Salt Lake Metropolis—Kickstart, a seed-stage enterprise capital agency targeted on the Mountain West, introduced Kat Kennedy as Common Companion. Kennedy brings together with her 15 years of working expertise, and her appointment will allow the agency to proceed creating fruitful alternatives for the Mountain West area.

With the expertise of working her means from a startup’s first worker to President — one which grew from seed to late-stage underneath her watch — Kennedy brings a brand new perspective and empathy for founders navigating the curler coaster that’s rising a venture-backed firm.

“Kat has an unmatched talent set in terms of scaling corporations. Her gritty, entrepreneurial spirit and keenness for serving to different entrepreneurs was precisely what we have now been in search of,” says Gavin Christensen, Common Companion and founding father of Kickstart. “Kat’s addition permits us to scale at a time when so many enterprise corporations are pulling again, not solely on investments however on constructing their groups. Kat really embodies every part we worth right here, and we’re excited to see what the longer term holds together with her perspective on board.”

Previous to becoming a member of Kickstart, Kennedy spent the final decade at Degreed, a office upskilling platform, the place she most lately served as the corporate’s President and Chief Expertise Officer. Kennedy helped scale Degreed from a $zero to $1.5B valuation in 9 years and brings together with her deep expertise in acquisitions, rising into a world firm, and scaling a world-class product.

Kennedy’s appointment makes her certainly one of only a few feminine companions within the state. Regardless of years of efforts to extend variety amongst enterprise capital decision-makers, a big gender hole nonetheless exists. Ladies make up solely roughly 11 p.c of investing companions at corporations within the US and, as a result of enterprise capitalists play a vital gatekeeping position in deciding whose concepts, merchandise, and improvements obtain capital, solely round 13 p.c of enterprise capital {dollars} go to startups with a lady on the founding workforce. 

“The aim of enterprise capital is to generate returns by fostering innovation. As a lady born and raised right here in Utah, who has gone via the assorted levels of development at a venture-backed firm, I noticed no higher strategy to drive impression within the Mountain West than by supporting founders who’re beginning their very own journeys,” says Kennedy. “Kickstart has at all times performed an unimaginable job discovering and funding entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, and I’m excited to develop that help.”

“Kat is an inspiration to girls in Utah and past in terms of the rising affect that girls can and will need to have in the way forward for enterprise. I’m proud to see her take this subsequent step in her profession, as Kat is proof of the impression a single individual can have of their group, their firm, and their business. I’m assured she’s going to take all she’s discovered as an operator and deploy not solely capital but in addition her expertise,” says David Blake, co-founder and CEO, Degreed.

Kickstart was based in 2008 as the primary ever seed fund in Utah and its fund has grown in tandem with the exploding Utah know-how scene. To this point, the corporate has $311M belongings underneath administration, 150+ energetic portfolio corporations, and has raised $2.7B in capital. 

About Kickstart

Kickstart is a seed-stage enterprise capital agency on a mission to assist construct nice startups in Utah, Colorado, and the Mountain West. Based in 2008 as the primary seed fund in Utah, Kickstart labored with native universities, angel traders, entrepreneurs, enterprise capital funds, and different key stakeholders to construct a seed fund that the group might rally behind. The corporate is dedicated to being accessible, main investments in promising however early groups, and being truthful with entrepreneurs and traders alike. Kickstart aspires to at all times be the selection for seed capital within the area with a repute for fierce loyalty, deep competence, and full alignment with founders.