HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 13
HX Venture Fund leader talks investment trends in Houston and plans for 2020
After 20 years in the venture capital world, Sandy Guitar Wallis has seen the evolution of investing — on both coasts and here in Houston as well.
Now, as managing director of the HX Venture Fund, Wallis is playing the long game. The fund of funds acts as a broker to other venture funds, raising money from limited partners and then strategically doling out investments to non-Houston venture funds, with the hope that those funds circle back into the Houston innovation ecosystem with a multiplier effect.
"We have raised a fund of funds with the HX Venture Fund, and we're deploying that capital across probably 10 venture capital funds over time," Wallis explains on the most recent episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. "Each one of those funds, will invest in 15 to 20 underlying private companies. So, at the end of the day, HX Venture Fund 1 will have exposure to 10 VC funds, as an example, and — by virtue of those investments — maybe 300 private companies."
The HX Venture Fund is aiming to raise between $50 million and $70 million for its first fund. Last year, HXVF made six investments, and Wallis says she expects another three to five investments in 2020. Ultimately, Wallis says, HXVF is looking to get a wide range of of firms involved — from early stage to later, growth stages — as well as a diversity in industries of focus.
Beyond the money, HXVF is opening up the discussion on a national scale, with visiting VCs and potential investors.
"We are getting a lot of interest in coastal VCs who want to invest here," Wallis says on the podcast.
Wallis, who is a co-founder of Weathergage Capital, got her MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, but has been in Houston for most of her career — traveling to each coast for business. Wallis shares her expertise, discussing everything from why the IPO process has slowed to what startups need to know about venture capital.
Listen to the full episode below — or wherever you get your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.
The festival will take place in April 2024 in downtown. Rendering courtesy of Pokatok
Pokatok will take place in and around the George R. Brown Convention Center. Rendering courtesy of Pokatok