Kansas City – August 8, 2018 —Novel Growth Partners, a new Kansas City investment firm dedicated to funding underserved tech companies throughout the Midwest, is pleased to announce their first major investment in DivvyHQ, a company specializing in software for content creation and management.
“We are very excited to partner with DivvyHQ, they have built an excellent product and have a stable supply of reputable customers who love using it,” stated Carlos Antequera, co-founder and Managing Director of Novel Growth Partners.
Launched in 2011, DivvyHQ was voted the #1 overall content marketing software platform last year at Content Marketing World, the world’s largest industry convention. DivvyHQ’s unique tools combine web-based calendars, content management and online collaboration to help global content teams plan, schedule and produce any type of content across an organization.
“DivvyHQ’s proven leadership in developing content managing tools that benefit digital marketing professionals is just one of the reasons we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to further assist them with their growth and success,” stated Antequera. “Their clients include many Fortune 500 companies—which is a testament to their product’s reliability and functionality.”
According to DivvyHQ’s co-founder Brock Stechman, his company is very grateful for the recent investment but also for the opportunity to work with a firm made up of individuals like Antequera and his partner, Novel co-founder and Managing Director, Keith Harrington, who have first-hand experience growing and creating companies from scratch.
“Their team is really what makes them special. They are proven entrepreneurs and investors who understand the fine intricacies of operating a business and what it takes to grow a successful tech company,” stated Stechman. “Novel worked side-by-side with us to analyze our company and refine our business strategy, so that we can continue to scale and capitalize on the foundation we’ve already built. After working with Novel, I’m more excited than ever about the future of DivvyHQ.”
Based in Kansas City, Novel’s mission is to improve access to capital for companies that don’t fit the traditional venture capital model. The company’s primary funding interest includes early stage B2B software companies that have consistent growth and generate annual revenues of at least $500,000. According to Antequera, Novel specializes in funding tech companies that are excluded from traditional bank financing and venture capital. Stechman says he is appreciative for investment firms like Novel that recognize the value that smaller companies bring to the table.
“The capital they provided us is great,” stated Stechman. “Novel’s entire model and approach is very unique. They were able to quickly infuse non-dilutive capital to help grow our business.”
According to an Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs Data, while venture capital and angel investments are important for a startup’s growth, the attention they receive from media and the public can give the impression that these funding methods are quite common—when they are not. Based on the most recent data, less than one percent of businesses received venture capital in 2016. Novel Growth Partners remains on a mission to develop solutions for the other 99 percent.
“Our investment approach is rather unique. We invest in companies using RBF (Revenue Based Financing) to provide flexible capital in return for a percentage of monthly revenue up to an agreed cap,” explained Antequera. “There are many benefits to this approach including the speed of financing compared to a standard equity fundraise and there is no equity dilution to entrepreneurs.”
In addition, Novel offers a tailored growth boot camp to its portfolio companies to help them build a more consistent and predictable revenue engine. Unlike traditional investment firms, the company takes pride in providing focused, hands-on help to build a young startup’s growth engine. The company’s recent investment in DivvyHQ is one of more to come, according to Antequera.
“We are looking to continue to identify and partner with many more companies in our region to continue to build our portfolio,” he stated.
About Novel Growth Partners
Novel Growth Partners is a revenue-based fund with a mission to improve access to capital to technology companies in underserved markets. Novel provides companies up to $500K in growth capital. Novel leverages the operational expertise of its founders and partners to provide tactical sales and marketing support to entrepreneurs via its proprietary growth boot camp. Novel invests in entrepreneurs focused on growing revenue and building a near term profitable company committed to business fundamentals. Unlike other growth capital, Novel does not take equity or require a personal guarantee. More information is available at www.NovelGrowthPartners.com.
