WeWork to invade Rainey Street with massive property
In the midst of closing another $2 billion in funding from SoftBank and announcing a rebrand to The We Company, WeWork just purchased another portion of downtown Austin. The company currently operates five local WeWork locations with a sixth on the way near the capitol building. The new 4.7-acre purchase would be its seventh, located at Red River and East Cesar Chavez streets. Per the Austin Business Journal, what will go in at this new site remains a mystery. In addition to coworking spaces, The We Company also operates shared residential spaces and an education venture. [Austin Business Journal]
2019 SXSW Pitch finalists have been announced
SXSW announced the 50 startup finalists that will compete at this year’s 11th annual SXSW Pitch event, formerly SXSW Accelerator. The event will take place over March 9 and 10 during the Entrepreneurship and Startup Track at the Downtown Hilton Austin. Of the 50 selected, these five hail from Austin: LinkDyn, Eggschain, Molecula, Osano and Tankee. [Press Release]
Infinitum Electric raises $1.8M Series A
Austin-based Infinitum Electric received $1.8 million in funding led by Cottonwood Technology Fund this week to help build cost- and energy-efficient electric motors. Since its 2016 launch, the company has raised a total of $2.7 million. This recent funding will be used to launch a fully integrated, HVAC electric motor. [Press Release]
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEITH TRIGACI
AlertMedia secures $25M in funding
Emergency communication platform AlertMedia raised $25 million in funding last week. JMI Equity acted as the sole investor. The funding will be used to bring on 60 to 70 new hires across all departments, increase its global presence and enhance product development. [Built In Austin]
Austin’s Medici acquires local health startup Chiron Health
Medici, an Austin-based communication healthtech startup founded in 2016, acquired Chiron Health recently. Chiron Health, also based in Austin, launched in 2013 and provides secure video conferencing tools that are embedded into more than five electronic medical record systems. January’s acquisition follows Medici’s November purchase of DocbookMD. [Press Release]
Austin’s Hostway merges with Denver-based cloud hosting platform
Hostway, an Austin-based cloud-hosting solution, announced this week that it will merge with HOSTING, a Denver-based cloud-hosting provider. Between the two companies, they have a combined 14 data centers located in five countries. Hostway’s CEO and President Emil Sayegh will lead the new organization. Both companies will continue to operate as separate entities during the integration process, which will take about 12 months. [Press Release]
