Winnow Fund Makes First Investment

    MADISON, WI, August 04, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Winnow Fund, a venture capital fund focused on investing in Wisconsin-based seed-stage companies, has made its first investment in KaPloint, Inc., an entertainment and marketing company developing a novel mobile player platform.

Middleton-based KaPloint was founded in 2020 by Grant Stousland and Brett Rimkus. KaPloint CEO Stousland was previously with Gaming Informatics, where he was President and CEO and led its acquisition by Kobetron in 2016. Rimkus serves as CFO and an advisor to KaPloint and is also a co-founder of Singlewire Software.

"KaPloint presented the Winnow Fund with a great opportunity," said Richelle Martin, Winnow Fund's Managing Director. "The Fund's investment committee was impressed by their sound business plan, experienced team, and the fact that they already have an industry partner on board."

KaPloint collects and gamifies real-time slot machine data from partner casinos to increase customer acquisition, engagement, and loyalty through app-based interactions. KaPloint has already solidified a partnership with a Wisconsin-based casino for pilot testing. KaPloint will use the Winnow Fund investment primarily for software development, with a planned product launch in Q3 2021. "We are excited to have Winnow Fund's visionary investment and support as we work to launch our first-in-class player app that is sure to make waves in the casino industry," said Stousland.

Winnow Fund's investment phase began in January 2021, after closing on just over $10 million in capital commitments in December. It expects to announce additional investments in other Wisconsin-based companies in the coming weeks focused on very early-stage companies.

The Winnow Fund is led by Richelle Martin, a Wisconsin native and alumna of UW-Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin Law School. Her experience includes advising startups and distributing funding aimed at moving innovations from campus to commercialization. Given her background, Richelle is particularly interested in sourcing investment opportunities from Wisconsin's public and private universities.

The Winnow Fund is one of five portfolio funds of the Badger Fund of Funds. The Badger Fund's investor base includes the State of Wisconsin. Since the Badger Fund's launch in 2017 its portfolio funds have invested in over 25 Wisconsin-based companies.

About The Winnow Fund

The Winnow Fund is a venture capital fund investing in early-stage Wisconsin-based companies. It is the first in Wisconsin to be founded and led solely by a woman. The Fund seeks opportunities to make the first investment in a startup, with initial investments typically ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. The Fund also has the ability to provide support in the range of $50,000-$100,000 for smaller companies at the proof-of-concept stage.

# # #