A few months ago, a new boutique private equity firm called Bootstrap Ventures launched out of Dallas and Irvine, California. The firm is diversified in a variety of industries, but specializes in energy and mineral rights. Though the official announcement was made on April 29, the firm has already begun its first strategic investment in tech: $1 million into Perpetual Media’s consumer behavior-driven advertising platform.

California-based Perpetual Media is the parent company of Perpetual TV, which has more than 30 million ad slots sold. The move came after Bootstrap Ventures Co-founder and Principal Dennis Rogers—an entrepreneur with a background in finance, investments, and business development—recognized Perpetual Media’s potential to disrupt the marketing space.

Investor and strategist Dennis Rogers runs Bootstrap Ventures’ Texas office in Dallas. The long-time resident says he’s an entrepreneur at heart and has served as a mentor for students at the University of Texas at Dallas in its Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship program. [Photo: Courtesy Bootstrap Ventures]

Now, Bootstrap Ventures is taking steps to ensure Perpetual Media’s platform can thrive.

It’s not exactly the firm’s bread and butter, though. Bootstrap was founded to specifically focus on water rights, with deals offering significant returns with capital holds of only 120 days on average. The intent is to invest in hard assets known to withstand the test of time, which provides investors with secure returns.

Rogers himself has expansive knowledge in water rights. That combined with the experience of fellow co-founder and partner, Hunter Ross Fedden, who previously worked at one of the country’s top real estate firms, allowed Bootstrap to create an investing niche in an underexposed vertical that has the potential to prosper.

Hunter Ross Fedden is the co-founder and partner of Bootstrap. He works out of the California office. [Photo: Courtesy Bootstrap Ventures]

“[A strategic investment is] any opportunity that allows us to add more than just monetary value, whether that is through experience, existing partners, or other investments that complement each other,” Rogers told Dallas Innovates. “We specifically target companies, founders, and technologies that could benefit each other through a direct investment from us or through our relationships with others in each of their respected industries.”

An investment could be anything that the firm’s capital is deployed to, with both water rights and companies like Perpetual Media fitting the bill. Bootstrap has made several investments since its inception, all related to water rights, energy, and real estate. Rogers says since launching, Bootstrap has completed around 20 separate transactions directly and indirectly related to the purchase and sale of water rights.

Perpetual Media is the boutique firm’s first foray into technology.

Rogers says he officially made the investment after meeting Perpetual Media CEO Brandon Wilton, a tech entrepreneur, and seeing how the company has scaled across six continents with its wave of highly intuitive advertising opportunities.

Perpetual Media can take any screen—whether part of an outdated legacy system or fully connected and new—and turn that into a targeted advertising platform, according to Rogers.

“Perpetual’s technology is more than just an ad player or static screen display,” Rogers says. “Their technology focuses on short 7-15 second video ads and through its partnerships they know who’s looking at the screens, for how long, and whether they engaged with it. They provide a great revenue stream for all its customers who are ultimately carrying the cost of these screens regardless, and at the same time providing better feedback and data to the advertising agencies thus giving them a better return on their ad spend.”

From here on, Rogers, a longtime Dallas resident who runs the local HQ, will continue working to create financial wins for clients and pursuing opportunities that help investors thrive.

This story was updated on June 17 at 12 p.m. to include extra information.

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