A Dallas-based venture capital firm that specializes in backing health care startups is opening an office in Austin that will be led by one of the local ecosystem's best-known investors.
Green Park & Golf Ventures, known as GPG Ventures, said Sept. 26 it brought on Claire England, former Central Texas Angel Network executive director, to lead its new Austin office. England, who led CTAN from 2014 to 2019, is also a Kauffman Fellow and was most recently a partner in Portfolia's food and agtech fund, which invested in companies including Partake Foods and Omsom.
"Austin has an incredibly vibrant startup ecosystem," England said. "Of course we're known for tech, CPG and food and beverage, but I think that health care is a growing and very exciting part of our startup community."
But, she said, it's not necessarily a new sector. Several firms, including Santé Ventures, have been investing in health care startups and pharmaceuticals for years. Recursion Pharmaceuticals, which was partially founded in Austin, was one of CTAN's top exits, producing returns for local investors. Meanwhile, Portfolia was a recent investor in Austin health care unicorn Everly Health.
"There are a lot of exciting companies in the health space in Austin, and I expect that trend to continue to grow with the medical school and the resources and the great angels and VCs that are already investing in health care," she said.
GPG, founded in 2011 by Carl Soderstrom and Dr. Clay Heighten, has invested in more than 100 startups. Its initial investments typically fall in the $100,000-to-$1 million range, and the firm partakes in seed through series B rounds, with additional follow-on funding for successful companies. While its focus is health, the firm has also invested in other technologies, including artificial intelligence.
GPG makes all of its initial investments through special purpose vehicles, where it brings together a group of investors for each deal. It also has two separate funds for follow-on investments, Soderstrom said.
"Now that we're on 100 cap tables, we've met a lot of great partners, other investors that love to take a look at certain types of investments," he said. "So when we see a new opportunity today, we can pretty quickly think of other investors we know that like that type of investment specifically. Then you also get a network of CEOs and senior-level managers that you come to know and respect that are helpful as you run into new opportunities."
Initially, England will be the firm's only staff member in Austin, although it plans to open a physical office downtown in the coming months. GPG also has an office in Houston, so this expansion would make it one of the few VC firms with offices in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
"There is as much if not more interesting stuff coming out of Austin as there is Dallas or Houston, so it's really always been a dream to have a location and have some team members on the ground in Austin. And Claire is as well connected and respected as anyone that we know in Austin," Soderstrom said. "We're just very, very excited to have her be the face of Greenpark and Golf in Austin, help us meet both entrepreneurs and investors that, like us, want to fund interesting, new companies."
Among GPG's portfolio companies are Austin-based MicroTransponder, Hypergiant (recently acquired), AdBm Technologies and Meta Saas, which was acquired by Flexera in 2018.
The firm has a form on its site for prospective startups to make their pitches.
England said GPG is unique in that it has a chief scientific officer, Dr. Lauren Tyra, as well as a diverse staff, including JR Garcia, who leads the firm's financing and portfolio strategy efforts.
"I'm really pleased to be joining a team that has this diverse gender and ethnic diversity," she said. "I think that is a great signal to other VC firms around the state and to the entrepreneurs in Texas and across the U.S."
