Weekly Roundups: 4 Austin Startups to Watch


Michelle Vernaza
Weekly Roundups: 4 Austin Startups to Watch

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

F45 

According to Austin Inno, fitness company F45 has recently announced a move to Austin. In IPO paperwork filed on June 21, F45 stated plans to relocate its California headquarters to Austin. In addition, F45 Training Holdings Inc. has plans to raise $100 million, with the help of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC. 

F45 provides innovative and high-intensity group workouts that are intended to be fast and result-driven. The company is currently building a 44,000 square foot headquarters, adding to the list of high-profile companies entering the Austin startup scene. F45 has 84 employees nationwide, 32 employees in Australia, and six in the United Kingdom. As the company continues to grow, its projected goal is to open 23,000 studios worldwide. 

In 2019, actor Mark Wahlberg invested in the company, generating more traffic and booming the business. F45 has also worked with celebrities such as David Beckham, Greg Norman, and Earvin “Magic” Johnson. With major businesses relocating to Austin, we can expect major growth from F45 in the years to come. 

EnergyX 

According to Built in Austin, EnergyX, an Austin-based startup, is hiring over 100 employees to help with the expansion of sustainable resources as the U.S. continues to stray away from polluting gasses and fuels. Currently, the company is actively hiring in the following positions: scientific, battery, creative, and corporate operations. Founded in 2018 by CEO Teague Egan,

EnergyX was created to optimize the lithium extraction process to help increase sustainability around the world. 

With the help of their recent $20 million Series A funding, EnergyX will be able to scale their business, with a focus on lithium. Lithium products, such as lithium-ion batteries used for phones, TV remotes, cars, and other technological products, are becoming more commonly used. Expanding the use of lithium in the U.S. is beneficial for the U.S energy grid and will help decrease its dependability on fossil fuels. As the company continues to gain more employees and funding, EnergyX hopes to eventually open an Energy Innovation Lab. Its prospective tech hubs are located in cities including Austin, Boston, Miami, and Silicon Valley. No matter where they decide to locate the Energy Innovation Lab, sustainable energy and resources are in high demand and the future of EnergyX is looking bright. 

Outdoorsy Inc. 

According to Austin Business Journal, Outdoorsy Inc., an Austin-based RV rental startup, has raised $120 million in an equity and debt financing round, with $90 million coming from New York City-based Moore Strategic Ventures, and $30,000 coming from California-headquartered Pacific Western Bank. This funding will aid the startup in new insurance technology and help them with the expansion of their services throughout different companies around the U.S.

Outdoorsy’s new insurance division is Roamly Insurance Group. Roamly Insurance Group has helped customers obtain “rent-ready” vehicles, and customers are now free to commercialize the vehicle without worrying about breaking any violating laws. With having to work around difficult insurance laws, such as RVs crossing state border lines, CEO Jeff Cavins says that it took four years to develop and complete a stable insurance policy. Currently, 90 out of 250 of their employees are located in Austin. Cavins has declined to answer questions regarding the

growth in customers and revenue, however, his main goal is to become the most dominant RV company. 

Literati Inc.

As reported by Austin Business Journal, Literati, an Austin-based book club subscription company, has announced it’s moving its headquarters and adding more employees to its executive team. Although the headquarters only moved from 1021 E. 7th St. to 1145 5th St., CEO Jessica Ewing is happy about the location change, as it creates more space and flexibility for the company and employees. The company has 165 employees, and with the help of its new $12 million Series A funding round, they’re using the funds to assist in the hiring process and expansion of its new headquarters. 

Founded in 2016, Literati is a book subscription startup that sends out monthly boxes to those subscribed.At the beginning, Literati’s target audience was children and provided only children’s books. However, starting last August, Literati added an adult-book market to their offerings. 

About Michelle Vernaza: Michelle is a Business Development Associate Intern 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.

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