Launched with $17 million by two old Norwest shoppers, Tau Ventures is ready for its closeup
Amit Garg and Sanjay Rao possess spent the majority of their respectable lives rising technology, founding startups and investing in startups at areas fancy Google and Microsoft, HealthIQ, and Norwest Mission Partners.
Over their decade-long friendship the 2 men discussed working collectively on a carrying out fund, however the time develop into once by no plot factual — except now. Since final August, the 2 men were elevating capital for their inaugural fund, Tau Ventures.
The determine, fancy the 2 companions, is form of wonky. Tau is two times pi and Garg and Rao selected it as the determine for the partnership since it symbolizes their analytical technique to very early stage investing.
It’s a outlandish component to begin a carrying out fund in a deadly disease, but for Garg and Rao, the chance to offer very early stage funding capital into startups engaged on machine finding out capabilities in healthcare, automation and industry develop into once too valid to stride up.
Garg had spent twenty years in Silicon Valley working at Google and launching firms in conjunction with HealthIQ. Over time he’d gathered an funding portfolio that included the self ample vehicle firm, Nutonomy, BioBeats, Glooko, Cohero Health, Terapede, Figure1, HealthifyMe, Wholesome.io and RapidDeploy.
In the intervening time, Rao, a Palo Alto, Calif. native, MIT alum, Microsoft product manager and founding father of the Flee Labs accelerator in Palo Alto, Calif., acknowledged that it develop into once well-known to give serve to entrepreneurs after decades in the Valley honing skills as an operator.
Both Rao and Garg acknowledge that there are heaps of funds that possess emerged mad by machine finding out in conjunction with Foundation Keep Ventures, SignalFire, Two Sigma Ventures, but these shoppers lack the relate firm building journey that the 2 novel shoppers possess.
Garg, as an instance, has in actual fact built a smartly being facility in India and has a deep background in healthcare. As an investor, he’s already viewed an exit via his funding in Nutonomy, and both men possess a deep realizing of the endeavor market — especially around security.
Up to now, the firm has made three investments automation, yet one more three in endeavor tool, and 5 in healthcare.
The agency for the time being has $17 million in capital below administration raised from institutional shoppers fancy the law agency Wilson Sonsini and heaps of undisclosed family areas of work and folk, according to Garg.
Remarkable of that capital develop into once dedicated after the pandemic hit, Garg acknowledged. “We began August 29th… and did the final conclude Could 29th.”
The conception develop into once to conclude the fund and initiate placing capital to work — especially in an atmosphere where numerous shoppers had been confused with checking out their existing portfolios, and no longer ready to position capital to work as quick.
“Our final funding develop into once carried out fully over Zoom and Google Meet,” acknowledged Rao.
That virtual atmosphere extends to the agency’s shareholder meetings and conferences, some of which possess attracted over 1,000 attendees, according to the companions.