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First Step Fund

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Investments

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This summary is composed by our algorithm based on the analysis of the deals. If you think that some of this information is not accurate, please let us know about it and provide any supporting evidences if possible. Such cases will be analyzed by our ML-algorithm and implemented in our database, which will improve this summary.

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Total investments 12
Average round size
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The average size of a deal this fund participated in
$1M
Portfolio companies 10
Rounds per year 1.00
Lead investments 0
Follow on index
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How often the fund supports its portfolio startups at next rounds
0.17
Exits 3
Key employees 3
Stages of investment
Early Stage Venture
Seed

Areas of investment

  • Information Technology
  • Software
  • Marketing
  • Education
  • CRM
Summary

In 2010 was created First Step Fund, which is appeared as VC. The main department of described VC is located in the Detroit. The company was established in North America in United States.

The typical case for the fund is to invest in rounds with 5-6 participants. Despite the First Step Fund, startups are often financed by Ann Arbor SPARK, Rick Inatome, Hyde Park Venture Partners. The meaningful sponsors for the fund in investment in the same round are The Amherst Fund, North Coast Technology Investors, Hyde Park Venture Partners. In the next rounds fund is usually obtained by Detroit Venture Partners, VTF Capital, The Amherst Fund.

We also calculated 3 valuable employees in our database.

Besides, a startup requires to be at the age of 1 and less years to receive the investment from the fund. Among the most popular portfolio startups of the fund, we may highlight Cribspot, AYAH, LevelEleven. Among the most successful fund investment fields, there are Information Technology, CRM. For fund there is a match between the country of its foundation and the country of its the most frequent investments - United States. The fund has exact preference in some founders of portfolio startups. In case when startup counts 4 or 5+ of the founder, the chance for it to get the investment is meager.

The high activity for fund was in 2013. Comparing to the other companies, this First Step Fund performs on 12 percentage points less the average number of lead investments. The higher amount of exits for fund were in 2017. The fund is constantly included in less than 2 investment rounds annually. Deals in the range of 1 - 5 millions dollars are the general things for fund.

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Typical Co-investors
First Step Fund is more likely to invest in rounds together with the following funds:
Funds investing in following rounds
These funds have a tendency to invest in the following rounds after First Step Fund:

Funds with similar focus

Funds from United States
Funds with similar focus located in United States:
Funds with the same geo focus
Funds with similar geography of portfolio companies:
Funds doing lead investments
Funds with similar focus acting as lead investors:

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Notable deals

CompanyIndustryRound SizeDateInvestorsLocation

Cribspot

Education
Internet
Real Estate
Rental
$1M01 Jun 2016 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Cribspot

Education
Internet
Real Estate
Rental
$660K21 Sep 2014 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

VNN

Higher Education
Information Technology
Marketing
Sports
$3M17 Feb 2014 Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States

LevelEleven

CRM
Enterprise Software
Gamification
Information Technology
Sales Automation
Software
$2M01 Sep 2013 Detroit, Michigan, United States

Filament

Bitcoin
Blockchain
Hardware
Industrial
Internet of Things
Software
$1M19 Aug 2013 Reno, Nevada, United States

Seelio

E-Learning
EdTech
Education
$900K23 Apr 2013 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

LevelEleven

CRM
Enterprise Software
Gamification
Information Technology
Sales Automation
Software
$500K11 Apr 2013 Detroit, Michigan, United States

Waymark

Customer Service
Market Research
Marketing
$2M04 Mar 2013 Detroit, Michigan, United States

Fusion Coolant Systems

Automotive
Developer Tools
Manufacturing
$600K16 Jan 2013 Michigan, United States

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Total investments 12
Average round size 1M
Rounds per year 1.00
Peak activity year 2013
Lead investments 0
Follow on index 0.17
Exits 3
Group Appearance index 1.00

Latest deals

CompanyIndustryRound SizeDateInvestorsLocation

Cribspot

Education
Internet
Real Estate
Rental
$1M01 Jun 2016 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Cribspot

Education
Internet
Real Estate
Rental
$660K21 Sep 2014 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

VNN

Higher Education
Information Technology
Marketing
Sports
$3M17 Feb 2014 Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States

LevelEleven

CRM
Enterprise Software
Gamification
Information Technology
Sales Automation
Software
$2M01 Sep 2013 Detroit, Michigan, United States

Filament

Bitcoin
Blockchain
Hardware
Industrial
Internet of Things
Software
$1M19 Aug 2013 Reno, Nevada, United States

Seelio

E-Learning
EdTech
Education
$900K23 Apr 2013 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

LevelEleven

CRM
Enterprise Software
Gamification
Information Technology
Sales Automation
Software
$500K11 Apr 2013 Detroit, Michigan, United States

Waymark

Customer Service
Market Research
Marketing
$2M04 Mar 2013 Detroit, Michigan, United States

Fusion Coolant Systems

Automotive
Developer Tools
Manufacturing
$600K16 Jan 2013 Michigan, United States
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