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My Journey to Investor and Changing the Florida Investment Landscape
August 8, 2019 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
David Chitester, Serial Entrepreneur and Founder Florida Funders and Seed Funders
A couple companies later, a couple exits under his belt, I sat at a table with David Chitester and his friend as they explained on paper what would become Florida Funders. From Florida Funders, as he continues to identify needs in the marketplace, David has launched Seed Funders.
Don’t miss this story of vision and purpose that is transforming the landscape of company growth and economic development.
David Chitester Bio
Mr. Chitester is the founder of the Tampa Bay investment firms Florida Funders and Seedfunders. He is also the recipient of the 2019 TiE Tampa Bay Super Angel Investor Award for his efforts in pioneering changes in the Tampa Bay startup landscape over the past 5 years.
Florida Funders, founded in 2013, is the first and only online platform in Florida to use equity crowdfunding to invest in startups. To date the company has invested more than $15 million in 20 early stage companies and has recently raised an $18 million committed capital fund to invest alongside the “crowd” of more than 1,100 accredited investors. Mr. Chitester also founded, and is CEO, of another investment company, Seedfunders. While Florida Funders is focused on companies who have a proven concept and paying customers, Seedfunders concentrates on identifying pre-revenue technical concepts and supplying mentoring and funding to assist the founders in bringing their concept to market. In its first year, Seedfunders has invested almost $1 million in 7 portfolio companies. Already, the first Seedfunders portfolio company has been “handed up” to Florida Funders for a 7-figure investment after it proved its concept and started generating revenue.
Before Florida Funders and Seedfunders, Mr. Chitester started several companies from scratch with a number of successful exits. He sold his first company, Chitester Management Systems, to Hill International, a public company headquartered in Philadelphia. Hill is a global leader in construction management and construction litigation support. He sold his second company, RedVector.com, to a group led by the Tampa venture capital firm, Stonehenge. The company (now called Vector Solutions) has since been sold to a private equity firm, but remains headquartered in Tampa with more than 300 employees.
Mr. Chitester has a Bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Northern Michigan University.