Midwest VC, area startup vet join Firebrand Ventures following $17.7M fund raise
April 25, 2018 | Bobby Burch
On the heels of smashing its fundraising goal, Firebrand Ventures has added a pair of new team members.
The Kansas City-based seed fund is welcoming Cincinnati venture capitalist Wendy Lea as an advisor and Kansas City startup vet Maranda Manning as fund associate, said managing director John Fein.
Lea brings a wealth of investment and business experience as well as a global network to Firebrand’s already impressive advisory board. She is now CEO of Cintrifuse, a public-private partnership organization that helps build the Cincinnati tech scene. Lea is also a board member of Techstars and several startups. In 2012 and 2013, Lea was recognized as a Women of Influence in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
Lea joins a powerhouse advisory board at Firebrand. Techstars CEO David Cohen, Kansas City venture capitalist Keith Harrington, Brian McClendon, former Uber vice president of maps, and Next Coast Ventures co-founder Tom Ball each help Firebrand via its advisory board.
Manning previously worked with Fein while he served as managing director of the Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator where she led day-to-day operations of the program. Most recently Manning served as director of marketing for Kansas City-based tech startup SquareOffs.
”I’m very excited to be working with Maranda again and to welcome Wendy to our stellar advisory team,” Fein wrote in a company blog. “I look forward to the great things I know both will bring to the fund’s mission of investing in exceptional founders!”
Firebrand recently raised $17.7 million for tech ventures in the Midwest, exceeding its initial goal by about 250 percent.
The Firebrand Ventures fund will invest its $17.7 million in about 10 to 12 Midwest startups per year with an average check size of $200,000, Fein said. The fund’s portfolio currently includes 12 companies, including Super Dispatch, FitBark and Sickweather, which call the Kansas City metro home.
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Ruby Jean’s juices unity, entrepreneurism with Troost opening (Photos)
Chris Goode is helping change what Troost Avenue means to Kansas City, pastor Stanley Archie said Saturday morning at the grand opening of Ruby Jean’s Kitchen & Juicery. Troost has been a place of division, he said, noting years of racial segregation along the corridor where those with a “permanent tan” weren’t welcome west of…
The Jam KC offers space for musicians to get loud, turn up
In a small, Midtown Kansas City room brimming with musicians and their instruments, Allen Monroe peers over his 1963 Hammond B-3 organ at a handful of onlookers. A toothpick concealed by a thick grey mustache emerges as he smiles, preparing to deliver a gentle jab to the artists around him. “Remember, you don’t have to…
Video: Operation Breakthrough helping kiddos reach their full potential
Founded in 1971 by two nuns, Sister Corita Bussanmas and Sister Berta Sailer, Operation Breakthrough serves more than 450 children daily with a mission to provide a safe educational environment for children in poverty. The has adapted through the decades to meet the needs of Kansas City’s low-income community, Operation Breakthrough CEO Mary Esselman said. Implemented…
Coding at age 3? Operation Breakthrough connects STEM to program’s circuitry
Two small boys are standing on stools at a workbench, pretending to talk on outdated handset telephones. They might not yet know how the phones work, but they’re clearly familiar with how to take them apart. And they do. A few feet away, three children from low-income families are on iPads beginning a new lesson.…