Eugene tech start-up wins big

A Eugene-based Internet startup company won $57,500 in seed capital at the Angel Oregon investment competition in Portland earlier this week.

“I’m on cloud nine right now,” Caroline Cummings, cofounder and CEO of OsoEco said Friday.

It’s not just the prize money, she said. Since Wednesday’s event, Cummings said she has met with investors who want to contribute a half-million dollars, and help her raise another half-million to meet OsoEco’s fundraising goal of $1 million by May 15.

“The big part of the win for us was the amount of attention and exposure we got out of the event,” Cummings said.

OsoEco is developing a free Web portal that enables consumers to research “green” products and services, and to share their findings and recommendations with each other.

“The green movement is really confusing for a lot of consumers,” Cummings said. “They don’t know who to trust. They don’t know who’s just jumping on the bandwagon.”

OsoEco also is creating a tool consumers can take along on their virtual shopping trips, enabling them to tap into the OsoEco community for advice on the “greenest” solution when they’re comparison shopping, Cummings said.

The company will use the $57,500 to continue to develop its test-grade Web site, with the goal of making the site public in late spring, she said. The venture plans to make money through advertising appearing on its site.

The 53 angel investors, each of whom contributed $5,000 to the investment pool, chose OsoEco and two other companies out of nearly 50 applicants. Only seven companies presented at the competition and another 20, including Floragenex, a biotech company based in Eugene, gave one-minute pitches.

Bob Ward, Angel Oregon chairman, said OsoEco impressed the investors.

“I think it’s an exciting space,” he said. “There’s a lot going on around the state in sustainability and there’s a real interest in sustainability. I think they’ve really done a great job in putting together a compelling value proposition and filling out a very capable team to compete in what could eventually become a very crowded space.”

Cummings and Katie Wilson-Hamaker, OsoEco president, founded the company in January 2007, and so far have raised $427,500. Ethan McCutchen is chief technology officer. Adele Wilson-Hamaker is creative director. Lewis Hoffman is lead systems engineer, and Jean Russell is community development specialist.

The grand winner of the Angel Oregon competition was ENDoutdoor, a maker of environmentallyconscious shoes and clothing, based in West Linn, which won $150,000. OsoEco won in the sustainability category.Revelation, a Portland-based venture, won in the technology category. It creates Web software that uses market research to enable companies to understand their customers more quickly and cheaply than traditional research methods.

The nonprofit Oregon Entrepreneurs Network has staged the investment competition for the past four years.

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