Impact Capital has raised millions in its second fund and its ready to invest it into startups.
The Rochester-based venture capital firm, which launched in 2018, raised about $21 million in its first fund and invested the money into 11 companies. Impact Capital aims to focus investments on upstate New York.
The group has secured about $12 million, much of which came from repeat investors from its first fund, in its second fund so far. The firm is filing for a state matching grant that would bring its total to over $15 million, and Impact Capital will continue raising private funds for the next 14 months as well, according to founder Thomas Bonadio, chairman of the Bonadio Group’s board of directors.
“It’s not a shortage of good companies,” he said. “There are more good companies than we have money to fund.”
Along with Bonadio, the Impact Capital team includes Theresa Mazzullo and Rami Katz of Excell Parnters and Scott Friedman, a Buffalo-based attorney.
The firm’s past investments include Viridi Parente, a Buffalo-based, fast-growing business that has developed both fixed and portable lithium-ion battery storage packs that are capable of storing renewable energy with fail-safe technology for the battery storage system.
One of Impact Capital’s investments has already paid off. The firm exited Rochester-based Greenlight Networks at 8.5 times its original investment in 2022, according to a news release.
The group aims to make Series A investments ranging from $2 million to $3 million and some investments between $200,000 and $500,000 in earlier-stage companies.
The firm focuses on companies that are already in business and have sales, a solid management team and high-growth potential. Despite its focus on upstate New York, being based here isn’t a requirement.
“It really comes down to the people,” Bonadio said. “Good management upsets a lot of other problems. … A lot comes down to knowing the individuals we’re investing with and realizing they can bob and weave and make the right decisions.”
The firm accepts applications, filters through them and asks a few startups at a time to do a "Shark Tank"-style pitch to its general partners and sometimes experts from that given industry. For its first fund, Impact Capital had about 1,000 applications, heard 150 pitches and invested in 11 businesses.
While there’s no set target of investments, Bonadio expects to make anywhere from six to 10 investments with the second fund.
“We want to build on the success of the first fund,” he said. “We’re being pretty selective.”
