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RealSavvy takes home a win
Austin-based RealSavvy was one of six winners at South by Southwest Interactive's Accelerator contest. They won for their social technologies. RealSavvy launched recently and is similar to Pinterest in that consumers have a free tool to collect homes found on popular real estate sites and save them on custom, shareable home boards, The site also provides analytics feedback to real estate agents, giving them insight into the interests and behavior of homebuyers. [Homegrown, 'Pinterest-like' service for real estate wins SXSW award: Community Impact News]
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Plum takes 3rd at HATCH pitch
Admetsys, Astroprint, and Plum took first, second and third respectably at the HATCH pitch competition March 16th. Each received one-on-one coaching from mentors to refine their presentations prior to competition. Judges evaluated the pitches and determined companies in which they would invest a virtual $1M. Their prize packages included hosting services, investor meetings, media exposure, consultations, and mentoring. Prize donations came from companies Intel, FF Ventures, FKA, Microsoft BizSpark, Amazon, High Tech Texan, Tech Ranch, Wearable World and Prezi.
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Honest Dollar triumphs with $3M investment, launches and wins comp
Financial-services startup Honest Dollar launched this week, closing a $3 million seed round and winning the ReleaseIt competition at SXSW 2015. The startup first surfaced in the news last fall as a “stealth-mode” endeavor to reform the financial-services industry, but has since emerged as a solution for affordable retirement plans for companies. Founders Will Hurley (or whurley, as he’s known within the Austin tech world) and Henry Yoshida introduced the company earlier this month at SXSW 2015, heralding its beta period. [Built In Austin]
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Kutcher launches Sound Ventures, celebrities and politicians invade Austin
Hollywood investor Ashton Kutcher launched his latest fund, Sound Ventures, at SXSW with Guy Oseary. The new fund will continue investing in tech startups. Kutcher has previously invested in Uber, Rover.com, Airbnb and Spotify.
Senator Rand Paul has been residing in Capital Factory while in town, trying to tap into the city's tech "brainpower"
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Drones, drones everywhere
Product design firm Chaotic Moon created a drone that throws fire this year for SXSW. While there was a no drone zone within city limits, they gave TechCrunch a sneak peak.
Austin-based ArchAerial's new drone mission could potentially save lives. The aerial imaging firm already employs multi-rotor aircrafts for agricultural mapping, academic research and archeological surveys. At SXSW Ryan Baker, the company's CEO, announced that his firm plans to deploy a prototype that will help map battlefield bunkers and aid strategies to locate unexploded bombs in areas historically ravaged by war.
A petting zoo...for robots?
Yep, only at SXSW. About 20 robots from 10 different organizations were brought in to the fest. The robots included some that have been used in disasters such as Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in 2011 and last year's deadly mudslides in Oso, Washington [SXSW robot petting zoo features disaster-relief robots you can touch: CBA News]
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Capital Factory shows off 12 startups
Capital Factory took a different approach this year at SXSW and showed off 12 of its startups during two separate pitch events. Each startup gave a three-minute pitch. [Capital Factory Showcases 12 Startups at SXSW: Silicon Hills]
