Grit is thrilled to announce that Christy Cardenas has joined us as a Managing Partner.
Christy comes with $12 billion in transaction experience, spread across venture capital, private equity and investment banking. In addition to her investment activity, she has been involved in structuring and fundraising three first-time funds, and takes a fresh perspective to innovation in early stage investing. She understands the economic reality of value creation via diversity, and is committed to building a better way.
Christy is based in the booming entrepreneurial hub of Austin, TX, where she and Grit will continue to focus deeply with The University of Texas at Austin, in addition to other marquee Texas schools. Christy will be dedicated to coverage of the central United States, focused on the undercapitalized innovation occurring in Denver, Austin, the Midwest and the like.
Grit has chosen to strategically invest in Texas, which we consider an economic beachhead for the rest of America. Texas is a huge economic force, with the 9th largest economy in the world, home to big industry, world class research universities, top R&D capital flows, and — most importantly — an entrepreneurial spirit. Texas is in the midst of a transition to an innovation economy, and undergoing the turnover of legacy industry. This state of change is driving deep opportunity, particularly in the AI, robotics, and energy spaces in which we focus.
Grit’s model is to pro-actively source early-stage deep tech investments in the labs and to help these startups commercialize. Christy will leverage her commercialization and business strategy skills to help our portfolio companies scale. Welcome Christy!
