Dallas-Fort Worth Q3 Deal Highlights
What’s up Dallas-Fort Worth! Here is your Q3 deal activity review and latest installment of Dallas-Fort Worth Deal Highlights, covering activity in the tech and startup ecosystem in the DFW area, from fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, to other major company announcements and news.
Alright, as most of you know by now, and I love to bring the hype for Texas deal activity, but you also know I won't lie to you either. So here it is, venture funding this quarter wasn't bad, but I know it can be better! Total capital invested saw a slight uptick from Q2, and still a healthy level of deal count, which is a great sign for the future of this economy; however, we are down from Q4 2020, and this is below our average. Now back to the hype, 2021 as a whole is still looking fantastic for the DFW region, thanks in large part to a whopping $1.75B Q1! The other nice takeaway is we are seeing an even split between enterprise software, tech-enabled services, and consumer products, which is a good representation of the DFW economy, diverse!
Venture Funding in DFW
O, and one other thing, we had an absolutely fantastic quarter of exits! $2.97B in M&A, with well earned funds going towards employees and investors, which will recycle more top tier talent into the market, and create the next wave of innovative entrepreneurs. While we are on the subject, we are teed up nicely for our Q4 exits, with Solo Stove and RateGain Technology both scheduled to hit the public markets. Let's end the year off with a bang!
M&A in Information Tech and Healthcare in DFW
Huge shoutout to this issue's Company Spotlight sponsor, and TDH ranked Best Place to Work, SchooLinks!
SchooLinks is the most modern, robust college and career readiness solution on the market for K12 school districts. Supporting 80+ interactive experiences from interest discovery to academic and post-secondary planning - SchooLinks offers internship matching, career mentorship, industry partner management and other features that help districts broaden the definition of college and career readiness. Is your child getting all the resources they need for career prosperity? Check out open career opportunities!
DFW Q3 Venture Funding Activity
ShaveLogic, an innovator in the skincare and grooming space, raised $100M in growth capital from Jefferies.
Veryable, a Dallas-based company which produces digital tools for the manufacturing industry, raised a $31.9M Series A round led by Gigafund. This brings Veryable’s total funding to about $60M.
OneDay, a Dallas-based video storytelling tech maker, raised $19 million in Series B funding. Volition Capital led the round.
Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand, raised a $13.5M round led by investor CAVU Venture Partners along with a host of celebrity investors like Olivia Munn, the Chainsmokers, and Ellie Goulding. This brought Poppi's total funding to $20M.
Drive Shack Inc. (NYSE: DS), a Dallas-based golf entertainment company, secured a $10M investment from Rory McIlory’s Symphony Ventures into its new competitive socializing and entertainment golf venue, “Puttery.” Drive Shack has a market capitalization of nearly $234M.
Gluent, a data virtualization platform, raised an estimated $8.5M Series A from RevTech Ventures
Apty Inc., a Frisco-based digital adoption platform which offers on-screen guidance, analytics, and insights for other companies’ platforms, raised a $7.5M Series A round led by 645 Ventures with participation from Companyon Ventures and Reformation Partners. This brings their total funding to $13M.
The FRONTdoor Collective, a micro-last mile delivery network, raised $7.5M of venture funding from undisclosed investors
ParkHub, a Dallas-based parking solutions company, raised $5.5M in equity and other securities of an $8M fundraising vehicle titled “ParkHub, Inc.,” according to a public filing. ParkHub recently acquired CurbTrac, a parking payment management platform, and Bonfire, a campground management and reservation platform.
Arcade, a Dallas-based developer of a workforce productivity software, raised a $4.5M seed round led by Stage 2 Capital. The company has raised $7.5M to date.
BreachQuest, a Dallas-based incident response platform, raised $4.4M in seed funding from backers like Slow Ventures, Tinder co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen and Lookout founder Kevin Mahaffey.
Rosy, a Dallas-based woman's sexual wellness app, is midway through raising a $2M seed round, with $1.35M currently raised. The round is led by Austin early-stage venture capital firm True Wealth Ventures.
BlockMetrix, a crypto mining platform, raised $1.8M of angel funding from undisclosed investors.
Nada, a Dallas-based real estate tech platform, raised more than $1.8M from nearly 4K investors in a crowdfunding campaign on the Republic platform. This brings the seed round’s total to more than $2.5M.
ReadiVet, a Dallas-based on-demand veterinary services company, raised a $2.5M Series A round led by Atlanta Seed Company with participation from Martin Ventures, Jemison Capital, and others. This brings ReadiVet’s total funding to $4M.
Rocketmat, a Southlake-based provider of AI for HR management, raised $1.5M Seed Round from Smart Money Ventures, DOMO Invest and Alexia Ventures
Dallas-based Immerss, a digital platform for live video ecommerce, announced a $1.1M seed funding round from Oak Stream Investors and Muse Family Enterprises.
DFW Q3 M&A Activity
Transplace, a Frisco-based third-party logistics company, is being acquired by Uber Freight (NYSE: UBER) in a $2.25B deal made up of $750M in stock and the remaining balance in cash from TPG Capital. Prior to this transaction’s completion Transplace was north Texas’ third largest private company, generating $3B in revenue last year.
FDS, a business intelligence and data analytics platform for the healthcare industry, was acquired by Omnicell (NAS: OMCL) for $177M. The company was previously acquired by Harvey & Company, and Calvert Street Capital Partners in 2011.
AgileThought, a full-service digital transformation and consulting firm, acquired LIV Capital Acquisition through a reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AGIL. AgileThought closed an equity capitalization of $91.5 million through the business combination with a market capitalization of approximately $420 million.
Resi, a Plano-based video broadcasting platform reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Pushpay Holdings (ASX: PPH) for $150M.
ResMan, a property management platform, was acquired by Inhabit IQ, via its financial sponsors Insight Partners, Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division and Greater Sum Ventures, for an undisclosed amount. The company last received a $35.9M investment from Mainsail Partners in 2017.
Bloom Health Partners, a Dallas-based developer of custom health solutions for workforce safety and healthcare preparedness, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Maitri Health (CNQ: MTEC) for $25M.
Qples, an online coupon and advertising platform, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Fobi AI (TSX: FOBI) for an undisclosed amount.
Abexxa Biologics, the Arlington-based antibody pharmaceutical company, has been acquired by pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim for an undisclosed amount. Abexxa had previously raised $1.2M in funding.
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe acquired Argos Health, a Dallas-based provider of claims revenue cycle services to health systems.
Beyontec Solutions, an Irving-based insurance tech company, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Azentio Software, via its financial sponsor Apax Partners, for an undisclosed amount.
Boscloner, technology toolkit specialized in penetration testing, was acquired by Raxis, via its financial sponsor RCP Equity, for an undisclosed amount.
Chargeback Gurus, a McKinney-based chargeback prevention and recovery platform, was acquired by Falfurrias Capital Partners, for an undisclosed amount.
Data Center Systems, a provider of complete fiber connectivity systems, was acquired by Hexatronic Group (STO: HTRO) for an undisclosed amount
MediBookr, a Dallas-based digital health platform, has been acquired by StratiFi Health, a Plano-based integrated population health solutions firm. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but MediBookr has raised $3.3M to date.
MyLifeIQ, an epigenetics platform that transitions healthcare to precision medicine, was acquired by Recuro Health for an undisclosed amount.
SurviVR Systems, a Dallas-based virtual reality training platform intended to help first responder, was acquired by InVeris Training Solutions, a provider of integrated virtual and live-fire training systems and services for domestic and international law enforcement customers, for an undisclosed amount.
Thank you!
Mason Rathe
Additional research and newsletter support provided by Nirjhar Mundkur