OEN Launches Oregon Angels Online to Connect Investors and Entrepreneurs Statewide
New Service is First of a Series of Enhancements Funded by OEN Grants
March 28, 2007, Portland, Ore. -- The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN), the organization that helps early-stage companies to succeed, has launched an innovative online service that will help Oregon and Southwest Washington entrepreneurs attract attention from angel investors in Oregon. Oregon Angels Online™ will allow entrepreneurs who are members of OEN to post their executive summaries to www.oen.org/oao_about
for evaluation. Once screened and validated, the summaries are posted to the Oregon Angels Online portal where they will be viewed by accredited investors, expanding the number of potential investors beyond those the entrepreneur can personally meet.
Oregon Angels Online, a private portal for use by OEN member entrepreneurs and accredited Angel investors, is one of the first such online angel forums in the country. Its development was funded by grants from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department (OECDD). The secure online service allows OEN member angel investors to view details about all emerging company profiles on the site, and to share comments and ideas with other angel investors. Companies that post their profiles have access to their individual profiles and angel comments that are directed to them.
“Recent trends show that angel investors and seed stage funds have supplanted the role of venture funds for very early stage companies,” said Linda Weston, president and executive director of OEN. “In Oregon, we know that the role of the angel investor is even more crucial to entrepreneurial success, and OEN wanted to create a way to expose more early-stage companies to potential investors throughout the state.”
At launch, the Oregon Angels Online site will include profiles for the first four emerging companies for over 50 angel investors to view. Profiles will include Earth Mama Angel Baby (organic products for pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding), Lumencor (life science instrumentation systems), GoSeeTell (an internet company for travelers) and HeadWest Software (management tools for software projects). To get started with this new member benefit visit, www.oen.org/oao_about or call OEN at 503-222-2270.
“The goal of Oregon Angels Online is to spur co-investment throughout the state by creating a community where investors can get to know each other and later collaborate on investment opportunities,” Weston said.
Along with Oregon Angels Online, OEN is launching a jobs board on its website that will help companies who are seeking employees to post opportunities. For the first month OEN’s members can post jobs for free. Later this year, the OEN site will offer members who are service providers the ability to post profiles in an online directory.
About OEN
Founded in 1991, the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing opportunities for Oregon entrepreneurs and improving the business climate for emerging, growth-oriented companies statewide. The organization has nearly 3,000 members throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. For more information about the OEN, visit www.oen.org.