The Idea Fund of La Crosse has raised $31.5 million for a second venture capital fund, targeting startups in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
The VC firm yesterday announced the fund, which aims to invest in pre-revenue and early-stage businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, health care and logistics.
The release notes the Idea Fund of La Crosse II fund is among the three largest funds ever that are focused on the three-state region, based on Pitchbook data. It will make initial investments of between $500,000 and $1 million in about 20 startups, according to yesterday’s announcement.
Idea Fund of La Crosse General Partner Jonathan Horne highlights the “tough market” facing investors, as venture capital fundraising is the lowest it’s been in a decade.
“The new funding allows us to lean in, scaling our offerings and helping our portfolio companies move even faster and farther,” he said in a statement. “Challenging times can create great companies. With venture markets contracting, supporting our region’s most promising entrepreneurs is now more important than ever.”
The fund is also announcing its first investments: Golgix, a Milwaukee-based company developing AI for manufacturing applications; an e-commerce business based in Brookfield called Distribution Depot; Lumberjack, a service for managing property services with offices in Minnesota; and Hopper Health, a health care platform for neurodivergent people.
“By layering sophisticated technical capabilities over our region’s deep industry expertise, we aim to invest in startups creating overwhelming value propositions,” Horne said.
Along with the new fund and first batch of investments, the Idea Fund of La Crosse yesterday announced a new partnership with California-based private investment firm Pablo Capital. This organization includes a co-founder and early employees of Jamf, a successful technology business that was founded in Eau Claire in 2002.
Zach Halmstad, Jamf co-founder and partner in Pablo Capital, says the Upper Midwest region has “great potential to build a more vibrant startup community” and more success stories.
“We’re excited to work with the Idea Fund to help make that happen and have more direct connection for founders to potential capital,” he said in a statement. “This partnership will be an incredible value-add to folks looking to build a business in our region.”
See the release and listen to an earlier podcast with Horne.
