Fall is here. Jack o’lanterns are piling up on porches, skeletons are coming out of their closets, and Skaneateles Lake is rimmed with fire. Our Annual Meeting in September on the lakefront went swimmingly, though we didn’t actually swim. Granted, we could have. It was almost seventy degrees, and so sunny we briefly worried we wouldn’t be able to see the projector screen. 

This year’s keynote speaker.

ASV Managing Partner Somak Chattopadhyay interviewed Chris Miller, the economic historian and author of Chip War, for a rousing keynote (watch it here), and our friends, founders, and investors matched Somak’s enthusiasm in the Q&A, peppering Mr. Miller with thoughtful questions while thumbing through their complementary hardbacks. The talk felt especially relevant in light of Micron’s pledge to invest $100B in building semiconductor mega fabs just outside Syracuse, and we came away enlightened about the broader implications of this remarkable technology.  

Earlier in the day, ASV Venture Advisor Vikas Mehta led an Executive Roundtable centered on managing teams during uncertain times. An opportunity for our founders to engage with business leaders from our network, the conversation focused on a slew of live topics ranging from AI and WFH best practices to leadership, recruiting, and employee development. David Blair of Machinery Partner, Lydiah Bosire of 8B Education Investments, and Darrian Mikell of Qualifi attended and provided updates to our community on their respective companies. Armory Square Ventures is celebrating its tenth year in operation, and our team marked the milestone that day with cigars and cocktails in Skaneateles village. (Yet another reason to celebrate: Preqin ranked ASV sixth in January in its league tables for “Top Performing Private Equity Funds under $250m by Net IRR.”) 

Darrian Mikell, founder/CEO of Qualifi.

As part of this year’s meeting, we welcomed two new team members into the fold. Michael Kopelman came aboard as a Venture Advisor, bringing over 25 years of experience and a keen analytical mindset to the Investment Committee. He is a longtime friend of the firm, having previously worked alongside Somak at Edison Partners. During his tenure at Edison, Michael served on the investment committee over four partnerships that deployed $1.2B in 90+ investments. Michael led the Fintech investment segment and served as Director for more than 15 companies.

Preston DeGarmo (left) and Michael Kopelman (right). 

Preston DeGarmo joined as an Associate after completing his master’s degree in nonfiction writing at Columbia. He previously led business development for a venture-backed ML startup called Impira, which was acquired by Figma in 2022. He will focus on marketing, sourcing, and platform initiatives at ASV. 

Our team is still growing. We recently kicked off the search process for an exceptional Principal to join our team. This is a partner-track position and a unique opportunity to help us scale our firm. 

On the portfolio side, we have exciting news to share. 8B secured a landmark partnership with Nelnet to finance loans for African students attending U.S. universities, a major step forward in making these students’ dreams a reality; Herettounveiled “Etto,” its AI-powered chatbot/fido, which will make it that much easier for technical writers to produce exceptional documentation; and Qualifi announced the launch of its podcast Hire Quality, which will feature co-founder Devyn Mikell in conversation with a series of recruiting industry leaders. (In related news, Devyn joined his brother Darrian for an interview on the Indianapolis Business Journalpodcast). Last but not least, we expect our first investments out of Fund III to materialize in short order, thanks to our robust pipeline heading into 2024 – shoutout to senior associate Anthony Santaro for his tireless efforts on the sourcing side.   

David Blair, CTO of Machinery Partner.

ASV in the News 

We’ve had a busy few months on the podcasting front. Somak appeared on It’s the People, Ithaca Now (forthcoming), and Code Story, sharing startup advice and other nuggets of wisdom garnered from his decade at the helm of ASV. Somak also appeared alongside Anthony on Investor Connect; the duo touched on the soft skills that go into investing, the traits that make founders stand out from an investment perspective, and the state of venture capital today. Partner/CFO Neenah Jain, meanwhile, joined Cliff Callis of OUTdrive for an illuminating conversation about the importance of transforming traditional industries and investing in rural America. Lastly, stay tuned for a joint appearance from Somak and Vikas on Billion Dollar Moves in the near future, focused on the origin story of ACV Auctions. 

For those who missed Elizabeth MacBride’s “Deep Dives on Secondary Cities” series, we encourage you to catch up on her wonderful reporting. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Elizabeth and further expanding our network in the Midwest. On a related note, our team recently launched a blog series on investing in underserved markets. Our most recent post, drafted by ASV partner Pia Sawhney and associate Preston DeGarmo, is a reappraisal of the Silicon Valley ethos ‘Move Fast and Break Things,’ and can be found here.

Lydiah Bosire, founder/CEO of 8B.

Last but by no means least, the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation begins its second year this month. At this time, we are pleased to announce that Deena Chalabi and Sawad Hussein have joined as new jurors. The prize team is also hiring a new Submissions Manager. (If you have referrals to share, please contact Preston at preston@armorysv.com.) Excerpts from all the finalists and the winner of the inaugural prize have been published by Words Without Borders.