Oregon Venture Fund has hired Alline Akintore as a new principal member of its management team.
Akintore will lead the fund’s diligence and research as well as help advise startups prior to and after investment, the group said in a news release.
Akintore was most recently a venture fellow with Boston-based January Ventures. She is a recent graduate of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and has also interned with Costanoa Venures and consulted with 500 Startups.
She was raised in Rwanda and was the first COO for the startup Rwanda Online, a tech company that worked with the Rwandan government to digitize services for residents and businesses. She also holds a master’s degree in electical engineering. Her career also includes stints at General Electric and Samsung Electronics.
It was this varied experience and Akintore’s excitement about startups that drew OVF.
“As our region’s venture economy continues to grow, we need a new generation of leaders at OVF to help us evolve and grow, as well,” said OVF founder Eric Rosenfeld in an email.
For Akintore, she liked the model that OVF has developed over the years and network of expertise the group has grown to help inform its investments. OVF has a pool of 180 investors and many actively work with the fund.
“I am still early in my venture career. (This is) the opportunity to work with great people at the fund itself but also this network of people in different industries. I get to learn from them and work with them,” she said.
She is also excited to dive into the Portland community and help shape an ecosystem that isn’t as mature as the Bay Area.
“I was looking to join a venture ecosystem that was fast-growing, ambitious, hungry and very collaborative — one where I could meaningfully contribute to the success of the community and grow as an individual,” she said. “The fund managers and the network of Venture Partners at OVF are some of the most accomplished yet humble people I have ever met. I am excited to bring my experience to this community, and even more eager to learn from it.”
Akintore and her family moved to Portland from the Bay Area in August.
OVF was created in 2018. It’s rooted in the Oregon Angel Fund, which started in 2007. When the group was OAF it raised an annual fund from roughly 180 individual investors. When it made the switch to OVF, it also added a five-year fund that would allow more institutional investors to be involved. The group still operates an annual fund as well.
OVF has had a busy summer with several high profile exits that have boosted performance.
