citybiz+ TCP Upbeat About EcoMap, Its First Portfolio Investment In 2022

TCP Venture Capital joined a seed funding round for EcoMap Technologies last month, and on Monday called attention to the prospects of its portfolio investment, its first this year. The investment came out of TCP’s Propel Baltimore Fund Three in a round led by Las Olas Venture Capital. Other investors included Conscious Venture Partners, GroTech Ventures and Techstars.

Christopher G. College, TCP’s co founder and managing partner, pointed out that EcoMap makes constantly evolving data “accessible and usable to create connections for people and organizations to further their business initiatives.” The Baltimore startup builds software that identifies and builds digital ecosystems, such as for local business communities, specific industries and even corporate networks. The platform aggregates information “within any given ecosystem into a one-stop online hub,” bringing in new efficiencies for enterprises and others.

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College and Stuart Sutley founded TCP in late 2012 with the goal of boosting entrepreneurial activity and jobs in Baltimore City. Its founders felt their micro fund would meet a “critical” need for early-stage capital in the city.

With a clear mandate to invest in early-stage non-medical tech startups already in Baltimore or ready to relocate, TCP has raised three funds— two in 2013, each worth $3 million, and a third fund of $9 million in 2016. So far, the firm has made over 40 portfolio investments. Its exits include Traitify, RedOwl, Citelighter and Point3 Security.TCP’s most recent portfolio investments prior to EcoMap were in Verbit, Emocha Health and Qualytics, all in 2021.

College

College, one of TCP’s co founders, heads the firm as managing partner, providing strategic and operational leadership. The industry veteran has closed over 70 transactions worth over $2 billion. His investment philosophy has been simple — “people over product,” as he termed it in an interview at the Connectpreneur event. In any situation, College believes, an “A” team can make a winner out of a “B” grade product, while a “B” team would struggle even with an “A” grade product. Hence, the firm’s focus on talented entrepreneurs, above nearly everything else.

In nearly a decade of investing, TCP has contributed over $250 million to the Baltimore ecosystem, in terms of investments it has been able to channel to its startups and from the jobs these companies have generated, College has said.

Prior to starting TCP, College headed Stifel Nicolaus’ Private Finance Group for six years, from 2006 to 2012. He also worked at Legg Mason Wood Walker, where he managed a private finance unit and also served in its investment banking division, focusing on M&As and tech IPOs. College earned a BA in economics from Northwestern University and an MBA degree from Emory University.

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EcoMap Technologies was co founded in 2016 by a woman, Pava LaPere, and a black man, Sherrod Davis, with technology that emerged from a two-year research study at Johns Hopkins University’s venture incubator, The Hatchery.

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In its early years, EcoMap focused on raising revenues and becoming self-sustaining. So, the seed round is a big boost for the young startup. LaPere, who serves as the firm’s CEO, plans to use the funds to hire new heads for marketing, sales and customer service.

LaPere has been an enthusiastic entrepreneur since college. At Johns Hopkins, she served as executive director of its incubator, The Hatchery, and co founded TCO Labs, a campus nonprofit. She also established an accelerator called Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, and later founded Innov8 MD, a Maryland-wide nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship.