US-based venture capital fund Winnow Fund has raised an initial $6m for a seed fund from backers including sausage producer Johnsonville, energy utility MGE Energy and local news publisher Capital Times.
The consortium is being led by Badger Fund of Funds, a regional vehicle backed by the government of Wisconsin, and includes Inventure Capital, N29 Capital Partners and more than two dozen angel investors. Johnsonville contributed through subsidiary Johnsonville Ventures.
Winnow Fund will participate in seed rounds for local student-founded startups and will also incubate some entrepreneurs at pre-incorporation stage. It is an affiliate of Badger Fund of Funds, which has collectively backed 20 startups in Wisconsin since 2017.
Winnow Fund’s managing partner is Richelle Martin, a former assistant director for the Office of Industrial Partnerships at University of Wisconsin-Madison. It has set a $10m target for the close of the fund, according to a November 2019 regulatory filing.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.