A new Dallas unicorn gets 2023′s venture funding cycle off to a fast start

The flow of money to Dallas-area startups has kicked off quickly in 2023, a trend that mirrors the last year before business support plummeted amid year-end economic uncertainty.

Since Jan. 1, at least five companies founded in North Texas have made significant investments, including a $300 million seed round that crowned the region’s new “unicorn” – the label given to startups that have reached a valuation of $1 billion.

Investment agreements so far include:

• $300 million to Dallas-based ShiftKey, a technology company that connects licensed professionals with healthcare companies looking to fill open shifts. Investors include Lorient Capital, Ares Management, Pantheon, Clearlake Capital and Health Velocity Capital.
• $40 million to Dallas-based Inbenta, a conversational AI platform that automates customer service interactions. Tritium Partners led the investment round.
• $35 million to Addison-based Medix Infusion, a company that provides personalized care to improve access to infusion therapy for patients with chronic conditions in rural, suburban and underserved areas. Investors include Echo Health Ventures, Pittco Direct Investments II and Noro-Moseley Partners.
• $21.2 million to Dallas-based Worlds Enterprises, a technology platform that brings AI-powered automation to the core operations of large industrial enterprises.
• Up to $15 million to Dallas-based ReCode Therapeutics for the development of a genetic platform capable of delivering drugs to certain organs in the human body. Its inhaled messenger RNA therapy could eventually be used to treat cystic fibrosis. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the investor.

Additionally, lottery betting app and website Jackpot.com expanded to Texas earlier this month with $42 million in backing from some of the state’s biggest sports franchises – the Dallas. Cowboys, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.

Fall of 2022

Support for innovative North Texas companies had increased during the pandemic recovery, surpassing the $1 billion mark in investments in successive quarters in late 2021 and early 2022, according to company data. CB Insights research.

Total investment flowed to D-FW startups eclipsed $3 billion over the two years, with 2021’s $3.65 billion representing a three-fold increase from the pre-pandemic $1.36 billion. 2019.

Recession fears prompted investors to tighten their portfolios to close out 2022 and funding in the region fell to the lowest level in three years – down $190 million in the past three months.

Globally, venture capital funding fell 35% year-over-year to $415 billion last year. In the United States, the year-end total of $198.4 billion was down 37%.

Funding rounds of $100 million or more were cut by 50%, marking a 10-quarter low.

Discover the new “double unicorn”

Leading this year, ShiftKey’s massive funding round places a $2 billion valuation on the company founded by Tom Ellis in 2016.

ShiftKey has built an exclusive scheduling platform for the healthcare industry to connect licensed professionals with facilities looking to fill shifts. The company said its platform is used by more than 10,000 healthcare facilities nationwide.

“ShiftKey is changing the future of work by allowing licensed professionals to have the freedom and flexibility to choose when, where and how they want to work,” said David Berman, managing partner at Lorient Capital, in a statement.

Its mobile app allows nurses, X-ray technologists, respiratory therapists and other healthcare workers to search and offer nearby shifts to cover absent employees.

Ellis and his company won several accolades last year, including first place in the Dallas 100 from Southern Methodist University. This program rewards the fastest growing businesses in the region with revenues of $500,000 to $100 million.

ShiftKey’s revenue grew 2,000% over a three-year period, according to SMU, which does not disclose revenue numbers for the companies it ranks.

“During the peak of COVID, healthcare facilities have struggled to staff their teams 24/7,” said Simon Mak, executive director of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship at SMU’s Cox School of Business. . “The platform provided by ShiftKey has literally been a lifesaver.”

It joins other notable North Texas unicorns, Caris Life Sciences, o9 Solutions, LTK, Island and Mavenir. Tracking site Crunchbase lists 1,432 companies as unicorns.