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. 

Featured image by Good Apple

Good Apple

While Covid-19 may have restricted some companies’ business operations, the opposite effect has taken place for Good Apple, a startup that delivers Texas grown produce in the Travis county area. Prior to the pandemic, the startup–which launched in November 2019–had 50-100 subscribers; now it has around 700 subscribers. Last week the company reported a total of $16,000 deliveries, according to Austin Inno.

UT medical student Zach Timmons was driven to address food insecurity and sustainability around the area, thus Good Apple was born. The company received a winning prize of $75,000 from Ford Motor Company’s City: One Challenge Program after pitching their product at UT’s Student Entrepreneur Acceleration and Launch Program. 

Good Apple’s produce packages are $30 a box, including delivery, and include 10-13 pounds of produce sourced from within a 180-mile radius of Austin. Additionally, one box of produce is donated for every box sold. 

LitLingo

Built In Austin announced a $2 million seed funding round for Austin tech startup, LitLingo. LitLingo is a platform that uses AI technology to help identify risks in employee communications before they happen, such as halting inappropriate work emails or chats before they are sent. The platform flags language that contains any gender biases, constitutes sexual harassment, or is toxic to the work environment, then offers corrective text suggestions. 

The funding round is led by Live Oak Venture Partners. LitLingo plans to use the new funding to hire product and engineering professionals to improve its augmented communication platform. Though it was founded in 2019, LitLingo already provides services to several financial, healthcare, legal and tech customers. 

ClearCam Inc.

Healthcare tech company ClearCam Inc. recently closed a $2.6 million seed funding round to bring their product, the Kelling Device, to market. The Kelling is a surgical tool that has an in-vivo disposal system for cleaning a laparoscopic lens. The device allows surgeons to save time and energy by improving visualization and eliminating the need to continually remove a scope from a patient’s body to clean it during surgery. 

Founded in 2018, ClearCam received FDA clearance for the device in February 2020. Over the past few months, the company has been focused on rapid advances in manufacturing capability. The most recent funding round was led by Austin and Houston investor, Frank Barbella, CEO of SOLv Risk Solutions, according to PR Newswire. 

Univoice

Austin Inno reported the beginnings of a new app, Univoice, which allows users to learn new languages using music and lyrics. Sami Halabi, CEO and co-founder is conversational, if not fluent, in at least six languages, a few of which he taught himself through music and singing. After speaking with someone at Houston-based VC firm, Mercury Fund, Halabi realized his method for language learning was a business. 

Univoice has reached over half of its pre-seed funding goal of $625,000 through angel investors and a crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder. It plans to earn the rest of its pre-seed funding through the Wefunder campaign. 

Currently, Univoice is free to use for 30 minutes a month for up to two languages. The premium versions start at $2.99 a week, and go up to $35.99 for six months. So far, the language app has had 2,800 downloads with around 500 to 600 active users. 

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.