Check Out the Investors You Haven't Considered YetWealthy families have money to invest. Here's how to find it.
This story appears in theOctober 2015issue of狗万官方.Subscribe »
When Morten Middelfart went searching for seed investors for Social Quant, his Twitter analytics company in Tampa, Fla., his banker suggested pitching Atlantic Merchant Capital Advisors, a local family office. One informal meeting with the private investment firm, which manages the wealth of individuals and their families, was all it took to land Middelfart's venture a high-figure investment early this year, along with ongoing advice, customer introductions and part-time office space.
Such experiences are rare, but they do happen, and more family wealth-management groups are betting on private equity deals. There are some drawbacks: Family offices can take longer to seal the deal than traditional angels and VCs, and they generally have a lower tolerance for startup failures, warns David McCombie III, CEO of McCombie Group, a Miami-based private investment firm that has invested about $10 million in half a dozen startups in the past three years. But, he adds, many enjoy advising and supporting founders beyond simply writing a check. Plus, they have buckets of cash.
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