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The Badger Fund Commits Capital to third New Wisconsin Venture Capital Fund, Rock
RiverCapital Partners Fund I, a new southern Wisconsin VC fund.
Madison, WI, April 11, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Continuing its commitment to establish Wisconsin as a
national startup hub by investing in growth-stage startups, the Badger Fund of Funds has joined Rock
River Capital Partners and local investors to form Rock River Capital Partners Fund I, a new southern
Wisconsin-based venture capital fund. The Badger Fund has committed to invest $6 million dollars as the
anchor investor in this new venture capital fund, its third investment commitment in a new
Wisconsin-based venture capital funds in the past year.
The Rock River Capital Partners Fund I will be managed by Andrew Walker and Christopher Eckstrom,
two startup and investment leaders who were raised in Wisconsin and graduated from the UW-Madison.
Each has moved back to Wisconsin with their families to start the Fund. Walker has a track record for
managing startups through acquisition and most recently was a CEO of a data analytics startup in Chicago
that was acquired by a strategic competitor. Eckstrom joins Rock River Capital Partners from an
international investment bank where he worked in the principal investing arm. Based in Chicago,
Eckstrom spent the last decade managing a significant portfolio of investments in public and privately
held companies.
Tagged The Wisconsin Valley of Death, the need for venture capital firms with a focus on investing $1
million dollars or more in growing Wisconsin startups is broadly recognized among local entrepreneurs.
The Rock River Capital Partners team sees and expects to meet this very real need, said Ken Johnson, a
partner in the Badger Fund. We recognize Andy and Chris are a terrific team to invest in the growing
Wisconsin winner startups.
A successful venture capital ecosystem needs a variety of venture capital firms managed by high caliber
teams, said Brian Birk, managing partner of Sun Mountain Capital and a Badger Fund partner.
Wisconsin has the ingredients we seek for a first-class startup ecosystem - University of Wisconsin
campuses, great corporations with strong community and government support -- but needs someone to
bring the parties together.
The Rock River Capital management team can meet that need given its unique combination of
entrepreneurial and investing experience.
In the last couple of months the first two Badger Fund portfolio funds, the Idea Fund of La Crosse and
the Winnebago Seed Fund in the Fox Valley have announced first closes, said Johnson. These funds are
expected to provide opportunities from different Wisconsin geographies for the new Rock River Capital
Partners Fund.
The Badger Fund allocates substantial time and resources to evaluating and developing local venture
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fund managers, often with the bias that knowing the culture and the people are equally important as a
deep knowledge of the start-up industry, Birk added.
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Contact Information:
Badger Fund
Starr McCaffery
630-546-2050
Contact via Email
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