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. 

Vista Equity and Alert Media

In a $400 million dollar investment, Vista Equity Partners, an Austin based investment firm, has acquired the controlling stake in Alert Media, an Austin based tech startup. Alert Media’s platform enables companies to send emergency messages to their employees to alert them of dangerous situations. For example, in the event of an active shooter, wildfire or tornado, a company would be able to send out a mass emergency message to their employees warning them to stay home. 

Over the past year, Alert Media’s customer base has increased by 50%. Prior to Vista Equity’s significant investment, the tech startup had raised $60 million to date. According to Fortune, Alert Media’s CEO plans to expand the company internationally as well as expand into other industries such as retail and travel. Furthermore, Alert Media plans to add a new premium service feature to their platform in which it sends premium members reports about potentially risky situations.

SchooLinks

Tech education startup, SchooLinks, recently gained $7 million in a Series A funding round. Leading the Series A round is Live Oak Venture Partners followed by Juvo Ventures and SJF Ventures. The fresh funding brings the company’s total amount raised to $8.3 million. According to Edsurge, SchooLinks will use their recent capital raise to continue scaling their business as they go up against industry giant Naviance.

SchooLinks aims to better prepare students for college by providing resources that help students identify their interests and goals and streamline the application process. SchooLinks provides students with features such as a financial aid calculator, scholarship and internship listings and college campus virtual reality tours. Furthermore, SchooLinks has connections with over 900 universities, to which students can directly apply through SchooLinks website. 

The tech education platform isn’t just to help students, however. Counselor resources include an application management tracker, a communication dashboard, course schedules and other administrative tools. Overall, SchooLinks offers 80 features across their student and counselor applications. 

Quantum Loophole Inc.

Austin based tech startup, Quantum Loophole Inc. announced a $13 million seed round after only one year since its founding. Quantum Loophole aims to disrupt data center development with it’s Gigawatt-scale master plan data center city development approach. The data center approach addresses the scalability, connectivity and cost-efficiency challenges faced in current large scale deployments. The approach is powered by innovative energy, fiber and access control systems.

According to the press release, Josh Snowhorn, Quantum Loophole founder, has over 20 years of experience including a significant amount of time as a data center industry executive. Over his career, he has built over $10 billion worth of value. At Quantum Loophole, Snowhorn has built a team of leaders with experience at companies like Microsoft, Apple, Time Warner Cable, Delliotte, and more. 

L7 Informatics

This startup is on a mission to revolutionize the scientific process by streamlining process and data management. In doing this, precision health across life sciences, healthcare and food-value chains is accelerated. That startup is L7 Informatics who recently received $13 million in a recent Series B funding round. The round was led by Phoenix Venture Partners along with previous investors.

L7 Informatics’ platform facilitates digital transformation for scientific research and development. According to the press release, the recent funding will be used towards accelerating the commercialization of their software platform which simplifies data management. Furthermore, the platform digitalizes and automates workflows for industries in the therapeutics, diagnostics, medicine, research, and agrochemical space in order to enable breakthrough efficiencies, better compliance, reduced costs, and improved operational velocity. L7 Informatics is calling the platform L7’s Enterprise Science Platform™ (L7|ESP™). 

Icon Technologies

Icon, the company that uses 3D printing to build homes and structures for the moon, has also started work on 3D printing rocket launch pads. Along with 10 students selected from NASA’s Artemis Generation program, the Icon team has been working in Bastrop, TX to build lunar launch and landing pads that can be printed with moon dust. 

According to Austin Inno, the students first conceptualized the moon dust launch pads in 2019 and have since partnered with Icon to make that vision a reality. Icon, an Austin startup, has raised $44 million to date and is currently under contract with the U.S. air force to develop an automated construction system that can be used on the moon. Prior to their celestial endeavors, Icon was 3D printing homes which just recently went on sale to the general public.

About Savannah Burns: Savannah is a Business Development Associate for Swyft, which is a tech PR firm in Austin and Houston and a top digital marketing and PR agency in Denver since its founding in 2011. Swyft recently opened a satellite office where it offers tech PR in San Francisco. Swyft was also listed as one of the top tech PR agencies in Texas by the B2B services review site, Clutch.co.