South Loop Ventures, a Houston -based business company, announced a $ 21 million fund with rice management company and Chevron Technology Ventures serving as anchor investors.
The company, which began in 2022, focuses on seed and pre-employment companies, with $ 400,000 as the average control size. He also hopes mainly to focus on supporting the founders of color.
Zach Ellis (depicted above), the business Founder and CEO, Talk to TechCrunch about his final closure.
He said the fund is general and would invest in founders at national level, although it has a preference for areas that “reflect Houston’s industrial power”, such as health care, energy, space and climate.
The Texas Capital Bank and the Foundation of the Grand Committee of the Diocese of Texas also participated in the round. So far, South Loop has made 13 investments and hopes to invest in a total of at least 30.
“We thought it was important to have a fund focused on various founders here in Houston, given the diversity of Houston,” he said. Houston is one of the nation The most different citiesClassification in number five. Asked if he was concerned about the anti-dei reaction, as his founders on the color goal, Ellis offered a simple answer.
“We firmly believe that business capital should be accessible to everyone and that depreciated and different groups offer a unique opportunity for important returns,” he said.
Despite his growing love for Houston, Ellis really greets New Orleans and began his career in the army. “I am always a very much -based mission, so after serving seven years of active duty to the Navy, I was transferred to the corporate sector.”
This led him to work as a health care consultant, who later exposed him to a corporate innovation team. This team then taught him about how to use technology in a way that helps people with the cosmic aspects of everyday life.
“I was like,” I can’t believe we are paying to do that, “he recalled.” And my colleague told me, “you have to see what the VCs are doing.”
He justified until he landed on the Pepsico Corporate Business Team, where he made a mix of technology, corporate relationships and investing in food and agriculture -related funds. From there, he went to the state of Ohio, where he helped manage a group of money to invest later in Midwest focused on VC funds and the newly established companies are launched by the university.
“It was around that time when the pandemic happened, the murder of George Floyd happened and I was able to think of my career and the impact I had and the fact that I was often the only black or brown face in any room I was in,” Ellis said. “I wanted to do something about it.”
Serendipitly, she received a call from a friend in Houston, who told him that the city worked to increase its profile in technology and innovation. His friend, in particular, said that many stakeholders had an appetite to support the founders of the color. This, and he had already told many of them that Ellis would be the perfect person to lead one.
So Ellis went down to Houston and was born the idea for South Loop Ventures.
Described the process of gathering funds as “difficult”.
“We started just as the market started to slow down and it continued to get harder,” he said. “While we had a strong initial momentum, it took us 24 months to complete.”
He met with most of today’s fund investors through a network of interested parties, adding that the Hermes Fund, in particular, helped link it to other investors to the ecosystem. Ellis then hopes to entice a little more technological talent in the city. This, and of course, throws some money to founders who want to build the next big thing.
“People are of course attracted to live here, which I believe will help to attract top founders who will see not only business opportunities but also feel welcome and comfortable,” he said. “With the support of South Loop, we aim to ensure that they also feel authorized.”
