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Category Archives: Funding

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Questions About Fundraising? Local VC, Angel Funds and More Will Answer Them Tuesday

If you’re a startup looking for money, then you have plans Tuesday. What are they? Glad you asked. The Technology Association of Oregon is hosting a panel discussion on funding and fundraising featuring experts from right here in Bend.

From TAO:

We will start the evening with an overview of investment sources and funding criteria, before moving on to the panel discussion where you will hear from representatives from the Bend Venture Conference, Cascade Angels, Cascadia Group, and Seven Peaks Ventures.

Come join us at the Tech Talk Happy Hour – Funding on Tuesday, June 13th for a lively discussion led by subject matter experts. Our hand-picked panelists have experience across multiple sectors and are looking forward to sharing their historic, current and future insights on raising capital.

Funding Outdoor Gear Startups By /

Bend Startup Launches Kickstarter for the M.C. Hammie, a Reinvented Hammock

Wildish co-founders Rick Lee and Adam Allen have reimagined something that’s already good — a hammock! — and made it even better. The pair debuted the M.C. Hammie on Kickstarter last week, and they’ve raised more than $8,200 of their $15,000 goal already.

The founders plans to use the money to manufacture the M.C. Hammie. But first, what is it exaclty? It’s a three-in-one hammock, shelter and blanket. Up to eight of your very best friends can lounge on this thing when it’s spread out on the ground. Then, it pops into a little shelter and you can hop inside, or string it between two trees and ta dah — a hammock.

Rick and Adam started their company last year with another gear reinvention that they call Mr. Big Stuff (props for creative product names). That is basically a gigantic beach blanket that packs down into a teeny tiny pouch for travel. The duo sold 500 of the blankets in their first month.

Funding By /

Looking for Funds? Apply for Cascade Angels Investment by May 1

Does money buy happiness? No, people it does not. But it can get your startup another developer or fund a production run of your product, and sometimes, that’s just what you need. And if you happen to be looking for investment, then consider applying for Cascade Angels’ second funding round of the year.

From Cascade Angels:

Entrepreneurs seeking investment capital have an opportunity to present their early stage businesses for growth to Cascade Angels. Cascade Angels Fund 2017, LLC (“Cascade Angels Fund 2017” or the “Fund”) has opened up its second application period, which runs from April 4 to May 1, 2017. Entrepreneurs interested in applying can do so via Gust.com.

The Fund anticipates additional application rounds in the coming months and investing in 4-7 companies in 2017. Typical investments are made in early stage, Oregon-based companies from any industry. Investments are anticipated to range from $100,000 to $250,000.

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Startup Veteran Robert Pease Joins Cascade Angels Team

The Cascade Angels team is growing. The Bend-based angel fund announced today that startup veteran Robert Pease will be the fund’s community advisor as well as a member of the investment committee.

From the news release:

Pease currently leads the Pipeline Performance group at Seattle-based B2B sales and marketing consulting firm Heinz Marketing, helping companies improve execution and accelerate revenue. He was previously CEO of LoopFuse, a marketing automation software company acquired by Salesfusion, Vice President of Marketing at Gist, a social CRM software company acquired by BlackBerry, and has held a variety of senior marketing and product roles in four other venture-backed technology startups.

Pease began his career as a management consultant with Accenture’s Global Communications and Technology practice based in Washington, DC. He holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia and an MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Big Ideas Funding By /

New Portland-Based Fund Invests in Women-Led Startups

There was some very cool news out of Portland this week, and I wanted to be sure that all of you StartupBend readers saw it. A group of women entrepreneurs, investors and lenders debuted the XXcelerate Fund on Tuesday. The fund is designed to fill the capital gap that many women entrepreneurs face.

From the XXcelerate news release:

“There is a crisis in access to capital and entrepreneurial support for women in the state of Oregon and nationwide,” said Robin Klemm, PH.D., Board Member and Executive Director, XXcelerate Fund. “And this gap is happening at a time when we see continuing proof points of the effectiveness of women business leaders.”

The fund’s founders surveyed women entrepreneurs in Portland and discovered that they faced distinct challenges in obtaining capital, despite their entrepreneurial chops. The survey revealed that:

Funding Startups By /

Pierce Footwear Seeks Investment to Launch Lace-less Running Shoe Line

George Pierce’s garage looks like combination of a running shoe store and a Franken-shoe workshop. There are shelves filled with dozens of brands of shoes, many of which George has ripped apart, modified and re-engineered all in with the aim of getting rid of the shoelaces.

Why? “I was losing time during duathlon transitions getting my shoes on and off. I wanted a better way,” George says. His better way – a Bend startup called Pierce Footwear – provides professional athletes, several local runners and the entire U.S. Special Olympics Winter Team with an innovative lace-less shoe.

Now George is starting to raise a Series A to ramp production of his shoes and make them even more widely available.

From couch to Worlds

George’s background is mix of tech, entrepreneurship and professional athletics. Before starting Pierce Footwear in 2013, he spent a decade working in Silicon Valley. He founded a tech company, which gave employers a way to track their employees’ wellness, that was acquired in 2008.

Funding Local Tech Startups By /

FoundersPad Invests in Bend VR Startup, ZeroTransform

Last week FoundersPad announced the formation of its new fund. This week that fund announced its first investment in ZeroTransform, a Bend-based virtual reality gaming startup. To quote our good friend Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast.

FoundersPad has actually been mentoring ZeroTransform for the past year. The early-stage venture fund joins other investors in the startup, including Bend-based Cascade Angels. Neither fund announced investment amounts, but ZeroTransform COO Scott Bayless told the Bulletin earlier this year that he was hoping to complete a $500,000 round by November.

From FoundersPad:
“This is an exciting market with a tremendous amount of potential. ZeroTransform has not only been an innovator in bringing immersive cinematic VR games to life, but is well positioned to be one of the premier game developers in this emerging market,” says Chris Capdevila, Principal at FoundersPad. “With the VR hardware wars heating up, significant improvement in the user experience and dropping prices, VR gaming is becoming a sought-after reality for the mass market.”
Funding By /

FoundersPad Launches New, Early Stage Fund for PNW Startups

Early stage startups in the PNW now have another potential source for funding — and expert guidance. Bend-based FoundersPad announced the closing of a new fund, which will complement its revamped mentorship program. The early-stage fund expects to invest between $25,000 and $75,000 per startups, funding between four and six startups each year. The FoundersPad team isn’t taking applications, but plans to find startups that have already gained some early customer traction, have a balanced founders team, haven’t taken on other professional capital and are primed for growth. “Launching this new fund to complement our deep mentorship approach lets FoundersPad help our portfolio companies in a much more effective way,” says Jason Moyer, the FoundersPad fund manager, in a news release. “Most early stage companies need expertise and capital, typically in that order, and FoundersPad is strongly positioned to provide both.” More from the release:
FoundersPad’s unique model delivers extensive hands-on support to each portfolio company with a carefully curated team of relevant mentors who are committed to de-risk and grow their business.
“Being a Founder is often a long, brutal and lonely journey. It’s survival of the fittest at its very best, where mistakes can be deadly,” said FoundersPad Principal, Chris Capdevila. “Unlike many venture funds that promise support for their portfolio companies and repeatedly fail to deliver, we provide founders an unfair advantage on their journey with intense mentoring from successful founders who have walked in their shoes and the right amount of capital at the right time.”
Bend startups Amplion, CrowdStreet and Droplr are all products of FoundersPad. The early-stage fund’s principals also include Dino Vendetti and Matt Abrams, general partner and investment partner as Seven Peaks Ventures, respectively. FounderPad’s goal is to help startups mature to the point where they’re eligible for further funding, from VCs such as Seven Peaks and beyond. Congrats FP team. Looking forward to a new year of new startups and new investments.