Announcing Chicago Ventures Fund III
CV raises $63M, promotes Peter Christman and Lindsay Knight to Partner, and hires Jackie DiMonte
We’re thrilled to report we’ve closed our third fund, a $63M vehicle raised to lead seed rounds in overlooked companies.
CV was founded in 2012 to fill an acute market gap. At the time, early-stage capital flowed as if innovation were restricted by geography. Venture dollars were raised and distributed all within a few select area codes. We believed enduring companies could be built anywhere.
Nearly a decade later, our thesis is playing out. Our portfolio companies have raised over $1.5B of follow-on capital and employ thousands. 17 of those companies are now valued over $100M. Talent has proven extraordinary, returns exceptional, and we’re just getting started.
Still, major gaps remain. Only a handful of funds consistently lead seed rounds. Tag-along, momentum-based investing is the norm. The industry’s attention still converges on industries and geographies with rich histories of innovation.
We fill these gaps. We lead seed rounds before it’s obvious, and serve as active, operationally-involved partners during a company’s earliest days. We invest off the coasts. We fund ideas that others dismiss as fads, toys, rebuilds, unscalable, niche, and unproven.
To date, we’ve invested in 11 companies out of Fund III, including CognitOps, CoPilot, Forager, Interior Define, NOCD, OneRail, PreFix, Ureeka, and three that are unannounced.
To help us find and support more overlooked teams, we’ve promoted Peter Christman and Lindsay Knight to Partner. Above all else, they live our values. They put founders first and work tirelessly to fulfill our mission.
Peter leads investments in companies rebuilding old-line enterprise workflows and consumer products expanding access to care and financial well-being. He sits on the Board of CognitOps, NOCD and OneRail, and provides deep operational support to portfolio companies like project44, where he led the acquisition of GateHouse Logistics.
Lindsay leads CV’s post-investment operations, including talent, business development, and functional best practice sharing, providing mission-critical support to founders and their teams. She often serves as CV’s external voice. Nowhere is this more pronounced than her work as the Founder of Chicago:Blend. Her efforts have led to recognition as a Kauffman Fellow and leader of the VC Platform Global Community.
We’re also delighted to welcome Jackie DiMonte to the team as a new Partner. Jackie joins us from Hyde Park Venture Partners, where she led early-stage, enterprise investments. An engineer by training, we love Jackie’s curiosity, creativity, and sincerity. She’ll be our go-to in Texas, where we’ve made 10 investments since 2015. She writes at Day By Jay.
We are excited for the founders who will work with Peter, Lindsay and Jackie in the years ahead.
Fund III represents a continued deep commitment to filling the most severe gaps in early-stage venture capital. Without the continued support of our investors, the opportunity to enable the next generation of overlooked teams wouldn’t exist. We thank them for their partnership.
To the founders in our portfolio: Your passion and perseverance serve as our constant source of inspiration. We are forever grateful that you’ve chosen to have us on your team.
If you are a founder building an overlooked company, we’d love to talk. Get in touch with us here:
stuart@chicagoventures.com | Stuart Larkins
rob@chicagoventures.com | Rob Chesney
kw@chicagoventures.com | kevin willer
peter@chicagoventures.com | Peter Christman
lindsay@chicagoventures.com | Lindsay Knight
steven@chicagoventures.com | Steven Cook
