Tacora Capital, a Texas firm that specializes in investment debt, said it has raised $268.7 million in its second round of funding. New SEC filing.
Tacora's inaugural funding in 2022, including $250 million from prominent Republican billionaire and investor Peter Thiel, is considered an “unusually large investment” for Thiel. At the time, Bloomberg reported..
Whether Thiel was involved in Tacora's most recent funding is unclear. Unclear: There are 28 investors (who have not been named) listed in the filing. Tacora's founder and CEO Keri Findley declined to comment on whether Thiel invested. Representatives for Thiel did not immediately respond to TechCrunch.
Tacora was founded in 2021 and is based in Austin. Findley was first introduced to Thiel through his VC firm Thiel Capital while working as a partner at the hedge fund Thiel Point. According to Bloomberg..
Findley told TechCrunch that the new fund reflects the successful deployment of startup funding and the need for “flexible, non-leveraged” financing solutions.
Venture debt firms lend cash to startups and other businesses instead of buying their own equity like traditional VCs. This kind of financing can appeal to founders who need money but don't want to dilute their assets. Tacora specializes in lending to capital-intensive businesses like fintech and hardware companies, Findley told TechCrunch. (Findley declined to divulge examples of specific companies it has backed so far.)
The risk of venture debt is Startups burning through cash are unable to repay their loans. Tacora said it only supports loans for “specific, solid assets owned by the companies in which they are located.” According to a press release. For its first funding.