A new venture capital firm, which in November marked its launch by raising a $53 million-plus fund to invest in startups, has made its first investment.
Blueprint Equity managing partners Sheldon Lewis and Bobby Ocampo, 30-somethings who are part of a new generation of investors in San Diego, said Thursday that the firm had invested $6 million in Sunwave, a Florida-based company that makes software for substance abuse treatment centers.
The duo built a proprietary software system to help them find companies that fit its parameters, which is what led Blueprint to Sunwave, Lewis said.
Lewis was mostly recently with San Diego’s PayLease, which makes software for homeowners associations and property management companies, as its senior vice president of corporate development and business development. He left the company after it was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2017.
Ocampo was previously a partner at Revolution Ventures in Washington, D.C.
Lewis and Ocampo met more than a decade ago as investment bankers at Piper Jaffray, in its tech division. About four years ago, they began investing together, backing a handful of companies including eSUB and Slantrange, two startups in San Diego. Last year, buoyed by the success of those investments, they decided to raise a fund and launch Blueprint.
The firm focuses on investing in tech companies, especially enterprise software firms, across North America but outside of what Blueprint classifies as the top tier of US tech markets: the Bay Area, Boston, and New York. It’s an approach that mirrors that of Revolution, which also focuses on backing startups outside of the typical hot spots.
Sunwave says it plans to use the financing to get its software into more treatment facilities in the US. The system allows facilities to access patients’ electronic medical records as well as to handle customer relationship management and revenue cycle management. Sunwave’s product is already in use in facilities including Cumberland Heights, Royal Life Centers, and Transformations Treatment Center.
“Drug and alcohol abuse is a worldwide epidemic,” Ocampo said in a prepared statement. “The number of treatment facilities has stayed stagnant over the last decade, yet the number of patients has grown considerably.”
