Verivend had the support of local angels in its recent $2.5 million seed round. But the leadership team also was looking for outside investors to support national expansion.
Enter Michael Weisman.
The co-founder of Campus Labs – one of Buffalo’s first successful software startups – relocated to San Diego a few years ago and left Campus Labs last summer. But he still maintained close local connections.
That’s how he was introduced to Verivend CEO and co-founder Rodney Reisdorf.
The two hadn’t met before, even though Reisdorf was an early employee at Liazon Corp., another of the first successful tech startups in Buffalo. But their collective, common experience mattered.
“It was incredibly easy for me to get to know him, to build confidence and to learn about the team,” Weisman said. “With our backgrounds, our experiences and our relationships, there was just so much we had in common.”
Verivend has built a secure software platform that helps businesses manage accounts receivables and payable processes. It is targeting industries where email chains and even paper checks drain efficiency and create numerous security weaknesses.
Weisman became Verivend’s first West Coast investor and a board member. He also took the deal to the Tech Coast Angels, a Southern California consortium of early-stage investors. The angels group invested out of its fund as well.
In Verivend, Weisman didn’t just see regional parallels in his own story. Campus Labs succeeded by using software to help college administrators learn more about their communities. Even though software-as-a-service and fintech are immensely competitive industries in 2021, Verivend sees a rich vein of opportunities in industries that span from professional services to transportation to waste. Just like with Campus Labs, it’s using SaaS as a partner to improve other people’s businesses.
“Verivend reduces the headaches and the labor costs of managing cash flow and all the other ancillary stuff, like paperwork and documentation,” Reisdorf said. “It helps our customers get paid as quickly as possible.”
Any startup is a risk, Weisman said. But Verivend is led by startup veterans who have been there before, and guided by investors who have seen it happen in Buffalo.
“The beauty of a startup ecosystem is that you have people like Rodney who’ve gained those experiences, and they have their own eureka moment where they realize they’re sitting on an opportunity,” Weisman said. “Now he’s going to put his chips on the table and roll the dice.”
Weisman said he’s actively looking for more deals to bring to the Tech Coast Angels. California-based startups can seek unreasonable terms from angel investors, while hubs such as Buffalo offer more realistic business valuations, he said.
Don’t be surprised to see Weisman back more local horses.
“Rod is not the only person in Buffalo who’s seen this movie and now can write his own script,” Weisman said. “I am incredibly enthusiastic and hopeful that this is going to be a recurring cycle.”
