Los Angeles-based venture capital fund, Entrepreneur Ventures, is expanding its presence to Grand Rapids, aiming to scout for potential deals and investors within the Midwest region. Some key points in this development include:
- The company seeks to raise a targeted $10 million for pre-seed investments ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, potentially funding between 150 to 200 early-stage startups in various sectors.
- The venture capital fund is creating an angel investing network with plans to add 100 angel partners by the end of 2024.
- Entrepreneur Ventures has collaborated with Entrepreneur Media, publisher of Entrepreneur.com and Entrepreneur magazine, providing a platform to promote the companies the fund invests in and aid them in securing subsequent, larger capital rounds.
- The firm intends to co-invest mainly in the consumer-packaged goods, consumer, and business-to-business and enterprise technology sectors.
Entrepreneur Ventures is represented in the Midwest by Grand Rapids native, Danny Beckett Jr., a general partner with a background in entrepreneurship and venture capital investing. Beckett characterizes the region as a tertiary market full of “amazing companies” that the fund can support.
So far, Entrepreneur Ventures has reportedly raised about $2.5 million from investors and is in the process of furthering its reach beyond just East and West coasts, reflecting a shift in the creation and development of companies. Additional offices are slated to open in New York, San Francisco, Toronto as well as Los Angeles.
Beyond Grand Rapids, other cities targeted for similar investment events include Nashville, TN; Salt Lake City, UT; Austin, TX; Columbus, OH; and Indianapolis, IN.
In a statement, Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief at Entrepreneur magazine, lauded the potential of communities like Grand Rapids for entrepreneurs, highlighting that the need to relocate to large coastal cities is no longer a necessity due to a full ecosystem being built out in such regions.
