The new venture capital firm Bull City Venture Partnerscreated by Triangle VCs David Jones and Jason Caplain is bringing plenty of star power to its over-subscribed launch of $26 million.

Among the stars is Brad Feld, the founder of tech accelerator TechStars and a widely recognized venture player.

In a Q&A, Jones talks with WRAL TechWire about Feld and other backers, including Cisco and Red Hat. The fund was formally announced on Monday. Jones and Caplain helped build Southern Capitol Ventures into a successful southeast venture firm focused on early-stage firms. (Capitol Broadcasting, the parent of WRAL TechWire, is an investor in both firms.)

  • How did they convince Brad to become an investor, and what’s the significance of him throwing in with this fund?

Jason and I have known Brad for many years and sought out his advice many times over the years for our funds and he has always been over-the-top helpful. As we were opening up the new fund there were a handful of people we wanted to have involved and Brad was on that list and agreed to invest. Having access to Brad’s advice and network can only help us and our entrepreneurs.

  • The impact of Red Hat and Cisco as local investors – is this a sign that tech giants with big presence in the Triangle are paying more attention to local startups now? How were they able to convince Red Hat and Cisco to invest? (Red Hat is based in Raleigh; Cisco operates its second largest campus in RTP.)

Cisco and Red Hat do have a huge NC presence and both look to continue to grow their presence. We view having them as value-added investors providing an advantage to our fund in being able to leverage many of their assets, product road maps, and technical resources to help shape our companies and investment decisions.

  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has invested recently in the past in health-oriented data startups and applications. So is Bull City going to have a focus on health IT?

We have always had a focus on healthcare software (healthcare IT) and continue to believe that market is huge and ripe for disruption. Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC has been a great investor in SCV [Southern Capitol] Fund II and now BCVP III and have been super helpful as we diligence potential technologies and companies in the healthcare markets.

  • The investment from the state of North Carolina is also significant. What was the argument you made to convince them to invest? Did they stipulate that there be a focus on NC companies?

The State of North Carolina has the NC Innovation Fund (www.ncinnovationfund.com) designed to invest in venture capital and private equity partnerships as well as direct investments with a primary goal of great investment returns and secondarily to foster creation and growth of young and maturing companies in NC. There is no stipulation to only invest in NC companies.

  • Capitol Broadcasting has been a longtime backer of Southern Capitol and now Bull City. Do you believe your track record of successful exits such as ChannelAdvisor and Art.com are why Capitol has joined the new fund?

Capitol Broadcasting has been a great partner to us and was the founder of our first investment from BCVPIII in StepLeader Digital which was incubated inside Capitol Broadcasting for many years and recently spun-out. Digital media is another investment sector we focus on and CBC has been impactful in helping us evaluate and diligence companies in this sector.

  • What does Grosvenor Capital Management bring to the fund other than money?

Grosvenor Capital Management is the investment manager who manages the pool of capital for the NC Innovation Fund. They are a professional fund-of-funds manager and invest internationally in venture capital, thus bringing added professionalism and access to BCVP.

Note: In Part Two of the Q&A to be published later today, Jones talks about the challenges he and Caplain faced in raising the fund – and why they were successful.