Founderville attracting tech start-ups to the Upstate with a big promise
The fund will provide at least $100,000 in investment capital for a 12-month residency.
Eighteen months ago, the NEXT entrepreneurial group in Greenville, SC launched Founders Fund. Both organizations have rebranded themselves. NEXT Upstate is now known as NextGEN with a tip of the hat to the Greenville Entrepreneur Network, and Founders Fund is simply Founderville.
According to a report in the Upstate Business Journal, the latter has spent about half of the $6 million in capital with which the fund launched in seven Greenville area start-ups, and is seeking another $6 million to further enhance its efforts.
“The thesis of this fund is former Greenville founders funding the next crop of Greenville founders,” Founderville Co-Founder Shay Houser said. “We have 45 investors from Greenville in the fund. All are founders or C-level executives of other, venture-backed or private equity funds, leaders that are willing to spend time with the investments.”
One of the fund’s new initiatives is to attract companies to Greenville for a year with a promise of a minimum investment of $100,000 plus subsidized housing and living expenses. The goal is about eight each year for a decade, and the focus is on tech start-ups from the Carolinas and Georgia
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