#1 university-affiliated tech incubator in US. Merchandise Mart, Chicago. 140K sq ft. 500+ startups. Ranked #1 university-affiliated US incubator. Hub for Chicago tech ecosystem.

Founded 1986 as UChicago initiative to commercialize UChicago + Argonne National Lab IP. Now independent deep tech + life sciences VC. Chicago + Seattle + SF offices. Deployed $3B+ in life sciences 2024–2025. Seed/early stage. Founding GP: Steven Lazarus; current MD: Keith Crandell.

Largest angel group in Midwest. Founded by Chicago Booth classmates. Enterprise, consumer, healthcare. Seed and early stage. "People First" model.

Chicago + Indianapolis B2B software VC. Seed–Series A. $250K–$4M checks. High-growth Midwest tech. SaaS, adtech, mobile. Notable: Geofeedia, Avant, FourKites.

Launched by University of Illinois Board of Trustees 2002. Seed/early-stage VC for companies with U of I DNA. IT, physical sciences, life sciences, clean tech. Manages iVenture Accelerator with Origin Ventures.

Founded by Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. Consumer tech, enterprise, fintech, climate. Seed through late stage. Notable: Groupon, Sprout Social.

Most active early-stage VC exclusively in Midwest. Chicago HQ. 14 states. Data-driven seed. 100+ companies.

$1.65B AUM over 4 funds. Growth-stage enterprise software and AI. HQ Santa Monica. Backed CrowdStrike, KnowBe4, Forter. Hosts The Montgomery Summit annually (~1,000+ attendees). Co-Founder & Managing Partner: Jamie Montgomery.

Chicago seed/early-stage VC. Co-founded by Troy Henikoff. Teams with unfair customer acquisition advantage. Notable: Telnyx, NowSecure.

Chicago pre-seed/seed. Deep tech, hard tech, IoT, AI, blockchain, B2B SaaS for legacy industries. $42.6M Fund II.

Chicago early-stage tech, fintech, healthcare IT. Entrepreneur-friendly, hands-on. Connected to Northwestern ecosystem. $100M+.

Chicago multi-stage VC. E-commerce, digital media/adtech, B2B SaaS. Notable: Grubhub (seed), Braintree (early). Manages iVenture Accelerator at University of Illinois.

Venture arm of Pritzker family. Digital technology, consumer, manufactured products. Notable: Tempus AI (IPO June 2024, $6B valuation).

Chicago food and agriculture venture fund. Transforms food system: supply chain, ingredients, distribution. Impact-driven.

Chicago multi-fund manager. Runs BlueCross BlueShield Venture Fund (BCBS healthcare CVC). Healthcare IT and innovation. $1M–$20M checks.

Chicago CVC collaboration firm. Co-invests corporations with early-stage tech startups. Corporate innovation with equity stakes.

Northwestern University student/alumni entrepreneurship hub. Evanston IL. Pre-accelerator support, mentoring, early-stage community. Gateway to Northwestern VC network.

Mid-market PE fund-of-funds

Investment firm (Antonio Gracias); participated in a16z-led round for Special (2026-06).