EdTech Startup Picmonic closes on $1.25M led by Arizona investors

Who knew goofy cartoon pictures would help students learn science? Apparently investors did, and they doubled down on their bet. Picmonic, a research proven audiovisual mnemonic tool that helps students master science, announced today that it has closed $1.25 million in a convertible note financing, bringing total funds raised by the company to $2.6 million. This startup … Read more

What you need to know about the Tucson tech community

Phoenix’s sister city to the south, Tucson, has blossomed into its own thriving technology ecosystem. Tucson is home to the Tucson Tech Corridor (TTC) and also several big technology companies that employ thousands of Tucson residents such as Raytheon and IBM. Here’s a run-down of what you need to know about the Tucson tech community. Startup … Read more

Startup Tucson awarded $1.44M to launch Thryve Next accelerator

Startup Tucson was awarded a $1.44 million, five-year contract from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s ScaleUp America program to launch their Thryve NEXT accelerator for second stage companies. Startup Tucson was one of only seven successful applicants nationwide out of over 60 proposals and was the only applicant west of the Mississippi River to receive ScaleUp … Read more

Silicon Valley Bank to dedicate $100M to AZ tech and life science cos

Silicon Valley Bank, a worldwide provider of commercial, international and private banking, announced today its plans for further expansion in Arizona. According to an official press release, the banking firm will create more IT and finance jobs at its Tempe facility and expects create 250 new jobs over the next three years. In addition, $100 … Read more

Contatta completes $1.5M convertible round to take product to market

Contatta, the world’s first collaborative email, has completed a $1.5 million convertible round led by Kickstart Seed Fund II and Grayhawk Capital. In addition, all of Contatta’s current board members, including CEO and co-founder Pat Sullivan, and outside investors Desert Angels and Arizona Technology Investors Forum (ATIF) participated in this latest round of investment. “Desert … Read more

Startup Tucson launches Thryve – a social impact incubator

Tucson’s premiere entrepreneurship development organization, Startup Tucson, is proud to announce the launch of Thryve, a social impact incubator. The new incubator resides in Startup Tucson’s CoLab workspace offices at Holualoa’s historic Pioneer Building at 17 E. Pennington Street Tucson, AZ 85710. Justin Williams, chairman & founder of Startup Tucson, shared that the inspiration to … Read more

Scottsdale's AppointmentPlus expand into a new 12,000 sq ft pad

AppointmentPlus, a worldwide leader in online and mobile scheduling solutions, is exploding with growth as they have experienced a consistent revenue growth at 35 percent year over year throughout the past five years, hit a milestone of more than 7K customers, 50 of which are Fortune 500 companies, have over 40 million appointments scheduled each … Read more

Startup Tucson and Gangplank merge to create CoLab Workspace

Two of Tucson’s leading innovation organizations, Startup Tucson and Gangplank Collective, have decided to merge operations effective January 2014. The merger sees Gangplank becoming an initiative of Startup Tucson and will adopt the name CoLab Workspace. As part of the agreement, Startup Tucson will serve as the organizational home for CoLab, work with Holualoa Companies … Read more

Tucson Named "Hot Spot" by Entrepreneur Magazine

Tucson has been named one of the “New Hot Spots” for entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur Magazine. Featured in the August 2013 issue, Shane Reiser, co-founder of the Startup Genome, wrote about Tucson’s unique “entrepreneurial conveyor belt.” The article discusses the process of building a business in Tucson and how the entrepreneurial environment contributes to the success … Read more

Shipping Auction Site Post.Bid.Ship. Finalizes New Round of Funding

Post.Bid.Ship. recently closed its third round of angel funding, getting a little over $600,000 from Desert Angels, according to Chairman Curtis Gunn. These funds will help expand the business of linking companies with shippers, co-founder and chief operations officer Jarret Hamstreet said. The Tucson-based company is looking to transform how the shipping business is conducted … Read more