Since its launch in 2015, the Badger Fund of Funds has invested over $3 million in 25 Wisconsin companies with the goal of diversifying business within the state. Three panelists — Jonathon Horne, Sam Rikkers and Dan Brooks — spoke about investing in new businesses at...
The Wisconsin Venture Capital Association urges lawmakers to include Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed $100 million venture fund of funds in the 2021-23 state budget. The WVCA notes that while Wisconsin is building what is amounting to be a vibrant startup ecosystem, it still lags other Midwest...
Wisconsin seeking a fund of funds is a golden opportunity to do something special — do it the right way, says Renaissance Venture Capital Fund CEO Chris Rizik. Rizik will be a panelist at the virtual Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference tomorrow during a discussion on the Midwestern...
… One of the many factors that differentiate the Wisconsin Fund from the Badger Fund is that even though capital may be raised from out-of-town investors, capital raised by the Badger Fund must be deployed in WIsconsin-based startups. The Wisconsin Fund’s $100 milion is required to...
By John Neis Venture Investors LLC is Wisconsin’s oldest venture capital firm, formed in 1982. Headquartered in Madison and focused on healthcare opportunities spinning out of research university ecosystems, the firm has watched Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial climate evolve and have been a part of every effort to...
May 26, 2021 TO: Members of the Wisconsin Legislature FROM: Cory Nettles and Mark Bugher, Wisconsin Fund Coalition RE: $100-million state investment in a Wisconsin Fund As the Wisconsin Legislature considers joining its neighbors in the creation of a statewide venture capital “fund of funds,” lawmakers should not buy...
By Missy Hughes WEDC Secretary and CE As we pass the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisconsin’s economy stands at a crossroads between the depths of recession and a return to healthy growth. We need to seize this opportunity for economic recovery by accelerating support for...
The unrelenting feud between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican controlled state Legislature was in full bloom this month as lawmakers scrapped nearly 400 items from Evers’ proposed budget and decided to start from scratch using the current budget as a base. Were there any...
From the electric guitar to stem cell therapies, entrepreneurs have demonstrated incredible ingenuity throughout Wisconsin’s history. Yet in recent years we have lagged in attracting investment to provide lifeblood to our startup companies — stifling their growth or forcing them to leave the state. As part...
When lawmakers on the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee began the process of retooling Gov. Tony Evers’ budget, one item that survived was a $100 million venture capital “fund of funds.” The proposal by Evers, a Democrat, has the support of eight former secretaries of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and...