San Antonio—Companies housed at co-working space Geekdom raised $18.7 million in investment funding during 2018, an increase of more than 81 percent from the previous year, according to Geekdom.
That accounts for almost 17 percent of the total venture funding raised by businesses in San Antonio last year, according to regional data compiled by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. Venture firms invested almost $110.2 million in the San Antonio metro area in 2018, according to their data. (An important caveat: PitchBook and the NVCA may not record the same funding rounds as Geekdom, so it’s possible the 17 percent figure is off, but likely not by much.)
The 2018 investments in Geekdom tenants are up from $10.3 million invested in Geekdom businesses during 2017, when the organization had around 1,700 members. (Geekdom hasn’t responded to a request for updated membership numbers.) Since the San Antonio co-working space was founded in 2011, companies located there have raised $97.8 million in total investment capital, according to an annual report released today.
Geekdom was created by Rackspace co-founder Graham Weston and fellow entrepreneur Nick Longo. The co-working space has played a large role in the expansion of the tech scene in downtown San Antonio, drawing startups and entrepreneurs to the eight floors of the 50,000-square-foot Rand building on Houston Street. A small chunk of the funds raised by Geekdom companies (about $120,000) came from its Community Fund, which invests $25,000 every three months in a different startup that works out of the space.
The $97.8 million raised by companies at Geekdom may be small in comparison to many of the nation’s largest tech hubs, but it’s a decent chunk of the overall money raised by businesses in San Antonio: about 14 percent. Since 2011, San Antonio companies have raised $688.6 million, according to the venture capital data from PitchBook and the NVCA.
Geekdom also noted that seven businesses that once used its space have been acquired since 2011. Three businesses in Geekdom made acquisitions last year, too, according to the annual report. Geekdom also created a “pre-accelerator” program with Alamo Angels last year, and announced a six-week entrepreneurship course earlier this month.
