Seattle has become one of the most important top tech hubs in the world, with an all-star lineup of homegrown companies and massive offices for out-of-towners looking to get their hands on the region’s deep roster of tech talent.
But the city that spawned Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia, F5 and Zillow still comes up short in funding sources for early stage companies, with a lack of options for local startups to get off the ground.
In February they began raising money for a new venture capital fund focused on early stage investments called Curious Capital. The fund is based in Seattle, but it wants to invest in startups throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Curious Capital has already cut a couple small checks, and the fund is actively investing. They declined to say what companies they’ve invested in, and did not disclose the target size of the new fund. But the arrival of a new funding source in Seattle is good news for those who’ve argued that the Northwest — despite its amazing array of technologists and world-class companies — still falls short when it comes to bankrolling the next-generation of companies.
The Curious Capital co-founders both hail from Washington state, and recently returned to Seattle from stints in New York and San Francisco. Dumont’s mother fell ill, and that brought him back to Seattle earlier this year, though he had always intended to return some day. Borumand is a born and raised Pacific Northwesterner, who comes from a Microsoft and Boeing family. He felt the pull of home and wanted to get involved in Seattle’s booming tech scene.
The Seattle region has long been critiqued for its general lack of investors, both early-stage angel investors and later-stage venture capitalists. Dumont and Borumand have experienced what they say are stronger funding networks in New York and San Francisco with more options to choose from.
And while there are…