Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! (Sign up here!) We are excited for the launch of our new podcast and Fund II investing!

Our new podcast is live! Check out “Execution is King” on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join me, Josef Siebert, and either Ryan or Rob Weber as we interview founders, investors, and ecosystem builders to uncover insights and best practices for the next generation of global startup founders.
As mentioned in our last newsletter, Fund II is now open for business! We have officially made our first investment outside of our own venture studio projects. Early-stage founders, check out our Founders page for criteria and to get in touch.
Portfolio Updates
Skillit is new to the portfolio! Skillit is a jobs and recruitment platform that matches skills-tested carpenters with great construction firms.
Flywheel has raised a $22M Series C round from 8VC, Great North Ventures, and others. Flywheel will use raised capital to acquired St. Louis-based Radiologics.
TeamGenius raises $1.1 million to expand its athlete development platform
Airbnb partner Migo taps NoiseAware for noise-monitoring solution
PrintWithMe Announces New Platform for Expansion, WithMe, Inc.
FactoryFix Successful Series “Factory Made” Offers Viewers Peak into American Manufacturing
Hotels open the door to the next evolution in room service [2ndKitchen]
Open Positions
See all open positions on the Great North Ventures careers page
Great North Venturesis hiring 6 interns for Summer 2022
Dispatch is hiring for 41 positions
FactoryFixis hiring for 7 positions
TeamGeniusis hiring for 1 position
2ndKitchenis hiring for 5 positions
PrintWithMe ishiring for 13 positions
Parallaxis hiring for 9 positions
Branch is hiring for 14 positions
Inhabitr is hiring for 3 positions
Clinician Nexusis hiring for 1 position
PartySlateis hiring for 1 position
Flywheelis hiring for 2 positions
The Industrial Internet is the future- and it’s being built now.
IoT and Analytics are transforming industry, and who know industry like the upper Midwest?
Add to the decades of institutional experience a community of educated tech adopters, then just add water (liquid capital) and stir. BAM!
Forget Silicon Valley, this is Silicon Lakes.
Read the Full Story |
New Investment
TeamGenius is player evaluation software for managing tryouts, coach evaluations, camps, and more. Team Genius is focused on building stronger young adults and communities through their powerful, simple software tool. Streamline scoring with the mobile application, add transparency to the evaluation process, and ditch the paper evaluation forms, clipboards, and spreadsheets!
Minnebar 13
With no formal workshops, “BarCamps” are user-generated and participant-led by tech and business community leaders. Over 100 sessions were held this year at Minnebar13. Participants, speakers, and staff braved the ridiculous Minnesota blizzard to hunker down at Best Buy HQ for Minnestar’s premier tech conference.
MinneStar is currently running a 100 Day Challenge where the Board of Directors is matching donations by new community members. Join Rob and Ryan Weber and contribute to this important part of the Twin Cities tech community!
Great North Labs at Minnebar
Ryan Weber presented How Running Lean Can Help You Raise Capital, about how the stages of funding correlate to the phases of customer development. His Exponential Technology and Leadership talk delved into disruptive technology and innovation.
Rob Weber focused on How Entrepreneurs are Impacting Cities. Participants learned core concepts on entrepreneurial thinking and leveraging local industry expertise to create the next big thing.
Upcoming Events
EntreFEST– May 17-18, Cedar Rapids, IA
State of Innovation: Ag-Tech– May 22nd, Minneapolis, MN
Drone Focus Conference 2018– May 30, Fargo, ND
New Venture Challenge– May 30, Chicago, IL
Welcome New Advisors, to the Great North Labs Team!
Brad Lehrman – Attorney, Soffer Law Group, PLLC
Jeffrey Robbins – Attorney for Entrepreneurs and Angel and Venture Investors, Messerli & Kramer
Mitch Coopet – Co-founder of Aftercode
Paul Borochin – Assistant Professor of Finance at UConn School of Business
Art Rosenberg – President and Owner, Capital Commercial Realty Group, LLC
Shawn Teal – President, Forest Hill Capital

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

Executive Assistant – Venture Capital Firm

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!

Una Fox: Episode 9, Execution is King

Start With a Mobile App, Not a Website

Joe Sriver, 4giving: Episode 8, Execution is King

2ndKitchen Acquired by REEF

Newsletter: Do you fit our investing themes?

Anna Mason, Revolution: Episode 5, Execution is King

Mynul Khan, FieldNation: Episode 4, Execution is King

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

Building Capacity for Innovation

Minnesota's Resilient Startups

Jumpstart, the Startup School, and Branch Wins a Webby!

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

Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020

Great North Labs's Startup Summit 2020

Top 5 Stories of 2019

7 Places to Spot Us at Startup Week

Talking VC, tech kids, and Forge North’s Horizon

June: Great North Labs’s first fund raised!

MinneBar 14 Recap

Dispatch and 2ndKitchen claim Tech Madness titles

Minnesota Innovation Collaborative

Great North Labs at CES

Carried Interest: Top Posts from 2018

Digital Transformation Summit, July 25th in Minneapolis

Putting the “Silicon” in Silicon Lakes

Digital Manufacturing and Logistics

May: Team Genius, IoT, and the Future of Everything

IoT 3.0

Healthcare Innovation

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
