Wichita entrepreneurial group NXTUS said Tuesday is has reached nearly $1.5 million in growth capital over the past nine months for nine regional startups.
That brings the organization's nearly four-year total to $4.5 million.
“Overall, NXTUS exists to help entrepreneurs build companies of significance by connecting them to capital, customers, and community,” said Quinn Robertson, who runs NXTUS' Accelerate Venture Partners angel investment group and other NXTUS capital programs. “On the capital front, we are keenly focused on expanding awareness and increasing the supply of risk capital in Kansas. Growing this ‘pie’ helps all entrepreneurs, but it particularly enables currently underrepresented populations to both build companies and access new forms of equity ownership."
A $350,000 Build to Scale Capital Challenge grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration helped lead to growth within the 14 portfolio companies NXTUS has invested in. Companies in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma are working in, among other technologies, biotechnology, software and crypto.
NXTUS said those companies have grown to employ more than 250 people, up 40% since Accelerate Venture Partners' first investments. The companies brought in almost $15 million in 2021 revenue and raised more than $150 million in total funding.
Of the $1.5 million in capital, $280,000 has going to three Wichita-based companies. The angel investor group has grown nearly 50 percent in the last nine months.
“We measure success by the number and diversity of scalable startups we’re serving, the breadth of people actively participating in mobilizing capital, how well we have educated founders and investors, and if we are effectively filling financing gaps with the right type of capital,” Robertson said.
