Heartland Ventures: My New Role Bridging Silicon Valley and the Midwest

Last month, I joined Heartland Ventures to lead the firm’s deal sourcing and co-investor relationships in Silicon Valley.

I’m excited about Heartland Ventures because we’re supporting businesses in the Midwest that are foundational to the American economy by connecting them to technologies we invest in. These businesses provide essential services and employ thousands of people. They’re in traditional industries like manufacturing, construction, and logistics that are ripe for innovation. We’re able to give them access to cutting-edge technology being developed outside of their communities to make them even more successful.

In my experience, some of the most compelling investment opportunities and economic growth result from connecting overlooked places to technology. This was most pronounced during my business travels to emerging economies such as Nigeria and Colombia, and I believe a similar story can be written at home in the Midwest.

I started my career in financial services at firms including Credit Suisse, BlackRock, and Atlas Merchant Capital, which sought investment in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. I then established a consultancy, Taino Capital, where I worked with clients on fund formation and strategy with a focus on the tax and economic incentives in Puerto Rico.

When launching the first investment vehicle at Atlas Merchant Capital, I traveled to Sub-Saharan Africa to meet with both heads of state as well as young tech entrepreneurs who were building companies that were transforming their countries and driving those economies forward. In fact, six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. Given the lack of legacy infrastructure there in industries like banking, logistics, and agriculture there is tremendous opportunity to implement the latest technologies. But, while the region has garnered more attention recently by U.S. investors, it still remains on the margins of venture investing.

Now, at Heartland Ventures, I’m focusing on an overlooked economy right here in the U.S. Fifty percent of the country’s largest corporations are located in the Heartland, representing over seven trillion in revenue. Yet, the majority of technology is being developed on the coasts with little connectivity to Middle American customers. Our corporate partners are some of the biggest companies in the U.S. that no one has ever heard of. My role at Heartland Ventures, and our model, is to find transformative technologies that are being built on the coasts (and elsewhere) and bring these startups to our strategic partners in the region.

There’s no better way to showcase our model than through an example of a Heartland Ventures portfolio company. One is StrongArm Technologies. StrongArm developed a device to monitor, track, and improve worker safety and increase productivity in industrial environments. Its leading-edge technology was designed to minimize ergonomic injury rates at scale and pinpoint potential areas of risk before they become a bigger problem.

Many of our corporate partners in the manufacturing space saw this innovation as a brilliant way to keep their workforce safe while improving productivity. Since investing in StrongArm, we’ve connected them to a dozen of our corporate partners, kicking off their Midwest expansion.

I’m thrilled to be joining a team that is building a bridge between technological innovation in Silicon Valley and the businesses in the Midwest that remain the cornerstone of our economy. If you want to learn more about insights we’ve uncovered from our Midwestern partners, or if there’s a founder you’re really excited about, I would love to connect.

You can reach me at bianca@heartlandvc.com.