The lead investor is Techstars Ventures (Techstars.com/ventures), the venture capital arm of Techstars. The Boulder, Colorado-based organization is making seed stage and Series A investments out of its $150 million third fund. ConnXus is the first Cincinnati-area tech company to receive investment from Techstars Ventures.

'We are thrilled to work with ConnXus as they bring technology and innovation to this very important issue of Supplier Diversity. Our goal is to help ConnXus grow by exposing the company to our larger network. We operate accelerators on behalf of some of the world's top brands and work with many amazing sponsors who, like us, are focused on diversity in their workforce and supply chain. We hope we can use those relationships, plus our enormous global network around Techstars, to help the company expand,' said Techstars Co-Founder and Managing Partner David Cohen.

The Supplier Diversity Reporting, Compliance & Risk Management market is a rapidly growing segment of the $10 billion worldwide supply chain management and procurement software market, according to data from the technology research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc.

'We are excited to partner with visionary investors like Techstars who understand how our innovative solution can reinvent the future of supplier relationship management, while solving the 'supplier diversity' problem that has plagued corporate America for the last 50 years,' said ConnXus Founder and CEO Rod Robinson.

The round also includes participation from existing investors Serious Change L.P., CincyTech (cincytechusa.com), Impact America Fund (impactamericafund.com) and several private angel investors.

ConnXus has enjoyed 700% compound annual revenue growth since launching its first product in 2012, and 104% revenue growth in the last 12 months. 'Our customers rate us top among supplier diversity software providers,' said ConnXus COO Daryl Hammett. ConnXus' growing client list includes industry giants McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Harley-Davidson, Caesars Entertainment and Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

'80% of our growth, to date, has come from customer referral. The new funding will enable us to invest in marketing, sales resources, product development and growing our database of nearly 2 million diverse suppliers,' Robinson said.

About ConnXus
Headquartered in Mason, Ohio, ConnXus helps grow diverse woman- and minority-owned businesses by connecting them to Fortune 2000 corporations seeking a competitive edge through Supplier Diversity. Our cloud-based supplier relationship management platform enables major corporations to better manage all aspects of their Supplier Diversity compliance and programs. ConnXus is a Software as a Service provider, and an NMSDC-certified African-American owned company.

About Techstars Ventures
Techstars Ventures (formerly Bullet Time Ventures) is the venture capital arm of Techstars. We have $265M under management and are currently investing out of our third fund ($150M) which is focused on Seed and Series A investments. We are primarily co-investors alongside the venture capital and angel communities in Techstars accelerator program graduates, new companies started by Techstars alumni, and companies formed by Techstars mentors. We are based in Boulder, Colorado and also have offices in Austin, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Antonio, San Diego, and Seattle.