Proven Ventures joins Burlington Capital family of funds

We celebrate first close and make capital available for great companies!

Burlington Capital welcomes Proven Ventures to its family of funds and announces Fund One’s first close on the debt-equity venture fund. 

Proven Venture’s thesis offers a solution to many of the challenges the venture industry and the regional startup ecosystem face. Proven seeks to make investments in diverse teams leading companies in Midwest core industries, namely fintech and healthtech. Going a step further, Fund One offers innovative venture capital financing in order to bring more alignment between investors and entrepreneurs, specifically through debt-equity and intentional influence on a company’s growth plans. 

“Throughout Burlington Capital’s long history of building businesses, we have taken an active role in the growth of our portfolio companies,” shared Burlington Capital President and CEO Lisa Roskens. “With that shared value and the Proven team’s deep commitment to alignment between founders and investors, we look forward to this new initiative in venture investing.”

Proven Ventures makes capital, capacity, and connections available to entrepreneurs that seek to achieve sustainable yet scalable growth. Prioritizing companies that seek profitability over boom-or-bust growth, Proven Ventures’ debt-equity model brings a new form of venture capital to the market.

A new take on old venture: debt equity

“Nebraskans have learned a great deal about what works and what does not work for startup investing, Proven Ventures is the summation of those lessons,” General Partner Erica Wassinger said. “There’s an abundance of great companies and investors here, bringing them around one round table is our goal.” 

Fund One’s debt-equity financing provides much needed early capital to entrepreneurs building strong, scalable businesses. 

The debt-equity structure is as good for investors as it is for founders, providing earlier alignment on growth goals and offering a roadmap for working together. Proven Ventures’ team will work closely alongside portfolio companies to increase revenue streams, thus ensuring investors see more predictable returns -- something the venture asset class has largely failed to produce historically.

“Debt equity, sometimes referred to as revenue-based financing, is the best investment vehicle to provide alignment between funders and founders,” shared Pamela Finn, Burlington Capital President, Business Development. “All players work together to increase sales and revenue, which get the startup on solid, sustainable footing, while accelerating the return of investment.” 

Value add, beyond the capital

Proven’s value proposition to founders goes beyond capital to include added staff capacity and customer connections. This hands-on, value-add work includes: crafting sales scripts, making outbound calls, filling the pipeline with new leads, as well as work on trade show strategies, inbound marketing campaigns and much more. Proven helps founders focus on revenue-generating activities in order to build the company’s sustainability and scalability. 

“Fund One investors, many that are entrepreneurs and operators themselves, enjoy putting their experience to work and influencing the upward trajectory of our portfolio companies,” said Nathan Preheim, general partner. “Our focus on revenue generation holds us accountable for driving the value of a company upwards, just as we would our founders.”