Escalate Capital Closes on $235 Million Fund

cash, folding money,

Escalate Capital Partners, an Austin, TX-based mezzanine investor, has closed on a $235 million fund, the firm said in a written statement today. Aptly named Escalate Capital III, the fund is the firm’s third and its largest.

Escalate focuses on high-growth, later stage tech companies, from software as a service to healthcare. It typically invests $3 million to $15 million, and has plugged $500 million into more than 60 companies since it was founded in 2005, according to the statement.

The firm has invested nationally in companies such as Louisville, CO-based Market Force and New York-based Everyday Health, as well as in Austin with HomeAway and RetailMeNot.

Mezzanine investments can be debt, which are sometimes subordinate to other debt. They can also have equity components, however.

Escalate also promoted Chris Julich to managing director and Ryan Sanders to principal, the statement said.

Author: David Holley

David is the national correspondent at Xconomy. He has spent most of his career covering business of every kind, from breweries in Oregon to investment banks in New York. A native of the Pacific Northwest, David started his career reporting at weekly and daily newspapers, covering murder trials, city council meetings, the expanding startup tech industry in the region, and everything between. He left the West Coast to pursue business journalism in New York, first writing about biotech and then private equity at The Deal. After a stint at Bloomberg News writing about high-yield bonds and leveraged loans, David relocated from New York to Austin, TX. He graduated from Portland State University.