Funding group hopes to find success

Startups throughout Florida have a new ally in a frontline challenge: raising capital.

This entry, with a twist on the standard venture capital model, is Florida Funders, a Tampa-based, for-profit organization founded by area entrepreneurs David and Kathleen Chitester. The couple sold their interest in one of their more recent successful startups, online education firm Redvector.com, to a group led by Tampa-based venture capital firm Stonehenge. Now the Chitesters want to help other startups.

“I experienced firsthand how difficult it is to raise capital for a startup,” David Chitester tells Coffee Talk. “It's easy to launch a company, but it's nearly impossible to fund it past family and friends.”