By GovFresh · September 22, 2016
[caption id=”attachment_21736” align=”alignnone” width=”1200”] Photo: Mariano Mantel[/caption]
Adding to the increased interest in investment opportunities around civic and government technology, a new venture fund, Ekistic Ventures, launched with the intent of “building a portfolio of companies that will solve critical urban problems.”
According to Crain’s, the fund is $15 million.
The Ekistic team includes former Chicago chief data officer Brett Goldstein, former Rahm Emmanuel advisor David Spielfogel, former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter, O’Reilly Media founder Tim O’Reilly, Anne Milgram, Michael Sacks and Will Colegrove.
From the launch announcement:
We’ve seen a lot of pitches over the years, and we know how good ideas never see the light of day because the entrepreneur or start-up doesn’t understand the market landscape or the realities of succeeding in the urban environment. Second, in addition to writing a check we also commit our time and networks to build meaningful companies for the long haul. That’s why we only work with a small handful of companies each year, and why we so closely tie our success to the success of our portfolio companies.
Learn more about Ekistic’s mission and submit your pitch.