The amount of venture capital dollars flowing through Wisconsin-based companies is significantly lower than those in neighboring states like Minnesota and Illinois, but a revived association is hoping to change that.
The Wisconsin Venture Capital Association, started more than 15 years ago, was dormant for roughly a decade, but is under new leadership and has support from some of the largest VC firms and investor groups in the state.
"We want to do what we can to help further the education, the environment and the entire ecosystem to help spur innovation and early stage investing that supports that," said Greg Robinson, president of the WVCA and managing director at Madison-based VC firm 4490 Ventures. "A lot of that is connecting people, whether that be investors and entrepreneurs and legislators that can provide meaningful programs for this ecosystem, to trying to educate folks on the opportunities in early stage technology companies. We also have an advocacy component, where we work with our representatives to make sure they're informed on the benefit of this ecosystem and what we can do to create jobs of the future."
Between 2005 and 2007, the WVCA lost momentum and enthusiasm among its members, Robinson said. In 2017, however, Robinson and others from Wisconsin's VC community reinstated the association, reconstituted its board of directors, and created a strategic plan.
Now, the focus has been raising the awareness of Wisconsin's startup ecosystem and entrepreneurs and growing the WVCA membership while building networking bridges between Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Eau Claire and places in between.
The association currently has about 70 members, Robinson said. The current group of members are a mix of early-stage and late-stage investors, corporate VC funds, traditional funds, seed funds and accelerators like Wisconsin's gener8tor.
"The objective is to increase interest in entrepreneurship, increase interest in investing in entrepreneurship, and interest from larger investors to be foundational, large investors," Robinson said.
In the recent third quarter, there were 2,990 completed VC deals totaling $37.8 billion in the U.S., according to PitchBook, a Seattle firm that tracks venture and private equity investment deals. Of that total deal flow in the quarter, very little saw its way to Wisconsin, where a total of seven investments were made for a combined $17.29 million, according to PitchBook.
Comparatively, there were 30 deals for Minnesota companies that quarter totaling $668 million, and 64 deals for Illinois companies totaling $703 million.
"Our number one priority over the next 12 months is try to hone how we get better about telling the Wisconsin story," said Robinson, who moved to Madison from the San Francisco area five years ago. "I've always said investors will come, money will come and entrepreneurs will come if they know. If they don't know, then it's really hard."
