Innovation & Job News

BELLE Capital targets women-led biz for VC investment, plans $25M fund

Thursday, February 17, 2011

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Investment, Venture Capital, Wayne County

Venture capital is hard enough to come by these days, but it's even harder for women-led start-ups trying to get off the ground.

Enter BELLE Capital, a new venture capital firm that aims to invest in women-led companies or firms that plan to add those without Y chromosomes to their leadership team. Lauren Flanagan, co-founder and managing director of BELLE Capital, states this sort of targeting is necessary in today's entrepreneurial ecosystem, where women-led companies are being formed at a faster rate than anything else.

"We're bringing a solution to the problem," Flanagan says.

The VC firm plans to take advantage of the lack of seed capital in the Midwest by establishing offices near Holland and in Metro Detroit. Right now it is located in Grosse Pointe Farms but is looking at office space in downtown Detroit.

BELLE Capital plans to raise a $25 million fund primarily from Midwestern-based investors. It plans to make 3-5 investments this year and an average of 2-4 annually. It's focusing on finding firms that specialize in the IT, technology-enabled services, life sciences, cleantech and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Source: Lauren Flanagan, co-founder and managing director of BELLE Capital
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

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