| The Big One |
| Breaking down the day’s biggest Inno story |
| More funding resources are needed as local startups and the region’s tech ecosystem grow and evolve. Thankfully for Buffalo, those types of resources are growing, although there’s certainly room for many more players. We’ve created another guide with six more (some newer) funding sources for local founders. Some are more complex than just traditional venture capital firms and range beyond early stage monies. Impact Capital Impact Capital, a Rochester-based venture capital firm, raised last year about $12 million, as of July, in its second fund and is ready to invest in startups. The group focuses on upstate New York and aims to make Series A investments ranging from $2 million to $3 million and some investments between $200,000 and $500,000 in earlier-stage companies. Impact Capital’s past investments include Viridi Parente, a Buffalo-based, fast-growing business that has developed both fixed and portable lithium-ion battery storage packs that are capable of storing renewable energy with fail-safe technology for the battery storage system. Bold Ventures Bold Ventures, which launched in 2023, is built on the idea that at the heart of every great investment, company or idea are real people who need to be taken care of mentally, emotionally and physically in order for the venture to thrive. The fund, a blend of private and public funding, typically makes investments from seed rounds through Series A rounds in industries that are trying to solve “big world problems.” That includes agriculture tech, supply chain and logistics, fintech and clean tech. Initial investments average around $250,000, but the fund reserves capital for follow-on investments. Bold Ventures expects to have a Western New York investment in early 2024 and views the area is an attractive region because of its growing startup ecosystem and it’s convenient location in regards to Canada and the New York City area.Learn more about funding resources here |
| Making Moves |
| Inside the people, companies and organizations making moves around Buffalo. |
| Here’s how much Buffalo startups raised in 2023The numbers are in, and 2023’s total for local startup funds raised is nowhere near 2022 levels. Buffalo Inno careful tracking throughout the year shows our area raised a collective about $30 million in 2023. Pitchbook, which uses different parameters than Inno, puts our local total closer to $38 million, neither figure is remotely near Buffalo startups raising $201 million in 2022. 2022 was a year marked with national trends of high volatility in the high-growth technology scene, a result of factors like war in the Ukraine, U.S. economic inflation and a struggling stock market. In 2023, many of those trends continued, prompting even huge tech companies to shut down and do layoffs. Locally, fewer startups raised funds in 2023. There were 14 total, which is less than the 32 in 2022 and the 35 in 2021. There’s also the typical size of the deals. Last year, average raises were $2.142 million, a drop compared to the average $6.28 million in 2022.Read more Swift Rails is on track to land first project this year with $225K raisedA local business that’s developed an autonomous vehicle individualized transportation system is raising funds to meet demand. Lancaster-based Swift Rails, which started as an idea around 2014 and incorporated in 2019, recently raised $225,000 in private investments, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The monies are part of a larger round, which will be a mixture of private capital and WeFunder crowdsourcing, targeting $1 million. CEO and co-founder Kevin Neumaier expects to close the round by March. Funding will go toward getting the business’ individualized transit system to market. The company was awarded a U.S. patent in September and is in the pre-contract stage with multiple potential customers, hoping to onboard its first customer this year. Swift Rails’ system is more energy efficient with a lower cost, quicker installation time and takes up less space compared to traditional transit, according to Neumaier.Read more |
