🔒Portland venture startup backs restaurant, real estate tech

A few months after Corsair Venture Partners set sail this spring, the venture capital startup has made its first two investments in its own backyard. One is Colette, an operations platform for restaurant groups, while the other is Rely, a data platform for multifamily real estate deals. Like Corsair, both businesses are based in Portland. "We exist to back AI-native companies looking to transform industries with world class teams building from places many VCs overlook," Chris Wolfel, founder and general partner of Corsair, told Mainebiz. "These companies both match what we want to invest in — Maine-based [and] trying to build massive global businesses," he added. Colette, founded in 2023, is staffed by nine full-time employees. Co-founder Frank Chen, who worked with Wolfel going back more than a decade, said the platform is used by more than 40 restaurant locations across the United States. Each location typically has three to four users. Chen said Colette's ideal customer is a restaurant group with multiple locations.

“We've found these groups often struggle to find general managers,” he said. As a result, restaurants use Colette to consolidate operational data and keep management teams aligned. With Corsair's backing, "it means we can keep building in Maine and supporting the growth of the state's early-stage ecosystem, while Chris's connections across New England set us up well for our next stages of growth," Chen said.

Rely's growth ambitions

Rely, led by founders George Matelich and David LeBosco, helps institutional real estate investors conduct due diligence and units in a fraction of the usual time, allowing them to cross the finish line sooner. "I've been fortunate enough to build a relationship with Chris over the last few years and am grateful to have Corsair in our corner," Matelich said. "We have customers and investors across the country but none in Maine, so having a local partner is very valuable as we scale the business." Corsair expects to announce its third investment later this month, according to Wolfel. He was honored on the Mainebiz 40 Under 40 list in 2022.