The Winston-Salem Partners Roundtable (WSPR), an angel investment fund that offers capital to early-stage growing companies in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, is announcing its largest investment to-date. WSPR has invested $410,000 into CN-Seamless – a startup that has designed a portable metal cutter that can be used in a variety of fabrication uses.
CN-Seamless was founded by Sam Marcom, Dario Muller, and Josh Cooper, who met in the engineering program at North Carolina State University. Observing a lack of efficiency in the current methods of installing and repairing equipment that is too large to maneuver to a CNC machine, the trio were inspired to invent a machine that could be brought to the metal.
CN-Seamless’ patent-pending Mach 1 machine is about the size of a carry-on suitcase, and allows users the ability to cut metal anywhere with highly accurate precision.
“Our goal with CN-Seamless is to solve some of the largest pain points in the construction and manufacturing industries,” says Sam Marcom, COO and Co-Founder. “In order to do that, we need to get the product to our customers and this investment will allow us to increase our production capabilities. This is just the first step of our growth plan as we look to also expand our product line in the future.”
The WSPR Fund has over 70 accredited investors in the group. Individual investors can choose which startups they support after the companies are vetted and invited to pitch to the group.
Just over half of the WSPR Fund members participated in the investment into CN-Seamless. In order to qualify for a WSPR Fund investment, startups must be located in or willing to locate to Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. With this investment, CN-Seamless has agreed to locate its manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem.
WSPR member David Steele is joining the company’s Board as part of the investment. David is the recently retired CEO of JC Steele and Sons, a sister company to Pine Hall Brick.
“With the WSPR Fund, we aim to support early-stage companies along the startup runway, which goes beyond just the monetary investment. We have members with a wide range of industry expertise that can help guide portfolio companies through their stages of growth. I am looking forward to seeing this company grow into an industry leader with this innovative product solution.” says Steele.
Since launching in July 2021, the WSPR Fund has invested more than $3 million in local startups. The other companies funded to-date are BEAM Dynamics, Jenni Earle, KeraVet Bio, mPath, Nvolve, Smoodi, Village Juice and Kitchen, and STEMZ.