From Bootstrapping a $70M Company to Leading a VC Fund: Lessons for Founders
By Graeme Thickins Twin brothers Rob and Ryan Weber, founding partners of Great North Ventures, have raised two funds and invested in more than 50 startups to date and counting, throughout the Midwest and the rest of the county. Well before that success, however, they were founders themselves of their own ventures, beginning in their […]
How Two Midwest VCs Have Mastered Success Through Multiple Tech Cycles
by Graeme Thickins For twin brothers Rob and Ryan Weber, founding partners of Great North Ventures in Minnesota, entrepreneurship began in college, just as the Internet was taking off in 1996. As computer science majors (and Rob later switching to entrepreneurial studies), they learned quickly that Internet traffic could be monetized. Over a few years, […]
Reflections from Iowa Angel Investor Summit 2024
Yesterday, I attended the Iowa Angel Summit 2024 which was organized by Tej Dhawan, Managing Director of Plains Angels.
Let’s Celebrate the Two Year Anniversary of Great North Ventures Fund II
We announced our $41 Million Fund II back on May 23, 2022. On the two-year anniversary of our Fund II announcement, here’s a progress update- Team Update Future Outlook I’d like to personally thank each of our Fund II investors. It’s through their capital commitments which we are able to continue on our journey backing […]
HLRBO Raises $1M Seed Round to Better Assist Landowners in Leasing Their Land to Hunters
Hunting Land Rentals By Owner, Inc., a Brainerd, MN-based company, provides hunters with direct access to landowners across the U.S. who offer their hunting land for lease using HLRBO’s online platform. The $1M Series Seed round was led by Great North Ventures. Comeback Capital, Gopher Angels, and Right Side Capital also participated in the round. […]
Great North Ventures Raises $40 Million Fund II
Doubling Down on Success Investing in Trailblazers Minneapolis – May 23, 2022 – Early-stage VC firm Great North Ventures announced today it has closed $40 million for its second venture fund (“Fund II”). The fund aims to continue the firm’s success investing in startups from Seed to Series A stages. New investments will address three […]
How the University of Minnesota is Embracing Startup Culture
The University of Minnesota is embracing startup culture across disciplines and producing results in the number of founders, tech talent, and startups. One of the top universities in the country with enrollment regularly over 50k, a system-wide endowment of nearly $4B, and over $1B spent annually on research and development, it’s incredibly important for the […]
Seizing Opportunity in a Recession, Allergy Amulet, and Twin Cities Startup Week
Last month we wrote about the history of local startups that were formed during a recession and went on to success, including local unicorn Jamf. The conversation quickly turned to what that means for founders and investors. Starting Up in a Downturn The idea is that while many startups are beat down by strong headwinds, those that are […]
Recessionary times, a record-setting IPO, and Minnesota’s Resilient Startups
Today it was announced that last quarter’s drop in GDP was the second largest ever recorded. Overall US economic output fell by 9.5%. This dire news comes on the heels of fantastic news for the MN tech startup community: the largest IPO from a Minnesota company ever, Jamf’s $468M IPO and $4.7B market cap. Minnesota’s Resilient Startups In good times, […]
BETA Showcase, Greater MN, and Launch MN comes to St. Cloud
Twin Cities Startup Week is over! It was a busy week for many of us in the tech and innovation community, with around 300 events to attend and thousands of people to meet. This year, Great North Labs was proud to bring Greater Minnesota into the BETA Showcase for the first time ever. Thanks to […]