Former professional football player, Tim Tebow, has joined GOVO Venture Partners as a Partner.
Tim Tebow is a two-time collegiate national football champion quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner, first-round NFL draft pick, and a former professional baseball player. He is also a five-time New York Times best-selling author, speaker and football analyst. He is well-known for the passion and effort he has put into establishing and growing the Tim Tebow Foundation, a charitable organization that has provided help to some of the most vulnerable people in nearly ninety countries in the areas of Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation, Orphan Care and Prevention, Profound Medical Needs, and Special Needs Ministry.
Founded by fund general partners Rob Panepinto, Jonathan Kilman, Brian D’Ambrosio, and 1858 Capital Partners, GOVO Venture Partners launched its first venture fund, GOVO Fund I in January 2023. The Florida-based fund, focuses on investing in early-stage companies, seed round through series A, that are engaging in business with governmental entities or navigating government regulation as an important aspect of growth and success factor. By leveraging their expertise and network, GOVO aims to support and optimize the success of promising ventures that have the potential to make a meaningful impact for people across Florida, America, and beyond. GOVO Venture Partners’ portfolio companies benefit from our capital, deep understanding of government, and extensive operational expertise.
Tim Tebow
“I am excited to partner and invest in GOVO because they care about purpose and people,” said Tim Tebow.
As a Partner in GOVO, Tebow and his Florida-headquartered team will support the growth of the fund’s portfolio companies. To date, GOVO has invested in seven portfolio companies in areas including cloud clinic healthcare, data-supported traffic management, 3-D printed seawalls that enhance sustainability and resilience, AI-powered voice identification for fraud and theft prevention, precision medicine management for patients facing cancer and complex/rare diseases, connected vehicle commerce, and cybersecurity.
Rob Panepinto, GOVO’s Managing Partner
“We are excited and honored to have Tim join us as a Partner. Throughout his career as an athlete and businessman, and in his mission-driven work, Tim has demonstrated an extraordinary work ethic and unsurpassed integrity,” shared Rob Panepinto, GOVO’s Managing Partner.
Rob continued, “As we explored this partnership, the alignment between Tim’s talent and values and the work we are doing at GOVO became clear. Our portfolio companies are often solving problems that make the world a better, safer place in areas such as environmental technologies, fraud and theft prevention, and the modernization of healthcare. Through his creativity, relationships and energy, we are confident that Tim will help accelerate the growth of our portfolio companies. We also believe that some of our current, and likely future portfolio companies can be helpful in supporting the vulnerable people that the Tim Tebow Foundation is fighting for.”
As a Florida-based venture fund, four of the seven portfolio companies to-date are based in the sunshine state: Urban SDK (Jacksonville), a traffic management system of record for state and local governments across North America, Kind Designs (Miami), a climate-tech startup addressing rising sea levels by revolutionizing the outdated and traditionally toxic seawall construction industry, Medzown (Jupiter), a leader in precision medicine management, and Mavi.io (Miami), leading the in-vehicle payment evolution in partnership with the world’s largest automakers.
Jonathan Kilman, General Partner at GOVO
“As a fellow University of Florida Gator, I’ve cheered Tim on and watched his extraordinary career unfold. He is as well-known and respected as any Floridian can be. We anticipate that in addition to his other efforts, Tim will magnify GOVO’s capacity to attract the best Florida-based investment opportunities and support portfolio company goals,” shareed GOVO General Partner Jonathan Kilman.
Kilman added, “Perhaps what has impressed me most is that he never wavers from his mission, whether as an athlete on a field or as the founder and leader of a global charity. Tim’s example will inspire the founders of our portfolio companies, and we look forward to working with him.”
To learn more about GOVO Venture Partners, visit www.govovp.com