The Pearl Fund Adds Colorado and Texas to New Network Designed to Spur Social and Economic Impact in U.S. Opportunity Zones

The Pearl Fund (https://thepearl.fund/), the nation's first Opportunity Zone Venture Capital Fund, is pleased to announce two new members of the Pearl Fund Network of Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds: The Colorado Outdoors Pearl Fund (Montrose, CO) and the Nomadic Opportunity Pearl Fund (Houston, TX).

The Pearl Fund Network of Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds are pioneering OZ funds focused on delivering competitive returns from venture capital investments and a full suite of opportunity zone tax benefits to investors, while driving social and economic impact in opportunity zone communities through investment in entrepreneurship. The Pearl Fund Network of Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds, managed by the Pearl Fund Management Company, LLC, are committed to the highest standards in opportunity zone fund structure, legal and accounting compliance and oversight, and performance and impact metrics and reporting, and are supported by the leading OZB legal, accounting, and tax experts in the nation.

"Venture capital opportunity zone funds have the potential for significantly higher returns than OZ real estate funds, in terms of both their financial returns to investors and the social and economic impact they have in the communities where they operate," said Brian P. Phillips, Founder of The Pearl Fund. "By having a family of Pearl Funds, we are able to more dramatically scale both types of returns, providing more and better investment opportunities, creating more high-quality jobs, and improving more lives."

In Colorado, a fund focused on the growing outdoor industry

The Colorado Outdoors Pearl Fund will be led by Doug Dragoo, founder of Colorado Outdoors. "The mission of the Colorado Outdoors Pearl Fund is to transform the Montrose, Colorado opportunity zone into a compelling destination for business, and specifically to recruit and expand jobs in the outdoor industry," said Dragoo. "The fund will create an environment where companies targeting the outdoor industry can collaborate together to capture more of the $887 billion spent every year in the outdoor/recreational industry."

The fund's goal is to provide the region with three things: a desirable location for business relocation and commercial enterprise, bringing skilled jobs; a restored and enhanced river for the benefit of the community; and quality workforce housing for local residents.

A dedicated space for first-time chef entrepreneurs in midtown Houston

The Nomadic Opportunity Pearl Fund will led be Anh Mai and Lian Nguyen Pham, inventors of the first Chef Hall in the US, which gives chef-entrepreneurs the ability to cost effectively launch their first restaurant concepts. "A chef hall is a curated food hall, where we curate only chefs to provide a better living wage for other chefs and cooks, and have a good amount of chef counter seating," said Mai.

Mai and Pham have perfected their model with two food halls, Bravery Chef Hall and Conservatory Underground Beer Garden and Food Hall, both located in opportunity zones in Houston's inner corridor, and are currently working on a third project, Railway Heights, slated to open Summer of 2020. The food halls have been runaway successes, enabling food entrepreneurs to launch their businesses and create hundreds of new jobs in the food industry.

Through the Nomadic Opportunity Pearl Fund, Mai and Pham will open their largest project to date: a 60,000 sq. ft. ground lease development near Houston's new innovation district, in an opportunity zone in midtown Houston. The project will provide startup opportunities for food entrepreneurs as well as an urban tech startup that includes a future forward wellness center and a next generation coworking space.

Delivering on the promise of OZ

"We know it will take what I call ?an OZB Movement' for OZ to fully deliver on its promise of attractive, tax-advantaged investor returns and real, sustainable, positive impact in opportunity zone communities," added Phillips. "The good news is this country has plenty of capable, successful people ready to lead such a movement. Because we were the first OZ VC fund in the country, some of these leaders are reaching out to us to ask for guidance and help in opening their own OZ venture funds. We're thrilled and proud to co-launch and manage these two funds and to support the success of their fantastic management teams."

For more information, visit https://thepearl.fund/ or email [email protected].

About The Pearl Fund

The Pearl Fund is the first Opportunity Zone fund that is also a venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups and their founders. Led by serial entrepreneur and global economic development expert Brian Phillips, who has been a founding member of over a dozen startups (two IPOs, two acquisitions and one sold via an MBO), The Pearl Fund focuses on high-potential businesses that can yield a 10X+ return. For more information, visit www.thepearl.fund.