Austin, Texas: Live Music And Now LiveOak

Undeterred by the frosty fund-raising outlook, Austin Ventures General Partner Venu Shamapant and three others with ties to the Austin, Texas, venture firm have launched LiveOak Venture Partners.

The new firm, also based in Austin, will invest in technology start-ups, mainly in Texas, according to its Web site. It hopes to reinvigorate the state’s early-stage venture scene.

Although Austin Ventures continues to devote a substantial portion of its capital to early-stage venture capital, it has directed much of its firepower to later-stage and growth-equity deals such as vacation rental service HomeAway Inc. Texas has seen a decline in early-stage venture firms, but the start-up climate remains vibrant, said Shamapant.

Austin Ventures General Partner Chris Pacitti said his firm has found interesting opportunities to invest in early-stage and growth-equity deals and a combination of the two in software, Internet technology, information services and even financial services, but he said hardware has resisted the approach because it tends to be strictly early-stage venture. While Austin Ventures, through Venture Partner Clark Jernigan, will continue to work on that space, it isn’t prepared to focus as much attention as Shamapant wanted, Pacitti said.

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