# NW Natural

> NW Natural is a VC fund in Portland backing Energy and Automotive. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Portland, United States
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Apr 2016
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/19926
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/nwnatural
- Website: https://www.nwnatural.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NWNaturalGas

NW Natural is a VC fund in Portland focused on Energy and Automotive. In 1852, H. C. Leonard and John Green moved from Astoria to Portland. A few years earlier, after emigrating from the East Coast, they had founded a store serving the frontier community. But believing that Portland was the city of the future, they moved upriver.Among other businesses, they founded a gas company. Their purpose was to bring gaslamps to Portland’s streets, homes and businesses. On Jan. 7, 1859, they obtained a perpetual franchise from the territorial government to distribute gas. Weeks later, on Feb. 14, Oregon became a state.Today, more than 150 years later, NW Natural carries on the tradition started by Leonard and Green and the Portland Gas Light Co. A business that started with 49 customers in one square mile of Portland now serves more than 700,000 homes and businesses in 107 communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for NW Natural. Shizune tracks 2 team members at NW Natural. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/nw-natural?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Energy | 1 | 100% |
| Automotive | 1 | 100% |
| Oil and Gas | 1 | 100% |
| Natural Resources | 1 | 100% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Frank Burkhartsmeyer | SVP & CFO | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/frank-burkhartsmeyer |
| Herman C. Leonard | Founder | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/herman-c-leonard |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Onboard Dynamics | We are a company committed to helping our customers receive economic value but, more importantly, critical environmental benefits through emissions reductions using our technology. We are a solution for transportation refueling of small fleet operators, for pipeline operations and maintenance to prevent unnecessary venting and flaring, for backupto the electrical grid during natural disasters, for methane mitigation and reductions from anthropogenic sources like fossil fuel production but also agriculture and dairy operations. We are currently working to leverage our commercially proven GoFlo® natural gas compression technology along with existing gas purification technologies to provide a single integrated product with diverse applications to capture vented, flared and stranded natural gas as well as to enable expansion of renewable natural gas (RNG) production from agriculture and other methane producing waste streams. We believe that a solid transition plan is what is necessary for society to embrace and fully commit to in order for us to get from here to there. From 2020 to 2050 and beyond. The path to net zero. | $3M |  | Apr 26, 2016 |  |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [DARPA](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/darpa) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Portland Seed Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/portland-seed-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Bpifrance](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bpifrance) — VC Fund
- [SFC Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/startup-funding-club) — VC Fund
- [HTGF (High-Tech Gruenderfonds)](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/high-tech-gr%C3%BCnderfonds) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does NW Natural invest in?

NW Natural invests primarily in Energy, Automotive and Oil and Gas startups, most often at Funding Round stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact NW Natural?

Public channels for NW Natural include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at NW Natural?

The team at NW Natural includes Frank Burkhartsmeyer (SVP & CFO) and Herman C. Leonard (Founder). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### 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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