Startups at ASU’s Skysong surpass more than $1B in external funding

Arizona State University has announced that the startups in the Skysong Innovations portfolio have raised more than $1 billion in external funding. This is a major accomplishment for Skysong Innovations, which is the entity that gets ASU research out into the world.  “A billion dollars of investments is an incredible milestone that signals enormous accomplishment, … Read more

Rizing Tide announces first group of Crest Scholarship recipients

Rizing Tide, a foundation started by WebPT co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer Heidi Jannenga, has announced its first cohort of scholarship recipients who will be awarded designed to help students from underrepresented communities become physical therapists.  The foundation selected three BIPOC graduate students to receive scholarships of up to $14,000 to help fund their continuing … Read more

SIGN UP NOW: AZ Tech Podcast live podcast recording on Nov. 11

Do you love the AZ Tech Podcast? Have you missed interacting with our tech community in person? AZ Tech Beat is proud to announce the first live podcast recording of AZ Tech Podcast.  Host Hamid Shojaee will be chatting with some of our favorite friends of the podcast: Bob LaLoggia, Founder of AppointmentPlus, Mike Roberts, … Read more

New fintech company built on Buy Now, Pay Later launches, announces $3M seed round

equipifi, a fintech company that helps banks and credit unions incorporate a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) option, launches today with $3 million in seed funding. The Scottsdale-based startup is designed to help banks and credit unions offer users the chance to buy now, pay later. The cloud-based platform is “built to be launched effortlessly” … Read more

Early stage EdTech startup raises $1.9 million in seed money

ActiveClass, an early stage education technology company designed to help increase student engagement, has raised $1.9 million in seed money. The Scottsdale-based startup will use the money to hire more employees to support  growth, improve customer service and speed up product development.  “We are beyond excited for what this means not just for us at … Read more

Digital Air Strike named leader in six different consumer technology categories

Digital Air Strike, a Scottsdale-based startup designed to help car dealers improve marketing and  customer engagement, has received awards in six different consumer technology categories as part of the 17th annual Dealers’ Choice Awards program from Bobit Media. This is a record number of awards for Digital Air Strike (DAS), and the company was one … Read more

GitKraken acquires Git extension, the company’s second acquisition in a month

GitKraken (formerly Axosoft), a Scottsdale-based Git productivity and collaboration company,  has acquired GitLens, a Git extension for Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code (VS Code). The acquisition is GitKraken’s second in less than a month, as it acquired Git integration for Jira in September. GitLens was created by Eric Amodio in 2016. It’s a free, open source … Read more

September roundup: The weather might be cooling down, Arizona tech is not

It’s fun to see all the exciting wins for many Arizona tech companies. We continue to see more investments, more national attention and more semiconductor and EV activity.  Here’s just some of what happened last month:  Botco.ai launches AI chat and live agent support solution BotcoLive with major urgent care franchise Botco.ai, a HIPAA-compliant chatbot … Read more

Arizona Technology Council adds three new Board members, MarCom director

board members

The Arizona Technology Council elected three board members, added an executive committee member and announced its new director of marketing and communications at the Council’s quarterly board meeting on July 29. The Council is one of the largest tech trade associations in North America and the “board and staff are instrumental in executing strategies and … Read more

July roundup: Arizona tech stayed hot in the heat of the summer

July

July proved to be another big month for Arizona tech, with local companies raising millions, out-of-towners relocating to the Valley, and plenty of events and cohorts popping up to support startups. This month, we put a spotlight on diversity and talked to leaders from around Phoenix to give founders tips on how to diversify your … Read more