- Venture capital firm Drive Capital has closed a $350 million third fund for investing in early-stage Midwest-based companies
Drive Capital — a venture capital firm that was founded by former Sequoia Capital investors Mark Kvamme and Chris Olsen — has closed a $350 million third fund to invest in early-stage Midwest-based companies, according to regulatory filings discovered by Crunchbase News.
Drive Capital has invested in several dozen companies since launching, including Algolux, Beam, Branch, Clinc, Duolingo, FarmLogs, Kapow, Root Insurance, Stateless, and Udacity.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Drive Capital is located near several universities with strong engineering programs. Some of Drive Capital’s exits include Gild (acquired by Citadel), Channel IQ (acquired by Market Track), and Nowait (acquired by Yelp for $40 million).
Before Kvamme launched Drive Capital, he had stepped down from Sequoia to work in a cabinet position for his friend Gov. John Kasich according to Business Insider. About a year later, he resigned and convinced Olsen to join him to launch Drive Capital according to Business Insider. All 19 employees of Drive Capital relocated to Ohio from the East Coast or West Coast. And they have flown 1 million miles collectively.
Drive Capital is splitting its assets between Drive Capital Fund III, L.P. ($249.425 million raised from 61 investors) and Drive Capital Fund III (TE), L.P. ($100.575 million from 22 investors). More than half of Drive Capital’s portfolio companies are based in either Ohio, Michigan, or Illinois.
Drive Capital also filed amended paperwork for Drive Capital Overdrive Fund I, L.P. and Drive Capital Overdrive Fund I (TE), L.P. For the Overdrive Fund, Drive Capital is targeting $400 million, of which $284.4 million was raised already.
