Recent news from our
‍portfolio and fund

Natty was highlighted in a blog post from VC Fred Destin on if [startups] could make the “venture capital product” a better experience for founders — what would [they] change?

We're thrilled to announce that Halp has been acquired by Atlassian. This is a great union of two forward thinking companies working to make ticketing easier and better for organizations through conversations (learn more Why Atlassian is buying Halp, a Slack-first help-desk company). Atlassian is a great partner to bring more resources to halp achieve this vision. Congrats to Fletcher, Tristan, Komran and the whole Halp team on building a great product, culture and company. Thanks for having Matchstick involved in your journey! 🎉(more coverage on Atlassian blog and TechCrunch)

In this 5-minute podcast clip, Branch CEO Atif Siddiqi explains the company's partnership with Domino's, which allows employees a contactless way to receive digital payments of their tips, wages, and mileage daily.

Natty hosted the 14th annual Techstars Boulder Accelerator Demo Day. This year's event moved to a virtual experience and had record registrations from the community and investors. Short, pre-recorded pitch videos from each of the 10 companies can be accessed at the link below.

In light of recent events, Matchstick founder Ryan Broshar shares some insight on how startup culture may affected due to COVID-19. By a large shift toward virtual work, the culture may be globalized and may begin to be based more around distributed teams. He speaks on continuing to invest in startups - "We're really excited about the opportunities to support these founders through these hard times and keep making investments while others may be pulling back.”

See these additional articles for more Matchstick Ventures input and tips as entrepreneurs adjust expectations during this pandemic:

Minnesota investors, entrepreneurs adjust expectations after arrival of COVID-19

Colorado entrepreneurs already faced a steep startup curve. Coronavirus increased the grade

Colorado VCs on Coronavirus Impacts: Funding May Slow, Plan Carefully

How Colorado accelerators are adjusting during COVID-19

In this episode of the tech.mn podcast, Upsie founder and CEO Clarence Bethea visits to talk about his journey from founder to CEO. He covers everything from the power of a good network and his experience raising capital, to the importance of the support he receives from his family. He also shares his prediction of the future for the MN Tech and startup ecosystem.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, restaurants everywhere are adjusting their methods to offer takeout and delivery. The Ordermark team's hard work to support the continued operation of food delivery nationwide by providing the hardware and consulting needed to properly track and manage online orders was profiled in the New York Times.

Our friends at Access Venture Partners shared a great analysis of the growth of startups in Colorado and interest from venture capital. We are excited about this trend in one of our key markets. We see similar data in the North as well.

Matchstick partner, Ryan Broshar, sits down with the By All Means podcast to discuss startups, founders, and all things North.

Founder Clarence Bethea is the type of entrepreneur we love to support. He wears his heart on his sleeve in every interaction, is wonderfully deep, and is passionate about delivering an outstanding customer experience.

Upsie began as two people squatting in a bagel store, borrowing wifi. Moving to a new space from the company’s first dedicated office in Minneapolis means more than a change of address for this team. It’s a sign Upsie is on the right track and that Minnesota was and continues to be a great place to root and grow the company.

Atif Siddiqi knew he wanted to build a business. When considering problems to solve, he harkened back to his high school sales job at a t-shirt shop, where there was no automated system for employees to trade or pick up available shifts. Years later, he discovered, not much had changed. He launched Branch in 2014 as a scheduling tool for hourly employees. It has since evolved into a mobile-first platform on a mission to “make the lives of hourly workers financially better.” Branch provides no-cost advances on earned wages. The app is used by hundreds of thousands of hourly employees at large companies including Life Time and Target. Along the way, Siddiqi has become an authority on the topics of employee satisfaction, financial wellness, and how employee engagement can help a company’s bottom line.

Today, ScaleFactor announced our “2.020” vision, signaling a significant commitment to the evolution of our business. What began as a solution to help business owners get more from their Quickbooks and Xero is evolving into a platform of technologies and services designed to digitally transform the back office experience for both small business owners and the bookkeepers and accountants they collaborate with. Today, we express our gratitude to the customers who have joined us during these early years and taught us so much about what works for their business, as well as our ScaleFactor team that has been so responsive in developing these solutions.

Congrats to Matchstick portfolio companies Branch, Inspectorio, Kidizen, Structural, Kipsu and Parallax on being recognized as the most promising startups this decade!

Minneapolis-based video and photo studio soona has closed on a $3.5 million fundraising round, the company announced Friday. Local investor Matchstick Ventures led the round, along with Chicago-based Starting Line. In total, the company has now raised more than $5 million, said soona co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Giorgi.

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We're excited to participate in Airspace Link's latest funding round to help enable safe drone flying in and around cities.  This funding comes on the back of Airspace Link recently earning a stamp of approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for low-altitude authorization and notification capabilities. “We’re creating the roads based on ground-based risk and we push that out into the drone community to let them know where it’s okay to fly,” says CEO Michael Healander. Congrats Michael and team, thanks for the hard work you are doing.