Bill Gurley, Jack Altman back startup Pursuit, which helps companies sell to government

Mike Vichich grew up in Michigan. His family, he recalls, dedicated their lives to public service. His parents were teachers, his uncle a fighter pilot, while both sets of grandparents served in the army. “Growing up, public service was always a really admirable way to spend one’s life and one’s career,” he told TechCrunch. “I have three young kids. I want them to grow up in a country where government can actually get stuff done.” He went on to work in consulting, then launched a consumer company that he sold to Olo for $200 million back in 2021. After his wife gave birth to their third son, he and Brandon Max, a founding engineer at his last startup, began discussing what they wanted to do in this next chapter of their careers. Each idea they had came back to one thing: that selling to the government was really hard. “We were like, maybe there’s something to that.” In 2023, they launched Pursuit, a site that helps companies find and win government contracts. On Wednesday, it announced a $22 million seed round led by Mike Rosengarten, the co-founder of OpenGov. The company has raised $25.5 million in funding to date from investors such as Jack Altman (then at Alt Capital), Bill Gurley, and Sam Hinkie at 87 Capital. …