Breaking news from Austin's booming tech scene. Startups, funding rounds, corporate relocations, tech events, and the people building the future in the Live Music Capital.
No state income tax. Lower cost of living than SF/NYC. University of Texas pipeline (50,000+ students). Quality of life (music, food, outdoors, weather). Tech-friendly government. Already home to Tesla, Apple, Google, Meta, Oracle, Samsung, and 5,000+ startups.
Tesla: Gigafactory Austin (HQ). 20,000+ employees. Apple: $1B campus in NW Austin. 15,000+ employees. Google: Downtown tower. 2,000+ and growing. Meta: Downtown office. Oracle: Relocated HQ from Silicon Valley. Samsung: $17B chip fab in Taylor (20 min from Austin).
Austin is a top-5 US startup city. Active VC scene: Silverton Partners, LiveOak Venture Partners, Capital Factory (the startup incubator/accelerator). Notable Austin startups: WP Engine, Indeed (now global), Bumble, Kendra Scott, Talkdesk, AlertMedia.
Michael Dell started Dell Technologies in his UT dorm room in 1984. Dell is still headquartered in Round Rock and employs 13,000+ locally. Dell proved Austin could produce a Fortune 500 tech company. Everything that followed built on that foundation.
Silverton Partners: Austin's largest VC. Backed Conversica, data.world, CS Disco. LiveOak Venture Partners: Early stage. S3 Ventures: Enterprise software focus. Elsewhere Partners: Growth stage, no outside capital (unique model). Capital Factory: Accelerator + fund.
Google, Apple, and Samsung all have Austin-based teams scouting local startups. Dell Technologies Capital invests from Round Rock. The corporate-startup connection is one of Austin's biggest advantages.
Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN): 200+ accredited investors. Golden Seeds: Women-led investing. AngelList: National platform with strong Austin presence. Angel investment in Austin has grown 300%+ in the past decade.
Austin attracted $5B+ in VC funding in recent years. AI/ML, enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, health tech, and climate tech are the hottest sectors. Seed rounds average $2-5M. Series A: $10-20M. The money is here.
South by Southwest (March). The world's biggest convergence of tech, film, and music. Interactive conference draws 50,000+ tech attendees. Keynotes, panels, demo days, and legendary parties. Austin's signature event.
Austin Startup Week: Free, community-organized. DeveloperWeek Austin: Developer conference. Techstars Startup Weekend: 54-hour hackathon. 3 Day Startup: Born at UT Austin, now global. Austin AI meetups: Multiple monthly events.
Austin has 100+ coworking spaces. Capital Factory (downtown, the hub), WeWork (multiple locations), Createscape, Link Coworking, Orange Coworking. See texascoworking.com for the full directory.
The University of Texas at Austin is a top-10 CS program. McCombs School of Business. The IC2 Institute for innovation. Student orgs: Longhorn Startup, Texas Venture Labs. Graduates feed directly into Austin's tech ecosystem.