# Dennis Beard

> Dennis Beard is a seed investor at Open Prairie (Champaign) backing AgTech and Medical. See 3 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Open Prairie](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/open-prairie)
- Location: Champaign, United States
- Total investments: 3
- Last investment: May 2023
- Lead investor: 67%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-beard-a2898a1/

Dennis Beard is a seed investor at Open Prairie in Champaign focused on AgTech and Medical. Dennis is Chief Financial Officer of Open Prairie Ventures and a General Partner in Open Prairie Ventures II. An accomplished investor, CPA, and manager, Dennis is responsible for strategic and financial direction of Open Prairie Ventures, with a focus on seed and early-stage investments. He has vast experience in venture investments,operations and strategic planning, financial reporting and board management. Dennis has provided financial and accounting advisory services to companies ranging in size from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 100 companies in retail, healthcare services, manufacturing and financial and communications services industries.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AgTech | 1 | 33% |
| Medical | 1 | 33% |
| Agriculture | 1 | 33% |
| Health Care | 1 | 33% |
| Medical Device | 1 | 33% |

7 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 1 | 33% |
| Series A | 1 | 33% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 33% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Brazil | 1 | 33% |
| United States | 1 | 33% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DigiFarmz Smart Agriculture | Growers currently lose 75% of crop yield potential due to decision errors in plant health and nutrition management. DigiFarmz uses algorithms that combine biotic (genetics, pathogen, etc.) and abiotic (climate, sowing dates, location, etc.) parameters and a big data with more than sixteen years of field and greenhouse researches, to providereal-time dynamic recommendations for the very reality of each farm and field plot, optimizing the use of agrochemicals, increasing the yield and profitability of crops. | $100K | Seed | May 02, 2023 |  |
| Medical Engineering Innovations (MEI) | Medical Engineering Innovations (MEI) is focused on bringing new technologies to market that combat liver cancer with more effective tools for liver surgery and localized cancer treatment by heat (tumor ablation). Their technologies combine a unique algorithm to control the application of radiofrequency energy to tissue, with enhanced bladeelectrode geometries to optimize tissue heating. |  | Series A | May 07, 2018 |  |
| Medical Engineering Innovations (MEI) | Medical Engineering Innovations (MEI) is focused on bringing new technologies to market that combat liver cancer with more effective tools for liver surgery and localized cancer treatment by heat (tumor ablation). Their technologies combine a unique algorithm to control the application of radiofrequency energy to tissue, with enhanced bladeelectrode geometries to optimize tissue heating. | $150K |  | Jan 01, 2017 |  |

3 of 3 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [gener8tor](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gener8tor) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Open Prairie

VC Fund · Champaign, United States

Open Prairie is a private equity fund management company with extensive roots in agriculture and rural America. The Open Prairie team has continually focused on increasing financial access in underserved communities and has managed investment portfolios spanning from venture capital to agriculture.

5 contacts available at Open Prairie.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dennis Beard | Partner & CFO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dennis-beard |
| Jason Wrone | Vice President | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jason-wrone |
| Jim Schultz | Founder & Chairman | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jim-schultz-2 |
| Pat Morand | President | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pat-morand |
| Sam Hogg | Venture Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sam-hogg |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Dennis Beard invest in?

Dennis Beard invests primarily in AgTech, Medical and Agriculture startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 3 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Brazil. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Dennis Beard last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Dennis Beard closed in May 2023. Shizune tracks 3 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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