Next Frontier Capital, a Rocky Mountain technology venture capital firm, today announced the successful close of its $80m Fund III. Founded by Richard Harjes and Will Price, Next Frontier Capital’s financial backers include educational endowments, financial firms, charitable foundations, iconic industry executives, and family offices. Next Frontier originally targeted a $70m raise and increased the fund size to accommodate demand.
Steve Burke, former CEO of NBCUniversal, onXmaps board member, and a Limited Partner in all three NFC Funds, remarked, “Our family has invested with NFC for three reasons: excellent performance, excellent and open communications with investors, and a chance to invest in and help new Montana companies.”
With investments in Colorado, Utah, and Montana and experience scaling companies from concept to exit, the Next Frontier team is dedicated to working with mission-driven teams working on innovations in business applications, deep tech, cloud computing, and data analytics. Founded in 2015, the Firm is committed to the rise and expansion of the Rocky Mountain entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Firm’s exits to date include the sales of Blackmore Sensors and Analytics to Aurora Innovation, Halp to Atlassian, Phoenix Labs to Sea Ltd, Alpin to CoreView, and Ataata to Mimecast. Next Frontier has made thirty-five investments to date, including nine in Fund III: Bonusly, Claravine, Viris Detection Systems, Emmersion, Advisr, Demoflow, Everyone Social, Blocky, and one to be announced...
Richard Harjes, Co-Founder and General Partner, commented, "It is an amazing experience to help build an ecosystem. Since founding NFC in 2015, we have driven a 14x annual increase in the capital invested in Montana entrepreneurs. We are proud to have tier one firms such as Venrock, True Ventures, Summit Partners, Millennium Technology Value Partners, and many others co-investing with us here, driving company growth, new jobs, and higher wages. NFC Fund I successes have validated our thesis that sustainable opportunities exist to source, lead, and syndicate successful venture class investments. This is accelerating even more quickly now with the growth in remote work. NFC Fund II and Fund III are broadening our impact from Montana to Colorado, Utah and the rest of the Intermountain West, home to quality entrepreneurs making a national impact."
"While the value of many investors is equal to the dollar value of their investment, Will and team have been strong supporters of Quiq and have helped our business in many ways, yielding value much greater than the dollars invested," Mike Myer, CEO and Founder of Bozeman-based, Quiq.Les Craig, General Partner, noted: “Our firm continues to be energized on a daily basis by the tremendous experience, drive, and commitment of founders in the Intermountain West. The quality of life and adventurous spirit of growing communities in this region are factors that are driving the next generation of successful technology companies.”
“I’ve worked with members of the NFC team for over ten years as both operators and investors, and couldn’t be more excited to have them as investors at Claravine. They bring the relationships, expertise and old school integrity that distinguish them from the increasingly crowded venture landscape. I highly recommend every entrepreneur include NFC on their short list of prospective investors,” noted. Verl Allen, CEO of UT-based Claravine.
“NFC was a great partner for Halp. They saw our vision early on when we were just a small team in a coworking space in Boulder, and got behind us in the early days of our product. They helped with customer introductions, recruiting, and strategic decision making all the way through to our acquisition by Atlassian. I couldn't have asked for a better group of mentors and friends to join us on our adventure, noted Fletcher Richman, Co-Founder and CEO of Halp.”
In addition to announcing the successful Fund III close, Next Frontier Capital is pleased to share the news that Latham Turner and Kirsten Suddath have joined the Firm as Operating Partner and Senior Associate, respectively. Latham joins the firm following operating roles with Samsara, Rigetti Computing, and an eleven year career as a Naval Aviator. Kirsten joins Next Frontier from Blackhorn Ventures, following operating roles with early stage companies and Techstars.
About Next Frontier Capital
Next Frontier Capital partners with mission-driven, talented entrepreneurs to build Rocky Mountain technology companies of national impact, utility and value. Founded in 2015, the Firm is backed by a well-diversified pool of investors, endowments, foundations, and executives from the world’s top technology and financial firms, who join us in recognizing the region’s extraordinary growth in technology deal flow.
The fund has made thirty-five investments to date including the following: Phoenix Labs, Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, Clearas, IronCore Labs, Orbital Shift, Quiq, Remix Labs, SiteOne Therapeutics, Submittable, Alpin, Ataata, Halp, Aumni, Chargeback, LumenAd, MeatEater, Getro, onXmaps, OptimaLabs, OptioSurgical, PatientOne, Section, SpecialProject, TwinThread, Advisr, Blocky, Bonusly, Demoflow, Claravine, EveryoneSocial, Viris Detection Systems, and Emmersion.
Co-investors in portfolio companies to date include the following: Venrock, True Ventures, Foundry Group, Summit Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Access Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Rise of the Rest, Kickstart, FirstMark, Next Coast Ventures, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Toyota Research Institute, BMW Ventures, Amgen Ventures, Slack, Bloomberg Beta, and over 50 other strategic and national VC investors.
We are based in Bozeman, MT. Learn more about us at www.nextfrontiercapital.com
For more information email Will Price, will@nextfrontiercapital.com
