20 Top Chicago Venture Capital Firms 2024

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The windy city is home to a diverse and thriving startup ecosystem with a wide variety of VC firms in Chicago to choose from. It has one of the largest populations in America and is ripe with innovation and growth that disrupts all industries. 

In this article, we’ll dive into the top Chicago venture capital firms and what type of tech investments they are making, growth stages they focus on, and some of the most notable portfolio companies.

Best Chicago VC Firms

The companies below are funding some of the most innovative and disruptive startups in Chicago. They’re also the firms that entrepreneurs should keep their eye on if they’re looking for investments.

Keep reading to learn what industries they invest in, some of the more notable companies they’ve funded, and more.

Disclaimer: With so many venture capital firms around the world, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the following VC firms are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

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1. Abundant Venture Partners

  • Industries: Healthcare, Tech
  • Stage: Seed, Series A
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: AVIA, Mindful, RiseHealth

Abundant Venture Partners is improving the lives of everyday people by supporting businesses in the healthcare and media industries. The company focuses on putting people first, having shared values, digital health businesses, and operational focus. The team behind the company consists of fellow inventors and creators who know how to grow a successful business in healthcare.

2. Bridge Investments

  • Industries: SaaS, Consumer
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Converse Now, Simple Miles, Baboon

Bridge Investments looks for growth companies that focus on innovation and help them with their abundant capital and expertise. The founders are entrepreneurs themselves and believe in the spirit of partnership to support teams along every critical milestone. The company creates a culture of creativity and collaboration, focusing on early-stage startups in the consumer brand and SaaS industries.

3. Energy Foundry

  • Industries: Energy, Cleantech
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Recurve, Digital H2O

As the name implies, Energy Foundry is focused on startups that can help the world’s natural resources last longer. Their approach to investing mixes venture capital with the perks of partnership. They include a number of tools and strategic relationships that help scale energy and cleantech businesses. The company is looking for startups that are results-driven, solve real pain points, are in high-growth markets, and has a value proposition in sound economics.

4. Arch Venture Partners

  • Industries: Science and Tech
  • Stage: Seed, Series A+
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Illumina, Juno Therapeutics, Agios

Arch Venture Partners is committed to investing in companies that help prevent, detect, and cure diseases. Their approach has a wide range of investment amounts, and they take a long-term view when building companies. They are flexible and use a network of partners to help build their investments past the formation stages. The company consists of self-proclaimed risk takers who want to revolutionize technologies that change people’s lives.

5. First Analysis Venture Capital

  • Industries: B2B Tech, Saas, Healthcare, Environmental Technology
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Smartcommerce, Visage, Vida

First Analysis Venture Capital has a long history of successful investments in a variety of industries. Their investment approach involves identifying companies with innovative technologies or business models, strong management teams, and the potential for significant growth. They provide both financial support and strategic guidance to help their portfolio companies achieve their full potential.

6. Jump Capital

  • Industries: Fintech, Media, SaaS
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Osano, Avia, Kinetiq

Jump Capital is a leading venture capital firm that invests in technology-enabled companies. Their focus on the Midwest and Chicago has helped them become one of the most active investors in the region. The company has a deep understanding of how to grow a business by providing both operational and financial support. In addition to their investment expertise, they also offer resources like office space and access to their network of entrepreneurs.

7. MATH Venture Partners

  • Industries: Ecommerce, Software, Data Analytics
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: 2ndKitchen, Acorns, Builtin

MATH Venture Partners has a simple approach to investing: find companies with an unfair advantage in customer acquisition. The company believes this advantage has tangible results such as leveraged sales, channel partners, compliance triggers, network effects, and expansion opportunities. The company believes in a core set of values, including being candid, curious, courageous, tenacious, accountable, and community oriented.

8. New Stack Ventures

  • Industries: Fintech, SaaS, Proptech, Healthcare
  • Stage: Convertible Note, Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Hologram, Pliant, Curv

New Stack Ventures believes in taking a bit of a long shot on the companies it invests in. They look for early-stage companies that have high potential but don’t come from traditional powerhouse cities like Silicon Valley. The company is particular about who they are looking for and wants mission-driven founders who believe almost irrationally in their cause. New Stack focuses on several themes like access to idle supply, platforms that empower users to generate value, tools that give non-expert, expert capabilities, and value that increases as users increase. 

9. OCA Ventures

  • Industries: Education, Tech, Financial Services
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Actuate, Genvid, Hubly

OCA Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that believes in equity investments when it funds startups. It looks for growing companies with dramatic growth potential in the tech and scalable services industries. Only US and Canada-based startups will be considered, usually in their seed or Series A stages. The company does provide more resources to help entrepreneurs grow, like a strong network and market insights. 

10. Pritzker Group

  • Industries: Consumer, Enterprise
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Cleversafe, Dollar Shave Club, Playdom

The Pritzker Group understands how hard it can be for a business to get past the formation stage. They have experts in the industry of over 20 years and manage billions of dollars in public and private assets. In addition, many of the Fortune 500 companies have ties to the Pritzker Group and can lend their hand to help the startups succeed. 

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11. Origin Ventures

  • Industries: Software, Marketplace
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Grubhub, Apptentive, Pronto

Origin Ventures believes in the digital native economy and makes a majority of its investments in millennial- and Gen Z-led businesses. They have a big focus on seed and series A stage startups in the software and marketplace business models. They only invest in the US and Canada and have been doing so successfully for over 20 years. The team consists of former operators and engineers who approach every interaction with the firm’s values in mind.

12. Sandbox Industries

  • Industries: Healthcare, Insurance
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Descartes Lab, Geltor, Agrivida

Sandbox Industries looks to invest in companies that can drive lasting change in the healthcare, insurance, and sustainability industries. They have developed key partnerships in the industries they are investing in to provide extra resources to startups. The industry leaders also invest funds as strategic limited partners, creating an ecosystem between the strategic and financial investors. They’ve also partnered with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association to help healthcare startups thrive.

13. MK Capital

  • Industries: Software, Cloud
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Nerdio, Passport, Wellspring

MK Capital has nearly $300 million in assets under management and invests in disruptive B2B software tech companies in the Series A and B stages. The team behind MK Capital has over 20 years of venture capital experience and has each built its own successful companies in selective markets. MK believes in using the insights it gathers to help portfolio companies grow, and they collaborate with them on strategy, technology, and operations.

14. Lightbank

  • Industries: Consumer, Healthtech
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Clearcover, Udemy, Sproutsocial

Lightbank has a few firm values they believe in that help them recognize startups that share the same passions: the hustle, the ability to move at high speed, integrity, teamwork, passion, and preparation. The company focuses on two distinct areas: Lightbeat and Lightblock. Lightbeat is the arm of the company that focuses on backing disruptive tech, while Lightblock is the research and analytics blockchain fund. 

15. JK&B Capital

  • Industries: Software, IT, Communications
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Intacct, NeuLion, Scalent

JK&B Capital is a large venture capital firm that has over $1.1 billion under management. They focus on communications, IT, and healthcare markets and have unmatched technology and operational expertise. They have the ability to attract strong syndication partners and invest in trend-enabling technologies. The partners behind JK&B come from senior management positions in some of the most successful firms in the tech industry. 

16. Illinois Ventures

  • Industries: Healthcare, Technology
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Ocient, Cystetic Medicines, Psyonic

Illinois Ventures focuses on seed and early investments in the healthcare and tech fields. They work together with industry leaders to establish a thriving entrepreneurial community within the University of Illinois system and alumni networks. The company manages two different types of funds: a return-focused fund and an evergreen fund. The company has been around for over 20 years and its portfolio companies, on average, raise $46 in outside funding for every $1 that they invest. 

17. Hyde Park Venture Partners

  • Industries: SaaS, Marketplace
  • Stage: Debt, Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: 2ndKitchen, ShipBob, Fixer

Hyde Park Venture Partners focuses on locations they know best, the midwest. They look for high-growth, mid-continent tech startups to invest in. They appreciate a strong founding team with fast-growth potential. Values they believe in include respecting entrepreneurs, being responsive and tenacious, communicating openly and honestly, making data-driven decisions, and creating value. 

18. Bluestein Ventures

  • Industries: Food
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: FoutKites, Meati, Factor

Bluestein Ventures looks to invest in startups that have high-growth potential and are innovating the food industry. Any business that is making either proprietary foodtech, next-gen commerce, or value-added digital technology is considered by Bluestein. They are looking for a combination of strategic vision and flawless execution. Purpose-driven teams that are looking to change the status quo in their industry are an attractive investment for Bluestein.

19. M25 VC

  • Industries: Various
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Status, Whipz, Improovy

M25 only invests in startups that are located in the midwest region. They have been in business since 2015 and are one of the most active investors in the region. The partners behind M25 are two of the youngest fund managers in the industry. You’ll find a large range of companies in this firm’s portfolio because the company only looks at companies based on metrics rather than industries. They use a unique and analytical approach to venture investments to reduce risk while maintaining high returns. 

20. R7 Partners

  • Industries: Disruptive Tech
  • Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed
  • Notable Portfolio Companies: Iron Ox, Xwing, Bedrock

R7 Partners looks to use its resources on companies that have disruptive tech in their industry. Their investments include companies that build autonomous indoor farms, autonomous cargo flights, ocean mapping, and convenience stores. 

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