The Innovators & Investors Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 43m · 26m saved
With Grady Buchanan, Co-Founder and Managing Director of NVNG Investment Advisors
NVNG Investment Advisors raised a first fund of a little over $50 million, backed mostly by Wisconsin corporations, and spread it across about 25 venture funds holding more than 400 startups. Grady Buchanan said he thinks 20-plus of those startups are in Wisconsin.
Some regional investors require the venture managers they back to invest locally. NVNG does not. Its pitch to corporate backers is access to startups from anywhere, and Buchanan said the hard part has been getting the corporations to use them.
"And I think that's why connectivity matters so much more than capital."
Grady Buchanan, co-founder and Managing Director of NVNG Investment Advisors, on The Innovators & Investors Podcast, worked on the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation's $3 billion investment portfolio, vetting venture firms for it, before he and Carrie Thome founded NVNG in late 2019.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 43 minutes of audio, 17 minutes of reading.
Here are the 13 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
The average venture fund lasts 14 years or more, not the 10 usually quoted, Buchanan said
Hardware and defense tech funds run longer still
NVNG requires none of its managers to invest in Wisconsin
"I don't think we have a capital problem," he said of the state
Most corporations in NVNG's fund have no venture arm, so often no one inside is assigned to use it
Family offices would still prefer direct deals, he thinks, but are putting more into funds than ever
Founders are being warned off strategic investors, whose goals differ from a return
The hardest lesson: corporations did not know how to take on startups
He thinks 20-plus of the 400 startups are in Wisconsin, leaving 380 to connect
Sector-focused managers are NVNG's best performers, and AI application companies its hardest area
1. From WARF to a Fund of Funds
The host asked Buchanan to describe the firm. He said NVNG stands for "nothing ventured, nothing gained," and grew out of his time at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the University of Wisconsin's technology transfer office. There he started on the hedge fund side of a team and moved to managing venture fund investments on behalf of the office, with few direct deals.
NVNG copies the endowment model with a smaller list of funds
He and a partner built NVNG for a handful of new limited partners, the outside investors in a fund, who wanted a first exposure to venture capital. It runs as a fund of funds, which he said is how the endowment strategy worked, but with far fewer funds, chosen to fit its investors.
"We launched our first fund a little north of 50 million. We've had 25, maybe 26 fund investments when it's all said and done." — Grady Buchanan
The underlying portfolio runs to more than 400 companies. He said the firm has been doing this since 2021.
Corporations are the draw
Buchanan said the big pull turned out to be Wisconsin's corporations, which work as an "attraction engine" for outside venture investors who come to events to see what those companies are doing. His hope is that, perhaps 10 years out, that traffic helps startups and founders cluster around the state's large companies.
"We're on our first fund." — Grady Buchanan
He summed it up as corporations investing in fund managers that align with those corporations.
