Investing in middle America | Switcher raises $2.4 million | National Stem Cell Foundation
“Money is always eager and ready to work for anyone who is ready to employ it.” ― Idowu Koyenikan, author and consultant
Today’s issue:
February 16, 2021
A CHAT WITH A VC
Poplar Ventures: Investing in middle America 
Image courtesy Christian Miller
When CBInsights published its list of the most active venture capital firms in each U.S. state, Poplar Ventures came out on top for Kentucky. Louisville Future spoke to Christian Miller, a VC at Poplar Ventures to talk about the firm’s vision and what they’ve been up to.
What is Poplar Ventures?
Miller: Poplar Ventures is an early growth stage venture capital fund focused on making cloud software investments primarily in the B2B space within middle America. We look to get involved around the seed series A stage, which traditionally means north of a million dollars of annual occurring revenue.
How did you get started?
Miller: We were founded by John Willmoth who helped grow Nextel from about $10 million in revenue to $17 billion in revenue. Then he took the company public. After that, he came back to Kentucky where he’s originally from and began doing some angel investing, particularly in the cloud software space before SaaS was popular He launched Zirmed [a provider of web-based revenue cycle management solutions for the healthcare business]. That launched him into institutionalizing Poplar Ventures.
What’s the vision of Poplar Ventures?
Miller: Our premise is obviously centralized around finding good investment opportunities. We want to focus on geographic areas that have been underserved historically. We definitely love to support entrepreneurs in our own backyard, like Louisville and Lexington. We’re also seeing a lot in the Ohio and Indiana space as well.
How is venture funding changing?
Miller: There’s been a massive movement in capital over the last 18 months, with lots of ideas, startups, and entrepreneurs expanding in the direction of middle America. We’re a little unique in the fact that we are really hyper-focused on partnering with management teams.
Whereas a traditional venture capital firm of our size, in the $20 million to $30 million dollar range, would look to heavily diversify itself, maybe make 15-20 investments, we’re probably going to make less than 10 investments because we want to be hands-on investors. We’re adamant about partnering with entrepreneurs and trying to add as much value as possible.
"There’s been a massive movement in capital over the last 18 months, with lots of ideas, startups and entrepreneurs expanding in the direction of middle America."
— Christian Miller, Poplar Ventures
What are some of the companies you’ve funded?
Miller: Podchaser, a podcast database, just closed on $4 million dollars in January in which we participated; Switcher Studio, located in Louisville [which makes live streaming software for iOS]; and SkuVault, located in Jeffersonville, which makes eCommerce inventory management software.
What do you see in the future for Louisville’s ecosystem?
Miller: We’re hoping to put more capital to work and support more entrepreneurs. Also, with support systems in the mix, such as Louisville Future, Amplify Louisville, and Endeavor Louisville, I think it’s going to continue to thrive and grow. And companies with successful exits like ZirMed and AppHarvest continue to invest back into the community. It creates a flywheel effect for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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HOT COFFEE! 
Endeavor announces cohort Endeavor has announced the four companies that will participate in the first cohort of the 2021 Scale Up program across Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Scale Up supports high-potential, fast-growth entrepreneurs in the region and helps them scale to the next level. Switcher raises $2.4M in new investments Tech startup Switcher Studio has raised $2.4 million in new investments for its multicamera livestreaming Software for iOS. Louisville-based Thornton Capital led the round. UofL's Innovator of the Year Paula Bates was the recipient of UofL's Innovator of the Year award. Bates, is a serial inventor and cancer researcher, known for a long track record of developing strong partnerships with industry to commercialize her technologies. Scientist joins National Stem Cell Foundation The National Stem Cell Foundation, located in Louisville, has announced a new Senior Scientific Advisor. Dr. Jeanne Loring is an internationally recognized authority in the field of stem cells, neurobiology and genomics. Share these stories!
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