Deep Space Ventures

Deep Space Ventures was a Dallas, Texas-based venture capital firm founded in March 2016 by Stephen Hays, a former Wall Street investment banker with over six years of experience in capital raising and M&A advisory. The fund was launched to capitalize on the reallocation of capital from Texas's declining oil and gas sector into a growing technology ecosystem, with a geographic preference for the Dallas-Fort Worth region and a broader national reach. Deep Space invested in seed and Series A stage startups across esports, B2B SaaS, and fintech, with 12 total investments and 10 concentrated in Texas. The firm led rounds and wrote checks in the $500,000 to $1 million range, deploying approximately $1.75 million in its early months across 22 tracked investments. Portfolio companies included Vinli in connected car technology, Panamplify in software analytics, Selery Fulfillment, CounterFind, Legalinc, OpTic Gaming, and Infinite Esports & Entertainment. The fund reported a net IRR of 17.15% and an investment multiple of 3.18x, with a 2.5% management fee and 20% carried interest. Fund operations effectively ceased in August 2018 following the arrest of managing partner Stephen Hays. Hays subsequently founded What If Ventures in January 2020, a separate fund focused on mental health and addiction-related startups. Deep Space Ventures represents a brief but notable chapter in the development of Dallas's early-stage technology investment ecosystem during a period when Texas was diversifying its capital base beyond energy.