CSA Partners

Milwaukee’s Next Step Forward

Author: Joe Kirgues
Publication: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Date: April 27, 2015

 

About three years ago we invited a few local business leaders with us on a trip to 1871, which labels itself as Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub for digital tech startups. We frequently travel there with our portfolio companies to set up pitches for Wisconsin startups seeking funds from Chicago investors. (I’m on the train to Chicago for that purpose as I write this post).

Whenever I go to 1871 I feel like I’ve looked through a window into tomorrow—the place is crawling with excitement and new companies. The facility’s champion JB Pritzker has used his efforts to highlight Chicago’s move into the knowledge economy.

We’ve wanted something (and someone) like that for our community.

Among those who attended the tour that day were Brian Taffora and Pat Farley from CSA Partners. As we left the tour, Pat and Brian told us their group (led by Chris Abele) was interested in building a similar community in Wisconsin. They explained to my co-founder and I that they believed any successful local effort would require investment capital tied with an entrepreneurial hub such as 1871. We agreed.

 

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First look at Ward 4, Pritzlaff startup hub from CSA Partners

Author: Alison Bauter
Publication: Milwaukee Business Journal
Date: December 18, 2014

 

CSA Partners LLC is finalizing developers this week for Ward 4, a planned startup hub to open April 1 inside Milwaukee’s historic Pritzlaff Building.

The venture investment firm backed by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is finalizing plans for the space to house startups, small businesses and large corporations in a collaborative environment.

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CSA Partners and SpiritShop

Author: Joe Kirgues
Publication: JSOnline.com
Date: November 10, 2014

 

Recently, local venture capital fund CSA Partners founded by Chris Abele, partnered with other Midwest investors Detroit Venture Partners and LightBank (Chicago) to invest in Midwest startup SpiritShop. SpiritShop.com is the leading online retailer and eCommerce platform for officially licensed, Kindergarten through High School apparel and merchandise. SpiritShop sells through its own 100,000 online school stores offering hundreds of products with stock and customizable designs. SpiritShop also powers white-label eCommerce stores for schools, teams, national and state athletic associations as well as local and national sports media companies.

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CSA Partners plan startup hub

Author: Alison Bauter
Publication: Milwaukee Business Journal
Date: August 29, 2014

 

CSA Partners LLC, a venture investment firm backed by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, in March registered a new company named Ward 4 LLC.

On Aug. 21, the firm revealed plans to create what managing director Brian Tafforacalls a “curated community, where people, companies and organizations apply for space.”

Slated for Milwaukee’s historic Pritzlaff Building, Ward 4 will house startups, small businesses and large corporations looking to glean some of that innovative thinking.

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CSA Partners to build start-up hub at Pritzlaff building

Author: Kathleen Gallagher
Publication: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Date: August 20, 2014

 

CSA Partners LLC, a venture capital fund backed by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, plans to build a hub for start-ups and related companies in the Pritzlaff building complex, south of downtown Milwaukee.

The hub, called Ward 4, will occupy 35,000 square feet that CSA Partners has leased or taken options on across the entire second floor of all six buildings in the Pritzlaff complex. The fund hopes to move its offices into Ward 4 early next year, said Brian Taffora, a managing director for the fund.

CSA Partners will work alongside the start-ups, related service providers and sponsors, all of which would have to apply to be included, Taffora said.

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Madison start-up EatStreet raises $6 million from investors

Author: Kathleen Gallagher
Publication: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Date: April 7, 2014

 

EatStreet Inc., a Madison company that supplies restaurants with software for handling online orders, has raised $6 million from outside investors in its latest funding round.

That brings the total amount the company has raised from outside investors to $8.65 million, said Matt Howard, EatStreet co-founder and chief executive.

EatStreet will use the money to enhance features on its iPhone and Android apps, improve its online food court, build mobile-optimized websites for customers and pioneer new digital marketing initiatives. An online food court allows people to type an address and find restaurants near them.

“I want to prove to the country that you can grow a very successful start-up here in Wisconsin,” Howard said.

New investors in the funding round are CSA Partners, the fund started by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, and Silicon Valley Bank.

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Following GrubHub IPO, Online Food Ordering Platform EatStreet Raises $6 Million

Author: Sarah Perez
Publication: TechCrunch
Date: April 7, 2014

 

EatStreet, an online and mobile food ordering service which initially gained traction by targeting secondary markets across the U.S., has now raised an additional $6 million in Series B funding. The round included participation from Series A investors Cornerstone Opportunity Partners, Independence Equity, Great Oaks Venture Capital as well as from CSA Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, and other angels.

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Software startup picked for Google’s Demo Day

Author: Katharine Grayson
Publication: Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Date: February 24, 2014

 

Document-management software startup Docalytics will attend a Google Inc. Demo Day in April, after winning a competition hosted by co-working space CoCo.

Businesses use Docalytics’ software to share PDF documents like white papers and see how prospective customers interact with them. The software can generate a heat map revealing which part of a document people spent the most time reading

The Minneapolis-based company raised about $319,000 in capital during the fourth quarter from Confluence Capital Partners, gener8or and CSA Partners.

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Abele pushes for focus on startup culture

Author: Samantha Nash
Publication: WisBusiness.com
Date: January 10, 2014

 

“One thing I really want to focus on is, we make sure we never mistake the flash and the fluff for the substance,” said Abele. “The worst you can do is have a big flashy announcement at the beginning and have some burnouts at the end, because all that does is diminish the investment community.”

“When we do have something be excited about, and we do in the startup community, we need to talk about it,” said Abele.

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Wisconsin start-ups attracting investors

Author: Kathleen Gallagher
Publication: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Date: January 4, 2014

 

Having more eyes on the scene will help it grow more sophisticated, said Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who founded CSA Partners LLC, a venture capital firm that has as one of its goals bringing more companies to the area.

“The more competent the people who are looking, the harder it’s going to be to get by with flash and fluff,” Abele said. “There will be a higher demand for substance and results.”

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