Jacobs Capital Group LLC

About Us

Jacobs Capital Group is a venture capital fund of funds that seeks to create a well balanced portfolio of investment specialties, sizes, and regional focuses. Our network of partners includes more than ninety-five venture capital professionals throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe.

Our partnerships encompass a broad level of entrepreneurial, technical, operating, and management experience. In turn, we offer these resources and opportunities to the partners and entrepreneurs we support and build new ventures faster, broader, and with less risk.

A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out

Jacobs Capital Group was formed by the late Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs, the Founder of Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE:JEC), and his longtime partners, Alex Suh and William Hanna, for the purpose of building long term sustainable businesses.

Dr. Jacobs believed in the greater good of capitalism - that investing in entrepreneurs with drive and natural business acumen will provide opportunities for new business development, create jobs for families, strengthen the economy, and ultimately raise the standard of living for all.

Updating the Venture Capital Model

Although we are a venture capital fund of funds, we are also venture capitalists. Traditionally, the practice of venture capital has been a collaboration of local entities - local entrepreneurs, universities, investors, and corporations. We decided that the practice of “investing in your backyard” was not optimal in today’s global environment. Also, with the understanding that we are not experts in everything, we created an investing model that we thought could help capitalize these factors. Our strategy is to:

Create a Global Wingspan

We know it is not cost effective to open offices in every city of the world. Also, it is not realistic to say we can sprout deep networks or understand each culture we come across. Furthermore, we believe that some parts of company building are best left to local expertise.

Thus, by investing in like minded venture funds around the world, we believe we are able to preserve the merits of local venture investing, while capitalizing on global opportunities. We are able to partner with established teams that already have deep networks and cultural knowledge. We can watch and nurture our investments side-by-side, in a mutually beneficial relationship as an extension of one another’s teams.

Also, given the breadth of our global wingspan, we are well-suited to help companies expand into global markets, create strategic alliances worldwide, gain competitive edges, and source global investors or opportunities that would not otherwise exist.

Seek out and Invest in People Smarter than Us

“There is no monopoly on brains.” ~Joseph J. Jacobs

No one is an expert in everything. Because of this, we invest in multiple experts and use our networks to increase our knowledge base. We believe it is more efficient to take advantage of a collective database than it is to create a database with each new enterprise. If we haven’t been at the forefront of a space, we prefer to partner with those who have. We invest in emerging managers who share this philosophy and collaborative approach because we think sharing resources ultimately strengthens the portfolio companies we support.

Maintain a Collective Expertise

It takes more than financial support to build a successful company. We bring the greatest value to our partners and portfolio companies through our collective experience and relationships. This trusted network allows us to validate intellectual properties with one another, share the lessons learned from related experiences, identify customers or consultants for our companies, and source opportunities that might not otherwise exist. If one of our partners is looking for a syndication partner, it is likely they will find someone they can trust within our network.

Also, the breadth of our network is invaluable. We have experts in sectors from video games to stem cell engineering, and in geographies that span from Scandinavia to the United States to Asia.

Finally, our collective expertise allows us to aggregate a deal flow that constantly grows in quality and volume. We have greater access to high quality deals which improves our ability to create more successful outcomes for our partners and portfolio companies.