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Apollo Endosurgery lands $5.1M more in funding	2/10/2012 11:59 AM
Medical device maker Apollo Endosurgery Inc. has received $52.7 million of a planned $53.8 million financing. The Austin-based company collected the capital from 14 investors, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing comes four days after Apollo Endosurgery officials announced completing a $47.6 million round of funding. Investors included Denmark-based Novo A/S and two Dallas-based firms, Remeditex Ventures LLC and CPMG Inc. Companies are required by federal regulators to report investments within 15 days after the first sale in a private placement...
Analyst sees 7-inch iPad in Apple's future	2/10/2012 11:16 AM
A 7-inch iPad is an idea that has been floated on the rumor mill and by analysts before, but the prediction was made once more on Thursday by Ezra Gottheil of Technology Business Research. The analyst told Computerworld that he expects Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) won't introduce a Kindle Fire-sized iPad at the March event when it is expected to introduce the iPad 3. But Gottheil says it could come later this year. "I believe that's always been in the plan," Gottheil told Computerworld. "Actually that's a good form factor for some users, and although they will also charge a premium above other similar-sized tablets, they want to protect that price flank...
KLD Energy workers placed on 'short-term leave'	2/10/2012 10:46 AM
An Austin technology company that has received $26 million in funding during the last five years — including $10 million just three months ago — put an undisclosed number of workers on furlough last week. Electric drive-motor developer KLD Energy Technologies LLC placed workers on “short-term leave” while it focuses on the production side of its business to fill a customer order, spokesman T.R. Reid said. KLD Energy, founded in 2007, develops a transmissionless drive-motor system for scooters...
Two traits no one in leadership can do without	2/10/2012 10:12 AM
Many years ago while taking a class on leadership in graduate school, my classmates and I interviewed prominent individuals in leadership positions to determine which of the seven leadership qualities we identified they possessed. Of the qualities we were interested in— integrity, dedication, consistency, vision, goal-oriented, humility and assertiveness — integrity and consistency stood out to me in the leader I interviewed. His name was Jim Wilhite, the president of a natural gas pipeline company based in St...
Austin supplement maker boosting brains and bodies	2/10/2012 10:00 AM
Aubrey Marcus doesn’t mind dropping names. In fact, it’s a key part of his strategy to build Onnit Labs LLC, an East Austin-based dietary supplement maker whose sales and product lines are growing. Onnit Labs, which makes supplements aimed at the mind and body, has celebrity endorsement agreements with professional football player A.J. Hawk of the Green Bay Packers, Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller and actor Mehcad Brooks, an Austin native and star high school athlete who played the character Eggs on HBO’s “True Blood...
More investors revealed in Tango Health’s $4M funding round	2/10/2012 8:36 AM
Seven investors participated in the $4 million Series B round of funding announced by software maker Tango Health Inc. earlier this week. The Austin-based company, which announced Tuesday the financing led by S3 Ventures and angel investor Mike Turner, disclosed the total number of investors in a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Tango Health, which was founded in 2008, develops software designed to enable users to manage employee-sponsored health savings accounts...
States should nurture startups, Kauffman report says	2/10/2012 7:42 AM
The Kauffman Foundation issued a report Thursday calling on state and local governments to do more in boosting new businesses and nurturing entrepreneurship. The “Startup Act for the States” report said states and localities can reverse the trend of declining startup activity by making it easier for people to start businesses by providing a one-stop website for business registration, reversing the boom in occupational license requirements, and lowering the barriers for the formation of charter schools which would bring more innovation to K through 12 education, among other recommendations...
HomeAway expands, opens third Austin office	2/10/2012 7:30 AM
HomeAway Inc. is expanding to accommodate its growing staff with its third office in Austin. The Austin-based company, which operates dozens of websites that market vacation home rentals, will house its customer service and sales team in the new location in the Penn Field campus. Carl Shepherd, a co-founder of HomeAway, said they worked almost entirely with Austin artists, builders and contractors to develop the new space. KXAN-TV has more here.
More companies ramp up U.S. production	2/10/2012 7:17 AM
More big companies are shifting capital spending and work back to the United States from overseas, a sign that could help strengthen the economy. The trend still seems to be in the early stages but has many hoping that momentum is building. Union Pacific Co. expects to buy twice as many locomotives this year, for example, and Cummins Inc. has doubled its rate of capital spending growth from two years ago. The reason: low-cost markets overseas aren't that low anymore, and growth in places like China is slowing...
Council members offer new energy rate plan	2/10/2012 7:13 AM
Austin City Council members Laura Morrison and Kathie Tovo are suggesting an interim solution for the energy rate hike Austin Energy is proposing this year. The utility has recommended several options for increasing energy rates including raising rates by 8.7 percent this year, and increasing the rate again by 3.8 percent a few years later but many residents argue the proposal is too much too soon. Morrison and Tovo's plan involves a flat, system-wide increase of 3.5 percent beginning in June. The city is planning another hearing in early March...

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