Greater Colorado Venture Fund
Greater Colorado Venture Fund
Telluride, CO
Capital Challenge
Federal Share: $285,000
Local Match: $285,000
As one of the first funds explicitly investing in rural communities, the Greater Colorado Venture Fund (GCVF) is pioneering new approaches to unlock venture capital for Rural America. Our generation is faced with a substantial urban/rural divide plagued by socioeconomic disparities. Now heightened in a post-COVID world, Rural America needs entrepreneurs, not just policy makers, to reimagine main streets and leverage changing work trends to create better paying and more sustainable jobs for more equitable economic opportunities and outcomes.
The State of Colorado awarded GCVF an initial $9.1M which has been leveraged to create a $17.5M fund focused on seed stage investments in growth-oriented companies. Working with the state burdens the General Partner, adding ~$60k in administrative costs such as annual audits and large insurance premiums not common for funds of this size. In addition, the challenges of working in rural markets requires a highly involved and ecosystem focused approach to inspire a cultural change that embraces the previously foreign, and often non-existent, startup activity in these rural communities. GCVF’s advisors, LPs, and several other donors have recognized this challenge is above and beyond what most other GPs face in urban environments, hence their generous contributions that serve as matching funds. Moreover, COVID-19 has perhaps created the largest opportunity in several generations for entrepreneurship to thrive in Rural America. With your support, GCVF hopes to realize the potential of startups in some of our nation’s most overlooked places.