Featured Archives - StartupsSanAntonio.com

JustAir Launches Portable Powered Face Mask To Protect Against COVID-19

14Jan

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

JustAir Launches Portable Powered Face Mask To Protect Against COVID-19

Thanks to an entrepreneurial doctor, a recently relocated startup has brought to the market a new kind of face mask that protects wearers from airborne pathogens like COVID-19. JustAir, Inc. has launched its patented advanced face mask system that uses a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) in a more portable version of what's used in medical or industrial grade systems. The mask protects both the wearer and surrounding people, filtering the user's inhaled and exhaled air. The face mask is made of electrostatic felt and two fabric layers and can be adjusted to fit your face. A small rechargeable, battery-powered blower supplies fresh, cool air to the mask. The positive pressure airflow technology pushes air through a medical-grade HEPA filter that traps 99.97 percent of viruses, a...

Level Effect Cyber Tool Acquired by Maryland-Based Company Huntress

12Jan

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Level Effect Cyber Tool Acquired by Maryland-Based Company Huntress

Huntress, a Maryland-based provider of managed detection and response to cyber threats, announced Tuesday its acquisition of network-aware endpoint detection and response technology from cyber startup Level Effect for an undisclosed amount. Level Effect co-founders Greg Ake and Robert Noeth will join the Huntress team as part of the acquisition to support the initial integration and ongoing development of their Recon network-aware endpoint detection software. Like the founding team at Huntress, both Ake and Noeth have strong backgrounds in the U.S. intelligence community, having worked within the National Security Agency, Air Force, and other institutions. The duo has over 20 combined years of experience as intelligence analysts, offensive and defensive cyber operators, and software ...

Wrapping up 2020: How Did San Antonio’s Startup Ecosystem Change?

18Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Wrapping up 2020: How Did San Antonio’s Startup Ecosystem Change?

San Antonio's entrepreneurial ecosystem has evolved in 2020, but our predictions at the end of 2019 certainly didn't account for a global pandemic. What has changed in San Antonio's startup ecosystem since the beginning of 2020? We've been tracking San Antonio's startup landscape to maintain the San Antonio Startup Ecosystem Map (an entrepreneurial 'life cycle' graphic listing local resources for those interested in the startup life) since our first map version (February to November 2018). We noted five significant trends emerging in San Antonio over the past year. 1. There's venture funding for San Antonio startups "Startups end the year in a surprising deal frenzy." It's the fitting headline of a December New York Times article on startup investing trends. Investors ...

WellAware Launches a Smart Indoor Air Purification Service For Businesses

17Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

WellAware Launches a Smart Indoor Air Purification Service For Businesses

A San Antonio tech startup focused over the last eight years on industrial remote monitoring of devices at oilfields is now working with local businesses to help protect staff and customers from COVID-19. WellAware launched its hardware and software solutions in 2012 to help oil and gas companies remotely monitor drilling equipment, well production, and pipeline operations. Since the pandemic impacted the oil and gas industry, CEO and co-founder Matt Harrison has been busy expanding WellAware's customer base. Harrison said his goal is to help connect "people to the things that matter" in manufacturing, logistics, and now, local San Antonio businesses. The tech startup launched an initiative earlier this month called Breathe Puro San Antonio. It is focused on helping restaurants a...

Need Co-Working Space in San Antonio? Check Out Our List

17Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Need Co-Working Space in San Antonio? Check Out Our List

Co-working spaces are adapting new sanitation, floor layout strategies, even free testing for members in order to create safe environments for startups and smaller businesses. If you're not ready to sign an expensive, long-term lease, you can find a co-working space in San Antonio that will suit your needs for location, access, budget, benefits, and vibe. Many co-working spaces offer additional benefits such as conference meeting spaces, mailboxes, and (mostly virtual) workshops. The rise in San Antonio over the past couple of years of specialized spaces for other industries means founders can now rent space in commercial kitchens, film and video studios, leasable bioscience wet labs and manufacturing facilities, and maker spaces across San Antonio. Check the website for each ...

Soilworks Grows Regenerative Agriculture Companies Wholesome Meats and Grazing Lands

14Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Soilworks Grows Regenerative Agriculture Companies Wholesome Meats and Grazing Lands

Soilworks Natural Capital has been growing its portfolio since its launch in June. Lew Moorman and Ed Byrne, co-founders of Scaleworks, have been busy investing in, incubating, and acquiring companies that can accelerate the adoption of regenerative farming practices. Moorman and Byrne launched Soilworks in June to focus on regenerative agriculture, a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and supports agricultural ecosystems. By September, Soilworks launched Wholesome Meats, a local business selling grass-fed beef supplied by local Carbon Ranchers who use regenerative grazing to create carbon-negative foods. The Soilworks founders, along with Frates Seeligson, executive director at San Antonio River Foundati...

Why Startups Need a Content Marketing Flywheel

13Dec

By Guest AuthorNo Comments

Articles, Featured, Guest Posts

Why Startups Need a Content Marketing Flywheel

In the modern digital landscape, successful marketing isn’t just advertising. As people become increasingly ad-savvy, it requires thoughtful strategy and humanization. While the most common digital marketing visual is the funnel, which moves website users from awareness to interest to consideration to conversion, a newer alternative is also worth consideration. Instead of being confined to the funnel, businesses should consider adopting the marketing flywheel model. An effective flywheel utilizes two or more marketing practices to make the process of gaining customers, conversions, and revenue progressively easier. Not just for established businesses with big marketing budgets, this relatively low-cost strategy can also work for startups that are willing to invest a bit of money and ...

IPSecure Scales as it Strategically Supports U.S. Cyber Defenses: Port San Antonio’s Tech Innovation Series

9Dec

By Casey Kelly-BartonNo Comments

Articles, Featured, Guest Posts

IPSecure Scales as it Strategically Supports U.S. Cyber Defenses: Port San Antonio’s Tech Innovation Series

Port San Antonio’s tech innovation series features local technology innovators and explores San Antonio’s growth as a major tech and cybersecurity hub. Learn more here. Local cybersecurity companies such as IPSecure are growing rapidly to meet the global demand for cyber innovation, cementing San Antonio's place among the world's top 10 hubs for cybersecurity talent. IPSecure is the latest cybersecurity company to be featured in Port San Antonio's latest Building Futures on the Leading Edge of Innovation program. IPSecure provides comprehensive network cybersecurity for government and commercial clients and cybersecurity software development, training and simulation, and risk management services. The company was founded in 2000 by former Air Force civil employee Jesse Rodriguez and ...

Modern Managed IT Lands $1M Seed Investment from Geekdom Fund

8Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Modern Managed IT Lands $1M Seed Investment from Geekdom Fund

Information Technology (IT) services provider Modern Managed IT announced Tuesday it had closed a $1 million seed funding round led by the San Antonio-based venture capital firms Geekdom Fund, which provided $750,000. 186k Ventures, an early-stage venture fund in San Antonio that makes investments in technology companies, also participated in the round. Modern Managed IT plans to use the investment to grow its IT staff as it expands operations in San Antonio and across Texas, Modern Managed IT CEO Luis Rodriguez told Startups San Antonio. “Top grade, cost-effective IT used to be a luxury for small businesses – not in a COVID-impacted world," stated Geekdom Fund managing director Don Douglas. "The new normal requires more online selling, remote operation, and modern technology for bu...

Active Capital Raises Over $25 Million for Second Startup Seed Fund

7Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Active Capital Raises Over $25 Million for Second Startup Seed Fund

In an unprecedented year of economic downturn triggered by a pandemic, the San Antonio-based venture capital firm Active Capital has raised over $25 million to invest in the business-to-business (B2B) software as a service (SaaS) market. Pat Matthews, Active Capital's CEO, is an entrepreneur and angel investor in more than 50 startup companies. The venture firm raised $21.5 million over 18 months for its first fund in late 2018. Matthews, along with co-founders Pat Condon and Cat Dizon, typically lead seed rounds for founder-led B2B SaaS companies based outside of Silicon Valley. The team mentors their portfolio founders as they grow their startups into sustainable businesses. At the beginning of 2020, Matthews had communicated with potential investors for Active Capital's second fu...