Matchstick Ventures

Co-founders and managing partners Ryan Broshar and Natty Zola lead all investment decisions. Broshar built the Twin Cities startup ecosystem through Beta.MN and Twin Cities Startup Week, while Zola ran the Techstars Boulder accelerator after selling his company to AOL. Both are former founders who transitioned into institutional seed investing in 2015.

Matchstick's sourcing advantage comes from the community-organizing infrastructure that co-founders Broshar and Zola built before the fund existed — Broshar co-founded Beta.MN and Twin Cities Startup Week, and Zola was the longtime managing director of Techstars Boulder. The firm's network of 400-plus operators, mentors, and corporate partners across Colorado, Minnesota, and the Techstars ecosystem feeds a steady stream of pre-institutional referrals.

Matchstick is a venture capital firm, not a family office. It raises committed capital from limited partners and has deployed $30 million from its second fund into pre-seed and seed-stage startups, with first checks ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million.

The firm invests exclusively in what it calls 'between the coasts' — specifically Colorado and the broader Rockies region, plus Minnesota and the broader North region. It also leverages its deep ties to the Techstars network, which extends its reach without diluting its regional focus.

Yes. Matchstick reserves significant capital from each fund to reinvest in existing portfolio companies as they scale. The firm also connects founders to top-tier national co-investors for later-stage rounds, drawing on relationships built across more than a decade in the startup ecosystem.