Cortado Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, recently secured a $20 million investment from OCAST and now have $100 million in assets under management with 35 portfolio companies that now represent close to a billion dollars in enterprise value. The firm also helped launch The Verge, a nonprofit entrepreneurship hub, and in September, Cortado Ventures will speak at TechCrunch Disrupt, the largest venture capital conference.
Interview with Nathaniel Harding, Cortado Ventures managing partner.
Cortado Ventures’ growth over a short few years equals 100 investors in two funds. How do you explain that rapid growth?
We have amazing investors that saw the vision. We have incredible entrepreneurs who are building disruptive companies in Oklahoma and in the region that are disrupting sectors that are long overdue.
How do you see that you’ve been innovative in this industry?
Really being able to articulate what our mid-continent market is and what is our competitive advantage. We’ve built companies here and know the territory, and that’s been a key to our success. It helps us have an edge that we can repeatedly scale.
What is The Verge OKC and why is it important to your growth?
Oklahoma City really didn’t have an answer to places like Austin that has the Capital Factory, or even Tulsa that has 36 Degrees North. There was no central home for various programs and entrepreneur-support organizations to work together like a one-stop-shop, no-wrong-door for all stages of entrepreneurs to come and get support. And the support can be different depending on what they do and what stage they’re at, wherever they are in their entrepreneurial journey. So having a physical place where all that comes together was important.
