The Richmond-based venture capital firm NRV has made investments in two companies — a Norfolk-based startup that makes software for industrial robotics, and a Nashville-based company that specializes in making nutritional frozen foods.
The venture fund announced Tuesday it participated in a $3.5 million investment round for SVT Robotics, which develops software to help businesses simplify the deployment of industrial robotics.
NRV also led a $4.3 million investment round in Red’s All Natural, which specializes in making frozen burritos, cauliflower rice bowls and other nutritional entrees.
The two investments are the eighth and ninth investments from NRV’s current fund, which is called the NRV Early Stage Growth Fund. It was established in 2017, when NRV assembled $33 million for the fund from 83 investors across Virginia.
NRV is an investment group founded in 2011 by a team of Richmond business leaders to invest in early-stage, high-growth companies.
Red’s All Natural is one of several food companies that have received investments from NRV. For instance, in December NRV made an investment in the Harrisonburg-based organic meat company Shenandoah Valley Organic.
NRV typically invests in Virginia-based companies, but the group will sometimes invest outside of Virginia with companies such as Red’s, a “rapidly growing” brand that makes non-genetically modified, antibiotic and hormone-free food products, said Laura Markley, a managing director for NRV.
“We have been watching their management team for quite awhile, and we are excited about their operational excellence,” she said of the company, which sells its products at some major retailers including Wegmans, Costco, Food Lion, Publix, Kroger, Giant and Whole Foods.
Red’s All Natural recently fitted a manufacturing facility in Sioux Falls, S.D., to support a nationwide expansion. The company’s burritos are produced there in small batches in which they are hand-rolled and flash-frozen to lock in all the flavor of a fresh burrito with clean label ingredients.
The investment round in SVT Robotics was led by California-based investment firm Cowboy Ventures.
Founded in 2018 by A.K. Schultz and Michael Howes, SVT Robotics has developed software that enables businesses in warehousing and manufacturing to easily connect their enterprise systems to robotics and automation.
Scott Ukrop, a managing director for NRV, said the investment group liked the fact that SVT Robotics has grown within the Virginia startup ecosystem, including being one of the first startups backed by the 757 Accelerate program, a business accelerator that supports startup companies in Virginia.
“The idea behind what they are doing is creating a sort of plug-and-play platform that any robot can drop into any existing business and minimize the amount of time to get that implemented,” Ukrop said. SVT has “both industry experience and programming experience.”