Skip to content
i2E
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
Search

i2E investments are untold story of state venture funding

Get in Touch

By Scott Meacham

Growing up I used to love to listen to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story on the radio. The nuances he would bring to light with just a little deeper look were fascinating. After reading Dale Denwalt’s column in the Oklahoman (October 20) headlined “Insiders Report Flaws in State Startup Ecosystem,” I felt a Paul Harvey moment may be in order.

Oklahoma often gets knocked in national venture capital rankings based primarily on data that is collected by PitchBook or similar venture deal data collectors. These entities are “pay to report,” charging reporters like i2E oftentimes over $12,000 a year just to provide data. That is money we do not have to spend.

As a result, PitchBook, PwC MoneyTree, the Walton Foundation, and others were unaware that last year alone i2E invested $8,696,500 in 10 Oklahoma companies, participating in venture rounds where these companies raised a total of $11,290,792. This year i2E is on pace to more than double those numbers. When the “real” numbers are considered, Oklahoma is near the top of the pack in Midwest states (excluding Illinois) in venture funding.

The breakdown of these investments by industry is also instructive. Software, the fastest growing sector of our investment portfolio, now accounts for 47 percent of all of our equity investments. Biosciences account for 23 percent, manufacturing 9 percent, and health and energy each are 7 percent. Clearly, considerable venture capital investment in software companies is occurring in Oklahoma.

Investing in software startups is very high risk. An investor has to assess the size of the addressable market, the technical merit of the software, the existing and likely future competition, and especially how easily a larger, more established competitor can replicate the technology or leapfrog it with new technology. Remember bag phones with loaf-sized batteries or “mobile” phones that had to be mounted in cars?

We and the other tech investors in Oklahoma get it right a whole lot more than we get it wrong. Good deals get funded, bad deals don’t. But sometimes we have been wrong about a given deal. Just ask Piyush Patel. We missed out on his exit with Digital-Tutors. Our “pass” on Digital-Tutors led to a wholesale revamping of our market analysis and eventually led to the creation of the Venture Assessment Program (VAP). I don’t think Piyush will ever forgive us for being wrong, but that experience made us better in assessing the next high-growth software deals.

And, just because a deal is not a good deal for an investor does not mean it is not good for the entrepreneur or, for that matter, for Oklahoma.

Venture capital investors must have portfolio exits to recycle their capital. An exit requires the company to build sales to as much as tens of millions of dollars. An entrepreneur who may not be in the type of high-growth business that produces a $40 million exit or more, can still make a good living on sales that are a fraction of those lofty numbers.

That’s where we often see the disconnect. That’s the rest of the story.

Scott Meacham is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state appropriations from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Contact Meacham at [email protected]

More News

Loading...
Blog, Featured, News
12.16.24

MidAmerica and i2E Announce Award Winners

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
11.21.24

i2E & Plains Ventures Surpasses $100M Milestone in Total Investments

Read more
Blog
09.30.24

i2E Receives 2024 Excellence in Economic Development Award from IEDC

Read more
Blog
06.18.24

Bridge2 Demo Day Returns, Highlighting Promising Oklahoma Startups

Read more
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
05.13.24

Student Entrepreneurs Triumph at 20th Anniversary Entrepreneur’s Cup, Winning $158,000 in Prizes

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.24.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Jessica Kinsey

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Nathan Fountain

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Srijita Ghosh

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.18.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – MaxQ

Read more
Blog, i2E
01.30.24

i2E Celebrates Success of Inaugural Bridge2 Demo Day

Read more
Blog, i2E, News
12.18.23

i2E and MidAmerica Industrial Park announce award winners for high school entrepreneurship program

Read more
Blog, i2E
12.13.23

Entrepreneur’s Cup Marks 20 Years: Reimagined Competition and Brand – Same Entrepreneurial Spirit

Read more
i2E

Oklahoma City Office

840 Research Parkway, Suite 250
OKC, OK 73104
+1 (405) 235.2305

Tulsa Office

12 N. Cheyenne Ave, Suite 112
Tulsa, OK 74103
+1 (918) 582.5592

  • Client Portfolio
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Funding
  • Venture Advisory

© 2025 i2E Privacy Policy

Follow us:

Linkedin Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube

Programs

  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio

Services

  • Access to Funding
  • Venture Advisory Services
  • Events
  • Contact
  • About
  • Our Values
  • Our Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Corporate Partners
  • Media
i2E