STAR TRIBUNE – Rob and Ryan Weber, tech entrepreneur brothers from St. Cloud, this morning announced their venture capital firm Great North Labs raised $23.7 million from investors in a debut fund that will seed other startups in the Upper Midwest.
Rob Weber said the firm plans to use about half of the money to invest in companies that are just getting off the ground and the rest for firms that starting to grow quickly.
Great North Labs is dually-based in St. Cloud and Minneapolis and co-managed by the Webers and Pradip Madan, who will represent the fund in Silicon Valley. It already has investments in a portfolio of 12 tech companies chiefly with money the Weber brothers earned by starting, building and then selling NativeX, an advertising platform for mobile gadgets.
