Nebraska startups could soon get a boost from their neighbors from the north––more specifically, North Dakota.
“With the second fund, we are making a concerted effort to add Omaha, KC, Des Moines and their surrounding regions as focus areas for investments,” said Patrick Meenan, a director with Arthur Ventures.
The Fargo, N.D.-based firm last week announced the close of a $45 million fund, the second fund in its five-year history. In 2008, the group began operations with a $20 million fund, which went primarily to companies in North Dakota and Minnesota.
“The types of opportunities that will be of most interest to us are software companies that sell into the enterprise IT, health care, agriculture and energy markets that have demonstrated some market traction,” Meenan told Silicon Prairie News on Friday. He expects initial investments to be as small as $250,000 and as large as $3 million, but overall, most of the deals will range from $1-2 million.
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The firm raised the new fund from a group of individuals who “believe in the Arthur Ventures mission, the power of entrepreneurship, and the rising potential of the region,” according to a press release.
“We believe in the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to transform existing markets and to create new markets,” the firm’s co-founder and chairman Doug Burgum (right) said in the release. “Software is the greatest invention yet that extends human capabilities, and we are grateful to help build enduring companies whose solutions can have such a positive impact on the human condition.”
And Burgum should know. In 1997 he led Great Plains Software to an initial public offering and then an acquisition by Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1. billion. Today, he’s revered in his homestate for his business leadership and philanthropy.
Arthur Ventures’ portfolio includes Altravax, Intelligent InSites, LiquidCool Solutions, Loyalty Builders, Preventice and Workface. And already, thanks to this new fund, it’s added Chandler, Ariz.-based company Infusionsoft, a deal the firm did with Goldman Sachs.
Credits: Doug Burgum photo from arthurventures.com
