4th Annual Venture Community
Portland | PUBLIC EVENT
Starve Ups Venture Community is Oregon’s original reverse road show event bringing together 12 leading PNW funds and 26 Oregon startups for 2 days.
Venture Community is Oregon’s original reverse road show for startups from every industry in the midst of a Series Seed or Series A Round. It is an event created by and run by Starve Ups. This event runs over two days and provides 26 selected and fund-ready startups the chance to present to nine premier West Coast Angel and VC funds.
The nine participating funds see the 26 hand-picked Oregon-based, disruptive, and high growth startups individually as the founders present one-on-one to the funds vs. in an auditorium or popular demo day approach.
Each fund then makes an independent funding decision or can syndicate with the other funds for grander investments in the companies. The 26 final companies are selected from input from the startup ecosystem in Oregon.
These are some of the best and brightest companies according to the accelerators, organizations and funds that have supported them through to this phase. The selection group also believes these are some of the most deserving startups that should represent the state in front of these leading funds.
About Participating Funds:
In 2017, the participating Angel and VC Funds in Venture Community III include Oregon’s original Series A level VC fund, Rogue Venture Partners; the original Series Seed level fund with Portland Seed Fund; and Oregon’s original and largest angel fund, Oregon Angel Fund.
Also participating are Oregon’s largest fund, 3x5 Partners; Oregon’s newest VC fund, Peninsula Ventures; and a new fund by a set of investors from last year’s Venture Community, called VistaRiver Holdings. Of course, the most active and the first VC fund in Central Oregon Seven Peaks Ventures returns again.
Finally, the event also has two funds from Washington including the amazing and legendary consumer-only VC fund of Maveron, and the highly diversified Alliance of Angels Fund. The representatives from each of the funds includes:
3x5 Partners - Jake Pflaum & Nick Walrod
Alliance Of Angels Fund - Yi-Jian Ngo
Maveron - Anarghya Vardhana
Oregon Angel Fund - Jon Maroney, Julianne Brands & Scott Sandler
Peninsula Ventures - Greg Ennis
Portland Seed Fund - Jenn Lynch & Jim Huston
Rogue Venture Partners - Tom Sperry & Adam Stoll
Seven Peaks Ventures - Matt Abrams & Tony Abena
VistaRiver Holdings - Geoff Schackmann, Jeff Baumgarner & Rodney Schackmann
About Presenting Companies:
The presenting companies include a wide array of highly diverse startups from a company that turns walls into workspaces (Wheelhouse), to a company providing live chat customer reviews on e-commerce sites (Activate), to the world’s most advanced outdoor grill (Spark Grills).
The presenting Oregon startup companies are representative of varying industries including food, apparel, software, clean tech industries and beyond. The companies not only cover nearly a dozen industries, but also the entire state with startups from Portland, Eugene, and Bend.
The stages of the companies range from pre-revenue to multi-millions in top line and from Series Seed stage to late Series A stage. The common threads between the presenting companies are that they were suggested to present, are working on an Oregon-based startup that is unique in its market, and that they have an open round at this time.
About Venture Community:
The Series Seed and Series A funding stage of startups is often the most difficult time during which to find necessary financing. In turn, Starve Ups launched the Venture Community I event in 2013 and brought it back in 2016 and now again in 2017.
In 2013, the event brought $3.2M in investment in three days to some very deserving companies. In 2016, the event brought in just north of $4M, based on feedback from the funds participating. The goal in 2017 is to hopefully match the combined level of investment support provided in the two prior iterations of Venture Community.
It is free for both the founders and the fund managers, it is designed for the ecosystem, appreciated by the startups, and welcomed by the funds. Thank you to all for helping make this a great and impactful event for Oregon startups happen. The companies presenting this year includes the following:
Activate - Live person-to-person chat reviews for commerce sites.
Brand Live - Live video platform for brands and retailers to interact with their audiences for training, marketing & events.
CartHook - Customizable one-page checkout and post purchase one-click upsells for Shopify stores.
Defunkify - System to clean and deodorize modern textiles using advanced technology and green chemistry.
Green Zebra - Portland’s healthy and convenient corner grocer.
Groundswell - Rerouting the revenue generated from everyday card transactions to benefit non-profits.
Halo - Gives your car a voice, letting you know where it is, how it is doing and if it needs service.
Handful - Bras, tops and accessories that take you from workout to weekend.
Heritage Laboratories - A new form of ingestible skincare, created to give you more radiant skin from the inside out.
HouseHappy - Home information at your fingertips and home maintenance made easy.
Innovative Dental Technologies - Creating innovative products for dental clinics that allow patients and providers to feel empowered.
Nemametrix - A proprietary and automated phenotyping platform for genetic testing with C. elegans.
PDO Technologies - Solving the world’s waste plastic problem.
Pitch Dark Chocolate - Bean-to-bar single origin artisan craft chocolate that is crafted, molded and packaged in Oregon.
Red Duck Foods - Premium specialty organic condiments including world class ketchups and barbecue sauces.
RoasterTools - SaaS solution simplifying order entry and production planning for coffee roasters.
Seed - Modern banking for small businesses with the first completely web-based platform for SMBs.
Spark Grills - The first smart grill with the charisma of charcoal, but the speed and efficiency of gas.
Sseko Designs - A leading fashion brand creating opportunities and community for women globally.
Tali - Conversational time tracking for your Amazon Echo. Stop tracking your time, start understanding it.
The Dyrt - Making searching for campgrounds and guided adventure trips a better experience.
Tripgrid - Organizing team travel just got a lot easier. Part workspace, part spreadsheet and completely customizable.
VR Motion - Products that power virtual reality experiences for the automotive market.
Wheelhouse - Transforming walls into work spaces.
WONE - The best women's luxury performance apparel on the planet.
x-r.ai - The search engine to find prior art relevant to the likelihood of allowance of a draft patent claim.
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