Venture fund to invest in local pre-revenue startups
The Gateway Capital Fund, part of the Badger Fund of Funds, has reached its initial fundraising goal after launching in October 2020, the fund announced in a news release.
So far, the Gateway Capital Fund has raised $6 million. The fund will continue fundraising with the goal of raising $10 million. It will start investing after hitting that $10 million goal.
The Badger Fund of Funds has matched $40,000 of every $60,000 raised by the Gateway Capital Fund. It is one of five Wisconsin-based venture capital funds with the Badger Fund of Funds as its lead investor.
The Gateway Capital Fund is focused on investing in Milwaukee County startup companies that are not yet generating revenue. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation and West Bend Mutual Insurance
Co. also invested.
“For too long, venture capital has underinvested in Milwaukee County,” said Ken Johnson, the managing director of Kegonsa Capital Partners LLC and a Badger Fund of Funds partner, in the news release.
“Of the close to $300 million of venture capital that was invested in Wisconsin in 2018, less than 10 percent of that was invested in Milwaukee County, the state’s most populous county. The Gateway Capital Fund is aiming to reverse this trend by identifying and investing in the vast untapped entrepreneurial community of Milwaukee.”
The Gateway Capital Fund is managed by Dana Guthrie, founder of investment company Alchemy Angels.
The Badger Fund of Funds was formed in 2015 and includes $25 million from the state from 2013 legislation to invest in Wisconsin-based venture capital funds.