Drive Capital, a venture capital firm based in Columbus, Ohio, is expanding into Denver to invest in local early-stage startups. Its goal is to increase VC funding between the coasts.
The firm announced Wednesday it's dedicating $80 million in capital for a seed program to fund startups in Denver, as well as in Chicago, Atlanta, Columbus and Toronto. The program is expected to jump-start 160 startups that will each receive $500,000, as well as hands-on mentorship.
Drive Capital hired a general manager in each of the new cities into which it's expanding. Matt Zwiebel was brought on to run the firm's pre-seed investments in Denver.
Zwiebel previously worked as director for Pledge 1% Colorado, a nonprofit that worked with businesses to set aside 1% of their stock, profit, time or product to benefit their communities. Prior to that, Zwiebel was a manager at Galvanize, a tech education and coworking company founded in Denver. From 2018 to 2021, he also led the Seed Angel Forum, planning quarterly dinners to connect early-stage startups to venture capital firms and angel investors.
"Eight years ago almost to the day, I landed at Galvanize in Denver and started a brand new chapter in my career connecting the dots for founders in a brand new ecosystem," Zwiebel wrote in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. "From philanthropy to ecosystem building, Colorado has become home for me and a city that I see so much potential in. Here’s to a bigger, bolder future for Colorado’s startup community."
Drive Capital said it wanted "boots on the ground" in each of its new cities in order to be entrenched in those locations' startup ecosystems and seek out the best investments.
With the expansion into four more cities, the firm is extending its reach in an "underinvested" region of North America that it describes as the "driveway" — the swath of land between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains. It's looking to fund startups with solutions to large problems, and it's focusing on traditionally overlooked founders.
“Even companies that are a household name now started out as just an idea," Chris Olsen, a co-founder and partner at Drive Capital, said in a statement. "That’s why we’re targeting promising founders to ensure that their important ideas become a reality.”
Before establishing the new seed program and hiring a general manager in the Mile High City, Drive Capital had already invested in two Denver-based startups. It co-led a Series C round for Sondermind in 2021, and the firm participated in multiple funding rounds for CirrusMD.
Drive Capital is one of a handful of venture firms to bring early-stage funds into Colorado in the past few years. According to a recent report from Westminster-based Access Venture Partners and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, 11 new seed-stage venture capital firms were established in the state since 2019.
In February, the Salt Lake City-based venture firm Kickstart announced plans to expand into Colorado, with the opening of a new Denver office this summer. The firm plans to invest its new $230 million fund into startups in the Mountain West.
While Colorado startups experienced an overall drop in venture capital in 2022, the ecosystem saw a 46% increase in seed-stage investing activity.
