INVESTING IN PIONEERS.
RESHAPING THE STATUS QUO.
Mission
To find and support entrepreneurs that have deep subject matter expertise, exponential internal drive, and a boundless capacity for capturing resources to claim a new frontier within their industry.
Where
Based in Denver, CO, FirstTracks invests both locally, nationally, and internationally through our network of partnerships among family offices, VC firms, and start-up founders.
What
FirstTracks is focused on seed stage investing. Our initial check size is $50-$200k with reserve capacity for follow on investing in subsequent rounds. When we make our initial investment, a company is typically at a revenue generating stage of its business.
Who
FTV is managed by Jon-Erik Borgen and is an affiliated venture fund of Borgen Investment Group, a single family asset management firm established in 2000. Since 2014, FTV has directly invested in over 35 companies representing a spectrum of industries. We support our portfolio and founders through our close partnerships within the start-up community and through our decades of experience in deal financing and our capital markets network.
PORTFOLIOS
FTV.1 PORTFOLIO | EST. 2014
Through 2014-2020, FTV.1 made over 30 investments in local, national, and international start-ups focused on SAAS, IoT, mobile workforce management, e-commerce, tele-health, and FinTech.
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Colorado
Arriving at better patient-centered decisions that are provider friendly.
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Colorado
A revenue data mining platform that analyzes every sales and marketing touchpoint.
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California
Simplifying business insurance efficiently and at the best price.
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Colorado
Wholesale food market data and smart shopping assistant for restaurant operators.
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Israel
World leading smart glass and ADAS technologies.
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Colorado
One-on-one personal interior designer, at your fingers tips and within your budget.
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New York
Powered dash cams that enable vision-based applications for better driving.
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Colorado
Simplifying document processing and data extraction at scale.
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Colorado
The exercise therapy you need, from the comfort of your home.
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Colorado
Data-powered risk management and cargo insurance for essential supply chains.
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Colorado
From weather patterns to sun exposure, plant type to soil condition, Rachio helps give your yard the water it needs, when it needs it.
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New York
The next era of financial markets infrastructure, focused on solving the most challenging challenges.
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Colorado
A modern, easy, stress free, and fair price approach to real estate.
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Colorado
Creating and bringing back the best medium to experience music.
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Colorado
A mobile HR form collection process to onboard new employees.
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Colorado
The new cloud with new rules. Silk was created to scale to the company, not the other way around.
FTV.2 PORTFOLIO | EST. 2021
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Colorado
The most complete digital content model in sports.
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Colorado
PropTech blockchain platform to permanently capture, organize, and retain critical building information.
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Iceland
Cutting FinCrime investigations from hours to minutes, unlocking millions in savings.
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Hawaii
GrowTech Organic produce and delivery systems.
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Norway
Dramatically increases the battery life of your devices while keeping monitoring functions intact.
Acquired | Exited
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California
Delivering high quality and affordable financial services to under-served communities using digital and mobile financial services.
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New York
The world’s largest air passenger rights advocate.
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Colorado
World-class curriculums designed to teach tomorrows top developers, in as little as 12-weeks.
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Colorado
A tech platform that analyzes and visualizes risk for climate-exposed businesses.
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Colorado
A diverse and flexible software to help any team manage tasks, in the office or on the go.
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Minnesota
The digital suite that brings every player in real estate together.
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Illinois
An online marketplace for enterprises to trade, purchase, and sell IT infrastructure.
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Colorado
The all-in-one sensor keeping your home safe.
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Colorado
Real-time parking occupancy platform.
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Colorado
A location-based marketing platform enabling merchants to send targeted messages to on-site customers.
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Colorado
Enter into the cybersecurity industry with the knowledge obtained from SecureSet academy.
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Colorado
Property inspection platform for insurance carriers and claims service providers.
Meet our advisors
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Chris has invested in over 400 early / growth stage businesses and has served on 30+ boards. He currentlysits on the board of directors of Vinyl Me Please. He is a co-founder and former COO/CFO at Galvanize where he raised over $85 million of capital and grew the business to ~$50 mm in annual revenue. Galvanize was acquired for ~$200 mm by K12 Education (NYSE:LRN)
Chris also co-founded and managed the Galvanize Venture Fund where he led seed investments in 50+ companies (Self Financial, Billie, Genies, Stream, Jumpcloud, Testlio, RxRevu, Rachio, etc.). Recent personal investments include PlayerLync, Artifact Uprising, Elevation Connect, TextUs, Meazure / ProctorU (subsequent majority recap led by Gryphon Investors.)
Prior to co-founding Galvanize, Chris was a partner with Appian Ventures where he worked with Ping Identity (acquired for ~$650 mm by Vista Equity Partners), mPay Gateway (acquired by Payspan), T3 Media, Uplight (acquired by Rubicon for ~$1 bb+), and Auctionpay (acquired by Global Payments). Earlier in his career, he had the privilege of working with Broadbus Technologies (acquired by Motorola) and Datalogix (acquired by Oracle for $1.2 billion.) Chris is also an investor in Bullet Time Ventures (Uber, Sendgrid, Twilio, Simply Measured.) He served on the board of directors of Spex and led the company through its sale / majority investment from J.S. Held.
Chris spent four years with LEK Consulting, an international strategy consulting boutique, before locating to Colorado. Chris speaks often about entrepreneurial finance at both Denver University’s Daniels College of Business and the Leeds College of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is past Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association, and a co-founder of the Associates Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado.
Education: BA in Economics, Northwestern University, (Phi Beta Kappa)
