A group of tech entrepreneurs and investors has rallied to create a third angel fund as part of Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s annual Angel Oregon programs this year.
An Angel Oregon Tech fund is being raised and already has about $50,000 committed. Early stage tech startups can apply for the fund through June 10.
Initially, OEN had planned to raise two funds this year associated with two of its Angel Oregon programs: Angel Oregon Life & Bioscience, and Oregon Angel Food, said OEN Executive Director Cara Turano.
Oregon Angel Food, which focuses on food and beverage startups, has about $155,000 committed and is still raising its fund. The investment winner will be announced June 6.
Angel Oregon Life & Bio has about $150,000 committed and is still fundraising. That investment won't be announced until the fall, said Turano.
The OEN team planned to raise two funds this year, similar to last year, when there was a tech fund and a biosciences fund. This year they were planning a biosciences fund and a food fund.
Raising only two funds instead of one for each program was a result of bandwidth for the team, said Turano. But, she was swayed after a recent investor event that brought together 35 past investors in Angel Oregon programs. A group of investors in Angel Oregon Tech pushed for another fund for tech startups.
How an Angel Oregon Tech 2024 fund came together
Turano said she made them a deal: If they could put together investors then OEN would put together the special purpose vehicle and process to put together a fund.
“They went to their networks and found a path to between $50,000 and $100,000 without telling any of these investors any details,” she said, adding that it was all based off people’s interest in investing in the community. “It’s been challenging for tech the last couple years and doing this is a way to say, ‘Hey tech entrepreneurs, we see you and we know you are out there trying and we are going to contribute in the small but meaningful way we can.’”
The investors doing this wrangling are: Bonnie Page, founder of Macro Law and past executive at Brandlive, PK and Smarsh; John Furukawa, partner at Uncorked Studios and then Fresh Consulting; and Tracy Camp, co-founder of Upsight Security and previously a leader at Carbon Black and McAfee.
“I feel strongly that our region has a strong case towards being part of the unfolding AI technology wave and AOTech is a great way to help that become reality,” Camp told Turano.
The Oregon Angel Tech cohort has already completed the educational component of the program. Those companies have all been invited to apply for funding, said Turano.
Companies who were not involved in the cohort can also apply.
To be eligible for the fund companies must be early stage, headquartered in Oregon, have an established team, a product or service with early traction and a capital acquisition strategy.
Turano said she was blown away by the work done by these three investors to make this fund happen. Volunteers will be dividing up the due diligence work.
“The whole concept now with the individual (industry) focuses of Angel Oregon is to find folks that have that expertise and perhaps were entrepreneurs themselves and done well, and view angel investing as a way to pay it back,” said Turano. “These are all people who have been at tech startups.”
Why Angel Oregon programs are important
The original Angel Oregon format was ended in 2018. For years it had been a single event that had startups from across industries compete for funding. The program became an important element in the Portland’s growing startup community in the early 2000s. Prominent Portland investment fund Oregon Venture Fund grew out of Angel Oregon.
By 2018, a single program was becoming difficult since it had food startups or hardware startups, which are traditionally more capital-intensive and operate on longer time frames, competing for funds against software companies that could grow quicker and generate fast returns.
That year OEN introduced industry-specific programs and has been building those ever since. For the last couple years the group has traded off which programs have funding attached to them and which are more education for founders.
Turano, who has been leading OEN for two years, said this process of adding a third fund and investors pushing for the program helped to solidify the importance of Angel Oregon not just to founders but in educating new angel investors.
It’s all part of the pipeline Turano said. Investors who learn about angel investing here can then move on to other groups in town like Oregon Venture Fund or Cascade Seed Fund.
