About Texas Emerging Technology Fund
Texas Emerging Technology Fund is a venture capital firm founded in 2005. It is primarily based out of Austin, United States. As of May 2014, Texas Emerging Technology Fund has invested in 15 companies. It primarily invests in Grant (prize money) round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Life Sciences to High Tech and Enterprise Applications. Most recently it participated in the $***** Grant (prize money) round of Alafair Biosciences Overall, Texas Emerging Technology Fund portfolio has seen 2 IPOs and 2 acquisitions, namely Ensysce, Bellicum and ZS Pharma. A lot of funds co-invest with Texas Emerging Technology Fund, with names like Startech sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio.Key Metrics
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Grant (prize money) & Seed
Texas Emerging Technology Fund's List of Top Investments
Texas Emerging Technology Fund has a portfolio of 15 companies. Their most notable investments are in ZS Pharma and Axzon.Their portfolio spans across and United States. They have invested in Life Sciences, High Tech, Enterprise Applications and 7 other sectors, across stages such as Grant (prize money), Seed stages. Here is the list of top investments by Texas Emerging Technology Fund:Biomaterials and biomedical devices that enhance internal wound healing. It develops cross-linked polysaccharide hydrogel films to address the post-surgical complication of unwanted soft tissue attachments or tethering between opposing tissue surfaces.
Key facts about Alafair Biosciences
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Austin (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $13.7M
- Employee Count: 66 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: ATP, UT System and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Apr 18, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Ensysce
Provider of drug delivery problems with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. It offers carbon nanotubes for novel therapeutic applications in the area of cancer treatment. Its fullerene carbon nanotubes are used in delivering active agents into the cancer cells through natural barriers and protecting normal tissue from the active agent during delivery. The company also delivers small interfering RNA for cancer treatment, active cancer drugs, and alpha-emitting radiation using carbon nanotubes.
Key facts about Ensysce
- Founded Year: 2008
- Location: Houston (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $1M - $10M as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $2.5M
- Employee Count: 13 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: HHS, SBIR and 1 Other
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Nov 17, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. Bellicum
Bellicum is a developer of T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and chronic infectious diseases. The company is developing CAR-T and TCR-based T cell therapies. Its drug pipeline consists of BPX-501, an adjunct T-cell therapy for pediatric genetic disease (eg- SCID) and hematologic cancer; BPX-701, a T cell receptor (TCR)-based therapy for the treatment of solid tumours expressing preferentially-expressed antigen in melanoma.
Key facts about Bellicum
- Founded Year: 2004
- Location: Houston (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $1M - $10M as on Dec 31, 2022
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $138M
- Employee Count: 10 - 49 as on Mar 01, 2026
- Investors: Foresite Capital, Perceptive Advisors and 15 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Sep 02, 2014, $*****
- Highlight: Public
4. ZS Pharma
Develop ion-trap therapies for the treatment of hyperkalemia. Its lead therapeutic candidate ZS-9 uses technology that is hypothesized to mimic natural ion channels and stop ions other than potassium and ammonium to enter its crystalline structure. It is currently being tested in late-stage clinical trials and is awaiting a final FDA decision. ZS-9 (sodium zirconium cyclosilicate) is a selective oral sorbent that traps potassium ions throughout the gastrointestinal tract. ZS Pharma is also pursuing the discovery of additional drug candidates that utilize selective ion-trap technology for the treatment of liver disease.
Key facts about ZS Pharma
- Founded Year: 2008
- Location: San Mateo (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $110M
- Employee Count: 50 - 199 as on Mar 01, 2026
- Investors: Pittco, MidCap Financial and 14 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Venture Debt, Jul 17, 2014, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
5. Axzon
Provider of cloud and IoT-enabled asset tracking solutions for multiple industries. The product line includes a series of connected sensors for measuring multiple parameters including temperature, moisture, and intrusion, and a system solution that collects the relevant sensor data while managing the RF communication process. The company also provides an industrial IoT sensor platform that handles the sensor and reader details and provides an interface to connect with the internal business processes. In addition, the company provides evaluation systems comprising sensors paired with either a handheld reader or a fixed reader. It caters to automotive, electric power distribution, data centers, cold chains, and factories.
Key facts about Axzon
- Founded Year: 2006
- Location: Austin (United States)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $7.26M
- Employee Count: 4 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Austin Technology Incubator and Texas Emerging Technology Fund
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Mar 16, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Texas Emerging Technology Fund's Investments by Stage
Texas Emerging Technology Fund has made 9 investments in Grant (prize money) stage with an average round size of $1.38M and 4 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $1.82M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Grant (prize money) | 9 |
Seed | 4 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Texas Emerging Technology Fund's Investments by Sector
Texas Emerging Technology Fund has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Life Sciences, High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Energy Tech and Semiconductors. Notably, it has invested in 13 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 12 Tech companies, 4 Software companies and at least 4 companies focusing on Tech hardware.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Life Sciences | 7 |
High Tech | 5 |
Enterprise Applications | 3 |
Energy Tech | 2 |
Semiconductors | 2 |
Others | 9 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Texas Emerging Technology Fund's Investments by Geography
Texas Emerging Technology Fund has made most investments in United States (13).Texas Emerging Technology Fund's recent investments
Texas Emerging Technology Fund has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Texas Emerging Technology Fund:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 15, 2014 | United States | Grant (prize money) | 1586 | - | |
Aug 31, 2012 | United States | Grant (prize money) | 9104 | - | |
Jun 06, 2012 | United States | Seed | 5507 | - | |
Feb 2011 | United States | Grant (prize money) | 7614 | - | |
Sep 28, 2010 | United States | Seed | 2079 |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Texas Emerging Technology Fund's Portfolio
2 of Texas Emerging Technology Fund's portfolio companies have become public. Ensysce got listed on the OTC Markets (OTCMKTS), in Jan 2018 at marketcap of undefined and Bellicum got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) at marketcap of $491M.Here are Texas Emerging Technology Fund's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 05, 2018 | Jun 14, 2010 | Seed | 1987 | |
Dec 18, 2014 | Oct 09, 2007 | Grant (prize money) | 2473 |
Acquired companies in Texas Emerging Technology Fund's Portfolio
2 companies from Texas Emerging Technology Fund's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was ZS Pharma in Nov 2015 by AstraZeneca for $*****.Here are Texas Emerging Technology Fund's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nov 06, 2015 | Aug 30, 2010 | Seed | 6771 | |
Sep 05, 2012 | Aug 31, 2012 | Grant (prize money) | 9908 |
Co-investors of Texas Emerging Technology Fund
Over the past 20 years, 47 investors have co-invested in Texas Emerging Technology Fund's portfolio companies. This includes only funds.
- Invested before Texas Emerging Technology Fund: HHS, Austin Technology Incubator and 7 others have invested in rounds before Texas Emerging Technology Fund. There is 1 company where HHS has invested before Texas Emerging Technology Fund and 1 company where Austin Technology Incubator has invested before Texas Emerging Technology Fund.
- Top Co-investors of Texas Emerging Technology Fund: 2 investors entered a company along with Texas Emerging Technology Fund. These include investors like Startech (1 company).
- Invested after Texas Emerging Technology Fund: A total of 36 investors have invested in Texas Emerging Technology Fund's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Austin Technology Incubator (2 companies), HHS (2 companies) and RA Capital Management (2 companies).
Recent News related to Texas Emerging Technology Fund
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ATI-Alum RFMicron Raises $1.6 Million in Funding - Austin Technology IncubatorThe University of Texas at Austin•Apr 12, 2011•RFMicron, Texas Emerging Technology Fund
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Texas Emerging Technology Fund Awards $9.2M to InCube Labs CompaniesArea Development•Sep 29, 2010•Fe3 Medical, Texas Emerging Technology Fund, Startech
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The Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Member Company, RFMicron - Austin Technology IncubatorThe University of Texas at Austin•Jun 07, 2010•RFMicron, Austin Technology Incubator, Texas Emerging Technology Fund
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ATI Member-Company, RFMicron, Accepts $675,000 From Emerging Technology FundRFID Solutions Online•May 26, 2009•RFMicron, Texas Emerging Technology Fund
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RFMicron, an Austin Technology Incubator Company, Secures $250,000 Emerging Technology Grant | UT News | The University of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin•Jul 15, 2008•RFMicron, Texas Emerging Technology Fund
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