Austin Ventures pares size of Fund XI to $400mln-$650 mln

The growth equity and venture capital firm, which focuses on Texas-based companies, is paring back the fundraising objective from the roughly $900 million raised for its vintage 2008 Austin Ventures X LP.

A spokesperson for the firm did not return a phone call or email from Buyouts.

Boosting its case for investors, the Austin-based shop backed a successful initial public offering for RetailMeNot, the digital coupon marketplace now trading at more than $40 a share, well above its $21 a share IPO price on July 19, 2013. The largest stakeholder in the IPO, Austin Ventures sold 1.78 million shares for gross proceeds of about $37 million.

In December, Austin Ventures sold another 1.7 million shares of RetailMeNot at $26 a share in a secondary offering, garnering gross proceeds of $44 million. The Texas firm continues to own 9.6 million shares valued at nearly $400 million.

Just last month, Austin Ventures hired Greg Stock as an entrepreneur-in-residence to apply his expertise in software investments. Stock had worked as CEO of Macheen and remains chairman of the firm, as well as CEO of Vovici, an Austin Ventures portfolio company acquired by Verint Systems in July, 2011. His credits also include CEO of Mirage Networks, which was acquired by Trustwave in 2009.

The firm’s new fundraising effort comes as two former Austin Ventures partners, Phil Siegel and David Lack, have formed a spinout firm called Tritium Partners, which has hired Credit Suisse to help raise a significant, growth-oriented buyout fund.

All told, Austin Ventures has raised $3.9 billion as the most active venture capital firm in Texas and one of the biggest names in the US, according to the firm’s website. On the mid-market side, Austin Ventures makes equity investments ranging from $25 million to $100 million.

Past LPs for Austin Ventures include Alaska Permanent Fund Corp, Oregon Investment Council and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, according to T-1 Banker.