New investors want to AMP up seed funding in Minnesota
Four business partners in Wayzata have recently formed AMP Partners to make early stage tech investments in Minnesota startups.
Daren Marhula, Brad England, Mark Donahoe and Chris Palm are pooling an undisclosed amount of their own money “made between investment banking, Wall Street and property management,” Marhula says. Between Macalester, St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota, all four have roots in Minnesota.
AMP doesn’t have much tech investing experience but their appetite for opportunity in local early stage ventures is real he affirms. “We’ve been low profile until now.”
“We’re interested in the right entrepreneur with the right plan more than the exact market. We’re not exclusively focused on any one type of business, but definitely interested in local technology startups.” The group has already made one local investment, HomeVisor, although they’ve yet to make any true tech investments yet. Marhula outlined some basic parameters of the AMP approach:
- Minnesota based
- +/- $100k seed stage funding
- First round/ pre-revenue
- Will lead a round
- Will co-invest
- seeking 1 tech investment/quarter
“I wouldn’t say that we’re an incubator, but we’re definitely interested in being more hands on that just writing a check. I think that we can bring a lot of additional value to the table. No idea is too crazy. If you’re early and disruptive, send us a note, let’s chat. “