Silicon Hills News

What Silicon Hills News does

Silicon Hills News is an independently operated technology news outlet covering the Austin and San Antonio technology ecosystems. Founded in 2015 by editor Laura Lorek, the publication produces original reporting on local startups, venture capital activity, funding events, acquisitions, and technology trends relevant to the Texas tech corridor. Its content surface spans the siliconhillsnews.com website, a daily article cadence, an email newsletter, an active social presence across Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Reddit, and the Ideas to Invoices podcast distributed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

The company's core technology is a digital publishing platform delivering content across web, audio, and email channels. Beyond journalism, it has built three sub-brands that function as recurring community properties: the Batty Awards (annual ceremony celebrating Austin entrepreneurs, inaugurated in 2025 at The Parlor Room), the Female Founders content vertical and annual Outlook event (second iteration held in 2025 at Zilker Lodge), and the Ideas to Invoices podcast featuring interviews with founders and investors. These event and audio extensions convert editorial brand equity into owned-media IP.

Silicon Hills News operates a sales-led B2B media model, monetizing through advertising placements and customized sponsorship packages sold directly to Austin-area technology companies, startups, venture capital firms, and service providers. Sponsorship tiers span website, podcast, and event inventory, with quote-based pricing and multi-year contract cadences. The business remains small (1-10 employees), privately held, and bootstrapped with no institutional investment, M&A activity, or acquisition history disclosed in the source material.

Name

Silicon Hills News

Legal name

Silicon Hills News

Website

https://siliconhillsnews.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Silicon Hills News is an independent technology news outlet and B2B media company covering the Austin and San Antonio tech ecosystems via website, podcast, and events, serving advertisers, sponsors, and tech professionals in the region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Technology News Media

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Journalism & News Intelligence Publishers (Indexes, Election/Market Data) (MPAJADAK)

Keywords

• Technology news coverage
• Digital media publishing
• Podcast production
• Event programming
• Advertising sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Wimberley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Sponsorships: Primary revenue stream from selling advertising placements and sponsorship packages to technology companies, startups, venture capital firms, and service providers targeting the Austin tech ecosystem. The company offers designated sponsorship opportunities including event sponsorships and content sponsorships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Silicon Hills News is an independent technology news publication that operates the siliconhillsnews.com website, publishing daily articles about technology companies, startups, funding events, and industry trends in the Austin and San Antonio ecosystems. Beyond news coverage, the company produces the Ideas to Invoices podcast featuring interviews with local entrepreneurs and investors, and hosts community events including the annual Batty Awards ceremony and the Female Founders Outlook event series.

Product overview

Silicon Hills News is a technology news publication covering the Austin and San Antonio tech ecosystem. The company operates a news website (siliconhillsnews.com) that publishes articles about local tech companies, startups, funding events, acquisitions, and industry trends. Beyond its core news operation, it produces the 'Ideas to Invoices' podcast and hosts the annual 'Batty Awards' ceremony to celebrate the local entrepreneurial community. As a media/news organization, it does not offer a software product platform, SaaS solution, or technology product in the traditional sense.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Ideas to Invoices Podcast: Podcast featuring interviews with entrepreneurs and technology leaders in the Austin tech ecosystem
• Female Founders
• Batty Awards

Products and services

• Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities Sponsored placements and sponsorship packages sold to Austin-area technology companies, startups, and venture capital firms seeking visibility within the local tech ecosystem. Includes website advertising, podcast sponsorships, event sponsorships, and content sponsorships.
• Ideas to Invoices Podcast A weekly podcast featuring interviews with Austin-area technology founders, investors, and business leaders, distributed through major podcast platforms to the local tech community and ecosystem participants.
• Batty Awards An annual awards ceremony hosted by Silicon Hills News celebrating Austin's entrepreneurial ecosystem, providing visibility and recognition for local startups and entrepreneurs, with sponsorship opportunities for supporting organizations.
• Female Founders Outlook A recurring event series and editorial coverage initiative supporting women entrepreneurs in Austin, providing networking, visibility, and community engagement opportunities for female founders in the local tech ecosystem.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• The Information: The Information is a subscription-based tech news outlet covering startups, venture capital, and Big Tech. While serving a different business model (paywalled subscription), it is comparable in that it covers the same underlying Austin tech ecosystem stories for an overlapping investor and founder audience.
• TechCrunch: TechCrunch is the dominant national tech news outlet, covering funding, M&A, and startups globally including Austin deals. It frequently covers the same companies Silicon Hills News reports on (e.g., Avride, ProsperOps), and represents the broader competitive context for any local tech-news site.
• Crunchbase News: Crunchbase News produces funding, M&A, and market intelligence journalism for the startup and venture ecosystem. It overlaps with Silicon Hills News' coverage of deal flow and ecosystem analysis, serving a similar investor/founder audience but at a national scale.

Direct peers

• GeekWire: GeekWire is a regional tech news outlet covering the Seattle/Pacific Northwest tech ecosystem with daily news, podcasts, and events. It is the closest structural analog to Silicon Hills News, operating the same playbook in a different regional tech hub.
• Built In Austin: Built In Austin is a directly comparable digital media outlet covering the Austin tech ecosystem with editorial content, employer branding, and recruitment listings. Both serve Austin tech professionals, founders, and employers with news, events, and talent/community content.
• Technical.ly: Technical.ly publishes local tech news and events across multiple U.S. cities, with editorial coverage, newsletters, and community programming. It is a direct peer in the regional tech-news vertical, monetizing through sponsorships, events, and membership.
• Austin Business Journal: The Austin Business Journal covers local business and tech news, events, and awards in the Austin metro. It competes directly for Austin tech audience attention and advertiser budgets, including events like Best Places to Work that parallel the Batty Awards format.

Others

• SXSW: SXSW is a major annual Austin-based technology, music, and culture conference. It is ecosystem-adjacent: both serve the same Austin tech community, and SXSW provides a major news/event calendar that Silicon Hills News covers, creating a symbiotic ecosystem relationship.

Regional players

• Austin Chronicle: The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly covering Austin news, culture, and events including a tech-news vertical. It competes for the same local advertiser base and audience attention, though it covers broader topics beyond just technology.
• InnovationMap: InnovationMap is a regional tech-news and events publisher covering Houston and other Texas innovation hubs. It is highly comparable in format (daily news, events, newsletters) and shares advertiser and audience overlap with Silicon Hills News within the broader Texas tech ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SiliconHillsNew
• Facebookfacebook.com/SiliconHillsNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/silicon-hills-news

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Silicon Hills News