Dave Chen

Dave Chen is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of Equilibrium Capital Group, a Portland, Oregon–based investment firm he established in 2008 with the goal of becoming "a global leader in sustainability-driven asset management." The firm builds funds for institutional investors — largely pension funds — that target sustainable returns from productive real assets, with controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) becoming its flagship strategy. Equilibrium's team has collectively managed more than $25 billion in institutional capital, and the firm reportedly oversees several hundred million to over a billion dollars across its strategies.

Before founding Equilibrium, Chen spent the early 2000s in venture capital as a General Partner at OVP Venture Partners (2000–2007), where his commitment to sustainability deepened and he became involved in regional economic development and climate-change policy. Earlier in his career he was founder and CEO of GeoTrust (a digital-certificate company acquired by VeriSign in 2006), founder of the strategy consultancy The Ascent Group, VP of Marketing at Mentor Graphics, an associate at McKinsey & Company, and an early team member at contract manufacturer Solectron (1978–1985).

Chen holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he has served as an Adjunct Professor of Finance since 2010. He also sits on or chairs several boards tied to sustainability and agriculture, including Revol Greens (an Equilibrium portfolio company), Biological Capital, The Freshwater Trust, and Greenprint Partners.

• Invests through institutional real-asset funds, not personal angel checks — his signature vehicles are the Controlled Environment Foods Fund I (~$336M, closed 2019) and Fund II (CEFF II, $1.022B, closed July 2021).
• Core thesis: sustainability and scale are inseparable — he frames scale as "the missing ingredient in driving systemic change," arguing real environmental and financial impact requires institutional-grade capital deployed at infrastructure scale.
• Sector conviction in controlled-environment agriculture: "CEA is becoming an alternative to the tradition of growing crops in the field." Funds target high-tech greenhouses, indoor farms, alternative proteins, and aquaculture.
• Seeks "sustainability-driven returns" — investments that deliver institutional-quality financial performance while creating intentional positive environmental and social impact.
• Raises primarily from pension funds and institutional LPs, notably without placement agents; CEFF II drew anchor commitments from European pensions including Sweden's AP4.