Silverton Partners, Texas' oldest active venture investor, has raised $248 million across two funds, the largest pool of capital in the firm's history.

The sum of the latest vehicles, a $177 million seventh flagship fund and a $71 million second opportunity fund, represents a 72% step-up in size from the $144 million the firm raised at the start of the pandemic in April 2020.

Morgan Flager, a managing partner with Silverton, said this fundraise brought out a feeling he had when the firm closed its previous set of funds. "It felt good to have capital as the market was falling out," he said.

While he acknowledged that the recovery wouldn't be as swift after this market correction, he is convinced that this is an opportune time to have fresh capital.

Although the fund was oversubscribed, Flager said that he noticed a change in LP sentiment as the firm progressed with the fundraising process, a reflection of changing market conditions. Nevertheless, all the firm's prior LPs committed to the latest funds.

The Austin-based firm intends to stick to its long-standing strategy of backing predominantly seed- and Series A-stage startups. As in the past, two-thirds of the funds will be allocated to Texas-based companies, with the remainder dedicated to startups across the country.

"We have several investments in New York, a few in California, several in Utah, and one in Florida," Flager said.

The firm plans to back 20 to 23 companies with its seventh fund, writing checks that average between $2 million and $6 million per investment.

Since its founding in 2006, Silverton Partners has exited more than 30 portfolio companies via acquisition and had four of its investments listed on the public markets, including Sailpoint, Ping Identity and Vacasa.

While the firm has already made one investment from Fund VII, Flager said Silverton might not invest at the same pace for the rest of the year as it did in the past.

"Further investments will depend on valuations," he said, adding that many founders have not yet accepted that valuations have dropped significantly amid the market pullback.

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This article originally appeared on PitchBook News