Flyover Capital invests in six Midwestern companies in 2015
LEAWOOD, Kan., Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Flyover Capital completed a successful 2015, making six investments in Midwest companies.
Based in the Kansas City area, the group invests in entrepreneurial technology companies in "Flyover Country" – areas of the United States that are traditionally underserved by venture capital firms. The partners seek out a diverse array of companies, and they looked at more than 250 deals as they considered investments.
"Working with Flyover has been an invaluable experience," said Paul Jarrett, co-founder and CEO of Bulu Box, one of the companies the firm funded. "Beyond the capital they invested, the Flyover team has spent time learning about us and our culture and coaching us as we refine our product offering and strategy."
The Flyover partner group – including Marty Bicknell, Tom DeBacco, Thad Langford, Keith Molzer and Michael Peck – said that they look for deals with companies they believe they can truly add value to, targeting those that have a proven product market and talented founders with the ability to execute.
"We've all lived through the pain of raising money for our own early-stage technology companies," said Langford, a general partner with Flyover. "We understand the emotional part of fundraising and the importance of finding the right investment partner for the journey. At heart, our goal is to help build the next generation of technology success stories in the region. As we do that, so many positive outcomes flow from there."
During 2015, Flyover provided capital to the following companies:
- Opendorse (Lincoln, Neb.) connects brand marketers with athletes with large social media followings for endorsement opportunities. The company also makes it easier for universities, teams and leagues to engage alumni for participation in social media campaigns.
- Bulu Box (Lincoln, Neb.) offers subscription boxes of health and nutritional products to consumers on a monthly basis. The company has created a virtual focus group, gathering their customers' reviews of the products and providing data insights to retail and CPG companies in search of real-time product feedback.
- ClaimKit (Overland Park, Kan.) brings data analytics to the insurance industry, creating a document management solution for surety claims and a contract review software platform that uses machine learning to make it easier for insurance professionals to search through, compare and analyze claim documents.
- Agrible (Champaign, Ill.) uses predictive analytics to help growers and agricultural companies improve their yields. By analyzing historical and forecasted data, the company's products are able to provide real, actionable information that growers can use to make the most of their land.
- Innara Health (Olathe, Kan.) is developing new feeding technologies to measure and treat infants, children and adults that struggle with suck, swallow and breathe coordination. The company's flagship product is the FDA-approved NTrainer System, the first neonatal technology that assesses and develops non-nutritive suck skills for newborns and infants born prematurely. Innara aims to help improve infants' time to oral feed and, in turn, decrease the length of their hospital stay.
- EyeVerify (Kansas City, Mo.) is the creator of Eyeprint IDTM. One look opens mobile devices, logs you into apps and secures your mobile payments. Eyeprint ID transforms an ordinary selfie into a key that protects your digital life. This patented, software-only biometric solution is 99.99% accurate and extremely scalable. Several large Android device manufacturers and more than a dozen financial institutions have deployed Eyeprint ID - delivering convenient, secure, private authentication to millions of consumers today.
"Flyover Capital's participation in our funding round allowed us to grow our company at a critical time," said Toby Rush, CEO and founder of EyeVerify. "Their team's deep technology background helped them see the value our solution has in a variety of applications, and we believe their investment has positioned us to make great strides in 2016."
The company expects to have an equally active 2016, aiming to add roughly six to eight more technology companies to its roster.
"Our thesis is that Flyover country is an efficient place to deploy capital," said Langford. "Our investment dollars can have a bigger impact, and we can have a real hand in the successes of the companies we work with."
About Flyover Capital
Headquartered in Leawood, Kansas, Flyover Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital company. Founded in 2014, Flyover Capital's goal is to create the next generation of technology success stories in the 'flyover' region. Flyover Capital initiates investment to accelerate commercialization and provides a broad national and global network that aims to advance company positions. Flyover's experienced team applies a unique combination of fund management and operational expertise to identify and develop early-stage technology opportunities. The overarching philosophy can be summarized as active participation with driven entrepreneurs in flyover country working to achieve global exits. Learn more at flyovercapital.com. Please note, nothing herein constitutes a solicitation to invest in any products managed by Flyover Capital.
SOURCE Flyover Capital
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