Coverage from Crain’s Grand Rapids, published 2025-05-20.
Seven months after forming, the $50 million Kalamazoo Forward Ventures said it was ahead of schedule and expected to accelerate its investment pace through the rest of 2025, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business reported in May 2025. Dwayne Powell, managing partner of the fund’s Main Street Capital Fund, said early months went into building internal systems, networking and creating programming, leaving a pipeline he called super strong. The fund had fielded 125 inquiries and conducted 100 interviews with prospects since launching in fall 2024, and partners anticipated closing two more deals within about a month and 10 to 15 in total by year end.
Its second investment, completed that month, was a six-figure commitment to commercial printer RJ’s Printing, whose owner Sean Hollins the fund planned to help pursue government contracts; Powell and general partner Eric Cunningham had helped finance Hollins’ acquisition of the business three years earlier. An earlier investment went to Papa’s Brittle, which opened a commercial kitchen in Oshtemo Township in April. The fund also hired Terry Cropper and Marcel Price.
