Daniel Hoffman

Dan Hoffman is the CEO of Invest Nebraska Corporation, the state's venture development organization, which invests seed capital in Nebraska startups, advises entrepreneurs, and partners with public and private stakeholders to build entrepreneurial infrastructure. He has been involved in building support systems for new Nebraska enterprises for well over a decade, having led the organization since 2008 and been named permanent CEO in April 2016. Under his leadership, Invest Nebraska was, per PitchBook, the most active venture capital seed investor in the Mountain and Midwest region in 2025.

Before joining Invest Nebraska, Hoffman served as Senior Policy Adviser to Nebraska Governors Dave Heineman and Mike Johanns during his time with the State of Nebraska (roughly 1999–2008), working on economic and innovation policy. He has also taught economics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln since 1999.

Hoffman holds a B.S. in Finance and an M.A. in Economics, both from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and is a 2012 graduate of the Venture Capital Institute. He has served as Principal Investigator for the Heartland Robotics Cluster, which secured a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2022, underscoring his role in positioning Nebraska as a robotics and advanced-technology hub.

He sits on multiple boards and advisory bodies, including NMotion, Nebraska Innovation Campus, the Nebraska Diplomats, the UNL College of Engineering Advisory Board, and an advisory board for the University of Nebraska president. He received the 2017 Entrepreneurship Advocate Award from the UNL Center for Entrepreneurship.

• Stage: Seed and early-stage companies that are showing "early signs of product-market fit."
• Check size: Initial investments averaging around $250,000, typically alongside co-investors, with the ability to support follow-on rounds and attract outside capital into Nebraska deals.
• Geography as the core filter: Companies must be based in Nebraska — the mission is explicitly to "build a better future for our state" and grow the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, not just to maximize returns.
• Sector-agnostic with clear clusters: Invests across all industries but has deep concentrations in robotics (e.g., Virtual Incision), agtech (GrainWeevil, Sentinel Fertigation, RealmFive), healthtech/medtech (Centese, Ocuvera, Nobl), and B2B SaaS (CompanyCam, Workshop, Opendorse).
• Operational value-add: Positions itself as providing "financial and operational assistance," pairing capital with hands-on advising and ecosystem connections rather than being a passive check-writer.
• Track record framing: Since 2002, the organization reports deploying $44.95M+ across 155+ investments, catalyzing $532M+ in follow-on funding and 1,215+ jobs — evidence of a capital-multiplier, ecosystem-builder thesis.