Great North Labs’s July Update
Where to Invest in the Midwest
At Great North Labs we are constantly making the case for investing in venture capital in the upper Midwest. Skepticism ranges from the size of the funds here, to the funding opportunities of the region, to the value of venture itself. GNL partner Pradip Madan addresses these issues in his latest piece “Where to Invest in the Midwest: Venture Across Asset Classes”. The article explores the popularity of venture investing with various types of investors, market timing, and the unique advantages of investing in a small venture fund in the upper Midwest.
Events
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Digital Transformation Summit on July 25th! Hosted by Great North Labs and Digerati, with speakers Gene Munster and Mark Ritchie, the Minneapolis event was a thoughtful collection of successful panelists and innovation professionals. With great food and cocktails, and VR demos by [x]cube LABS, the night was as fun as it was empowering.
August 16th-23rd, Madison. Forward Fest is an 8-day tech and entrepreneurship festival. It is a tremendous collection of events for startups and entrepreneurs. Ryan Weber will be attending from the 20-22nd, and will be holding office hours to meet with startups, entrepreneurs and investors while in Madison! Use the contact links below or tweet @mnvikingsfan to set up a time to meet!
August 20-22nd, Grand Forks. UAS Summit & Expo. What is UAS? Unmanned Aerial Systems: drones, their controllers and operators. This summit is in its twelfth year!
September 13th, Minneapolis. Coolest Companies Fest is put on by the Minneapolis branch of the tech and entrepreneurship publication, American Inno. “Join us for drinks, music, fun and the Coolest Companies celebration in September! During the event, we’ll crown Minne Inno’s Coolest Companies.”
September 17th, St. Cloud. Great North Labs annual stakeholder meeting. Save the date! Invitations and details to come!
September 19-20th, Des Moines. Angel Capital Association (ACA) Midwest Regional Angel Meeting . A forum for Midwest angel investors to learn about latest industry trends and access the ACA “Best of the Midwest” investments for syndication opportunities.
September 27-28th, Chicago. Rise of the Rest CEO Summit. This is a private event put on by Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. If you’re in Chicago and you want to connect with Great North Labs, Rob Weber will be in town for this event. Contact us through the contact links at the bottom of this email, or tweet Rob directly @robertjweber !
Portfolio action
Pitchly is the newest addition to the Great North Labs portfolio. It is a content service platform for M&A professionals to organize and activate their intellectual property. Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Pitchly has developed a SaaS platform for professional service firms to aggregate information created during client engagements. Pitchly enables customers to conduct analyses on prior client services and easily turn data into content for marketing and business development activities. Pitchly is used in 35 countries to store more than 2 million client service data points for its customers.
Dispatch has closed their round of funding led by Great North Labs! The funding will be used to fuel an expansion to new markets. We had a strong showing for co-investors, with Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and the Gopher Angels investing alongside in the over-subscribed round.
New advisors
Bonnie Speer McGrath is President of Speer McGrath & Co. and CHRO of the Timmaron Group. Both companies provide executive support, board work, investing and fundraising. She was formerly President of TruScribe Software (now known as Squigl) , and nonconcurrently, the Board Director. Welcome to the team, Bonnie!
Job Board
FactoryFix is hiring a Business Development Representative
Dispatch is hiring a Sales Manager
Structural is hiring a Back-end Software Engineer, and a Senior Software Engineer
Team Genius is hiring a Lead Full Stack Developer
June Newsletter
Demystifying Startup HR
Head of Finance & Fund Administration- Venture Capital Firm (Remote)
Demystifying Startup HR
3 Portfolio Companies Make Inc. 5000 + Quicklly & Instacart Expand
3 Portfolio Companies Ranked on The Inc. 5000 List
iraLogix closes $22M + Branch expands with Uber
iraLogix closes $22M Series C
Flywheel lands Gates Foundation grant
Venture Capital Analyst
Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda – on Episode 13, “Execution is King”
$40M Fund II Raised!
Eric Martell, Founder of Pear Commerce: Episode 13, Execution is King
Great North Ventures Raises $40 Million Fund II
Investment Thesis: Fund II Strategy
Investment Theme: Community-Driven Applications
Investment Theme: Digital Transformation Through AI
Investment Theme: Solving Labor Problems
Trends in the Gig Economy + Work in the Metaverse
Portfolio raises $125M + talking fundraising with Branch CEO
Omnia Fishing closes $4M round, joins Great North portfolio!
Atif Siddiqi, Founder/CEO of Branch: Episode 11, Execution is King
Michael Martocci, CEO and Founder of SwagUp: Episode 10, Execution is King
Yardstik new to portfolio, closes $8M Series A
First venture studio startup comes out of stealth!
Insights for founders from a data guru, + FactoryFix raises a Series A!
Una Fox: Episode 9, Execution is King
Start With a Mobile App, Not a Website
2ndKitchen acquired by SoftBank-backed REEF + advice from an early Googler
Joe Sriver, 4giving: Episode 8, Execution is King
2ndKitchen Acquired by REEF
Venture studio startup jobs + advice for founders from founders
Best Advice from the Great North Annual Event: Episode 7, Execution is King
Newsletter: Do you fit our investing themes?
Jonathan Treble, PrintWithMe: Episode 6, Execution is King
Anna Mason, Revolution: Episode 5, Execution is King
Mynul Khan, FieldNation: Episode 4, Execution is King
Nick Moran, New Stack Ventures: Episode 3, Execution is King
Molly Pyle, Center on Rural Innovation (CORI): Episode 2, Execution is King
Justin Kaufenberg, Rally Ventures: Execution is King Episode 1
Newsletter: “Podcast Launched: Execution is King!”
“Execution is King” – the Great North Ventures Podcast
Newsletter: Fund II is open for business!
Unlocking the Potential of Anonymized Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Data
Fund II is open for Business!
Mike Schulte Promoted to Venture Partner
New Name + New Venture Studio
Great North Launches Startup Studio
We Don’t Need No [full-time MBA] Education
How the University of Minnesota is Embracing Startup Culture
Top Stories of 2020, iraLogix, and LaunchMN Calls for Mentors
Building Capacity for Innovation
Seizing Opportunity in a Recession, Allergy Amulet, and Twin Cities Startup Week
Recessionary times, a record-setting IPO, and Minnesota’s Resilient Startups
Minnesota's Resilient Startups
July 4th, Equitable American Dream-ing, and Robots Diagnosing COVID
Jumpstart, the Startup School, and Branch Wins a Webby!
COVID-19 Trends, the Great North response, and our Founders Survey
Giving in the Time of Coronavirus
COVID-19 Resources for Startups, State-by-State
COVID-19, the CARES Act, and startups stepping up
New Business Preservation Act
Digital Future Boardroom, PartySlate, and The Lean Startup School
Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020
Great North Labs's Startup Summit 2020
World Economic Forum, NoiseAware, and the Startup School reboot
Great North Labs at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos
Top 5 Stories of 2019
Taking the Founders Pledge, Inhabitr, and gBETA Pitch Night
Founders Pledge: Support the Organizations that Support You
BETA Showcase, Greater MN, and Launch MN comes to St. Cloud
7 Places to Spot Us at Startup Week
The Greater MN Meetup, Parallax, and Exponential Medicine
Greater MN at the big show, Neela Mollgaard heads Launch MN, and Misty’s roadtrip.
Talking VC, tech kids, and Forge North’s Horizon
June: Great North Labs’s first fund raised!
May: Innovation Ecosystems, SingularityU Kickoff, and PrintWithMe
April: Minnebar Recap, ZenLord Pro, and Supporting Entrepreneurs
MinneBar 14 Recap
Dispatch and 2ndKitchen claim Tech Madness titles
Minnesota Innovation Collaborative
March: Minnebar, Hockey + Hustlers, and Innovation Workshops
Great North Labs at CES
Dec.-Jan.: Top Posts from 2018, pepr, Glowe, and Misty Robotics
Carried Interest: Top Posts from 2018
Oct.-Nov.: Singularity University, Exponential Tech, and the State of Innovation
July: Pitchly, ForwardFest, and Where to Invest in the Midwest
Digital Transformation Summit, July 25th in Minneapolis
June: Silicon Lakes, FactoryFix, and the Digital Transformation Summit
Putting the “Silicon” in Silicon Lakes
Digital Manufacturing and Logistics
May: Team Genius, IoT, and the Future of Everything
IoT 3.0
Healthcare Innovation
March: Exponential Tech, the “Goldilocks Zone”, and Minnebar 13
February: Team Expansion, Dispatch, and Startup School Events
Great North Labs Newsletter – December 2017
A Letter To My Younger Self
Great North Labs Newsletter
Great North Labs Featured on Tech.mn
Great North Labs Featured in St Cloud Times
Great North Labs – Featured on BizJournals.com
