3 Austin Tech Companies Worth Watching

The three Austin tech firms under have been busy. From lately going public to touchdown full integrations with Google and Microsoft to successful over 160,000 shoppers, Hyliion, LumApps and EZ Texting are reaping the advantages of the arduous work their groups are placing in, they usually have quite a bit to rejoice. 

We did a deep dive into a few of the current developments, know-how choices and case research these tech firms have which are price listening to. 

What they do: Hyliion is a supplier of electrical powertrain options for Class eight long-haul semitrailers. The corporate goals to lower carbon emissions in logistics by providing a completely electrical powertrain system — the Hypertruck ERX — and conversion kits to remodel customary diesel-powered vehicles into hybrids. 

Buying and selling vehicles: Hyliion Founder and CEO Thomas Healy rang the New York Inventory Alternate (NYSE) bell earlier this month to rejoice the closing of a special-purpose acquisition (SPAC) with Tortoise Acquisition Corp. The enterprise mixture granted the now-public firm — formally often called “Hyliion Holdings Corp” — with $560 million in capital to spark the commercialization and mass manufacturing of the all-electric Hypertruck ERX car and proceed growth on present hybrid powertrain options.

Healy informed Transport Subjects that his staff needed to pursue an SPCA reasonably than a extra typical preliminary public providing (IPO) as a result of they appreciated that the previous was extra of a negotiation reasonably than a “roadshow for an IPO that will — or could not — achieve success.”

Electrical delivery: Hyliion’s enterprise mannequin is pushed by updating present vehicles with extra sustainable options reasonably than constructing completely new automobiles from scratch. The corporate combines its proprietary batteries, software program and analytics with electrical motors and different equipment. The Hypertruck ERX system will exchange diesel engines with a financial institution of electrical batteries charged by onboard turbines which are powered by compressed pure gasoline. The system will provide extra energy and torque than conventional vehicles, with a spread as much as 1,300 miles carrying an 80,000-pound load. 

Hybrid conversions will be fitted to a lot of the standard truck manufacturers in the present day and have an electrical axle, battery pack and improved aerodynamics. Additionally they function algorithm-based management items that analyze the upcoming topography of the highway and modify outputs to ship extra environment friendly energy and gas administration. 

What they do: LumApps is an intranet, worker engagement and workflow consolidation suite that homes a lot of a enterprise’s digital instruments in a single place. Workers can see their emails, duties, conferences, favourite Slack channels and extra on a centralized dashboard. 

Google and Microsoft integration: Earlier this month, LumApps was formally added to Google Cloud Market. Firms can now undertake the platform — which was constructed natively on Google Cloud and totally built-in with Google Workspace — as their social intranet and digital office of alternative simpler than ever. That integration positions LumApps as the one enterprise intranet that Google explicitly recommends. 

In February, LumApps additionally introduced a full integration with Microsoft Workplace’s 365 suite. The customizable dashboard can handle all Microsoft’s instruments — SharePoint On-line, Outlook, Groups and extra — that groups can entry at any time from their cell gadgets. The mixing was constructed off the success of LumApps becoming a member of the Microsoft Companion eXperience program (PAX) in October 2019, which enabled LumApps’ product and growth groups to work in shut collaboration with Microsoft on new initiatives.

End Line companion: In 2018, box-store shoe retailer End Line migrated its 14,000-person company and in-store workforce to LumApps’ Google integration. The corporate wanted a united digital office and communication portal to attach workers in its Indiana-based headquarters with staff throughout its nationwide storefronts, which whole nearly 1,000 in quantity. In response to End Line VP of Expertise and Operations Options Warren Lenard, collaboration was inefficient throughout your entire group. As an example, one doc that staff had been constructing collectively may take 60 emails to generate and will have completely different variations break up between varied areas. And importing information to earlier inner servers “would take without end,” he informed Pc World. 

Over a two month interval, End Line migrated to LumApps’ G Suite resolution to create a brand new firm intranet and improved their effectivity dramatically. Lenard mentioned within the first yr, groups uploaded over 2 million paperwork to Google Drive, emails between government groups and in-store workers decreased by 90 p.c, and there was an enormous general value financial savings. 

What they do: EZ Texting helps companies of every kind join with their supposed audiences via a text-based advertising and marketing platform. The platform helps shoppers attain objectives like win clients, enhance model consciousness, handle occasions extra effectively and extra. 

Cross-industry options: There are greater than 26 billion textual content messages despatched day-after-day within the U.S. as of June 2017, based on Statistic Mind. EZ Texting stories that texts have a 98 p.c open price and that 75 p.c of individuals choose to obtain advertising and marketing messages through textual content versus different cell messaging techniques. Primarily based on this precept of excessive utilization, EZ Texting is at present serving to over 160,000 companies throughout greater than a dozen verticals — together with lodges, faculties, authorities, gyms and non secular organizations — use text-based options to satisfy their wants.

Advertising instruments like customized texts, drip campaigns and text-to-win promotions assist shoppers join with shoppers. Whereas instruments like mass texts, customized toll-free numbers, one-on-one direct messages and an analytics suite assist drive effectivity and enhance gross sales.

Domino’s Pizza case examine: A Domino’s franchise close to the College of North Carolina at Charlotte that serves 25,000 college students needed to spice up RIO from its roughly minute-long TV and video adverts throughout the college’s basketball video games. Space Director Ryan Swanson needed to make use of the adverts to extend engagement on the franchise’s Fb web page the place it may host promotions and promote extra pies. Nevertheless, earlier makes an attempt had prompted college students to kind within the web page’s internet handle, which led to decrease engagement charges.

“Most college students should not going to jot down a web site throughout a basketball sport,” Swanson informed EZ Texting. “However taking a few seconds to ship and obtain a textual content with the URL of the group is sensible.”

Swanson employed EZ Texting’s key phrase and common-use quick code throughout adverts, which provided free pizzas to those who joined the Fb group. The promotional texts averaged round 25 p.c redemption charges, drove many new college students to the Fb web page and boosted income considerably. Over that semester, the franchise’s value per acquisition was solely 15 cents and it added 850 textual content message advertising and marketing subscribers.