Hi, I'm Seth DeGroot. I was born in Minnesota and currently live in Minneapolis (and often am in SF).

I grew up a bit of a computer nerd and fell in love with tech while hacking together computers, networked gaming solutions (over dial-up), arcade emulators, a pre-Netflix on-prem streaming platform and VR displays. All the while, playing way too many video games.

I graduated from the University of St. Thomas MBA program in 2008, and knew I wanted to be a founder. I joined the founding team of a synthetic biology startup focused on synthesizing the chemistry the human body uses to kill pathogens. We deployed this technology into the food/beverage manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality sectors. The founding team started another company based on the same technology platform, but focused on marketing our synthetic biology as a consumer packaged good (hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants).

By 2013, the second synthetic biology startup had grown to a point that it was no longer a startup. We brought in a seasoned CPG team to run it and the founding team went their separate ways to work on various projects. We had raised venture capital at both companies and I loved the idea of VC as a career path. I still can’t think of a better use of my professional time than investing in founders and helping them build their versions of the future.

Because of this and my passion for tech/biotech, I formed a thesis to invest in seed-stage startups in these sectors. I was lucky enough to build an amazing LP base to turn that thesis into reality. Eight years later, we’ve built a portfolio that I’m very proud of. A venture portfolio is a collection of staked predictions about the future. Great investors stake with conviction and get in the trenches to help pull these potential futures forward. That’s what I’ve done and that’s what I will continue to do. There have never been more opportunities to invest in 20-30x ‘return the fund’ type deals at the seed stage, and I’ve never been more bullish about my ability to get into these opportunities.

Since you made it this far, I was a film major once upon a time and here’s a link to a list of my favorite films Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/9blTq