Dallas Deal Highlights
by Mason Rathe
What’s up Dallas! Bringing you the mid-quarter deal activity review and 2 nd installment of Dallas Deal Highlights, covering activity in the tech and startup ecosystem in the Dallas area, from fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, to other major company announcements and news.

The most notable activity for the quarter thus far would fall in the M&A camp, where we saw a whopping 20 tech and life sciences transactions. These included Alliance Data Systems, who completed its massive $4B acquisition of Dallas-based Epsilon Data Management , and Diodes, who bolstered its push into Asia with the acquisition of Taiwan-based Lite-On Semiconductor for $428M.

Early stage deal flow trajectory for the quarter is off the mark we hit in Q2 ($148.5M) with $66M. This trend is on-par with a dip present in the rest of the US for early stage deals. The most notable financing in Dallas so far this quarter were in the healthcare realm, with the $27M for Spectral MD and $23.7M for OncoNano Medicine.

The $135M raised by Compass Datacenters tops the charts for later stage activity, where the wholesale data center developer, will invest $3B in the development of new data center campuses across the U.S. over the near term.

I’ll be back in your inbox to catch you up at the end of the quarter. In the meantime, if I missed anything or have any feedback, happy to hear, I won’t take it personally 😊

Lastly, before letting you get to the meat of the newsletter, here at LiveOak Venture Partners we spend a bunch of time in Dallas, have made several investments in the area, and continue to be actively investing in early stage tech businesses in the Dallas (and Texas in general) region, so if you know of anything that you think may be of interest, please let me know. 

Notable Financing Activity
  • Compass Datacenters, a Dallas-based data center operator received $135M from Israeli real estate developer Azrieli Group (AZRG.TA) for a 20% stake in the company. The funding is part of a $3B expansion plan.
  • Spectral MD, a Dallas-based company focused on AI-powered burn and wound assessment, secured $27M from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 
  • OncoNano Medicine, a Fort Worth-based company developing an imaging agent to help surgeons better remove tumors, raised $23.7M in a second tranche of Series A. for a total size of the round of $35.4M led by Salem Partners. The company previously raised $11.7M last year and received $6M in grant funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
  • Plano-based Systum, a wholesale inventory management software developer, raised $10.7M Series B led by Octopus Ventures. Systum has raised $18.2M to date.
  • Curbio, a Maryland-based real estate technology company that recently partnered with Dallas-based Ebby Halliday Cos., has raised $7M in Series A funding. The funding round for Curbio, which specializes in pre-sale home renovation, was co-led by Camber Creek and Brick & Mortar
  • Belluscura, whose U.S. operations are headquartered in Plano, raised $2.7M in its latest fundraising round, giving the London-based company a post-money value of roughly $9M. The company focuses on improving healthcare by developing new enriched oxygen treatment platforms. The latest round began earlier this year with a UK crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube.
  • Bilt, a Grapevine-based product assembly information application, raised $1.85M of venture funding from undisclosed investors.
  • VitalTech, a Plano-based digital healthcare platform designed to support connected care through remote patient monitoring, received an undisclosed amount of development capital from Stanley Ventures and Concord Health Partners.
  • Aspire Marketing Services, an Irving-based provider tech-enabled marketing services for automotive dealers and manufacturers, raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding in a deal led by Staley Capital.

Notable M&A Activity
  • Epsilon Data Management, an Irving-based provider of data-driven marketing technologies and services, and subsidiary of Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS), was acquired by Publicis Group (PAR: PUB) for $4B. Epsilon was acquired by ADS for $300M in 2004.
  • Diodes Incorporated (NAS: DIOD), a Plano-based semiconductor manufacturer, acquired Taiwan-based Lite-On Semiconductor in a cash-based share swap transaction valued at $428M. Diodes has a market cap of $1.92B.
  • Rent-A-Center, Inc. announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Merchants Preferred, a nationwide provider of virtual rent-to-own services, in a deal that was reportedly valued at $47.5M.
  • Modern Systems, a Dallas-based leader in application modernization, was acquired by Advanced Computer Software Group, the UK’s third largest software and services company, via its financial sponsor Vista Equity Partners, through a $29M LBO.
  • Allen-based WatchGuard, a developer of in-car police dash cameras and body cameras, has been acquired by Motorola Solutions, for an undisclosed amount.
  • Fort Worth-based ECi Software Solutions, which develops cloud-based business management software, acquired UK-based Spruce Computer Systems Limited, a reseller of its software. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.
  • Compass Datacenters, a Dallas-based data center operator, acquired ROOT Data Center, a Montreal-based wholesale data center provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
  • Vertex Group, a Richardson-based developer for utility customer experience management software, was acquired by PE investor DFW Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
  • RealPage Inc., a Richardson-based real estate analytics software company, has acquired Waco-based SimpleBills Corp., a company founded by two Baylor University students. SimpleBills allows roommates to easily split bills. Financial terms were undisclosed.
  • iControl ESI, an Addison-based eDiscovery technology solution provider, was acquired by Legility, via its financial sponsors Claritas Capital and Gridiron Capital, for an undisclosed amount.
  • OpenConnect, a Dallas-based process-intelligence and workforce-analytics software provider, was acquired by ActiveOps, via its financial sponsor Calculus Capital, for an undisclosed amount.
  • Dallas-based The Pursuant Group, a full-service platform of fundraising and technology businesses, has acquired Causemo, a fundraising intelligence and donor segmentation platform headquartered in Boston.
  • ECi Software Solutions, the Fort Worth-based provider of cloud-based business management solutions, has agreed to buy Netherlands-based Trivest Beheer B.V., a provider of smart vertical software solutions for the SME manufacturing sector.
  • Surgical Notes, a Dallas-based developer of revenue cycle solutions and electronic health record applications, was acquired by The CapStreet Group, for an undisclosed amount.
  • CoorsTek Medical, a subsidiary of CoorsTek and Fort-Worth based manufacturer of medical devices intended to enhance the quality of life and standard of care for patients, was acquired by Unitedcoatings Group for an undisclosed amount. CoorsTek Medical was acquired by Coorstek, via its financial sponsor Golden Equity Investments through a $49.6M LBO in 2013.
  • Intelledox, a global digital transformation software company, was acquired by Smart Communications, the leading cloud-based platform for enterprise customer communications, via its financial sponsor Accel-KKR, for an undisclosed amount.
  • Robin Autopilot, a provider of an eco-friendly robotic lawn service, was acquired by Fahey Group for an undisclosed amount.
  • Dairy.com, a Frisco-based software solutions provider for the entire dairy supply chain, has been acquired by private equity firm Banneker Partners. Deal terms were undisclosed.
  • OGsys, a developer of cloud-based oil and gas accounting software, was acquired by Quorum Software, via its financial sponsor Thoma Bravo, for an undisclosed amount.
  • SQData, a provider of data replication solutions, was acquired by Syncsort, via its financial sponsors Centerbridge Partners and Clearlake Capital Group, for an undisclosed amount.

Recent Dallas News

Thank you!
Mason Rathe



If a missed a deal, major announcement, etc., shoot me an email and happy to include in the next one.

LiveOak Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm investing in Texas-based companies. Think you company might be a fit, shoot me an email at [email protected]