Longtime Seattle-area investor Brianna McDonald is leading a new organization called Ecosystem Venture Group that blends startup investment funds with services for entrepreneurs and investors.
McDonald has spent nearly two decades leading the Northwest chapter for Keiretsu Forum, a global investment community of accredited investors. She more recently launched startup investment firm NW Angel with her husband, Nathan McDonald.
Ecosystem Venture Group “really brings together all the best things we’ve done,” Brianna McDonald told GeekWire. The firm plans to launch a new fund later this year and invest in startups across various stages, verticals, and geographies.
Ecosystem also offers advisory and training services for entrepreneurs, and has a similar set of products targeted at investor education and deal analysis support.
Part of the mission behind the new group is to fill gaps between different stakeholders in the tech ecosystem. McDonald cited recent comments from former WTIA leader Michael Schutzler, who spoke to GeekWire about the lack of cohesion within the tech community in Seattle and Washington state.
“It operates a lot in silos, with angel investors only caring about themselves, VCs only caring about themselves — everybody only cares about themselves,” she said. “Ecosystem Venture Group works to bridge that together, because when the ecosystem works together, everyone benefits.”
McDonald describes the group’s structure as a mix of venture capital, private equity, and angel investing. She said she’s not focused on finding the next unicorn to emerge from Seattle.
“I am looking to help support great businesses get to a path of profitability, and [help] companies buy companies that are profitable,” she said.
McDonald added: “If a company needs to go raise $100 million, we are not the fund for you.”
Many founders don’t have enough guidance and support to grow their companies effectively, she said. “It’s not just about the next valuation inflection point,” McDonald said. “It’s actually about execution.”
Ecosystem is based in Seattle but will work with companies and clients across the U.S., taking advantage of its national network of partners.
Ecosystem, which also plans to generate revenue from events, is working out of the WRF Venture Center, part of the Washington Research Foundation in Seattle. It has six employees.
