An investment fund recently launched in Scottsdale lowers the barriers to VC-style investing while also fueling the Valley’s burgeoning med-tech industry. The Jetstream Venture Fund offers something rare: a way for professionals to access private company equity through a regulated, integrity-driven investment structure. The fund is founded by the team at Xcellerant Ventures in Scottsdale, led by Dr. John Shufeldt, a serial healthcare entrepreneur (MeMD, NextCare), and Dr. Chris Yoo, a bioinformatics innovator.
Having received its Notice of Effectiveness from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Jetstream Venture Fund allows all investors access to early-stage venture investments for a minimum $20,000 investment. “Key words here being ‘all’ and ‘access.’ You do not have to be a qualified or accredited investor to participate. Our team’s expertise in health tech and med tech as investors and operators spans decades. Our portfolio companies will go through an extensive diligence and vetting process. We are constructing a portfolio consisting of innovative startups, dynamic founders and industry-changing technology. Our goal is to provide great returns to our investors and give them access to companies that will transform our economy, says Doug Sylvester, general partner.
Noting the Jetstream Venture Fund was founded with access in mind, Sylvester says, “We want to ensure that private companies are available to the public and wanted to launch a fund that was accessible to a much larger segment of the population.” Xcellerant Ventures was founded in 2022 and launched XV Fund I as a vintage 2023 traditional venture capital fund in January 2023.
As entrepreneurs, Sylvester says, “The best advice we received was far earlier than starting Xcellerant Ventures. That advice was simple: Act ethically and give all you can to help those who trust in you to succeed. A second piece of advice, more like a mantra of ours is ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Humble.’ We not only run Xcellerant Ventures using both of these bits of advice, we expect all the companies in which we invest to do the same.”
