Boosting venture capital for startups

NVNG’s +Venture Wisconsin is a matchmaking tool to expand the state’s venture ecosystem.

A Madison-based venture capital firm is spotlighting young Wisconsin businesses to help them meet potential investors.

NVNG Investment Advisors has created a website, +Venture Wisconsin, that lets startups around the state post a profile of their company that displays their logo and describes their product or service, target market, background, and management team.

“We are trying to create a community through +Venture Wisconsin that has an ability to connect startups with investors,” says NVNG CEO and Managing Director Carrie Thome.

The platform showcases startups to a wide range of venture capitalists with the hope they will find a good match and draw investments that will help the young businesses grow, expand the state’s venture capital base, and boost Wisconsin’s economy.

Nearly 75 companies currently populate the +Venture (pronounced “add venture”) Wisconsin website; many of them were founded within about the last five years. On a separate webpage, investors can post their profiles and indicate what types of businesses they would like to invest in.

Fiveable is one of the companies featured on +Venture Wisconsin. Founded in 2018, the Milwaukee-based business provides resources to help high school students study for major exams, such as the Advanced Placement exams and standardized tests used in college admissions.

Fiveable has obtained funding from investors in New York and elsewhere, as well as from Wisconsin angel investor groups and from NVNG. The website exposure from +Venture Wisconsin is welcome and potentially helpful, says Fiveable CEO and founder Amanda DoAmaral: “Any way they can highlight the work we are doing helps us to get known in the ecosystem—whether that helps us find new employees or new customers.”

How NVNG began

Thome and Grady Buchanan established NVNG Investment Advisors in 2019. Both had worked for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Thome was chief investment officer, overseeing a $3 billion investment portfolio, and Buchanan was an investment analyst; both had created venture funds within WARF.

NVNG—which stands for “nothing ventured, nothing gained”—is their way to broaden the field of people and companies investing in venture capital funds and to educate them about venture investing. The $50 million fund NVNG has raised includes commitments from a mix of corporate, institutional, and individual investors, some of whom had no previous experience with venture capital.

Venture investing focuses on early-stage companies with the potential for long-term growth, and is generally viewed as riskier than investing in established, successful companies or stock-market favorites. “Venture investing is very dependent on a personal network. If we can make connections, startups are much more likely to get in the door,” Thome says.

To further facilitate those connections, NVNG has hired a “head of platform” to actively match corporate investors with startups in its portfolio to spur innovation, business development, and a variety of opportunities. The firm also has launched +Venture North, a conference that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations to discuss ways to use venture capital as an engine for economic growth in Wisconsin. The second annual +Venture North conference will be held in September.

WEDC is among the sponsors of +Venture North. “We are looking to make those connections as well, and to show entrepreneurs the resources we have available to them,” says Joey Frayne, WEDC technology investment manager.

First fund allocations

With its $50 million fund, NVNG has funneled some of its money into 15 venture funds—including at least one in Wisconsin—establishing what’s known as a fund of funds. The idea is to introduce the out-of-state funds to Wisconsin’s venture capital community.

“To help make Wisconsin’s innovation ecosystem globally competitive, we have to be integrated into national venture capital,” Thome says.

WEDC’s Frayne says the +Venture Wisconsin website gives young companies the opportunity to provide a snapshot of where they stand and a vision of where they need to go in order to succeed.

That exposure can open doors, as it did for Sandy Padala, CEO and founder of Rex Academy, a Milwaukee startup that provides computer science curriculum for school districts. “I got two meetings with two venture capital firms during my seed round,” Padala says.

Smartcare Software was one of the first startups on +Venture Wisconsin. CEO and founder Scott Zielski says the platform helps young businesses gain credibility. “We start talking to investors way before we start raising money. They get to know you, understand your business and see how you’re growing,” says Zielski, whose Eau Claire-based company offers a software platform for home caregivers.

Zielski says +Venture Wisconsin “is an excellent way for investors to find us … and start engaging with us. The more we can get Wisconsin companies noticed, the better it is to make connections.”

Frayne says many early-stage companies, covering a wide range of industries, get started every year in Wisconsin. “It’s not just biotech firms. People start companies trying to solve a wide variety of problems—and there is diversity in where these companies are located. They’re not just in Madison and Milwaukee, but all around Wisconsin,” Frayne says.

The +Venture Wisconsin website gives young companies the opportunity to provide a snapshot of where they stand and a vision of where they need to go in order to succeed, Frayne says. “If it intrigues investors, they can follow up and partnerships are formed,” he says.

Thome says NVNG and WEDC share a similar mission: to advance Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. “They’re a great partner,” she says. “This site really suits us both very, very well.”

Wisconsin Investment Fund

In fact, the collaboration between NVNG and WEDC will grow. NVNG is one of six venture capital management firms that will administer the first investments from the new Wisconsin Investment Fund. The public-private initiative will initially invest $100 million in startup business throughout the state. It will be “the biggest public-private investment in Wisconsin startups and entrepreneurs in our state’s history,” Governor Tony Evers said when he announced the program in May.

NVNG is receiving $6 million from the state and will match that amount with dollars from its own fund, with the goal of targeting diverse businesses in areas that have limited access to investment opportunities.

“WEDC’s Wisconsin Investment Fund aligns very well with our vision of making Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem globally competitive. We’re looking forward to making meaningful investments in promising startups across the state,” Thome says.