Traction Capital, a hybrid venture capital and private equity firm based in Wayzata, has invested in a Minneapolis-based app that helps anglers optimize the way they fly fish, according to a recent announcement.
TroutRoutes gives anglers maps of public streams, access points, water conditions, elevation levels and more through its mobile app and desktop platform. The investment in the fishing-centered app is the seventh for Traction Capital, which launched in 2019, said Peyton Green, vice president of investments for Traction.
Other recent investments have included Minneapolis-based Saltbox, a business-to-business sales company, and Froogle, a Zimmerman-based software company that helps restaurants reach customers.
The venture capital firm invested $500,000 in the app, an amount that came out of the firm's Focus Fund I, Green said. The fund totals $16.7 million, which was raised last year. So far, it has deployed $3.5 million of those funds, he said.
An announcement made by Trout Insights Inc., the app’s parent company, states that the investment encompasses its Series A fundraising round.
TroutRoutes currently operates in 33 states and has mapped over 25,000 streams, the company says.
TroutRoutes plans to use the investment to expand its reach to other areas of the U.S., enhance its product and undergo marketing and business development, the company says.
The company will have eight employees — mostly based in Twin Cities metro — by the end of this month and is actively hiring, Zach Pope, TroutRoutes founder, told the Business Journal.
"What we're most excited about is the mentorship and integrated approach to Traction as a capital partner," Pope, an avid trout angler himself, said in the press release. Pope has a master’s degree in management of technology from the University of Minnesota.
Traction Capital was founded by Shane Erickson, owner of Innovative Marketing Consultants, a company that creates marketing resources for businesses. When considering venture capital investments, the firm looks at early-stage companies with between $250,000 and $5 million in recurring revenue and the potential for growth, according to a report by the Business Journal.
“Zach is an incredibly smart and driven individual. The Traction Capital team and I are very impressed by the platform he’s developed and can’t wait to see the company accelerate as he grows his team,” Erickson said in the press release.
Pope said the company has seen rapid growth since building the software, which launched in 2019. It has gained more than 100,000 users since that time. This year, the company projects to reach an annual recurring revenue of $500,000 and seeks to triple that year-over-year, he said.
"The next phase of our project will require more than an early product and an excited early adopter cohort; we'll need structure, process and people and I can't think of a better partner for this than Traction Capital and the leadership with Shane Erickson,” Pope said in the press release.
