Tech roundup: Shopgate moves to Austin, WigWag raises millions and more

by Colin Morris
February 25, 2016

Shopgate relocates HQ after January funding

The m-commerce company announced today it's relocating its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin. Shopgate raised $15 million in a series C funding round last month and promoted COO/CFO Marc Biel to CEO to lead expansion in the U.S. mobile market. “We plan to roll out cutting-edge technology in 2016, including one that we think will make a big splash during our first-ever SXSWi in March,” Biel said in a statement. [Press release]

 

Fundings & Exits

WigWag raises millions in seed round

This morning, WigWag announced securing $3.175 million in a seed funding round led by CSC Venture Capital, the Palo Alto, CA-based American arm of a Chinese private investment firm. The three-year-old Austin startup produces open-source software and hardware to standardize the protocols connecting the category of home and lifestyle consumer electronic devices known as the Internet of Things. [Built In Austin]

 

Dell & EMC

The mandated waiting period on the companies’ proposed merger expired Monday night. The only remaining approvals are that of EMC’s shareholders and regulatory clearance in other jurisdictions. [Press release]

 

Partnerships

Localeur & JetBlue

The nightlife recommendations community that connects locals and travelers will now connect with JetBlue passengers, too. Localeur and the discount airline announced a partnership Wednesday wherein Localeur will produce and curate content tailored to passengers’ destinations.

“Truthfully, we can’t believe we’ve flown all this time without this kind of upgraded experience,” CEO Joah Spearman wrote in a post on his company’s blog. “We’re both committed to the idea of providing a great travel experience to millennials through authenticity, credibility and design.”

 

Whole Foods & Instacart

Re/Code reported the Austin-based grocer has signed a five-year delivery deal with Instacart, continuing a partnership in 16 cities that began in 2014. Many stores are seeing Instacart orders representing percentages of total store sales in the mid-to-high single digits, according to a Whole Foods first-quarter earnings statement delivered earlier this month. [Re/Code]

 

Product launches

Bigcommerce themes

On Tuesday, the e-commerce platform provider announced 67 new theme variations for customers’ online stores. The designs are a collaboration with Pixel Union, a design agency whose whose work is used by millions of online stores and Fortune 500 companies. [Company blog]

 

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