Crowdfunded venture fund turns focus to Texas

SeedInvest LLC, a national equity crowdfunding company, has planted its focus on Texas with a new crowdfunding platform that launches today.

SeedInvest works with angel, venture capital and other investors to match them with startups. When it comes to choosing which startups to include on its platform, SeedInvest only accepts 2 percent that apply and those that it does select are carefully vetted to ensure they're relatively safe bets for investors.

TechFlash: Austin's best tech news in your inbox, every weekday. Subscribe for free here.

Marc Nathan, founder of Houston-based consulting firm T-Squared Agency, has been named the managing director for SeedInvest Texas.

"The reason I joined these guys is because they have the highest chance of finding money for awesome Texas startups that I've seen in a long time," Nathan said.

Whereas Kickstarter is popular with novice investors, SeedInvest has attracted the attention of major venture capital firms around the country.

As part of its regional expansion, it will focus on all of Texas, from Austin to Zavalla, to bring investors and startups to the national crowdfunding platform, Nathan said.

"We want to be the glue to tie the groups together," Nathan said. "As investors travel from different cities, they want to see great deals."

The state's efforts to open crowdfunding to both unaccredited and accredited investors will be something SeedInvest plans to capitalize on, he added.

Houston-based Virtuix was one of SeedInvest's first successfully funded companies. It has also been featured on Shark Tank and was a popular project on Kickstarter.

Joe Martin covers health care and technology for the Houston Business Journal.