Draper Triangle Ventures has held the first closing of its newest fund, Draper Triangle III, targeted to be a USD75m to USD100m fund.
With Fund III, Draper Triangle will continue to leverage the successful investment strategy of its two earlier funds, investing in early stage technology companies located in the Midwest, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
Over the past 13 years, Draper Triangle has been the region’s most active early stage venture capital firm, investing over USD115m in 37 companies. Draper Triangle’s portfolio encompasses investments in 26 companies in Western Pennsylvania totalling in excess of USD80m, including Renal Solutions, Carnegie Learning, BodyMedia and Aethon, plus eight Ohio-based companies, with investments totalling over USD30m, including TOA Technologies, CardioInsight, OnShift, and Thinkvine.
Jay Katarincic (pictured), managing director of Draper Triangle, says, "We believe there is a unique investment opportunity in the Midwest at a time when there is an unprecedented divide between the availability of early stage venture capital and the large number of promising technology start-ups seeking capital. With the new Fund, we will continue to deploy new capital to exciting firms, and leverage our DFJ Network to help expand the great companies found right here in our region."
Will Indest has joined the team as managing director to oversee activities in the recently opened Columbus office. Indest formerly served as chief executive of TechColumbus Investments and vice president of venture development and director of TechStart. Prior to TechColumbus, Indest was instrumental in founding the USD150m Ohio Capital Fund, a seed stage fund of funds, as well as managing approximately USD30m in pre-seed and angel fund assets.
