Chicago Ventures

Chicago Ventures is a prominent early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with a strong focus on leading Seed and Series A investment rounds. The firm primarily targets promising startups across various high-growth sectors, including B2B SaaS, fintech, healthcare IT, and marketplaces. While deeply rooted in the Midwest entrepreneurial ecosystem, Chicago Ventures also extends its investment reach to companies across the United States, demonstrating a broad national perspective in its portfolio construction.

The firm is known for its hands-on approach, providing not only capital but also strategic guidance, operational support, and access to a robust network of industry experts and potential customers. This value-add strategy aims to accelerate the growth and development of its portfolio companies from their earliest stages. Chicago Ventures has consistently demonstrated its commitment to the startup community through its fundraising efforts, successfully closing its fourth fund, Fund IV, at $60 million in 2020, and more recently, its fifth fund, Fund V, at $75 million in 2023.

Chicago Ventures typically writes initial checks ranging from $500,000 to $2,000,000, positioning itself as a significant early partner for founders. Their strategy emphasizes identifying and backing innovative companies with strong teams and scalable business models, often taking a lead investor role to help shape the initial funding rounds. This allows them to play a pivotal role in a startup's early trajectory, providing the necessary capital and support to achieve critical milestones and attract subsequent funding.