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Gutter raising $50M early-stage fund

Alan Neuhauser
Illustration of a hand cursor holding hundred dollar bills.

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

Venture firm Gutter Capital has raised about half of a planned $50 million fund to invest in early-stage startups, a person familiar with the fund tells Axios.

Why it matters: The NYC-based firm closed its debut $25 million fund just months before starting to raise this new one at twice the size.

How it works: Gutter plans to target software startups focused on climate change, economic mobility, and affordability.

Flashback: Gutter's first fund closed in March. It backed 14 startups, with an average initial check size of $1.5 million.

  • That capital "invested pretty quickly," the person familiar tells Axios, in startups such as EV charging installer Treehouse and waste-management software developer Wats.

The latest: Fund II will make "slightly longer investments" with a "slightly longer investment period," the person familiar says.

  • It's made its first "core commitment" in a software startup.
  • It's drawn more institutional investors than the first one. LPs include "family offices, funds of funds, founders, GPs, high-net worth individuals," per the person familiar.

Of note: Firm founder Dan Teran previously founded Managed by Q, a workplace-management software firm that was acquired by WeWork in 2019.

  • His Gutter co-founder, James Gettinger, was a professional gambler.
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