11 Tribes Ventures

# 11 Tribes Ventures: Redefining Early-Stage Capital Through Founder-Centric Investing

High-Level Overview

11 Tribes Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that has fundamentally reimagined the relationship between capital providers and founders.[1][5] Founded in 2020 and based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, the firm operates with a mission to proactively identify, invest in, and support founders of color and female founders, while simultaneously championing purpose-driven entrepreneurs across technology and culture sectors.[2][3]

The firm's investment philosophy centers on a radical premise: healthy founders produce healthy returns. Rather than treating founder wellbeing as ancillary to financial performance, 11 Tribes Ventures allocates non-dilutive capital directly to founder resilience—funding executive coaching, therapy, community building, and organizational health initiatives.[1] This approach reflects a conviction that the founder is the key asset of any business, and that institutional support for human flourishing directly correlates with sustainable business growth.

11 Tribes Ventures focuses on seed and Series A stage companies with post-revenue traction between $500k and $2M in annual recurring revenue, deploying check sizes of $1M to $1.5M.[1] The firm targets B2B SaaS, healthcare, future of work, cybersecurity, fintech, and AI domains, with particular emphasis on companies demonstrating capital efficiency and a clear path toward profitability.[1] The firm has closed two funds, with Fund I raising $20M in September 2020, and has made notable investments including Krepling ($3.3M seed round in January 2024) and SeasonShare.[3]

Origin Story

11 Tribes Ventures emerged in 2020 during a period of heightened awareness around diversity, equity, and inclusion in venture capital. The firm was founded by a collective of visionary entrepreneurs and investors who recognized a critical gap: while venture capital had grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, founders of color and female founders remained systematically underrepresented and underfunded.[2]

The firm's founding team includes General Partners Brett Verkaik, Jeff Baxter (Head of Platform), and Kristina Chapple, alongside Associate Isaac Arnold, all based in the Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois office.[6] The leadership structure reflects an intentional design—pairing capital deployment with operational expertise through a Venture Partner Platform that connects founders with seasoned builders who share operational knowledge to fuel sustainable scaling.[1]

A pivotal moment in the firm's evolution came when leadership gathered portfolio founders for a summit in Chicago. Over two days, these entrepreneurs developed deep bonds, participated in interactive sessions centered on organizational health, and forged relationships that continue to strengthen their collective ecosystem.[5] This event crystallized the firm's philosophy: that venture capital's highest-order function is not merely to deploy capital, but to cultivate community and shared learning among founders navigating similar challenges.

Core Differentiators

Founder Resilience Capital Allocation

Unlike traditional venture firms that view founder support as a value-add service, 11 Tribes Ventures treats founder wellbeing as a core investment thesis. The firm allocates actual capital—not just advisory hours—for founders to invest in their own resilience through coaching, therapy, and community resources.[1] This structural commitment signals that founder mental health and organizational culture are not luxuries but prerequisites for scaling.

Geographic Arbitrage in Non-Traditional Tech Hubs

While coastal venture capital remains concentrated in San Francisco and New York, 11 Tribes Ventures has deliberately planted its flag in emerging technology ecosystems including Chicago, Nashville, and Atlanta.[1] This strategy recognizes that exceptional founders and opportunities exist far beyond traditional venture geography, and that underserved markets often represent the strongest risk-adjusted returns. The firm positions itself as the venture partner of choice in these regions.

Founder Diversity as Core Mission

The firm's explicit focus on founders of color and female founders is not a diversity checkbox but a fundamental investment thesis.[2] By targeting historically underfunded founder populations, 11 Tribes Ventures gains access to deal flow that many traditional venture firms overlook, while simultaneously working to dismantle structural barriers in venture capital.

Operational Support Infrastructure

Beyond capital, the firm provides structured mentorship through its Venture Partner Platform, pairing founders with experienced operators who bring practical expertise in scaling businesses.[1] This reduces the information asymmetry that often disadvantages first-time founders and founders from underrepresented backgrounds.

Purpose-Driven Sector Focus

The firm explicitly targets entrepreneurs building companies that create "equitable, sustainable, and inclusive economic opportunities for marginalized communities."[2] This values-aligned approach attracts founders whose missions extend beyond financial returns, creating a portfolio with both financial and social impact potential.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

11 Tribes Ventures operates at the intersection of three major trends reshaping venture capital: the decentralization of tech hubs, the mainstreaming of founder wellness discourse, and the growing demand for values-aligned investing.

Geographic Decentralization: The concentration of venture capital in coastal metros has created artificial scarcity and inflated valuations while leaving substantial entrepreneurial talent underserved in secondary markets. 11 Tribes Ventures' focus on non-traditional hubs positions the firm to capture value creation before these markets become saturated with capital, while simultaneously democratizing access to institutional funding.

Founder Wellness as Competitive Advantage: The venture industry has historically treated founder burnout as an inevitable cost of scaling. 11 Tribes Ventures challenges this assumption by demonstrating that proactive investment in founder resilience can reduce failure rates and accelerate sustainable growth. As founder mental health becomes increasingly recognized as a systemic issue, the firm's approach may influence broader industry practices.

Diversity as Alpha: Research increasingly demonstrates that diverse founding teams and diverse investor portfolios generate superior returns. By systematically investing in founders of color and female founders—populations that remain dramatically underfunded relative to their representation in the population—11 Tribes Ventures gains access to a larger addressable market of high-quality opportunities while simultaneously addressing a market inefficiency.

Purpose-Driven Capital: The rise of ESG investing, impact investing, and stakeholder capitalism has created demand for venture capital that aligns financial returns with social outcomes. 11 Tribes Ventures' explicit focus on building equitable economic opportunities positions the firm within this broader movement toward values-aligned investing.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

11 Tribes Ventures represents a meaningful evolution in venture capital philosophy—one that recognizes founder flourishing and financial returns as complementary rather than competing objectives. The firm's emphasis on founder resilience, geographic diversification, and diversity-focused investing addresses genuine market inefficiencies while building a more inclusive venture ecosystem.

Looking forward, several dynamics will shape the firm's trajectory. First, the success of its portfolio companies will validate or challenge its core thesis that founder-centric capital allocation generates superior returns. Early evidence from investments like Krepling suggests the model is gaining traction, but sustained performance across multiple market cycles will be essential to influence broader industry adoption.

Second, the firm's ability to scale its operational support infrastructure—particularly the Venture Partner Platform—will determine whether it can maintain founder satisfaction and support quality as the portfolio grows. The depth of mentorship and community that characterized early portfolio companies must remain accessible as the firm deploys larger funds.

Third, the expansion of secondary venture markets and the growing institutional acceptance of non-coastal tech hubs may increase competition for deals in 11 Tribes Ventures' core geographies. The firm's early-mover advantage in markets like Chicago and Nashville could be eroded if larger, better-capitalized firms enter these markets.

Ultimately, 11 Tribes Ventures is betting that the future of venture capital belongs to firms that treat founders as whole human beings rather than mere capital deployment vehicles. In an industry where founder burnout, mental health crises, and unsustainable scaling practices remain endemic, this bet may prove to be not just morally sound but financially prescient. The firm's influence will likely extend beyond its direct portfolio, potentially shifting how the broader venture ecosystem thinks about founder support and the relationship between human flourishing and financial returns.