The cat is out of the bag. Last week Urvaksh broke the news on my new seed and early stage venture fund. I launched Tech Square Ventures to invest in innovative technology startups in the Southeast that have the potential to transform their markets.
The $10 million seed and early stage fund will partner with visionary entrepreneurs building startups in sectors that leverage the strengths of the Southeast and our area research universities. While we will be opportunistic in our investment activity, our primary focus will be on information technology and connectivity. In information technology we’ll be looking at SaaS, security, fintech & eCommerce, big data & cloud, and healthcare IT startups. In connectivity we’ll be looking at connected devices, ‘internet of things’, medical devices, sensors, and mobility.
Tech Square Ventures will typically look to initially invest in the first round after friends and family, and make follow on investments in the successful, growing startups. I hope to do 3 or 4 deals this year. We will typically co-invest with other angel and early stage fund investors. The criteria we’ll be looking for include:
- Strong entrepreneurs with domain expertise
- Compelling solutions to needs in a large and growing addressable market
- Scalable business models with recurring revenue
- Differentiating technology / competitive barriers to entry
- Industries and business models where we can partner with the entrepreneur to accelerate the growth of the company
Feedback from the startup community and support from local investors has been humbling. I can’t thank everyone enough! In the coming weeks I’ll post more thoughts about the fund, why I launched it, and answer some of the most common questions I’ve gotten since the fund was announced. In the mean time David Cummings posted a great article about the mechanics of a fund this size. While it doesn’t match my plans exactly – it is directionally correct.