Tacora, an investment management firm dedicated to optimizing the financing of early and mid-stage companies, announced a $250 million first close of the firm’s inaugural fund. This marks a significant milestone towards the firm’s target fund size of $300 million. The fund is backed by prominent venture capitalist Peter Thiel, providing capital and access to a high quality strategic network.
Tacora’s goal is to deliver creative financing solutions to high-growth, tech-enabled companies with capital-intensive technology platforms in sectors such as Fintech, Insurtech, Proptech, Logistics and Transportation. The firm aims to create opportunities at the intersection of venture capital, private credit, and special opportunities investing with companies that need access to funding for the assets they generate or are a necessary to conduct their business, and whose current inflection point doesn’t fit the risk-return profile of traditional venture equity investment.
“Our portfolio companies view our capital as an important alternative to traditional venture capital investment, which can be highly dilutive, and doesn’t meet the needs of the capital-intensive businesses we aim to partner with,” said Keri Findley, Founder and CEO of Tacora. “We seek to isolate asset performance risk from traditional venture equity risk, and plan to invest in specific, strong assets owned by well-positioned companies.”
While traditional venture capital is important for the innovation ecosystem, Tacora’s solutions utilize a combination of equity, debt, and other structured finance tools to help tech-enabled companies optimize their balance sheet with assets such as loans, real estate, contracts, and insurance policies. Most importantly, Tacora enables companies to scale assets and fuel growth while minimizing dilution.
“Startups have unique financial needs and Tacora has the expertise to serve them well," said Thiel. “I’m excited to be their first investor.”
“We are the ideal partner for companies seeking to grow their franchises in a sensible, less dilutive manner, while providing investors downside protection and equity-like returns,” Findley added.
Tacora’s heritage is rooted in its founder’s two decades of experience in structured credit investing at leading firms and most recently as a private investor. From 2009-2017, Ms. Findley ran the structured credit portfolio for Third Point, to which she was recruited to build from scratch. Prior to Third Point, Ms. Findley held a similar position at D.B. Zwirn, and began her career in ABS CDO research at Morgan Stanley. Ms. Findley currently serves as an advisor to Firework Ventures and 8VC, a venture capital firm founded by Joe Lonsdale, and serves on the boards of directors of Hearth, Karus, Point Digital and Architect.