With a third fund of $ 55 million, Scout Ventures is financing veterans ready to take on the toughest technical challenges - TechCrunch
Summary
Scout companies wants to act as a bridge between the startup world and that vast science and technology workforce, with a particular focus on veterans from the military, intelligence agencies, and national laboratories. Harrison, who has been an angel investor for a long time prior to forming Scout Ventures and is a West Point graduate and Army airborne ranger, said that when he started looking at the backgrounds of the most successful founders he supported, many of them happened. So he began duplicating that thesis, eventually hiring Wes Blackwell, who graduated from the Naval Academy, and Sam Ellis in West Point Brooklyn as his partners. “They are difficult to find and that is why we talk to so many companies.” As examples of startups within this thesis, Harrison pointed to four companies in quantum computing and others in electronic warfare, where applications can be as important to the NSA as to telecommunications such as Verizon and T-Mobile. Ultimately, Scout hopes that her unique network and approach will allow her to access these “hard to reach” founders who “really distrust the majority of VCs,” Harrison said.