The 2016 Bend Venture Conference (BVC) winner RFPIO announced a $25 million investment from K1 Investment Management LLC, making it the largest round yet for the young company. With this new funding, the 2016 BVC, LLC investors accepted an offer to exit their investment. This exit offered an extraordinary return in a very short period of time, marking the third exit for a Bend Venture Fund. The two previous exits were Elemental Software and Jama Software from the 2007 and 2008 BVC, LLC portfolios, respectively.
“It’s unusual to have a meaningful exit opportunity this early in the life of an investment. Now RFPIO is positioned with investors who can take it even further,” said current BVC Fund Manager Jason Moyer.
“Returns realized by the BVC, LLCs to date are among the best in the Angel Investing market,” noted Brian Vierra, EDCO’s Venture Catalyst. “If an investor had participated in every LLC since the first fund in 2006, they would have received a ‘cash on cash’ return of approximately 4x. They would also still have a portfolio of 12 companies, many of which have undergone financings at significant increases in valuation.”
Over the past few years, the BVC, LLC funds have been typically $150,000-$350,000 in size. They are just the beginning of the investment effort that is undertaken by the conference each year. Other Angel and Venture funds invest in parallel to the LLCs, deploying amounts in excess of $4,000,000 in past years. Without the company recruitment and due diligence efforts made by the BVC, LLCs, this would not happen.
About Bend Venture Conference (BVC)
Now in its 15th year, BVC, hosted by EDCO, is one of the largest angel conferences in the country. Over the past four years, more than $7.8 million has been invested in 34 companies as a result of the conference. This year, over 600 entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders are expected to attend the multi-day conference on October 18-19, in Bend, Oregon. For more information, visit www.bendvc.com.
About Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)
EDCO is a non-profit corporation supported by private and public members and stakeholders, whose mission is to create middle-class jobs in Central Oregon by: recruiting new employers to move to the region; helping entrepreneurs start new, scalable businesses; and working with businesses that are already here to grow their operations. For more information, visit www.edcoinfo.com.
