A new VC group pursuing a multi-state strategy to leverage federal funding is raising at least a $6 million fund focused on female and nonwhite founders in Ohio.
Bold Opportunities Fund I LLC targets a total of $30 million, according to a regulatory filing.
"We seek to fundamentally change the way entrepreneurs are treated in venture capital," the home page of the firm's website says.
The Ohio Department of Development awarded $3 million to Bold from its Ohio Early Stage Focus Fund Program, funded by the U.S. State Small Business Credit Initiative.
Recipients are required to match the federal backing dollar for dollar. The goal is to invest in technology startups at very early stages, emphasizing founding teams who are women, nonwhite and from the state's geographic regions and populations that have been overlooked by venture capital.
Bold's partners declined interview requests. Normally startups or venture capitalists that are in active fundraising do not comment to avoid the appearance of soliciting non-accredited investors.
The fund is jointly based in Columbus and Buffalo, New York, and started investing in western New York startups last year, Buffalo Inno reported. Fund managers told the publication they would seek to back funds with the Small Business Credit Initiative in multiple states.
The Columbus partner is Lindsay Karas Stencel, an attorney who has long focused on startups and was previously a partner at Columbus' NCT Ventures. Buffalo is her hometown, and she launched a venture development organization there.
Danielle Blount, also a partner, splits her time between Columbus and western New York. The other co-founders and partners are Alex Killian and Scott Terhaar, all based in western New York.
The partners started by launching a nonprofit called Bolder in 2020, which provides non-dilutive resources toward the mental, emotional and physical health of startup founders, Buffalo Inno reported.
“The VC market is very grind-until-you-can’t-see-straight-anymore, and if you fall apart ... most oftentimes the firms just find a new CEO or team and replace those people and move on,” Karas Stencel told the Buffalo publication last year.
The Bold fund, which is for-profit and makes equity investments, is focused on technology in industries including agriculture and food, energy, wellness, logistics and supply chain, transportation and climate, according to the Department of Development.
The fund is targeting $30 million, according to a Form D filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last July, indicating it had not raised anything yet.
Columbus-based Rev1 Ventures also received $3 million toward investing in underrepresented founders from the state Early Stage Focus Fund, which the organization matched with $3 million largely from past returns.
Those were the only two Central Ohio awards out of $86 million distributed in April through both the early fund and the Ohio Venture Fund, both backed by federal Covid relief. Cleveland-based JumpStart Inc. was the largest awardee with $35 million across four funds, Cleveland Inno reported.
Pre-seed investments nationwide were halved in 2023 compared to the prior year, according to Crunchbase, and overall VC investment is at the lowest point since 2018.
Startups with solely female ownership still represent about 2% of venture investment nationwide, according to the latest data from PitchBook, and another 23% when founding teams have men and women.
Investments in Black-owned startups fell to 0.5% of the nationwide total last year, declining faster than the VC slowdown overall, Crunchbase reported.
