Redbud VC Raises $25M for Fund II to Back Outsider Founders

Columbia, Missouri doesn’t usually get cast as the center of gravity in venture. Redbud VC didn’t ask for permission to change that. They just closed a $25M Fund II and kept it moving. Willy Schlacks, Jabbok Schlacks, and Brett Calhoun didn’t just “raise a fund.” They scaled conviction. From a $5M Fund I in 2023 to a $25M Fund II that cleared an oversubscribed $20M target. That kind of jump doesn’t come from optimism. It comes from receipts, scars, and knowing exactly who you’re betting on before the market catches up.

And the room backing them? Not tourists. University of Missouri System Endowment is in. Jim McKelvey, who helped build Square into something your parents understand, is in. AngelList Fund of Funds is in. Then you stack 60 plus operators and executives from places like Square, Meta, and Veterans United. This isn’t passive capital. This is a network that answers the phone and actually does something when it rings.

Now zoom in where it gets interesting. Seventeen investments in the last twelve months. Check sizes between $250K and $500K. Thirty more swings lined up. That’s not volume for vanity. That’s rhythm. That’s knowing pre-seed isn’t about consensus, it’s about timing and spine.

Redbud VC has a type, and it’s not the polished founder with the perfect résumé and a rehearsed origin story. They back people strengthened by struggle. Founders without the usual credentials, without the warm intros, without the safety net. The ones who build like they’ve got something to prove because they usually do.

Here’s where the edge sharpens. When your LP base is packed with operators from construction, manufacturing, payments, and tech, you’re not just handing out capital. You’re injecting companies with their first customers, real feedback, and distribution before anyone else even schedules a diligence call. Money moves fast. Networks move faster.

And let’s address the geography without turning it into a slogan. Columbia, Missouri isn’t a compromise. It’s a vantage point. Less noise, more signal. Less posturing, more building. While everyone else debates ecosystems, Redbud VC is compounding one.

Willy Schlacks, Jabbok Schlacks, and Brett Calhoun are playing a different game. Not louder. Not flashier. Just sharper. Fund II isn’t a milestone. It’s a pressure test for the rest of the market to figure out what they’ve been missing.