November 2023
Melissa Freeman
This month, we are excited to feature our new relationship with the University of Oregon Foundation. Since 2009, Paul Weinhold has led the Foundation as president & CEO, carefully and wisely stewarding the Foundation’s donor relationships and support of the university. The Foundation is over 100 years old today and manages over $3 billion in assets.
Over the past year, Paul, the UO Foundation investment committee and Jasper Ridge Partners, their investment consultant, conducted due diligence on OVF and decided to forge ahead with an investing relationship. In addition, Susan Stevens, chair of the UO Foundation board and an accomplished banking and fintech executive, believes that commercializing UO innovations and forging industry and VC relationships are critical to UO’s mission. She has been an outspoken champion of the importance and benefits of investing locally.
OVF couldn’t be happier to join the flock. An investing relationship opens up opportunities for OVF to partner with the UO faculty and students in unique ways, such as facilitating student relationships with regional entrepreneurs and investors, best practices in venture investing, and how to track the performance of OVF portfolio companies that are growing in diverse sectors.
This month, 25 first and second-year MBA candidates are traveling from Eugene to OVF headquarters in Portland to meet with the fund’s management team and learn how we research and select investments and support startups before and after we invest.
We anticipate the relationship will be educational for our OVF team as well. The University of Oregon has a profound impact on the citizens of this great region through its stellar educational programs, research publications, and partnerships with various sectors. The UO’s Foundation has a direct impact on the ability for students to attend school, faculty to conduct research and teach, and the overall programmatic and operating support for the university. Both organizations are key stakeholders in our region’s economic vitality, and we look forward to learning from our partners about the new innovations coming from the University. We are thrilled that the Foundation chose to invest a portion of their assets locally through our 5-year fund, OVF XV. If you see us shaking our tail feathers and occasionally yelling, “Go Ducks!” this Thanksgiving, now you’ll know why.
The OVF XV Fund is now closed, but OVF raises an annual fund each year. If you or an institution you know would like to invest locally, please consider the 2024 Fund. Contact Melissa Freeman, Director, Investor Relations and Capital Raising at 503-539-8021 or Melissa@OregonVentureFund.com.