Filling Funding Gaps
The Show-Me Investor Network connects investors with high-potential tech founders across Missouri, expanding access to early-stage capital and accelerating startup growth beyond major metros.
Innovate SOMO Funds
The Innovate SOMO Funds bring venture philanthropy to Southern Missouri — pooling community investment to back the region’s most promising tech startups. Our dual-structure model combines charitable capital with traditional investment to close the funding gap in markets where pre-seed and seed capital is nearly nonexistent.
Nonprofit Fund
Philanthropic capital that closes funding gaps for early-stage startups. Returns are recycled back into the fund to support the next generation of founders.
Limited Partner Fund
For accredited investors who want to co-invest in vetted startups alongside the nonprofit fund. Traditional LP structure with return expectations.
Investor Education
Building Missouri’s investor ecosystem from the ground up.
80% of U.S. venture capital flows to California and New York. Pre-seed and seed funding is nearly nonexistent in rural markets — not because the ideas aren’t there, but because the investor infrastructure isn’t. We’re changing that by equipping accredited individuals and philanthropists with the knowledge and networks to participate in venture and angel investing.
Investor Ready Missouri
A self-paced program for accredited investors who want to learn how venture and angel investing works — and how to evaluate, fund, and support early-stage tech startups.
New Era of Philanthropic Capital
A webinar series for philanthropists and community leaders exploring how charitable capital can fuel innovation and economic growth in underserved markets.
Missouri Founder Stories
Real impact. Real people.
Nathan Holmes
Founder of PumpTrakr
Nathan Holmes spent 30+ years as a second-generation farmer before building PumpTrakr — the first brand-agnostic irrigation automation platform providing modular flexibility and team cohesion across farm operations. What started as a solution to his own problem on the farm has grown into an IoT-powered platform managing tens of thousands of pump sessions annually, with 95% customer retention and 100% word-of-mouth growth. PumpTrakr is now raising a Pre-Series A round to scale across the $2 billion irrigation automation market.
"Codefi is the engine that brought my idea into reality and made it marketable. I work really hard to do as much legwork as I can, and they’re the professionals that make the app work. I rely heavily on their advice. They were and are a big help."
Sho Rust
Founder of PubGen.AI
Sho Rust left a career in Los Angeles — where he served as design lead at BCG Digital Ventures and worked on campaigns for Marvel, Google, and Toyota — to return to his family’s roots in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and tackle a crisis facing local journalism. PubGen.AI is an AI-powered content management system built specifically for local newsrooms, grounding its AI in each publication’s own archives to ensure content is rooted in community truth. Now deployed across 100+ local publishers, the platform has delivered 30–45% lifts in online traffic and earned Rust Communications the Local Media Association’s Innovator of the Year award.
“Codefi gave us the catalyst to really take an idea and turn it into a company. I realized the legacy of a newspaper isn’t just the newspaper itself — it’s all the stories in there. It’s almost like a museum of a community’s history. We wanted to be a part of protecting that.”
Scott Goessling
Founder of SYFRR
Scott Goessling spent over two decades in enterprise technology and financial services — including roles at Wells Fargo, Anheuser-Busch, and SunGard (now FIS) — before founding SYFRR in Springfield, Missouri to solve a problem he’d seen up close: credit unions and community lenders were locked out of the AI-powered automation that only the biggest banks could afford. SYFRR is an end-to-end lending automation platform that uses AI, neural networks, and high-speed algorithms to complete the entire loan process — from application to signature-ready documents — in under three minutes. A finalist in the 2023 CreditUnions.com Innovation Series for Lending, SYFRR creates 500–600% more lending opportunities while reducing staff workload by over 90%. Scott pitched at Codefi’s inaugural Invest SOMO event and continues to scale the platform from Springfield.
“By the time I pitched at Invest SOMO, I wasn’t just validating an idea — I was building a business. Codefi helped me find product-market fit, gain investor traction, and commit full-time to my vision. Their passion and knowledge are incredibly valuable.”
Ready to Join the Investor Network?
Be part of a growing network of investors backing the next generation of impact-driven startups.