One Spark

The hope of many startup entrepreneurs is to eventually get backing by a venture capitalist who can seed a business with funding, lead to growth of a small company and eventually end with everyone making more money.

One Spark 2015 has many of the 550 creators taking part in the crowdfunding festival in downtown Jacksonville angling to draw attention from those venture capitalists and they’ve got it.

Several venture capitalist firms were finalizing research and discussions with potential startups they are considering funding Friday in the One Spark offices on East Bay Street as the festival headed through its fourth day with Saturday and Sunday still to come.

Those venture capitalist firms say they have a plethora or high-end startups to choose from at One Spark worthy of investment consideration.

“High quality events like this are a must for us to attend,” said Paul Yancich, a principal in the Arsenal Venture Partner firm from Winter Park.

Jason Premo, chairman of Premo Ventures from Greenville, S.C., said he considers himself an “Angel investor” in that his venture capitalist group gets in on the support of startups early on.

He acknowledged it’s a high-risk venture, but the payoff in landing a startup out of One Spark is hard to ignore.

While there’s a wide range of startups to choose from at One Spark, the venture capitalists are not casting a wide net.

The venture capitalists are part of a group of six different firms who pooled their resources and are offering a combined $3.5 million in potential funding for entrepreneurs at One Spark this year.

While the deal with Premo was still hanging in the balance Friday, Josh Krogh admitted that getting venture capitalists willing to invest in his company brings a bit of additional pressure.

While Premo’s firm is about investing in concepts and startups at the ground-floor level, Yancich said his firm could take months before they commit to an investment.

Yancich acknowledged while startup entrepreneurs are excited about venture capitalist funding, those firms offering seed money are expecting a serious return on their money.

Startups should keep in mind seed money is not a gift or a charitable cause, it’s a capital investment with strings attached.

All the venture capitalists agreed there are no safe bets when it comes to investing in startups.

(Credits to Drew Dixon)

The post VC closing deals with One Spark appeared first on TalksFriendite .