RevRoad Capital Makes History with $61M Debut Early Stage Venture Fund in Utah
PROVO, Utah, Oct. 18, 2023 -- RevRoad Capital (RRC), a seed-stage venture fund designed to scale founders faster, announced today a $61 million final close of its first fund, marking the largest debut early stage venture fund raise in Utah state history and fourth largest debut in the mountain region, according to Pitchbook.
Under the leadership of Executive Managing Director David Mann and Managing Directors Rachelle Morris, Scott Petersen and Bart Skalla, RevRoad Capital closed its debut fund during the most challenging environment for first time fund managers in recent history. Of all debut early stage venture funds launched in the U.S. in 2022, RevRoad Capital closed the largest fund between the Coasts and counts 30 percent of its LPs as women investors.
"We launched RevRoad Capital in 2022 as a sister company to 'venture services' firm RevRoad, to help drive greater success for innovation-driven startups and to scale founders faster. Our founding team's proven track record and our capital, paired with RevRoad's mature entrepreneurial ecosystem, fills a gap in today's modern venture capital business model that was sorely needed," said Mann. "Our ability to raise this debut fund is a direct reflection of these combined strengths. We're already attracting dynamic founders and have begun investing in the next generation of global companies, such as Hypercraft, Particl, Kinectify, Halosight and Sierra Innovations."
RevRoad Capital will support high-potential, transformative founders and teams in the U.S., spanning industries such as electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, SaaS, manufacturing and more. The fund's investors are successful entrepreneurs and operators in Utah and across the country, who recognize the legitimacy of RevRoad and RevRoad Capital working in tandem to help founders with valid business models scale faster.
"Utah is one of the top states in the country for entrepreneurial women, and it has been exciting for our team to receive the financial backing of many successful women as we've raised our fund. When you look at what we're building and how we're building, you cannot separate women from men in the story of RevRoad Capital. We are all working together," said Morris.
RevRoad Capital is positioned to capitalize on Utah's growing cohort of visionary startups and founders. The state's renowned culture of collaboration is often cited as the foundation of its success in job creation and why Utah is a top destination for innovation and entrepreneurship, ranking "Best State to Start a Business" by Wallet Hub in 2023, and the "Nation's Best Economy" and "No. 1 Overall" by U.S. News & World Report in the same year.
The founding partners' decades of operating and investing experience is timed perfectly for the current economic environment and fund's debut. Mann's background as an Amazon executive and as a serial entrepreneur, who scaled and ran a 1,000+ person organization, lends vital experience and foresight to the companies RRC invests in. Morris' own extensive experience as an investor and former Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan executive further bolsters the firm's ability to responsibly steward its capital and manage its diverse community of LPs.
Petersen and Skalla each bring decades of experience in entrepreneurship, leadership and finance to RRC; Skalla co-founded RevRoad in 2017, establishing its Finance and Capital Services by leveraging his experience in startups, corporate finance and venture capital. Petersen spent his career as a serial entrepreneur, founding and leading several successful startups, and recently served for ten years as the Executive Director of the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at Brigham Young University.
About RevRoad Capital
Founders drive. We help navigate. RevRoad Capital is a seed-stage venture fund designed to scale founders faster and help them drive more value for customers, employees and investors. In collaboration with RevRoad, a sweat equity firm for early-stage companies, we combine our deep operational experience with a commitment to keeping our promises to help founders allocate capital, build high-performing teams, prevent premature scaling, and enlist the help of others to scale their businesses. We're not just passive investors; we actively participate in the startup journey, matching our capital with expertise. Founders drive. We help navigate. Let's scale together.