Minnesota · Wisconsin · North Dakota · South Dakota

The capital map of the Upper Midwest.

Northern Dealbook is an independent record of private equity and venture capital in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas — who is investing, what they are buying, and what it means for the founders and fund managers on the other side of the table.

Browse the directory See the deal record

132Firms in the directory

274Transactions recorded

$4.3BDisclosed capital · 274 of 274 deals

The capital figure sums disclosed amounts only. As of this build all 274 recorded transactions disclosed one, so it covers the whole record; a transaction that discloses no amount is excluded rather than counted as zero.

Minneapolis — Looking up at the downtown office towers, July 2025. Photo: Dave Madgett

132 firms in the directory 274 transactions on the record Every entry cites at least one source Undisclosed is never recorded as zero Minnesota · 168 recorded Wisconsin · 80 recorded North Dakota · 14 recorded South Dakota · 12 recorded We would rather be corrected than be wrong 132 firms in the directory 274 transactions on the record Every entry cites at least one source Undisclosed is never recorded as zero Minnesota · 168 recorded Wisconsin · 80 recorded North Dakota · 14 recorded South Dakota · 12 recorded We would rather be corrected than be wrong

Regional capital is badly documented. National databases treat the Upper Midwest as a rounding error, the trade press covers the handful of rounds large enough to make a headline, and the filings that record the rest sit in EDGAR where nobody reads them. The result is that a founder in Fargo and a fund manager in Milwaukee are both working from an incomplete map.

This is the map. Every firm profile and every transaction here carries a citation on the page, and where a number was not disclosed the field is left off rather than estimated.

What this is

Four things, and the sources under each of them

The firm directory
132 private equity, venture, growth and credit firms deploying capital in the four states. Filter by state, strategy, stage and check size; every profile shows its sources and the date it was last verified.
Open the directory
The deal record
274 financings, buyouts, add-ons and fund closes involving companies headquartered in the coverage area. Amounts are shown only where they were disclosed.
See the record
Insights
8 pieces on how deals in this region actually get done — market practice, terms, and the statutes and tax rules that move with them.
Read the analysis
The method
What gets covered, where each entry comes from, what we will not publish, and who is responsible for the content. Corrections are welcome and are the fastest way to improve the record.
Read the methodology

The record

Most recently recorded

Quercus Biosolutions

Madison agricultural biotech closed an oversubscribed $5M seed led by Serra Ventures to develop AI-designed mini-proteins targeting herbicide-resistant weeds.

Venture roundMadison, WisconsinSeed

Claros Technologies

Minneapolis PFAS destruction company closed a $55M Series B led by Treehouse Family Capital, with strategic participation from Daikin America and Veralto and two Minnesota foundations.

Venture roundMinneapolis, MinnesotaSeries B

State Bankshares, Inc.

State Bankshares, Inc. reported selling $2.9M of equity from 22 investors in an exempt offering.

Exempt offeringFargo, North Dakota

Vireo Growth Inc.

Vireo Growth Inc. reported selling $1.1M of equity from 3 investors in an exempt offering.

Exempt offeringMinneapolis, Minnesota

CMWE Investment, LLC

CMWE Investment, LLC reported selling $5.5M of equity from 109 investors in an exempt offering.

Exempt offeringMilwaukee, Wisconsin

Hoefer Group, LLC

Hoefer Group, LLC reported selling $601,500 of equity from 2 investors in an exempt offering.

Exempt offeringDunseith, North Dakota

Modelist Inc

Modelist Inc reported selling $525,000 of securities from 4 investors in an exempt offering.

Exempt offeringExcelsior, Minnesota

SP Ashland LLC

SP Ashland LLC reported selling $4.5M of equity from 45 investors in an exempt offering.

Exempt offeringDuluth, Minnesota

All 274 transactions →

Coverage

Four states, counted separately

Firms are counted by the states they say they invest in, so a fund active in three of them appears in three columns; transactions are counted by where the company sits, so those totals are disjoint and add to the record.

Minnesota
Firms active here
66
Transactions recorded
168
Disclosed · 168 of 168
$2.7B
Filter the directory
Wisconsin
Firms active here
48
Transactions recorded
80
Disclosed · 80 of 80
$818.8M
Filter the directory
North Dakota
Firms active here
1
Transactions recorded
14
Disclosed · 14 of 14
$711.6M
Filter the directory
South Dakota
Firms active here
17
Transactions recorded
12
Disclosed · 12 of 12
$57.4M
Filter the directory

Composition

What the directory and the record are made of

Minneapolis — The Stone Arch Bridge, the lock, and the mill district from above, August 2016. **Photo: Dave Madgett**

Firms by strategy

Strategy	Firms
Private Equity	82
Venture Capital	53

Transactions by type

Type	Deals
Exempt offering	235
Debt financing	36
Venture round	2
Fund close	1

A firm running two strategies is counted under both, so the strategy column sums above 132. Transaction types are mutually exclusive and sum to 274.

Scale

Largest disclosed transactions on the record

Disclosed only. Every transaction on the record currently reports an amount, so this is the whole ranking — but a deal that closes without disclosing will never appear here however large it was.

Company	Type	Date	Disclosed
Edgewood Properties, LLLP Fargo, ND	Exempt offering	Feb 2018	$673.2M
Mill City Ventures III, Ltd Wayzata, MN	Exempt offering	Jul 2025	$450M
SharpLink Gaming, Inc. Minneapolis, MN	Exempt offering	May 2025	$425M
Continental Properties Real Estate Development Fund Iv, L.P. Menomonee Falls, WI	Exempt offering	Mar 2026	$151.3M
Gravie, Inc. Minneapolis, MN	Exempt offering	Jun 2025	$150M
Celcuity Inc. Minneapolis, MN	Debt financing	Apr 2021	$130M

Latest

Insights

Minnesota's Angel Tax Credit Has Expired — and the State's Own Page Still Describes It in the Present Tense

The statute sunset for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024. The Department of Revenue's guidance page, updated in December 2025, carries no expiration notice. Here is what actually survives.

Minnesota Voided Employee Non-Competes. Deals Still Work — but Retention Doesn't.

Minn. Stat. § 181.988 makes employee non-competes void, blocks the choice-of-law workaround, and awards fees to employees. The sale-of-business exception survives intact. For a buyer, that combination changes what you are actually acquiring.

North Dakota Pays the Most

A 45 percent seed capital credit and a 35 percent angel fund credit make North Dakota the most generous of the four states for early-stage investors — by a wide margin, and with the smallest economy behind it.

QSBS After the 2025 Overhaul — and Why the Exclusion List Bites Harder Here

Section 1202 got its biggest expansion in fifteen years: a tiered holding period, a $15 million cap, and a $75 million asset test. But the list of businesses that cannot qualify maps uncomfortably well onto the Upper Midwest economy.

All insights →

Working on a deal?

The directory is published by the lawyer who built it.

Northern Dealbook is published by Madgett Law, LLC. The practice covers fund formation, term sheet negotiation, diligence and closings in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota — the same ground this publication documents. Some firms and companies covered here are, have been, or may become clients; listing in the directory is free and cannot be bought.

Get in touch How this is put together →