Cairn Cross, Co-Founder of FreshTracks Capital presents the state of the Private Investment Landscape in Vermont in 2020

1. Vermont Private Investment Landscape 2020
Cairn G. Cross, Co-founder FreshTracks Capital
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cairncross
@vtcairncross
2/8/2021

2. Cairn G. Cross:
Co-Founder / Managing Partner of FreshTracks Capital
• Formed in 2000
• Investing from our 5th fund
• Completed investments in
~55 companies
• 3/4ths of our investments
located in Vermont

3. Agenda
• 2020 U.S. Venture Capital Markets
o Source: Q4 2020 Pitchbook/NVCA Venture Capital Monitor
• 2020 Vermont Venture Capital Data
o Source: 2010 – 2019 data from NVCA Pitchbook
o Source: H1 2020 NVCA Pitchbook Data, plus Reg D and Reg CF filings
• Notable Trends in the VT Ecosystem
• Post COVID Vermont thoughts

4. 2020 National Venture Capital Trends:
Total Value Up, Deal Count Down Slightly

5. 2020 VC – Angel & Early Deals Make Up 72% of Total
Deals & 33% of Dollars Invested
• Average Angel & Seed Investment - $2MM
• Average Early Stage Investment - $12MM
• Average Late Stage Investment - $30MM

6. U.S. VC Funding for Female Founders: 20% of funding
by deals, 14% by Dollars. Avg size of round $9MM
• Data includes companies with at least one female founder.

7. SPACs Get Popular
• Special Purpose Acquisition
Companies SPACS are being used
in later stage venture particularly
as a bypassing of the traditional
IPO market and risk.
• Moving down into the early stage
financing world
• “Bubble” or does this trend have
staying power?

8. 2020 National VC Wrap Up – My Thoughts
• COVID – What COVID?
• 5X increase in dollars-per-year from ‘10 though ‘20
• 2X increase in number of investments per year ‘10 – ‘20.
• Continued slight skewing towards later stage deals
• Will digital diligence become the norm?
• Approximately 4X increase in number of companies with
a female founder receiving VC dollars during past
decade, but still more progress to be made.

9. Agenda
• 2020 U.S. Venture Capital Markets
o Source: Q4 2020 Pitchbook/NVCA Venture Capital Monitor
• 2020 Vermont Venture Capital Data
o Source: 2010 – 2019 data from NVCA Pitchbook
o Source: H1 2020 NVCA Pitchbook Data, plus Reg D and Reg CF filings
• Notable Trends in the VT Ecosystem
• Post COVID Vermont thoughts

10. Vermont VC Investment Trend – Number of Deals
tripled from 2010 to 2020
• 2010 is an outlier (larger later stage deals skewed numbers)
• Investment dollar amounts per year bounce around
• FreshTracks participated in approximately 30% of the 2020 investments

11. VT Average Deal Size ~$2.3MM in the past 5 Years
• Each bar is 3 year rolling
average to smooth data.
This smooths out the effect
of a few large outlier
fundings.
• As the number of financings
tripled, the average deal
size settled into low 7 figure
range by 2020

12. 31 VT 2020 Deals Categorized by Size and Dollar
Amount
• 31 total deals: 20 deals were equity, 11 were debt
• Of the 14 deals less than $1MM, 9 were debt (Likely in many cases convertible debt)
• 1 of 31 used Reg CF

13. 2020 Vermont Investments – Average No. of Investors in a
Round & Check Size Per Investor Scales with Round Size
Round Size Average Investors
Required
Average Check Size Per
Investor
Less than $1MM 2 $136K
$1MM - $10MM 11 $220K
$10MM and up 26 $897K

14. 2020 VT Deals by Industry: MedTech, Health/Wellness and
Consumer/Food/Bev Comprise 39% of Deals Completed
Industry Segment Number
of Deals
MedTech & Health/Wellness 8
Consumer/Food/Bev 4
MarTech 3
Adult Beverage 2
InsurTech 2
Aerospace 2
Agriculture Related 2
Energy 2
Media 2
Other 4
Total 31

15. Agenda
• 2020 U.S. Venture Capital Markets
o Source: Q4 2020 Pitchbook/NVCA Venture Capital Monitor
• 2020 Vermont Venture Capital Data
o Source: 2010 – 2019 data from NVCA Pitchbook
o Source: H1 2020 NVCA Pitchbook Data, plus Reg D and Reg CF filings
• Notable Trends in the VT Ecosystem
• Post COVID Vermont thoughts

16. Female Founders Involved in 22% of Deal Financings &
Received 16% of Total Dollars
Female Founder Fundings:
• 7 Out of 31 companies
(22%)
• Those companies raised
$17.2MM out of
$107MM (16%)

17. Investment of Note – Shacksbury Cider
Shacksbury completed
a $1.07MM Regulation
CF (Crowdfunding)
fundraise via Startup
Engine platform from
400 discrete
nationwide investors.

18. Investments of Note (Reg D offerings) –
DealerPolicy & CoreMap
Dealer Policy (Insurance Technology) CoreMap (Medical Technology)

19. Investment of Note – Peck Electric, now iSun
• Peck Electric (HQ So.
Burlington) – EPC Solar
company founded in 1972
• Goes public via purchase by
Jensyn Acquisition Corp a
“SPAC” in June 2019
• Grows to $30MM+ Revenue
& $130MM Market Cap in
2020
• Acquires iSun in Jan 2021

20. Traction in Vermont Industries of Note
Marketing Technology (Martech) Aerospace

21. Active VT Investment Firms/Syndicates
•J.H. Capital (Jim Crook family office)
•Hula
•BT Innovation Fund
•Vermont Community Foundation
•Vermont Seed Capital Fund
•VSJF Flexible Capital Fund
•FreshTracks Capital

22. Agenda
• 2020 U.S. Venture Capital Markets
o Source: Q4 2020 Pitchbook/NVCA Venture Capital Monitor
• 2020 Vermont Venture Capital Data
o Source: 2010 – 2019 data from NVCA Pitchbook
o Source: H1 2020 NVCA Pitchbook Data, plus Reg D and Reg CF filings
• Notable Trends in the VT Ecosystem
• Post COVID Vermont thoughts

23. Final Thoughts: VT Private Financing Ecosystem
Strengthening, May See Additional Tailwinds in a Post
COVID-19 World
• Solid increase in number of financings during past decade.
• Small numbers overall. Data skewed occasionally by one off discrete financings.
• Several active investment syndicates within the state provide healthy competition
and access to capital. Multiple entry points.
• Good representation of Vermont companies in national business acceleration
programs.
• Inflow of Non-VT capital for many financings, particularly those greater than $1MM.
• Pandemic enabling companies to employ workers virtually, growing the talent pool.
• COVID refugees into VT beginning to emerge and assimilate.

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