Startup Funding with Len Jordan, Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group

IoT startups span the entire technology stack – Hardware, Connectivity, and Applications – providing solutions that impact every industry and job. According to the most recent Pitchbook report, investments in the IoT market declined 16% year-over-year in 2019 but remained strong with $7.5 billion in capital investment. For hardware startups, the good news, according to Bloomberg NEF/CBInsights, is that investments in hardware startups increasingly take a larger share (43% in 2019) of total VC investment dollars. However, almost three-quarters of hardware startups never make it past their second round of funding, and 97% fail altogether. With COVID-19, raising money has become even more challenging.

We are honored to host Len Jordan, Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group. Len will be sharing his and Madrona’s lessons learned from their past and existing investments in IoT, Industry 4.0, and Connected Hardware startups. He will also share his perspective on the current state of funding and what the future holds.

Len joined Madrona in January 2010. He is interested in software/hardware/analytics systems that transform work and economics for big industries, and consumer products that change the way we see, hear, feel, and sense life. He most enjoys working with entrepreneurs on building their teams to last and scale.

Len has served on the boards of 17 early-stage companies and has been a director or executive at three companies that have completed initial public offerings. Prior to joining Madrona, Len was a partner at Frazier Technology Ventures and was involved in investments including Control4 and Docusign. Prior to his career in venture, Len spent 16 years in the software industry, including as senior vice president at RealNetworks from 1996-2001 (RNWK-Nasdaq). Len’s team released four major versions of the RealSystem software platform and generated the majority of the company’s 100%+ annual revenue growth during the period. Before joining Realnetworks Len was President of Creative Multimedia, Inc., (acquired by IHS- NYSE INFO) and started his software career in product management for Central Point Software before it was acquired by Symantec (SYMC- Nasdaq).

Madrona Venture Group is a Seattle-based venture capital firm that has been investing in seed and early-stage investments since it’s founding in 1995. Madrona has made investments in over a hundred companies since its inception. Companies include IoT and Connected Hardware startups like Rigado.