Rick DeVos is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wakestream Ventures. See sector focus and contact routes.
Rick DeVos is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wakestream Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which he established in 2016 after reorganizing his previous seed fund, Start Garden. His investment thesis targets fascinating founders building at the intersection of physical products and the internet, focusing on sectors like IoT, medical devices, mobility, and vertical SaaS for legacy industries within the Midwest. The firm typically leads initial checks ranging from $150,000 to $500,000, with cumulative follow-on commitments up to $1.5 million across Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds. Notable portfolio companies include Shoulder Innovations, which IPO'd on the NYSE in 2025 after Wakestream led its Series A, Work Truck Solutions, acquired in March 2025, and Jiobit, a GPS tracker acquired by Life360. DeVos is also the creator of ArtPrize, a social experiment launched in 2009 to engage artists and the public, and he emphasizes a partnership style rooted in community engagement. While specific public writing is not detailed in the sources, his distinctive point of view centers on leveraging the Midwest’s deep ope
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