Meritus Ventures

Meritus Ventures, L.P. is a $36.4 million venture capital fund formed in 2002 to make equity investments in private, expansion-stage companies in predominantly rural areas of central and southern Appalachia. The fund is a Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) created under the USDA's Rural Business Investment Program, which promotes professionally managed venture capital in underserved rural regions. Managed by Eclipse Management LLC, the fund is led by Ray Moncrief (President and Fund Manager) and Grady Vanderhoofven (Executive Vice President and Fund Manager). The LP base includes banks and private financial institutions from the Farm Credit System, large foundations, high-net-worth individuals, the University of Kentucky, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Meritus leads rounds, deploying $1 million to $10 million per deal at Series A and Series B stages across information technology, industrials, and technology, media, and telecommunications companies. Geographic focus spans Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Appalachian counties of Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Across approximately 12 investments, the fund produced 4 acquisitions. The headline exit was GRIDSMART (traffic intelligence technology), which was acquired by Cubic Corporation for $87 million in January 2019. Other portfolio companies include Pinnacle Medical Solutions and Superior Fabrication. The fund is fully deployed with no new investments since 2013 and is currently in harvest mode. Meritus Ventures represents one of the more successful examples of USDA-backed rural VC, demonstrating that technology companies with scalable products and strong management can be built and exited successfully from markets that coastal venture capital historically overlooked.