Rockies Venture Club
I attribute this success to the RVC’s strong commitment to due diligence and getting investors involved in every step of the process.
Denver, CO (PRWEB) February 01, 2017
Denver, CO - Rockies Venture Club (RVC), one of the largest and most experienced angel investing organizations in the country, closed 18 funding rounds in the 2016 year. RVC has created a community of accredited investors who are passionate about helping early stage companies raise the capital that they need to grow. In the fourth quarter alone the club oversubscribed two seed rounds ($2.5M in total) by engaging a nation-wide network of other angel groups and venture capital firms.
According to RVC Director of Operations, Dave Harris, “2016 was a highly successful year for Rockies Venture Club. I attribute this success to the RVC’s strong commitment to due diligence and getting investors involved in every step of the process. The club has enhanced its professional volunteer-based due diligence team that produces reports that are best in breed and have magnified our ability to syndicate with other groups and bring outside investment to Colorado from Arizona, California, Japan and beyond.”
RVC led a funding round for Logrr,a cybersecurity company that allows secure access to cloud applications through biometry and advanced statistics, eliminating the need for insecure passwords. The company first pitched in to RVC investors at the Summer Pitchfest in August 2016 and raised a $750k round. The club partnered with Angel groups including: Nebraska Angels and the Plain Angels in Iowa, bringing extensive capital into Colorado. Logrr CEO Julian Denaes states, "Logrr is really excited about this seed round, led by RVC. RVC was really engaged and helped us connect with other great angel groups all over the nation. With these funds, Logrr will focus on marketing and customer acquisition.”
RVC also served as the lead investor for Ascent360. Ascent360 turns data into insight by providing marketers with online software that grows revenue, measures ROI, and improves data access and reporting capabilities. They enable marketers to easily integrate customer data across multiple systems, segment their customers, and send personalized messages across multiple platforms (such as email, social, direct mail, and display ads). The company raised $1.9M, bringing together a syndicate of Rockies Venture Club investors, Colorado based Access Venture Partners, Nelnet, Bialla Venture Partners, and others. According to Ascent360 CEO Scott Buelter, “This round of funding allows us the strength and capital to hire the right talent to take our unique technology to today's retail marketers and help them to leverage customer data in ways they never knew possible.”
Rockies Venture Club’s portfolio posted impressive metrics in 2016. RVC investors directly contributed $2.5M to seventeen companies and led total syndicated investments of over $14M. Ten of these companies were new investments while seven companies raised follow-on rounds to continue building on success from initial capital investment, impressing investors with the ability to meet and exceed their benchmarks. Most impressively, over 50% of RVC’s investments since 2014 have been in companies with female or minority leadership -- nearly triple the industry average!
Moving forward to 2017, Rockies Venture Club is hosting its 10th annual Angel Capital Summit in March, a two day conference focused on the theme of Corporate Venture Capital and Early Stage Investing. The Summit will bring 300 community members and active investors together for unrivalled networking, thought-leadership, and an ecosystem of capital investment. Attendees can expect pitches from 20 early-stage companies, 3 panels, and 2 keynote speakers including Andrew Romans from Rubicon Capital and author of the book Masters of Corporate Venture Capital. Additionally the Rockies Venture Fund closes for investment on February 14th. This fund is earmarked to drive capital to Colorado’s startup ecosystem and facilitate job growth. Peter Adams, RVC Executive Director said, “In 2016, RVC tested and iterated its model, now in 2017 we are looking to build upon this success to better drive economic development in the state of Colorado and beyond.”
About the Rockies Venture Club: Rockies Venture Club is the oldest and one of the largest Angel Groups in the U.S.A., founded in 1985, whose mission is to advance economic development by actively connecting the most promising entrepreneurial companies with angel investors, venture capitalists, and other community members. Every year Rockies Venture Club offers over 150 educational programs, mastermind groups, angel forums, and two major conferences for both investors and entrepreneurs.