Capital Resources In The Region: What’s Available Near You?

Written by: Brady Drake

In The Region

Deciding where to look for private funding can be an intimidating process for those who are unfamiliar with the local landscape. However, there are an abundance of resources to help grow. Below is a sample of some of the many private capital resources available in the upper Midwest.

Broadwater Capital

Fargo, ND

About Them: Broadwater Capital is a private investment firm based in Fargo, ND. Through their flexible investment mandate, Broadwater seeks to provide capital and strategic support with an ability to invest in a variety of industries, transaction types and stages of companies.

Contact Broadwater Capital

Web: bwcap.com
Address: 1100 NP Avenue N, Suite 202 Fargo, ND 58102

Badlands Capital

Sioux Falls, SD

About Them: Founded in 2011, Badlands Capital is a private equity firm based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The firm invests in middle-market companies with revenue up to $40 million that are located in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado.

Blaine Crissman founded Badlands to make control equity investments in businesses specializing in highly-engineered manufacturing and business services that are located in the Great Plains states. The firm prefers to invest in companies operating in the commercial services, packaging and manufacturing sectors.

Contact Badlands Capital

Phone: (605) 553-6032
Address: 2216 West Black Rock Sioux Falls, SD 57108

Arthur Ventures

Minneapolis, MN

About Them: Arthur Ventures is an early growth capital firm that leads investments in B2B software companies located outside Silicon Valley. Since 2013, they have partnered with 40+ companies in different cities across all regions of the United States and Canada. They manage an estimated $700 million and are actively investing out of their $225 million fourth fund.

Contact Arthur Ventures

Web: arthurventures.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/arthur-ventures
Twitter: @arthurventures
Address: 80 S 8th St, Suite 3710 Minneapolis, MN 55402

Did You Know?
Arthur Ventures has over 40 different partner companies!

Groove Capital

Minneapolis, MN

About Them: By combining the power of an active angel network with a traditional venture fund, Groove Capital accelerates the velocity to a startup’s first funding, while providing its investors with a platform and process to invest with confidence.

Groove Capital supports small teams with high potential, who have detailed plans for achieving larger, later-stage milestones. The Groove Capital fund will be investing in many industries, but will favor the verticals that can be supported by Minnesota’s most robust resource networks; such as ag tech, food, healthcare, education, energy, enterprise SaaS, financial services, medical device, retail and sports & fitness.

Their Team: Groove Capital is led by a core team of early-stage startup operations and investing veterans. Surrounding Groove Capital is both a formal and informal advisory network of successful founders, corporate executives, community leaders, technology experts and venture partners who play an active role in Groove Capital’s diligence, portfolio support and sourcing efforts.

With a mission to make ventures more accessible, Groove Capital serves as a launching point for young professionals to build a career in ventures. They work with the area’s brightest up-and-comers and look forward to seeing these incredible leaders grow. As your venture partner, they provide capital along with introductions to angel investors and advisors, increasing your likelihood of success.

Contact Groove Capital

Web:
Facebook: linkedin.com/company/groove-capital
Twitter: @GrooveCap

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 37 Investments
  • 12 Female-Led Companies
  • 14 Minority-Led Companies

Tundra Ventures

Minneapolis, MN

About Them: Tundra finds and de-risks the opportunities other funds can’t see. Their early-stage fund brings accelerator guidance to anti-fragile entrepreneurs, using proven methods to build operators of the future faster and smarter. Building on cultural strengths of grit, pragmatism and coachability, they tap unique pre-pipeline to the other multi-trillion-dollar opportunity in tech, CPG and healthcare.

Managing partners Danielle Steer, Amanda Heyman and Adam Choe have known each other for over four years and have worked together in varying roles throughout those years. They’ve pressure-tested their relationship and are ready to take on this next opportunity. Furthermore, they have worked with 500+ startups collectively.

Their Verticals:

  • CPG (Food, Beauty, Retail, etc.)
  • Tech-Enabled (SaaS, Mobile Apps, IOT or similar)
  • Health (Healthtech, Mental Health, CPG Health, Class I Medical Devices)

Contact Tundra Ventures

Email: [email protected]
Web: tundravc.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/tundravc
Twitter: @tundravc

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What stage of company does Tundra Ventures invest in?
A: Tundra Ventures writes checks at the earliest stages (Pre-Seed/Seed)

Q: What sectors does Tundra Ventures invest in?
A: CPG, Tech-Enabled and Health

Q: What geographies does Tundra Ventures focus on?
A: Midwest, South and Southeast (but they will look at deals from all across the US)

Q: What size checks does Tundra Ventures write?
A: $100,000 to $500,000 (most likely follow-on checks)

701 Fund

Grand Forks, ND

About Them: The 701 Fund was established in 2015 to serve the growing capital needs of startups within the Midwest. The fund and its investors seek to partner with high-growth investment opportunities within the region. The experienced leadership of the fund leverages its network to quickly identify, evaluate, and de-risk viable opportunities.

As a North Dakota fund, they acknowledge the legacy of entrepreneurship, integrity, and strong work ethic in what they do and seek to invest in companies with identical values. 701 was once the only area code for the state of ND. For us, it serves as a reminder to embody those values ourselves and empower likeminded innovators!

Contact 701 Fund

Email: [email protected]
Web: 701fund.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/701fund
Address: 4200 James Ray Drive Grand Forks, ND 58202

BY THE NUMBERS
Fund I Portfolio (2022)

  • 16 Companies
  • 8 Different Industries
  • 5 States
  • 3 Exits

Bread Butter Ventures

Minneapolis, MN

About Them: Bread and Butter Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Minnesota, the Bread and Butter State, investing globally while leveraging the region’s unparalleled access to strong corporate connections, commercial opportunities and industry expertise for the benefit of the founders.

They lead rounds in some cases, and in all cases, they look to help syndicate and bring strong co-investors who can add additional value. They work hard alongside teams after investment and support through their platform efforts to connect the necessary people, resources and partners needed to scale globally.

Building on our state’s legacy of creativity, Bread and Butter Ventures invests in those startups that are reimaging and redesigning the core backbone sectors, the bread and butter, of the 21st-century economy. They are home to 16 Fortune 500 enterprises, a strong labor supply and one of the Smithsonian’s six centers of American innovation— Minnesota’s Medical Alley.

Their Values:

  1. Seek out and celebrate vision, look for bold ideas and support those who want to change the world.
  2. Be direct – encourage transparency, act with decisiveness and lead with an honest steadiness.
  3. Act with empathy and humility by calling on their own experiences, staying down-to-earth and remaining accessible.
  4. Emphasize performance and data-driven decision-making and goals while maintaining a proactive, continuous improvement-based approach to business.
  5. Build and prioritize the many members of the Bread and Butter family. Celebrate teamwork, support quality of life, work with people we value and have fun.
  6. Value and support community by consistently giving first, championing our home and practicing gratitude.

Contact Bread and Butter Ventures

Email: [email protected]
Web: breadandbutterventures.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/bread-and-butter-ventures
Twitter: @Bread_ButterVC

Essential Sectors
While Bread and Butter Ventures invests broadly across a number of sectors, they are particularly dedicated to the backing and supporting of companies innovating in three essential backbone sectors of the economy: Ag/Food Tech, Health Tech and Enterprise SaaS.

North Dakota Growth Fund

North Dakota

About Them: The North Dakota Growth Fund (“NDGF”) is a $100 million multi-stage investment fund that will seek to invest in North Dakota businesses and entrepreneurs. NDGF was created to further advance innovation and private markets investments in North Dakota by seeking investments that provide strong risk-adjusted returns and support the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in the State.

Their Vision: The North Dakota Growth Fund aims to invest up to $100 million over a five-year initial investment period in order to further catalyze the investment and entrepreneurial communities and expand investment opportunities in North Dakota.

Their Mission: Through the North Dakota Growth Fund, 50 South Capital will make targeted investments in venture capital, private credit (including venture debt), private equity, growth equity, infrastructure and real assets opportunities in both companies and private funds that are either based in North Dakota or possess a significant presence in North Dakota.

Their Goals: Deliver competitive investment performance for the State of North Dakota by building a prudently diversified portfolio. Drive economic activity in North Dakota by making investments in North Dakota firms in order to support the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state. Foster a strong, vibrant ecosystem for entrepreneurs and raise the national profile of North Dakota’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Their Values: 50 South Capital seeks to optimize transparency, governance best practices and alignment of interests when investing through NDGF. These values are essential to effective governance and investment outcomes.

Contact North Dakota Growth Fund
Web: ndgrowthfund.com

Dakota Venture Group

Grand Forks, ND

About Them: The Dakota Venture Group (DVG) is a venture capital firm that operates in Grand Forks, North Dakota. DVG is comprised of University of North Dakota students and is the first completely student-run venture capital investment fund in the United States. DVG provides students the opportunity to conduct due diligence, make final investment decisions and negotiate deal term structure.

Diverse backgrounds contribute to the success of the group. DVG members represent a variety of academic disciplines and backgrounds, including accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, law, marketing, science and engineering. By participating in Dakota Venture Group, UND students from all disciplines of study receive an unheard-of opportunity to gain real-world experience in the field of venture capital and angel investing.

The investment strategy of DVG includes making investments in high-growth ventures started by entrepreneurs in the United States, with preference given to regional ventures. All investments are made with the goal of fostering economic growth. Over the past several years, more than 140 DVG student members have screened numerous companies and made multiple investments.

The Dakota Venture Group provides students the opportunity to conduct due diligence, make final investment decisions, and negotiate deal term structure. By participating, UND students receive an unheard-of opportunity for experiential learning in the field of venture capital and angel investing.

Contact Dakota Venture Group

Email: [email protected]
Web: dakotaventuregroup.com
Facebook: @DakotaVentureGroup
Twitter: @DVGInc
Address: 4200 James Ray Drive Grand Forks, ND 58203

Did You Know?
The Dakota Venture Group was established in September 2006 through a donation from the Dakota Foundation.

Great North Ventures

St. Cloud, MN

About Them: Great North Ventures is a networkdriven investor with deep roots and density in rising tech cities outside traditional VC hubs, like the Twin Cities, Chicago, Madison, Fargo, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Toronto. Thematically, they invest in digital transformation through AI, community-driven applications and solving labor problems.

Their Mission:
To fund, build and scale innovative tech companies.

Who Works With Them:

  • Investors: Their partners draw on decades of successful execution to navigate networks and implement investment intelligence. They add value, source unique deals and invest intelligently to maximize investment results. Great North Ventures follows a scalable, data-driven process for identifying opportunities and managing its investment portfolio.
  • Founders: Great North Ventures’ Team and Innovator Network offers the capital, connections and counsel founders need in the industry.
  • Builders: In their venture studio, Great North Ventures designs and builds companies with worldclass founders in focused market segments with substantial opportunities.

Contact Great North Ventures

Web: greatnorthventures.com
Facebook: @greatnorthventures
Twitter: @greatnorthvc
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/great-north-ventures

Longwater Opportunities

Fargo, ND

About Them: LongWater Opportunities is an operationally focused private equity firm with offices in Fargo, ND and Dallas, TX. Founded in 2009, they target control equity investments in American manufacturing companies across the lower middle market.

They seek opportunities to partner with founding families of differentiated companies with compelling growth prospects. Their team of investment professionals and advisors provide hands-on support, in addition to capital, to fund organic growth initiatives and execute add-on acquisitions.

Their Mission: Grow businesses and leave a positive impact.

Their Vision: Build a successful and sustainable firm through developing and mentoring our people, and giving them the resources and support to develop into confident, inspiring leaders.

Their Values:
Build Trusting Relationships
Stay Positive and Confront Reality
Create Clarity Through Simplicity

Contact Longwater Opportunities

Phone: (469) 351-3471
Email: [email protected]
Web: longwateropportunities.com
LinkedIn:
Address: 118 Broadway N, Suite 501 Fargo, ND 58102

Did You Know?
LongWater has completed 18 transactions to date and recently closed its third fund.

Homegrown Capital

Fargo, ND

About Them: Homegrown Capital is a South Dakota-based venture capital company that invests in early-stage, technology-driven companies in the Northern Plains.

Homegrown Capital’s Investment Criteria:

Stage Focus: Homegrown Capital makes early-stage investments: Seed to Series A where they can lead or co-lead a round with a $500,000 to $1.5 million investment. They want to actively participate in their portfolio companies at a board level to provide expertise and connections to grow the business.

Industry Focus: They invest in technology-driven companies that don’t have high regulatory hurdles. They have a special interest in most B2B Software, AgTech and FinTech companies that can demonstrate strong scalability. Geographic Focus: They invest close to home, as they believe that great founders can build great companies in Middle America and want to empower those companies. Their primary focus is in North and South Dakota and contiguous states that comprise the Northern Plains Region (MN, IA, NE, MT, WY and CO).

Homegrown Capital looks to invest in companies that exhibit the following:

  • Compelling Growth Potential: 10x + Growth Potential
  • Proven Management Team
  • Clearly-Defined Milestones and Exit Path
  • Existing Customer Revenue
  • Strong Technology Component
  • 3-5 Year Exit Strategy

Contact Homegrown Capital

Web: homegrown.capital
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/homegrown-capital
Address: 118 Broadway N, Suite 206 Fargo, ND 58102

Meet The Partners

Tim Weelborg, General Partner

  • Facilitated 100+ Angel Deals
  • Established 14 Angel Funds Across South Dakota
  • Previously Executive Director of the Enterprise Institute

Matt Paulson, General Partner

  • Invested in 75+ Angel Deals
  • Founder of MarketBeat
  • Chairman of Falls Angel Fund

Lewis and Clark AgriFood

St. Louis, MO

About Them: As a late-stage, growth equity-focused fund, Lewis and Clark Agrifood arrives in the sweet spot between seed/early-stage and the buyout phase, minimizing risk and maximizing value. They also work with exceptional entrepreneurs to help scale their businesses with capital and resources.

Their AgriFood Fund II Strategy: Their holistic investment approach to AgriFood realizes value across the entire value chain from pre-production to distribution. Growth and latestage investments are underserved market needs in Agriculture and Food.

Much of their investing happens between the coasts. Their St. Louis location puts them within 500 miles of 70% of US agriculture production. Additionally, the highest concentration of plant science PhDs in the world lives in the St. Louis area, giving them a unique position to scout, form relationships and strike deals within the rich talent pool.

Their AgriFood Fund II Process: Their exhaustive, metric-driven underwriting process ensures they invest in the best. They lean towards tech-enabled, sustainable AgriFood companies in the late-stage VC/growth stage with converging to positive operating cash flow. This limits risk and leads to outsized returns.

Furthermore, they lead deals and work with entrepreneurs through active board participation. They also create distinctive, highly effective Value Enhancement Plans for each of their investments to ensure our entrepreneurs reach scale.

Contact Lewis and Clark AgriFood

Phone: (314) 828-5525
Email: [email protected]
Web: lewisandclarkagrifood.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lacagrifood
Twitter: @LACAgriFood

Genera8tor

Fargo, ND

About Them: gener8tor is a nationally-ranked venture capital firm and accelerator that brings together startup founders, investors, corporations, job seekers, universities, musicians and artists. They raise funds from investors who believe in us and see the success of their work. Then, they deploy resources in the form of educational programming, investment dollars and networking to improve local communities, as well as gain returns on those original investments so they can grow and continue to fulfill their mission.

Their Mission: Their mission is to be the best partner for a community to invest in its best and brightest. They envision communities achieving measurable and transformational growth through programming that enables equitable access and opportunity.

The gener8tor platform includes more than 75 programs spanning startup accelerators, corporate programming, speaker series, conferences, skills accelerators and fellowships. gener8tor believes that everyone deserves opportunities, regardless of race, place or gender.

Contact Genera8tor

Email: [email protected]
Web: gener8tor.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/gener8tor
Facebook: @gener8tor
Twitter: @gener8tor
Instagram: @gener8tor

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 163 Accelerators
  • 840 Startups
  • $1 Billion+ Total
  • Funding
  • 33 Communities
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Brady is the Editorial Director at Spotlight Media in Fargo, ND.