June Newsletter: Caps & Cap Tables, Texas Venture Crawl, & More

THE TEXAS VENTURE NEWSLETTER: JUNE

This newsletter curates venture-related experiences and highlights for the startup investor community across the state. Featuring: startup application deadlines, pitch competitions, demo days, VC events, investor-focused resources, and more.

Thanks to Pacific Western Bank & our go-to law firm, Ackerman, for their support of the Texas venture & startup community.

Texas Venture Events

AUSTIN: Texas Venture Alliance Presents: “Printed Houses & Partnerships”, 6/21

This unique event features ICON, Austin’s venture-backed startup that 3D prints houses, hosted by the Texas Military. See the printing live onsite at Camp Mabry’s Innovation Center. Learn more in here.

AUSTIN: UT’s Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs Accelerator Deadline, 7/9

Applications for the Fall 2023 TVL Accelerator program are now open. Leverage the power of UT Austin's resources and talented graduate student teams. Learn more here.

FORT WORTH: Navigating the Entrepreneur Support Ecosystem, 6/9

What does it take to get into an accelerator? What can you expect when you join an accelerator? Learn from TechFW’s Executive Director, Cowtown Angels Director, & Texas Venture Member, Hayden Blackburn, here.

HOUSTON: CleanTech Demo Day by DivInc, 6/29

Enjoy a night of celebration honoring amazing innovators while connecting with an audience of founders, mentors, investors, and community members. Learn more here.

SAN ANTONIO: Geekdom San Antonio Startup Day, 6/21

This is a full day of resources, networking, and expert-led talks to energize your entrepreneurial ambitions. You’ll meet and learn from leaders in San Antonio’s startup ecosystem. Learn more here.

RIO GRANDE VALLEY: “Mix, Mingle & Match”, a TVC-RGV Mentoring Event, 6/9

All future entrepreneurs are welcome to learn, have fun, meet some great business professionals, enjoy free food & refreshments, and win some great swag at the same time. Learn more here.

Texas Venture Highlights

RECAP: 88th Legislative Session & Texas Venture Bills

The Texas State Capitol has been buzzing with activity the last few months during this 88th Texas Legislative session. A summary of the venture bills progress and Texas Venture Alliance advocacy work is here.

STATEWIDE: Texas Venture Crawl: 20+ leaders, 10+ Cities, Oct 6th

Last month 23 leaders from across the state kicked off planning this big-as-Texas, simultaneous networking event. Register to attend or be showcased in your city using this link here.

TX Venture Member News

🎙 Mercury Fund Investor Featured on Latinos in Tech Pod
Alex Gras, an investor at Mercury Fund and TVA member living in Houston, chats with Jose Avalos, podcast host for Tech23 featuring Latinos in tech. View the interview here. The podcast is also currently searching for other guests to interview and promote on the show, so contact him here.

🍷 VCs Love Their Wines (and Great For Dad!)
Our venture-backed wine friends, In Good Taste, started as a DTC mini bottle wine company, now recently eclipsed 2.5M bottles sold in the past 3 years. Their fast-expanding omnichannel strategy just secured placement for nationwide rollout into Sprout’s along with Target in Texas. They also just opened their first tasting room in Marin County, CA + launched their club subscription. Current backers include: TX VC Springdale Ventures, Goat Rodeo Capital, JAM Fund, Terpsi Capital, and Bridge Investments. Learn more here.

📣 Texas Venture Member Spotlight: Dr. Jaleh Daie
It was an honor to interview new Texas Venture Member, Dr. Jaleh Daie covering: Matthew McConaughey, agtech investments, space, awards, and more here. View her Texas Venture Member profile here.

🤝 PearVC & Pacific Western Bank Pair Up
Pear & Pacific Western Bank partnered to bring their portfolio companies of pre-seed and seed startups a deeper level of banking products and services. With this partnership, PWB offers dedicated support and exclusive banking offerings to Pear founders to help them scale their startups from the earliest days. Read more here.

💰 Round Rock Chamber’s New Innovation Fund
Last quarter the Round Rock Chamber announced the launch of a $250,000 Round Rock Defense Innovation Fund (DIF) aimed at accelerating growth of defense innovation-focused startups. Learn more here. They have recently deployed their first check, with Texas Venture Member, and last year’s Austin Chamber A-Lister “Investor of the Year” Andrea Kalmans in attendance here.

👩🏼‍💻 DFW: The DEC Network Ventures to Fort Worth
Dallas Innovates reports: The DEC Network, long noted for its entrepreneurial work in Dallas, is heading west to Fort Worth where it will operate a new center aimed at helping support small business owners and startups. The Fort Worth Local Development Corp. approved $500,000 over two years to create the Fort Worth Entrepreneurship Center. Learn more here.

🧪 HOUSTON: Greentown Labs Wants Feedback on New Wet Lab
The Greentown Labs team—in partnership with Texas Venture Member the Ion, Rice Management Company, Shell, and others—is actively drawing the blueprint for what the wet lab will look like. And ever-more importantly: what it will offer. Leave them feedback here.

🤠 TEXAS: Angeles Investors Names Staci LaToison Regional Lead
Staci LaToison has been named point person for Angeles Investors’ Texas and New Mexico regions. She will help expand the network of strategic partners, form alliances with industry experts, and organize region-specific events to meet member needs. Staci said: I would love to hear from Latino founders and investors in Texas and New Mexico who are interested in joining. Contact her for more information here.

Texas Venture Summer:
Caps & Cap Tables

For many VCs and founders alike, this is your first full Texas summer. Beat the Texas Venture Heat, by investing in a Texas Venture Hat that backs our non-profit mission: helping organize a statewide ecosystem of support for startups. We provide resources like this Texas Venture Newsletter, plan events, maintain a digital venture landscape on our website, and more… and we can go above and beyond thanks to your support.

Purchase a Founding Individual Membership and we’ll promote you & your venture firm throughout all Texas “seasons”. Want better terms? We’ll throw in a Venture Hat this month only— you’ll need it!