Portland angel investor Devon Horace is joining Portland Seed Fund as a principal and part of the investment team for the Portland-based fund.
The role is part of a partnership between PSF and statewide nonprofit Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network Catalyst. RAIN is providing funding that will pay for this position.
Horace is senior manager of innovation and technology solution delivery for the Portland Trail Blazers. He is also an investor in BFM and Oregon Venture Fund as well as his own angel investing. He also does business consulting to help entrepreneurs with business development and operations.
By joining PSF, he hopes to continue supporting the Portland startup ecosystem and learn about the next level of investing.
“As an angel investor I am not as VC-trained. I feel I can learn a lot from PSF by evaluating (opportunities) from VC-scalable metrics,” he said.
The PSF role is part of co-founder and manager director Angela Jackson’s effort to diversify the fund and help train new generations of investors how to raise and run a fund.
“When we planned and started to raise Fund IV, it was a goal to bring in more diverse talent than we have at the table. There was a time when being a women-owned VC fund was diverse,” said Jackson who helped launch the fund in 2011. “That is no longer good enough.”
In Portland's relatively small investor landscape, Horace and Jackson had mutual connections through which they started discussing this role.
Horace is maintaining his position with the Blazers. He also expects to continue to angel invest separate from his work with PSF. His investment interest lies in fintech, sustainability and health and wellness.
He plans to work closely with Jackson and PSF Partner Steve Eichenlau to engage with the fund’s limited partners and operations. He also expects to work on due diligence and sourcing deal flow.
The PSF position is funded by $450,000 over three years distributed from RAIN, as part of a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant.
PSF’s Fund IV has a target of $20 million, its largest fund to date. However, in the world of VC, Portland Seed Fund is considered a small fund. Fund management comes from fees that are paid over the life of a fund, which can be 10 years.
“It’s easy to think of VC as a fat cat endeavor but the reality is small funds are more like startups in economics than the giant funds,” Jackson said.
By partnering with RAIN, PSF wanted to try to level the playing field.
“We couldn’t just make a commitment to have a position without backing it up with reasonable compensation,” Jackson explained. “We needed the partnership with RAIN to accomplish that. And it’s not just being out there (with RAIN statewide) better able to source mentors and invest in scalable tech but then we are able to bring someone into the industry with talent and new connections.”
Horace also sees this new role as important representation.
“I want to show a change in VC in Portland,” he said, noting that while he is part of several funds that invest in founders of color, the representation is still lacking in the funds themselves. “For the Black community, if you don’t have someone representing that space or culture, there is a disconnect that leads to a lack of funding and missed opportunity.”
