Teslar Software of Springdale says it recently offered a 10x return to round one investors who were willing to be bought out. Among them were the state of Arkansas and the Tonic NWA Fund II.
The company, which attributes this success to it providing the technology used in processing one-fifth of this year’s federally funded Paycheck Protection Program loans (see Teslar Simplifying SBA Loans), received the state investment through one of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority’s matching funds.
“They put $200K in Teslar ... and we gave them back $2 million. We wired them that money a week and a half ago or so,” Teslar CEO Joe Ehrhardt told Whispers last week. “I think the coolest part to me is that the fund is a revolving fund. So when they get returns, it doesn’t go to buy more state equipment. It goes to invest in more startups.”
The NWA Fund II is managed by father-and-son team Jeff and Brett Amerine, known for leading Startup Junkie of Fayetteville and Cadron Capital Partners of Fayetteville, among other ventures.
Jeff Amerine told Whispers by email last week that the fund invested $100,000 in the company and received a $1 million return for its investors. He said Ehrhardt is a Startup Junkie client and had participated in its accelerators.
“Joe and his team have built a fantastic fintech company that is on a trajectory to achieve many more great things,” Amerine said.
Ehrhardt said Teslar initially raised $1 million, and it spent about $16 million on buyouts.
