Heartland Ventures closes $52M investment fund – Indianapolis Business Journal

Heartland Ventures, a Columbus, Ohio-based enterprise capital agency with a novel enterprise mannequin—and powerful ties to Indianapolis—has closed on its $52 million second funding fund.

Heartland, which opened its Indianapolis workplace in 2019 and has two of its 9 staff right here, additionally has workplaces in South Bend, San Francisco and New York Metropolis.

The agency’s enterprise technique is to safe investments from established Midwestern corporations in a wide range of industries, then use that funding to spend money on startup tech corporations which might be growing merchandise that might profit these buyers. One other aim is to lure a few of these startups—a lot of that are primarily based on the coasts—to ascertain native workplaces to allow them to be near their Midwestern clients.

“All of our buyers are enterprise homeowners in Indiana and Ohio,” mentioned Heartland Ventures’ Managing Director Max Brickman, a Wisconsin native who graduated from Indiana College’s Kelley Faculty of Enterprise and now lives within the Columbus, Ohio, space.

Brickman mentioned Heartland’s buyers embody privately held corporations in a wide range of industries, together with Indianapolis-based building agency Shiel Sexton Co., Indianapolis-based gear producer Wooden-Mizer, Indianapolis-based Denison Parking and Fishers-based structure and engineering agency RQAW Corp., amongst others.

Heartland closed its first funding fund, a $15 million fund, in 2017. The entire Fund I buyers got here again to spend money on Fund II, and a few new buyers additionally joined for Fund II, Brickman mentioned.

Fund II closed earlier this yr, however Heartland didn’t announce the fund’s closure till this week. Fund II was oversubscribed, which means that it exceeded its unique fundraising aim. “We had been focusing on $40 million for Fund II, Brickman mentioned.

Heartland’s buyers additionally assist form the agency’s funding technique. About half of the agency’s employees focuses on working with its Indiana and Ohio buyers to know their operations and the issues they’re going through. Then this info is shared with Heartland’s California and New York Metropolis staff, who scout for investments that match the buyers’ wants.

In lots of instances, Brickman mentioned, Heartland capabilities as an extension of its buyers’ analysis and growth efforts.

“There’s an enormous quantity of alternative in mainly bridging expertise and business to offer a sooner suggestions loop between the 2,” Brickman mentioned.

The enterprise agency sometimes invests between $500,000 and $2 million on the seed or Sequence A ranges. It expects to make 20 investments over the following 4 years and has already invested in a number of corporations: autonomous forklift firm Third Wave Automation, parking platform Parkade and construction-focused enterprise growth platform ProjectMark.

Heartland’s technique has already proven outcomes, Brickman mentioned. A couple of examples:

—Shiel Sexton is working with Heartland portfolio firm Firmus Ltd., a Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup. Firmus expertise can scan building drawings to uncover design errors, serving to clients keep away from building delays and rework.

—Wooden-Mizer is working with Heartland portfolio firm StrongArm Applied sciences Inc., a Brooklyn, New York-based firm whose wearable expertise helps industrial employees keep away from accidents.

—Heartland portfolio firm Soil Join, a startup primarily based on Lengthy Island, New York, entered the Indianapolis market earlier this yr. The corporate presents a digital market to attach patrons and sellers of soil, aggregates and different constructing supplies.