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For our fellow Texans, we hope you and your loved ones have all recovered from last week’s brutal winter storm. $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
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WINTER 2021 For our fellow Texans, we hope you and your loved ones have all recovered from last week’s brutal winter storm. Despite a crazy start to 2021, we have been fortunate to partner with several impressive entrepreneurs. We led a $2.6M Seed in Upkey, led a $16M Series B in HYAS, and co-led an $18M Series B in Interplay Learning. Many of our companies are expanding rapidly – making executive hires and adding to the 125+ job openings across the portfolio. At S3 Ventures, we are growing too: we welcomed our newest Associate, Nicole Bentz, and announced Aaron Perman’s promotion to Principal. More details below…
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S3 Ventures leads Upkey’s $2.6M Seed round (link) Upkey offers an arsenal of professional development navigation tools that provide high school and college students individualized, self-paced support. We are thrilled to partner with Upkey’s CEO and Co-Founder, Amir Badr. We also look forward to working with our co-investors Tensility Venture Partners, Bronze Valley, and Lofty Ventures. |
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HYAS joins the S3 Ventures portfolio with a $16M Series B (link) We are thrilled to welcome CEO David Ratner and Co-Founder Chris Davis of HYAS to the S3 Ventures family as they expand into Austin! HYAS helps protect enterprises and multiple Fortune 100 companies against cyber risks and helps them understand the infrastructure behind those attacks. We look forward to working with our co-investors Uncorrelated Ventures, Tightline Holdings, Cyber Mentor Fund, and Dcode Capital and continued participation from previous investors M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund), Startup Capital Ventures, and 205 Capital. |
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Interplay Learning raises an $18M Series B (link) Interplay Learning raised an $18M Series B – co-led by Owl Ventures and S3 Ventures. As the lead on their Series A, it has been amazing to watch CEO and Co-Founder Doug Donovan and the Interplay Learning team achieve 300% YoY sales growth – across 2,000+ customers and 110,000+ users! We also look forward to working with investors from Strada Education Network, The Venture Reality Fund, SJF Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Holt Ventures, Wild Basin Investments, and Shelter Capital Partners. |
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We are also proud to announce: CherryCircle Software named one of Summit’s Top 100 Startups in 2020 (link) LeanDNA won the 2020 NextGen Supply Chain Analytics Award (link) Alleviant Medical received breakthrough device designation from the FDA (link) Liquibase and LeanDNA listed in the Top 100 Best Places to Work in Austin (link)
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Nicole Bentz joined S3 Ventures in February as an Associate. She was previously a Senior Analyst at Flyover Capital in Kansas City. Nicole will be focused on evaluating potential investments and supporting our portfolio companies. We are excited to have her join the team! Learn more about Nicole |
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Aaron Perman was promoted from Vice President to Principal! He has worked on 13 investments and 7 exits since he joined S3 Ventures as an Associate in September 2013. Learn more about Aaron |
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Jamey Heinze brings over two decades of experience to LeanDNA – serving in various executive roles for marketing and leadership – most recently at iGrafx. Learn more about Jamey |
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Matthew Geise brings almost three decades of experience to Liquibase – with roles in improving digital experiences and engagement – most recently he was the VP of Marketing at TIBCO. Learn more about Matthew |
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Check out 125+ openings on our Job Board, and join our Talent Network to be discovered across our entire portfolio.
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NVCA Spotlight On Austin — Tue, Mar 2, 12:00pm CT The National Venture Capital Association is spotlighting the booming startup ecosystem in Austin. S3 Ventures Partner Charlie Plauche will be part of an impressive panel of local entrepreneurs and VCs. Click here to register |
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Operating Models as a Tool for Start-Up Success Yael Katz, CEO and Founder of Houston start-up BrainCheck joined Aaron Perman for a discussion on how to leverage a strong operating model to accelerate the growth of your business and the speed of your fundraising process. Click here to watch recording |
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Startup Panel: The Journey to a Successful Exit A couple months ago, we co-hosted a virtual panel, where two entrepreneurs from our portfolio shared what it took to successfully exit their businesses in a unique year like 2020. Our very own Charlie Plauche moderated the panel, which included Kim Rodriguez the Former CEO of Acessa Health (acq. Hologic), Andy Ambrose the Former CEO and Co-Founder of LiveOak Technologies (acq. Docusign), and Brian Dillavou a Partner at Shearman & Sterling. Click here to watch recording |
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Intro to Fundraising & Ask Me Anything A couple months back, our Venture Partner, Eric Engineer, answered a range of questions about startup fundraising in the Texas ecosystem. Thank you to Capital Factory and Jill Klinvex for hosting such an informative discussion! Click here to watch recording |
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We invest in Seed, Series A, and Series B companies with checks ranging from $250K to $10M. If you are looking for an investor, please reach out!
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S3 Ventures is the largest venture capital firm focused on Texas. Backed by a philanthropic, multi-billion-dollar family for over fourteen years, we empower great entrepreneurs with the commitment to patient capital and true resources required to grow extraordinary, high-impact companies in Business Technology, Consumer Digital Experiences, and Healthcare Technology.
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