It’s November. We’re eleven years right into a bull run. And a protracted commerce warfare with China — to not point out the impeachment proceedings — are inflicting some nervousness about what subsequent 12 months will maintain.
Little surprise that enterprise companies, which have been writing checks sooner than ever lately, are additionally stocking up on dry powder. In the 10 days alone, among the many companies to announce new funds embody Boldstart Ventures, Drive Capital, .406 Ventures, CAVU Venture Partners, Unusual Ventures, Northzone, Kindred Ventures, EQT Ventures, Inspired Capital, and Norwest Venture Partners.
Newly in the identical firm is Next Coast Ventures, a agency that simply closed on $130 million in recent capital commitments to pursue a thematic method and that’s targeted for proper now on the way forward for work, the rise of digital natives, the loss of life of conventional retail, and the ways in which ubiquitous connectivity is altering marketplaces.
It’s the second fund for the agency, which closed its debut fund with a really respectable $85 million, thanks largely to the backgrounds of its two managing administrators. Michael Smerlko beforehand purchased a know-how companies firm known as ServiceSource that he ran for 12 years and finally took public. His cofounder, Thomas Ball, beforehand spent greater than a decade with Austin Ventures.
Interestingly, for a few years, Austin Ventures was the one recreation on the town in Austin, however that has modified meaningfully because it introduced in 2015 that it wouldn’t be elevating extra capital. Not solely has Next Coast simply gathered up extra capital, however so have quite a few different regional companies this 12 months. In April, for instance, we reported on the most recent, $105 million, fund raisedLiveOak Ventures. Meanwhile, Silverton Partners, one of many metropolis’s most energetic traders, is zeroing in on a brand new $120 million fund only one 12 months after closing a $108 million fund and a number of other different companies — together with ATX Ventures and Quake Capital are attempting to lift sizable new funds.
As for Next Coast, a few of its many present bets embody Everylywell, an organization that sells tens of in-home diagnostic exams and that closed on $50 million in funding earlier this 12 months and AlertMedia, a cloud-based mass notification system that goals to streamline notifications throughout units and platforms and which raised $25 million in Series C funding again in January. (You can try an extended record of its investments right here.)
The agency has additionally seen 5 firms in its portfolio promote to acquirers (all for undisclosed phrases). While one has but to be introduced, the opposite 4 are OnRamp, a cloud internet hosting firm that bought final 12 months to a knowledge and IT firm known as LightEdge; the non-public finance startup Clarity Money, which bought to Goldman Sachs final 12 months; the wardrobe tech firm Finery, which bought to Stitch Fix in September; was the good oven maker Brava, which simply yesterday disclosed that it’s being acquired by Middleby, an industrial gear firm.
We have been in contact with in contact yesterday with Smerlko to learn the way Next Coast’s new and larger fund may differ from its predecessor and the reply appears to be: not a lot. He mentioned test sizes will improve, from a variety of $three million to $7 million into Series A stage firms to extra like $5 million to $10 million on the higher finish. He additionally instructed that NextCoast stays as dedicated as ever to uncovering and funding expertise regionally, one thing that’s getting simpler on a regular basis, evidently.
“Austin’s entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem is absolutely booming,” Smerlko wrote us through electronic mail. “It’s never been cheaper to start a company, and places like Austin with a high quality of life, growing available capital and a strong entrepreneurial spirit will continue to be a hotbed for founders and tech talent.”
