Venture studio High Alpha launches ninth company this year

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Indianapolis-based venture studio High Alpha on Tuesday announced the public launch of its ninth company this year.

High Alpha’s latest portfolio company, Trava, makes and markets an automated risk-management and cyber-insurance software platform designed for small- and mid-sized businesses.

Trava’s founding investors are High Alpha and TDF Ventures—which has offices in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The company, which has eight full-time employees, hasn’t yet raised any outside venture capital. The amount invested by High Alpha and TDF Ventures was not disclosed.

“What really makes Trava stand out … is the experience of their founding team,” said Drew Beechler, High Alpha marketing director.

Trava co-founder and CEO Jim Goldman is a seasoned cybersecurity veteran who previously led security, governance and risk management at Salesforce and ExactTarget. He also worked as an FBI cyber crime task force officer.

Co-founder and chief technology officer Rob Beeler has nearly 30 years of experience leading engineering teams at Carbonite, OpenText and Double-Take Software. Beeler also was a CTO of the Year honoree in 2018 by IBJ.

Investments in cybersecurity solutions are at an all-time high, but breaches aren’t decreasing, studies show. There is a glaring need for small and midsize businesses who know they are vulnerable in this arena, Trava officials said.

“Most small to medium-sized organizations have no idea where to begin when it comes to protecting themselves against cyber threats,” High Alpha Managing Partner Scott Dorsey said in a written statement. “We are thrilled to be working with Jim and Rob, the experienced Trava team, and our partners at TDF Ventures to help businesses everywhere take control of their cybersecurity.”

High Alpha has launched more companies this year than any other year since its founding in 2015.

High Alpha still has six more portfolio companies that have been incorporated but are still operating in stealth mode. High Alpha expects to publicly launch at least one more this year.

To date, High Alpha’s portfolio has contained a total of 21 launched companies. Four of those—digital document-management firm Octiv, legal transaction-management firm Doxly, student-engagement software maker Clear Scholar and email-signature marketing company Sigstr—have been acquired, leaving 17, including Trava, officially named in the portfolio.

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