Business Services

Workbox Ventures is a lead investor of Series Seed and Series A stage businesses that are disrupting the workplace landscape in the following three categories: Proptech, Human Capital, and Fintech. We place a high value on long-term, relationship-based partnerships to drive value. Workbox’s mission is predicated on helping businesses succeed, and we heavily leverage our member platform, guided programming, and institutional relationships to ensure portfolio companies reach their full potential.

11 Tribes is an early-stage venture with a mission to catalyze the potential of purpose-driven entrepreneurs to promote human flourishing. In order to do this well, they seek returns beyond the accumulation of financial wealth. The venture provides entrepreneurs with the right relational, intellectual, and financial resources to see both the business and the people within that business flourish. This proactive approach leads to entrepreneurs and companies that are more durable, more sustainable, and more profitable.

American Family Ventures is a $200m+ fund investing in seed-Series B companies. We focus broadly on investing into the future of insurance or adjacent industries. This includes Insurtech, Fintech, Healthtech, IoT, Data Security, Cyber Security, Home Security, Construction, ect.

Assurant Ventures (“AV”) is the corporate venture arm of Assurant, Inc., a Fortune-300 P&C insurance and risk management company covering the mobile, retail, housing and vehicle industries with 300M+ customers across 22 countries. AV invests in venture & growth stage technology companies that may overlap Assurant’s core businesses, facilitating access to Assurant’s business ecosystem, including its multibillion-dollar business units & channel partners. To date, Assurant Ventures has invested in more than 25 leading-edge startups including: Vacasa (NSDQ: VCSA), Cazoo (NYSE: CZOO), Doma (NYSE: DOMA), SmartRent (NYSE: SMRT), Grover, Mynd, PayJoy, Sanas and others across multiple geographies since 2015.

BlueIron does IP-related financing: we pay for IP development, provide patent enforcement/defense insurance, and can underwrite loans using IP as collateral.

Breakout Capital is rocket fuel for high-growth businesses. We are a selective, brand-focused fund that provides cutting edge marketing and ops support to our portfolio through our full-service marketing agency (Breakout Studio) and network of experienced operators. We raise capital on a deal-by-deal basis, which allows us to be uniquely flexible in the size and structure of our investments. If you think that you’re building the next great brand in your market, then we want to meet you!

Brick & Mortar Ventures identifies, invests in, and grows emerging companies developing innovative software and hardware solutions for the industries of architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management.
They continue to be inspired and impressed by the innovative teams in which they invest and with which they partner. Get to know them, because they are the ones set on disrupting one of the largest sectors of the global economy.

Bridge Bank, founded in 2001 in Silicon Valley, offers a better way to bank for venture-backed and non-venture-backed companies. We can assist with introductions to investors (for pre-seed, seed, Series A and later rounds). Our firm also offers strategic tips on fundraising, alternative financing options including venture debt, advice on typical deal terms for venture debt, A/R lines of credit, recurring revenue lines of credit, and a full suite of professional banking services for startups.

Capitalize VC is a $10M VC fund purpose-built to tackle systemic barriers to economic prosperity and correct the racial wealth gap. The fund invests in Black and Latinx founders through a unique model that fosters LP inclusion and aims to generate outsized returns for LPs by investing in enterprise SaaS solutions in fintech, ad tech, e-commerce, and the future of work in addition to CPG brands.

A creative private credit investment firm founded to deliver flexible financing solutions to underserved niches of the market. We provide financing solutions, generally collateralized, ranging from $500,000 to $20 million, with syndication capabilities up to $150 million.

Chicago Early Growth Ventures invests in early-stage startup companies, with a particular focus on Chicago-based entities. We will consider investments in almost any sector and demographic, typically at the seed-stage. While not a requirement, we give preference to companies that are based in Chicago, have lead investors with a Chicago presence, or were founded by students or alumni of Chicago-based universities (Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola, etc.). Though investment is our primary purpose, we also seek to build and develop relationships among our members, other investor organizations, and ambitious entrepreneurs. By providing ongoing deal access to our members, we also seek to develop the pool of early-stage angel investors within the Chicago ecosystem.

Chicago Ventures is a seed stage venture capital firm that invests in tech-enabled startups in Chicago and the Central region of the country. As former operators engaged in the Chicago community, the team taps this experience, along with its network of advisors and investors, to help its portfolio companies operate, execute and scale, hire the right talent, and connect with customers.

Founded in 2012 by successful Midwest entrepreneurs, Cultivation Capital focuses on undercapitalized markets and industry segments that are often ignored by traditional investors both at home and abroad. From their offices in Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, Cultivation manages a family of early-stage venture capital funds investing in software, life sciences/digital health, and agri/food tech. They have backed over 100 startups, with initial investment sizes ranging from $100k – $3.5M.

Decasonic is a venture operating company building high growth businesses enabled by emerging technologies. Our current focus areas include: consumer platforms, data/ML/AI and fintech/blockchain. Decasonic looks to actively collaborate with entrepreneurs, passionate about delivering impactful solutions to large markets. Together, we hope to build a better tomorrow, faster.

Since 2010, Dundee Venture Capital has been investing in seed rounds in between the coasts. As lead seed investors, Dundee looks to partner early with the best technology entrepreneurs in the Mighty Middle. The firm has offices in Chicago, Omaha and Minneapolis.

Founder Equity invests in seed and early stage technology startups out of their offices in Chicago, Dallas, and Los
Angeles. Their initial investments typically range between $250k and $2 million, although they may invest more or less in some cases. Founder Equity is a part of Manifold Group, which gives their portfolio company access to a broad array of active support (design, engineering, data science, growth, and more) to accelerate progress.

Green Ivy is an experienced specialty finance company that provides customized financing solutions to the cannabis, hemp, and related industries in the U.S. and Canada. We offer term loans from $500,000 to $10 million with syndication capabilities up to $75 million.

GrowthX is a venture capital fund run by operators with extensive go-to-market experience. We invest at the seed stage in B2B SaaS and marketplace opportunities founded by diverse teams who recognize the need and want help finding product-market fit. Being helpful is our primary form of due diligence. Our portfolio founders have access to our Market Acceleration Program, our private accelerator focused on everything you need to go to market, engage with your customers and win revenue.

High Street Capital is a differentiated, operations-focused Small Business Investment Company based in Chicago that focuses on helping build lower middle market businesses in the Central U.S. Currently investing out of our fifth committed fund at $165 million, we offer flexible and creative solutions to business owners seeking liquidity to grow and recapitalize.

As HPA transforms early-stage investing with a people-first approach, it provides unique value to entrepreneurs and investors by driving startup growth and investment success. HPA’s approach has led it to become the most active early-stage investor in the Midwest.

Hyde Park Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on high-growth, mid-continent technology startups. We seek companies with an exceptional founding team and fast-growth potential, looking to raise a first or second round of capital. With offices in Chicago and Indianapolis, our team is tenacious, responsive, and committed to adding value to each investment.

Lightbank is an early stage technology venture fund based in Chicago started by the co-founders of Groupon, Tempus, Uptake, Echo Logistics, Mediaocean and Innerworkings. Lightbank typically invests $500K – $1.5M in a company’s first institutional round (pre-seed / seed) in a variety of industries. Notable portfolio companies include Sprout Social, Boom Udemy, Fiverr, Reverb, Snapsheet, Sprout Social, Tempus and Uptake. Lightbank focuses on backing entrepreneurs that we can work with to execute and scale their companies.

LOUD Capital is an early-stage venture capital and alternative investment firm, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with offices in Chicago, New York, Raleigh and Beijing. Their name represents who they are and who they strive to be: active, engaged investors and thought leaders for the industry.

M25 is a Chicago based VC firm investing in Pre-Seed and Seed stage, tech-enabled startups headquartered across the Midwest (14 states) in any industry except life science/pharma nor vices (alcohol, tobacco, etc.). M25 is the most active VC firm in the region having invested in 90+ startups in the last 5 years.

Manifold Ventures, part of Manifold Group, invests in extraordinary entrepreneurs at the seed stage. The firm leverages their in-house consultancy, Manifold Advisory, to provide a disproportionate value-add relative to their (on-average) 6 figure investments.

MATH Ventures believes companies that have an unfair advantage in customer acquisition will outperform. This advantage is usually inherent in the business model – leveraged sales, channel partners, compliance triggers, network effects, expansion opportunities or some other element creating urgency in the market. MATH’s investments are sized between $1-2 million, with reserves of 1-2x of the initial investment. They also make seed-stage investments of $100,000 when the team is still searching for product-market fit and/or a scalable customer acquisition model.

Moderne Ventures is a strategic venture capital firm with over $350M AUM. Moderne invests in technology companies in and around the multi-trillion-dollar industries of real estate, finance, insurance and home services. Moderne has built an extraordinary network of over 700 executives and corporations within its core industries and evaluates over 4,500 emerging tech companies each year.

New Stack Ventures is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, Illinois. The firm partners with early seed stage startups, investing $500k+ from a fund and the largest Angel Syndicate in the Midwest — a group that includes 1000+ angels and family offices.

The Ozinga Family has a rich history of making investments into people and communities. Ozinga Ventures makes appropriate capital investments in the Energy, Waste, Real Estate, and Renewable verticals, or in technology supporting those verticals with direct investments ranging between $250,000 to $5 million. Most of the companies who chose to work with us see the value of partnering with a family backed by a large operating company and the intangible that can bring.

proChain Ventures is a US-based venture capital firm making Pre Seed to Series A stage investments in procurement, supply chain, and logistics technology startups. They leverage a network of 1000+ supply chain executives, thought leaders, and trusted operations partners to help startups with acceleration, development, operations, sustainability, and early customer acquisition. They have a strong focus on diverse founding teams and those with an ESG charge and add value to startups through 3 core elements – Domain Dominance, Considerate Capital, and Systemic Support.

Propellant Ventures is a venture capital firm that boldly invests in innovative early stage companies that are building disruptive solutions to power the future. We invest across multiple industries in the underserved regions of the Midwest and South / Southeast.

Regiment Alpha is a Fintech focused venture capital fund that invests in Seed and Series A rounds. The fund deploys capital into companies in the WealthTech, RegTech, Payments and Capital Markets spaces.

Right Side Capital is a technology startup investment firm focused exclusively on the pre-seed stage. With a portfolio of 1000 pre-seed investments and growing. Pre-seed isn’t their farm system; it’s our bread and butter. It’s all they have done, all day, every day, since 2012. They strive to treat founders the way they would want to be treated. They don’t waste time. If they are not going to invest, they say so as quickly as possible. If they are going to invest, they just get it done without delays.

Sandalphon Capital is a Pre-Seed to Series A stage VC firm founded in 2016, based in Chicago, and focused on the Midwest and underserved markets. We invest in both B2B and B2C and look for digital transformation (enabling incumbents), digital reinvention (displacing incumbents), or potential category leaders in nascent markets. In addition to dollars, we offer support across six key areas for our portfolio companies.

Service Provider Capital is an early stage venture fund whose partners and LPs are the most knowledgeable and best connected service providers in the industry. Our Midwest fund, based in Chicago, co-invests in Seed or Series A rounds led by institutional investors. We are active investors, industry agnostic and have an awesome roster of portfolio companies that we are proud to support.

Starting Line is an early stage seed fund that invests in consumer startups focused on democratizing access to technologies, products and experiences for the 99% of Americans. Founded by Ezra Galston, the fund has already made seed investments into numerous fast growing companies such as Cameo, Made In Cookware and Truman’s. Starting Line is currently investing out of its inaugural $17M fund, with check sizes ranging from $750K – $1.25M into rounds ranging from $1M – $5M, with the sweet spot leading $1M into a $2.5M seed round.

TASC Ventures invests in fintech, insuretech, and HRtech startups that improve the well-being of employees and the bottom line of employers. We typically fund $250k – $1M, and assist our companies with industry connections through TASC, the nation’s leading independent provider of employee benefit accounts.

Trust Ventures looks for startups taking on society’s greatest challenges. They are building a portfolio that will bring progress to a range of industries held back by public policy barriers.

VCapital has a unique model working with accredited investors and family offices to fund their deals. Annually, VCapital sees 1500+ deals, and they aim to find 4-5 to invest in per year. VCapital is Series A focused (but will consider Seed and Series B), has a preference for the Midwest and although sector agnostic, looks for hard tech/science startups.

At AllRise, we practice business law. Our success comes from decades of experience and a real desire to practice a new kind of law; one that reduces legal costs without sacrificing value or quality. Consequently, we are consistently handling large transactions for well-known, sophisticated businesses, simultaneously with the myriad of legal matters that arise for emerging companies. In each case, we are focused on providing all of our clients with the very best service possible. Not surprisingly, the feedback we receive from clients tells us that our work is not only exactly what they needed and expected, but is fairly priced. We become our clients’ trusted advisors, forming relationships that tie their success together with our own and they return to us time and again for their legal needs.

Amazon Web Services provides startups with low cost, easy to use infrastructure needed to scale and grow any size business.

Baker Tilly is a leading advisory, tax and assurance firm whose specialized professionals guide clients through an ever-changing business world, helping them win now and anticipate tomorrow. Headquartered in Chicago, Baker Tilly and its affiliated entities, have operations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Fintech Digital is a digital marketing agency bringing innovation to financial services marketing. They combine a fintech mindset with deep marketing and financial services experience to provide performance and content marketing to established and emerging fintech and financial brands. They offer strategic and integrated programs that generate leads, retain customers, and accelerate digital growth.

The Founder Institute is the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, we have helped over 3,500 startups raise over $800M and build some of the world’s fastest growing companies. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 65 countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.

The Google Cloud Startup Program is designed to help startups build and scale using Google Cloud. We are a small team with startups in our DNA. Cloud Credits are available for early-stage, technology-based startup companies that are focused on growth potential.

Whether your startup needs to increase leads, accelerate sales, or streamline customer service, HubSpot’s powerful CRM, marketing, sales, and service software solutions are designed to help companies grow more effectively and efficiently. With HubSpot for Startups, the Workbox community gets access to the same powerful suite of tools at a fraction of the cost alongside exclusive programming, and user assistance.

At inDinero, we’re dedicated to being your financial partner from inception to exit. You will get a team of accountants, controllers, tax experts, and CFOs working together and using cutting- edge technology to help you grow your business.

We reduce distracting bookkeeping tasks, allowing you to focus on strategic decision making. Our experts will help give you the information you need. We leverage technology to guide your business ́financial health

Paro is an exclusive marketplace of highly vetted, on-demand finance & accounting experts, powering companies growth strategies through the support of fractional Bookkeepers, CPA’s, Financial Analysts and CFO’s. Paro exists to assist your company with part-time, project-based or interim needs. Their business model offers your organization flexible rates, paid out hourly or monthly.

As Workbox members, you and your team can take advantage of a large-scale partnership with one of the top HR providers in the nation. TriNet helps members with health care, payroll, workers’ comp and more. Whether you’re a five person start-up or a company of 300, TriNet provides all the HR solutions you need to let you focus on your business.

Unicorn Road is on a mission to accelerate entrepreneurs and early-stage startups. Based in Chicago, they specialize in designing and developing custom and low-code websites, MVP web apps, and MVP mobile apps for teams who enjoy the sight of competitors in their rearview mirror.

Vouch is business insurance for startups. In under 10 minutes, founders and finance teams can apply for coverage customized for their startup and industry vertical. Vouch offers 10+ lines of proprietary coverage, from General Liability, EPL, D&O, to Cyber policies. As the underwriter of these insurance policies, Vouch removes any hidden third party fees, and handles all of the paperwork from start to finish.