Business Oregon seeks applications for venture funds

Business Oregon believes venture capital fund managers can play an important role in Oregon’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Oregonians can leverage fund managers’ expertise, networks, and private capital to develop and maintain a strong pipeline of high-growth opportunities.

Business Oregon will deploy a portion of its overall SSBCI allocation through the BOV Fund Program to invest in SEC-accredited venture capital funds in need of capital to become operational or scale up significantly.

The SSBCI program places an emphasis on fund managers with access to startups led by Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDI).

Business Oregon is preliminarily allocating $15 million to the BOV Fund Program.

Program eligibility requirements can be accessed on the U.S. Treasury’s website.

Basic criteria for venture capital fund strategies include:

State participation limited to Oregon companies only.

Average portfolio company of fewer than 500 employees.

Average check size to portfolio companies smaller than $5 million.

Portfolio company equity rounds smaller than $20 million.

Funds must demonstrate that $1 from the BOV Fund Program will “cause and result” in at least $1 of new private financing at the fund level.

Business Oregon staff will screen all BOV Fund Program proposals for eligibility and completeness and refer the qualifying submissions to a review committee. The review committee will include private industry experts along with members of the Oregon Innovation Council and Business Oregon representatives.

To learn more and download the application, visit the BOV Fund Program webpage. Please email SSBCI.info@biz.oregon.gov with questions about the BOV Fund Program. For clarification purposes, The Business Oregon Venture Direct Program is separate from the BOV Fund Program. More information on these and other SSBCI-funded venture capital, venture debt, and small business lending programs can be found on Business Oregon’s website.