Moderated By: Brandon Bruce, COO & Co-founder, Cirrus Insight
Early Stage Panel
Early Stage Panelists:
Grady Vanderhoofven
- Company: TennesSEED, 3Roots Capital
- Target deal size: $30k-$5M
- Target industries: Any
- Type of transactions: Equity
Kristina Montague
- Company: The JumpFund
- Taget industries: Woman-Owned Business
- Example deals: Feetz, Momsource Network
Jack Studer
- Company: Chattanooga Renaissance Fund
- Taget industries: Early-Stage
- Example deals: Collider, Vendor Registry, Aegle Gear
Growth Stage Panel
Growth Stage Panelists:
Eric Dobson
- Company: Angel Capital Group
- Taget industries: Early-Stage
- Type of transactions: Angel Investments
- Example deals: Venture 360, TVAX Diagnostics, WeatherCloud
Geoff Robson
- Company: The Lighthouse Fund
- Taget industries: High Growth
- Example deals: Vendor Registry, PriceWater, Canopy
Acquisition Stage Panel
Acquisition Stage Panelists:
Grady Vanderhoofven
- Company: 3Roots Capital
- Target deal size: $30k-$5M
- Target industries: Any
- Type of transactions: Equity
Dustin Gross
- Company: Mollenhour Gross
- Target deal size: $500k to $5M in pre-taax earnings
- Taget industries: Any
- Type of transactions: Equity (including venture, growth, and mature/exit/buyout)
- Example deals: FunLPro and PTAC, Inc
Christopher Ayala
- Company: Towanda Capital
- Taget industries: Pre-existing
- Example deals: Business services companies with low capital needs that provide on-going and repeatable services to their customers. Typically these have a product or service offering rather than a professional service like an accounting or legal firm. Small to medium sized stable companies with historic, positive cash flows – revenues of at least $7mm annually and $1mm of EBITDA. Good management teams. Large customer bases.
Bill Nix
- Company: Greater Sum Ventures
- Target deal size: Over the past 3 years we have closed 70 plus transactions ranging from less than $1M to over $300M.
- Taget industries: Software with vertical focus across many industries
- Type of transactions: We look to invest our own capital as well as the capital of several private equity firms with whom we work closely. Will do all cash and leveraged transactions. Looking for companies that are cash flow positive with solid market presence.
- Example deals: Purchase of healthcare software company for $16 million all cash. Leveraged buyout of government software company for $100+ million. Add-ons for our various platforms totaling more than $1 billion.
- 2017 brief summary: Closed 25 transactions totaling more than $500 million including 2 new platforms.
- 2018 brief outlook: Have closed 10 transactions in 2018 totaling more than $200 million including a new platform. On pace to close more than $1.25 billion. Market is very active.
John Bruck
- Company: Queen City Angels (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Target deal size: $100K – $500K ($61M, 237 deals since 2001)
- Taget industries: Healthcare technologies, SAAS (e.g., deathcare, data analytics, medical compliance, wardrobe management, supply chain management), pharmaceuticals, agricultural technologies, energy
- Type of transactions: Equity, convertible debt
- Example deals: Standard Bariatrics, Foxtrot Code, Airway Therapeutics, Sense Diagnostics, Crakn, Cladwell
- 2017 brief summary: Strong deal flow with $5M in primary and secondary investments (50%+ over projection).
- 2018 brief outlook: Likely stronger than 2017 – currently leading an $8M Series A investment in surgical device company.
Featuring:
Chris Van Beke, Co-Founder & CEO, Vendor Registry
Bob Bradley, President & CEO, NewsBreak