SALT LAKE ST. LOUIS CITY St. Louis might be known as a primarily food and agriculture driven economy, especially when it comes to the startup and alt Lake City and nearby Provo have become influential startup tech ecosystem here. However, St. Louis also has a history of hubs over the past decade. In 2011, seed- and early-stage launching iconic brands such as Budweiser, Purina, Panera, and Sfinancing was $217.8 million across 40 rounds. Today, those Energizer. We hope Summersalt will join their ranks soon, with capital levels are substantially higher. 2021 will likely eclipse the $1 a generation-defining lifestyle brand that stands for inspiring billion mark for the first time, with $894.9 million invested through joy in our consumers by making women feel comfortable early September. Thanks to heavyweights such as Qualtrics, Salt Lake and confident, initially in swimwear and now throughout their City’s bona fides as an emerging startup hub is attracting scores of entire wardrobe. talent from across the country. In turn, employees from existing tech companies are more likely to strike out on their own. The past seven We've been fortunate to have the support of local investors years have each seen at least 60 seed and early-stage rounds in such as Lewis & Clark Ventures and Cultivation Capital, regional the ecosystem. Capital levels are now reliably above $250 million investors from other Midwest cities, and now firms from places every year. such as Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, and Utah. More and more startups across industries are springing up in St. Louis, FIG. 18 Salt Lake City seed- and early-stage VC deal activity making this a diverse, vibrant ecosystem for entrepreneurs. We are excited for what's to come, and to help the next generation of 80 84 St. Louis founders thrive. 77 40 69 65 70 LORI COULTER 63 57 .8 Co-Founder, CEO, and President of Summersalt (a 7 ROTR Portfolio Company) 21 39 40 $ RESHMA CHAMBERLIN 3 Co-Founder and Chief Brand & Digital Officer of 6 85. .4 7. 1 2 2 3 9 Summersalt (a ROTR Portfolio Company) 6 1 $ .7 . . .7 9 1 7. 3 6 2 3.8 4. $ $ 5 2 93 42 5 3 9 2 3 3 2 3 8 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ he St. Louis ecosystem has enjoyed consistent seed and early- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * stage deal volume over the past decade. What has changed is 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 20 1 Tthe dollar amounts, which are much higher today compared to 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 02 2011. 2021 is an outlier year at $247.1 million. Between 2018 and 2020, 2 Deal value ($M) Deal count St. Louis was becoming adjusted to around $100 million of seed and early-stage dollars per year. In 2011, by comparison, that number was Source: PitchBook | Geography: Salt Lake City only $35.3 million. *As of September 1, 2021 FIG. 19 St. Louis seed- and early-stage VC deal activity Salt Lake City is already punching way above its weight – in a lot 39 of ways, Utah today is like the Bay Area in the late 1990s. We’ve 36 34 33 had several big success stories, including Qualtrics, Pluralsight, 32 31 Owlet, Lucid and Divvy, among others. Companies like Qualtrics 25 27 and Lucid—which aren’t startups anymore—will help generate the 22 22 next generation of successful startups. 19 0 .4 .7 . We have several fantastic universities nearby, which are 3 .1 8 59 . 3 9 4 $ equipping the next generation of entrepreneurs with the tools 35 4 3 $ 5 1 $ $ $ 8 6 . 2 7. 4. .1 0. . they’ll need to thrive. That includes not only entrepreneurship 8 1 1 4 5 9 104 2 centers but also campus- and VC-sponsored student funds. As $ $ $ $ $9 $ a matter of fact, one of Kickstart’s most promising investments, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * Pura, started out as a student fund investment. The company has 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 20 1 enjoyed over 1,000% growth year-over-year for the past three 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 02 2 years. Deal value ($M) Deal count KAREN ZELNICK Source: PitchBook | Geography: St. Louis *As of September 1, 2021 Senior Director of Platform, Kickstart Fund 11 / Beyond Silicon Valley: Coastal dollars and local investors accelerate early-stage startup funding across the US