Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Collab Capital:

Collab Capital of Atlanta has announced the close of its second fund with $75 million in committed capital.

Fund II will invest in early stage start-ups addressing foundational needs across work, healthcare, and community infrastructure – three critical areas that the firm calls “the building blocks of shared prosperity.” The raise follows the success of Collab’s $50M Fund I and brings both new and returning limited partners into the fold, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to $125 million.

Fund II limited partners include Apple, Leon Levine Foundation, California IBank, and the External Investing Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

With Fund II, Collab Capital will focus exclusively on Seed and Series A investments, while continuing to target companies led by founders who are, in Collab’s words, “best equipped to solve real-world, consequential problems through unique market expertise and lived experience.”

Morgan Stanley NMTC Fund:

A new investment fund is set to fuel healthcare services, affordable electricity, and good jobs in rural and tribal areas, offering financing that helps address the multiplying impacts of poverty on the well-being of families and communities.

The Morgan Stanley Rural NMTC Fund is leveraging federal New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) to invest $45 million in high-impact development projects. A collaboration between Morgan Stanley and Broadstreet Impact Services, the fund will deploy affordable capital to fill critical gaps in rural and tribal communities.

The fund is focusing on projects being developed in nonmetro census tracts with high rates of unemployment and low median incomes. To qualify for investment, projects will address healthcare, electrification needs—including solar and other clean energy projects—community services, or workforce development programs, and offer jobs that pay a living wage with benefits. Jobs must be accessible to a wide range of workers, including those who might otherwise face employment barriers, like people with disabilities, those without a college degree, and individuals rebounding from long-term unemployment.

Ensemble VC:

Ensemble VC has developed and deployed a comprehensive system to derisk venture capital (VC) investments, with partners ranging from Sand Hill Road VCs to Silicon Valley’s most respected law firm.

Ensemble Co-Founder and Data Scientist Gopi Sundaramurthy spent five years developing what is named Unity, which ranks prospective portfolio company teams based on hundreds of objective data points.

Unity then ranks teams — including teams with first-time founders — according to their likelihood of commercial success. Unity can also help portfolio companies build teams with people most likely to excel in their roles, whether in biomanufacturing, machine learning engineering, downstream processing, go-to-market strategy, marketing and communication, human resources, or other functions.

Seven Stars:

Seven Stars, a venture capital firm that partners with founders building the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) companies, has announced the launch of its inaugural $40 million pre-seed and seed-stage fund, oversubscribed in just five weeks.

Founded and managed by Steven Lee, a former Partner at SV Angel, Seven Stars will focus on partnering with early stage AI start-ups with a sharp focus on applications across both consumer and enterprise technology.

“While AI already benefits one billion knowledge workers across finance, law, and marketing, I’m most excited by AI’s impact on the rest of the world’s eight billion people,” said Lee, Founder and General Partner at Seven Stars. “AI is the equalizer for the 90%, poised to transform lives on a global scale – and it all starts with motivated founders to build enduring companies that empower individuals and companies to thrive in a rapidly-changing world.”

 

---