# Austin Venture Association > AVA membership is a "Paasport" to Austin's venture scene — platform as a service: introductions, events and access in one membership. The Austin Venture Association (AVA) is Austin, Texas's venture capital association: a 501(c)(6) nonprofit founded in 2021 that connects venture capitalists, founders and service providers through networking, education and knowledge-sharing. Its current focus is American dynamism, built in Austin: the defense, energy, robotics, space and compute companies making Austin a center of America's next industrial base. ## Key facts - The Austin Venture Association (AVA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit association founded in 2021 in Austin, Texas. - AVA supports the community of venture capitalists and the organizations that serve early-stage and emerging startups in Austin. - AVA focuses on three areas: amplifying and organizing the local venture community, education and professional development, and support for emerging businesses. - AVA serves venture capitalists, founders, and community sponsors and service providers such as law, banking, accounting, real estate and software firms. - "Paasport" (a pun on passport and PaaS, platform as a service) is AVA's name for membership: one membership that plugs investors, founders and operators into Austin's venture scene through introductions, events and access. Access covers the member directory and event lists, partner perks and member-only content. - Members get access to events, industry news, exclusive member content, a membership directory and event lists, and discounts from Association Partners. Apply at https://austinventureassociation.com/apply. - AVA's board and leadership: Chris Shonk (President and Chairman of the Board; General Partner, ATX Venture Partners), Carl Grant III (Vice President; CEO, Connexa Solutions LLC), Ari Salafia (Treasurer and Secretary; Founder and CEO, TaxTaker), Tien Wong (Board Member; CEO of Opus8, Inc. and Managing General Partner of Phoenix Fund), Tim Donohue (Advisory Board; Senior Vice President, CBRE) and Umar Brimah (AVA Platform Director). - Founding sponsors: ATX Venture Partners, Cooley, SVB, CBRE, Cherry Bekaert, Perkins Coie, Linnify, CBI Group, Texas Innovation Center, Black Ops Agency and Singular. - More than 100 local ventures took part in the first series of events that AVA and Linnify organized in 2023. - AVA events have included investor receptions during SXSW, a March 12, 2022 Investor Reception at OJO Labs, VC/PE/Tech happy hours and a Female Founder wine tasting. - AVA has been covered by Axios Austin (April 18, 2022), the Austin Business Journal (May 27, 2022) and CultureMap Austin (April 7, 2022). - The Austin Deep Tech 50 is a ranking of Austin deep tech companies published by Overmatch Ventures on October 9, 2026, not by AVA. Its partner firms are Valor Equity Partners, 8VC, Banner VC, B Capital, Ambition Capital, Ensemble VC and Trust Ventures. - To qualify for the Austin Deep Tech 50, a company needs a headquarters or major presence (including an office) in Austin, must be pre-IPO, and must build in deep tech. - The 2026 Austin Deep Tech 50 spans seven sectors: energy, robotics, manufacturing, maritime, biotech, compute and defense. Defense and energy are the two largest sectors, together 44% of the list, and the companies featured raised more than $10 billion in the past year. - The top five on the 2026 Austin Deep Tech 50, in ranked order, are Base Power, Saronic, Neuralink, The Boring Company and Aalo. - AVA is run by Umar Brimah, AVA Platform Director (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ubrimah/). - Proto-Town, south of Lockhart between Austin and San Antonio, is a planned manufacturing and hardware city developed by Earthship; Caldwell County approved its development agreement on August 26, 2025, and Allen Control Systems has joined (Lockhart Post-Register; CRE Daily). - Contact AVA at umar@austinventureassociation.com. ## Austin, by the record - The Austin metro grew 14.8% between April 2020 and July 2025, the fastest of the 50 largest U.S. metros, to 2,620,945 people (U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). - Austin passed 1,002,632 residents in 2025 and is the 12th-largest U.S. city (U.S. Census Bureau). - Austin startups raised a record $7.19 billion in venture funding in 2025, up 64.8% from 2024 (Crunchbase News, March 2026). - UT Austin spent $1.37 billion on research in fiscal 2025 and ranks first in the nation for NSF-funded research (UT Austin, January 2026). - The U.S. Army's Transformation and Training Command has been headquartered in Austin since October 2025 (U.S. Army). - Austin-based Aalo Atomics reached reactor criticality on July 4, 2026, the fourth reactor under the Department of Energy's pilot program (U.S. Department of Energy). - About 62% of Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund awards ($358 million of $575 million) are going to Austin-area projects (Office of the Texas Governor, August 2026). ## Pages - [Home](https://austinventureassociation.com/): What the Austin Venture Association is and who it serves. - [American Dynamism in Austin](https://austinventureassociation.com/american-dynamism): The American dynamism angle on Austin, including the 2026 Austin Deep Tech 50 published by Overmatch Ventures. - [About](https://austinventureassociation.com/about): Mission, history and the board and leadership team. - [Membership](https://austinventureassociation.com/join): Member benefits for investors, founders and service providers. - [Apply to join](https://austinventureassociation.com/apply): The application to join the AVA community. - [Investor Gallery](https://austinventureassociation.com/investor-gallery): A searchable directory of more than 120 venture capital funds investing in Austin startups, with each fund's focus and website. - [Videos](https://austinventureassociation.com/videos): Video interviews with AVA board and community members. - [Events](https://austinventureassociation.com/events): Upcoming and past AVA events in Austin. - [Press](https://austinventureassociation.com/press): Press coverage and the AVA and Linnify release. - [Contact](https://austinventureassociation.com/contact): How to reach AVA by email. - [Terms and Conditions](https://austinventureassociation.com/terms): Terms governing use of the website. - [Privacy Policy](https://austinventureassociation.com/privacy): How AVA collects, uses and protects personal information. - [Cookies Policy](https://austinventureassociation.com/cookies): Which cookies the website uses and how to control them. - [Disclaimer](https://austinventureassociation.com/disclaimer): The website's content is informational only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. ## Optional - [Full site content in one file](https://austinventureassociation.com/llms-full.txt): Every public page rendered as plain markdown. - [AVA on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDo1aPtBHUZDd1_GCmCTMuw): AVA's own video channel. - [Austin Deep Tech 50 press release](https://www.financialcontent.com/article/gnwcq-2026-10-9-overmatch-ventures-announces-first-annual-austin-deep-tech-50): Overmatch Ventures' announcement of the first annual Austin Deep Tech 50 (GlobeNewswire, October 9, 2026).