Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund

What Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund does

Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund (SMCF), doing business as SEMN Capital Fund, is a private venture capital firm founded in 2017 and headquartered at 221 1st Avenue SW, Suite 600, Rochester, Minnesota. SMCF provides early-stage equity capital to Minnesota entrepreneurs building innovative, high-growth companies, with a stated preference for businesses located in Southeast Minnesota or with a nexus to Mayo Clinic. The firm operates as a membership organization composed of current and former Mayo Clinic physicians, scientists and business leaders, alongside local and national small business owners and investment professionals. Investment focus is concentrated in med tech and life sciences, with selective exposure to other sectors.

SMCF manages two distinct fund vehicles. Fund I closed in 2017 at $2 million and was fully deployed between 2018 and 2021 across 14 Minnesota start-ups, ten of which were either located in Southeast Minnesota or linked to Mayo Clinic-developed technologies. Fund II closed in early 2022 at $7 million and is co-managed by David Herbert and Harry Hoffman, both of whom retired from long careers at Mayo Clinic. The firm targets a 2.5X return on committed capital over an 8-10 year expected fund life.

SMCF's business model centers on a membership-driven investment evaluation process. Co-managers Herbert and Hoffman screen all potential portfolio companies, invite the full membership to hear CEO presentations, and conduct final due diligence only on companies endorsed by the membership; the Board of Managers formally approves investments. The fund offers members the opportunity to make personal side-investments on identical terms to the fund. SMCF surfaced as a co-lead on a $20.6 million Series A financing for Minnesota Medical Technologies Corporation in March 2026 alongside HM Venture Partners, illustrating the firm's co-investment posture alongside its own direct vehicles.

Name

Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund

Legal name

Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund

Website

https://semncapital.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund is a private venture capital firm in Rochester, Minnesota that provides early-stage equity capital to Minnesota entrepreneurs, with a preference for Southeast Minnesota and Mayo Clinic-linked companies, operating as a membership organization across two funds.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Capital Fund-of-Funds (FSANAGAC)

Keywords

• Early-stage venture capital
• Seed stage investing
• Life sciences investing
• Medtech venture funding
• Private equity fund

Headquarters

HQ city

Rochester

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: SMCF invests capital with the objective of earning members a 2.5X return on their committed capital over an 8-10 year expected fund life. Returns come from equity appreciation and exits through acquisitions or IPOs of portfolio companies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund (SMCF) is a private venture capital fund that provides early-stage equity capital to Minnesota-based entrepreneurs building innovative, high-growth companies. It operates two funds (Fund I of $2 million raised in 2017 and Fund II of $7 million raised in early 2022) that invest primarily in seed and early-stage rounds, with a preference for companies in Southeast Minnesota or those with a nexus to Mayo Clinic, particularly in med tech and life sciences.

Product overview

Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund is a venture capital firm providing early-stage investment capital to Minnesota entrepreneurs building innovative, high-growth companies. The fund operates as a single platform with two distinct funds (Fund I and Fund II) that invest across the state with a preference for Southeast Minnesota and Mayo Clinic-connected opportunities. Fund I and Fund II represent the core investment vehicles, targeting med tech and life science sectors primarily, with a focus on seed and early-stage equity rounds where capital is most scarce.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fund I
• Fund II

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.5X return target on committed capital over 8-10 year expected fund life

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Rochester Area Economic Development Inc (RAEDI)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014RAEDI sponsored the 'Journey to Growth' regional economic development plan in 2014 that recognized the need for a local source of equity capital. RAEDI executives Gary Smith and Xavier Frigola formed SMCF and helped raise its initial $2 million fund (Fund I) in 2017.
• Mayo CliniccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012SMCF co-managers David Herbert and Harry Hoffman formed Mayo Clinic's venture co-investment program together in 2012. SMCF members include many current or former physicians, scientists and business leaders from Mayo Clinic. Many portfolio companies are linked to technologies developed at Mayo Clinic.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BioGenerator: St. Louis-based venture builder and investor focused on early-stage life sciences and bio startups. Directly comparable as a regionally anchored, life-science-focused seed/Series A investor with university/research institute deal-flow ties analogous to SMCF's Mayo relationship.
• HM Venture Partners: Co-led the $20.6M Series A for Minnesota Medical Technologies with SMCF. Comparable as a Midwest-focused early- and growth-stage investor overlapping in med-tech and health care, with similar check sizes and co-investor profile.
• Mayo Clinic Ventures: The corporate venture arm of Mayo Clinic, where SMCF's co-managers built their careers and the co-investment program. It is the most directly comparable investor because it sources and funds Mayo-originated technologies alongside SMCF and often co-invests with it.

Emerging players

• gener8tor: Midwest accelerator and seed investor running programs across multiple U.S. cities. Comparable as a regionally distributed early-stage investor, but with broader sector focus and accelerator-driven model rather than SMCF's Mayo-centric niche.

Regional players

• M25: Chicago-based seed-stage venture firm focused on the Midwest. Comparable as a region-specific early-stage investor, though generally sector-agnostic rather than med-tech-focused.
• Wisconsin Investment Partners: Angel/early-stage investor network based in Wisconsin funding startups across the Upper Midwest. Comparable as a membership-driven, regionally focused early-stage capital provider with similar LP engagement dynamics to SMCF.
• Hopen Life Science Ventures: Michigan-based venture firm focused exclusively on life sciences and medical devices. Comparable as a region-anchored, life-science-focused early-stage investor with similar sector specialization, though operating in a different Midwest geography than SMCF.
• Great Lakes Ventures: Midwest-focused seed and pre-seed investor supporting founders across the Great Lakes region. Comparable as a geographically bounded early-stage fund investing across sectors with a similar community-oriented LP base.
• Baird Capital: Wisconsin-based private equity and venture platform with healthcare and life-sciences exposure. Comparable as a Midwest-headquartered investment firm with life-sciences capability, though typically writing larger and later-stage checks than SMCF.

Broad incumbents

• ARCH Venture Partners: Chicago-headquartered, large-scale venture firm with deep life-science and biotech focus. Comparable as a Midwest-based life-sciences investor, though at vastly larger scale and with broader stage/geographic mandate than SMCF.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments9 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund