The last few weeks have seen funding news slow to a trickle — check out the only seed round announced last week below, as well as an eight-figure fund raised by an investment firm that's relatively new to Austin.
Startups
Austin-based Blended Sense, a media technology company that helps businesses with content creation and audience reach, said Aug. 1 that it has brought real estate entrepreneur and former NFL player Terrence Murphy on board as an investor and advisor. With Murphy's investment, the startup's seed round has grown to $2.5 million.
The startup says its founder, Albert Baez, and Murphy are both men of color who went through challenging childhood situations and relied on athletics and academics to persevere.
"His experience in both athletics and real estate brings a unique perspective to our company," Baez stated. "Terrence and I share a similar background, and we are both passionate about making a positive impact in our community. With Terrence's help, we hope to create a market leading technology in a space that, much like real estate a few years back, is ripe and overdue for innovation."
Investment firms
Tuesday Capital, a seed-stage venture capital fund that moved to Austin from California in 2020, said last week that it was launching its fifth fund.
The $31 million fund will be deployed to support its portfolio companies largely in the U.S., as well as Latin America and Europe. It has backed Austin companies such as Agvend, Grazzy, DigitalEx, Neuralight and Ender.
Tuesday Capital has already made 50% of the fund investments with founders who have been part of its portfolio.
The firm, founded in 2011, was formerly called CrunchFund. It made early investments in several big name companies including Uber, Airbnb, Gitlab and Cruise Automation. Overall, it has made investments in 331 startups, 44 of which have gone on to an initial pubic offering or other exit.
Tuesday Capital is led by co-founder and Managing Partner Patrick Gallagher.
"If we’ve learned one thing over the last decade, it’s that it can take multiple attempts for the best founders to solve the puzzle and take an idea through the startup journey to creating real value at scale, so with Fund V of focus will be continuing our mission to identify these unique individuals while doubling down on our existing base of world-class founders," Gallagher stated.
For more local deals, check out another recent funding wrap. And subscribe to Austin Business Journal for startup resources such as lists of venture capital and private equity firms, incubators and accelerators, angel investors and coworking providers.
