A Houston-based venture capital group aims to incubate software startups with a new offering.
Golden Section Ventures and software developer Golden Section Technology are launching Golden Section Studios, an investor studio focused on building early-stage software startups. Leveraging the Golden Section team's experience in growing business-to-business software plays, Golden Section Studios will advise and deploy capital into B2B startups to help them scale.
Golden Section Studios, or GSS, is led by Studios Director Kristen Phillips, who joined the company in February. She previously was with Houston-based entrepreneurial coworking campus The Cannon. Phillips said GSS will first assist startups accepted to the program with raising a seed funding round. GSS itself will bring cash to the table for these early-stage companies.
After fundraising, GSS will tap into Golden Section Technology's decade of software development experience to further build out startups' tech capabilities, Phillips said. Through the studio model and a list GSS compiled of 121 common startup mistakes, the firm aims to guide early-stage companies through the snares and pitfalls of scaling a software-as-a-service business.
Phillips said GSS aims to have more than 60 companies in the studio in the next four to five years.
Austin-based Swoovy, which develops a platform connecting volunteers with volunteer opportunities, is the first startup in residence for GSS, the firm announced June 8.
Phillips said that while companies in GSS are typically more early-stage than Golden Section Ventures' portfolio companies, the venture group could eventually invest in startups in the GSS pipeline. Golden Section Ventures launched in 2019 and currently has eight companies in its portfolio.
Last year, Golden Section Ventures raised a $20 million investment fund, GSV Investors I, to invest into enterprise B2B software companies. The Houston firm typically invests into enterprise software firms with annual revenue of between $500,000 and $1 million, co-founder and general partner Dougal Cameron said at the time.
"At Golden Section, we are good at learning from our mistakes, and the list is 121 and counting. These mistakes are core to our value add and enable us to transport founders through decades of experience," Cameron said. "They come from our own experience as founders and of selling more than $350 million in B2B software and partnering with more than 400 software founders at all stages. The result is less risk and less capital consumed and a better outcome for founders, customers, employees and investors."
