Scott Burns has joined Mairs & Power Venture Capital as a general partner.
Burns’ 25-year career includes extensive experience supporting entrepreneurs and his own successful ventures. He was the founder of Structural and GovDelivery, the latter of which sold for $153 million in 2016 and the former sold for an undisclosed amount last October.
Mairs & Power Venture Capital was launched in 2022 with the mission to partner with venture-stage companies particularly in high-growth sectors like software, business services, health care, fintech and edtech. It’s part of the Mairs & Power firm, which was founded in 1931 by St. Paul native George A. Mairs, Jr. and now has more than $10 billion under management.
Burns vied to go into venture capital for years, but entrepreneurship got in the way.
GovDelivery was one of the first companies to move governments into the cloud. It was a pioneer in helping governments communicate digitally with the public. Burns’ success hasn’t gone unnoticed, and he’s received accolades like being named a Most Admired CEO and a Tech Titan by the Business Journal.
Mairs & Power Venture Capital is focused on the Upper Midwest, and five of its seven investments so far have been in Minnesota. “It was just kind of a perfect fit, perfect time for me,” Burns told the Business Journal. “I’m doing my dream job.”
He’s an investor in the fund and has been doing some advisory work over the summer. He appreciates three fundamental aspects of the fund: the regional focus, a buy-and-hold strategy that means continued engagement with founders and access to the firm’s research analysts.
Burns also sits on the Star Tribune’s board and has had previous board leadership roles with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation. He’s been an active investor in startups since 2010. Two years ago, Gov. Tim Walz appointed him to the Governor’s Council on Economic Expansion.
Burns has known John Bergstrom, who helped launch Mairs & Power Venture Capital, for more than 20 years when Bergstrom became an investor and advisory with GovDelivery. The two have since collaborated on multiple ventures.
Burns said he appreciates the team’s civic-mindedness, pointing to its donations to Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and to the CEO Mark Henneman’s involvement with the St. Paul Foundation.
“It feels super-lucky. Just finding alignment with people who believe in excellence and community service is a real blessing,” Burns said. “It kind of feels like winning the lottery to me.”
