VC Spotlight: Founders’ Co-op
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Motto: “Built by founders, funded by founders, and designed to put founders first.”
Founded in 2008, Founders’ Co-op is a venture capital investment firm based in Seattle, Washington. The firm seeks to invest in the Pacific Northwest-based companies operating in the software sector. This firm is a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA).
Founders Co-op helped put the Pacific Northwest on the tech map as one of its first dedicated seed-stage funds. Built by founders, for founders, it provides hands-on mentorship and a powerful network—not just capital.
As one of the region’s earliest seed-stage venture funds, Founders Co-op helped establish Seattle as a tech hub beyond Silicon Valley. With a founder-first approach, offering hands-on mentorship and a powerful network.
The firm is the leading seed-stage investment fund in the Pacific Northwest. We help extraordinary founding teams located outside Silicon Valley build companies that the best venture capital firms in the world choose to back. We also created and led Techstars Seattle, the region’s #1 accelerator program for over a decade. Most important, we are a community of fellow founder-operators with hard-fought experience and personal networks spanning every aspect of building, scaling and exiting a high-growth technology business.
Key Details
- Founded: 2008
- Investor Status: Actively seeking new investments
- Primary Focus: Seed-stage venture capital
- Industry: Software, SaaS, AI, and tech-enabled startups
- Locations: Seattle, WA (primary HQ)
- Team Size: 2-10 employees + 10 associated members
- Notable Programs:
- Led Techstars Seattle (2010-2019)
- Co-created the Alexa Accelerator (powered by Techstars)
- Founded Startup Hall (in partnership with UW)
Meet the Founder
Chris DeVore: Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Founders’ Co-op
As Managing Director of Techstars Seattle, Chris DeVore oversees the Pacific Northwest’s premier accelerator program for high-potential startups. He also co-founded and leads Founders’ Co-op, the region’s top seed-stage investment fund. With over ten years as an active angel investor, Chris has backed numerous early-stage tech ventures, including multiple companies nurtured through Techstars.
His entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding Adjacency (acquired by Sapient) and Judy’s Book (funded by Mobius VC and Ignition Partners). Earlier in his career, he pioneered Patagonia’s e-commerce platform and held strategic leadership roles at AT&T and McCaw Cellular. Beyond investing, Chris contributes to Seattle’s economic growth through his role on the city’s Economic Development Commission and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s Policy Leadership Group.
A Yale graduate, Chris also pursued advanced studies at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
By the Numbers
As of March 2025, the Venture firm raised fresh capital, with SEC filings showing nearly $23 million secured so far. The Seattle-based firm, led by Chris DeVore and Aviel Ginzburg, focuses on early-stage Pacific Northwest startups and previously raised $50 million for its fifth fund in 2021. Known for early bets on companies like Remitly, Outreach, and Auth0, it remains a key player in the region’s startup ecosystem.
Founders’ Co-op Investment Statistics (2008–Present)
Portfolio Summary
- Total investments: 194+
- Active holdings: 65
- Successful exits: 77 (including 42 acquisitions)
- First investments in Pacific Northwest startups: 128
- Follow-on funding secured by portfolio companies: $2.5+ billion
Notable Outcomes
- Remitly: Went public (NASDAQ: RELY)
- Outreach: Valued at $4+ billion
- Auth0: Acquired by Okta for $6.5 billion
- Karat: Technical hiring platform
- Temporal: Workflow automation leader
Firm Details
- Type: Venture capital firm
- Status: Active investor
- Investment team: 4 professionals
- Most Recent Funding Round: Undisclosed (2021)
Regional Influence: Developed the Pacific Northwest’s premier founder network
Why Founders Co-op Matters to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest and Seattle?
“We are proud supporters of the unique innovation ecosystem that thrives across the entire region and are on a mission to power and enable founders with that pioneer mentality.”
“Founders’ Co-op led the Techstars Seattle program [closed] from its inception in 2010 through 2019 and in 2017 helped create and then lead the Amazon backed Alexa Accelerator, powered by Techstars. Through these 2 programs we invested in an additional 130 companies, making us early backers of 250 companies in the Pacific Northwest since 2008. In 2013 we created Startup Hall, where we’re still located today, in partnership with the University of Washington to foster an organic interchange between academic and commercial innovation.”
“Our firm’s original premise was – and remains – dead simple: Seattle is a global gravity well for engineering talent, thanks to the sustained excellence and corresponding human capital needs of Amazon and Microsoft. But as a “company town” where most engineers come for a well-paying job, not as founders seeking like-minded peers, our region’s entrepreneurial support systems are surprisingly weak. Creating a “day-zero” launchpad for high-performing technical founders in the Pacific Northwest and connecting them to the global capital markets at Series A+ has been our mission since inception.”
– Source: The VC tide has gone out. A real innovation wave is now arriving; Chris DeVore, September 30, 2024
About the Author: Tess Danielson is a journalist and writer focusing on the intersection of technology and society.
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