Xconomy: Texas Roundup: Apollo Endosurgery, PROS Holdings, START

December 20, 2013-

By: Angela Shah

Before we head into the holiday week, Texas startups are wrapping up fundraising, acquisitions, and new expansions. Here is the latest news from Xconomy Texas:

—Austin-based Apollo Endosurgery said it raised $60.7 million in a planned $63.7 million Series C financing. The medical device company had 11 investors in this round, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Apollo was founded in 2006 tocommercialize innovations in translumenal surgery and therapeutic endoscopy and to produce minimally invasive devices for GI procedures. The company recently completed its $110 million purchase of the Lap-band business from Irvine, CA-based Allergan, which is best known for its Botox product line. Lap-band is a weight-loss procedure where a band is put around the stomach to reduce its capacity.

—PROS Holding (NYSE: PRO), a Houston company which sells software to help companies optimize pricing, this week acquired San Francisco-based SignalDemand in a $13.5 million all-cash deal.

The purchase is part of a recent effort by the company, which traditionally focused on pricing optimization for the aviation, hotel, and retail car industries, to expand its customer base. SignalDemand specializes in pricing optimization for food and agriculture companies, a new market for PROS.

PROS went public in 2007 and was founded 28 years ago by a former airline executive as the industry was being deregulated. It also provides price optimization services to companies in manufacturing and distribution. Charlie Murphy, PROS’ CFO, says the firm helps customers manage pricing across a complex mix of purchasers and products. In October, Pros bought Cameleon Software, a French software provider that specializes in “configure, price, and quote” software, known as CPQ, for $33 million.

—A San Antonio-based clinical trials company announced Monday it has expanded to Madrid, Spain, where it will conduct Phase 1 clinical trials on non-leukemia cancers. South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START) announced it has opened a second clinical trials center in the Hospital Fundación Jiménez Diaz in the Spanish capital. It will be the second site in Spain; START also has a facility in Shanghai.