A startup venture capital fund is looking for deals – even as it eyes the possibility of launching a second fund later this year.
“We’re getting our ducks in a row now,” said Gregg Bordes, a partner at Apex-based Front Porch Ventures.
The firm, which aims to help accredited investors and family offices participate in the venture capital game, is investing in funds and startups in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida.
While it seems like it’s all happening quickly – the firm closed the bulk of its first fund late last year – Front Porch is actually years in the making.
Partners Bordes, Nikin Shah and Joe Mancini have known each other since attending business school together at Duke University. All three left the Triangle after graduating. Then, one by one, they all made it back. Bordes, who moved back to the Triangle from New York three and a half years ago, said the region just has a pull.
It’s where they wanted to raise their families. And, with Front Porch, it’s where they wanted to start their business.
“All three of us share a passion for entrepreneurship, for startups,” Bordes said.
And they wanted a personal stake. It started with angel investing and advising. And it grew.
“We were all wanting to put more of our personal net worth into venture capital,” he said. “It was the conversation of, I would love to write a check into one of these VC funds I like, but it’s just a really concentrated bet for me. … We started by saying, what if we pooled our money together?”
By combining their dollars, they could diversify over a few different funds. That was three years ago. The dialogue continued and grew outside the trio. Business contacts, family offices wanted to get into VC, but found it difficult, Bordes said.
“It left us in a place of thinking that maybe there’s something more here. We could actually produce something that is not in the market that balances the risk parameters,” he said.
So last year, the group made it happen
Front Porch has closed on $4.1 million of a planned $5.1 million, according to a securities filing. Bordes said the firm closed on the full round earlier this year, and is already making minority investments.
The fund invests in venture capital firms across the Southeast, as well as directly into companies. The fund is almost maxed out when it comes to commitments, with holdings in 14 funds throughout the region, as well as in 12 startups. Its strategy is diversity – as it funnels money, typically between $50,000 and $100,0000, into seed-stage firms across industries (though not life sciences).
“We think of it as a ‘best ideas’ portfolio,” Bordes said.