Rockies Venture Fund is the VC arm of the Rockies Venture Club, the longest running angel investing group in the U.S., founded in 1983 and incorporated in 1985. The group consists of 220 investors in five chapters throughout Colorado. The Fund sees over 1,000 deals per year and is able to be highly selective in its investments.
Tax Free Returns
Most of the deals the Rockies Venture Fund invests in are structured to be 100% tax free (both for federal income and long term capital gains) up to $10 million on any one deal. Investors often enjoy high average returns while paying no taxes.
Deals are vetted by full time professional managers, including Peter Adams, Angel Capital Association Board Member, author of Venture Capital for Dummies, Executive Director at RVC and Managing Director of Rockies Venture Fund, a Delaware LP Fund. Deals also receive critique from RVC's 225 investor members who bring significant sector expertise to the analysis of investment opportunities. This analysis provides a true "wisdom of crowds" and deals that make it on to "in play" status have received more critique and analysis than most VC deals. RVC also has an eleven person due diligence team that digs in to each deal to look for opportunities and threats and to decrease the odds that investors will encounter surprises. The Due Diligence analysts prepare a thorough report including Traction, Markets, Team, Technology, Exits, Valuation, Legal landscape, Patents and IP, etc. We share that Due Diligence with you, our syndicate partners, with complete transparency.
The Fund invests horizontally, looking for opportunities in multiple industries which typically include digital health care, life science, technology, mobile, internet, natural food and beverage, software, and fintech.
Colorado deals are especially attractive to angel investors because of our low cost of doing business, excellent workforce, collaborative startup community, and valuations that come in up to 30% lower than valuations for similar companies on the coasts, but exit at similar valuations to coastal startups. Investors who want to get in early with a great deal will find excellent opportunities here.
The Fund believes that planning for Exits leads to greater opportunities for founders and investors. We believe that too many angels end up backing lifestyle companies because they don't use exits as their primary filter. Yes, we look at team, product, market, opportunity size, etc., but all are through the filter of identifying gaps in the marketplace not filled by incumbents and finding the greatest value that portfolio companies can provide to acquirers. So we invest in great teams who have a clear vision about the value they are creating for their acquirer as well as for their immediate customers. We look for founders who are focused on the exit, not as a quick profit, but because they know that being acquired can bring the mission of their company to the next level with greater reach, resources and channels to grow their company.
The Rockies Venture Fund receives deal flow of over 1,000 companies each year. With its long track record with the Rockies Venture Fund, there are significant referral sources who provide us with high quality deals.
Out of that top-level funnel we pitch about 80 deals a year in live events, available to RVF Syndicate backers. We pitch more live deals than most syndicates so that we provide angels more data points to build their experience. Of the 80 companies that pitch, we perform formal due diligence on about 24 companies and then invest in about 20 deals each year.
Before deals are presented on AngelList they have gone through our Pitch Academy program, and many have gone through our HyperAccelerator. We build deep relationships and understand the psychology of founders as well as the market opportunities of their companies. They will have been vetted through pitching at up to five of our chapters throughout Colorado and in some cases with other angel groups throughout the U.S. as a part of our collaborative syndication efforts.
Each company has gone through extensive due diligence and we are glad to share our full due diligence reports and valuation analysis with AngelList investors.
Want to know more?
Check out some of the deals we've done below. While past performance is not a guarantee of future success, the Rockies Venture Fund has average IRR of 30%.
Contact us at [email protected] for more info or to set up a call.