VC

Every ant knows the formula of its ant-hill, every bee knows the formula of its beehive. They know it in their own way, not in our way. Only humankind does not know its own formula. – Fyodor Dostoevsky As investors who are obsessed with the Future of Work, Origin Ventures has invested in its fair share of companies that are revolutionizing the workforce. For the vast majority of VCs, this ...

Entrepreneurs face substantial challenges raising capital, and waiting on feedback from venture funds makes it worse. While decision-making within venture capital funds is vitally important to the venture-founder relationship, there is little published on how venture firms make decisions. Because Origin Ventures has scaled, we recently re-evaluated our decision-making process, and are revealing some of our research and conclusions. The venture decision-making process is a black box to many founders, ...

Transport accidents are the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and they continue to climb. In 2019, there were 43,024 U.S. road fatalities – 11.5% of which involved trucks. The number of people who died in large truck crashes rose 27 percent from 2009 to 2013. Driving a car is one of the most dangerous activities Americans do regularly, and trucks are a large part of the ...

  We are pleased to announce Origin Ventures’ investment in Voxpopme, an enterprise software company that allows brands to capture video feedback to measure customer satisfaction and gather market research. Voxpopme enables brands to use the power of video – featuring full sight, sound, and motion – to better capture consumer sentiment in real-time. Origin Ventures led a $9M Series A financing. The company – whose name is derived from ...

In 2019, we celebrate our firm’s 20-year anniversary with 20 short storiesand lessons learned by investing over $150M in more than 70 companiesand the entrepreneurs behind their origin. These are their stories. Thank you, Mr. Muir Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.–John Muir John Muir (b. 1838 – d.1914) ...

In 2019, we celebrate our firm’s 20-year anniversary with 20 short storiesand lessons learned by investing over $150M in more than 70 companiesand the entrepreneurs behind their origin. These are their stories. We are very happy to announce three promotions at Origin Ventures:  Scott Stern to Vice President Prashant Shukla to Vice President Devon Leichtman to Director of Platform In 2016, Scott joined Origin Ventures as a Senior Associate and ...

Early-stage investor and operating executive joins Chicago office   CHICAGO, IL – Origin Ventures, a Chicago and Salt Lake City based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments, today announced that Alex Meyer has joined as a Partner. Meyer brings 20 years of experience as an operator, executive, and investor to Origin Ventures. He joins Origin from SAP, where he served as Vice President for Global Business Development. Mr. ...

In 2019, we celebrate our firm’s 20-year anniversary with 20 short storiesand lessons learned by investing over $150M in more than 70 companiesand the entrepreneurs behind their origin. These are their stories. GrubHub and the Spurs Today marks the 5-year anniversary of Grubhub’s 2014 IPO on the NYSE. Origin Ventures was the first investor in the company, leading the Series A financing in 2007. NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 4: ...

The next time a budding musician searches “best violin teacher near me,” he or she may find a link to an app, not a teacher. Origin Ventures recently announced its participation in a $1.29M seed investment in Chicago-based startup Trala. Other investors include LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Techstars Ventures, and executives from Duolingo. The Techstars company has built an app that can teach anyone to play violin using Julliard-approved methodologies ...

We finally met a used-car salesman we liked. Justin Davis is CEO of Kansas City-based BacklotCars, and while he’s not selling cars directly, BacklotCars’ marketplace has made it much easier for auto dealerships to buy and sell used cars between each other. Car dealerships have long bought and sold used cars from each other directly, usually at live auctions. For example, Carl’s Cars, based in Milwaukee, can’t find buyers for ...