Sam Guren
Angel Investor @ OCA Ventures
Chicago, United States
Sam Guren is a seed investor at OCA Ventures in Chicago focused on Software and GPS. Sam Guren started in the venture capital/private equity business in 1975, with Continental Illinois Venture Corporation (CIVC), a subsidiary of Continental Bank (Chicago). During his tenure with CIVC, the firm’s investments ranged from Apple Computer to Yoplait to Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts. The KKR investment took the firm into the buyoutinvestment business.In 1981, Sam Guren was recruited by William Blair to co-found and manage William Blair Venture Partners. He grew the business to six professionals during three funds. Investments ranged from the founding of The Sports Authority to the buyout of Sanford Corporation to investments in various technology, healthcare and cable television companies.Robert Baird recruited Sam Guren in 1996 to manage the Baird Capital funds. While there, BCP grew from two to five professionals with a focus on outsourcing and temporary staffing.Sam Guren joined Allied Capital in 1999, and stayed through 2002. He managed the Chicago office, and was on their Investment and Operating Committees.From 2007 to 2011, he was the Managing Director of Hyde Park Angels, an angel network affiliated with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Sam is an advisor to OCA Ventures and a member of the Boards of Directors of The Debt Exchange (Debtx), SpotHero, and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. He is also on the Board of Advisors of the Knapp Entrepreneurship Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology.Sam Guren is a recipient of the Stanley C. Golder Medal, which “acknowledges individuals who have made profound and lasting contributions to the private equity industry in Illinois”.Prior to his involvement in the venture capital and private equity business, Sam taught junior high math and was a junior varsity high school wrestling coach in the Cleveland Public Schools System.Sam Guren is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, and received an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School.
- Total investments:
- 12
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 17%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Sam Guren invests in
Stages Sam Guren invests in
Countries Sam Guren invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
| Personal phone | ||
| Socials |
Round size
- Seed
- $70k–$2.5M
- Series A
- $1.5M–$4.5M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 3 (25%)
- GPS 1 (8%)
- FinTech 1 (8%)
- Finance 1 (8%)
- Parking 1 (8%)
Stage
- Seed 3 (25%)
- Series A 2 (17%)
- Funding Round 2 (17%)
- Series B 1 (8%)
- Series C 1 (8%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpotHero is the leading & only independent consumer marketplace for parking in North America. | $50M / Series D / Aug 22, 2019 | ||
| Jiobit is the world's smallest and longest lasting tracking solution. With a Jiobit device and smartphone app, parents (and pet parents) can find their loved ones anywhere: Indoors, outdoors, in over 120 countries and even in multi-level buildings.With weeks of battery life and a durable and discreet design, Jiobit is the world'ssmallest real-time location tracking product. The mobile app (run through a wireless subscription service) offers the most comprehensive set of monitoring and notification features available on the market. Overall, Jiobit gives parents peace of mind while allowing kids to be kids. The Jiobit team is comprised of seasoned engineers, designers, and marketers with a history of building innovative and disruptive consumer products and businesses. The team has logged a combined 150 patents from previous endeavors and developed and shipped products selling in the millions worldwide. We are proudly headquartered in Chicago, with a development center in Silicon Valley. | $6.5M / Venture - Series Unknown / Nov 19, 2018 | ||
| SpotHero is the leading & only independent consumer marketplace for parking in North America. | $10.1M / Series C / Sep 06, 2018 | ||
| SpotHero is the leading & only independent consumer marketplace for parking in North America. | $30M / Series C / Jul 18, 2017 | ||
| SpotHero is the leading & only independent consumer marketplace for parking in North America. | $20M / Series B / Aug 19, 2015 | ||
| SpotHero is the leading & only independent consumer marketplace for parking in North America. | $4.5M / Series A / Jun 11, 2014 | ||
| SpotHero is the leading & only independent consumer marketplace for parking in North America. | $2.5M / Seed / Dec 13, 2012 | ||
| A CrowdHall is a crowd-sourced town hall built on the idea that public discourse with high-profile people & organizations doesn't have to be one-sided. It empowers the crowd to organize its thoughts, articulate its questions, and voice its perspective in a democratic way. | $70K / Seed / Sep 01, 2012 | ||
| YCharts is a financial software company providing investment research tools including stock charts, stock ratings, and economic indicators. It builds an ever-expanding financial and economic data set - as well as the tools to access and interpret that data - to help investors and business people make better decisions. provide institutional quality data and analytics for investors and business professionals. | $1.5M / Series A / Mar 19, 2010 | ||
| YCharts is a financial software company providing investment research tools including stock charts, stock ratings, and economic indicators. It builds an ever-expanding financial and economic data set - as well as the tools to access and interpret that data - to help investors and business people make better decisions. provide institutional quality data and analytics for investors and business professionals. | $1M / Seed / Mar 01, 2010 | ||
| See all 12 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About OCA Ventures
We're an early stage venture capital firm focused on equity investments in companies with dramatic growth potential, primarily in technology and highly-scalable services businesses. Our focus investment areas are digital health, fintech, consumer software, and enterprise software.
OCA Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Bob Saunders
General Partner
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Ian Drury
Venture Partner
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Jim Dugan
CEO, Co-Founder, and Founding Managing Partner
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John Dugan
Chairman Emeritus & Co-Founder
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Dana Sun
Senior Associate
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FAQ
What does Sam Guren invest in?
Sam Guren invests primarily in Software, GPS and FinTech startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 12 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Sam Guren's check size?
Sam Guren typically joins rounds of $70k–$2.5M at Seed and $1.5M–$4.5M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Sam Guren participates in.
How do I contact Sam Guren?
Public channels for Sam Guren include LinkedIn. 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.
When did Sam Guren last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Sam Guren closed in Aug 2019. Shizune tracks 12 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 Sep 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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