Bread and Butter Ventures
Bread and Butter Ventures is a Minneapolis-based seed-stage venture capital firm that invests globally across Food Tech, Health Tech, and Enterprise Tech, leveraging Minnesota's Fortune 500 corporate network for deal flow and portfolio support, most recently via its $40M Fund IV (2025).
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersMinneapolis, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Bread and Butter Ventures does
Bread and Butter Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded in 2017. The firm invests globally at the seed stage across three "essential" verticals — Food Tech, Health Tech, and Enterprise Tech — while leveraging its Minnesota base for corporate access. Minnesota's concentration of 16 Fortune 500 enterprises (including Target, Cargill, Ecolab, Medtronic, 3M, Mayo Clinic, General Mills, U.S. Bank, and Best Buy) provides what the firm describes as a strategic advantage in sourcing deals, validating theses, and connecting founders to enterprise customers. The team comprises Managing Partners Brett Brohl and Mary Grove, Partner, Platform Stephanie Rich, and Operations Manager Anna Willgohs — a deliberately small four-person organization that originated out of Brohl's Techstars background and Grove's Google and Revolution's Rise of the Rest experience.
The firm's product is capital and post-investment support. It deploys seed-stage checks, will both lead and co-invest, and assembles syndicates with value-adding investors. Beyond the check, Bread and Butter runs a Platform effort — hands-on support connecting founders to partners, customers, and resources — supplemented by community programming such as office hours, the Female Founders Series, the Venture 101 educational series, the Medium blog, and the Brett's Brain YouTube channel. Recent disclosed deployments include leading a $3M seed round in Intellectible (AI-native revenue operations) in June 2026 and participating in Snout's $10M Series A (part of a $110M round including $100M in debt) in January 2026.
The business model is that of a traditional venture capital fund. Revenue is generated through management fees on committed fund capital and through carried interest on realized exits. The firm debuted its fourth fund, Bread and Butter Fund IV, at $40 million in 2025, with prior fund vintages implied but not separately disclosed in the available data. Capital is sourced from limited partners; ownership is held by the founding and general partners; and the firm has no disclosed parent company, no subsidiaries, and no public listing.
Bread and Butter Ventures firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Bread and Butter Ventures
- Legal name
- Bread and Butter Ventures
- Website
- https://breadandbutterventures.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Bread and Butter Ventures is a Minneapolis-based seed-stage venture capital firm that invests globally across Food Tech, Health Tech, and Enterprise Tech, leveraging Minnesota's Fortune 500 corporate network for deal flow and portfolio support, most recently via its $40M Fund IV (2025).
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Bread and Butter Ventures industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Seed-stage Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)
Keywords
Where Bread and Butter Ventures is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Minneapolis
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Bread and Butter Ventures business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Investment Returns: Generates returns through equity investments in portfolio companies; returns realized through exits via acquisitions, IPOs, or secondary sales
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
Bread and Butter Ventures product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Bread and Butter Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in seed-stage companies across Food Tech, Health Tech, and Enterprise Tech sectors. The firm deploys capital (e.g., $40M Fund IV debuted in 2025) by leading or co-investing in seed rounds, building syndicates with value-adding investors, and providing post-investment platform support connecting founders to people, partners, and resources.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Bread and Butter Fund IV
Companies that use Bread and Butter Ventures
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Bread and Butter Ventures technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Bread and Butter Ventures partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Techstars Farm to Fork AcceleratorcorePartnership with Cargill and Ecolab. Managing Partner Brett Brohl was former Managing Director of this accelerator. Stephanie Rich was former EIR. The accelerator supports food and agriculture startups.
- Techstars Retail AcceleratorminorBrett Brohl served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Techstars Retail Accelerator in Partnership with Target.
- Techstars Startup Next Food & AgminorBrett Brohl served as Director of inaugural program in Partnership with Land O'Lakes.
- Silicon North StarsminorNonprofit co-founded by Managing Partner Mary Grove to help young Minnesotans from underserved communities pursue careers in tech.
- Forge North CoalitionminorBrett Brohl is a founding member and sits on the leadership council. Coalition focused on growing Minnesota startup ecosystem.
- Launch MNminorBrett Brohl is an initial member of the Launch MN advisory board, supporting Minnesota startup ecosystem development.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Bread and Butter Ventures competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- gener8tor: Midwest-based accelerator and venture fund investing at the seed stage. Comparable on accelerator-to-fund model, regional roots, and early-stage check sizes.
- Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund: Seed-stage venture fund investing outside of traditional coastal tech hubs; both Mary Grove and Brett Brohl previously worked at Rise of the Rest. Closest direct peer on stage, geography strategy, and founder support model.
- Great North Ventures: Minnesota-focused early-stage VC investing across health, agriculture, and enterprise tech. Direct geographic peer with highly overlapping sector theses.
- Matchstick Ventures: Minneapolis-based early-stage VC focused on seed-stage B2B software startups. Same geographic base, similar stage, overlapping sector focus on enterprise SaaS — a strong local peer.
- Lerer Hippeau: Seed-stage NYC VC backing early-stage consumer and enterprise startups. Direct peer on stage (seed lead/co-lead) and active post-investment platform support, though anchored in a different ecosystem.
- High Alpha: Indianapolis-based venture studio and seed-stage fund focused on B2B SaaS. Comparable on stage, B2B enterprise focus, and Midwest-anchored thesis with operator-led value-add.
- Flyover Capital: Midwest-anchored venture fund investing in seed and Series A enterprise software. Comparable stage range, regional thesis, and enterprise-tech orientation.
Broad incumbents
- Techstars: Global accelerator and early-stage investor with sector-specific programs including Farm to Fork, which Bread and Butter's Brett Brohl previously ran. Highly comparable on sector focus, stage, and accelerator-driven thesis; Techstars is far larger and broader.
Others
- SVB Capital / Silicon Valley Bank Startup Banking: Ecosystem partner to early-stage founders and investors, including many Midwest VCs. Not a direct competitor but a thematic peer as a foundational enabler of the startup ecosystem Bread and Butter serves.
Emerging players
- Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator: Sector-specific accelerator that Bread and Butter co-runs and that Brohl previously led. Closely aligned on Food Tech thesis and Cargill/Ecolab partnerships; a partnership channel rather than a pure competitive peer.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Bread and Butter Ventures social profiles
Digital presenceBread and Butter Ventures financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Bread and Butter Ventures leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Bread and Butter Ventures funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Bread and Butter Ventures M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments96 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Bread and Butter Ventures
What does Bread and Butter Ventures do?
Bread and Butter Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in seed-stage companies across Food Tech, Health Tech, and Enterprise Tech sectors. The firm deploys capital (e.g., $40M Fund IV debuted in 2025) by leading or co-investing in seed rounds, building syndicates with value-adding investors, and providing post-investment platform support connecting founders to people, partners, and resources.
Is Bread and Butter Ventures a public or private company?
Bread and Butter Ventures is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Bread and Butter Ventures founded?
Bread and Butter Ventures was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Bread and Butter Ventures based?
Bread and Butter Ventures is headquartered in Minneapolis, United States, in the North America region.
How does Bread and Butter Ventures make money?
One revenue line is on record: investment Returns.
Who are Bread and Butter Ventures's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are gener8tor, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Great North Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, High Alpha and Flyover Capital. Techstars is listed as a broad incumbent. SVB Capital / Silicon Valley Bank Startup Banking is listed as an others. Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator is listed as an emerging player.
Does Bread and Butter Ventures have an API?
No public API is recorded for Bread and Butter Ventures.
What industry is Bread and Butter Ventures in?
Bread and Butter Ventures's product category is Seed-stage Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAB, Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B), with a secondary code of FSANAAAD, Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists). Its NAICS code is 523940 and its SIC code is 6282.