Company News Archives - Next Coast Ventures

Today, Next Coast Ventures is proud to announce that we have led the $8mm Series B round in Austin-based AlertMedia. This is a pretty big deal for us and we get the opportunity to work with a great local company led by a very talented entrepreneur.

Brian Cruver

Founder and CEO

Brian Cruver, AlertMedia’s founder and CEO, has spent the last four years building a really intelligent company with market-leading technology, and has surrounded himself with an incredibly strong team of Austin executives.

We are always first and foremost looking for the very best entrepreneurs building disruptive businesses in big markets, and Brian and his team couldn’t fit the bill any better.

AlertMedia had interest from just about every venture capital firm – both locally and across the country – so we are very fortunate that they chose Next Coast Ventures to lead the round. We’re especially thrilled to be part of a genuinely Austin-born company that is also backed by ATX Seed Ventures and Silverton Partners. Adding Next Coast to the investment group is proof of not just how vibrant the Austin investment ecosystem is for great companies like AlertMedia, but how local investment dollars can support these businesses throughout their lifecycle.

But wait, there is more…

We got really excited about AlertMedia because the market they serve is absolutely massive, the solution they provide is simple and intuitive, and the need for their technology grows more and more important every day. The solution they provide is highly visible not only here in Texas, but across the nation and even the world.

So, what exactly does Alert Media do?

They address an issue that is tangibly affecting people in the U.S. and beyond: crucial necessity and ease of communicating in times of emergency. They provide mass communication software that is powerful, yet easy-to-use. The dashboard enables customers to send and receive critical communications via any channel (voice, app, email, text, Slack, social media, etc.) using one simple, mobile platform. In short: AlertMedia helps organizations easily communicate more effectively through multiple channels, especially in times of emergency or change. If you open Twitter or turn on any news network and see Puerto Rico, Mexico City or Las Vegas, you know this is an issue.

In fact, AlertMedia recently helped dozens of their customers communicate during Hurricane Harvey, mitigating loss and improving safety outcomes for people during this natural disaster.

But it doesn’t just stop there, over half of AlertMedia’s customers use it for important day-to-day business communication and operational activities like setting schedules, dispatching deliveries and/or HR notifications. Their customers are in over 80 countries across all industries, and with no nation or business immune to times of change, every enterprise is a possible customer of AlertMedia.

Our excitement about AlertMedia wasn’t just about the great product they had developed. The investment opportunity was also right in the intersection of two of our investment themes: the rapidly changing future of work and full-stack business models. We believe the future of work is changing as it relates to mobile workforce, BYOD and multiple communication channels (voice, text, messenger, etc.). These changes can make all of us more effective, but they can also make communication even more challenging and overwhelming. AlertMedia provides a clean solution that enables communication across multiple devices and modalities.

We also love full-stack business models because they can offer solutions in the marketplace that are comprehensive and easy to use. AlertMedia has both a SaaS and a monitoring solution – together, these two solutions offer its customers a cutting-edge product that is second to none in the marketplace.

But, most importantly to us and our founding mission, this opportunity was a great fit for our “Built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs” motto. We look to find the very best entrepreneurs who are building disruptive business in huge markets and try and help them in any way we can. Brian truly fits the model of one of the best entrepreneurs in the market, and he and his team have worked tirelessly to build a great company the old-fashion way: by maniacal focus on the customer. At Next Coast, we look to help our entrepreneurs just like this with every tool at our disposal – and we are proud to have been selected to partner with Brian and the AlertMedia team for the next phase of their journey.

Today, we are very excited to announce some additions to our team that echo our commitment to building out a firm with a continual thesis around how can we bring the best and brightest minds to the entrepreneurs that we serve. We are adding Paul Rogers and Jim Dunham as Technology Venture Partners, and Adam Salamon as our very first Entrepreneur in Residence.

One of the things we were adamant about when we founded Next Coast was that we leverage our network of industry experts to help our portfolio companies reach new levels of growth. Our leadership already has such diverse expertise – whether it’s bootstrapping a business or taking a company public, we’ve been there. But the people that we are bringing into our network are aren’t just company builders, they are game changers. They are going to help us provide the insight, strategy and support to give our entrepreneurs the edge they need to be successful in this competitive landscape.

Jim Dunham has been in the technology industry for over 25 years and most recently served as the president of cloud and business intelligence at ServiceSource, a San Francisco-based software company. Paul Rogers is an alumni of Google and currently serves as chief technology officer of New York-based Namely Inc., an HR data platform.

Jim Dunham

Technology Venture Partner

Paul Rogers

Technology Venture Partner

Prior to Namely, Paul served as the chief technology officer of Austin-based RetailMeNot Inc. and as the vice president of engineering and operations at Austin-based Bazaarvoice Inc.

At the highest level, Paul and Jim are going to be our technology experts deep in product management and product engineering. They are going to be able to help our portfolio companies with their technology platforms, product market fit and how they can scale their technology.

Entrepreneur in Residence Adam Salamon most recently served as the founder and chief operating officer of Perk Inc, a mobile-first rewards and engagement platform that went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange before being acquired by RhythmOne PLC earlier this year. It is important to our firm’s culture to have a strong entrepreneur in our office helping us evaluate investment opportunities and figure out what they want their next project to be. Adam is a great entrepreneur with a strong track record and we want to be part of what he does next.

Adam Salamon

Entrepreneur in Residence

All of these additions are going to be bringing more resources to our entrepreneurs. We are formalizing this commitment by launching the Game Changers section on our site, where this growing advisory network will share their expertise, insights and reflect on the current investment landscape.

Check out our most recent post by our Venture Partner and Game Changer Zeynep Young. She reflects on Austin’s entrepreneurial community aiming for the ‘sweet spot’ and how startups can set themselves apart in the hunt for investment dollars.