Front Porch Closes Fund 1
FRONT PORCH VENTURE PARTNERS ANNOUNCES THE CLOSING OF ITS FIRST FUND
Innovative hybrid fund delivers more capital for entrepreneurs throughout the Southeast and enhanced diversification for startup investors in the Southeast and beyond
February 21, 2022
RALEIGH – Front Porch Venture Partners (FPVP), a Research Triangle based venture capital firm investing in rapidly growing startup ecosystems in the Southeast, announced the final close of its oversubscribed $5 million first fund on January 21, 2022. The firm deploys an innovative hybrid strategy that includes both fund and direct startup investments, bringing diversified exposure of venture opportunities to a broader set of investors than ever previously available.
“At Front Porch we set out to be more than just capital. We want to be a true connector in the startup ecosystem across the Southeast and bring a broader set of investors into the venture community – both financially and operationally,” said Managing Partner Gregg Bordes. “With our hybrid approach you can write one check and get exposure to 250+ startups and leverage the value-add of top VCs throughout the region. This differentiated strategy provides diversification to a much larger group of accredited investors and family offices than what was previously available in the market.”
Since January 2020, FPVP has deployed capital to 14 top-tier venture funds based in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. These fund partners include many of the most well known firms in the region, plus a targeted group of emerging fund managers, extending from pre-seed through growth equity.
To complement its core fund partnerships, FPVP has also invested in the startups of 12 impressive founders throughout the Southeast. The firm is targeting a total of 15-20 direct ‘best ideas’ investments in the Fund 1 portfolio and is actively engaging with early stage companies across the region.
“In the last several years, our venture ecosystem has grown tremendously as measured by the amount of dollars flowing into startup and scaling entrepreneurial companies,” said Hunter Young, Head of Capital at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED). “While more mega-deals have driven this overall progress, the advancement has not been as pronounced in the earlier venture and growth stages in terms of number of companies funded. By both supporting venture and growth capital managers in the southeast, as well as directly investing into early stage companies, Front Porch Venture Partners will play an integral role in recycling capital back into our region’s entrepreneurial ventures.”
Front Porch Venture Partners expects to launch Fund 2, which will utilize a similar hybrid investment strategy, with a $20 million target later in 2022.
About Front Porch Venture Partners
Front Porch Venture Partners (FPVP) offers a diversified investment opportunity across top-tier venture capital funds and early stage companies in the Southeast. Founded in 2019, the firm uses a pooled investment vehicle (or 'fund') to invest across some of the Southeast’s best Venture Capital firms, as well as make direct investments in the most promising startups discovered through their fund partners and other connections to the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem. This fund allows investors to gain exposure to a broad set of the region’s most promising startups through one simple investment.