pickup locations, differing slightly from the to-your-door model employed by Greenling, Farmhouse Delivery and similar services.
Pingboard, a Capital Factory member, provides a clean, simple user interface on its HR software, which acts as an employee database, vacation/leave calendar, and company directory all in one. Already used by fellow startups Sparefoot, Moveline and Bark Box, the web, iPhone and Android app is great for scaling startups trying to keep track with their ever-expanding team.
Ambiq Micro, which closed a $10M Series B round last year from Austin Ventures, seeks to up the ante considerably in the realm of semiconductor design by “reducing the amount of energy used in standard CMOS chip designs to subthreshold levels.” According to Ambiq, “significantly increased battery life frees product designers to expand the features and functions incorporated in their products and exceed battery life requirements,” which could expand the horizons of consumer, industrial, automotive and industrial product design. This is big news for wearables. Ambiq is able to create longer lasting products at a fraction of the size, which means more sleek products are on the way.
While Citysprout’s climate consciousness is apparent right on the face of the brand, and Ambiq Micro isn’t far behind with its proposition of energy reduction, Pingboard’s reduced environmental impact may lie beneath the surface, but its implications are far-reaching by serving the ever-growing group of telecommuters, keeping them connected with colleagues across the city, state, country or ocean. As the gig economy grows and more people than ever work from their homes instead of commuting to work every day, applications like Pingboard and its contemporaries ease some of the tension that used to exist when coworkers weren’t sitting face-to-face each day.
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