Capital Factory
Texas-based venture capital firm/accelerator; participated in Solideon's oversubscribed $5M+ pre-seed round (July 2024).
Austin, TX venture firm and accelerator founded in 2009 by Joshua Baer, who died June 17, 2026 in a plane crash near Laredo, TX (independently confirmed via Bloomberg, Texas Tribune, ABC News, Fortune, Forbes, KXAN, and Dallas Innovates — the only fatality among six aboard). Operates the Texas Fund, which writes the first cash check into deep and frontier technology including national security, and All Access, which connects 1,000+ portfolio companies to mentors and capital. The most active early-stage investor in Texas every year since 2010 per PitchBook; in August 2024, DARPA named it one of five national Regional Commercial Accelerators — the only one in Texas.
Overview
- Firm
- Capital Factory
- Headquarters
- Austin, TX
- Founded
- 2009
- AUM
- Stages
- Pre-Seed, Seed
- Thesis
- "A Texas venture firm backing startups advancing civilization" — positions itself as "the venture firm at the center of Texas."
- X / Twitter
- twitter.com/capitalfactory
- Website
- capitalfactory.com/
Portfolio companies2
- CompanySolideonBuilds Aperture, an autonomous multi-robot manufacturing system for large aerospace structures.
- CompanyApptronikAustin-based humanoid-robotics company building the Apollo and Astro general-purpose robots for industrial and logistics work; grew out of a DARPA Robotics Challenge lineage and early NASA/DoD/NSF federal research awards, though its current commercial focus is manufacturing and warehouse automation rather than defense.
Partners3
- FounderJoshua BaerFounder and CEO of Capital Factory (2009-2026), an Austin, TX venture firm and startup accelerator; previously founded three email-technology companies - Skylist, UnsubCentral, and OtherInbox - before moving into startup-ecosystem building. Died June 17, 2026.
- FounderBryan ChambersVP of Accelerator and Investment Fund at Capital Factory, leading its accelerator and investment activity across Austin, Dallas, and Houston; previously founded the Blackstone LaunchPad and UT Dallas Seed Fund at the University of Texas at Dallas.
- FounderGordon DaughertyCo-founder and chairman of Capital Factory, the Austin, TX venture firm/accelerator; computer scientist, angel investor with 600+ investments, and author of the bestselling "Startup Success: Funding the Early Stages of Your Venture" (2019).
Frequently asked
- What is Capital Factory?
- "A Texas venture firm backing startups advancing civilization" — positions itself as "the venture firm at the center of Texas."
- What stages does Capital Factory invest at?
- Capital Factory invests at Pre-Seed, Seed.
Tags
Sources & citations3
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
Capital Factory is the venture firm at the center of Texas, running the Texas Fund and All Access
Capital Factory: AboutVerified2026-08-09 - 2
Capital Factory founder and CEO Joshua Baer died in a plane crash near Laredo, TX on June 17, 2026
Dallas Innovates: Capital Factory Founder and CEO Joshua Baer Dies in Laredo Plane CrashVerified2026-06-17 - 3
Capital Factory CEO Joshua Baer was killed in a private plane crash in Texas
Bloomberg: Capital Factory CEO Baer Killed in Private Plane Crash in TexasVerified2026-06-17