Looking Back: 2021 in Review

We welcomed a new Board Chair and Vice Chair in Dr. Brien Walton and Claire Deselle, respectively, and we thanked John Murray and Tom Dunne for their service in those same roles during that prior fiscal year.

John Burns moved into a part time role assisting the Fund remotely as a Strategic Advisor after having successfully grown MVF from a small experiment within the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) to an independently branded and well-respected capital provider for Maine startups. John's tremendous contributions to Maine's prosperity were recently recognized by FAME with a Dirigo Lifetime Achievement Award.

Joe Powers was appointed Managing Director in John's stead after a competitive search process. Joe lives in Portland and brings continuity to the Fund, having worked alongside John Burns for the previous two years.

Last, but certainly not least, the Fund was fortunate to hire new Investment Manager Nina Scheepers, a Bowdoin graduate and Unum alumna, who lives in Topsham with her husband Alex.

We were also proud and excited to welcome three new innovative portfolio companies: True Fin, American Unagi, and KinoTek. Led by Jen Levin, True Fin is pioneering a traceable supply chain for "net to table" fresh Gulf of Maine fish, while Sara Rademaker and team at American Unagi have established themselves as one of the first North American eel producers. Justin Hafner and the KinoTek team are building a breakthrough 3D visualization software platform for movement clinicians.

Overall, MVF deployed $2,100,779 of investment into Maine-based companies in the calendar year of 2021. This included $1,710,454 in follow-on funding for companies we had previously supported. For every dollar invested by Maine Venture Fund, we helped catalyze another $15.50 in investment alongside us by investors both within the state (Maine Angels, Coastal Ventures, Coastal Enterprises Inc. Catalyst Fund, Maine Technology Institute, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and others) and from outside of Maine (Boston Harbor Angels, MooDoos Investments, SustainVC, Yes.VC, True Wealth Ventures, York.ie, Morningside, Advantage Capital, Resolve Growth Partners, and many more firms and individuals).

Overall job count in the MVF portfolio is expected to grow measurably from the 520 jobs sustained at the end of 2020 in what has been another tumultuous year for staffing and supply chain management, almost without exception across industries and regions. Despite these and many other ancillary challenges wrought by the pandemic, we've been inspired and impressed by the ingenuity and pluck of our portfolio company leaders as they continue to navigate this unprecedented time.

Earlier this month, we marked the year with our annual End of Year Celebration. Like last year, we held the gathering remotely and recognized several portfolio companies for their extraordinary effort and performance throughout the year. In addition to welcoming the aforementioned TruFin and KinoTek to the portfolio, we also "awarded" the following companies:

Grit: Mousam Valley Mushrooms, Sea Bags

Ingenuity:Blue Trace, Maine Craft Distilling

Acceleration:MedRhythms, Vetro

A highlight to the session was keynote speaker and LL Bean CEO Stephen Smith, who shared several insightful stories with the group related to his own fascinating career journey and the unique emphasis on culture and accountability that he brings to LL Bean.

In closing, we're thankful for the opportunity to work alongside so many dynamic partners in our mission of supporting high growth companies in Maine. As we noted on our end of year Zoom call, these companies, and their intrepid leaders, are our inspiration and the reason why we're energized to wake up each morning ready to get to work. As we look forward to 2022, we hope to build on that inspiration to expand our impact in the State even further.