Native-led Velveteen Ventures backs overlooked founders with a ‘unique advantage’

Velveteen Ventures backs overlooked founders that have a unique advantage because of their life experiences and perspectives.

The Native-run firm, launched in 2024, writes checks of $250,000 to $2 million in seed and Series A financing rounds for companies across pediatric healthcare, climate, and consumer tech. Velveteen’s thesis is that entrepreneurs with lived experience can better spot innovative solutions.

“The number one thing we look for is founder-market fit,” Velveteen’s Betsy Fore told ImpactAlpha. “These founders really have a unique perspective in terms of where they come from, experience they’ve had or witnessed.”

Chicago-based Velveteen’s first fund has backing from the Bush Foundation among other institutional LPs. The firm has already made three undisclosed investments.

“In order to truly shift the power within the nation and who’s getting funded, we need to be on the other side of the table making these decisions,” Fore said.

Values-driven

Fore, one of the first Native American, Turtle Mountain Chippewa women to raise Series A financing, reflects Velveteen’s thesis. She founded the baby food company Tiny Organics when her son was infant, and in two years scaled the healthy baby food brand to $13 million in revenues. Earlier, Fore built WonderWoof for her dog; the pet wearables brand has broken into major retailers, including Bloomingdales and Petco. She has been investing in female and underrepresented founders for the past six years building a track record through XFactor Ventures and LongJump.

Velveteen is applying the same lens as an investor. Fore’s partner, Karla Brollier, an Alaska Native from a tribal village in the Arctic, helped develop Patagonia’s perpetual purpose trust and spun out the Home Planet Fund, an innovative fund that invests all of Patagonia’s profits into climate solutions. She also worked for Al Gore’s climate nonprofit, the Climate Reality Project and at the UN for Indigenous issues.

“Karla and I are not approaching investment from a groupthink approach, we’re coming at it from a values-driven perspective,” said Fore. Fore recently published Built on Purpose, which became a USA Today bestseller and was named a Financial Times Best Business Book.

Velveteen’s third partner, Katherine Stabler, brings 15 years of experience from firms including Kirkland & Ellis, Monroe Capital and Grosvenor.

A portion of Velveteen’s carried interest, or profit, goes to Native American tribes and tribal colleges. Fore also co-founded nonprofit Natives Rising, an accelerator for Indigenous founders and technologists.

“We feel we’re what our ancestors prayed for,” Fore said. “When you frame it in this light, you carry a belief that your ancestors are there and have your back and can guide us to rise to the moment.”