SA国际传媒

Reporter鈥檚 Note: Welcome to our monthly rundown of venture deals in the Lone Star State. Live from my home base of Austin in the great State of Texas where the tea is sweet, the BBQ comes smoked and the venture deals are growing.

Texas is the fourth largest state in terms of venture deals and the fifth largest when it comes to venture dollars raised. Since I鈥檓 lucky enough to live here, we wanted to dedicate a monthly column to covering cool startup happenings in Texas previously unreported on (by us at least).

The Balcony View

May was a pretty busy month for Texas startups. Combined, startups around the state raised (a known) $255.6 million during the month of May alone. For the first five months of the year, total venture funding in Texas topped $1.13 billion.

Subscribe to the SA国际传媒 Daily

That鈥檚 not too shabby considering that we reported in January how startups across the state had raised a total of $2.3 billion in 2018. Houston, in particular, had a good month thanks in large part to a $120 million Series B raise by Houston-based biopharmaceutical company (formerly known as ViraCyte) covered by our own reporter Jason Rowley.

Of course, SA国际传媒 data is subject to reporting delays, specifically impacting our seed and early-stage counts. If you鈥檙e an investor in Texas, join the to help us get the most accurate and up-to-date data on Texas鈥檚 VC market.

Street Level

Here is a list of news we reported on over the past month or so.

• , an Austin-based healthcare and life science-focused venture firm, recently raised $250 million in its third fund.
• Dooap, an accounts payable software startup, that it was moving its headquarters from New York City to Austin.
• We did an in-depth look at 鈥淭ech鈥檚 Major Migration to Austin, TX鈥� that examined the many company relocations and opening of second (or third) offices here.
• Austin-based digital health startup raised $50 million. EverlyWell鈥檚 digital platform connects consumers with existing, independent, certified labs for at-home collection tests that are ordered and reviewed by board-certified physicians.
• Austin-based announced the close of its second fund, topping it out at $105 million.
• San Antonio-based SaaS-focused acquired , an e-commerce search and navigation company

And, here鈥檚 some other news we didn鈥檛 have time to cover but is worth noting (note, this is not an exhaustive list鈥攖hat would just be too much for one column!):

• Houston-based , 鈥渁n automated system discovery and documentation software company focused on IT Managed Service Providers鈥�, . led the round, which also included participation from , the founder of Rackspace Managed Hosting, and others.
• Golden Section Technologies of , a new Houston-based venture fund with a focus on seed stage B2B SaaS companies. GSTVC said its goal is to invest 鈥渁longside talented entrepreneurs with a deep understanding of the end customer’s problems, a sellable product, and demonstrated customer traction.鈥� 鈥淭he $20 million fund plans to make its first investment by the end of the third quarter of this year,鈥� according .
• In April, + — presented by Twilio, AWS, and Redoc.ly — sponsored what organizers described as 鈥渢he only LGBTQIA+ themed startup weekend event in the world.鈥� Thirteen attendees hailing from every continent 鈥渢raveled to Austin to learn what it takes to start a new business, perfect their pitch and present it to a panel of esteemed judges,鈥� according to organizers. , which has developed an app to make a transition roadmap for trans individuals, won the competition.

• an Austin-based firm working in media/technology venture capital, incubation, and education, recently announced plans to acquire , an online music education and career development platform launched in 2013 by musician/music entrepreneur . Penick told me the organization鈥檚 goal is to 鈥渉elp artists become technologists, and technologists become artists.鈥� This seems appropriate considering Austin bills itself as the
• , an emerging specialty chemicals manufacturer seeking to decarbonize the chemicals industry, announced the closing of a $32 million Series B round led by Silicon Valley鈥檚 Founders Fund and including participation from . Founded in 2016, the Houston company is run by two 20-somethings and . The company鈥檚 revenue grew by 10 times in the last year thanks to several multi-million dollar oil and gas contracts for its bio-based peroxide solutions 鈥渨hich clean everything from scraped knees to wastewater from hydraulic fracturing without safety issues or environmental impact,鈥� according to officials. CEO Chakrabarti developed the company鈥檚 proprietary technology as a med student studying cancer cell treatment. The funding comes on the heels of a $13.5 million funding round in October.
• Seventy-four early-stage startups made it into the in the Austin cohort. This marked the Austin program鈥檚 second cohort. This year, the startups came from five countries and 14 U.S. states. They represented five industries鈥�42 percent high tech, 26 general, 19 percent healthcare and life sciences, 8 percent social impact and 5 percent energy/cleantech. Fifty-six percent were also female founded, according to organizers.
• Dallas area biotech startup in late April for its tumor-fighting therapies, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

That鈥檚 all for Texas in May. For more of our ongoing coverage, follow for startup news from all over the country. You can also follow me on Twitter .