The worldwide entrepreneurial support network Techstars has closed a $42m investment round, which it aims to use to keep supporting entrepreneurs during their journeys.
SVB Financial Group, the holding company of Silicon Valley Bank, led the round. Existing investors, including Foundry Group, the venture firm that is based in Boulder, Colorado just like Techstars, also participated in the investment round.
Techstars consists of both an investment management business with $500m in assets as well as an operating business that is rapidly approaching $100m in annual revenue.
However, Techstars is most known for its investments into startups and the ecosystem that supports them. As of now, that includes 49 accelerator programmes in 35 cities across 16 countries several of which are focused on growing FinTech enterprises. Techstars has also injected $80m into nearly 500 startups on an annual basis. The Techstars portfolio of 1,900 companies currently attracts an annual $2bn in downstream investment from the venture capital industry.
Additionally, Techstars operates approximately 1,000 annual Techstars Startup Weekend events in 600 cities across 120 countries to help surface and support future high growth companies.
It aims to use the money to scale its startup support operations further.
?Being the largest and most active global seed investor requires a mindset and approach that is completely distinct from traditional venture capital,said David Cohen, co-CEO of Techstars. ?Techstars has created and is scaling an entirely new type of early-stage private equity asset.p>
In addition to the financing, John China, president of SVB Capital, has joined Techstars board of directors. ?The Techstars team is well-positioned to keep developing its platform and enable and support founders, investors and startup ecosystems around the globe,said China. ?SVB has a long history working with Techstars and its portfolio companies and were enthusiastic about the opportunity to further our relationship and make a bigger positive impact on the innovation economy.p>
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