Midwest startups have another source of venture capital in the region as “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance launches a new VC fund to invest in startups outside of Silicon Valley.
Vance, previously a managing partner of Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, has launched his own fund named Narya Capital, as first reported by Axios. The fund has so far raised $93 million, according to an SEC filing, and has a target of $125 million.
The fund has several high-profile LPs behind it, including Marc Andreessen, Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel. Narya Capital is headquartered in Cincinnati and will focus on making investments in “under-served” markets outside of the Valley, according to Axios.
Colin Greenspon, also previously a partner at Revolution, is joining Vance as the fund’s co-founder.
Narya Capital is the latest nine-figure VC fund to launch recently in the Midwest. Last month, Chicago’s Hyde Park Venture Partners closed its third VC fund at $100 million to invest in “mid-continent” upstarts. Chicago-based 7Wire Ventures, a healthcare-focused VC firm, raised a $100 million fund in 2018, and S2G Ventures, led by OpenTable founder Chuck Templeton, raised $180 million in 2017. Columbus-based Drive Capital’s recently raised a $350 million toward a new fund, and several corporate giants in Wisconsin raised $100 million for the Wisconn Valley Venture Fund in Milwaukee in 2018.
And last October, the Rise of the Rest raised another $150 million to back startups in emerging U.S. markets.
