Stuart Veale, managing partner at Beringea, a transatlantic venture capital investor, on why tech entrepreneurs should consider the opportunities afforded by the Midwest.
We often get asked why we have an office in Michigan – if you are going to have a footprint stateside, surely you make your mark in Silicon Valley or New York?
We focus on harnessing value – this means that we often end up taking a fairly contrarian view on investing and uncovering value where others may not have found it. The Midwest is a prime example – it is an exceptional entry point for British businesses seeking to expand into the US but a remarkably under-appreciated technology cluster.
It is certainly true that investment in the Midwest remains off the pace of the Valley and the East Coast. The Michigan Venture Capital Association found 68 startups received $179m of venture capital investment in 2017, a 100% increase over the past five years but almost a rounding error compared to the $4.2bn invested in New York technology companies in the third quarter of 2017 alone....