SmartForest Ventures

SmartForest Ventures

SmartForest Ventures was founded in Portland by Deepthi Madhava and Hugh Mackworth, two operators who had previously built and exited technology companies. Madhava brings experience scaling global engineering teams and product organizations, while Mackworth's background spans corporate development and investment banking. The firm emerged from their shared observation that compelling founders in Oregon and the broader Pacific Northwest faced a structural funding gap between angel networks and Series A funds. The firm invests primarily at the pre-seed and seed stages, writing initial checks typically sized between $500,000 and $1.5 million, with reserves for follow-on participation into later rounds. SmartForest targets enterprise software, AI-enabled platforms, climate technology, advanced mobility, and digital health. The portfolio includes companies such as Latitude, an AI-powered planning tool for commercial real estate, and OpConnect, an electric vehicle charging network operator. The firm also participates in select follow-on rounds alongside co-investors including Seven Peaks Ventures and Oregon Venture Fund (per the firm's official communications). Its geographic focus centers on the Pacific Northwest but extends selectively into other underserved North American ecosystems. SmartForest operates as a classic early-stage venture micro-fund, leveraging its partners' operating backgrounds to provide portfolio support that goes beyond board seats — Madhava and Mackworth actively assist with product strategy, go-to-market execution, and talent acquisition for founding teams. The firm solicits deal flow through a network of regional accelerators, university entrepreneurship programs, and operator syndicates across Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC. SmartForest's structural differentiator lies in its explicit focus on geographies that national funds typically overlook during market mapping — the firm serves as an institutional-grade entry point for limited partners seeking exposure to portfolios built without reliance on Silicon Valley proximity bias. Its partnership model embeds founder operators rather than career investors into the investment decision process.