The Winnow Fund, a Madison-based venture capital fund that's also one of newest funds under the Badger Fund of Funds umbrella, has now raised $6 million in investment capital.
Managed by Richelle Martin, Winnow Fund is focusing on pre-revenue startups built around product ideas created by college students in Wisconsin. Martin was previously the assistant director of the Office of Industrial Partnership at UW-Madison.
The fund had already secured more than $3.5 million in funding from investors during a previous raise. Martin previously said the fund will ultimately put $8 million into investing.
Joining the Badger Fund of Funds as investors in the Winnow Fund are Madison digital newspaper The Capital Times; Johnsonville Ventures, the venture capital arm of sausage company Johnsonville LLC of Sheboygan Falls; Madison-based MGE Energy Inc. (Nasdaq: MGEE); Wisconsin-based private equity investment firms Inventure Capital and N29 Capital Partners; and more than two dozen individuals, according to an announcement from the Badger Fund of Funds.
"Students have great ideas but need someone to guide them through the process of creating a company to commercialize their idea," said Ken Johnson, a Badger Fund of Funds partner, in a statement. "Richelle Martin's legal background, know-how, and experience at UW-Madison make her a perfect fit to help student inventors and entrepreneurs create and grow their companies."
In 2013, the state of Wisconsin awarded $25 million to establish the Badger Fund of Funds, which raised an additional $5 million from the private sector and agreed to create six to eight venture capital firms across the state. Running the program is Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Sun Mountain Capital, which specializes in regional investment programs, and Wisconsin-based Kegonsa Capital Partners.
The Badger Fund of Funds supplies a certain percentage of capital into the new funds and the rest of the money is raised from private investors. Other Badger recipient funds include the Idea Fund of La Crosse, the Winnebago Seed Fund and the Rock River Capital Fund.
