The TL Fund is a regional accelerator investment fund – unique to San Diego. It’s never been done, no other region has anything like it. It is designed to be philanthropic, with the goal of building a better San Diego for future generations – into perpetuity.
The Fund (https://www.tlfund.org) announced today its first four investments. All future returns directed right back into the regional community. Whereas most venture funds are designed to make the managing partners and investors wealthy, this fund is designed to continually redistribute its returns back into the San Diego economy to benefit our communities.
Today, the fund announced four new investments of $100,000 each ($400,000 total) into local startups:
The fund specifically chose companies reflective of the innovation community: two life science companies, along with one cleantech and one software company. Three of the founders are female. Three companies have a first time founder.
The companies will be sharing their investment pitch to the community on September 24th at San Diego’s Innovation Day, where the tech and life science ecosystem comes together to take over Petco Park for a full day of activities. It’s open to the public. (Tickets can be purchased at www.sandiegoisbetter.com)
Faith Barnett, CEO of Resolute Science said, “we are so appreciative of Connect, the investment, and the entire Connect team. They’ve been a huge boost. We’re excited to have TL and Connect in our camp.”
Said Jennifer Kyle, CEO of Condor Software, “I have no doubt that TL fund is going to be a high value add for us and the community. We’re excited to be working together!”
Dom Meyer, CEO of Looq said, “we’re fortunate to have Connect working on behalf of our entire startup community. We got our first big customer at Innovation Day. Fast forward 1.5 years, and they’re now a $6M customer. And now TL is on our cap table!”
The new fund is the brainchild of Connect, a local nonprofit organization that has propelled San Diego into the limelight as a global innovation hub. The fund is guided by local San Diego tech and life science leaders, who collaborate alongside Connect. The Foundation is continuing to raise funds – noting that the goal is for investment dollars to multiply, and then be redeployed into the ecosystem, to help build a better San Diego for all. Into perpetuity.
“We’re super excited about each of these companies, and even moreso, the potential impact we can drive for the future of our region,” said TL Fund CEO, Mike Krenn, who is also the CEO of Connect. “There are so many talented entrepreneurs in the region. San Diego has a legitimate chance to be more than just a recognized global innovation hub. We have a chance to do it the right way, the San Diego way, to make life better for future generations here.”
The Fund’s Investment Director, Dave Titus is a former venture capitalist. “We looked at so many great tech and life science companies. The talent is this region is so impressive. We’re raising more money, so we can deploy even more capital, into more startups. We’re committed to making a positive impact.”
The TL fund is actively seeking more philanthropic investment. The initial funding has been led by two San Diego legends, Buzz Woolley and Malin Burnham. “We’re so grateful for their leadership” said Krenn. “They are pioneers and entrepreneurs themselves. They saw a way where their philanthropic dollars could multiply, and give back potentially into perpetuity. That’s pretty cool. We would love and appreciate the opportunity to speak with others interested in giving back. It’s a compelling model, being driven by a board with honest and sincere intention.”
What makes the TL Foundation so unique is that no one involved in the fund is taking a carry (typically 20% of the profits off the top), and the fund has no management fee (typically 2% of funds under management). Krenn is taking zero salary, and no ownership percentage for his leadership role. That means nearly 100% of the returns will go right back into the investment fund and back into San Diego. As far as we can tell, this resource does not exist in other cities.
Krenn, a long-time leader in San Diego’s innovation ecosystem, shared a longterm vision. “Over time, a $15M fund becomes $100 million then $300 million and so on. All of that money gets reinvested back into the local economy – and not just into startups, but across the community. We created an independent board by design. They’re in place to oversee our ultimate goal, which is to create economic opportunity for generations to come, for all families, across all of San Diego. There’s never been anything like this.”
The inspiration for the TL Foundation came from understanding the history of Connect and San Diego. “Everyone in San Diego has benefited from the generous philanthropy of a handful of individuals,” said Krenn. “People like Buzz Wooley, Malin Burnham, Irwin Jacobs, Ernest Rady, Conrad Prebys and David Hale. They largely created the San Diego we love. We need to inspire the next generation of leaders in their likeness.”
“Nonprofits designed to support economic opportunity are really hard,” Krenn continued. “We’re just not high on philanthropic radars. Yet what we do, building a strong diverse economy, is foundational to the region’s future.”
Krenn noted that this is for San Diego, by San Diegans. Connect has been approached by numerous outside accelerators, seeking San Diego deal flow. “We’ve gone from a one billion market to a five billion market. We are now the number five venture market in the country. Investing in San Diego is a good business,” said Krenn, “We have a unique opportunity to create an evergreen vehicle, to grow and recycle money back into our local community. Who does that? You know who – only San Diego! We are on a quest to build the best damn innovation ecosystem on the planet.”
About the Companies:
Condor is a vertical SaaS product for biopharma, providing a financial system of record that helps biopharma CFOs understand, control, and report their biggest expense in an SEC-compliant manner. Financial visibility, cost-efficiency, and SEC audit compliance are paramount in this industry given an inflationary environment and increased audit scrutiny on the industry. The Condor platform roadmap includes predictive forecasting, generative budgeting, scenario planning and collaboration connectivity to help bring more life-saving drugs to market faster and more cost-effectively.
Looq is dedicated to bringing AI to build a better built world. Climate change and increased societal pressures put our outdated infrastructure at risk, driving the need to inspect, repair and maintain it faster than ever before. Looq automates the creation of 3D Digital Twins- capturing the complex physical world and creating detailed 3D models. The company’s software vision technology cuts field survey times by over 100x, amplifies data value using its proprietary AI, and powers collaboration across global engineering teams.
Papillon Therapeutics is advancing gene therapy treatments for life threatening conditions including Friedreich’s ataxia, Danon disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. The company specializes in developing gene modified hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) therapies, leveraging the natural capacity of these unique cells to safely deliver a gene therapy throughout the body. Papillion’s clinical stage program for treatment of Cystinosis reported positive data in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial and is being advanced by Novartis. Non-dilutive funding has been awarded to advance research around Cystinosis, Friedreich’s ataxia, and Danon disease programs.
Resolute Science is a preclinical biotechnology company developing cancer therapeutics for aggressive and hard-to-treat solid tumors. These cancers are characterized by an abundance of tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) that support tumor growth. Instead of fighting TAMs, Resolute uses their natural cellular machinery to process and deliver cancer-killing agents directly into adjacent cancer cells. Based on Resolute’s modular technology platform, the company’s lead therapeutic MAC-TAC (Macrophage Targeted Conjugates demonstrates powerful anti-cancer efficacy in tumor models. The flexible design has the potential to deliver superior safety and efficacy to those cancer patients who have run out of treatment options.
