- Seed stage VC firm Inner Loop Capital recently set up a $2.6 million Syndicate Fund to fuel early-stage cybersecurity and enterprise technology companies
Inner Loop Capital is a seed stage VC firm that is known for supporting the founders of cybersecurity and enterprise technology companies in the Washington, D.C. region. Recently, Inner Loop set up a $2.6 million Syndicate Fund for fueling the early-stage venture ecosystem in the area.
This fund was founded and managed by Justin Label — who is an active angel investor and former partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. Label was amongst the first investors in several D.C. region companies like NS8 and Cybrary. And he also helped the founders at those companies set up their initial investor syndicates.
“Greater Washington D.C. is the largest economy in the U.S. without a liquid seed-stage venture capital market,” said Label. “The challenges of raising early capital in the D.C. region are frustrating to local founders and inhibit the growth of our venture and tech ecosystem. The outstanding founders of the D.C. region prove there is a viable venture market here. Nearly $2 billion in venture capital is invested in the area each year. And yet there is no institutional seed-stage venture capital fund with a mission of supporting D.C. area founders. We want this Syndicate Fund, raised from investors who see this opportunity, to be a step toward addressing that gap.”
The fund will primarily focus on cybersecurity founders. And it’s worth mentioning that the D.C. region (known as Cyber Corridor) is home to the second largest concentration of cybersecurity product companies in the U.S. There are a number of unicorns in the area including Sourcefire, Mandiant, and Tenable.
Gula Tech Adventures — an investment firm focused on early stage cybersecurity companies founded by Ron Gula and Cyndi Gula — anchored the new Syndicate Fund. Ron Gula was the former CEO and co-founder at Tenable and Cyndi was the VP of Operations. And for the Syndicate Fund, they are joined by seven additional LPs including Bloomberg Beta, two family offices, and several cybersecurity founders.
“We believe strongly in the potential of D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia founders and of building a thriving venture ecosystem in the region,” added Gula Tech Adventures president Ron Gula. “After co-investing five times with Justin as angel investors, we’re now glad to formally partner with Inner Loop Capital to continue to back visionary founders very early in their development.”
The fund is aiming to make about eight seed-stage investments over 18 months with typical investments of $300K to $400K. And the Syndicate Fund could expand as necessary to fund follow-on rounds of its portfolio companies.
Besides cybersecurity, Inner Loop also invests exclusively in enterprise technology companies. Inner Loop Capital’s Syndicate Fund has led the seed round of D.C.-based GreyNoise Intelligence and participated in the early financings of San Francisco-based companies Tall Poppy Security and Crosschq.
Featured image: Justin Label via LinkedIn
