Comeback Capital Adds New General Partners, Launches New Rolling Fund to Provide Early Stage Funding to Startups in the Heartland

USA - English

• USA - English

CLEVELAND, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Comeback Capital, the venture capital firm that focuses on providing early stage funding to startups in the Heartland, today announced the appointment of two new general partners, Patrick McKenna, co-founder/executive chairman of Facet Wealth and Phil Hagerman, CEO of Forum Health, who will help the firm capitalize on the bounty of talent and entrepreneurship in emerging tech hubs beyond the Midwest. To fund this expansion, Comeback is launching a new $10M rolling fund via AngelList, to invest in seed and early stage funding for startups across America.

"With outstanding entrepreneurs and tech talent, emerging technology hubs have shown their value and penchant towards innovation in 2020 and beyond," said Comeback Capital Managing Partner Scott Shane. "Patrick and Phil have dedicated decades to founding, funding and growing technology companies outside of major tech hubs, overseeing significant financial transactions including IPOs, acquisitions and capital raises. With two of America's sharpest operators and investors as general partners, Comeback will capitalize on the opportunity to invest in underfunded and underrepresented talent as we expand our footprint across the country."

Since its founding in 2018, Comeback has provided 25 companies with seed and early stage funding, including Path Robotics, FloatMe, Paxafe and Civic Eagle. Nearly half of its portfolio has raised additional capital at a higher valuation. In addition to Shane, McKenna and Hagerman, Tony Olivito also serves as a general partner with Comeback.

Serial entrepreneur and investor Patrick McKenna previously founded HighRidge Ventures and One America Works. By bringing on McKenna as a general partner, Comeback will deepen its collaboration with One America Works, the non-profit that bridges the divide between Silicon Valley and emerging tech hub cities across the U.S. The two organizations will host events together, connecting talent, startups, investors and cities, stemming from One America Works' successful virtual recruitment events in Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis and Nashville over the past year, where thousands of tech workers interviewed with local startups. The two organizations will also work with the accelerator gener8tor on a virtual educational series and pitch competition and an accelerator studio to further build the startup ecosystem in the heartland.

"The expansion of the technology industry across the U.S. in this critical moment is the largest untapped resource for the future of the American economy," said One America Works founder and Comeback Capital general partner Patrick McKenna. "The combination of Comeback Capital and One America Works will bring together capital, companies, entrepreneurs and tech talent to foster the innovation economy in emerging regions."

Forum Health CEO Phil Hagerman joins Comeback as another milestone of his decades-long career as a Michigan-based founder, investor and operator. Hagerman co-founded Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy with his father in 1975, growing the specialty pharmacy into a multi-billion dollar revenue publicly-traded company. He founded real estate and early stage venture investment firm SkyPoint Ventures in 2013 and remains its CEO. Hagerman also currently serves as CEO of Flint, MI's Forum Health Enterprises.

Scott Shane founded Comeback in 2018, after he met McKenna, Bloomberg Beta head Roy Bahat, and Long Journey Ventures investor Cyan Bannister, at a "Comeback Cities" bus tour event earlier that year. That tour brought together a dozen coastal venture capitalists to connect with the tech community in emerging cities like Youngstown, Ohio, Flint, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana. The VCs on the tour, including McKenna, Bahat and Bannister, stayed connected and found ways to invest in companies, talent and emerging cities through their respective organizations and as LPs of and advisors to Comeback Capital. With this news today, One America Works and Comeback Capital are officially coming together to bring jobs and investment, respectively, to emerging cities across the Heartland.

The AngelList fund opens on July 1st. Accredited investors can learn more here.

Media Contact

Ariana Denebeim, DKC News, +1 (415) 464-7656, [email protected]

SOURCE Comeback Capital