Texas-Squared Startup Newsletter #217

Texas Startup News, Opinion & Events in the Lone StartUP State
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New Houston Startup Hub Launches Downtown as Innovation Corridor Advances — Link

- The Houston Chronicle’s Andrea Lienfelder

• New entrepreneur, accelerator hub to open in downtown Houston — Link
  - Houston Business Journal’s Chris Matthews
• New innovation ‘vertical village’ announced for downtown Houston — Link
  - Innovation Map’s Natalie Harms

“The Downtown Launch Pad will have 17,000 square feet at the Amegy Bank building at 1801 Main St. The Launch Pad will be anchored by startup assistance organizations MassChallenge and gener8tor, based in Massachusetts and Wisconsin, respectively, and will have space for incubator programs, labs, coworking desks and corporate innovation areas. It’s slated to open in spring 2020”

Decoding Houston’s Startup Resources — Discover Acceleration, Incubation, and Connection to Funding

Decoding Houston’s Startup Resources — Discover Acceleration, Incubation, and
Connection to Funding
Tuesday October 29th 2019, 8:30 A.M.
Cubio Innovation Center — 7700 Fannin St. Suite 200 Houston, TX 77054
REGISTER

• Next Coast Ventures Adds Zaz Floreani as a Principal — Link
• Austin’s tech scene flourished when its $900 million VC shuttered — Link
  - Business Insider’s Megan Hernbroth
• How Austin Has Become A Hub For Female-Led Startups — Link
  - Quartz’s Michelle Cheng
• Sumo Logic In Talks To Acquire Cybersecurity Startup JASK: Sources — Link
• Three New Wave Coworking Spaces Around Town — Link
  - Austin Monthly
• Texas Delegation Entices Boston Companies to Go Big in Texas — Link
  - StreetInsider.com
• Gritty Founder — How John Higley Is Saving the Water of the World with EQO — Podcast
• 9 Austin Startup Week Sessions at Capital Factory That Blew Us Away — Link
• Texas Startups Roadshow East Coast Tour — Link
• Thousands Crawl Through Austin to Explore Texas’ Startup Community — Link
  - Austin Startups
• Literati Finds $12M For Children’s Subscription Book Service — Link
• Mailgun Buys Mailjet — Link
• Aligned Energy Gets $495M In Credit For Data Center Expansion — Link
• Trend Micro Buys Cloud Conformity — Link
  - Texas Tech Pulse
• Five inexpensive VPNs to keep you all sorts of secure — Link
• How to survive when you’re in between jobs (shame free) — Link
  - The American Genius
• New Dell Med initiative embeds health interventions in community programs — Link
  - Austin Monitor
• Surge in San Fran companies turning Austin into ‘next Silicon Valley’ — Link
  - Culture Map Austin
• Office Envy: Inside Zello’s New Austin Headquarters — Link
• A Subscription Service for Children’s Books Raised $12M — Link
• Saving the Internet: Why New Knowledge Changed Its Name to Yonder — Link
• Smart Toys: Juuk’s Path to Building Interactive Bots for Kids — Link
  - Austin Inno’s Brett Wistrom — Subscribe Here
• Growth Acceleration Partners Says Diversity and Inclusion is Key to its Success as a Custom Software Developer — Link
• Complying with Data Privacy Laws May not be Sexy, but Austin-based Osano Says it’s a Billion Dollar Business — Link
• Shipwell Raises $35 Million, Plans to Expand in Austin and Chicago and Hire 200 More Employees — Link
• Austin-based Literati Lands $12 Million in Funding — Link
• Hypergiant Partners with Dynetics to Create Space Mission Solutions — Link
• Opcity Plans to Double in Size Adding 600 More Employees — Link
  - Silicon Hills News’ Laura Lorek
• Oct 29: Ryan Holiday at BookPeople — Link
• New Tracks at SXSW: Fantastic Future — Link
• Tech Innovators and Creators Speak About the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards — Link
• Announcing 600+ Community Sourced Sessions for 2020 SXSW Conference — Link [Including my Super Connectors Meetup for the second year — Schedule]
  - SXSW’s Hugh Forrest
• UT startup Colanse designed to help students find work — Link
• Students get ‘Taste of Texas’ at local business expo — Link
• LatinX Factor summit discusses cultural, social impact of Latinx community — Link
• UT System searches for UT Medical Branch president candidates — Link
• University startup gains major investment after discovering chemical sensors — Link
• College students represent largest group of uninsured Americans — Link
• Austin parking app charges users for months of missed fees — Link
• US Army delivers new military robot for UT engineers to develop — Link
• Former Department of Defense official talks about business practices at the Pentagon — Link
• UT should offer digital IDs as as alternative for students — Link
• Latinx-Hispanic Heritage Festival celebrates Hispanic culture within Cockrell School of Engineering, College of Natural Sciences — Link
• Sanger Learning Center celebrates 70th anniversary with free food, prizes — Link
• McCombs School of Business offers first cybersecurity certificate program — Link
  - The Daily Texan
• These 15 Austin Consulting Firms Are Setting Businesses on the Path to… — Link
• Shipwell Just Closed a $35M Series B. Now It’s Looking to Grow. — Link
• Literati Raises $12M to Grow Its Subscription Service for Children’s… — Link
• Inc. Magazine Ranks Austin 6th for Number of Women-Led Businesses — Link
• Weekly Refresh: The Zebra Expands, MassChallenge Winners Announced — Link
• MassChallenge Texas Names 5 Winners of its Startup Accelerator… — Link
  - BuiltinAustin
• Journal Profile: Amos Schwartzfarb leads Techstars in Austin — Link
• Springdale Ventures raising millions more dollars for CPG investments — Link
• Literati scores $12M led by investment firm that propelled Dollar Shave Club — Link
• Fast-growing Austin startup raises $35M — Link
• Cyber in construction: Why cybersecurity should be in the blueprints — Link
• Capital Gains: Skip the line, #MeToo in ink & Denver loves ATX — Link
• Austin’s fastest-growing companies; 2019 Fast 50 rankings — Link
• Fast 50: M&A powers budding dermatology empire based in Austin — Link
• Fast 50: Sedera booms by offering a cheaper alternative to health insurance — Link
• Engie to build wind farm near Waco, supply Walmart with energy — Link
• Why New Knowledge changed its name to Yonder — Link
• 4 tips for businesses expanding to China — Link
• Juuk is making really fun robots at Capital Factory in Austin — Link
• The Zebra grabbing capital to expand more — Link
• Austin startup among winners at MassChallenge awards — Link
• M&A wrap: Consulting firm fetches $67M, SailPoint drops $37.5M — Link
• In the money Oct. 21: Jask, Zebra, Trust Ventures make money moves — Link
  - Austin Business Journal
• Austin business briefs — Link
• Austin startup Pani debuts smart water device — Link
• CAPITAL WAVE: Austin-area VC investment on track to reach nearly two-decade high — Link
• With a mobile app, Austin startup bthere aims to bring folks together in real life — Link
• Austin startup Shipwell raises $35M to fuel growth — Link
• Austin’s Osano aims to reshape data privacy field — Link
• Austin’s Silicon Labs tops Wall Street profit projections for 3rd quarter — Link
• Startup spotlight: Austin ed tech firm SchooLinks evolving as it grows — Link
• Austin-based HID Global acquires citizen identity business from British company — Link
• Cult beauty brand Glossier plans popup boutique in Austin — Link
  - Austin American-Statesman

SAN ANTONIO

• What Does San Antonio’s Startup Ecosystem Need? — Link
• Data Privacy Startup Rectify Wins $50K Prize at Tech Fuel Pitch Competition — Link
• RealCo Adds HackNotice and BetterYou Companies to Its Accelerator Program — Link
  - Startups San Antonio
• The Most Damaging Employees — Link
  - Geekdom Funds’ Michael Girdley
• Parents are now using tracking apps to watch their kids at college — Link
  - San Antonio Express-News
• Panel: San Antonio’s Tech Scene ‘Not Creating Enough Jobs,’ Needs to Grow Talent Pool — Link
• Texas Nonprofit Summit Highlights the Importance of Collaboration — Link
• Broadway Bank’s Wealth Management Team Delivers Innovative Solutions, Personal Service — Link
• SA Startup Rectify Wins $50K Grand Prize at Tech Bloc’s Startup Competition — Link
• Blue Duck Scooters Raises $4.2M, Eyes $30M Funding Round — Link
  - The Rivard Report
• Geekdom Community Fund invests in two local startups — Link
• Globalcape continues quarterly revenue streak — Link
• Digital document startup wins TechBloc and Bexar County pitch competition — Link
• UTSA lands $1.2M grant to support trade for manufacturers — Link
• Blue Duck eyes expansion with new CEO, additional funding — Link
• Rackspace teams with Dallas-area company on cloud security service — Link
• Homegrown coworking space adds fourth location — Link
• San Antonio email tech company acquires French business — Link
• Luby’s introduces delivery through company owned by H-E-B — Link
• Local accelerator adds two companies to portfolio — Link
• SA drug development company seeking new CEO — Link
• Texas-manufactured space plane takes shape for NASA’s 2021 mission (Photos) — Link
  - San Antonio Business Journal

• 20 Diverse Businesses Emerge in LiftFund WBC’s First Year — Link
• Inno Autopsy: Jared Pope on Output Health — Link
• Dallas’ STEM Workforce Grows in Diversity — Link
• Lyft Launches Job Access Program in Dallas — Link
• Work Shield Looks to Stamp Out Harassment, Discrimination in the Workplace — Link
• DataReady Aims to Train the Next Generation of Data Scientists — Link
  - NTXInno’s Kevin Cummings
• Innovative ideas are supercharged at Red Raider Startup — Link
  - LubbockOnline.com
• Big Opportunity: How to Backfill Vacant Big Box Retail Space in 2019 — Link
  - D Magazine
• Cyberattack Takes Dallas’ Heritage Auctions Offline — Link
  - Dallas Observer
• Microsoft to invest more than $31 million, create over 550 jobs in Irving — Link
• Dallas-Fort Worth’s top private companies topped $38B last year — Link
• Verizon launches 5G in parts of Dallas in challenge to AT&T’s home turf — Link
• Here are the 100 Best Places to Work in North Texas in 2019 — Link
• These are the best micro-sized companies to work for in North Texas — Link
• These are the best small-sized companies to work for in North Texas — Link
• These are the best medium-sized companies to work for in North Texas — Link
• These are the best large-sized companies to work for in North Texas — Link
• These are the best extra large companies to work for in North Texas — Link
• Inside UT Law’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute — Link
• DFW analytics company gets ‘new powder’ from California firm in first outside investment — Link
• Overwatch League’s shift to a homestand format turns up the heat on teams to grow their local business — Link
• Lyft launches job access program in Dallas — Link
• It’s getting harder to be a private equity firm — Link
• Employees want personal space — not an open office — Link
• Roundup for recent deals and dollars: Oct. 24, 2019 — Link
• New CEO wants to take Plano Chamber from ‘transactional’ to ‘transformational’ — Link
• What’s happening at Texas Instruments? Wall Street turns up scrutiny on chipmaker — Link
• Richardson company teams up with Rackspace on cloud security service — Link
• Female entrepreneurs say access to capital still an issue — Link
• After raising $40M, Dallas fintech company preparing for more funding — Link
• Luby’s, Fuddruckers strike deal with Favor — Link
• 10 ZIP codes with nation’s highest concentration of millennial millionaires (Hint: None are in Texas) — Link
• Offices are relaxing, and employees wish they weren’t — Link
• DFW startup with backing from Thomson Reuters bringing ‘big data to the surface’ for HOAs — Link
• Dallas tapped to join new esports league — Link
  - Dallas Business Journal
• UTD and WEDallas Celebrate Female Entrepreneurship at the Second Annual Women’s Summit — Link
• Lyle Commits $10M for SMU Engineering School’s Strategic Vision — Link
• Inclusive Smart Cities: Moving from Technology-Centric to Citizen-Centric Smart Cities — Link
• Solutions Through Collaboration: Dallas Funders Tackle Workforce and Business Challenges with New Program — Link
• Dallas-Fort Worth Cracks Top 15 Ranking for Minority-Owned Startups in U.S. — Link
• My Startup Story: Soulgood Serves Up Vegan Food With a Purpose — Link
• Discovery: Agrilife Expansion Focuses on Food and Water, UTA Gets a $2.3M Grant for Composites — Link
• Follow the Money: Aligned Energy Gets $495M, TPG Fund Nets $1.7M; AT&T Buys Ad Platform — Link
• U.K.’s ActiveOps Selects Dallas as its U.S. Base — Link
• ParkHub Founder and CEO Wins National Parking Association Innovator of the Year — Link
• IF/THEN Summit Convenes Nationwide Female STEM Role Models in Dallas — Link
• What Entrepreneurs Can Do to Protect Their Business — Link
• DFW Nonprofit Provides Showers to the Homeless — Link
• Hypergiant Partners With Dynetics to Develop Faster Solutions for Space Operations — Link
• Dallas Invents: 143 Patents Granted for Week of Oct. 15 — Link
• Craig Hall Receives 5th Annual Impact Awards’ Vision Award — Link
• DI People: ParkHub, OrderMyGear, and Naturally Slim Make Leadership Moves — Link
• American Airlines Raises $2.4M for Military Heroes and Families — Link
• Eight North Texas Leaders Make the 2020 HITEC 100 List — Link
• UT Dallas is One of Four Taking Part in eBay University’s AI Competition — Link
• Monarch City Ready to Take Mixed-Use Development Into the Next Century — Link
• Dallas Has a Brand New Pro Esports Team (and it’s Owned by Envy Gaming) — Link
• Innovative Spaces: UNT Unveils Its Newly Renovated College of Visual Arts and Design — Link
• Texas Women’s Foundation’s Orchid Giving Circle Awards $219K in Community Grants — Link
  - Dallas Innovates

• The 10 Traits That Make Up the Houstonian Personality — Link
  - Houstonia’s Jeff Balke
• How Houston Lost Its Mind Over a Trump Shirt — Link
  - Texas Monthly’s Mimi Swartz
  [I fastidiously avoid politics in this newsletter and online, but I believe that this story is relevant. I’m including it because it’s about cyber-bullying and ‘cancel culture’ and happens to involve the wife of a prominent leader of the Houston startup community, Brad Burke of the Rice Alliance — it’s also completely bonkers and a good read by a nationally-recognized writer]
• This Houston startup aims to bring transparency in managing field sales agents — Link
  - YourStory
• Electron Beam Technology researched at Texas A&M — Link
  - KBTX
• For TMCx alum Trusted Health, “nurses aren’t a commodity” — Link
  - TMCx
• Two World Series athletes keep in shape thanks to this Houston-based technology — Link
• Houston tech company is helping to scale breast cancer screening using IT solutions — Link
• 5 most popular innovation stories in Houston this week — Link
• New flight simulator and training facility to land at Houston Spaceport — Link
• How to engage potential clients or investors for your science-based startup or technology — Link
• Rice University tops best schools in Texas list — Link
• METRO announces free Wi-Fi program for select Houston routes — Link
• Meet the Houston investor that’s bridging the gap between big energy companies and startups — Link
• Houston reported to have among the most minority-owned startups in the nation — Link
• Young professionals should focus on saving for retirement today, advises this Houston expert — Link
• Digital supply chain tech company expands to Houston — Link
• Announcing AutomotiveMap: The new destination for auto enthusiasts has arrived — Link
• Accenture and InnovationMap team up to bring innovative high-energy event to Houston for the first time — Link
• 3 Houston innovators to know this week — Link
  - InnovationMap / Culture Map Houston
• Students gain front-row access to two of Houston’s top leaders — Link
• When a freestanding emergency department comes to town, costs go up — Link
• Rice study assesses college leadership training programs — Link
  - Rice University
• Changing How Chemists Think About Textbook Chemical Concepts — Link
• Remembering The Art Guys’ Michael Galbreth — Link
• Renu Khator Joined by County, City Leaders to Break Ground on $19M Cullen Boulevard Construction Project — Link
• Texas Comptroller Brings Focus on Cybersecurity to UH — Link
• New Catalyst Would Boost Biomass Conversion to Fuels, Chemicals — Link
• UHPD and IACLEA Accreditation Assessment Team Invite Public Comment — Link
• Researchers Build a Soft Robot with Neurologic Capabilities — Link
• Space Explorers to Visit University of Houston — Link
• What Happens as Solid-State Batteries Begin to Fail? — Link
• A Sprinkle of Success: UH Alumna’s Business is Rising Star in Custom Baking Industry — Link
  - University of Houston
• Houston Spaceport’s anchor tenant to build 90,000-SF facility — Link
• Four ways to leverage your internal communications team — Link
• Houston-based software company builds equity over seven years — Link
• What makes a company one of Houston’s Best Places to Work? Here are some of their perks — Link
• Houston-based CFO leaving artificial intelligence unicorn co. amid job cuts — Link
• Energy Corridor District names new executive director — Link
• Houston-based skin care company settles FTC complaint — Link
• Mattress Mack promises to make good on mattress promotion if Astros win World Series — Link
• U.S. News & World Report ranks Houston university close to top 100 worldwide — Link
• This is how much money Houston could gain by hosting World Series — Link
• Luby’s introduces delivery through company owned by H-E-B — Link
• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo restructures leadership with new C-level positions — Link
• Funding Roundup: Houston energy PE firm, health tech co., esports investors raise money — Link
  - Houston Business Journal
• Startup hub launches downtown as innovation corridor advances — Link
• Houston company receives $1.5M grant for urine test to combat opioid crisis — Link
• Liftoff Houston pitch competition to be held Nov. 9 — Link
• Nanoracks to launch test on way to manufacturing in space — Link
• Houston AI company enacts #MeToo clause for investors, board members — Link
• UH FemTech Innovation Challenge focused on products, technology for women — Link
  - The Houston Chronicle’s Andrea Lienfelder / Techburger Blog
• The GoodPitch Competition — Link
  - McAllen Chamber of Commerce

• A Convertible Note Template for Seed Rounds — Silicon Hills Lawyer’s José Ancer — Link
• Always on the Verge of Out-of-Control — Shockwave Innovation’s Gordon Daugherty — Link
• These Are the 50 Best Places in America for Starting a Business — Inc. Magazine — Link [Yes, Austin is #1]
• Raising Funding From Family and Friends — Hall C. Martin — Link
• Startup founders, investors see serious flaws in Oklahoma — Oklahoman.com — Link
• This Retail Employee Is Teaching Workers How To Stop The Private Equity Industry From Eating Their Jobs — Fast Company’s Yasmin Gagne — Link
• WeWork’s Adam Neumann Is the Most Talented Grifter of Our Time — The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson — Link
• The Not-Com Bubble Is Popping — The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson — Link
• How Coworking Saved My Life — Mike LaRosa — Link
• Fund Notes: Summary of 83North, Bloomberg Beta, Craft, Jackson Square and other recent funds that have held closes — PE Hub — Link
• Gayle Benson plans $50M venture capital fund to invest in New Orleans, Gulf Coast startups — NOLA.com — Link
• America Makes’ Satellite Centers Help Build Ecosystems Across US — Link
• Google just released a ‘phone’ made of paper, for your sanity — Fast Company’s Mark Wilson — Link
• Start-up economy is a ‘Ponzi scheme,’ says Chamath Palihapitiya — CNBC’s Salvador Rodriguez — Link
• 40 Email Opening Lines That Are So Much Better Than “Happy Monday!” — The Muse’s Kat Boogaard — Link
• Interested in Becoming a ChickTech Mentor? — Link
• How To Best Present Your Founding Team To Early-Stage Investors — Forbes’ Tim Young — Link
• 4 Key Trends Impacting the Midwest Venture Landscape — Emily Brungard — Link
• Will Artificial Intelligence Improve Healthcare? — Decent.com’s Ashley Poynter — Link
• Riding the Unicorn Peloton accidentally built a fitness cult. A business is a little more complicated. — The Cut’s Amy Larocca — Link
• Techstars Global Summit, Torino 2019 — Link
• Women-led Golden Seeds launches angel investor chapter in Arizona — Link’One Grotesque Irony After Another’: Inside the Rise and Fall of Gawker 2.0 — Esquire’s Kate Storey — Link
• The #1 Reason Executives Don’t Make It Past The First Round Interview — Distinguished Search’s Somer Hackley — Link
• Photographer Richard Parry Shows The Innovation Of Consumer Tech From The Inside Out — The Verge’s Alex Castro — Link
• From newsroom to newsletter: How local journalists are DIYing important coverage via email — Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard — Link
• Valley entrepreneurs launch Arizona investor group focused on women-led ventures — Phoenix Business Journal — Link

Tech Events Network: Austin | Dallas | Houston | San Antonio

Bunker Connect Austin: A Community of Resources
by Bunker Labs Austin
Monday, October 28, 2019 5:00 PM — 7:00 PM CDT
Google Fiber Space
201 Colorado Street Austin, TX 78701
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Storytelling Workshop for Professionals and Entrepreneurs
Austin Entrepreneurs
Tuesday, November 5, 2019 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
Trinity Hall 311 E 5th St Austin, TX 78701
REGISTER

Sputnik ATX Demo Day: Summer ’19 Cohort
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at 4 PM — 6:30 PM
301 Congress Ave, Austin, Texas 78701
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TMCx Demo Day | Medical Device 2019
by Texas Medical Center
Thursday, November 7, 2019 12:30 PM — 8:00 PM CST
Innovation Institute — TMCx Accelerator
2450 Holcombe Boulevard Suite X Houston, TX 77021
REGISTER

How to Raise Your Seed Round with Kelsi Kamin
by Spuntik ATX
Friday, November 8, 2019 12:00 PM — 1:00 PM CST
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Denton SHEPreneur Crowdfund Live
Monday, November 18th 2019 at 6:00 PM CDT
Stoke Coworking
608 E Hickory St #128 Denton TX, 76205
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Digital Fight Club: Houston 2019
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (CST)
White Oak Music Hall
2915 N Main St. Houston, TX 77009
REGISTERHouston Startup Happy Hour
by NextSeed
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 6:00 PM — 9:00 PM CDT
Poitín Bar & Kitchen
2313 Edwards Street #100 Houston, TX 77007
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Naturally Austin Pitch Slam
Tuesday October 29, 2019
Austin Central Library
710 West Cesar Chavez Street Austin TX
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SputnikATX Halloween VC / Founder Office Hours
Thursday, October 31 at 10:00am
301 Congress Ave Austin, Texas 78701
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Austin Impact Accelerator
Community Showcase Day
Monday November 12th 2019 6PM
Impact Hub Monroe
411 W Monroe St, Austin, TX 78704
REGISTER

TCO19 Shell Gamechanger Hackathon
November 13–15 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
InterContinental Houston
6750 Main St, Houston, TX 77030
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Defense Innovation Summit
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 9:00 AM — 6:00 PM CST
Capital Factory
701 Brazos Street Austin, TX 78701
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Venture Financing — From Seed to Series B
Presented by the Toronto Stock Exchange and Capital Factory
Wednesday, November 20th 1:30pm — 6:30pm
Capital Factory
701 Brazos Street Austin Texas 78701
REGISTER

GCV Energy 2019
November 20–21, 2019
Norris Centers — Houston CityCentre
816 Town & Country Blvd. Suite 210 Houston, Texas 77024
REGISTER 50% Discount Code TXSQSTARTUP50

Copyright © 2019 T-Squared Agency, All rights reserved.
This newsletter is about news and opinions about Texas Startups.

Special thanks to Keith Dudley of BrandNew Marketing for design support

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