Charlie O'Donnell, a former principal of First Round Capital, has formed his own seed investment fund known as Brooklyn Bridge Ventures (BBV), according to VentureBeat.
Working all by himself, O'Donnell raised $8.3 million from investors such as Josh Kopelman, Brad Feld, David Rose, and Howard Morgan for his Brooklyn-based fund. He gained the confidence of investors because of his series of successes in the finance industry. In an email, O'Donnell recounted that he was among the earliest to recommend investments in now-successful companies like Twitter and Foursquare, the report explained.
With BBV, O'Donnell will lead or participate in quarter-million-dollar investments in New York City innovation projects, the report added.
In addition, O'Donnell emphasized that he is willing to work with female entrepreneurs. He mentioned that 75% of the startups in his new portfolio include at least one female co-founder, the report said.
O'Donnell told VentureBeat: "It's not easy to raise a first-time fund from complete scratch without corporate backing or family money. I just went around hat in hand for over a year - literally running around in the process."
BBV's portfolio includes 3D modeling firm Florred, mobile-for-kids company Tinybop, and home security device Canary, VentureBeat reported.
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