Wildwood Ventures

Wildwood Ventures is a Denver, Colorado-based hybrid venture studio and early-stage fund founded in 2023 to back the next generation of companies sitting at the intersection of the outdoor economy and human wellness. The firm's thesis is explicitly counter-cyclical: the same digital technologies that have made modern society more connected, content-rich and convenient have also left people more sedentary, addicted, lonely and burnt out, and Wildwood backs founders building technology, brands and services that restore human connection, movement and time outdoors. The platform is run as a true studio plus fund: Wildwood invests capital and pairs portfolio companies with a one-year Entrepreneur-in-Residence engagement, with team members embedding as fractional cofounders to help shape product, brand, growth and go-to-market, and it is willing to lead. The senior team draws from deep operator backgrounds in the outdoor and wellness worlds. Founder and Managing Partner David Wagner spent 17 years at VF Corporation, the parent of The North Face and Vans, finishing with six years on the executive team. Founder and Partner Jesse Marble is the former CEO of growth-marketing firm Magneti, which he bootstrapped, scaled and exited; Principal and COO Kristen Gendron and Principal and Head of Growth David Krasny round out the senior team. Publicly disclosed portfolio companies include athlete mental-health platform Onrise, a Seed VC-II co-led with Crescent Ridge Partners in August 2025, Australian-origin patient-engagement platform Perx Health, a round disclosed in September 2025, and Sute. By combining a venture studio with early capital, Wildwood backs founders restoring movement, connection and time outdoors.