CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 11, 2026--
The 81 Collection today announced an additional close of its second fund at $82 million, double the size of its 2021 debut fund, bringing total AUM to more than $145 million. Fund II seeks to back founder-owned businesses in services, manufacturing, and the physical world: the 81% of the U.S. economy that the firm believes is underserved by most venture capital.
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The firm was founded five years ago on the thesis that sectors representing 19% of GDP received 55% of venture capital attention. The 81 Collection believes that the other 81% of the economy, the businesses that employ most Americans, compete for what is left.
"We think that most venture capitalists fund companies that might work. We back the ones that already do," said Vijen Patel, founder and general partner of The 81 Collection. "I co-founded Pressbox, now Tide Cleaners, and grew it to 1,000 locations using cash flow. For the 81% of businesses that don’t fit the traditional venture capital model, capital efficiency is an advantage, not a limitation. The best funding comes from your customers, and that also makes businesses last. Until about 40 years ago, that’s how most companies were built. We’ve just forgotten.”
The 81 Collection seeks to invest in companies with $4 to $20 million in annual revenue growing 40% or more a year. The firm also aims to be the first and last institutional check with a total investment of about $8 to $10 million. Fund II has made two investments so far in Uptiv, which operates tech-enabled infusion centers in Michigan, and Terra, an AI-native freight brokerage platform.
"The 81 Collection is an ideal backer to have on our cap table because they share our belief that building an enduring business requires both technological innovation and disciplined cash-flow management. We're grateful for the firsthand operational experience Vijen and the team are able to offer as we embark on the next stage of our growth journey," said the founder and CEO of a Fund I portfolio company.
"What sets The 81 Collection apart is investment from and access to a community of operators who have built and run the kinds of companies the firm backs. That experience matters to founders, and it is just one of many reasons why we were glad to support Fund I and are excited to invest in Fund II,” said Brian Stal, Director of GSD at DNS Capital.
Contact: hello@81collection.com.
About The 81 Collection
The 81 Collection invests minority stakes in founder-owned businesses in services, manufacturing, and the physical world. Vijen Patel, co-founder Alex Kirshenbaum, and former Tide Cleaners COO Jeff Jasurda lead the firm. Advisors include Scott Malpass, former chief investment officer of the University of Notre Dame.
www.81collection.com
The 81 Collection team.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has issued a warning to Democrats over their planned probes into the Trump administration, going as far as claiming that such investigations — a standard oversight function of Congress -- may amount to “blatant criminality.”
White House counsel Will Scharf issued the warning in a letter dated Monday to Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
Garcia most likely would chair the powerful panel in the new Democratic-controlled Congress that is seated in January. Garcia warned Trump officials to “lawyer up” as his party was on the way to stunning victories in last week's midterm election.
In response, Scharf wrote that “threats to executive branch officials designed to deter them from public service, or process designed merely to abuse or instill fear in the recipient may cross the line into blatant criminality." The letter’s existence was first reported by Punchbowl News.
Garcia said in response to the letter that “it appears Donald Trump has something to hide” and stressed that Congress’ investigative powers do not need the “permission of the White House.”
“Congress has wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight, an authority inherent in the power to legislate,” Garcia said. “The American people voted overwhelmingly for us to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse.”
Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda to look at how Trump and his family have become wealthier since he returned to office. The Republican president and his White House have long denied any wrongdoing.
Garcia also wants to look at the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Other targets include Trump’s White House ballroom and other construction projects, as well as the Trump family’s role in mineral deals and Trump’s crypto dealings with special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a CNN interview that aired Sunday that “there could be” a crime to investigate if rhetoric from Democrats turned threatening. He appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone during an appearance in Missouri this week, saying “Congress has oversight authority. It always has, it always will. The Department of Justice, the federal government, works with Congress to address questions they have — whether it’s through subpoenas or letters — so we’re not going to stop working with Congress.”
“Nothing I’ve said this weekend, or in the past, should suggest otherwise,” he added.
Some lawmakers cautioned Democrats as well as the White House against overreaching.
Outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Trump critic, said he hopes Democrats don't squander their new powers on “stupid things.”
“I hope they have real hearings about real things, not another Russiagate,” he said, referring to a previous congressional inquiry into ties between Trump's first presidential campaign in 2016 and Russia. Trump repeatedly denounced that investigation as a “hoax.”
“I think there is some real corruption there around the fringes,” Massie said about Trump and some of those around the president. Massie lost his primary election to a Trump-backed GOP challenger.
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., who is expected to be the next House Ethics Committee chairman, said he would not back down from any investigations because of warnings from the White House.
“If they're trying to intimidate, at least for me, it’s not going to get me,” said DeSaulnier, who was a Republican before he switched to the Democratic Party in 2000. “I don’t work for a mafia, a mob organization.”
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker and AP video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks outside of the Capitol about articles of impeachment he introduced against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
The U.S. Capitol is photographed Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
New members of the 120th Congress gather for the first day of new member orientation at the Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Attorney General Todd Blanche stand in the door of Air Force One was Marine One lands with President Donald Trump aboard, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen))
President Donald Trump, followed by Dana White, UFC president and CEO, arrives to speak in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
