Want to stay up to date on the latest startup fundings, launches, and expansions in Austin? Startup Over Coffee’s weekly roundup of startups to watch in Austin will keep you in the loop on the latest Austin tech news. 

Ontic

Ontic, a protective intelligence platform, recently announced Fred Burton as executive director for the Ontic Center of Protective Intelligence, according to PR Newswire. The new intelligence center is meant to provide strategic consulting and resources for businesses and schools. Burton’s new role was preceded by a $12 million Series A funding. 

Ontic is a protective intelligence technology platform. It consolidates and digitally transforms all physical data and information that security professionals need to get the most relevant intelligence faster for early threat detection. The platform primarily helps security and education leaders to identify pre-incident factors in order to assess potential threats for employees, patrons, students, facilities, educators and more. 

Prior to Ontic, Burton assumed a role as chief security officer at Rane/Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence platform. Before Rane/Stratfor, Burton served as the State Department counter-terrorism deputy chief and as a special agent in the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service. In addition, Burton is a New York Times best seller of four books, one of which is his memoir.

Two Startups Join Forces

Austin Inno reports two tech companies, Galen Data Inc. and Advanced TeleSensors Inc., have teamed up to provide touchless monitoring of at-risk patients vital signs. The technology was inspired during the Covid-19 pandemic. Galen Data Inc. is a Houston-based company that offers a cloud platform for medical devices while Austin-based company, Advanced TeleSensors Inc., is the creator of  Cardi/o touchless monitors. 

With a high demand of health trackers in assisted living communities, Galen and ATS are focused on these communities as their target market. According to the startups, people stop wearing wearable trackers after about six months. Their solution is remote, touchless monitoring. Galen’s cloud platform enables ATS to capture vitals and provide data access to people in assisted living centers and their care teams while complying with FDA guidelines.

heybaby

BuiltInAustin announced the launch of a brand new dating app, heybaby, which connects individuals who either have children or want children in the future. The company was founded by three dads, Diko Daghlian, Chas McFeely and Rene Van De Sande, who felt there was something missing in the dating app space. More and more people are meeting their lifelong partners online, yet very few apps promote building a family as opposed to casual hookups. 

Furthermore, the app seeks to cater toward single parents and help eliminate the stigma of dating with kids. heybaby prompts users to answer questions on parenting style, future family goals and more. Though the company is based in Austin, it is currently only available in San Francisco.

Hippo

Hippo, a Palo Alto-based insurance startup, earned a new valuation of $1.5 billion. In the last Series E round Hippo raised $150 million bringing the total amount raised to $359 million. The company plans to use funds to build a brand new campus in Austin. The campus is estimated to serve over 300 employees. In addition, the company plans to expand operations beyond the 29 states they currently service. 

By 2021, the unicorn startup hopes to go public. To understand the significance of what going public would mean for Hippo, look at homeowner insurance company and competition, Lemonade Inc.. Last month, Lemonade Inc. increased its stock to $4.6 billion, tripling its market capitalization with $300 million in initial public offering. 

Hippo currently specializes in writing home insurance policies and is backed by big names in the industry such as FinTLV, Dragoneer, Comcast Ventures and more to provide its customers anything they could possibly need home-wise. The company is unique in that it pulls together data from public records, thermal imaging and smart home devices to provide users with an insurance quote in 60 seconds or less.

About Savannah Burns: Savannah is a marketing and communications intern for Swyft, which has been listed as one of the best PR firms in Austin and Houston and a top digital marketing agency in Denver since its founding in 2011. Swyft recently opened a satellite office where it offers PR in San Francisco.