VentureSouth, one of the Top 10 angel investment groups in North America, is proud to announce record results in the first half of 2021.
Despite ongoing limitations brought on by COVID-19, VentureSouth added over 100 members to its network in the first six months of the year, bringing its total investor base to nearly 400 members. Most of those new members are located in one of the 14 Southeast markets where VentureSouth has an established local investor group, but nearly 20% of the new investors joined from other geographies.
Managing Director Charlie Banks noted, “VentureSouth members represent some of the top community and business leaders from across the Southeast. We are excited to continue our growth in the region, especially in light of the pandemic, but we are also pleased to be attracting more investors from beyond our current footprint. This continued growth not only improves our ability to source and invest in the strongest startups within our region, but it also allows us to leverage the collective expertise of a deepening pool of talented and experienced investors.”
In addition to the firm’s strong membership growth, VentureSouth also marked a major portfolio milestone when Proterra, an electric bus and EV infrastructure company, became publicly traded on the Nasdaq (PTRA). In mid-June, Proterra closed its merger with special purpose acquisition company ArcLight Clean Transition Corp, after local investors had stepped in to provide emergency bridge funding shortly after the company moved its operations to Greenville – and in numerous additional funding rounds since.
Many other VentureSouth portfolio companies also made headlines in the first half of the year. 6AM City announced a major nationwide expansion of their local newsletters; Spiffy, an on-demand car care service, announced its first five franchise partners; TRU Colors, a brewery focused on curtailing street violence, reached a transformational partnership agreement with Molson Coors; KWIPPED, a leading fintech company specializing in B2B equipment financing, officially launched their SaaS product APPROVE; and Baebies, a life science company developing cutting edge products and services that enable early disease detection, received FDA acknowledgment of emergency use notification for their FINDER 1.5 and FINDER SARS-CoV-2 Test.
In all, including new investments, as well as continued support within the firm's existing portfolio companies, VentureSouth invested more than $4M in 18 companies during the first half of the year, bringing its total investments to nearly $60 million in more than 80 Southeastern startups since their inception.
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