Dallas—Centre Technologies of Houston has bought Dallas-based Architel, and Architel co-founder Alexander Muse says he now is launching a new early stage investment fund called Sumo Ventures.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Centre Technologies, founded in 2006, is a privately owned company that provides IT infrastructure for businesses of all sizes in Texas and Louisiana. Architel was founded in 2001 and manages services for cloud computing through 24-hour network operations center.
Muse says after 15 years, Architel wasn’t a startup anymore. “It was time to sell so that I could focus on what I’m good at—startups,” he says.
Muse is running Sumo with his father, Ralph Muse, who is a venture partner; and his sister, Caroline Branch, who will serve as entrepreneur-in-residence. Both of them have experience in founding and selling tech companies. (Karl Chiao joins as a non-family partner.) Sumo will start off as a $10 million fund, and that amount could increase if the team decides to take on outside investors.
Sumo will have no specific geographic focus and will invest in a wide variety of sectors including mobile, e-commerce, enterprise, retail, restaurants, and energy, Muse says.
The Architel sale is the second exit for Muse and his co-founder Scott Ryan. In December last year, New York’s Purch media picked up ShopSavvy[1], which aggregates sales offered by retailers.
