CincyTech has announced that for the first time, the cumulative regional impact of its portfolio has surpassed $1 billion.
The news came out of the seed capital investor's annual Big Breakfast and Startup Showcase.
CincyTech, founded in 2005, began invsting in 2007, "and this was a time where there was very little in the Cincinnati startup landscape," said Peg Rusconi, CincyTech director of communications.
"We get to that mass by adding co- and follow-on investments in our portfolio companies," roughly $600 million dollars worth, she continued. Then, there was an additional $358 million in revenue from CincyTech's portfolio companies, and an additional $100 million of returns to regional investors. "That totals slightly north of a billion dollars," Rusconi added. "Last year, as we watched the trajectory and saw that a billion dollars was approaching, it was certainly a milestone we were hoping to meet this year, and are excited to share," she said.
Rusconi added that when CincyTech started investing in 2007, it required "some imagination and vision," making the group's $1 billion milestone all the sweeter.
Increased, too, by the fact that it was announced at the team's capstone Big Breakfast event. It includes opening remarks, breakfast, coffee, mingling and a Startup Showcase, where participants show off their enterprises "trade show style." This year, co-founder of Hillman Accelerator and ActionStreamer, as well as former NFL linebacker, Dhani Jones, served as the event's emcee.
"When it started — it’s maybe our seventh or eighth that we’ve done — it really began as an event that was so small, it was just held in a hallway, in a landing space outside of a ballroom in our local convention center," Rusconi said. This year, attendees numbered more than 700 people at the Duke Energy Convention Center.
It's a number that reflects the robust community of partners (like The Brandery, Cintrifuse, UpTech and HCDC, to name a few), supporters and other innovators that have bolstered CincyTech throughout the years, Rusconi said. "We’re really fortunate to have such an amazing portfolio of entrepreneurs with really big ideas," she continued. "Looking out at the room, I think what really sinks in, and what you’re left with, is just the evidence of the people who embody the potential to build great companies in Cincinnati. The energy was electric."
Watch CincyTech's annual video, which debuted at the Big Breakfast and Startup Showcase, below.
