Recap: Austin Venture Crawl 2022, by EisnerAmper
The Austin Venture Crawl, by EisnerAmper was a history-making first and “big as Texas” largest venture networking event in the state. On October 6, 2022 from 5-8pm, the experience was spread across five downtown Austin locations simultaneously, with 3 shuttle stops, and lasted over three hours.
Expected participants initially started around 500 people, but with more VCs getting involved and hundreds more startups and investors signing up within days of the event, participant numbers ended up at 1,200+.
LiveOak Venture Partner’s Austin Venture Crawl location at Star Bar on West 6th
The Venture Crawl is a way founders can get to know startup investors at each stop. Professionals from the venture community also use this as an opportunity to get to know other investors.
The event featured the following VC firms and supporting organizations in the industry: Silverton Partners, Live Oak Venture Partners, Mercury Fund, Next Coast Ventures, Build Group, Wild Basin Investments, Div Inc, Founder Institute, Newchip, MedTech Connect, Strides.ai, and more.
LiveOak Venture Partner’s Austin Venture Crawl location at Star Bar on West 6th
Key Highlights:
LiveOak Venture Partner’s Star Bar location had a horse (big toy horse to ride!) and live-pizza making by Urban Cowboy.
Silverton Partners’ historic location opened the lot behind their building and offered cornhole.
Austin Chamber’s location showed off new technology they custom created that connects investors & founders.
Antler, located in the downtown WeWork, hosted and featured their new 30 founder cohort.
The TriNet location hosted venture firms and other organizations’ presence such as: Mercury Fund, Next Coast Ventures, Build Group, Wild Basin Ventures, and more. Additionally there was a mini event tucked inside for a secret Chief of Staff gathering.
Roughly 40 bottles of wine were provided mostly thanks to local female founded startup & Next Coast portfolio company, BOXT. Liquid Death provided cases of still & sparkling water as well as several additional flavors from their new product line.
Austin Chamber of Commerce’s Austin Venture Crawl location at their downtown office
A huge thank you to EisnerAmper for helping power the entire Venture Crawl! EisnerAmper is among one of the nation’s largest business consulting firms in the world, with a dedicated and well-established Financial Services Practice that provides audit, tax, and advisory services.
They work with a number of private equity funds, venture capital funds, funds of funds, institutional investors, and more, including many of the original firms in the space. Learn more here.
TriNet’s Austin Venture Crawl location at Rustic Tap on West 6th
The EisnerAmper partnership to create the Austin Venture Crawl is an example of how different cities in Texas can support each other in growth across the state.
“The power of the venture community in Austin was palpable at the Austin Venture Crawl,” said Jennifer Cuello, partner at EisnerAmper. “I would drive from Dallas 4x over to attend this next year. As someone who doesn’t live in Austin, the event made it clear that this was a place I wanted to visit often! The wonderful community here really comes together and gets things done!”
Founder Institute’s presence at the Austin Venture Crawl
Special thanks to the help of the following individuals for organizing their Venture Crawl locations: Matt Saitta from Silverton Partners, Julianna Guilardo from LiveOak Venture Partners, Samantha Cerqueria from Antler, Roland Pena & Lourdes Zahos from Austin Chamber of Commerce, and Kara Hudson from TriNet.
Even more investors expressed their eagerness to get involved next time thanks to our early team leading and bringing this into fruition.
Silverton Partner’s Austin Venture Crawl location at their office behind West 6th Street
And thank you to all the guests for their attendance. Participation and spreading the word of new experiences like these make and keep the region very attractive for investors, and most importantly, the founders and startup ecosystem.
Link to more photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Zp3aryM8TQxw2gcA
Austin Venture Crawlers take a picture by one of the 3 Austin Venture Crawl Shuttle Stops
Silverton Partners News: Silverton Raises Largest Fund to Date
LiveOak Venture Partner News: LiveOak Venture Partners as Paolo Retes as VP
Antler News: Journal Profile: How a professional new kid built a career in venture capital
Austin Chamber News: Austin Chamber Launches Platform to Support the Startup Ecosystem
TriNet Website: Ask for the steep PEO/HR discount for cohorts, portcos, and VC-backed startups: www.trinet.com
Austin Venture Fest Event Co-Hosts 2022
Alexandra Aitchison · Carter Bourassa · Cherie Werner · CS Freeland · Framroz Bankwalla · Juan Diego Briceño · Julianna Giraldo · Katalina Veal · Marisa Vickers · Martin Martinez · Malur Narayan · Matthew Saitta · Michael Marra · Monica Driscoll · Patrick Moody · Paul O’Brien Sarah Kaney · Seena Vajed · Stephen DiBartolomeo · Tanner Cerand · Umar Brimah · Wendy Howell · Will Jones · Zach Feinberg
The following organizations hosted or co-hosted an Austin Venture Crawl and/or Austin Venture Fest event:
Texas Venture Alliance · Silverton Partners · LiveOak Venture Partners · Mercury Fund · Next Coast Ventures · Wild Basin Investments · Ionic Partners · BuildGroup · True Wealth Ventures · Moneta Ventures · Rex Tech Ventures · Hawke Ventures · Draper Startup House Accelerator · iFly VC · Oracle · MassChallenge · DivInc · Antler · Founder Institute · MediaTech Ventures · GoingVC · Austin Chamber of Commerce · Strides.ai · Entre · FIESTA · EisnerAmper · Executive Council Network · Mercenary Strikepoint CPG · BlockTelegraph · Austin Open Coffee Club · Austin MedTech Connect · SVB · Cooley · BridgeBank · TriNet · ATX Venture Drone · Candidly · Liquid Death · In Good Taste Wines · BOXT · Cotes De Femme Wines · Pacific Western Bank