Router Ventures has raised a $1 million fund so far

Router Ventures, a new Midwest venture capital fund led by Jeff Slobotski, has raised a $1 million fund so far, according to their public Form D filing. Although Router Ventures will continue fundraising over the next several months, Slobotski says they are already looking at deals. “We’re up and running,” said Slobotski. “We’re actively looking…

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Router Ventures, a new Midwest venture capital fund led by Jeff Slobotski, has raised a $1 million fund so far, according to their public Form D filing.

Although Router Ventures will continue fundraising over the next several months, Slobotski says they are already looking at deals.

“We’re up and running,” said Slobotski. “We’re actively looking at deals now and ready to invest. I would say by the end of the year there may already be involvement in a couple companies.”

The focus of Router Ventures will be on early-stage technology companies in the geographical middle of the US.

“The first area of focus will be the Midwest, the Silicon Prairie,” said Slobotski. “But I’ve expanded the geography a bit. I’ve been using the cities of ‘Detroit to Dallas to Denver to Dayton’ to define where we’ll be looking. That’s the majority of my focus.”

Slobotski expects that the fund will be one of many players in seed-stage fundraising rounds, and they will be looking for unique opportunities where they can provide value in terms of adding additional value through networks, mentors and relationships.

“It’s really about being able to connect them to the right resources,” said Slobotski. “Whether its mentoring, industry knowledge, or technical assistance, we’ll be able to source our network and bring those resources to bear for that company.”

There may also be opportunities for the venture fund to help companies on the coast looking to expand into the broader Midwest region over time.

“We’re not necessarily looking to get in on every deal coming out of California or New York, unless we think we can add value—say, if there’s a geography play where they want to expand into the Midwest. That’s where we can help,” said Slobotski.

Other than looking for strong founder teams, Router Ventures is keeping its options open, though it may narrow its focus in the coming year.

“There’s a lot of interesting things in product right now, like FitBark and the Hidrate waterbottle that came out of the Techstars accelerator in KC this year. Product companies are interesting,” said Slobotski. “We’ll learn and gravitate to certain verticals over the next year, but we’re leaving it open right now. We don’t want to box ourselves in too much.”

SPN covered Slobotski’s recent hire at Wave Interactive in September. Slobotski is one of the co-founders of Silicon Prairie News, which was acquired by AIM in January 2015.

Ryan Pendell is the Managing Editor of Silicon Prairie News.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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