Our Approach

Oval Park takes an “early and active” approach to investing in and partnering with early-stage companies. After our investment, we aim to build strong and meaningful relationships with startup founders and remain actively involved throughout the investment lifecycle, working closely with portfolio companies to accelerate growth and increase the probability of achieving successful outcomes for all stakeholders.

Typical Investment Structure

Oval Park operates with a flexible investment mandate that is founded on the understanding that no two companies or deals are exactly alike, and that company circumstances and market conditions can change overnight. To meet the constantly evolving needs and objectives of all stakeholders in a financing, we maintain a flexible approach to investment structuring.

In a “typical” transaction, we are often the first institutional investor in a seed stage startup. We occasionally invest one round earlier (Pre-Seed) or one round later (Series A), we will consider participating in financings led by other investors, and we will consider investing in convertible instruments when there is a near-term equity financing or value inflection point.

$1-2mm initial investments at the seed stage

$1-2mm reserved for follow-on investment

We prefer to lead, price, structure, and syndicate funding rounds

We prefer to invest in priced equity rounds

We require board director or observer roles on every investment

Partnership Philosophy

We believe that deep, trusting, collaborative, and aligned relationships with our founders drive superior outcomes relative to control-seeking, heavy-handed, value-extraction approaches to investment. When structuring our deals, we enter with a long-term, relationship-focused approach that allows all stakeholders to reach shared goals.

Active Value-Add Approach

Our team has deep investment experiences across various technologies, industries, and asset classes, throughout the entire capital structure, and through every stage of the company life cycle. We leverage a robust nationwide network to enable deep transformational connections for portfolio companies. We recognize and build upon the industry and product expertise of founders, applying our own strategic and financial expertise to catalyze and accelerate opportunities for value creation.

We present fair and balanced investment terms and seek to add additional value through multiple channels. Our approach to partnership ensures that we’re bringing more than just capital to a company:

Direct strategic and financial guidance, refining of go-to-market strategy

Introductions and referrals (prospective customers, strategic partners, key leadership role candidates, directors, vendors, professional service providers, etc.)

Industry and technical research support and connections to industry and technical experts

Guidance, support, and introductions for future capital raises

Diverse People & Perspectives

We believe that diverse people and diverse perspectives create superior business and investment outcomes, and Oval Park is committed to investing in startups with traditionally underrepresented founders, diverse teams and boards, and commitments to promoting these principles both inside and outside the company. We believe that diverse teams, backgrounds, and perspectives are critical success factors for every company we invest in.

Positive Impact & Sustainability

We believe that financial returns and meaningful, measurable social impact are not mutually exclusive. Our investment criteria have a natural impact-orientation, as most sectors and corporate profiles we consider have noble goals.

Founder Testimonials

  • Michael Rosenberg, CEO, Medicom Technologies

    “Over the course of our multi-year partnership with Oval Park Capital, Justin has invested significant resources into building a strong, nuanced knowledge of our company’s business. Because he understands our organization, he’s helped identify new strategic partners, product opportunities, and additional investment partners. Justin is always there when you need him, but he also places trust in people and partnership - his firm's culture carries this perfect combination.”

  • Emily Morris, CEO, emrgy

    “Oval Park took a comprehensive, strategic, and growth-minded view of the Company - efficiently performing diligence, holistically evaluating our model and growth path, and even challenging our vision (in a healthy way!) From getting their hands dirty to help us refine our financial model and cap table, to making introductions across the spectrum from next-round lead investors to international customers… Justin wears the hat of an early-stage financial investor with as much sophistication as a serial operator or later stage institutional investor… It's clear he's driven by doing well financially, by doing good societally, and by doing right morally.”

  • Ramin Karimpour, CEO, TARGAN

    “Oval Park Capital has indeed been much more than an investor for TARGAN. Beyond its participation in our Series A, B, and C, Oval Park has proved to be a real partner to us by providing us with help in our fundraising strategy, financial planning, strategic partner negotiations, and more. […] Oval Park’s foresight into our mission and subsequent support have been instrumental in our success.”

  • Victor Gamra, CEO, FortifyData

    “Oval Park has played a key role connecting us with trusted industry resources who helped review and validate FortifyData’s go-to-market strategy… Post investment, Oval Park has made introductions to prospective clients and potential strategic investment… Oval Park has invested a lot of time to truly understand our solution offerings to make appropriate introductions within their network where we both benefit.”