Tacora Capital, a Texas agency that makes a speciality of enterprise debt, has raised $268.7 million for its second fund, in accordance with a brand new SEC submitting.
Tacora’s inaugural fund in 2022 raised about $350 million, together with $250 million from Peter Thiel — the outstanding Republican billionaire and investor — in what was thought-about an “unusually massive funding” for Thiel, Bloomberg reported on the time.
It’s not clear if Thiel is concerned in Tacora’s most up-to-date fund: All that’s disclosed within the submitting is that it has 28 (unnamed) buyers. Tacora’s founder and CEO, Keri Findley, declined to touch upon whether or not Thiel invested. Representatives for Thiel didn’t instantly reply to TechCrunch.
Founded in 2021, Tacora relies in Austin. Findley was first launched to Thiel by way of his VC agency, Thiel Capital, when she labored as a associate at hedge fund Third Point, in accordance with Bloomberg.
Findley informed TechCrunch the brand new fund displays the profitable deployment of the inaugural fund and demand for “versatile, non-leveraged” financing options.
Venture debt companies mortgage money to startups and different companies, as a substitute of shopping for their fairness like conventional VCs. This sort of financing could be enticing to founders who want cash however don’t wish to dilute their possession. Tacora makes a speciality of lending to companies with capital-intensive wants, like fintech and {hardware} corporations, Findley informed TechCrunch. (Findley declined to provide examples of particular corporations it has backed to this point.)
The danger with enterprise debt, after all, is that startups — which regularly burn money — aren’t in a position to pay their loans again. Tacora says it solely backs loans in opposition to “particular, sturdy belongings owned by well-positioned corporations” in accordance with a press launch for its first fund.
