OCA Ventures

OCA Ventures is a Chicago-based venture capital firm established in 1999, specializing in early-stage investments, including Seed, Series A, and Series B funding rounds. The firm focuses on equity investments in companies with significant growth potential, primarily within the technology and high-scalability services sectors. OCA Ventures has a diverse investment portfolio that spans various industries, with a particular emphasis on technology, financial services, education, and healthcare technology. Currently investing from its fourth fund, OCA Ventures is dedicated to supporting innovative companies across the United States.

Tamim AbdulMajid

General Partner

Ian Drury

General Partner

James Dugan

Founding Managing Partner

Jim Dugan

Founding Managing Partner

John Dugan

General Partner and Co-Founder

Peter Ianello

General Partner and Co-Founder

David Kokonas

Senior Associate

Biju Kulathakal

Venture Partner

Tamim Abdul Majid

General Partner

Robert S. Saunders

General Partner

Bob Saunders

General Partner

Nick Schoewe

Partner

Steve Shein

Senior Associate and Investor

Dana Sun

Senior Associate

Dave Zyer

MD

David Zyer

Partner

Past deals in Missouri

Balto

Series B in 2021
Balto Software Inc. is a company that specializes in developing sales software utilizing artificial intelligence and real-time conversation analytics to enhance the performance of sales representatives during phone calls. Founded in 2017 and based in Saint Louis, Missouri, Balto's platform provides live guidance by listening to both sides of a conversation and offering prompts to agents, enabling them to address objections, recognize buyer signals, and maintain an effective dialogue. The software alerts representatives to errors in real-time, allowing for immediate self-correction and ensuring compliance with industry standards. Additionally, it automatically populates dashboards with detailed conversation data for managerial review, helping to identify areas for improvement. Balto's solutions cater to various sectors, including sales leadership, customer service, and compliance, ultimately aiming to improve conversion rates and enhance customer experiences.

Curate

Seed Round in 2021
Curate is a software as a service (SaaS) company that specializes in event management solutions for professionals in the industry. The company offers a platform that streamlines the planning and execution of events by managing various components such as documents, catering, and rental services. This comprehensive approach allows event professionals to significantly reduce the time spent on generating proposals and facilitates the creation of digital proposals during client consultations. By providing end-to-end event services, Curate enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of event planning and coordination.

Balto

Series A in 2020
Balto Software Inc. is a company that specializes in developing sales software utilizing artificial intelligence and real-time conversation analytics to enhance the performance of sales representatives during phone calls. Founded in 2017 and based in Saint Louis, Missouri, Balto's platform provides live guidance by listening to both sides of a conversation and offering prompts to agents, enabling them to address objections, recognize buyer signals, and maintain an effective dialogue. The software alerts representatives to errors in real-time, allowing for immediate self-correction and ensuring compliance with industry standards. Additionally, it automatically populates dashboards with detailed conversation data for managerial review, helping to identify areas for improvement. Balto's solutions cater to various sectors, including sales leadership, customer service, and compliance, ultimately aiming to improve conversion rates and enhance customer experiences.

Balto

Seed Round in 2019
Balto Software Inc. is a company that specializes in developing sales software utilizing artificial intelligence and real-time conversation analytics to enhance the performance of sales representatives during phone calls. Founded in 2017 and based in Saint Louis, Missouri, Balto's platform provides live guidance by listening to both sides of a conversation and offering prompts to agents, enabling them to address objections, recognize buyer signals, and maintain an effective dialogue. The software alerts representatives to errors in real-time, allowing for immediate self-correction and ensuring compliance with industry standards. Additionally, it automatically populates dashboards with detailed conversation data for managerial review, helping to identify areas for improvement. Balto's solutions cater to various sectors, including sales leadership, customer service, and compliance, ultimately aiming to improve conversion rates and enhance customer experiences.

Balto

Seed Round in 2018
Balto Software Inc. is a company that specializes in developing sales software utilizing artificial intelligence and real-time conversation analytics to enhance the performance of sales representatives during phone calls. Founded in 2017 and based in Saint Louis, Missouri, Balto's platform provides live guidance by listening to both sides of a conversation and offering prompts to agents, enabling them to address objections, recognize buyer signals, and maintain an effective dialogue. The software alerts representatives to errors in real-time, allowing for immediate self-correction and ensuring compliance with industry standards. Additionally, it automatically populates dashboards with detailed conversation data for managerial review, helping to identify areas for improvement. Balto's solutions cater to various sectors, including sales leadership, customer service, and compliance, ultimately aiming to improve conversion rates and enhance customer experiences.

SpiderOak

Series A in 2015
SpiderOak, Inc. is a technology company dedicated to enhancing cybersecurity by eliminating various categories of cyber-attacks. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with an additional office in Chicago, the company offers solutions such as SpiderOak CrossClave, which enables secure file exchange and synchronization through no-knowledge encryption. This technology allows users to share sensitive data while maintaining confidentiality. Additionally, SpiderOak provides The SpiderOak, a secure platform for group messaging and file sharing, and SpiderOak One Backup, a desktop and mobile application that safeguards data across multiple operating systems. The company also offers SpiderOak Enterprise Backup, which focuses on ransomware protection and disaster recovery. Its clientele spans across defense and intelligence sectors, civilian government, government contractors, and enterprise software, with products designed to meet the compliance, security, and usability needs of modern organizations. SpiderOak's innovative use of Zero-Trust encryption and blockchain technology ensures data integrity, confidentiality, and availability, allowing clients to leverage sensitive datasets without compromising security.