At the Oregon Venture Fund, we are continuously working to support our portfolio companies. One area that always bubbles to the top is compensation and talent. Startup CEOs not only have the responsibility of building their business, but they are also building their team and culture.

June 2023

Melissa Freeman

When we created OVF in 2007 we didn't ask, how can we compete against larger VCs? We said, we think we can build a better venture fund. Let's go do that. In the process, we broke several established rules and norms that we believe have positioned us to better serve investors and founders.

We want to thank our investors, portfolio executives, and special guests for joining us for the Oregon Venture Fund’s 2023 Annual Meeting. We love a good theme and this year KOVF (a tribute to OPB), didn’t disappoint!

This month, Coldstream Wealth Management added Oregon Venture Fund to the list of approved venture fund managers for their clients. Coldstream Wealth Management serves clients across the Pacific Northwest with offices in Portland, Boise, Kenai, Seattle, Bellevue and Mercer Island. Coldstream is employee-owned and independently operated. In Oregon, Mark Rosenbaum serves as the team lead, offering investment advisory services, financial planning, tax and estate planning and insurance solutions. Mark is an exemplary human being who cares deeply about his clients and the educational, economic development and healthcare institutions in Oregon, having served as former chair of the Portland State University Foundation and Tuality Healthcare boards as well as Chair of the Portland Development Commission, now known as Prosper Portland.

May 2023

Deepthi Madhava

For any generalist early-stage venture fund, an inherent challenge is how to get smart about potential investment opportunities across different industries, at any given funding stage. Funds take different approaches to solve for this. At OVF, our DNA unlocks this, and remains our competitive advantage – it's our collaborative model with our venture partners who have experience across multiple industries. We utilize their expertise in evaluating potential investments, and equally important, we are able to add value to founding teams as their company grows - from the first meeting through to the exit.

This Spring, Allium Financial Advisors conducted diligence on the Oregon Venture Fund (OVF) and added our fifteenth fund, OVF XV, to their list of approved investments. Allium Financial Advisors is a financial planning and wealth management firm based in Lake Oswego. Founded and led by Sheree Arntson and Pradeep Tempalli since 2016, the team offers financial planning, tax strategy, and investment guidance for individuals, families, charitable foundations, and businesses.

“What should I look for when evaluating a venture fund?” is a question we occasionally hear from prospective investors as well as OVF investors considering funds focused on other geographies, founder demographics, or specific sectors.

March 2023

Eric Rosenfeld

Last October, the Oregon Venture Fund (OVF) management team spent time in Southern Oregon, visiting the cities of Medford and Ashland. We had the privilege of meeting Laura Olson, Executive Director of the Patricia (Rusty) D. & William B. Smullin Foundation and learned about the Foundation’s commitment to improving the education and health outcomes of people living in Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) is the state’s largest charitable foundation. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, OCF is a true Oregon success story - beginning in 1973 with a $63,000 donation and growing to over $3B in AUM now. While OCF is best known as the state’s largest grant maker, supporting thousands of nonprofits, and carefully stewarding the philanthropic resources for over 2,000 individual, family, and corporate funds, OCF is also a meaningful investor in Oregon’s innovation economy.

In any given year at Oregon Venture Fund, we meet hundreds of new startups that could potentially fit our investment thesis. Roughly 15% of those receive a screening meeting, the next stage in our evaluation process, and about 20% of those progress into formal diligence. As a result, only 1% or so of all companies we meet end up receiving an investment from OVF. My review of other top-performing VCs show they are similarly selective.

A key question we are often asked is, why is the selection rate so low?

A different year. Same great fund

2023 is finally here! We had a good 2022 at OVF and as we look forward to what may potentially be a bear market, we at the fund remain bullish on hungry, driven early-stage founders in Oregon and Southern Washington.

January 2023

Melissa Freeman

January 2023

Eric Rosenfeld

Thoughts from Eric Rosenfeld and the Oregon Venture Fund

The most anticipated recession of our generation is supposed to arrive any month now. Which means it may not. Regardless, at the Oregon Venture Fund we are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. We’ve been investing in startups since 2007 and here’s what we think may be new and different with respect to our market and strategy in 2023:

Eric Rosenfeld - November 2022

Predictive Indicators

Darwin wondered what nature was thinking when it created the peacock and its enormous tail. Why would nature saddle a bird with such a ridiculous disadvantage? A peacock’s tail hampers maneuverability and the ability to fly and makes the bird a sitting duck for predators – it certainly reduces the male’s odds of survival. Darwin concluded it was due to sexual selection. From a peahen point of view, a male must be particularly strong, fit, clever, and suitable to mate with if it can survive with such a ridiculous disadvantage. In other words, the size and quality of a peacock’s feathers are predictive indicators of valuable attributes much harder to quickly ascertain – the strength, smarts, and health of the peacock.