A veteran-led and -owned venture capital firm is relocating its corporate headquarters from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Tysons to be closer to the types of startups it targets for investments: national security contractors led by one or more veterans.
Veteran Ventures Capital is set to take up office space in the Spaces at the Loft, a location within the Boro complex on Broad Street and steps away from the Greensboro Metro station and Tysons Galleria.
Derren Burrell, founder and managing partner of the firm, will return to the region in the coming weeks after doing several tours here during his 20-year career with the U.S. Air Force. He joins Josh Weed, a general partner of the firm who is already based in Northern Virginia. Veteran Ventures Capital has five partners, though it's looking to soon add some associate-level employees in the coming months.
In a phone interview, Weed told me the concentration of startups in Greater Washington that are led and owned by veterans is significantly higher than anywhere else in the country. While the VC firm has had a decent start in Knoxville since its founding in 2019, he said it could achieve more meaningful growth by being based in Greater Washington.
It's not just about finding investment targets. A Greater Washington presence also puts it closer to many investment firms with which it could partner on deals. It has, for example, already teamed with such local VC firms as Lockheed Martin Ventures, Washington Harbour Partner and Valor Ventures, among others.
"This headquarters move marks a super important milestone in the expansion of our firm," Weed said. "It puts us at the nexus of a very vibrant defense-technology ecosystem and much broader financial and capital markets. All of those things together are going to accelerate our growth and allow us to continue to grow the firm."
Veteran Ventures Capital primarily invests in revenue-generating startups working in national security and dual-use technologies at the late seed stage to the Series B round. It has typically written checks for $2 million to $3 million from its inaugural $20 million fund, though Weed said those sums will likely be larger from its second fund, for which it's aiming to raise $50 million.
He said the firm only invests in startups that feature at least one veteran in the C-Suite and at least one veteran founder.
Weed declined to disclose how much space the firm has taken in the Boro Tower. He said it'll serve as a space for him and Burrell to meet with the firm's limited partners or those interested in becoming partners, as well as with potential startups seeking investments.
