Michael Godwin and Jason Townsend know what they’re getting into, launching a new seed-stage venture capital fund, Resonant Venture Partners, in Michigan during a time when getting institutional investors to climb onboard is next to impossible.
“Yeah, it’s bleak in Michigan,” Godwin says, referring to the lack of institutional investor enthusiasm for venture funds in this state, “and quite honestly that’s been a problem for Michigan venture capital since day one. We’ve heard horror stories from our advisers and from other VCs in the area who today still haven’t been able to raise institutional money despite being into their third and fourth funds.”
But they hope that their newly minted VC firm, based in Ann Arbor, MI, will act as a kind of advance scout for larger venture capitalists on the coasts.
Godwin says that he and his partner, both of whom spent time as Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs before heading back to Michigan to get their MBAs, hear VCs in Silicon Valley and Boston lament that it is so hard to get investment deals out of Michigan companies, yet they have no office on the ground here. Resonant, Godwin says, hopes to be the one to hunt out deals for them.
So far, so good. Last week, Resonant participated in its first VC deal, going into syndication with Palo Alto, CA-based True Ventures on a $1 million investment in Scio Security.
“We’re hoping to be a conduit for deals to some of those bigger funds,” Godwin says. “While we’re going to be a small fund, if we can have syndicate partners that have these big, deep pockets, we
