Proven Ventures seeks to invest the remaining capital of its $10 million fund in Nebraska startups

Proven Ventures, the Omaha-based Burlington Capital Fund, said it is looking to invest $250,000 to $500,000 into revenue-generating Nebraska startups with scalable business models. This comes as the firm announces its goal to deploy the remaining $1 million of its Fund One.

Founded in 2021, Proven Ventures offers a debt-equity model for investing in companies. Co-founder and General Partner Erica Wassinger said the thesis is to combine the financing tools of debt and equity to give founders more flexibility with funding their business plans. This could be financing everything from prototyping experimental ideas to hiring new team members and buying inventory.

A core component of the model is the ability for founders to reclaim ownership from Proven Ventures as their startups scale — enabling companies to potentially avoid the pressures of diluted equity among multiple shareholders.

“When we invest, we buy with both debt and equity, and then we work with the founders at that time to talk about the buyout right there,” Wassinger said. “Because we had already agreed on the buyout price, founders just buy those back every month from us through a portion of their gross revenue.”

“They’re constantly adding more equity to their own founder keep of equity, whereas we’re constantly losing equity because they’re creating more value in their business,” she continued.

According to the announcement, Proven Ventures is searching for companies that have moved past the idea phase. Interest is placed on B2B startups generating a quarter of a million in revenue annually. Wassinger said Proven Ventures is willing to hear from companies of all industries and revenue margins but are customer driven.

Wassinger said the entrepreneurs that have more certainty about their growth and customers, have demonstrated early sales and have shown interest in sustainability and building cash reserves are the typical success stories in the Proven Ventures portfolio.

She said the founders that “are just sort of holding out for that unicorn exit don’t make a ton of sense” for Proven Ventures and its strategy. Exiting, she said, was still a possible end goal for portfolio companies, but Wassinger said the startups that her fund invests in have also shown the potential of being long-standing, successful businesses.

“The truth in the trend is that profitability does command premiums now,” Wassinger said. “And acquirers or buyers are expecting cash flow. They’re expecting margins. They’re expecting processes that command repeatability and revenue.” The Burlington Capital office in downtown Omaha where Proven Ventures is headquartered. Photo by Ben Goeser/Silicon Prairie News

Wassinger said Proven Ventures has made around 30 investments in 26 companies with the $10 million in its current fund. She said these companies get access to her and her team’s expertise, as well as access to the professional networks of Proven Ventures and Burlington Capital.

Startups in the Proven Ventures portfolio include Retail Aware and Sentinel Ag. Wassinger said her team has also worked closely with the university-affiliated tech transfer office UNeMed, such as with the healthtech startup Impower Health.

For upcoming plans, Wassinger said Proven Ventures is prioritizing supporting and growing its current investments before launching a second fund.

Proven Ventures partners with Omaha 100 in the nonprofit’s efforts to support entrepreneurs. Omaha 100 acquired SPN earlier this summer. Leadership from both Omaha 100 and Proven Ventures will be speaking at the upcoming Hustle Conference tomorrow, Sept. 30.

You can learn more about Proven Ventures here.