Last week the news broke that Teespring, a local startup experiencing meteoric growth, closed a $20M round from Andreesen Horowitz (a16z), the hottest venture firm on the West Coast. Zoom out from Teespring and take a look at the Providence Startup Map. The Providence metro has seen an uptick in major financing events among our high-potential startups. We sensed that the last year was a major milestone, so we did some back-of-the-envelope math. The results were impressive: in aggregate, the companies on the map raised $140 Million in the last 12 months alone.
Just as impressive as the dollars invested are the blue-chip venture capitalists that have invested in Rhode Island companies. In addition to Andreesen Horowitz, Atlas, Battery, Bay City, Cue Ball, Excel, First Round, Formation 8, Greylock, Shasta, and Stata have all made investments here. All of these investors are from Tier 1 capital markets, showing that it is possible for high-potential, venture-scale companies to attract venture investment while being based in Rhode Island.
Teespring, started by two Brown grads who are Betaspring alums, and one local angel investor, is a perfect example of how the startup scene has begun to click in the Providence metro. Teespring joins Andera, GForm, Greenbytes, Mnemosyne, Nabsys, NuLabel, SendGrid, ShapeUp, Swipely, Utilidata, VoltServer, and of course Alex and Ani as the newest star in our startup constellation.
There are a lot of factors driving our community’s fundraising success--good ideas, good teams, good timing, and an equal measure of good luck. But one factor not to overlook is the overall increase in startup activity happening in the metro area. Critical mass is making a difference in encouraging new starts, enabling breakout successes, and creating a higher profile for startups of all kinds in the Providence metro.
With an election season upon us--and new leadership on the horizon--we have the opportunity to do even more to help our startup ecosystem grow. If we play our cards right, Teespring will be far from the last startup star to rise.