1776 has filed regulatory paperwork for a planned $25 million fund, advancing the year-old startup hub’s longstanding plans to not only house, but fund, early-stage companies.
The May 1 Securities and Exchange Commission filing for “1776 Seed Investors, LP” names 1776 co-founders Evan Burfield and Donna Harris. It does not indicate that they have yet raised capital for the fund.
None of this should come as any shock. Burfield and Harris had been shopping around the idea of a $25 million fund to potential investors last summer (Burfield at the time referred to a leaked investor presentation as a “draft.”). In October, 1776 recruited David Zipper, an economic development official within D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration, to run its for-profit venture unit.
Today, they kicked off semifinals for the District-funded “Challenge Cup” international startup competition, with plans to dole out cash prizes to the top eight winners (two per category: health, energy, education and smart cities). If 1776 wants those prizes to come in the form of equity investments, as it signaled last year, it’ll need to have a mechanism in place to do so.
Harris declined to comment on the filing.
