Dallas Venture Deals

September 2024

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Dallas is Rising…

Welcome to the 15th edition of the Dallas Venture Deals newsletter. We are grateful for the responses, feedback, and engagement. Our goal remains simple: shine a spotlight on DFW’s venture capital activity, in a region where remarkable transactions often go unnoticed. Cheers to the future of DFW startups!

Venture Deals

DFW-Based Company Fundings

Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD) (Dallas, TX), a designer, builder, and operator of next-generation digital infrastructure designed for high-performance computing (HPC) applications, secured a $160M strategic financing via private placement from institutional and accredited investors, including NVIDIA and Related Companies.
AirSight (Dallas, TX), a provider of an integrated software and hardware solution for detecting, tracking, visualizing, and thwarting airborne drone threats, received investment from Cypress Growth Capital. AirSight raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding from Cypress Growth Capital on September 3, 2024. The funds will be used for channel expansion, sales, marketing, and software development.
Deposits Inc. (Dallas, TX), a cloud-based banking platform known for its low-code/no-code banking software tools and infrastructure, has been acquired by Ingo Payments (Alpharetta, GA), a financial services provider.
Gestalt Tech (Dallas, TX), the unified data ecosystem that accelerates insights and AI adoption for lenders, raised a $5.9M Seed round led by Alpha Edison and Yamaha Motor Ventures, with participation Alloy Labs, Newtype Ventures, Sentiero Ventures, and Long Run Capital.
Harbor (Dallas, TX), a company focused on advancing infant care technology, secured $7M million in seed funding led by Trust Ventures with participation from Tim Ferriss, Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners, John Isner, and NFL punter Thomas Morstead.
Illuma Labs (Plano, TX), a leader in voice authentication technology for banking contact centers, raised a $9M Series A led by LiveOak Ventures, with participation from Forefront Venture Partners, Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU.
LiquidStack (Carrollton, TX), a global leader in liquid cooling for data centers, secured a $20M Series B extension from Tiger Global, bringing LiquidStack’s total Series B funding round to $35M.
OxeFit (Dallas, TX), a leader in AI-driven health and fitness experiences, announced Dave Asprey and Anne Mahlum as investors in the company's latest $17.5M round of funding, bringing the total to over $70M, to date.
Pieces Technologies (Irving, TX), a generative AI company specializing in applied clinical generative AI, predictive modeling, and physician-supervised machine learning raised a $25M investment round from Children's Health, Concord Health Partners, OSF HealthCare, and Rittenhouse Ventures.
VRGL (Dallas, TX), a Client Acquisition and Investment Proposal Management solution, raised a strategic funding round led led by FINTOP Capital and MissionOG, with participation from Northwestern Mutual, Flyover Capital, and Fin Capital.

DFW-Based Investor Transactions

Avidity Partners (Dallas, TX) led the $50M Series B for 858 Therapeutics (San Diego, CA), a biotechnology and drug discovery company developing a portfolio of small molecule therapeutics directed against novel oncology and immunology targets. Additional investors include Insight Partners, Mirae Asset Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Versant Ventures, NEA, and Logos Capital.
Avidity Partners (Dallas, TX) led the $45M Series B for Helaina (New York, NY), a startup using precision fermentation to produce bioactive proteins found in human breastmilk. Additional investors include Spark Capital, Ingeborg Investments, Tom Williams of Heron Rock, Barrel Ventures, Siam Capital, Relish Works, CF Private Equity, and Primary Venture Partners, and others.
Bios Partners (Fort Worth, TX) participated in the $65M Series D for ONL Therapeutics (Ann Arbor, MI), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies for protecting the vision of patients with retinal disease. The round was led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation with participation from Novartis Venture Fund, Visionary Ventures, and others.
Children's Health (Dallas, TX) participated in the $25M investment round for Pieces Technologies (Irving, TX), a generative AI company specializing in applied clinical generative AI, predictive modeling, and physician-supervised machine learning. Other participants include Concord Health Partners, OSF HealthCare, and Rittenhouse Ventures.
Cognify (Frisco, TX) participated in the $4M Series A for CoRover.ai (Bangalore, India), a human-centric conversational platform driven by generative AI technology. The round was led by Venture Catalysts with participation from CanBank Venture Capital Fund, IIM Calcuttam IIIT Delhi, Karekeba Ventures, Lead Angels and others.
Consensys (Fort Worth, TX) participated in the $10M Seed round for Yellow, a web3 blockchain platform for decentralized clearing of digital assets. The round was led by led by Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen with participation from Cobo, Moonrock, and NOIA Capital.
Cypress Growth Capital (Dallas, TX) invested in AirSight (Dallas, TX), a provider of an integrated software and hardware solution for detecting, tracking, visualizing, and thwarting airborne drone threats.
Dallas Venture Capital (Irving, TX) co-led a $1.8M pre-Series A for Bluecopa (Hyderabad, India), an AI powered finance operations automation platform. The other co-lead investors are Blume Ventures and Venture Catalysts.
Goldcrest Capital (Dallas, TX) co-led a $7M Series B for Daisy (Costa Mesa, CA), a national home technology installation and services company. The round was co-led by Bungalow, with participation from Bullish and Burst Capital.
Health Wildcatters (Dallas, TX) added nine startups, boosting its portfolio to 118 companies
HEST Investments (Dallas, TX) made a $1M strategic investment in American Binary (Kirkland, WA), a post-quantum encryption company.
HEST Investments (Dallas, TX) announced a $1.8M SPV investment in Secretome Therapeutics (based in Baltimore, MD with a presence at BioLabs at Pegasus Park in Dallas, TX), a biotech company at the forefront of developing "revolutionary solutions" aimed at harnessing the power of secretomes.
Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners (Dallas, TX) participated in the $7M seed round for Harbor (Dallas, TX), a company focused on advancing infant care technology. The round was led by Trust Ventures with participation from Tim Ferriss, John Isner, NFL punter Thomas Morstead, and others.
Sentiero Ventures (Dallas, TX) participated in the $5.9M Seed round for Gestalt Tech (Dallas, TX), the unified data ecosystem that accelerates insights and AI adoption for lenders. The round was led by Alpha Edison and Yamaha Motor Ventures, with participation Alloy Labs, Newtype Ventures, and Long Run Capital.
Strait Capital Partners (Dallas, TX) participated in the $70M Series C for Torq (Tel Aviv, Israel), a developer of a no-code automation platform designed to enhance security operations. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Notable Capital, and Greenfield Partners.
Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Announces 11 Companies in Its 2024 Accelerator
TPG (Fort Worth, TX & San Francisco, CA) will acquire from AT&T (Dallas, TX) the remaining 70% stake in DirecTV that it does not already own in a deal valued at $7.6B.