Tacora Capital, a Texas firm that specializes in venture debt, has raised $268.7 million for its second fund, according to a new SEC filing.
Tacora’s inaugural fund in 2022 raised about $350 million, including $250 million from Peter Thiel — the prominent Republican billionaire and investor — in what was considered an “unusually large investment” for Thiel, Bloomberg reported at the time.
It’s not clear if Thiel is involved in Tacora’s most recent fund: All that’s disclosed in the filing is that it has 28 (unnamed) investors. Tacora’s founder and CEO, Keri Findley, declined to comment on whether Thiel invested. Representatives for Thiel didn’t immediately respond to TechCrunch.
Founded in 2021, Tacora is based in Austin. Findley was first introduced to Thiel through his VC firm, Thiel Capital, when she worked as a partner at hedge fund Third Point, according to Bloomberg.
Findley told TechCrunch the new fund reflects the successful deployment of the inaugural fund and demand for “flexible, non-leveraged” financing solutions.
Venture debt firms loan cash to startups and other businesses, instead of buying their equity like traditional VCs. This kind of financing can be attractive to founders who need money but don’t want to dilute their ownership. Tacora specializes in lending to businesses with capital-intensive needs, like fintech and hardware companies, Findley told TechCrunch. (Findley declined to give examples of specific companies it has backed so far.)
The risk with venture debt, of course, is that startups — which often burn cash — aren’t able to pay their loans back. Tacora says it only backs loans against “specific, strong assets owned by well-positioned companies” according to a press release for its first fund.