| Date | Title | Description |
| 15.08.2024 | Know a Scrappy or Ultra Ambitious Startup? We’re Ready to Invest! | As we continue to deploy the remaining $24M from our early-stage Great North Ventures Fund II, we’re actively seeking exceptional startups to invest in. We are focused on two key profiles: the scrappy & efficient or the ultra-ambitious.... |
| 31.07.2024 | Great North Ventures Announces Investment in Coldcart’s $6.5M Seed Round | We are excited to announce that Great North Ventures has participated in Coldcart’s oversubscribed $6.5 million seed funding round. The round was led by Collide Capital and includes previous convertible note investments led by Material. Gre... |
| 15.07.2024 | Micruity Secures $5 Million to Transform Retirement Income Solutions | We are thrilled to announce that our portfolio company, Micruity, has successfully closed a $5 million funding round. This latest funding round was led by industry giants Prudential, TIAA, and State Street, with additional support from Paci... |
| 15.07.2024 | Great North Ventures Leads OneCarNow! Series A Unlocking $86M In Funding For Improved Gig Worker Financial Well-Being | OneCarNow!, a fintech company providing vehicles and financial services to gig workers across the Americas, has secured $86 million in a combination of equity and debt financing. This significant capital injection, led by equity funding fro... |
| 27.06.2024 | Pear Commerce Secures $10M in Series A Funding to Transform Shoppable Media & Enhance Retail E-commerce | On June 27, 2024, Pear Commerce, a retail e-commerce enablement platform, announced it has secured $10 million in Series A funding led by Stage 2 Capital. This follows Pear’s significant 5x year-over-year growth and its pivotal role in crea... |
| 06.06.2024 | How Long Does It Take for a Startup to Get to a Big Exit? | Big exits are important for venture investors because they require large distributions to make up for any underperforming investments.
How much capital is burnt to get to those big exits impacts the return multiple a venture investor will r... |
| 25.05.2024 | VCs and Startups Are Adjusting to the Corrected Market | The Q1 2024 NVCA-Pitchbook Venture Monitor reveals activity levels similar to those in Q1 2023. Investors have already poured $36.6 billion into 3,925 deals. Although 38% of venture capitalists withdrew from deal-making in 2023, they still ... |
| 23.05.2024 | Let’s Celebrate the Two Year Anniversary of Great North Ventures Fund II | We announced our $41 Million Fund II back on May 23, 2022.
On the two-year anniversary of our Fund II announcement, here’s a progress update-
Team Update
Future Outlook
I’d like to personally thank each of our Fund II investors. It’s throug... |
| 30.04.2024 | April Newsletter | Stay up to date with Great North Ventures here!
Capital-efficient startups often emerge in regions that venture capital has historically overlooked. These startups must achieve more with less to grow, making them perfectly suited for the cu... |
| 09.04.2024 | Great North Ventures Invests in Mangxo to Revolutionize Credit Terms in Latam’s Construction Sector | Great North Ventures has invested in Mangxo, a company set to revolutionize the way construction material suppliers extend credit terms to subcontractors in Latin America.
Mangxo provides an online credit tracking system for material suppli... |
| 12.03.2024 | WithMe: A Startup Growth Story Fueled by Profits | Profitable growth is pretty rare to come by in the early stage startup world. This is the story of our portfolio company WithMe which provides printing and coffee amenity solutions to the multi-family real estate market.
I first met WithMe ... |
| 06.03.2024 | HLRBO Raises $1M Seed Round to Better Assist Landowners in Leasing Their Land to Hunters | Hunting Land Rentals By Owner, Inc., a Brainerd, MN-based company, provides hunters with direct access to landowners across the U.S. who offer their hunting land for lease using HLRBO’s online platform.
The $1M Series Seed round was led by ... |
| 29.06.2023 | June Newsletter | Stay up to date with Great North Ventures here! With execution as our North Star we fund, build and scale innovative tech companies. |
| 27.06.2023 | Revolutionizing Medical AI Development: Flywheel Announces $54 Million in Series D Funding led by Novalis LifeSciences & NVentures | MINNEAPOLIS — (June 27, 2023) — Flywheel, the leading medical imaging data and AI platform, announces it has raised $54 million in Series D funding. This latest round of funding was co-led by Novalis LifeSciences LLC and NVentures, NVIDIA’s... |
| 01.06.2023 | Grant Gibson Joins The Great North Ventures Team | I am thrilled to announce the addition of our newest Associate, Grant Gibson, who brings a unique blend of business acumen and legal expertise to our Great North Ventures fund. Holding a law degree from St. Thomas School of Law, Grant passe... |
| 01.05.2023 | Demystifying Startup HR | The following is the second guest post in a series written by Victoria Schanen, founder of Ghrow.io, a consulting services firm specializing in fractional human resources and recruiting leadership for startups. We’ve enjoyed our conversatio... |
| 26.04.2023 | Joseph Daher Joins The Great North Ventures Team | I’m excited to introduce you all to Joseph Daher. Joseph has played an essential role in sourcing, evaluating, and supporting promising startups for the past nine months and I’m pleased to announce that he will be joining the Great North Ve... |
| 29.03.2023 | Head of Finance & Fund Administration- Venture Capital Firm (Remote) | Great North Ventures is an established early-stage VC fund with $70M in AUM. GNV is investing out of its recently closed Fund 2 into high growth startups across the spectrum of early stage (pre-seed to series A.) This head of finance and ac... |
| 05.01.2023 | Demystifying Startup HR | The following is a guest post by Victoria Schanen, founder of Ghrow.io, a consulting services firm specializing in fractional human resources and recruiting leadership for startups. We’ve enjoyed our conversations with her and are pleased t... |
| 03.09.2022 | 3 Portfolio Companies Make Inc. 5000 + Quicklly & Instacart Expand | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We have 3 portfolio companies ranked on Inc. 5000, Quicklly expanding with Instacart, as well as our monthly roundup of portfolio company updates. |
| 02.09.2022 | Mike Schulte, Principal at Great North Ventures, on Episode 15, “Execution is King” (Part 2) | In the second of a two-part episode, we cover the most common concerns startup founders run into on fundraising, from our guest Mike Schulte, Principal and in-house legal expert at Great North Ventures who holds a JD/MBA from St. Thomas Uni... |
| 01.09.2022 | Mike Schulte, Principal at Great North Ventures, on Episode 14, “Execution is King” (Part 1) | In the first of a two-part episode, we cover the most common concerns startup founders run into on startup formation, from our guest Mike Schulte, Principal and in-house legal expert at Great North Ventures who holds a JD/MBA from St. Thoma... |
| 23.08.2022 | 3 Portfolio Companies Ranked on The Inc. 5000 List | |
| 04.08.2022 | iraLogix closes $22M + Branch expands with Uber | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We have first product shipped, a large funding, as well as our monthly roundup of portfolio company updates and jobs. |
| 01.08.2022 | iraLogix closes $22M Series C | iraLogix is a technology company offering fully paperless, white label, IRA record keeping and technology solutions.
iraLogix is a Great North Ventures Fund I portfolio company. |
| 11.07.2022 | Flywheel lands Gates Foundation grant | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We have grant funding news, as well as our monthly roundup of portfolio company updates and jobs. |
| 02.07.2022 | - | As a Venture Capital Analyst, you’ll be a full member of our investment team, working closely with managing partners at every stage of the investment process: sourcing new investments, performing due diligence, and working with portfolio co... |
| 30.06.2022 | Executive Assistant – Venture Capital Firm | We are a leading venture capital firm in the Upper Midwest. We are in immediate need of an Executive Assistant to join our close-knit team in the Twin Cities. In this essential role, you will assist with administrative support tasks and ens... |
| 23.06.2022 | Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda – on Episode 13, “Execution is King” | In this episode, we talk about management styles and goal setting, and uncover some gems about granting equity and hiring from our guest, Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda. |
| 03.06.2022 | $40M Fund II Raised! | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! The big news this month is the closing of Fund II! |
| 26.05.2022 | Eric Martell, Founder of Pear Commerce: Episode 13, Execution is King | In this episode, we talk about early-stage scaling. What it looks like, how to think about it, and what it takes to generate growth. |
| 23.05.2022 | Great North Ventures Raises $40 Million Fund II | Doubling Down on Success Investing in Trailblazers |
| 18.05.2022 | Investment Thesis: Fund II Strategy | Great North Ventures is an early-stage VC located in Minneapolis and St. Cloud, MN. Our investment team consists of ex-operators with significant experience across stages of growth from startup to public companies and M&A, and broad and... |
| 13.05.2022 | Investment Theme: Digital Transformation Through AI | Great North Ventures is a network-driven, generalist early-stage fund that prioritizes exceptional execution. Founded by founders, for founders – we back repeat founders, we back strong first-time founders, and we form founder teams in our ... |
| 13.05.2022 | Investment Theme: Community-Driven Applications | Great North Ventures is a network-driven, generalist early-stage fund that prioritizes exceptional execution. Founded by founders, for founders – we back repeat founders, we back strong first-time founders, and we form founder teams in our ... |
| 13.05.2022 | Investment Theme: Solving Labor Problems | Great North Ventures is a network-driven, generalist early-stage fund that prioritizes exceptional execution. Founded by founders, for founders – we back repeat founders, we back strong first-time founders, and we form founder teams in our ... |
| 02.05.2022 | Trends in the Gig Economy + Work in the Metaverse | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We talk about labor trends this month, with some original research from Branch and some Metaverse updates. |
| 20.04.2022 | Tipatat Chennavasin, General Manager and Co-Founder of The Venture Reality Fund: Episode 12, Execution is King | In this episode, Josef and Rob talk about the Metaverse, and how important it is for founders and investors to learn about it. They are joined by Tipatat Chennavasin, General Manager and Co-Founder of The Venture Reality Fund. Tipatat is a ... |
| 04.04.2022 | Portfolio raises $125M + talking fundraising with Branch CEO | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We have a couple of big raises to report, along with updates and job listings from our portfolio. |
| 17.03.2022 | Omnia Fishing closes $4M round, joins Great North portfolio! | Omnia Fishing, a new Great North investment, has raised a $4M round! Omnia is the fastest-growing online store in the fishing tackle industry. Omnia’s sales grew 400% in 2021 and are currently on a similar pace this year. |
| 09.03.2022 | Atif Siddiqi, Founder/CEO of Branch: Episode 11, Execution is King | |
| 24.02.2022 | Michael Martocci, CEO and Founder of SwagUp: Episode 10, Execution is King | In this episode, Rob and Josef talk about bootstrapping. Rob shares his experience bootstrapping to $70M in revenue by age 32 with his startup, NativeX. |
| 04.02.2022 | Yardstik new to portfolio, closes $8M Series A | Yardstik is a technology company offering screening, verification, and training solutions tailored to gig marketplaces and SaaS platforms. |
| 01.02.2022 | First venture studio startup comes out of stealth! | |
| 31.01.2022 | Insights for founders from a data guru, + FactoryFix raises a Series A! | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We have some great funding news, insights for founders and investors from our partners, and a former Yahoo and Disney exec on our podcast, Una Fox! |
| 26.01.2022 | Una Fox: Episode 9, Execution is King | In this episode, Rob and Josef talk about a new book out about network effects, “The Cold Start Problem” by Andrew Chen. |
| 24.01.2022 | Start With a Mobile App, Not a Website | |
| 13.01.2022 | The Rise of Rapid Consumer Detection Technologies: A 2022 Outlook | |
| 03.01.2022 | 2ndKitchen acquired by SoftBank-backed REEF + advice from an early Googler | Welcome to the Great North Ventures newsletter! We have exit news! And for founders, we have a former Googler talking about the importance of being data-driven, and sharing other advice. |
| 29.12.2021 | Joe Sriver, 4giving: Episode 8, Execution is King | In this episode, Rob and Josef talk about the impending paradigm shift represented by the metaverse, and relate it to past shifts. |
| 22.12.2021 | 2ndKitchen Acquired by REEF | Fund I portfolio company 2ndKitchen has been acquired by REEF Technologies, Inc. |
| 04.12.2021 | Venture studio startup jobs + advice for founders from founders | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! This month we have advice for founders featured in our latest podcast episode. |
| 24.11.2021 | Best Advice from the Great North Annual Event: Episode 7, Execution is King | In this compilation episode, Josef features the best advice for founders that we picked up at our 2021 Annual Event. |
| 01.11.2021 | Newsletter: Do you fit our investing themes? | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! (Sign up here!) This month we have some advice for founders as well as an open call for funding applications. |
| 21.10.2021 | Jonathan Treble, PrintWithMe: Episode 6, Execution is King | In this episode, Rob and Josef talk about some Twitter controversy over founder extravagances, and the difference between, say, personal chefs at work used for recruiting, vs. buying a used fishing boat with your profits. This is something ... |
| 06.10.2021 | Anna Mason, Revolution: Episode 5, Execution is King | In this episode, Rob and Josef talk about of-coast investing, and the strategy behind Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and its founder, Steve Case. |
| 05.10.2021 | Nick Moran, New Stack Ventures: Episode 3, Execution is King | Rob and Josef talk podcasts, and comes clean about his awkward intro to Nick Moran. |
| 05.10.2021 | Molly Pyle, Center on Rural Innovation (CORI): Episode 2, Execution is King | Ryan and Josef talk about the importance of startup communities and the importance of innovation in rural communities, including St. Cloud, MN. |
| 05.10.2021 | Newsletter: “Podcast Launched: Execution is King!” | Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! (Sign up here!) We are excited for the launch of our new podcast and Fund II investing! |
| 05.10.2021 | Mynul Khan, FieldNation: Episode 4, Execution is King | Ryan and Josef talk about the Weber brothers’ long history, with Ryan tracking Mynul since they took classes together in college. |
| 05.10.2021 | Justin Kaufenberg, Rally Ventures: Execution is King Episode 1 | In Episode 1, Rob and Josef kick around bucket list ideas and shattered Vikings dreams, then dive into the interview with the former Co-Founder and CEO of SportsEngine. |
| 12.08.2021 | “Execution is King” – the Great North Ventures Podcast | It’s not what you know. It’s not who you know. It’s knowing how to put it all together. |
| 08.07.2021 | Newsletter: Fund II is open for business!
| Welcome back to the Great North Ventures newsletter! (Sign up here!) Summer is in full swing, as is our Fund II investing. |
| 30.06.2021 | Unlocking the Potential of Anonymized Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Data | Commercial real-estate (CRE), a $12 trillion industry, has been slow to use new technologies and data that can boost economic returns. During a recent Quarterly Spotlight event held by Great North Ventures, Tony Lesicka, CEO and Founder of ... |
| 30.06.2021 | Fund II is open for Business! | Great North Ventures Fund II is now actively investing! |
| 29.06.2021 | Mike Schulte Promoted to Venture Partner | Mike joined Great North as an Associate in January 2018. He was previously employed in the venture practice of Soffer Charbonnet Law Group in the Twin Cities. Mike received his BA degree from Minnesota State University Mankato in 2013 and J... |
| 29.06.2021 | Founders or Investors: These are the top 5 signs a startup will succeed | As a tech founder and investor, I have spent a lot of time thinking about why some startups scale and why others fail. You have to when your livelihood is riding on whether or not you can execute. And when you’re putting other peoples’ mone... |
| 29.06.2021 | New Name + New Venture Studio | Welcome to the Great North Ventures newsletter!
Yes, you read that correctly: Great North Ventures. We have had some big news come out lately, and the name change to Great North Ventures better reflects our organization. |
| 30.03.2021 | Great North Launches Startup Studio | We are pleased to announce the launch of our venture studio, Great North Venture Labs. Great North Venture Labs will design and build companies with world-class founders and operators that are in focused market segments with substantial opp... |
| 02.03.2021 | How Founders Spend Big Exit $$$, Flywheel, and St. Thomas: Innovation sans Full-Time MBA | Welcome back to the Great North Labs newsletter!
With so many great startups getting acquired or going IPO lately, one wonders: What do founders do when they score these big windfalls? |
| 09.02.2021 | We Don’t Need No [full-time MBA] Education | The University of St. Thomas (UST) is the largest private university in Minnesota with ~10,000 students. The business school, the Opus College of Business, is #2 in the state for undergraduate business education. The Schulze School of Entre... |
| 01.02.2021 | How the University of Minnesota is Embracing Startup Culture, EmpowerU, and MEDA $1M Challenge Winners | Welcome to our first newsletter of 2021!
In our look back on the past year in our last newsletter, we talked about resilient startups, the pandemic, and capacity building. We reflected on our own efforts, and then we started thinking about ... |
| 19.01.2021 | How the University of Minnesota is Embracing Startup Culture | The University of Minnesota is embracing startup culture across disciplines and producing results in the number of founders, tech talent, and startups. One of the top universities in the country with enrollment regularly over 50k, a system-... |
| 04.01.2021 | Top Stories of 2020, iraLogix, and LaunchMN Calls for Mentors | Welcome to our last newsletter of 2020. It’s been a challenging year. We feel fortunate that the local early-stage startup scene has remained strong, and believe that investment in innovation and digital transformation will help fuel the po... |
| 03.12.2020 | How to Spot a Worthwhile Consumer App Startup, 2020 Gift Guide, and a New Startup Investment Incentive | While there are vaccines on the horizon and a potential further stimulus package, possibly in time for the holiday season, we still have a ways to go until economic recovery. Startups will be key to that recovery. |
| 25.11.2020 | 2020 Minnesota Entrepreneur Gift Buying Guide | Every year, when I begin holiday shopping for friends and family, I always start with a list of gift ideas sourced from local entrepreneurs in Minnesota and the surrounding region. One of the best ways to support your community is to become... |
| 24.11.2020 | Startup Investors Can Get 100% Tax Exclusion for Gains Under Section 1202 | Section 1202, or “The Small Business Stock Gains Exclusion”, provides a 100% tax exclusion for Qualified Small Business Stock. If you invest in early-stage companies and aren’t familiar with Section 1202, check in with your tax advisor. Bei... |
| 30.10.2020 | The Dollars and Hours of Capacity Building, Ethical Entrepreneurship, and Impact Metrics to Date | The world is changing, and a new wave of tech entrepreneurs are shaping the new normal. The tech sector is performing well as the need for innovation, necessitated by the pandemic, becomes more urgent. |
| 29.10.2020 | Building Capacity for Innovation | Entrepreneurship is a proven, capital-efficient way to build economic value and transform regions. It doesn’t just happen, though. Developing talent, supporting founders, and delivering capital and connections to promising ventures are all ... |
| 08.10.2020 | Post-Pandemic Times – Sand Hill Moves to Middle America | It is no secret that during the pandemic, the tech sector is delivering stronger returns than other sectors. |
| 06.10.2020 | $2M Startup Competition for Black Founders, Winning Startups to Watch, and Twin Cities Startup Week | It’s a wrap for Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW), Minnesota’s largest annual startup event. How big is it? In 2019 the event attracted 17,000 people to over 200 sessions. This year, the event stretched nearly a month as it went virtual for t... |
| 02.09.2020 | Seizing Opportunity in a Recession, Allergy Amulet, and Twin Cities Startup Week | Last month we wrote about the history of local startups that were formed during a recession and went on to success, including local unicorn Jamf. The conversation quickly turned to what that means for founders and investors. |
| 04.08.2020 | Recessionary times, a record-setting IPO, and Minnesota’s Resilient Startups | Today it was announced that last quarter’s drop in GDP was the second largest ever recorded. Overall US economic output fell by 9.5%. This dire news comes on the heels of fantastic news for the MN tech startup community: the largest IPO fro... |
| 30.07.2020 | Minnesota's Resilient Startups | There is a history of successful tech companies in Minnesota founded during recessions. These resilient startups didn’t just survive- they proliferated under pressure. Jamf, which recently raised $468M in an IPO, is the largest, latest, and... |
| 08.07.2020 | Jumpstart, the Startup School, and Branch Wins a Webby! | Welcome to the May edition of the Great North Labs newsletter. In this time of economic change, entrepreneurial skills, advancing technology, and its new applications will drive the innovations and evolving business models necessary to spur... |
| 08.07.2020 | July 4th, Equitable American Dream-ing, and Robots Diagnosing COVID | On July 4th, 239 years ago, a group of entrepreneurs, visionaries, and leaders came together to free themselves from a politically oppressive system that they found socially and economically limiting. The country they founded promised life,... |
| 05.05.2020 | COVID-19 Trends, the Great North response, and our Founders Survey | Forecasts of the economic impact are still developing as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Mary Meeker (famed for her annual Internet Trends report) released a report on coronavirus trends as an exclusive to Axios. Takeaways from the trends ... |
| 10.04.2020 | Giving in the Time of Coronavirus | With unemployment soaring, small businesses shuttering, and even some large chains withholding rent, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are reverberating through our communities. Many people wait on relief from the government in the form ... |
| 06.04.2020 | COVID-19 Resources for Startups, State-by-State | Welcome to our state directory for startups seeking COVID-19 resources! Last month we whittled the plethora of resources available down to the essentials here. We certainly weren’t the first to provide a guide, and we realized that with the... |
| 01.04.2020 | COVID-19, the CARES Act, and startups stepping up | The world is in the grip of a pandemic that is testing our health systems, our governments, and our economies. COVID-19, known simply as the coronavirus, has hit 700,000 cases worldwide, with the U.S. now topping the list of countries affec... |
| 21.03.2020 | New Business Preservation Act | On March 19, 2020, a bill proposing the New Business Preservation Act was submitted to the Senate that seeks to drive economic activity, innovation, and job growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. The New Busi... |
| 02.03.2020 | Digital Future Boardroom, PartySlate, and The Lean Startup School | Welcome back to the Great North Labs newsletter! We are excited to announce that signups for the new, Greater MN-focused startup school initiative are live, and will kick off on March 7th in St. Cloud and March 14th in Red Wing. |
| 21.02.2020 | Great North Labs's Startup Summit 2020 | Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020 will be on August 27th at St. Cloud State University. Every year, Great North Labs gathers stakeholders together in late summer for an annual event aimed at supporting startups in our portfolio and the... |
| 21.02.2020 | Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020 | Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020 will be on August 27th at St. Cloud State University. Every year, Great North Labs gathers stakeholders together in late summer for an annual event aimed at supporting startups in our portfolio and the... |
| 03.02.2020 | World Economic Forum, NoiseAware, and the Startup School reboot | Welcome back to the Great North Labs newsletter! 2020 kicked off to a fast start. We were invited to participate in the World Economic Forum, and we announced the next chapter in our Startup School. There’s also a new advisor on the team, a... |
| 31.01.2020 | The Role of VC in Economic Impact: World Economic Forum 2020 | With approximately 500 attendees, uber-founder and CEO Navroop Sahdev and VP Heidi Cuppari conducted the outstanding The Digital Economist Roundtable at the World Economic Forum 2020 at Davos. Great North Labs was invited to the event to di... |
| 22.01.2020 | Introducing the new Greater Minnesota focused Startup School Initiative | |
| 21.01.2020 | Great North Labs at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos | Great North Labs will be participating in a couple of events at the World Economic Forum this year, where we have been invited to talk about our work investing in early-stage companies in the Upper Midwest. The Forum (WEF) is an annual gath... |
| 20.01.2020 | Where to Invest in the Midwest: Venture Across Asset Classes [updated] | Over 10,700 venture-backed companies received a combined $136.5 billion in funding in 2019, and the year saw double the exit value of 2018.[i] As stocks, real estate investments, and venture capital reach record highs, what are investors th... |
| 19.12.2019 | Top 5 Stories of 2019 | 1. The year started with a bang, as we closed our debut fund. Our $23.7M raise is one of the largest debut venture funds ever raised in the Midwest. You can read about it on our site, at VentureBeat, or here, here, here, here, here, and els... |
