Taxpayer returns unclear as venture capital firm DEMI Fund sues Denver seeking funds
In summer time 2022, within the wake of the homicide of George Floyd and the political unrest that adopted, Denver did one thing uncommon.
Town put aside 1% p.c of marijuana tax income from 2022 till 2025, totaling roughly $15 million, to assist — typically within the type of direct investments — minority and women-owned companies.
To handle and make investments the tax {dollars}, the town picked New Neighborhood Transformation Fund – Denver, which now goes by DEMI Fund and is led by Danielle Shoots.
Consequently, Denver taxpayers now personal a small stake in an organization that charges media shops primarily based on political bias and a web site that helps individuals make small investments within the oil and gasoline trade.
However lower than two years into the experiment, the connection between Shoots and the town has deteriorated.
Final week, DEMI Fund sued the town, claiming it had stopped forwarding the tax {dollars} as contracted and is refusing to reimburse Shoots practically $800,000 she stated she fronted to contractors so the fund’s portfolio firms wouldn’t be impacted.
“I’m a small enterprise myself closing in on $1 million within the gap,” Shoots stated.
The tax {dollars} have been speculated to be transferred from the town’s Herman Malone Fund, which is managed by the workplace of Denver Financial Improvement and Alternative (DEDO). A DEDO spokesperson declined to touch upon the lawsuit.
“The lawsuit got here after making an attempt to make it work, with out doing something on what I discovered to be unlawful, or abuse, and fraudulent of the taxpayers’ cash,” Shoots stated. “And so they simply by no means bought it collectively.”
10 firms in 12 months one, per redacted annual report
DEMI Fund’s contract with the town states that, of the $15 million dedicated by the town, $6 million can be invested instantly into startups owned by girls or minorities, giving taxpayers an possession stake in them, in accordance with a duplicate of the contract obtained by BusinessDen by way of a data request.
Shoots stated companies eligible for funding might be owned by girls or minorities, which additionally contains veterans, or have them in management roles. Companies self-report that they conform with the necessities, she stated.
One other $6.67 million of the $15 million was supposed to supply “ecosystem” assist, per the contract, which may come within the type of direct grants to companies or giving cash to different organizations that assist startups.
The remaining roughly $2.5 million was to go to administrative bills ($633,514), skilled providers ($1.27 million), advertising ($250,000) and personnel ($285,000).
Shoots has not beforehand labored for a conventional enterprise capital agency. She was beforehand the chief monetary officer of The Colorado Belief, and earlier than that vp of finance and enterprise operations for a division of Comcast.
So far, the town has disbursed $6.9 million to the DEMI Fund, in accordance with the fund’s lawsuit. That determine needs to be extra within the $10 million vary, in accordance with Denver’s contract with the fund.
“The primary 12 months I had lots of hope,” stated Shoots, who at one level referred to as the association “the best factor that’s ever been constructed.”
Denver’s marijuana tax {dollars} have been invested in 10 companies within the DEMI Fund’s first 12 months from August 2022 to July 2023, in accordance with an annual report Shoots supplied to BusinessDen.
These companies are:
• Advert Fontes, which says its media bias chart will assist advertisers assist high quality journalism
• Interview IA, which stated its screens and opinions potential workers for a better hiring course of
• Gritly, which presents coaching and hiring packages to assist match workers and employers
• PetroFunders, a web site for entry-level oil and gasoline buyers
• B-Konnected, a web site that helps individuals discover and retain housing
• Bondadosa, a meals supply firm
• Sistahbiz World Community, which presents enterprise planning providers for black girls entrepreneurs
• ICONI, an outside attire model
• Impacto, a enterprise marketing consultant firm
• One Purse, whose finance software program lets individuals switch cash internationally
In accordance with the report, the 12 months one tax {dollars} additionally supplied ecosystem providers to 30 companies.
The DEMI Fund — which stands for Home Rising Market Investments Fund — has different buyers, together with Financial institution of America and Xcel Power. However the metropolis’s {dollars} are handled considerably in a different way, partially to make sure they’re going solely to firms really in Denver. In accordance with the annual report, the general fund has invested $36.1 million.
Shoots supplied the annual report back to BusinessDen final week, greater than two months after first requested. She redacted most of the monetary figures within the report, saying she wished to guard the fund’s different buyers. The redactions make it not possible to determine Denver’s stake in particular person firms and the way the investments are performing.
Denver’s contract with the DEMI Fund specifies that DEMI Fund “will present DEDO with annual reviews and fixed entry to Contractor’s information system.”
However two metropolis departments — DEDO and the Division of Finance — responded to BusinessDen’s public data request for all reviews associated to the fund in current weeks by claiming they’d none.
Shoots stated the town ought to launch that info.
“I’m not the one that ought to should show what I’m doing, the town ought to,” Shoots stated. “That is the taxpayer’s cash. They’re those that needs to be clear.”
The contract additionally said a DEDO worker would sit on the DEMI Fund Board of Advisors. Michael Bevis, director of entrepreneurship and innovation at DEDO, held that place till January.
Bevis agreed to a BusinessDen interview in January, however canceled it an hour beforehand and didn’t reply to subsequent requests to reschedule. He additionally didn’t reply to requests to remark for this story.
Shoots: “Nobody inside the town is aware of about enterprise capital”
In an interview in January, two months earlier than submitting the lawsuit, Shoots informed BusinessDen she was not going to resume her contract with the town, which had the choice for 2 one-year renewals.
“It’s been actually, actually robust to execute since nobody inside the town is aware of about enterprise capital,” Shoots stated in January.
Talking final week, Shoots stated she has been combating with the town for the reason that contract began. She even requested to get out of it twice as a result of it grew to become clear the settlement was not working.
“We have been at all times combating again and having purple flags,” Shoots stated. “It’s been one factor after one other.”
She typically struggled to get well timed funds, however in August funds stopped fully. By November, in accordance with the lawsuit, Denver owed DEMI Fund $282,495. She despatched extra six-figure invoices for reimbursement in subsequent months.
As a result of cities investing taxpayer cash on this means is basically extraordinary, Shoots stated she needed to make up the contract and authorized construction for the fund. In accordance with her lawsuit, Denver was initially speculated to be a restricted accomplice within the fund, as is typical for buyers, however that wasn’t doable as a result of it was tax {dollars}. As a substitute, the nonprofit Affect Charitable was arrange as one thing of an middleman on Denver’s behalf.
Shoots claims that DEDO staffers have tried to refuse invoices as a result of DEMI was not sharing the right documentation. Shoots claims she was, and the town had entry to all reviews, however that the town wanted to request them by way of Affect Charitable.
“It’s a cross by way of. You’ll be able to’t go on to my fund and ask for it as a result of they’re not a L.P. (restricted accomplice),” Shoots stated. “They stated we’d like an entire new, totally different sort of documentation however nobody has described what that really means.”
Affect Charitable didn’t reply to a request for remark from BusinessDen.
Shoots claims that after requesting an bill be paid, she was informed twice that The Herman Malone Fund had run out of cash, though the manager director of DEDO later informed her that was not true.
DEMI Fund’s contract formally began in August 2022 below former Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration. Mayor Mike Johnston assumed workplace final July, however Shoots stated she doesn’t consider the change in administration led to the present state of affairs, saying there have been points earlier than Johnston took over.
Lawyer’s Laurin D. Quiat and Thomas A. Donaho with Baker & Hostetler are representing DEMI within the go well with.
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This story was reported by our accomplice BusinessDen.