The One Percent Solution
According to Rutberg & Co., in November 2006 a total of 32 privately held wireless companies announced over $680 million in new financings. 99% went to companies outside of Texas, notwithstanding the relative strength of the area in telecom and wireless.
The single Texas company on the November list is Dallas-based RipCode, led by Brendon Mills. Interestingly, the deal was co-led by Vesbridge (Jeff Hinck - Boston), Eldorado (Scott Irwin - Sand Hill road), and Hunt Ventures (Jeff Williams - Dallas). It’s an example of how Texas deals can/should be done, with a local VC leveraging a managing director with deep local experience, and with investor support and exposure on both coasts. It’s the relative market share of Texas deals nationally that stands out in the Rutberg study.
Obviously this 1% result is just a snapshot of Texas deal activity in a particular sector, but it is not out of line with recent VC funding activity in other tech sectors.
-John Reed