Local startups can find more sources of Tucson venture capital to launch their ideas and inventions.
One of the big challenges to Tucson and regional startups is finding funding to bring their inventions and ideas to market.
According to the Arizona Bioscience Board, geography matters when emerging companies seek financial backing. Innovators who win investment dollars usually are near the venture capital firms that make those decisions. Those firms are concentrated in the states of New York and Massachusetts, as well as California’s Bay Area anchored by San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
That’s why I’m excited about recent Tucson venture capital news. We need to encourage startups in Tucson. They create jobs. They form a synergy that attracts businesses in their industries, including those that offer support services and products. This makes our economy grow.
Startups will allow Tucson to strengthen its reputation as a forward-looking hub of technology across many industries.
DVI Equity Ventures Inc.
Diamond Ventures Inc. is one of Arizona’s leading real estate development and venture capital companies. In May it announced the formation of DVI Equity Partners, a new Tucson venture capital entity by Diamond Ventures and Robert Griffin, a principal and the company’s new managing partner.
DVI seeks investment opportunities primarily in disruptive technologies and in companies founded and led by women and minorities.
Griffin plans to evaluate emerging technology in national security, enterprise software, artificial intelligence and data analysis, among other technologies, for use by commercial industries and government entities.
“The formation of DVI Equity Partners and the addition of Bob Griffin to our management team underscore our desire to expand our venture capital investments and services to the Southwest region’s technology sector,” says Diamond Ventures President David Goldstein.
Griffin was a beneficiary of Diamond Ventures investment that helped launch COPLINK, which he developed as a University of Arizona spin-out.
UAVenture Capital Fund
It’s been nine months since UAVenture Capital Fund formed to invest in companies spun from University of Arizona faculty, student and staff inventions. This summer it announced its first round of portfolio companies.
- Codelucida’s error-correction technology will lead to cheaper high-capacity and high-performance solid state drives for consumer and data center storage.
- Regulonix will market a non-opioid, non-addictive pain killer.
- Bid. Ship. developed an online application that matches available semi-truck haulers with shippers.
This is only the start for the fund founded by UA grads who launched SinfoníaRx through Tech Launch Arizona. “We expect to fund many additional talented inventors and worthwhile companies in an effort to advance UA-related science and enterprises,” says fund CEO Fletcher J. McCusker.
Shot Ventures
Shot Ventures is bringing Silicon Valley and other investors to the Southwest with its June opening of a Tucson executive office.
“With tech markets growing in Phoenix and Tucson,” according to the company’s news release, “Shot Ventures is expanding its activities with M&A (mergers and acquisitions) teams, venture capitalists and private equity firms who are seeking to identify investment opportunities in the region.”
Its services help startups prepare their offerings for investment. Consultations include investor packaging, pre-capital services, strategic marketing, value proposition articulation, messaging and go-to-market strategies.
Shot Ventures’s presence in Arizona will give its investor members the ability to acquire digital assets and capabilities, as well as customer bases, in new blockchain, financial technology and insurance technology markets.
Startup Support Grows
There is plenty for startups to like about Tucson. Startup Tucson and, for UA spin-outs, Tech Launch Arizona help innovators navigate the process of forming companies. Federal Opportunity Zones encourage equity investments in businesses, real estate and business assets by providing tax credits on capital gains.
Buildable space and Tucson commercial property to buy or lease are available at several innovation and technology parks throughout the metropolitan area, including Oro Valley and Sahuarita. Municipal, county and state incentives provide attractive reasons to launch or expand companies.
Growth in Tucson venture capital provides the crucial piece in the local startup ecosystem.
Commercial Real Estate Group of Tucson can help startups identify funding sources and locate appropriate Tucson commercial property for launch and growth. For more information, contact me, 520-399-3400, michael@cretucson.com.
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