The purpose of the TechColumbus Pre-Seed Fund is to enable promising technology startups to complete the steps necessary to attract follow-on funding from venture capital firms and other sources.

Parameters

This fund will focus on incubating phase technology startups in the central Ohio region that have the reasonable expectation of reaching $30 million in revenue in three to seven years, and address a market of at least $100 million. The fund will make primarily convertible debt investments in companies that are scalable, led by a solid management team (or have plans to complete one), and can articulate a defendable next round capital attraction strategy.

The ideal pre-seed opportunity will include most or all of the following criteria:

• High potential technology-based startup with clear path to follow on funding.
• Defendable intellectual property with clear ownership or licensing arrangement.
• Team led by an experienced entrepreneur or the company is willing to acquire the needed management talent. Management is coachable.
• Recognizable $100 million addressable market with high likelihood of $30 million revenue in three to seven years.

Process

Investment decisions for the TechColumbus Pre-Seed Fund will be made three times per year by the Investment Committee.

The TechColumbus team and the Deal Flow Assessment Committee will invite the top eight TechStart clients to submit a more detailed business plan.  The company team will then present its opportunity to the Deal Flow Assessment Committee, who will narrow the 8 applicants to 4.  Each of these 4 companies will then be assigned an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) who will perform detailed due diligence and structure the deal, if warranted.

Following due diligence, the EIR will present his or her findings and the proposed deal to the Investment Committee, and the company will present and answer questions.  The Investment Committee will then choose the top companies (2 maximum) and approve an investment in each.

Application

Investment decisions will be made three times per year by the TechColumbus Investment Committee.  Companies interested in being considered for funding should complete an Executive Summary on the TechColumbus website and engage with our coaching and mentoring staff.

Click here to begin the application process.