Apptronik

After being developed at the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas and working on the NASA Valkyrie Robot, Apptronik launched in 2016 with a plan to help put bipedal robots in space -- possible helping us explore Mars one day. In September, it was named a semifinalist for NASA iTech, which is seeking innovative ideas to explore the moon and Mars. Apptronik is also working on robotic firefighters.

Athena Security

Active shooters have become all too common in the U.S. and abroad. Athena Security is helping limit the violence with its smart camera system, which uses AI, human-computer vision and cameras to detect guns and sound alarms as soon as it does. Think of it as the unblinking eye of a security guard who is essentially watching everything in a given space. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Lisa Falzone, who previously led Revel Systems, and Chris Ciabarra, founder of Network Intercept. Athena is backed by XFactor Ventures.

Backtracks

Backtracks helps bring stronger data analytics and hosting to podcasts, which helps podcasters tap into new revenue by giving advertisers better metrics to look at. You can think of it a bit like Google Analytics for podcasts. The company has processed over 11.6 billion minutes of spoken word audio. And it has big customers including Dell, Stanford, Y Combinator and Samsung. The startup, led by CEO Jonathan Gill, was part of the Sputnik ATX accelerator.

CarServ

Know what needs disrupting? Auto repair. CarServ launched its machine learning-based software platform to help car repair shops manage customer communications, marketing and inventory. It was part of the 2016 Techstars accelerator and has raised $450,000, including a $250,000 check from Salesforce in September after CEO Mars Mundy made a killer elevator pitch.

Cloud 9

Some startups have more daunting human missions than others. Cloud 9 is taking on an incredibly difficult mission of improving mental health care with mobile apps to help get mental health care to those in need. The startup, led by CEO and founder JC Adams, won MassChallenge Texas' second highest award of $75,000 earlier this and won a $15,000 award from the GHWCC IGNITE Healthcare Network in its Fire Pitch competition.

Coder

Coder, a cloud-based development platform, was founded by a young trio of entrepreneurs who met before they could get drivers licenses. In November, they announced a $4.5M seed round led by Uncork Capital and Redpoint Ventures. Others in on the round included Founders Fund, Capital Factory, John Kodumal, Quinn Slack, Grant Gregory, Alec Guettel, David Rosenblatt, and Gregory Kennedy from Advection Growth Capital. The startup just launched its alpha product to the public, and it's growing rapidly.

John Andrew Entwistle writes that he met his co-founders — Kyle Carberry and Ammar Bandukwala — at age 13 while he was running a small game server company.

Diligent Robotics

Diligent Robotics is combining AI and robotics in an assistant named Moxi that assists health care organizations with tasks in hospitals. That can be replacing dirty sheets on a bed, bringing water to patients and night time errand runner. It has raised about $2.1 million in seed funding from True Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Boom Capital and Next Coast Ventures. It also landed $725,000 in Nationa Science Foundation grants. It CEO and co-founder, Andrea Thomaz, was named one of Texas Monthly's most influential Texans. Co-founder and CTO Vivian Chu meanwhile is a Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholar and has worked in labs at IBM, Google X and Honda Research Institute.

Groove.ID

Passwords -- most of us have a long list of them and forget half of them. The others are often easy to guess for hackers. Groove.ID, an early-stage cybersecurity startup, is trying to eliminate password issues at big companies by getting rid of them altogether in favor of using other cross-checks and behavioral data.

Founded by former Secureworks leaders, Mike Bousquet and Ross Kinder, the startup has raised about $600,000 in seed funding from Counterview Capital and unnamed cybersecurity executives.

ICON

ICON emerged from stealth mode during 2018's SXSW conference. It wowed journalists and affordable home advocates by constructing a 3D printed home in Austin for a relatively low price and in less than a couple days -- a massive improvement from traditional building methods. ICON has received media attention around the globe, and its Vulcan 3D printer was named one of Time's best inventions of 2018. In October, it announced it had raised $9 million in seed funding in a round led by Oakhouse Partners and with participation from D.R. Horton, Capital Factory, CAZ Investments, Cielo Property Group, Engage Ventues, MicroVentures, Saturn Five, Shadow Ventures, Trust Ventures, Verbene Road Holdings and Vulcan Capital.

JuiceBox Hero

Finding childcare that fits your family is no easy task, and that's where JuiceBox Hero sees its opportunity. The startup, led by Laurie Felker Jones helps parents compare their childcare options. JuiceBox Hero went through DivInc's accelerator, is part of Capital Factory's portfolio and its founder was selected as one of seven women accepted into the highly-competitive Women's Startup Lab in Silicon Valley this winter. The startup is currently raising $7,500 on the iFundWomen crowdfunding platform.

New Knowledge

2018 has been the year social media became truly weaponized. And New Knowledge is among the most promising startups fighting fake news and protecting brands from disinformation campaigns. Though it was founded in 2015, the company only really drew headlines about a year ago. It closed a $1.9 million seed round at the start of the year, and by August it had nabbed a $11 million Series A. That is some fast movement.

Rocket Dollar

Rocket Dollar, an alternative retirement investment platform, burst onto the Austin startup scene during SXSW earlier in 2018. Founded by Henry Yoshida, who previously co-founded Honest Dollar, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs, has been growing its team and provides a major opportunity for self-directed investing, especially at a time when traditional retirement investments have provided relatively meager returns. It won a startup pitch at Money 20/20. It was among Austin Chamber of Commerce Early-stage A-List winners in May and was an Austin Inno 50 on Fire Blazer winner earlier this year.

ScaleFactor

ScaleFactor launched with a few big advantages -- having founders who understand the accounting world and how software can improve it. Its CEO, Kurt Rathmann, was CFO of KNS Communications in Denver. And his fellow executives, David Loia and Gary Forni, each have led companies and seen behind the curtain in the accounting world. ScaleFactor landed a $2.5 million seed round in 2017 after being part of Techstars accelerator. In July, it announced a $10 million Series A round led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Broadhaven Ventures, Citi Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Flyover Capital, Firebrand Ventures and others.

Senseye

Senseye is developing a direct link between humans and computers that reads the brain wirelessly. It may sound like sci-fi, but Austin tech leaders are bullish on its possibilities and its applications for a variety of big industries. The company is currently part of Oracle's Global Startup Hub. Senseye founder David Zakariaie, age 21, won Capital Factory's first $100,000 challenge at age 19. His work with Senseye is being used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. And he was one of Austin Inno's 25 Under 25 in 2018.

Stoplight

Stoplight was founded in 2015 by Marc MacLeod with a mission of providing tech teams with a better way to test and mock-up web-based APIs. While that's pretty technical, you can think of it as a way to cut down on overall development time, which is a win for most dev teams. It has raised more than $4 million, including a seed round of $3 million led by former Austin Ventures and Silverton Partners co-founder Bill Wood. Others in on the round included NextGen Venture Partners, Next Coast Ventures, Social Starts and Capital Factory.

Storyfit

Storyfit uses AI insights to help identify how books, movies and TV content fits with different types of audiences and personalities. It helps publishers identify a story's commercial potential. That, in turn, can help publishers with marketing and forecasting. The company, which launched as AUTHORS.me in 2014, was co-founded by its CEO Monica Landers, a former ABC News producer. The company is backed by Capital Factory, Techstars and LSC Communications.

Swivel

Swivel, a flexible office space company using tech to make it easier to find a space, operated in stealth for a while and then publicly launched in July. It raised a $4.8 million seed round and a highly-experienced executive team with roots at Tivoli Software and Motive.

Threatcare

Last year, Threatcare launched a cybersecurity AI assistant called Violet that provides cloud-based attack simulations. Earlier this year, the startup, led by former NSA hacker Marcus Carey, landed a $1.4 million seed round led by Moonshots Capital, with additional funding from Flyover Capital and Firebrand Ventures. Threatcare has also been something of an innovator by providing open conversations of salaries, and it was also named a finalist for the Austin Mosaic Awards, which spotlighted startups with exemplary diversity and inclusion efforts.

Transmute

Transmute is working deep inside the blockchain vertical by building a decentralized app engine for enterprise development teams. Their tech basically helps big businesses move to a decentralized and secure place without re-coding everything. The startup, led by CEO and co-founder Karyl Fowler and CTO and co-founder Orie Steele, launched earlier this year and has been in the Techstars accelerator and is part of Oracle's new startup hub.