ST. CLOUD — Brothers Rob and Ryan Weber know firsthand that innovation can happen anywhere.
For them, it started in their dorm rooms at St. Cloud State University more than two decades ago when they founded a company that creates native advertising technology for mobile gaming.
And after selling that company for $25 million eight years ago, the Webers pivoted to helping other entrepreneurs fund ideas through their venture capital fund, Great North Ventures, which has a number of partners from central Minnesota.
The firm was recently part of a $1 million seed round investment into Brainerd-based company HLRBO — a deal that is among the largest venture capital investments made to a company in central Minnesota in the past decade. And the brothers are hoping this is only the beginning for more investment in the region.
“If you think venture capital, it tends to go to the bigger cities and metros,” Rob Weber said. “It’s not equitable.”
Venture capital is an important funding tool for startups with high-growth trajectories — that are often deemed too risky for banks — and that want to grow faster than the reinvestment of profit allows.
But over the past decade, less than 4% of venture capital in the state was invested in companies outside the Twin Cities, and just crumbs — less than 0.1% — made it to the St. Cloud area, according to the venture capital database Pitchbook.
From 2014-2023, about 1,450 venture capital deals were made in the Twin Cities, compared to about 60 in the Fargo/Moorhead area, 50 in Rochester, 22 in Duluth and just 14 in the St. Cloud area.