Tonight, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), will graduate 21 companies. Of those 21, six companies were part of ATI’s Information Technology portfolio, including Agile Planet, Calxeda, itzbig, Notice Technologies, Qcue and Spredfast. These companies have collectively achieved impressive business successes over their years, as varied as $48 million in funding to closing customers such as AARP and the San Francisco Giants to acquisition by its industry’s leader.
Over 20+ years, ATI has developed and refined industry specific capabilities, currently organized into Information Technology (IT), Wireless, Clean Energy and Bioscience. In each industry sector, ATI brings its portfolio companies deep domain expertise and market- and technology-specific networks of advisors and investors. Tonight’s graduation event showcases successes in all four sectors, including six remarkable companies in IT, ATI’s broadest category, and the core of what the incubator has focused on since inception in 1989. The graduating, and current, ATI IT companies are proving that Austin’s legacy in semiconductors, hardware and enterprise software is evolving and keeping relevant in this Web- and social-oriented world. The six IT graduates include:
Agile Planet, a developer of intelligent robotics software for industrial automation, has launched its products in partnership with the world’s leading automation vendors, Yaskawa and Rockwell Automation, and has commercialized robotic technology developed at University of Texas.
Calxeda, with its industry-disrupting ultra-low power processors powering servers and data centers, closed an impressive $48 million funding August 2010, and launch its first product with global impact via a partnership with Hewlett Packard November 2011.
Itzbig took a 180 degree shift to the Monster.com era of job searching with its approach to job matching – recruiting tools for job boards and major employers – ultimately getting acquired by JobTarget, the largest third-party operator of niche job boards in the world.
Notice Technologies is tackling the new wild west of social media, helping its customers analyze and create value from tools like Facebook and Twitter, and its new social data mining technologies are currently being introduced.
Qcue’s dynamic pricing software helps sports teams, venues and promoters set better prices up-front and adjust based on real-time shifts in the market. Qcue clients represent 85 percent of all dynamically priced tickets and include teams such as the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and the Utah Jazz.
Spredfast built a social media management system for brands and agencies such as AARP, Bayer, HomeAway and Nokia. Its social business software is gaining such traction that the company closed a $12 million round of funding just a few months ago.
“The companies graduating from our IT portfolio are mind-blowingly impressive, all in different ways,” said Robert Reeves, director, ATI IT Portfolio. “These companies are particularly special to me because I was where they are tonight at ATI’s last graduation with Phurnace Software. The entire ATI process – from selection to cultivation to graduation – is a rare experience only a few companies share, and we welcome tonight’s IT graduates to our alumni network.”
Contact:
Laura Beck for ATI
512-786-1098
