附近上门

In August, temps in Austin have been a stifling for 45 days so far this summer. Given the weather, now is as good a time as any to profile local startups that have raised money this year.

Follow 附近上门 News on

As of Aug. 23, 2018, 137 Austin-based startups some form of venture capital鈥�53 of which were seed rounds and 19 of which were Series A rounds. This means that more than half of the investing that took place (that we know of) was early-stage funding.

Funding recipients are in a variety of industries: , , , and , among other sectors. Here, we鈥檒l highlight 聽three Austin startups that鈥攍ike the weather鈥攄on鈥檛 appear to be cooling down anytime soon.

Medici

is aiming to take the on-demand health model to another level by connecting patients to all of their existing doctors via text or video. The company in June from individual investors including executives from Citadel, Dell, Publix, and Starwood Capital.

鈥淧lenty of companies like Doctors on Demand, MDLIVE and Teladoc provide a patient with a call center doc,鈥� CEO and Founder said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know them; they don鈥檛 know you. There鈥檚 no context or records involved. And your medical record becomes fragmented.鈥�

To Phillips, Medici has great growth potential because, quite simply, 鈥減eople want to speak to their own doctor.鈥� Additionally, doctors don鈥檛 view the company as a threat since it claims to enhance or protect their business 鈥� not replace it. Medici is HIPPA compliant and provides malpractice insurance in an effort to provide a 鈥渟afe鈥� environment for doctors, Phillips added.

So far, nearly 2,800 physicians have downloaded the Medici app, according to Phillips. Medici makes money by charging doctors a fee for every encounter they have via the app.

Since we talked to the company last year, Medici added a desktop version of its app after getting feedback from doctors that it could be hard to answer questions via their mobile phones, according to Phillips. Also just two weeks ago, Medici included a group chat feature to allow doctors more freedom to incorporate an assistant or bring a specialist into a conversation with a patient.

鈥淒octors had been longing for this feature,鈥� Phillips told 附近上门 News this week. 鈥淚t sounds simple, but in health care, you have to know where conversations can be stored and where they are going (due to HIPPA regulations).鈥�

There are also now 600 veterinarians using its platform.

鈥淚t鈥檚 turning out to be huge for us,鈥� Phillips added. 鈥淲e鈥檙e getting partnerships with a number of vet associations because they realize we really do care about these doctors and have a solution for docs to have a better quality of life and provide better quality care.鈥�

Medici is now also endorsed by 18 medical associations, up to 40 employees, and is expanding 鈥渟trongly鈥� in South Africa.

Swivel

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how an emerging new category of workplace alternatives are attracting attention from both the venture community and some of commercial real estate鈥檚 biggest players.

One such company is Austin-based , which was founded by in late 2016 with some initial incubation capital from . Harmon and Floodgate Co-Founder had started and sold a software company together in the late 1990s called 聽and decided they wanted to work together again.

They both ,鈥� Harmon said, and felt like the commercial real estate office market needed to be disrupted.

鈥淲e recognized the problem of growing tech companies not being able to afford decent office space,鈥� Harmon told 附近上门 News. 鈥淚t鈥檚 becoming an ever-more pressing problem to the point where VCs are now pushing back to put so much money in companies signing expensive five to 10-year leases.鈥�

What they came up with in Swivel is an online workspace operator that essentially signs the longer-term leases and then gives companies the option to sign shorter term leases鈥攖hink 12 to 36 months, based on their needs.

In May 2017, Swivel raised an $850,000 seed round in 2016 and then another $1 million in June 2017. More recently, the company in what Harmon described as a Seed 2 round.

Its target market is companies in their growth phase, mostly venture-backed tech startups with between 10 and 100 employees who have outgrown traditional coworking spaces but are still too small to sign a long-term lease or rent a big part of a building.

鈥淲hen we find a company that wants space, they can go on our site and choose from a number of spaces and then we work out a deal for them,鈥� Harmon told 附近上门 News. 鈥淰Cs like that we don鈥檛 have millions on a balance sheet from signing long-term risky leases. We only sign a lease when we have a client say they want a particular space. It鈥檚 a lean approach.鈥�

[bctt tweet=”VCs like that we don鈥檛 have millions on a balance sheet from signing long-term risky leases. ” username=”scotthar_tx”]

If the real estate market turns, Swivel is then in a better position because it wouldn鈥檛 have a bunch of leases on its books that would be hard to sell, according to Harmon.

Clients are able to configure and design the space however they want using Swivel鈥檚 software. Most offices are between 3,000 and 10,000 square feet. Companies need only to give 60 to 90 days notice before moving out and then are not charged any penalties or move out fees, and don鈥檛 have to deal with subleasing.

So far, Swivel has two active spaces in Austin with another three coming online in the next few weeks. Harmon anticipates it will have 15 by year鈥檚 end. The company plans to expand into two additional unidentified markets in 2019.

It鈥檚 using its latest raise to primarily ramp up its marketing efforts via online advertising and partnerships with commercial real estate companies, landlords, and office brokers.

ScaleFactor

, a financial operations software platform, was founded in 2014 by former accountant .

The startup says it鈥檚 on a mission to build a better way for owners and operators to control and grow their business by simplifying accounting and finance tasks.

鈥淲e鈥檙e taking the stress and frustration out of accounting and replacing it with proactive, actionable insights鈥攖hink push notifications for your business,鈥� Rathmann said.

The 73-person company recently closed a $10 million Series A funding round that was led by Canaan Partners with participation by, , , , Broadhaven Capital, and other angel investors.

鈥淎s a CFO at a small company in Denver, I was facing a series of operational inefficiencies that created a major disconnect between taking an action, and the impact it had on the business,鈥� CEO Rathmann told 附近上门 News in an email in July. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 realize the impact of things that were happening in May until we got the monthly reports in June.鈥�

After allocating most of his time to simplifying accounting tasks and automating manual work, Rathmann decided to leave his job and found ScaleFactor.

[bctt tweet=”Our team is built around a set of core values that include community, gratitude, and technological optimism.” username=”kurtrathmann”]

With ScaleFactor鈥檚 software, companies can access automated accounting and bill pay and invoicing tools, integrate their financial processes into a tax compliance calendar, and view performance data through ScaleFactor鈥檚 company visibility dashboard. According to Rathmann, more than 250 companies use the platform. ScaleFactor currently serves three markets, including professional services companies, subscription-based businesses, and brands in consumer-packaged goods.

Business owners, operators, and entrepreneurs are ScaleFactor鈥檚 target customers. The company鈥檚 revenue has grown 850 percent year-over-year so far in 2018, and Rathmann attributes that to ScaleFactor鈥檚 鈥渃ustomer-focused mindset, the acceleration of our software and the incredible drive and focus of our team.鈥�

鈥淥ur team is built around a set of core values that include community, gratitude, and technological optimism,鈥� Rathmann said. 鈥淢ost importantly, we look for team members that have an inquisitive mindset around existing methods and the way the world solves these problems today.鈥�

While Austin continues its fight to become known as more than 鈥淪ilicon Hills,鈥� there鈥檚 no shortage of ambitious startups in the region ready to become national (and global) players.