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A storage equivalent of Airbnb, Neighbor, started at BYU and caught the attention of Album VC after competing in different business competitions at BYU. Following the investment in Neighbor, Album VC offered the team a space in their office where they could be guided and mentored.
FREMONT, CA: Utah-based Peak Ventures raised USD 75 million in its third round of funding and rebranded itself Album VC. The firm felt a change in name was necessary as another Venture capital firm also had the name Peak in it. "The new name was inspired by the creative and collaborative processes involved in investing and how that process mirrors the work of musicians creating a new album. Album pointed to what we like most about the job and where we think we’ve been most successful,” Album VC general partner John Mayfield said.
With this additional capital, the company hopes to fund startups and early-stage investments in Utah and beyond. Album VC has invested in successful, local tech companies located in the Silicon Slopes area like Podium, Owlet and Jolt. “We have spread a little bit throughout the nation, but we are here, and we believe in this ecosystem,” Mayfield said of the firm’s involvement in Utah.
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According to Mayfield, part of Utah's tech industry success can be associated with BYU and its graduates. Most of the businesses that this new capital will fund will be technology companies, as according to BYU entrepreneurship professor Michael Hendron, they are generally good candidates to receive funds from venture firms. “They’re often software or tech ideas because they take quite a bit of investment to develop and often they have a really large potential market if they succeed,” Hendron said.
This is evident from the case of the company Neighbor. A storage equivalent of Airbnb, Neighbor, started at BYU and caught the attention of Album VC after competing in different business competitions at BYU. Following the investment in Neighbor, Album VC offered the team a space in their office where they could be guided and mentored. “They understand very well what it takes to build a company and how to support a company from a capital perspective,” Neighbor founder and CEO Joseph Woodbury said. “Because of the portfolio they’re building, it’s a huge benefit to Utah. They’ve picked the right companies, and they’ve been willing to invest in a lot of really great consumer companies that are now well known.”
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