Grand Ventures To Invest In Midwest Based Companies With New Fund

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 3, 2019
  • Grand Rapids, Michigan-based venture capital firm Grand Ventures has raised $28 million for its flagship Fund I

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based venture capital firm Grand Ventures announced it raised $28 million for its flagship Fund I, LP to provide promising seed and early-stage enterprise SaaS companies across the Midwest and through other emerging geographies. And Grand Ventures has already invested in 6 companies from the fund.

Grand Ventures is expecting to invest in a total of 15-20 companies for the life of the fund that exhibits proprietary technology and service offerings and will benefit from its high-caliber talent and unique Advisory Board resources.

“We continue to differentiate our firm by focusing the majority of our deal-sourcing efforts on the greater Midwest with portfolio companies in Ann Arbor, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis,” said Grand Ventures co-founder and managing partner Tim Streit. “We’ve discovered that Midwest companies in particular have tapped into their entrepreneurial roots, creating unprecedented opportunity for early-stage investors with an abundance of talented entrepreneurs seeking the right support.”

Grand Ventures’ Advisor network identifies and evaluates opportunities across the country with the fund already featuring investments on both coasts.

“As the startup revolution continues to mature through penetration in non-coastal markets, many entrepreneurs are seeking more than just capital,” added Streit.  “Our Advisors are actively involved in all aspects of the fund from deal-sourcing and due diligence to CEO mentorship, business development support and board roles. Our ultimate goal is to supercharge the growth of companies through early-stage investments, as well as to create value with proven advice and counsel.”

Grand Ventures is known for executing on its “Capital Plus” approach through its Advisor network of more than 50 executives from a global and diverse range of industries. The Advisory Board includes McKeel Hagerty, the co-founder and managing partner of Grand Ventures and CEO of Hagerty. And as former chairman of the board for YPO (the world’s largest organization of CEOs), Hagerty affirms business mentorship as a key component of startup and early-stage success.

“The visionary leaders I’ve met through YPO have played a huge role in my growth as a leader,” explained Hagerty, whose company has grown from 30 employees to more than 1,200 today. “We promise the companies we fund the same type of impactful, real-world advice from our outstanding roster of C-suite executives, proven sector leaders and investors, and we believe this is a difference-maker in the companies we attract and the returns we can generate.”

The Fund Advisors include executives from Midwest-based companies like Founders Brewing, U.S. Robotics, Lean Logistics, and iEducation Group.

Featured image credit: Tim Streit