Kayla Kavanaugh

Afore Capital is a Pre-Seed VC with $500 million in AUM co-founded by Anamitra Banerji & Gaurav Jain. We support product-oriented founders building software companies at the very earliest stages. Our sweet spot is investing $1-2m+ into founders first institutional round. We can lead this round alongside high value angels. At Afore, we believe that before theres a company, before theres a business, theres a product-oriented founder leading by product. The products are often raw, sometimes just rough concepts requiring a lot of imagination. They are pre-traction and pre-obvious. But they come from founders with non-obvious insights and infectious ambitions. We started Afore to back these founders at the pre-seed stage exclusively, on day zero of their journey. We bring with us 16 years of product experience and 7 years of institutional investing experience.

Afore Capital is a Pre-Seed VC with $500 million in AUM co-founded by Anamitra Banerji & Gaurav Jain. We support product-oriented founders building software companies at the very earliest stages. Our sweet spot is investing $1-2m+ into founders first institutional round. We can lead this round alongside high value angels. At Afore, we believe that before theres a company, before theres a business, theres a product-oriented founder leading by product. The products are often raw, sometimes just rough concepts requiring a lot of imagination. They are pre-traction and pre-obvious. But they come from founders with non-obvious insights and infectious ambitions. We started Afore to back these founders at the pre-seed stage exclusively, on day zero of their journey. We bring with us 16 years of product experience and 7 years of institutional investing experience.

MVCA is a nonprofit trade organization designed to bring together venture capital industry participants in the state of Michigan. The organization’s goal is to grow and sustain a vibrant venture capital community in Michigan. MVCA membership includes private and corporate venture capital funds, angel investors, universities and economic development organizations, and service providers. More than 400 individuals are members of MVCA, representing 100+ organizations across the nation.

Grand Ventures is an early stage venture fund investing in seed stage B2B SaaS companies in emerging regions of the US and Canada focused on Supply Chain, Fintech, DevOps, and Digital Health. We have invested in some of the fastest growing companies in North America alongside some of the most prestigious venture funds. We pride ourselves on supporting great entrepreneurs from inception through rapid growth to maturity and helping out at each stage of the journey. Our sweetspot is to write $500K-$2MM checks for companies raising their first institutional round of funding. Beyond our capital investment, we help entrepreneurs with refining strategy and focus, talent development, and business development. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs achieve successful follow-on rounds and future exits.

Capital Innovators is the innovation engine for startups, corporations, and universities. Through our nationally recognized seed program, Capital Innovators has been ranked as a top accelerator four years consecutively and featured in Entrepreneur, Forbes, CB Insights, Inc., and TechCrunch, among others. In addition to the core accelerator program, Capital Innovators is creating a new model for innovation bringing together corporations, universities, and startups together like never before. For more information about Capital Innovators, please visit www.capitalinnovators.com.

Venture For America is a national nonprofit and two-year Fellowship program that gives recent college graduates firsthand startup experiences to help them become strong leaders. Fellows learn important startup skills at Training Camp, apply for jobs within our company network, and work for two years as full-time, salaried employees in one of 13 cities. When Fellows are ready to start a company — be it two years after college or nine — VFA has the resources (like a crowdfunding competition and accelerator) to help make that dream a reality. Our vision: Venture For America is creating an accessible and inclusive future of entrepreneurship in America.