Dallas-based Trend Micro announced this morning that it has acquired Canadian security software developer Immunio, in a deal to bolster its efforts in the DevOps and hybrid cloud security area. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Immunio had been based in Montreal, Canada. According to Trend Micro, it has acquired Immunio's application protection technology, their team of application security experts and their customers, and use it to expand its hybrid cloud security offerings for the DevOps lifecycle, and in particular to enhance its security for containers.

San Antonio-based file transfer software developer GlobalSCAPE said this week that it has launched new cloud storage and remote office features for its Enhanced File Transfer (EFT) software. According to GlobalSCAPE, the new features enable transfer of data from cloud storage like Amazon S3 or Microsoft Azure, automation of processing of files, along with other enhancements.

Austin-based Vyze, the venture-backed developer of cloud-based financing software, says that camera and electronics retailer Adorama will offer up a private-label credit program using its platform. financial details of the deal were not announced. The new consumer financing program will provide Adorama's customers with financing options for their online purchases. Vyze is venture backed by Austin Ventures, Fathom Capital and Starvest Partners.

Dallas-based CyberMiles, a startup developing a blockchain-based platform for decentralized, online marketplaces, said it has raised close to $30M in its "initial coin offering" (ICO). CyberMiles said it sold 420 million "CyberMiles Tokens" in its ICO, with funds to go towards its technology. An initial coin offering (ICO) is a new technique which uses the Blockchain protocol to help companies raise money for their startups, in lieu of more traditional venture capital or other funding, giving investors in its ICO a share of equity in the company.

Irving, Texas-based Miraca Life Sciences, which operates an anatomic pathology laboratory, has been acquired by private equity investor Avista Capital Partners. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Miraca Life Sciences provides anatomic pathology services in the fields of gastroenterology, dermatology, hematology, breast health, and urology. As part of the acquisition, Vista said it has appointed Scott Walton as CEO of Miraca Life Sciences; Walton was most recently President and CEO of Ameritox.

Dallas-based BenefitMall, the provider of employee benefits and payroll services which is backed by Austin Ventures, has been acquired by The Carlyle Group. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. The Carlyle Group said it believes thatcapital investment, an expanded salesforce, and its expertise it can allow BenefitMall to take a "significant" market share. BenefitMall was founded in 1979, and serves 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses, according to the companies. The funding for the investment comes from Carlyle's $1 billion Carlyle Global Financial Services Partners II fund.

Austin-based Infinite.io, which develops network-based storage controllers, said today that it has named the former CEO of Cleversafe, John Morris, to its board. Morris was most recently Vice President and General Manager of IBM's Object Storage Division. Morris also had served at Juniper Networks and Pay by Touch.

Firsco-based Monolith Software, which develops service management and automation software for the enterprise, announced on Friday that it has renamed the company to Federos, in a major rebranding. ACcording to the company, the change comes as a result of its purchase of TBD Fusion Group. Monolith bought the assets of TBD Fusion, a developer of unified service management software, in August. The company is led by CEO David Knight.

Austin-based enterprise software developer Upland Software said Friday that it has acquired Qvidian Corporation, a developer of RFP and sales proposal automation software. Upload said it paid $50M in cash for Qvidian, which it expects to bring $19.5M in annual revenues. Qvidian was based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Jack McDonald is Chairman and CEO of Upload Software.

Instacart shoppers and drivers in Austin are in the midst of a "no delivery" stoppage, part of a broader effort among workers for the companies to protest compensation from the "on demand" delivery service. According to reports, it only expected "a handful" of workers, in Austin and St. Louis only, to participate in the stoppage. The Instacart shoppers and drivers are seeking the ability to receive tips, and want better compensation for delivering heavy items. Instacart has previously received funding from Austin's Whole Foods, which is now owned by Amazon.com.

Austin-based e-commerce software developer BigCommerce said on Friday that it has linked up with PayPal, to offer up businesses using its software to offer up flexible financing through PayPal Credit. According to BigCommerce, the link provides access to financing with PayPal Credit, business financing through PayPal Working Capital, and PayPal Marketing Solutions.

Austin-based SpareFoot expanded the breadth of its business this week, saying that it will now connect its users to discounted truck rentals, through its relationship with local self storage facilities. SpareFoot says that it will help users--and local self storage operators--by how let users find moving trucks with storage, helping its users identify facilities which offer up both of those services. Many self storage facilities already offer up moving trucks with their services. SpareFoot said it launched the new service because it found that storage customers often didn't know--until too late--that the storage facilities they were interested in offered up free or discounted truck rental.

Austin-based SailPoint was up over 14% in trading on Friday after its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where it debuted this morning under the symbol SAIL. SailPoint, which priced its IPO Thursday night at $12.00 per share, raising $120M for the company, was up around $13.70 in afternoon trading on Friday. SailPoint had initially set its estimated IPO range at between $9.00 and $11.00 per share, indicating that demand for the company's IPO stock was higher than expected. SailPoint's IPO was underwritten by Morgan Stanley & Co., Citigroup Global Markets, Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets, along with Keybanc Capital Markets Inc., Canaccord Genuity Inc., and Oppenheimer & Co. The company is backed by private equity investor Thoma Bravo. SailPoint's software is used for enterprise, user identity management, for managing user authentication and logins.

Austin-based Tiff's Treats, the company which delivers warm cookies to your door, has raised $25M in an investment round, the company said Wednesday. The funding came from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. The funding also included CIC Partners, Capstar Partners, as well as angels. The company said the funding goes towards national expansion, plus investment in its technology platform. Lincoln Isetta of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital joins the company's board with the funding. Tiff's Treats says it has now raised $50M in the last five years for its business. The company was founded by Leon and Tiffany Chen.

Dallas-based mobile key app developer OpenKey has signed up another customer, this time, a brand new, luxury resort in Southern Utah, the company said today. According to OpenKey, Amira Resort in St. George, Utah, will use the company's platform to provide keyless access to rooms. The Amira Resort is a 4-Star/4-Diamond resort near such locations as Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the Grand Canyon. Financial impact of the win was not announced. OpenKey said that its app will also allow guests to get directions to the property, book amenities, notify the resort of early or late arrival, access Wi-Fi codes, and more. The Amira Resort just opened this month. The luxury accomodations are in stark contrast to the typical lodgings in St. George, which tend towards motels and lower end chains.

TechShop, the "Maker" space operator which allowed technology enthusiasts to access 3D printers, plasma cutters, welding equipment, and other do-it-yourself electronics tools, and other resources for the DIY and "Maker" movements, has shut down all of its locations, including the one in Round Rock, and is now looking for a buyer. The company announced the shutdown on Wednesday. The reason for the shutdown was not announced, however, the company was taking bids to purchase the company online. TechShop had opened up its Round Rock location in 2012.

Austin-based grocery chain Whole Foods Market--which is now part of Amazon--said on Wednesday that it will offer up special holiday discounts on grocery items for Amazon Prime Members, as Amazon continues to work on integrating Whole Foods into its empire. According to Whole Foods, it will offer up special discounts on organic and no antibiotic turkeys for Prime Members for the holiday season, along with lower overall prices on a number or products from Whole Foods' in-house 365 Everyday Value brand. The turkey deal makes turkeys available at $2.99 a pound for organic and $1.99 a pound for "no antibiotic" turkeys for Prime Members, a steep discount from the $3.49 a pound price for organic turkeys, and $2.49 a pound for "no antibiotic" turkeys it will offer to non-members. Amazon says the discount is a preview of the in-store benefits it plans to offer Prime members, when it makes Amazon Prime the official rewards program of Whole Foods Market.

Austin-based Hypori, which was developing "virtual mobile infrastructure" technology which makes it easier for enterprises to allow "bring-your-own-devices" (BYOD) operations to their companies, has sold off its technology and intellectual property to Virginia-based Intelligent Waves. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Intelligent Waves said it will use the buy to bolster its solutions enabling Command and Control (C2) capabilities in the federal, intelligence, and military communities. Hypori's flagship products had been in the virtual mobile infrastructure area, and it's unclear what Hypori's status is now in terms of products and operations.

Austin-based dating service Bumble appears to be in the midst of acquisition negotiations again, on reports that dating site giant Match Group is again negotiating a potential acquisition deal with Bumble. Bumble--best known for its focus on allowing women to "make the first move"--has long been rumored to be talking with Match about an acquisition. The latest reports have Bumble valuing the company at around $1 billion. It's unclear who the sources of the latest rumors are, but those reports have the hallmark of investment bankers shopping a competitive bid situation for Bumble. Bumble CEO and founder Whitney Herd said Bumble will cross the $100M revenue mark this year in an interview with Forbes, which was published this week.

Houston-based Genialis, a developer of software used for the visual exploration of genetic sequencing data, said on Monday afternoon that it has raised $2.3M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Redapline Venture Capital and First Star Venture Capital, and also included Pikas d.o.o. and angels. Genialis develops software for biologists, which is used for navigating next generation genetic sequencing data. The company said the funding goes towards expansion in the United States, plus commercialization of its platform. Genialis has a partnership with Baylor College of Medicine. The company's other locations are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Austin-based artificial intelligence software developer Grid4C, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning software, said today that it has been selected by ENGIE to power a "smart thermostat" offering for its Think Energy app. Size of the deal were not announced. According to Grid4C, its AI and machine learning tools will go to help optimize smart thermostat efficiency settings, predict and detect home appliance faults, and simulate impacts to energy bills in real time for users of ENGIE's app. Grid4C's founder and CEO is Dr. Noa Ruschin-Rimini.

Plano-based software developer Optimal Blue, which develops cloud-based software for the mortgage industry, reported a win with broker-dealer South Street Securities, the company said on Monday. Financial impact of the win was not announced. South Street Securities has a balance sheet over over $30 billion. South Street Securities said Optimal Blue's software will be used in the compliance area.

Houston-based RESA Power, a service provider which helps supply electrical equipment for the power distribution and utility market, has been acquired by private equity investor Blue Sea Capital. Terms of the acquisition, announced last week, were not announced. Blue Sea Capital is based in Florida, and focuses on the lower middle market. RESA Power is led by CEO Brian McSharry. The company specializes in supplying obsolete, hard-to-find, as well as current equipment for the power market, including transformers, switchgear, breakers and motor control centers.

Dallas-based private equity investor Highlander Partners, L.P. said today that it has named Jeff Partridge as an Operating Partner at the firm. Partridge was CEO of Truco Enterprises, a private equity-owned licensee of On the Border Restaurants, until earlier this year. According to Highlander Partners, Partridge will work with its existing CPG-oriented businesses on product development, branding and channel expansion, in addition to sourcing and analyzing new opportunities in the space. Partridge also served at Combs Product, Wickham Supply, and The Coca Cola Company.

Think fully autonomous vehicles are far off in the future? They're actually on Texas roads ,today, according to appliance maker Frigidaire. Frigidaire and robotic truck technology maker Embark, along with commercial fleet management provider Ryder Systems revealed late Sunday evening that they have been using automated, robotic trucks to deliver loads of appliances from El Paso across the I-10, to a warehouse in California, as part of a pilot program to help move freight more efficiently across the nation. According to the three companies, they have been moving Frigidaire refrigerators 650 miles at a time using automated driving technology since October. The three companies said that the Level 2 systems, for now, have a properly licensed driver ready to take over in the event of any issues, but that it is moving towards a future of fully autonomous trucks for highway operation---and hopes to expand how many of the robotic trucks it has on the road in the pilot, soon.

Austin-based Spiceworks said this week that it has named Manish Dixit as the company's new SVP of Products and Engineering. Dixit was previously at Dice, serving in both product and engineering roles, and also has served at Oracle, Sun, Pixo, Nokia, and Mindware. Spiceworks is a developer of software for managing information technology (IT) operations.

Austin-based cloud-based financing provider Vyze reported a win with Build.com this week, saying that Build.com will offer up a financing program based on Vyze's platform. Build.com operates an online, home improvement e-commerce service. Fiacial details of the deal were not announced, however, the two said that Build.com's shoppers can apply for an use Build.com credit and financing through either the Build.com website or through its call center. Vyze is venture backed by Austin Ventures, included Fathom Capital and Starvest Partners, and raised a big funding round in August. The company is led by CEO Keith Nealon.

Former Whole Foods co-CEO and founder Walter Robb is the main backer in a round of funding for a food startup, FoodMaven, FoodMaven said on Thursday morning. According to FoodMaven, a startup developing an online marketplace to recapture food lost in inefficiencies in the U.S. agricultural supply chain, Robb also has joined the company's board. Size of the investment was not announced. FoodMaven says it is creating an internet marketplace and "rapid logistics system" for re-selling and quickly delivering this lost food, using big data optimization technology. FoodMaven is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Austin-based Rollick Outdoor, a new startup led by former TrueCar executive Bernie Brenner, has raised $5M in a seed funding to help powersports, marine, and RV dealers with their retail experience, the company said on Wednesday. The funding came from Silverton Partners, Autotech Ventures, Troy Capital Partners, Capital Factory and Brett Hurt. According to Rollick Outdoor, it will work with the powersports, RV and marine industries and partner large membership groups to drive buyers to those retailers. Morgan Flager of Silverton Partners joins the company's board with the funding. Alexei Andreev of AutoTech Ventures joins the board as an observer.

Austin-based startup ScaleFactor, a developer of finance and accounting software for helping small businesses with bookkeeping and other tasks, has raised $2.5M in a seed funding, the company said this morning. The funding came from Next Coast Ventures, Techstars Ventures, Firebrand Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Edison Factory and Flyover Capital. ScaleFactor was part of the Spring 2017 Techstars Austin Accelerator. The company said the funding will go towards product development of its tool, used to automated bookkeeping tasks for businesses. ScaleFactor's CEO and founder is Kurt Rathmann.

Austin-based Whole Foods Market, and new owner Amazon said this morning that Whole Foods will begin selling Amazon's full line of devices--including the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets--at over 100 Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. According to the two, Amazon will also launch "pop-up" stores across Whole Foods Market stores across the country for the holiday season. The move looks to be the first major push by Amazon.com to tap into the large retail footprint of Whole Foods, which it acquired in August.

Austin-based Salesforce system integrator ,a href="https://cloudcoop.io">Cloud Co-Op said this week that it is expanding its apprentice programs for military veterans. According to the product development and systems integrator, it is expanding its existing Vets2Cloud apprenticeship program, by opening up a help desk operation specifically staffed by former military veterans. The company's CEO and co-founder, David Franklin, is a US Navy veteran. According to the company, the goal of its Vets2Cloud program is to help make the transition from military to civilian (corporate) life a little easier. Cloud Co-Op launched its Vets2Cloud program last year, also around Veterans Day.

Ridesharing service Uber said again on Wednesday that it hopes to start flying its flying taxis to Dallas-Fort Worth by 2020, as it announced a deal with the U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) to developer software that would help support those flying taxi efforts. Uber--which said earlier this year that it was working with transportation authorities in Dallas-Fort Worth on the flying taxi effort--says it is using vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft developed by other companies to speed people across cities across the U.S. Dallas-Fort Worth was the first market in the nation where Uber announced it would launch the service, which will be called Uber Elevate.

Austin-based Magnitude Software, which develops reporting and data management software for the enterprise, has gobbled up another company. Magnitude announced recently that it has acquired Agility Multichannel, a provider of product information management (PIM) software for the multichannel commerce industry. Financial details of the buy were not announced. Magnitude has been actively acquiring companies in the enterprise information management software space, having also recently acquired Simba Technologies and Datalytics Technologies. Magnitude--which is backed by $100M in funding from private equity investor Audax Group--says strategic acquisitions are a "key part" of its strategy in the market. Magnitude is led by Chairman and CEO Chris Ney.