wavered from its funding commitment. The Packers and Microsoft are the only two groups that have publicly committed to investing in the fund, but other firms may join them, he says.
The first fund TitleTownTech raises for investing in startups is likely to be between $15 million and $25 million, says Dickman, pointing to comments Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy made when the team gave a public update on TitleTownTech earlier this week.
The Packers identified five industries TitleTownTech and its venture fund will focus on: advanced manufacturing; agriculture, the environment, and water; digital health; sports and entertainment; and supply chains. “We’ve identified areas that we think are unique to the northeastern Wisconsin economy and talent pool,” Dickman says.
Fund leaders will consider startups from all over the U.S. for potential investments, Dickman says. However, they plan to look especially closely at ones headquartered in the Midwest and Wisconsin—in particular the northeastern part of the state, he says.
When the team and Microsoft announced TitleTownTech, they made a pledge “to donate all profits and capital returns from the venture capital fund to philanthropy and economic development.”
Dickman says this pledge remains in place. But at the same time, he says, the purpose of the fund is to generate returns, like most venture funds.
“We’re going to be delivering proceeds that Microsoft, the Packers, and others will then be able to put back into the community, or continue to build ventures here in northeastern Wisconsin,” he says. “We feel that there’s a significant commercial opportunity in doing so.”
