The idea started with a question: What if Ohio could build its own version of the kind of investment fund that helped transform Singapore’s economy?
It is an ambitious idea. But two years after launching, the O.H.I.O. Fund — short for Ohio High-Growth Investment Opportunities — has moved well beyond the idea stage.
The private investment fund has raised about $660 million, invested roughly $300 million in 44 Ohio companies, real estate and infrastructure projects, and generated about $75 million in returns for its investors through June 30.
Its founders, Cleveland venture investor Ray Leach and Columbus investor Mark Kvamme, see those numbers as early evidence that a much larger idea can work: keeping more of Ohio’s investment capital in Ohio, using the returns to make more investments and gradually building a permanent pool of money that could help fuel the state’s economic growth for decades.
This article first appeared in Cleveland.com on August 18, 2026.