Texas CEO Magazine

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 01:30:35 GMT

Happy Sunday!

Our friends at YTexas report that Texas has drawn headquarters relocations from 10 different states so far in 2026, plus one from New Zealand. So while California companies tend to get the attention, the migration to Texas is coming from all over the map. Check out the full list of 2026 relos so far here.

This week’s deal roundup follows a closer look from pH Partners at Fort Worth-based Healthcare Shares and its physician-backed venture model.

Healthcare Shares: Fund Raise

It was recently announced that Healthcare Shares (Fort Worth), a physician-backed venture capital firm that invests in early-stage healthcare startups, completed a raise for their fund, bringing their recent total to $2.5M. As reported on their website, Healthcare Shares reports ~20 portfolio companies across digital health, diagnostics, life science and care delivery. Their current community consists of over 2,000 members, including physicians, healthcare executives, and researchers.

Healthcare Shares’ stated mission is to “balance delivering financial returns with improving clinical outcomes, reducing healthcare costs, and improving patient and clinician satisfaction.” Their strategy is rightly premised on the observation that early-stage healthcare companies need more than just capital; they need access to healthcare KOLs with the relevant expertise and network.

With Texas’ continued emergence as a healthcare frontier for both companies and

investors, this is another welcome development. Texas is home to more than 6,100 biotech and life sciences firms and ranks third in the country for total biotech-related establishments, as reported by AngelMatch. In 2025, Texas’ healthcare sector had an aggregate transaction value of about $1.78B, the third-largest sector in the state behind tech/media/telecom ($4.18B) and energy/utilities ($2.38B), according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. In July 2026, Texas came in second nationally for VC dollars raised by companies, at $2.37B, behind only California.

While several of these metrics point to continued investor momentum in Texas, they are still skewed towards later-stage companies in the energy and tech space rather than new entrants in healthcare. So there is an opportunity for Healthcare Shares or other physician-investor networks to emerge and provide real value to life science companies in Texas.

However, it must be noted that this is by no means a new model and comes with its challenges.

Whether it is physician communities like Doximity and Sermo or investment-focused networks like the former AngelMD, the challenge is always generating enough engagement to make it useful to everyone involved. For Healthcare Shares, the task will not only be to bring high-quality companies to their physician and KOL network for investment, but to extract meaningful time, insights, connections, pilot projects and commercialization support from said network for their portfolio companies.

We look forward to following the progress here with Healthcare Shares and are excited to see more creative models of investment emerging here in Texas for healthcare and life science companies.

—Analysis by the pH Partners Team

pH Partners is an Austin-based boutique investment bank focused on Healthcare, Technology, and Consumer markets. Learn more at phpartners.com.

Austin

HiddenLayer, a provider of security software for agentic, generative, and predictive AI applications, raised $100M in a Series B led by Delta-v Capital, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures, Morgan Stanley, M12 and Booz Allen Ventures. Approximately $156M raised to date.
Light, a provider of an API platform enabling businesses to offer branded electricity plans, raised $46M in a Series A led by Matrix, with participation from Activate Capital, Spark Capital, Mischief, Gigascale Capital, MCJ and BoxGroup. Approximately $60M raised to date.
Bevel, a provider of AI-powered personal insurance brokerage and property-claims services, announced a $6M seed round backed by SHAKTI, Resolute Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and individual investors. $6M announced to date.

Greater Texas Market

Critical Materials Group (Talpa), a developer of modular, automation-ready production systems for energetic materials used in defense manufacturing, announced a $10.3M seed round led by Overmatch Ventures, with participation from Victory Six Advisors and Fulcrum Ventures. $10.3M announced to date.

M&A Activity in Texas

Flex (Austin) agreed to acquire EPC Power, a California-based provider of power-conversion technology for data centers and grid applications, for $4.4B. EPC Power will become part of Flex’s Cloud and Power Infrastructure segment, which Flex plans to spin off as an independent public company in 2027.
SLB (Houston) agreed to acquire Kelvion, a German manufacturer of cooling and thermal-management equipment, for $3.4B in cash and the assumption of approximately $700M in debt. The acquisition expands SLB’s data-center infrastructure business.
Diversified Energy agreed to acquire Birch Permian Holdings, a Permian Basin oil and gas producer, from affiliates of Elliott Investment Management for approximately $1.8B. The transaction includes approximately 46,000 net acres, 480 net wells and related gathering, processing and water infrastructure.
Solaris Energy Infrastructure (Houston) acquired Omega Foundation Services, a provider of engineering and heavy-civil construction services for data centers and other infrastructure projects. Solaris paid approximately $101M in cash, assumed $28M in debt and leases, and issued approximately 3.6 million shares.
Stewart Information Services (Houston) acquired ProTitleUSA and DocSolutionUSA, providers of title, mortgage-document and due-diligence services. Terms were not disclosed.
Stewart Information Services (Houston) also acquired Tower Title, a national provider of telecommunications-focused title services. Terms were not disclosed.
Shell Oil Products US (Houston) agreed to acquire the remaining 67% of Tri Star Energy, a Nashville-based convenience-store operator and fuel distributor. The transaction will add 320 company-owned retail locations and supply agreements with 552 dealer-owned locations. Terms were not disclosed.
Salute (Austin) agreed to acquire T5 Operations, the data-center operations division of T5 Data Centers. The combined business will manage more than 15 gigawatts of data-center capacity across more than 150 markets. Terms were not disclosed.
Fortrea agreed to acquire Worldwide Clinical Trials’ Early Phase Services division, including a bioanalytical laboratory in Austin, a 200-bed clinical pharmacology unit in San Antonio and a biospecimen-storage facility in Pflugerville. Terms were not disclosed.
Comstock Resources (Frisco) signed a letter of intent under which Azerbaijan’s state-owned SOCAR would acquire minority interests in Comstock’s Haynesville assets and Pinnacle Gas Services for $1.65B in cash. The parties are targeting a definitive agreement by October 31; the proposed transaction has not yet been finalized.

See you next week!

—Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:30:36 GMT

Happy Sunday!

Austin picked up another No. 1 this week. A new LendingTree analysis named it America’s top “boomtown” for the third straight year, with Austin leading the country’s 50 largest metros in housing growth and the increase in new business applications. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio also landed in the top 15. The ranking uses 2023–2024 federal data, so it’s a backward-looking snapshot, but a pretty good one of the growth that continues to shape the Texas business landscape.

This week’s deals follow a look at Happy Health’s recent $75M raise, plus happenings in the wider category of sleep-tracking wearables.

CEO Interview: Kjirstin Breure of HydroGraph

Joel Trammell — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:05:23 GMT

Kjirstin Breure, CEO of HydroGraph

Graphene has been called a wonder material for more than 20 years, with potential uses in everything from longer-lasting batteries and corrosion-resistant coatings to lighter aircraft components, stronger concrete, and more durable industrial materials. The harder problem has been making enough high-quality graphene, co…

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:30:46 GMT

Happy Sunday!

Since voters created the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas in 2007, more than a billion dollars of its funding has gone toward recruiting scientists to the state, 362 of them so far across 20 institutions. On Wednesday the board approved twelve more recruitment grants as part of $35 million in awards, with three of the new arrivals headed to UT Austin. Their specialties run from liver and brain cancer to AI-driven lab-on-a-chip detection. The same meeting created a new advisory committee on artificial intelligence.

Private capital spent the week in the same area. Roughly $185 million of the $242 million raised across Texas went to health and life sciences, most of it to Happy Health, which came out of stealth with $75 million behind an FDA-cleared ring that diagnoses sleep apnea in three nights. Astromech in Dallas took $20 million at a $3.8 billion valuation, nearly double where it stood in March, on a plan to forecast where biology breaks before it does.

This week’s full roundup follows an update from pH Partners on another deal in this sector: TYBR Health’s recent raise.

TYBR Health: $30M Series A Financing

Last month, TYBR Health raised a $30M Series A, co-led by Vensana Capital and Mutual Capital Partners. The round brings total funding to approximately $38.7M and will support commercialization and clinical studies for B3 GEL, its FDA-cleared hydrogel for protecting soft tissue after orthopedic surgery.

TYBR received FDA 510(k) clearance in June 2025, began an Australian clinical study in September, and completed its first U.S. procedure in January 2026. This is therefore less a product development round and more a bet that TYBR can turn early surgeon interest into repeated use while building evidence.

B3 GEL is a collagen-based extracellular matrix hydrogel that degrades within 30 days. It is applied around tendons, ligaments, and muscles at the end of surgery, creating a temporary barrier that prevents them from reattaching to nearby tissue as they heal, which can restrict movement, prolong healing, and require another surgery.

B3 GEL was cleared based on substantial equivalence to existing products, principally fellow Texas based company Alafair Biosciences’ VersaWrap, rather than a controlled human trial showing better functional outcomes. TYBR’s current clinical work must now demonstrate that improved range of motion in animal models translates into less stiffness, shorter rehabilitation, or fewer repeat procedures in patients.

The commercial differentiation is also narrower than “flowable hydrogel” alone. Alafair received clearance for its own flowable product, VersaCoat, in July 2025. TYBR’s advantage will need to come from easier application, stronger outcomes, and broader indications that its collagen-based extracellular matrix produces a meaningful benefit.

The investor group also provides some useful strategic context. Vensana led a $20M investment in Artelon in 2023 to fund commercial growth, clinical research, and new indications before the company was acquired by Stryker. Former Artelon CEO, Aaron Smith, now serves as an independent director at TYBR, and Jeff Tyber, who has built and sold several orthopedic device businesses, joined the board earlier this year. Their involvement gives TYBR a team that has already taken similar products from early commercialization through strategic acquisition.

TYBR’s positioning goes beyond creating a physical barrier for healing; it may also influence the inflammatory response that causes excessive scar formation, giving B3 GEL both a mechanical and potential biological role in healing. This combination can differentiate B3 GEL from existing barriers and hydrogels. That advantage remains largely supported by preclinical evidence, making human clinical outcomes the next important proof point to look for.

—Analysis by the pH Partners Team

pH Partners is an Austin-based boutique investment bank focused on Healthcare, Technology, and Consumer markets. Learn more at phpartners.com.

Austin

Happy Health, a developer of an FDA-cleared smart ring for at-home sleep apnea diagnosis, raised $75M in a Series A co-led by ARCH Venture Partners and OpenLoop. $135M raised to date.
Network Bio, a developer of disease-specific AI models trained on human tissue and clinical data, raised $50M in a launch financing led by Section 32 with participation from Thiel Bio, Founders Fund, Breyer Capital, Blue Venture Fund, JSL Health Capital, and others. $50M raised to date.
Boom, a provider of an AI-native leasing and screening platform for rental property managers, raised $15M in a Series A led by S3 Ventures with participation from Mischief, Starting Line, Company Ventures, and Gilgamesh Ventures. $20.50M raised to date.
Synthefy, a developer of foundation models for structured and time-series numerical data, raised $6.50M in a Seed led by Wing Venture Capital with participation from Samsung Next, Canonical, Haystack, and Lightscape. $6.50M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Astromech (Dallas), a developer of AI models that predict evolutionary and genomic change in living systems, raised $20M at a $3.8B valuation in a deal led by Bob Nelsen with participation from PEAK6 Investments, Builders VC, CAZ Investments, and NeoGenesis Capital. $60M raised to date.
McGregor Bancshares (McGregor), the holding company for TFNB, a provider of community banking, lending, and trust services in Central Texas, raised $15.45M in a deal from undisclosed investors placed by Hillworth Bank Partners. $66.57M raised to date.
Ours Privacy (Houston), a provider of a HIPAA-compliant customer data platform for healthcare marketers, raised $15M in a Series A co-led by Lightbank and Health Velocity Capital with participation from Rock Health, TMV, Lakehouse, Switch Ventures, Starfire Ventures, GreyMatter, and others. $20M raised to date.
ProbablyMonsters (Fort Worth), a developer of AAA video games through a family of independent studios, raised $10M in the first close of a $50M offering from an undisclosed investor. $260M raised to date.

See you next week!

—Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:30:45 GMT

Happy Sunday!

A quieter week on the Texas deal front, with a short but interesting list. What did cross the wire kept up a theme we’ve been following all summer, with Valstad building AI-driven robotics for shipbuilding and AGent Energy developing distributed power plants for commercial and industrial sites.

More on that following a deeper look at Austin’s INNOVOTEX, whose $4M raise we reported last week.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 01:30:34 GMT

Happy Sunday!

Base Power’s $1 billion Series C last October was one of the biggest Texas deals of the past ten years. This week, the company did it again, raising another $1 billion in a Series D that values it at $13 billion, roughly four times what it was worth ten months ago.

The company’s model is an interesting one. Base Power installs a home battery for a low upfront fee and a monthly membership, but it keeps ownership of the hardware, linking thousands of these batteries into a single fleet it can dispatch to the grid when demand spikes. (And we all remember what can happen when demand spikes.)

Customers get backup power when the lights go out, and Base Power gets a distributed power plant it can sell into the Texas market. This week it also began manufacturing its own battery, Base Core, at an Austin factory now turning out thousands of units a month.

That model puts Base Power in the middle of the Texas energy conversation. The state’s grid has strained for years to keep up with a growing population and increasingly extreme weather, and the demand coming from data centers and electrification will only add to the pressure. Base Power is betting that part of the answer lies in a decentralized network of home batteries that can store power and feed it back when the grid runs short.

This week’s full roundup follows an update from pH Partners on Function Health, whose celeb-backed raises we have covered in the past.

Function Health: $450M Non-Dilutive Growth Financing

Late last month, General Catalyst (GC) committed $450M to Function Health through its Customer Value Fund, the largest check the health-testing platform has taken to date. This raise does not result in a new valuation for Function Health. Instead, General Catalyst gets repaid out of the revenue its capital helps generate, effectively underwriting Function’s customer acquisition engine rather than pricing the company itself.

The $450M comes from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF), GC’s non-dilutive vehicle that pre-funds a company’s sales and marketing spend and gets repaid, on a capped basis, only from the revenue that spend generates, functioning more like revenue-based financing than equity. This round comes eight months after Function’s $298M Series B, led by Redpoint Ventures at a $2.5B valuation (Nov. 2025), and follows two 2026 tuck-ins: Getlabs (nationwide mobile phlebotomy/at-home blood draw network, acquired April 2026) and SuppCo (supplement verification platform with a TrustScore system covering 35,000+ products, acquired May 2026). Total capital raised to date exceeds $800M since Function’s 2023 beta launch.

CVF only underwrites companies that have already proven product-market fit and predictable CAC payback making it a tool for scaling a working model. The investor is effectively underwriting the efficiency of Function’s customer acquisition engine, and by choosing CVF over another equity round also lets Function keep scaling without putting a fresh price tag on the company at a moment when the category’s comps are getting noisier.

GC has used CVF to finance 40+ companies, deploying nine figures a month; other recent CVF deals include $1B for Prenetics’ IM8 (financing up to 70% of marketing spend) and $360M for Musely. On Function’s side: 500,000+ members, 100M+ completed lab tests since 2023, and a membership price that already dropped from $499 to $365/year at the Series B.

Function’s language stays consumer-wellness even as its acquisitions steadily assemble clinical-grade infrastructure: imaging (Ezra), logistics (Getlabs), and an intervention layer (SuppCo). The positioning bet is that owning the full stack (measure, deliver, act) is the differentiator for this rapidly growing category. That’s a contrast with rival Superpower, which has competed mainly on price ($199/year vs. Function’s $365).

The nearest comps are Superpower ($51M raised total, sub-$300M valuation, priced down to $199/year), Prenuvo (full-body MRI, ~$70M raised), and Neko Health. Function has made three acquisitions in 15 months, all vertically stacking rather than horizontally scaling, a category-consolidator approach rather than a multi-player field. Worth watching: CVF is becoming a repeat financing tool for consumer subscription health and wellness leaders with proven CAC economics (Function, IM8) rather than a one-off, a sign the category’s biggest players may increasingly skip traditional equity rounds altogether.

Because GC only gets repaid if the financed CAC spend converts, the thesis will depend on whether Getlabs and SuppCo turn from press-release synergy into real retention and upsell revenue over the next few quarters. Watch for membership growth past 500K, a disclosed revenue run-rate, and whether the Superpower litigation resolves in a way that sets a category-defining precedent on what counts as a “biomarker.”

—Analysis by the pH Partners Team

pH Partners is an Austin-based boutique investment bank focused on Healthcare, Technology, and Consumer markets. Learn more at phpartners.com.

Austin

Base Power, a provider of home battery systems and distributed energy services, raised $1B in a Series D co-led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase with participation from Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, and others. $2.28B raised to date.
ClearJet, a provider of middle-mile air freight infrastructure for e-commerce parcel delivery, raised $24.28M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $38.63M raised to date.
PulseForge, a developer of photonic thermal processing equipment for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, raised $16M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $16M raised to date.
INNOVOTEX, a developer of texaphyrin-based oncology therapeutics targeting platinum-resistant solid tumors, raised $4M in a Seed led by Keiretsu Forum. $4.83M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Mariana Minerals (Houston/San Francisco), a developer of software-driven mines and refineries producing copper, lithium, and nickel, raised $310M in a Series B led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, BHP Ventures, Breakthrough Energy, and others. $393.53M raised to date.
Texas Stock Exchange (Dallas), a provider of a national securities exchange for equities listing and trading, raised $27.90M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $434.12M raised to date.
Critical Materials Group (Talpa), a manufacturer of energetic materials for domestic defense munitions production, raised $7.80M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $7.80M raised to date.

See you next week!

—Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 01:30:58 GMT

Happy Sunday!

The biggest Austin deal this week was that of Function, the preventive-health platform that gives members lab panels, full-body imaging, and a mission to help you “live 100 healthy years.”

The company brought in $450 million from General Catalyst, though it wasn’t a conventional equity round. The money comes from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, which bankrolls customer acquisition and gets repaid out of the revenue those customers generate. Function’s $2.5 billion valuation from last November holds, and no equity was diluted.

Function has now raised more than $800 million since 2023 and spent the past year acquiring its way into at-home blood draws, imaging, and supplements.

It was a good week for health diagnostics across the board: Houston’s Simbryo raised $5.25 million for fertility testing, and Austin’s Throne Science raised $10 million for a sensor that tracks your gut health from… inside your toilet.

This week’s full roundup follows a deal update from pH Partners on yet another diagnostic company whose latest deal we reported last month.

Market Update: Baylor Genetics

Baylor Genetics, a precision diagnostics company specializing in genetic testing to guide clinical decision-making in rare disease, pediatric, and reproductive health, announced the closing of a $50M Series B financing round on July 15, 2026. The round was led by Decheng Capital, alongside key strategic and institutional partners H.U. Group Holdings and Baylor College of Medicine, with participation from additional institutional venture investors.

This latest financing is believed to value Baylor Genetics at $491MM, a 1.35x step-up from its previous Series A round completed in March 2025, and underscores growing investor appetite for rare disease genomics as both a clinical diagnostic tool and an emerging data asset for the broader life sciences ecosystem.

This financing round reflects a broader market shift: investors and payers are increasingly aligned on the value of precision diagnostics for rare-disease patients, while partnerships between academic medical centers and industry are building durable, monetizable data assets that extend well beyond the clinic.

pH Partners Perspective

Companies like Baylor Genetics are helping close the diagnostic gap by deploying advanced sequencing technologies such as whole exome sequencing (WES), whole genome sequencing (WGS), and RNA sequencing to shorten what is often referred to as the diagnostic odyssey — the years-long path many rare disease patients travel before receiving an accurate diagnosis that can inform treatment decisions. Patients with the same clinical diagnosis often have different underlying genetic variants.

Genomic data applications across life sciences keep expanding, and the category is growing faster than it is being defined. Consensus estimates put growth in the high-teens CAGR through 2030, driven by biopharma’s shift toward biomarker-driven R&D.

Beyond clinical metrics, Baylor Genetics illustrates how academic-institution partnerships can commercialize genomic and clinical data for biopharma R&D and create a scalable model for pairing nonprofit research IP with outside capital. The academic research infrastructure underlying these partnerships also generates the clinical utility evidence that increasingly informs payer coverage decisions for WES/WGS. Examples of this broader model include Geisinger’s decade-long collaboration with Regeneron and Mayo Clinic’s 2026 data partnership with Merck. Baylor Genetics’ own joint venture, formed in 2015, was an early instance of it.

Broader Context

While venture funding across diagnostics remained under pressure through Q1 2026, according to PitchBook data, capital continues to find operators with established payer coverage and clinical adoption — exactly the profile Baylor Genetics has built.

Baylor Genetics was founded as a joint venture in 2015 between H.U. Group Holdings, a diversified laboratory and diagnostics company headquartered in Japan, and Baylor College of Medicine. It builds on nearly 50 years of genetics leadership at Baylor College of Medicine, tracing back to the 1978 founding of its Department of Molecular and Human Genetics.

As Baylor Genetics CEO Kengo Takishima put it in a recent LinkedIn post, “The promise of a genome-first healthcare system has never been more compelling.”

This latest funding round demonstrates that Baylor Genetics is positioned not merely as a diagnostic provider, but as a critical data engine driving precision medicine.

—Analysis by the pH Partners Team

pH Partners is an Austin-based boutique investment bank focused on Healthcare, Technology, and Consumer markets. Learn more at phpartners.com.

Austin

Function Health, a developer of a preventive health platform offering lab testing and full-body medical imaging, raised $450M in a deal led by General Catalyst. $807.60M raised to date.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 01:30:15 GMT

Happy Sunday!

One of the biggest stories in Texas business this week involves Saronic, the Austin defense startup that builds autonomous naval vessels. The company announced it will build Port Alpha at the Port of Brownsville, which the company and Gov. Abbott are calling the largest shipyard in the country. The project represents more than $3 billion in investment and as many as 10,000 jobs over the next decade, with the state adding an $80 million grant to help land it.

Saronic, valued at $9.25 billion after a $1.75 billion round in March, is the same company whose autonomous Corsair vessel recently helped rescue two U.S. soldiers after their helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz.

More on this week’s deals below. First, our friends at pH Partners1 break down Frozen One’s new seed round and the surge of investor interest in high-protein frozen treats.

Frozen One’s $5.75M Series Seed: Market Update

Frozen One, a high-protein ice cream brand, recently closed a $5.75 million series seed led by Brand Foundry Ventures. Following its first institutional raise of $2 million in April 2026, Frozen One’s latest round closed roughly four months later, was nearly three times the size, and came alongside the addition of a new Chief Operating Officer and SVP of Sales.

The seed round was led by Brand Foundry Ventures, an Austin-based consumer fund with approximately $200 million in AUM. Brand Foundry’s partners include Bonobos and Trunk Club co-founder Brian Spaly, and its portfolio includes Graza, OLIPOP, and Warby Parker. Supernatural Ventures, which led Frozen One’s prior round, also participated. Alongside the capital, the company named Dave Valenza-Frost, formerly COO at Van Leeuwen, as COO, and Ashley Ross, who built commercial operations at Onnit ahead of its acquisition, as SVP of Sales.

The size of the round, combined with two operator-caliber hires, is expected to fund manufacturing growth and retail distribution expansion, building on a retail footprint that has already demonstrated consumer demand for the product.

Continued Institutional Investment in High-Protein Concepts

Frozen One’s raise is one of several recent early-stage financings in the high-protein frozen and snacking category. Protein Pints, a Grand Rapids-based competitor, has raised approximately $2 million across seed and grant-based capital while expanding into more than 8,000 retail doors, including Target, Kroger, and Albertsons. Smearcase, marketed under the “FroCo” brand, has raised capital to support retail growth and has reached roughly 1,000 doors. David Protein, which entered the ice cream category most recently as an extension of its existing protein bar business, raised a $10 million seed round in 2024 before a $75 million Series A in 2025 led by Greenoaks, and has since used its scale to secure access to a key better-for-you fat ingredient. Taken together, these rounds indicate that investor interest in high-protein frozen treats extends beyond a single company.

The global protein ice cream market was valued at $2.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $3.8 billion by 2030, a 6.2% CAGR, with North America accounting for roughly 45% of category revenue. That is durable growth, but it is a mid-single-digit-CAGR category rather than a breakout one, which places relatively more weight on Frozen One’s ability to win share within a defined market rather than benefit from outsized category expansion.

Frozen One leads with a specific nutritional specification, 40 grams of protein per pint at 380 to 430 calories, rather than a broader “better-for-you” or low-calorie claim. This positioning differs from brands that add a protein claim to an already-established better-for-you story, and reflects an emerging split in the category between protein-first brands (Frozen One, Protein Pints) and better-for-you brands adding protein as a secondary attribute. A specification-led approach can serve as a clear differentiator, though nutritional specs of this kind are generally replicable by competitors once proven out at retail.

Strategic M&A Context

Capstone Partners’ latest Food M&A Update found that 67.7% of branded food acquisition targets so far in 2026 carry better-for-you, high-protein, international, or sustainability positioning, as legacy conglomerates divest slower-growing brands to fund category-relevant bolt-on acquisitions.

Looking ahead, a useful indicator to track will be whether Frozen One’s expanded retail footprint, approximately 2,300 locations including its April 2026 nationwide Target rollout across roughly 1,464 stores, converts into sustained retail velocity through the next two to three reset cycles, rather than initial placement alone. Continued velocity through the holiday reset and into 2027 line reviews would position Frozen One as a plausible bolt-on candidate for a strategic acquirer already active in better-for-you M&A. This is a data point pH Partners will continue to monitor as part of our coverage of the category.

—Analysis by the pH Partners Team

Austin

Brevy Care, a developer of software that helps family caregivers access Medicaid reimbursements, raised $4.77M in a deal with participation from GreyMatter Capital. $4.92M raised to date.
Neutral Ground, a provider of factory construction material sourcing for real-estate developers, raised $1.15M in a seed round from undisclosed investors. $1.15M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Cardinal Data Power (Dallas), a developer of gigawatt-scale data centers powered by on-site generation, raised $70M in a Series A led by Hood River Capital Management with participation from Empery Digital. $70M raised to date.
TYBR Health (Houston), a developer of hydrogel systems that protect healing tissues after orthopedic surgery, raised $30M in a Series A co-led by Vensana Capital and Mutual Capital Partners with participation from Neovate Capital Partners. $38.70M raised to date.
Resolute Grid (Rockwall), a producer of American-made transformers and hardware for electrical transmission systems, raised $18.21M in a deal with participation from Stage 1 Ventures, Wave Function Ventures. $18.21M raised to date.
Brava (Carrollton), a developer of hidden orthodontic braces placed behind the teeth, raised $5.04M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $51.24M raised to date.
Piranha Holdings (Argyle), a holding company formed in Texas in 2026, raised $1.25M in a seed round from undisclosed investors. $1.25M raised to date.

See you next week!

—Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

pH Partners is an Austin-based boutique investment bank focused on Healthcare, Technology, and Consumer markets. Learn more at phpartners.com.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 18:58:05 GMT

Austin’s startup funding is on pace for a record year. ATX companies raised about $5 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Dealroom’s running tally for the Greater Austin Chamber. That puts this year on track to reach roughly $9.9 billion, a 23% jump over 2025 and nearly ten times what Austin raised just five years ago!

Texas is also becoming the country’s data center capital. Crusoe and Lancium announced a 1-gigawatt AI data center campus in Childress, up in the Panhandle, a 270-acre site built to power a single hyperscale customer, with construction set to start next quarter. It’s one more entry in a building spree that has state grid operator ERCOT fielding requests for some 439 gigawatts of future power, roughly five times the all-time peak demand on the Texas grid. That surge showed up in this week’s deals too: Coppell-based Csquare, a colocation and interconnection provider, raised $1.05 billion in its IPO, the biggest deal on this week’s list.

With that, let’s get to this week’s deal activity:

Austin

TerraFirma, a developer of semi-autonomous heavy equipment for construction projects, raised $100M in a Series A led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, and others. $115M raised to date.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 01:30:23 GMT

Two of every three public companies looking to leave Delaware this year want to set up shop in Texas instead. New data from Georgeson's early 2026 proxy season review shows that of the 17 shareholder proposals seeking to reincorporate out of Delaware, 11 (65%) named Texas as the destination, and nearly all that have gone to a vote have passed. The trend has a nickname now: "DExit."

The departures are driven in large part by frustration with Delaware's Court of Chancery, long the default venue for corporate law, whose recent rulings companies increasingly see as unpredictable. Tesla decamped for Texas in 2024 after a Delaware judge voided Elon Musk's pay package, and Coinbase followed, with its chief legal officer publicly citing the erosion of legal certainty in Delaware.

Texas has courted the exodus, standing up a dedicated business court and codifying friendlier governance rules. The companies in this week's roundup are mostly new and private, but the throughline is the same: more and more, when a business decides where to plant its flag, the answer is Texas.

With that, let’s get to this week’s deal activity:

Austin

Haven Advisors Holdings raised $10M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $10M raised to date.
Legible, a developer of an AI-native policy intelligence platform for government affairs professionals, raised $3.5M in a deal led by Acadian Software. $3.5M raised to date.
BistroCat, a developer of an automated wet cat food feeder for pet owners, raised $2.06M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $4.11M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Venus Aerospace (Houston), a developer of rotating detonation rocket engine technology for defense and space propulsion systems, raised $91M in a Series B led by Mercury Fund with participation from Airbus Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, Auxilium Partners, BroadVision Group, and others. $139.28M raised to date.
Hephae Energy Technology (Spring), a developer of ultra-high-temperature robotics for next-generation geothermal drilling, raised $17.8M in a Series A led by Susquehanna Sustainable Investments and Underground Ventures with participation from Alfa8, Baruch Future Ventures, Centaurus Capital, Elemental Impact, and others. $24.15M raised to date.
Otovo (Houston), a provider of AI-driven home energy services spanning solar, storage, and EV charging, raised $7.25M in a deal led by EIC Rose Rock with participation from Energy Innovation Capital. $7.25M raised to date.
Adaptive Insurance (Bee Cave), a provider of parametric specialty insurance products addressing climate and weather risks, raised $5M in a deal led by Congruent Ventures and Peconic Partners with participation from Connecticut Innovations, Firemark Ventures, Montauk Capital, Room & Pillar, and others. $10M raised to date.
Frontlands (Dallas), a provider of asset-backed lines of credit secured by mineral and royalty rights, raised $4M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $65.43M raised to date.
The Boardroom Mastermind (Grapevine), a real estate education company operating peer groups for investors, raised $1.73M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.73M raised to date.
Climb Group (Dallas), a provider of Databricks-focused data and AI consulting services for enterprises, raised $1.4M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.4M raised to date.
Skybound Medtech (Houston), a developer of dual-use medical technologies for space medicine and defense applications, raised $1.25M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.25M raised to date.

See you next week!

—Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:31:22 GMT

According to a report by ABJ this week, Austin is cleaning up when it comes to state incentives for semiconductor manufacturing and design.

Companies in the capital and its environs account for 82% of the $413 million in grants announced to date by the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund (TSIF). Much of that chunk comes from Samsung's $250 million award for a fabrication plant in Taylor, but it also includes a vibrant group of Austin-based chip designers, materials suppliers, workforce programs, and research facilities.

Up in Dallas, the startup known as the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) is poised for its big debut tomorrow. “Y’all Street” will begin with a phased rollout, advancing from limited tests to broader trading activity over this month. The exchange plans to make corporate listings available by the fourth quarter.

With that, let’s get to this week’s deal activity:

Austin

Wander, a provider of luxury vacation home rentals with hotel-grade amenities, raised $64.1M in a Series B led by QED Investors and Fifth Wall with participation from Snow Leopard Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Authentic Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and others. $222.26M raised to date.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:31:10 GMT

It’s World Cup time, and Texas has a big part of the action. Dallas and Houston are hosting a total of 16 matches, with major economic impact for the host cities.

According to the Texas Economic Development Corporation, North Texas will welcome 100,000 visitors on each match day, which is expected to generate about $1.5 to $2.1 billion. Houston expects to see 500,000 total and generate $1.5 billion. We also get to see international travelers experience Texas for the first time, from Buc-ee’s to Terry Black’s to Tito’s.

But deal activity didn’t take a break for the games. Here is this week’s activity:

Austin

Radiology Partners, a provider of physician-led radiology practice management services for hospitals and health systems, raised $268.51M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $6,812.38M raised to date.
Ollin Biosciences, a developer of bispecific antibody treatments for retinal eye diseases, raised $156.25M in a Series B led by ARCH Venture Partners and TCG Crossover Management with participation from Andreessen Horowitz. $256.25M raised to date.
Nuclein, a developer of rapid point-of-care PCR diagnostic systems for infectious diseases, raised $20.36M in a convertible debt from undisclosed investors. $63.97M raised to date.
Solar Simplified, a provider of community solar farm subscriptions for homeowners and renters, raised $1.50M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.50M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

mCards (Houston), a provider of branded payment card and rewards solutions for businesses, raised $11.13M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $19.98M raised to date.
Long Angle (Dallas), a provider of community and investment resources for high-net-worth individuals, raised $7.05M in a Series A led by Collins Resources. $7.05M raised to date.
Cambrian (Houston), a developer of blockchain data oracle infrastructure for institutions and AI agents, raised $6.00M in a Seed led by Polychain Capital and Franklin Resources with participation from Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Others. $11.90M raised to date.
RE-OPS (Cross Roads), a provider of AI-powered procurement marketplace solutions for multifamily real estate operators, raised $2.44M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $5.84M raised to date.
nuKudo (San Antonio), a developer of cybersecurity workforce training and talent development programs, raised $1.78M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.78M raised to date.
Plotsy (Dallas), a developer of AI-powered streaming entertainment for independent fiction stories, raised $1.50M in a Seed led by Pier 88 Investment Partners. $1.50M raised to date.

See you next week.

—Joel & Mason

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 01:31:06 GMT

On Tuesday night, Texas faced an unthinkable loss with the passing of Joshua Baer. Josh was the founder and CEO of Capital Factory. I was proud to call him a friend.

It’s hard to overstate Josh’s impact on Austin and on the founders he worked with. He was a tireless force in connecting people and championing big ideas. He really did “help people quit their jobs.” I know so many of those people, and I saw the way Josh was instrumental in kickstarting their entrepreneurial journeys.

The tributes to Josh we’ve seen this week are a testament to who he was. He will be sorely missed.

—Joel

Austin

Traysar Industries, a developer of autonomous subterranean systems for underground defense operations, raised $25M in a Seed led by Silent Ventures with participation from Lux Capital, Ora Global, NeverLift Ventures, Mana Ventures, Impatient Ventures, New Vista Acquisition, Entrée Capital. $25M raised to date.
MaverickX, a developer of chemistry-based production enhancement technology for shale oil recovery, raised $8M in a deal led by Chord Energy with participation from Olive Tree Capital. $27.50M raised to date.
Return Valets, a provider of valet and vehicle return services, raised $2.44M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $2.44M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Principal Mineral (Southlake), a producer of critical mineral and material inputs for electronics and defense, raised $280M in a Series A co-led by Overmatch Ventures and The New Industrial Corporation with participation from J2 Ventures, Ensemble VC. $280M raised to date.
Texas Ventures Acquisition IV (Houston), a special purpose acquisition company, raised $150M in its IPO. $150M raised to date.
Wash42 (Irving), a provider of high-speed truck and vehicle washing services, raised $6.28M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $6.28M raised to date.
Mantle (Dallas), a developer of geothermal energy technology using oil and gas formations, raised $5M in a Seed led by 17Shoals. $5M raised to date.
Howdy 12.0 (Irving), a company operating in stealth raised $1.37M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.37M raised to date.

See you next week.

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 01:30:33 GMT

This week's Texas deal activity will be remembered for one reason: SpaceX went public.

The rocket company (and satellite and AI company), headquartered at Starbase, near Brownsville, raised $75 billion in its IPO, the largest in U.S. history. SpaceX is now valued at roughly $1.77 trillion, though the market cap was briefly pushed past $2 trillion on the first day of trading.

For Texas, which has been SpaceX's home base through the buildout of Starbase on the Gulf Coast, the listing is a defining moment. Our state has been tied to America's space ambitions since 1961, when NASA established the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, the command hub that guided the Gemini and Apollo programs and put men on the moon. Now we have a Texas-based private company, built from the ground up on the Gulf Coast, that has become one of the most valuable enterprises on Earth.

But SpaceX isn’t the whole story this week. Here are this week’s deal highlights, in Austin and beyond.

Austin

NinjaOne, a developer of unified IT operations and endpoint management software, raised $400M in a Series C led by CapitalG with participation from Teachers’ Venture Growth, Pinegrove Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital, NEA, Sequoia Capital, and others. $1.17B raised to date.
Zellerfeld, a producer of 3D-printed footwear made without traditional factories, raised $30M in a Series A-3 led by OMR X. $100.07M raised to date.
Dyme, a developer of commercial medical products and devices for healthcare providers, raised $10M in a Series A led by Umami Capital. $12.85M raised to date.
Artis, a provider of AI-powered branding and marketing services for residential architecture firms, raised $7.3M in a Seed led by LiveOak Ventures with participation from Capital Factory, mark vc. $7.30M raised to date.
InfoHawk, a developer of AI software to detect and neutralize online deception and scams, raised $2.25M in a Seed led by Moonshots Capital with participation from Others. $2.25M raised to date.
LIFT Aircraft, a developer of single-passenger electric VTOL aircraft for personal flight experiences, raised $1.20M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $35.16M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

SpaceX (Starbase - near Brownsville), a developer of orbital launch vehicles and satellite internet services, raised $75B in its IPO. $105.83B raised to date.
ERock (Houston), a provider of distributed natural gas power systems for data centers and utilities, raised $600M in its IPO. $619.33M raised to date.
Apogee Semiconductor (Plano), a developer of radiation-hardened semiconductors for aerospace and high-reliability applications, raised $16.20M in a Series A-4 led by LDV Partners. $30.45M raised to date.
Waldo (Dallas), a developer of AI-powered research and automation tools for knowledge workers, raised $10.36M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $25.80M raised to date.
AmPd Labs (Houston), a provider of additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing services, raised $3.53M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $8.53M raised to date.
Haast Autonomous (Dallas), a developer of autonomous VTOL aircraft for medical cargo transport, raised $1.85M in a Pre-seed from undisclosed investors. $1.87M raised to date.
Arovia (Houston), a producer of portable display screens and projectors for mobile professionals, raised $1.01M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $2.17M raised to date.

See you next week! —Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Malik Osumah.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 01:30:20 GMT

We’re back for another week of deals!

Austin's biggest this week came from the city’s growing defense tech corridor. Allen Control Systems closed a $200 million Series B at a $2.2 billion valuation to scale manufacturing of Bullfrog, its autonomous counter-drone weapon station. Bullfrog is already deployed with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, and posted a 100% success rate at T-REX 26-1, one of the Pentagon's premier counter-drone testing events. The company currently holds over $120 million in U.S. government contracts across multiple Bullfrog variants.

Lead investor Smash Capital was co-founded by Kevin Mayer, who studied mechanical engineering at MIT and spent time working on battlefield radar systems before going on to help Disney acquire Marvel and Star Wars and launch Disney+. His recent roles include CEO of TikTok and COO of its parent, ByteDance.

And now, this week’s deals.

Austin

Allen Control Systems, a developer of autonomous precision weapon systems for defense applications, raised $200M in a Series B led by Smash Capital with participation from Rally Ventures, Craft Ventures, Inspired Capital. $242M raised to date.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 01:31:00 GMT

Austin leads a quieter week for deals. Today we’ve got AI, more AI, cookies (the kind you eat), and antibody therapeutics.

Meanwhile, up in Dallas, the Texas Stock Exchange is preparing to open later this year. The exchange has now signed a lease for space at the Bank of America Tower at Parkside. The plan is to include a placing stock ticker at the base of the building. And instead of ringing a bell, TXSE hopes to shoot off a cannon.

More recently, this week S&P Dow Jones Indices announced a shift in methodology that will allow for TXSE-listed securities to be included in its own indices. “Y’all Street” is almost here.

Now on to the deals.

Austin

CasaPerks, a provider of AI-powered resident rewards and workplace recognition platforms, raised $15.80M in a Seed led by Longevity Equity. $17.10M raised to date.
Tern, a developer of AI-powered satellite-free vehicle positioning and navigation technology, raised $11.74M in a Seed led by Shadow Capital with participation from The Veteran Fund, BVVC, Scout Ventures. $11.85M raised to date.
Fields Good, a maker of functional ready-to-eat cookies formulated for focus, sleep, and protein intake, raised $1.80M in a Pre-Seed led by Female Founders Fund. $1.80M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Kayak Therapeutics (Houston), a developer of antibody therapeutics targeting cancer and immune-related diseases, raised $11.94M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $18.57M raised to date.

See you next week! —Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Bradford Martin.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 25 May 2026 01:30:56 GMT

Last week, Texas CEO Magazine’s own Joel Trammell was inducted into the Austin Tech Hall of Fame!

The award honors “the people who made Austin’s tech ecosystem what it is today.” Joel is certainly one of them, having not only been a standout tech entrepreneur for 30+ years but also having dedicated himself to training CEOs across Texas and beyond.

The Hall of Fame membership puts him alongside Austin luminaries like Michael Dell, George Kozmetsky, and Jim Truchard.

Since the time Joel served as chair of the Austin Technology Council, Austin has continued its evolution into a proper tech hub. And as you see in this newsletter every Sunday, Austin boasts a steady stream of deal activity, and it’s increasingly joined by big deals all across the state.

Check out the full Austin Tech Hall of Fame here. And now, this week’s deals:

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 18 May 2026 01:30:50 GMT

This week, six companies with Texas HQs (including two SPACs) priced public offerings. The headliner was Houston's Fervo Energy, whose $1.89B upsized debut became the largest clean energy IPO ever and pushed the geothermal developer past a $10B valuation on its first day of trading. That deal was fueled, like so much else in this market, by AI data center power demand.

Here’s the rundown on this week’s deals:

Austin

GSR V Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, raised $200M in its IPO. $200M raised to date.
Equal Parts, a developer of an AI-driven operating platform for independent insurance agencies, raised $27.90M in a Series A led by Inspired Capital with participation from Equal Ventures Management, Genius Ventures, Max Ventures. $27.90M raised to date.
Honest Mary’s, an operator of fast-casual restaurants specializing in fresh grain bowls, raised $1.30M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $2.75M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Fervo Energy (Houston), a developer of enhanced geothermal energy systems for carbon-free electricity, raised $1.89B in its IPO. $3.94B raised to date.
Global Medical Response (Lewisville), a provider of air and ground ambulance, mobile healthcare, and disaster response services, raised $478.72M in its IPO. $10.80B raised to date.
EagleRock Land (Houston), a land and resource management company collecting royalties from Permian Basin oil and gas production, raised $320.05M in its IPO. $320.05M raised to date.
Breeze Acquisition II (Irving), a special purpose acquisition company, raised $125M in its IPO. $125M raised to date.
Frontier Bank of Texas (Elgin), a community bank providing commercial and consumer banking services in central Texas, raised $29M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $59M raised to date.
Vida (Cedar Park), a developer of an AI agent operating system for enterprise workflow automation, raised $15M in its IPO. $21.53M raised to date.
Onramp Bitcoin (Dallas), a provider of multi-institution Bitcoin custody and financial services, raised $12.5M in a Series A led by Early Riders. $12.50M raised to date.
Casimir (Houston), a developer of semiconductor chips that harvest energy from quantum vacuum fields, raised $12M in a Seed led by Scout Ventures with participation from Lavrock Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund, Capital Factory, and others. $14.50M raised to date.
Absolute Recomp (North Richland Hills), an operator of fitness centers offering 24/7 access and strength training across DFW, raised $10M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $10.20M raised to date.
Oaklin Lane (Plano), a provider of pediatric speech, occupational, and physical therapy services, raised $3.24M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $3.24M raised to date.
EtiraRx (Dallas), a developer of small-molecule therapeutics for therapy-resistant cancers, raised $2.28M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $9.50M raised to date.
OnePoint Dialysis (The Woodlands), a provider of dialysis services for kidney patients, raised $2.25M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $2.25M raised to date.

See you next week! —Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Bradford Martin.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 11 May 2026 01:31:05 GMT

Break out the champagne: Texas has snagged its second annual Prosperity Cup. The award, given out by Site Selection magazine last week, recognized ours as the top-performing state for job-creating business investment.

Oh yeah, and Texas also got its third recognition from Site Selection as the state with the #1 business climate in the U.S.

As if to further prove it, Texas turned in a healthy week of deal activity. Here’s the rundown.

Austin

Mobia Medical, a developer of vagus nerve stimulation devices for chronic ischemic stroke recovery, raised $150M in its IPO. $357.26M raised to date.
Modicus Prime, a developer of an AI compliance platform for regulated pharmaceutical environments, raised $4.5M in a deal led by Frist Cressey Ventures with participation from Silverton Partners, Oncology Ventures. $8.01M raised to date.

Texas Weekly Deal Highlights

Texas CEO Magazine — Mon, 04 May 2026 01:30:53 GMT

It's official: Texas outraised Massachusetts in venture capital for the first time in at least 12 years.

In Q1 2026, Texas startups pulled in $5.8 billion versus Massachusetts' $5.3 billion, driven by a handful of blockbusters: autonomous boat builder Saronic ($1.75B), humanoid robot maker Apptronik ($935M), satellite comms firm CesiumAstro ($470M), and restaurant software company inKind ($450M).

Against that backdrop, here's what's been happening on the ground this week.

Austin

DAO Card, a developer of decentralized finance payment card products, raised $3.53M in a deal from undisclosed investors. $3.53M raised to date.
TIES, a producer of doctor-formulated supplements for men’s fertility and reproductive health, raised $1.5M in a Seed led by HumanCo. $1.50M raised to date.

Greater Texas Market

Highway Data Systems (New Braunfels), a developer of automated quality assurance technology for road construction and asphalt testing, raised $1.68M in a Seed led by British Business Bank. $1.68M raised to date.
ANSpect Technologies (Irving), a developer of signal processing semiconductors for digital communication networks, raised $1.025M in a Seed from undisclosed investors. $1.02M raised to date.

See you next week! —Mason & Joel

This edition was supported by Bradford Martin.

Subscribe to Joel Trammell’s CEO Newsletter, Managing the Future.