Document: Techstars raising a $400M startup fund
November 28, 2017 | Startland News Staff
Accelerator and investment firm Techstars is working to raise a massive new fund to boost portfolio startups around the world.
Techstars — which operates an accelerator program in Kansas City — is now raising a $400 million fund, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund more than doubles Techstars Ventures’ $150 million fund from 2015. Techstars CEO David Cohen and Techstars partners Mark Solon and Jason Seats are all listed as fund directors, according to the filing.
The $400 million pooled investment fund should allow the venture group to make larger investments in more established ventures. Techstars has helped spark more than 1,100 companies with a collective valuation of more than $10 billion, according to the company’s data.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Techstars operates 34 accelerators across the globe that help launch more than 300 startups each year. In exchange for 6 percent equity, Techstars startups receive $120,000, participation in the three-month accelerator program, as well as access to a global network of mentors.
In Kansas City, the firm has helped launch 40 ventures through the 2014 – 2016 Sprint Accelerator powered by Techstars and the 2017 Techstars Kansas City classes. Check out Techstars’ latest Kansas City class here.

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Former high school rivals from MADE, Local Legends ‘Play It Forward’ in bid to revive South KC
Organizers of the Aug. 12 Play It Forward charity basketball game traded playful taunts as they approached the doors of the former Hickman Mills High School gymnasium. “They painted over your cougar,” said AbdulRasheed Yahaya, a Ruskin High School graduate, referencing the giant eagle logo affixed to the former Hickman facility that now is part…
Founder: RFP365’s new Client Discovery launch shows startup-corporate deals build stronger tech products
A new product module from RFP365 defies common perceptions about Kansas City corporations overlooking tech talent in the startup community, said co-founder Stuart Ludlow, announcing the launch of Client Discovery. “Traditionally, we always say that an RFP [request for proposal] involves two people,” he said, describing the product. “Someone writes an RFP and then a…
Homegrown Resonate Pictures cultivates corporate market through creative risks
The same creative energy reverberating through cities like Los Angeles, New York City and Portland can be found in Kansas City, said Marc Havener, the filmmaker behind Lawrence-based Resonate Pictures. His message for fellow creatives: “We can make this back home.” After 10 years on the sets of blockbuster movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean,”…
Happy Food gathers ingredients for nationwide grocery platform, meal-locating app
Happy Food Co. has grown beyond distributing flavorful meal kits through small, standalone coolers at Kansas City-area Price Chopper and Hen House locations, said chef and co-founder Kiersten Firquain. The 2017 Startland Under the Radar startup has now developed a software platform — in partnership with retailers nationwide and 75 local vendors — to enable grocers…
