# Joe Merrill

> Joe Merrill is a seed investor at Sputnik ATX backing Software and B2B. See 4 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Oct 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Sputnik ATX](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sputnik-atx)
- Location: Austin, United States
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: Aug 2024
- Lead investor: 25%
- Last updated: Oct 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-merrill-864722/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/Austin_VC
- Website: https://econtrepreneur.com/

Joe Merrill is a seed investor at Sputnik ATX in Austin focused on Software and B2B. Joe Merrill is the Chief Executive Officer of OpenTeams. Joe Merrill Holding an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Joe Merrill: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/joe-merrill?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 4 | 100% |
| B2B | 1 | 25% |
| Apps | 1 | 25% |
| SaaS | 1 | 25% |
| DevOps | 1 | 25% |

18 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 2 | 50% |
| Pre-Seed | 2 | 50% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Kargoplex | Kargoplex provides an AI-powered platform that streamlines global air and ocean shipments. We enable shippers and freight forwarders to consolidate cargo efficiently, reducing costs and empty space through our innovative KargoPool function. With features like real-time tracking, transparent pricing, seamless payment integration, and cargoinsurance, Kargoplex ensures a smooth and secure shipping experience from start to finish. Our global network of freight forwarders and shippers can book shipments, manage customs brokerage, and receive door-to-door service all from their mobile devices, making global shipping as simple as hailing a ride. | $100K | Pre-Seed | Aug 05, 2024 | https://kargoplex.com/ |
| PeerBie | Peerbie is an innovative all-in-one team collaboration and remote management platform designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows for businesses of all sizes, addressing the critical challenges of distributed teams and complex project demands. Headquartered in the United States, Peerbie serves diverse industries, including ITservices, marketing, computer software, and strategic management. The platform centralizes communication, consolidating email, phone, and chat into one tool, reducing tool fatigue and enhancing organizational communication. It simplifies project management by streamlining planning and execution, allowing teams to set deadlines, track progress, and align with shared goals. Peerbie enables leaders to create custom workflows for consistent execution, automating project milestones, hiring processes, and other business flows. With real-time collaboration features like team chats, document sharing, and mobile accessibility, teams can stay productive whether in the office or on the go. Peerbie's intuitive dashboards provide actionable insights into employee performance, project progress, and key metrics, helping organizations measure what matters and continuously improve. The platform also incorporates AI-powered features to automate tasks and provide real-time insights, ensuring businesses stay ahead of the curve. By centralizing all performance and collaboration tools, Peerbie eliminates inefficiencies and enhances productivity. Scalable for small to midsize businesses and small enterprises, Peerbie offers a free trial and demo to explore its capabilities. Visit Peerbie to learn more, sign up for a free trial, or book a demo today. Contact Peerbie via email at hello@peerbie.com or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Discover the future of work with Peerbie, where collaboration meets innovation. | $100K | Seed | Aug 01, 2024 | https://www.peerbie.com |
| ContextQA | Low-code, No-code: Test Automation PlatformFeatures: AI-Driven Web UI Test Automation No Coding!! Auto Generate Test Cases Auto Heal Test Cases Visual Regression Root-cause AnalysisTest Results with Context: • Advance Options Recording of Test Execution Network Trace Console Logs Network Errors Impact AnalysisSingle Platform - MultipleTestings: • Rest API Functional Testing API Testing Accessibility Testing Security Testing Web Performance Testing Cross-Browsers Testing Cross-Devices TestingIntegration with All Major Platforms JIRA Native App: • ContextQA \| JIRA ... Azure DevOps Integration CI/CD Pipeline Integration Webhook Integration | $100K | Pre-Seed | Feb 06, 2023 | https://contextqa.com |
| Newchip Accelerator | Newchip is a global remote startup accelerator. Newchip Accelerator, 1401 Lavaca St. PMB 40433, Austin, TX, 78701, Email: investing@newchip.com | $2M | Seed | Jun 21, 2018 | https://newchip.com |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- JadeValue — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- Polymath Network — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [SkyDeck Berkeley](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/skydeck-berkeley) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Yeoman's Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/yeoman-s-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Youbi Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/youbi-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Sputnik ATX

VC Fund · Austin, United States

Sputnik ATX is a venture capital fund and startup accelerator that funds early-stage maker-founders. It combines capital with training and experience to help startups win and grow. Its investment portfolio ranges in the industry from revolutionary podcasting analytics to cat care. The accelerator program has two cohorts each year, with each companyin the cohort receiving between $100-$500k in investment via the Sputnik ATX SAFE note. Sputnik ATX is a top decile VC fund. Sputnik ATX was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

3 contacts available at Sputnik ATX.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Amanda Eakin | Sr. Associate | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/amanda-eakin |
| Joe Merrill | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/joe-merrill |
| Oksana Mindyuk Malysheva | Managing Partner / CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/oksana-malysheva |

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## FAQ

### What does Joe Merrill invest in?

Joe Merrill invests primarily in Software, B2B and Apps startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Joe Merrill?

Public channels for Joe Merrill include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### When did Joe Merrill last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Joe Merrill closed in Aug 2024. Shizune tracks 4 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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