A new report from venture capital research firm CB Insights finds that a Durham-based firm focused on early-stage startups is the most active investor across North Carolina.

It’s IDEA Fund Partners.

Check out the map with this post for the firms’ “The United States of Venture Capital” infographic. This interesting map plots the most active VC firms in each of the states based on CB Insights data.

Are you really surprised that the North Carolina pacesetter is IDEA Fund Partners?

You shouldn’t be.

The firm’s website now lists a portfolio of 28 firms (three of which have been acquired), and IDEA Fund Partners seemingly is always in the news with a followup funding or a new “play.” Of its investments, 10 have been made outside the state, by the way.

But “active” is especially true about IDEA Fund Partners since the report is based on new fundings, not multiple round investments in portfolio ventures.

“IDEA Fund Partners is one of the most active seed and early stage venture investors in NC and throughout the Southeast,” the fund touts at its website.

“We typically provide the first institutional money for the companies in which we invest. We like to make small initial investments and set aside plenty of follow-on capital for future rounds. We have invested as little as $100,000 and as much as $750,000 in a round, and can invest up to $1.5M over the life of a company.

In an email sent out Friday, IDEA Fund Partners noted the news.

“CB Insights data confirms that IDEA Fund Partners is the most active investor in North Carolina-based technology companies,” the firm said.

Here’s how CB Insights parsed the data for the report:

“We based our selection on investments in unique tech companies based in each state (not counting multiple rounds to the same company). We excluded debt deals, and only considered venture capital, corporate venture capital, and super angel firms. When there was a tie across multiple VCs in a state we used number and recency of deals to select the most active tech startup investor for that state.”

IDEA Fund’s team includes:

  • John Cambier
  • Lister Delgado
  • Richard Fox
  • Chris Halligan
  • Alex Ogadzinski
  • Matt Barber

The IDEA Fund Partners investment philosophy:

  • We consider ourselves company builders. We typically get involved early on and help entrepreneurs build strong sustainable companies. But we also get out of the way and let managers manage. We typically take on board seats, and if we feel we cannot bring value to a company, we prefer not to invest. As a team, we have advised hundreds and invested in dozens of early stage companies over the past decade.
  • We are not afraid of investing in pre-revenue companies. In fact, most of our initial investments have been in companies with no revenues. We invest in a broad range of high growth sectors including software, technology with IP protection and medical devices.
  • We have offices in Durham, NC and Orlando, FL. We invest in companies located in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the US. However, because of our early stage focus, we prefer to invest as close to home as possible. We venture out when we make a co-investment with a partner we know and trust.

Source: IDEA Fund Partners

Check out IDEA Fund” portfolio at:

Portfolio

Read more from CB Insights at:​

https://www.cbinsights.com