VentureSouth is proud to announce another year of record-setting investment activity. The South Carolina-based firm invested $12.7 million in 28 Southeastern early stage companies in 2019, up from $7 million the previous year, representing an 82% increase in capital deployed.
The firm also broke a record for new investments, with 10 companies added to the VentureSouth portfolio in 2019. New investments stretched across the Southeast, from Aperiomics and Outdoor Access in Virginia to HelloPackage in Georgia, MemberHub and Altis Biosystems in North Carolina, and Punchlist, OffSite, Treis Blockchain, and ZylöTherapeutics in South Carolina.
VentureSouth also made 18 follow-on investments to further support the growth of existing portfolio companies including Baebies, Emergo Therapeutics, Spiffy, Atlas Organics, Sentio, and several others. In addition, the firm participated in the latest round of funding for Proterra, making it the first “unicorn” in the firm’s portfolio.
Paul Clark, a Managing Director of VentureSouth, commented: “2019 was a banner year for VentureSouth. Over the last three years, we have experienced substantial growth in our investment activity, which has grown from $4.5 million in 2017, to $7 million in 2018, and now to a record $12.7 million in 2019. This represents an incredible amount of activity from our members, who collectively have made over 700 individual investments with VentureSouth. This is a testament to both the attractive early stage companies operating in the Southeast and the infrastructure we have built that allows investors to fund them with conviction.”
VentureSouth had a strong year on several other fronts as well, with two successful exits after the strategic acquisitions of Cirtemo and ecomdash and the expansion of its footprint with new groups in Hilton Head, S.C. and Wilmington, N.C. The firm also fully raised its third “sidecar” index fund for angel investing (the VentureSouth Angel Fund III), exceeded 300 active investors and was named one of the top 10 angel investment groups in North America by the Angel Capital Association.
To learn more about our portfolio, please visit https://venturesouth.vc/ourportfolio.