Community investment fund launches, supports St. Pete startup

A new venture fund designed to strengthen the local entrepreneurial ecosystem has officially launched with a strategic investment in St. Petersburg-based Spontivly. 

Veteran investors Ashby Green and Kim Vogel founded the Coastal Community Fund to support oft-overlooked seed-stage startups throughout Florida. However, the two will prioritize burgeoning Tampa Bay companies. 

The investment in Spontivly will allow the data analytics software startup to boost its local workforce. Vogel, program manager for Tampa Bay Tech’s Apprentice Network, believes a lack of communication among stakeholders hinders growth opportunities. 

“Everyone deserves multiple pathways to success,” Vogel told the Catalyst. “It’s time for us to start democratizing wealth building in this community. Communities across the country are doing this.” 

Green, founder of St. Petersburg-based Gazelle Capital, said it has “always been a real struggle for startups to raise capital here.” While the situation has improved, he also noted that Tampa’s Florida Funders (FLF) announced a rebranding and new national focus in late May. 

Green hopes to collaborate with the successful venture capital firm, which will “leave a bit of a vacuum in the area,” through the Coastal Community Fund. He said FLF could “one day be interested in” local startups he and Vogel hope to help grow. 

Vogel noted the Coastal Community Fund (CCF) could also generate wealth for “low-dollar” accredited investors. Those interested could participate in funding rounds with a minimum investment of $25,000. 

“We really want to bring out people who haven’t invested before,” Green said. “We don’t want every check to be $25,000, but we don’t need them to be half a million, either. We want involvement.”

The fund uniquely encourages community involvement by leveraging stakeholder expertise and networks. For example, CCF will use Spontivly’s proven community engagement platform to create a thriving ecosystem around the fund. 

Green said investors will “have a voice.” Vogel stressed the importance of supporting workforce development. 

“If they want to be headquartered here, they have to hire here,” she added. “That means that we, as talent acquisition professionals and ecosystem builders, must have people ready to fill their pipeline.”

Vogel said that “tech talent is here,” as local colleges, universities and vocational schools offer “great programs.” She also believes momentum has built to connect historically disjointed ecosystem-building efforts. 

Anthony Nagendraraj, CEO of Spontivly, moved his software-as-a-service company to St. Petersburg in 2022. The platform received an early investment from Mark Cuban, of TV’s Shark Tank fame, and local partners include the Tampa Bay Rowdies. 

Nagendraraj called CCF a blueprint for other startups to raise capital and hire local talent. He also noted the region lacks a seed-round venture fund. 

“The VC (venture capital) model is broken,” Nagendraraj said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of this – especially with technology and where things are moving – there’s going to be independent, one-person or small firms coming out of the woodwork.” 

He said those community-focused, boutique firms can leverage local expertise and artificial intelligence to impact an area. “We’ll be the guinea pigs on this one,” Nagendraraj said. 

Green said future funding rounds would need a minimum of $5 million to be successful. Nagendraraj said he would not disclose CCF’s investment in Spontivly until his ongoing round concludes. 

He will use the funding to hire approximately 12 employees who either live in or are willing to relocate to St. Petersburg. Green called Spontivly the “perfect case study.” 

“We have people identified locally already with the funds,” he added. “Every dollar will be sourced. We can watch where it goes in the community. We’re going to do it again, and we’re going to do a much larger fund.” 

Green said CCF’s network would help identify future founders to support. He and Vogel also plan to collaborate with startup hubs like Tampa Bay Wave, Embarc Collective and ARK Innovation Center. 

Tim Holcomb, CEO of Tampa’s Embarc Collective, noted that member startups have raised over $600 million and created more than 1,200 jobs in the organization’s first five years. “What excites me most about the Coastal Community Fund is its potential to fuel that same cycle – where capital drives growth, talent and eventually, a new generation of entrepreneurs and investors,” he said in a prepared statement. 

Vogel said area startup accelerators and incubators, economic development corporations, chambers of commerce and academic institutions collaborating is “crucial” to the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s success. “Everyone’s working towards the same thing, and now we all just have to get on the same page.”