10 Sep 2010

DFJ Mercury’s Blair Garrou - @bgarrou - on the Role of Seed and Early Stage Investing #DD10 @capitalfactory

During the Capital Factory’s Demo Day in Austin, I had a chance to catch up with Blair Garrou, Managing Director at DFJ Mercury in Houston.  DFJ Mercury is a seed and early stage venture fund.

VC Minded / Super Angel Financing

Blair’s firm looks at deals ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000, so an event like this is a great place to get a sense of what early stage companies are trying to build out before they go to someone like Blair’s firm.

 “You know it when you see it….”

As you can see in this video, Blair talks about the types of companies he is looking for, and how the way the world has changed in terms of raising money.  The cost of starting up has been dramatically reduced, especially when you can outsource infrastructure services from companies like Rackspace or Amazon. 

Blair’s looking for deals in gaming, and specifically any type of company that is taking advantage of game mechanics to drive users and usage on the mobile web.

Blair also points out that if you can raise some amount of angel money, you are more likely to attract the attention of a firm like his.  If you’ve raised some amount of money from an angel, then it also means that you have someone who has done some due diligence as a precursor to having a firm like DFJ Mercury consider you and your team.

Follow Blair here on LinkedIn:  /bgarrou

And Twitter: @bgarrou

 

 

8 Jul 2010

Texas-Israel Chamber Offers Opportunity to Exhibit Smart-Grid/Smart-Home Technology Technology at Clean Energy Venture Summit in Austin / September 29-30

The Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce a potential opportunity for your CleanTech company to present your Smart-Grid/Smart-Home Technology, September 29-30, 2010 at the fourth annual Clean Energy Venture Summit (CEVS) in Austin, Texas.   The City of Austin's electric utility company, Austin Energy and the local Clean Energy Incubator are the organizers of the Clean Energy Venture Summit. 

Cevs-header2010
As a potential participant, you will have the opportunity to present your company's CleanTech innovations to venture capitalists, angel investors, potential strategic investors, decision makers from Austin Energy, City of Austin government,  and the local Pecan street Project, the United States' most ambitious city-wide clean energy laboratory.

Since its inception in 2007, companies selected to present in CEVS have gone on to raise, on average, $300,000 to $1 million in funding.

Click here for more information and link to submit your Business Plan.  Also attaching a pdf document with additional details.

 

Should you have any questions, please call Greg Yavner at 214-576-9639.

23 Feb 2010

My Interview with Mark Ellison, Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Economic Development - Texas A&M University

During the Texas Israel Chamber of Commerce's Cleanovation event in Austin, I had a chance to catch up with Mark Ellison, Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development - Office of Technology Commercialization with the Texas A&M University System.

Mark is on the Board of Directors of the Texas Israel Chamber, and formerly ran the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

The goal is simple:  if you're an Israeli technology company looking to land in the U.S., Texas has a great economy, world class universities, and innovative programs like Mark is driving.

 

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Alan Weinkrantz