Slauson & Co., a venture capital fund that prides itself on investing in anyone, has raised substantial funding.
TechCrunch reports Slauson & Co. was established by Ajay Relan and Austin Clements in 2020 with interests around SaaS and consumer tech. They were interested in investing in any early-stage founders.
Slauson & Co. had previously been supported by its first fund with $75 million at the time, exceeding its initial funding goal by $25 million. The funding helped to support 38 companies, with the majority led by people of color and women.
“We invest in everybody,” Relan told the outlet. “We’re investing in a way that’s a bit more representative of the shifting demographics in this country.”
Now, Slauson & Co. has received additional funding in its second fund, valued at $100 million from the support of nearly 40 investors.
“What we really wanted was just for people to look at us for the merits of what we can achieve and the opportunity that we’re going after,” Clements said. “That seemed to resonate with folks.”
With corporate initiatives down in 2024, they received backing from fewer limited partners, but more institutional investors have stepped up during this go-round.
He added, “We achieved the target ownership we were going after. We invested at the pace of deployment we said that we would. We stuck to our guns and wanted to be very disciplined. And I think that’s paid off with LPs.”
Looking ahead, the partners aim to push out 30 investments over the next three years, writing checks between $500,000 and $2 million. They have already moved forward with their investments from Fund II.
Beyond opening their pocket books, they are looking to strengthen the venture capital space through their accelerator program, network of operators and investors, and summer camps for their portfolio companies, TechCrunch notes.
“We like to say there is a Slauson Avenue in every major city across the country and we want to build a brand and firm that represents those types of communities,” Relan said. “…Hopefully folks with way deeper pockets than ours, who may not necessarily care about the same things that we care about, see an economic opportunity and start fishing in the same ocean.”
