Edtech, SaaS and fintech innovators have been hard at work in the Lone Star State this past week. Check out what these local tech companies are building to advance the future of learning, restaurants and payment processing. This is the Built In Austin Weekly Refresh.
Restaurant365 raised $135M. With fresh capital from KKR and L Catterton, Restaurant365 is now a tech unicorn valued at more than $1 billion. As a software provider for restaurants, Restaurant365 said this funding will be used to enhance its product to keep up with the ever-changing restaurant industry. The SaaS company, which is based in California and has an office in Austin, is actively hiring for more than 30 roles. [Built In Austin]
Episode Six secured $48M. Episode Six develops payment processing and digital ledger infrastructure to help enterprise organizations tie payments into their customer-facing platforms. The company announced its Series C funding round led by Avenir. This capital will be invested in Episode Six’s go-to-market efforts. Episode Six is also actively hiring. [Business Wire]
Austin Tech Quote of the Week
“As a former teacher myself, I recognize the need to be able to support educators in the work that they’re doing because they are doing so many things besides teaching. I left the classroom because I needed to find a way to support people like me who could have gone on to do great things in the classroom but just didn’t have anything left.” — Amanda Bratten, Propello’s VP of content and curriculum
Propello is working to keep teachers in the classroom. Edtech company Propello offers free, customizable lesson plans for educators, enabling them to tailor curriculums to each student’s particular level of comprehension. The platform is currently active with science programs and serves students and educators in the U.S. and the U.K. with the goal of helping reduce teacher burnout. The solution is said to cut teachers’ prep time in half, according to Propello’s website. [Built In Austin]
Acadeum pulled in $11.92M. Operating a course-sharing marketplace for colleges and universities, Acadeum aims to help place students in online courses they need to complete to graduate on time. Acadeum announced a Series B round led by Green Street Impact Partners. Acadeum’s platform serves 460 institutions, including the Texas A&M University and Benedict College. [PR Newswire]
