Typical investment

Calumet Venture Fund prefers to be the first professional round (Series A) after angel investments. By that time, the entrepreneur has one or two customers and has an Executive Summary or Business Plan. Calumet typically invests anywhere from $200k to $3 Million into early stage companies, often with milestones tied to investment.

Sending an Executive Summary or Business Plan

Calumet Venture Fund focuses on the following areas: Web 2.0 or Software-as-a-Service solutions which create efficiencies for Enterprises, Education and Healthcare organizations. We also focus on Mobile devices and Communication products and services. For "Green" efforts, we focus on Energy Management as way to reduce cost and maintain efficiencies in Enterprises.

If you have a company which has a product of in the above areas please submit a summary electronically to one of the partners in the Team section.

Calumet Venture Fund Investment Criteria

After reviewing the Executive Summary, Calumet will determine if there needs to be a follow-up meeting. Usually a phone call will be followed with an invitation for the team to present to one of the General Partners. This will allow us to determine if the new company meets our criteria.

Our selection criteria are based on the strength/uniqueness of the product or service, the quality or completeness of the team to execute the plan, the competitive position, and a variety of market issues.

Moving the deal along

If we feel that your plan is one of the stronger ones, we will invite you to present to the complete partnership. If both partners are positive on the project, we start our formal due diligence.

In the formal due diligence, we examine your intellectual property or other confidential information, call customer references, and do reference checks on the management team.

Getting the money

Assuming all issues brought up during the due diligence process are clear and we find the company has a strong product position, Calumet may make a decision to invest. The due diligence process usually takes a month, but after that the decision can be quick.

After the funding

Calumet is usually on the Board of Directors of the company after leading an investment, representing the investors. We help our portfolio companies build their team and engage with new customers and partners. Our network of people consists of world class CEOs, CTOs, and CIOs as well as marketing and sales executives.