Recent news from our
‍portfolio and fund

We are writing to publicly affirm our values and our commitment to building an inclusive entrepreneurial community, with access for all. We are committed to broadening and demystifying the closed networks that usually accompany venture capital. Our doors are open, and to Black Community – we stand by you. More to come on how we can be part of the solution.

We're thrilled to announce a new investment into Curu, an automated lead recovery solution enabling lenders to fund more loans. We've tracked the Curu team since it's time in the Techstars program in partnership with Western Union. We're excited to partner with Vestigo Ventures, Harlem Capital, Carolina Fintech Ventures, Techstars Ventures, Holt Accelerator, Chingona Ventures, and Upscale Fund on supporting Abb and David's mission.

Curu secures $3M in funding as the demand for credit skyrockets during the global pandemic.(press release)

Curu Raises $3M Seed Funding to Help People Improve Their Credit

Denver’s Curu lands $3M for personalized credit approval solution

We're excited to share that Operator Collective and Leyla Seka have joined the Spekit team! This is a win for the growing digital learning platform and for Denver, CO as well. We couldn't be more proud to be a part of this team. Congrats to the whole Spekit team on this next big step in driving your vision!

In this 30-minute webinar, the Apostrophe team discusses health plan concerns as we begin going back to the doctor, and how thinking ahead now and switching to Apostrophe could mean better care with bigger savings for self-funded plan sponsors. We are so excited about the work CEO and co-founder Cheryl Kellond and her team are doing!

Amidst the current restrictions and a lot of uncertainty about the future, soona provides you the ability to get the ecommerce content you need via virtual photoshoots. In this article, a member of the soona team shares ecommerce tips on making the most of the times by continuing to show your customers new visual content. See this Forbes article (Soona, The Virtual Photoshoot You've Been Dreaming About) for more info on how soona works!

Investment trends in America's heartland show that valuable, high-growth companies can be built outside of traditional tech hubs. This report put together by Dundee Venture Capital and Crunchbase shares details on the growth of non-coastal startup regions. Matchstick was proud to be featured.

Manisha Gupta of Warmly, shares best practices learned through the 14-week Techstars program under Natty's guidance to improve tracking and communication within any company.

Natty was highlighted in a blog post from VC Fred Destin on if [startups] could make the “venture capital product” a better experience for founders — what would [they] change?

We're thrilled to announce that Halp has been acquired by Atlassian. This is a great union of two forward thinking companies working to make ticketing easier and better for organizations through conversations (learn more Why Atlassian is buying Halp, a Slack-first help-desk company). Atlassian is a great partner to bring more resources to halp achieve this vision. Congrats to Fletcher, Tristan, Komran and the whole Halp team on building a great product, culture and company. Thanks for having Matchstick involved in your journey! 🎉(more coverage on Atlassian blog and TechCrunch)

In this 5-minute podcast clip, Branch CEO Atif Siddiqi explains the company's partnership with Domino's, which allows employees a contactless way to receive digital payments of their tips, wages, and mileage daily.

Natty hosted the 14th annual Techstars Boulder Accelerator Demo Day. This year's event moved to a virtual experience and had record registrations from the community and investors. Short, pre-recorded pitch videos from each of the 10 companies can be accessed at the link below.

In light of recent events, Matchstick founder Ryan Broshar shares some insight on how startup culture may affected due to COVID-19. By a large shift toward virtual work, the culture may be globalized and may begin to be based more around distributed teams. He speaks on continuing to invest in startups - "We're really excited about the opportunities to support these founders through these hard times and keep making investments while others may be pulling back.”

See these additional articles for more Matchstick Ventures input and tips as entrepreneurs adjust expectations during this pandemic:

Minnesota investors, entrepreneurs adjust expectations after arrival of COVID-19

Colorado entrepreneurs already faced a steep startup curve. Coronavirus increased the grade

Colorado VCs on Coronavirus Impacts: Funding May Slow, Plan Carefully

How Colorado accelerators are adjusting during COVID-19

In this episode of the tech.mn podcast, Upsie founder and CEO Clarence Bethea visits to talk about his journey from founder to CEO. He covers everything from the power of a good network and his experience raising capital, to the importance of the support he receives from his family. He also shares his prediction of the future for the MN Tech and startup ecosystem.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, restaurants everywhere are adjusting their methods to offer takeout and delivery. The Ordermark team's hard work to support the continued operation of food delivery nationwide by providing the hardware and consulting needed to properly track and manage online orders was profiled in the New York Times.

Our friends at Access Venture Partners shared a great analysis of the growth of startups in Colorado and interest from venture capital. We are excited about this trend in one of our key markets. We see similar data in the North as well.