Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Optimist Ventures: 

Optimist Ventures, an Asheville, NC-based accelerator and investment fund, is officially open for applications, offering an opportunity for early stage, tech-enabled start-ups to secure funding and mentorship.

Led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeffrey Kaplan, Optimist Ventures is an investment fund and accelerator dedicated to fueling new of tech-enabled start-ups in Western North Carolina. It supports companies that leverage technology, data, automation, and digital tools to drive innovation in their industries. Optimist Ventures operates in partnership with Venture Asheville and the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, playing a key role in shaping Western North Carolina’s start-up ecosystem.

Valor Ventures:

Valor Ventures LLC, a seed-stage venture capital firm, has announced the close of Valor Ventures Fund 3 LP (together with its associated vehicles, “Valor Fund 3”) representing a $27 million commitment to back the best business-to-business artificial intelligence (AI) and Software-as-a-Service start-ups in the South at the seed stage. The new fund attracted notable new investors, including a pension fund, a bank and a Registered Investment Advisor, alongside dozens of returning investors.

Valor Fund 3 has completed its first four investments, leading seed rounds in AI-augmented start-ups including Autonoma (Birmingham), Acuity Behavioral Health (Atlanta); RueData (Chattanooga); and Visalaw.AI (Memphis).

For Fund 3, Valor has added 11 venture partners to expand its ability to serve founders in key areas including Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.

Aligned Capital:

Aligned Climate Capital, a New York City-based clean energy investment firm, closed its second venture fund, at $85 million. Known by the acronym ACF2, the new fund included investments from the Ford Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation, along with other pensions, corporations, endowments, foundations, and family offices. To date, Aligned has raised $145 million through its venture strategy.

The fund focuses on scaling proven clean energy and decarbonization solutions with investments across clean energy, efficient and resilient infrastructure, electric transportation, and sustainable land use.

ACF2 invests exclusively in Seed through Series B companies that are scaling proven, financeable clean energy solutions. These companies are developing projects and providing services that lower energy bills, increase clean energy production, and make it easier for more consumers to access the benefits of clean energy, electric vehicles, and other solutions.

Capitala Group:

Capitala Group, a Charlotte, NC-based private markets investment firm providing capital solutions to lower middle-market companies, has announced that its latest fundraise was oversubscribed with more than $1.0 billion in commitments, including leverage, and separately managed accounts.

The firm invests both debt and equity capital into small businesses located throughout the U.S. Its strategy supports family-owned, entrepreneur-owned, and independent sponsor-owned companies seeking non-control growth capital for their businesses. With Capitala’s flexible mandate, the firm can serve as a one-stop financing source for small businesses and currently has over $300 million of equity-focused commitments available to co-invest alongside its debt capital.

“We are thrilled to conclude this round of fundraising, which was oversubscribed and far exceeded our initial target due to strong institutional demand. Reaching $1 billion in commitments is a major achievement for our firm, which reflects the strength of our platform and the trust placed in us by our investors,” said Joe Alala III, Founder and CEO of Capitala Group. “We are also pleased to share that we have added 42 new bank partners to our platform during this fundraise, in addition to many blue-chip institutional global investors. With 79 banking partners fueling our proprietary origination platform, we believe we have a competitive edge in identifying and sourcing high-quality investment opportunities.”

UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fund:

The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is seeking to launch a new venture capital fund that would invest in start-ups affiliated with the University of California and return nearly all of its profits back to the Berkeley campus.

The new “UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fund” would be a limited liability company entirely owned by the University of California’s Board of Regents and managed by the Berkeley campus, according to a report in the San Francisco Business Journal.

The fund would cover its initial investments and expenses with “unrestricted donations” made to UC Berkeley, the proposal says, and “no third parties will have an ownership interest in the fund or have any rights to the fund’s investment returns.” The agenda does not say how large the fund would be.

Bread & Butter Ventures:

Bread & Butter Ventures, an early stage venture firm based in the “bread and butter state” of Minnesota, has announced the close of its fourth fund with a new $40 million vehicle.

The newest fund, which has already begun making investments, targets innovative seed stage tech companies across North America that are shaping the future of food technology, digital health, and enterprise Software-as-a-Service. Bread & Butter Ventures has made investments to date in 66 companies across these sectors via the first three funds since 2017.

“Our thesis is rooted in the Minnesota homefield advantage – being based at the epicenter of global industries of the food system, the healthcare industry, and the highest density of Fortune 500 companies per capita in the nation,” said Mary Grove, Managing Partner of Bread & Butter Ventures. “We invest across a broad geographic footprint from and then leverage our deep local expertise and corporate network to help companies commercialize and scale more quickly.”

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