Kristina Montague

Update: October 19, 2016 - JumpFund announces it'll raise $5MM-$7MM for Fund II, Nooga has it here. March 18, 2015 - The Jump Fund's updated portfolio page is here.Our 2014 story is below.-Ed.

THE JUMP FUND, the $2.4MM Angel fund based in Chattanooga, has made its first investment in a Woman-owned company in the Southeast.

Louisville-based SuperFanU, serving schools and sports teams with analytics and loyalty-rewards program, got JumpFund's inaugural investment, as part of a $1MM Seed round led by Lexington, Ky.-based Bluegrass Angels, JumpFund Managing Partner Kristina Montague told VentureTennessee.

JumpFund is sector-agnostic, will typically invest $50K-$250K and projects investing in 10 to 15 Southeastern U.S. companies between now and 2019.

If not based in Chattanooga, candidate portfolio companies must commit to doing significant business in Chattanooga and companies committing to relocating to Chattanooga upon funding carry additional weight, according to the Jumpfund website.

JumpFund's other criteria are similar to those of Women-led, Women-business-oriented Golden Seeds, based in New York, said Montague. Golden Seeds investment criteria include a first-round ceiling of $2MM or less and pre-money valuation of no more than $5MM.

The Jump Fund has the support of 49 investors, mostly individual females, said Montague. A bank and a foundation are also invested in the fund, she said, declining to name them or the individual investors. JumpFund originally had a $2.5MM target, but after eight months of work, it closed at $2.4MM on June 30, she noted.

JumpFund currently has no plans to raise another fund, Montague said, adding that the group plans to collaborate with other investors, notably Golden Seeds.

SuperFanU is majority-owned by co-founder and COO Kayla Mount. Mount's co-founder is Chief Product Officer Chris Nowak. Its CEO is Tendai Charasika. More on the team, here.

In a blogpost on its website earlier this year, JumpFund stated, in part, "...women still have a long way to go before they achieve true equality with men, whether it's in the financial halls of Wall Street or the tech centric hills of Silicon Valley... By increasing the number of angel funds investing in women and giving women a greater slice of the capital pie, we can increase the number of women in male dominated industries like those found in Silicon Valley." VTC