Arizona Capital Resource Primer
The Current State of Capital Resources in Arizona Available to the Entrepreneurial Sector
The Current State of Capital Resources in Arizona Available to the Entrepreneurial Sector
A common refrain I hear: “There is no venture capital or private equity in Arizona.” Well, relative to Silicon Valley, Chicago, New York, etc., this is an understandable lamentation (often one circulated by the owner of an unfundable business!). In reality, there exists a significant amount of capital in Arizona available to entrepreneurs and owners of growing businesses relative to the number of individuals and companies here that are actually worthy of such investment consideration.
I have personally helped numerous companies find money along the spectrum from the start-up to the established company looking for growth capital to the mature company looking to recapitalize or sell. A good portion of this money has come from Arizona.
While the angel market in Arizona can certainly be inefficient, there exists a large amount ready and willing to take risks on companies with the proper attributes—a founder or CEO who not only has identified a clear problem and a solution but one who possesses the degree of grit and passion to see the company through the trials and tribulations of growing a business.
There is always room for continued improvement in Arizona on this front. As Arizona’s technology sector continues to grow with the attraction of significant businesses and an ever-increasing population of repeat serial entrepreneurs, I am optimistic that the pool of focused capital resources will continue to grow.
In an effort to set the record straight, I have identified below the various funds and similar sources of capital that currently exist in Arizona. I intend to highlight a number of these groups over the coming months in an effort to better inform the Arizona business and investment community so that they might avail themselves of these resources.
I am sure that I have missed some and this exercise will no doubt serve to unveil some hidden sources. Note that this does not include the vast number of active angel investors and individual sources of capital who quietly fund or acquire Arizona companies.
Dan Mahoney is a Partner at Snell & Wilmer, LLP. His practice is focused on M&A, Private Equity and Venture Capital. Dan also is an active Angel Investor.
Venture Capital
Traditional Commitment Funds
Grayhawk Capital (Sherman Chu/Brian Smith/Brian Burns/Leib Bolel)
AZ-VC (Jack Selby/Ben Brockwell)
Pangaea Ventures (Chris Erickson)
Sonoran Founders Fund (Romi Dhillon)
Social Leverage (Tom Peterson/Howard Lindzon)
True North Venture Partners (Mike Ahearn)
Phx Ventures (Gregg Scoresby)
Xcellerant (John Shufeldt/Chris Yoo)
Trinity Capital (Steve Brown/Kyle Brown *Venture Debt)
Prospeq (Ryan Edwards/Philip Pipkins *Venture Debt)
Fundless Sponsors
Brookstone Partners (Todd Belfer)
DWP Capital (David Paul)
Arizona Venture Development Corp (Andy Lombard)
In Revenue Capital (Justin Gray)
Singularity Capital (G.S. Jaggi/Sudeep Mishra *Tucson)
V-Tech I (G.S. Jaggi/Sudeep Mishra *Tucson)
X2 Equity (Sameer Patel)
State 48 Ventures (Warren Lee)
BlueStone Venture Partners (Mara Aspinall *Tucson)
Family Office (Early Stage Focus)
DF Enterprises (Jason Stiles)
AZ Disruptors (Hamid Shojaee)
DVI Equity Partners (Bob Griffin *Tucson)
Organized Angel Groups
Arizona Tech Investors (ATI) (Bob DeLean)
Desert Angels (Joann MacMaster)
Canyon Angels (Tim Kelley)
Golden Seeds (Mara Babin / Mitzi Krockover / Kathy Lynn-Cullotta)
Later Stage Private Equity (Combination of Funds and Family Offices)
Montage Partners (Jordan Tate/Chris Norwood)
Outlier (David Tedesco)
Alerion Capital Group (Rick Deavila)
Tenkara Capital (Adam Pierce/Rusty Hill)
R&R AZ Investments (Brent Roland/Glenn Roland)
Solano Ventures (Steve McConnell/Dan Robinson)
Pivotal (Francis Najafi/Tyler Rives)
The Najafi Companies (Jahm Najafi)
Franklin Mountain Capital (Jeff Beyersdorfer)
Citrine Capital (Amir Glogau)
Pinewell Capital (Yuta Matsui/Ziv Bendor)
Serene Capital Management (Scott Lavinia)
Cave Creek (Kevin Fechtmeyer)
Out of State Funds or Family Offices with Physical Presence in AZ
ACME Capital (Brian Yee)
PSP Capital Partners (Penny Pritzker (Former US Secretary of Commerce) Family Office - Michael Oleshansky)
TPG (Software & Enterprise Technology Growth - Mike Zappert)
Waterstreet Capital (Chris Sweeney)
Consumer Equity Partners (Tom Furphy)
Concord Health Partners (Joe Swedish)