Illinois Ventures: Funding, Team & Investors

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Illinois Ventures: Funding, Team & Investors | Startup Intros

About

Illinois Ventures is a university-based venture capital firm based in Chicago, Illinois, that invests in early-stage companies connected to the University of Illinois. The firm provides capital, mentorship, business development, and access to university resources to accelerate the growth of innovative startups, from student competitions to commercialization, across sectors like engineering, advanced ag tech, and AI. It has backed over 125 companies, which have collectively raised more than $2.7 billion in outside capital. Assets under management reached $75 million as of 2016, with specific funds including IETF I ($27M), IETF II ($25M), and IETF III ($12.5M), alongside dedicated Deep Tech and Pre-Seed Funds. Notable figures associated with the firm include CEO Nancy Sullivan and the Illini Angels network, while portfolio company NantKwest went public in 2015. Illinois Ventures was founded in 2000.

Investment Activity

Illinois Ventures has 20 tracked investments across 17 companies. The latest tracked deal is $10.0M Seed in Samara Aerospace in January 2026.

Investments

17 companies

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Jan 20, 2026	Samara Aerospace	$10.0M Seed	Balerion Space Ventures	Access Venture Partners, MFV Partners
Dec 3, 2025	Excelsior Sciences	$95.0M Grant / Series A	James Flynn, Nessan Bermingham, Edward Kliphuis	Mitú, ELI Lilly And Company, Hope Knight
Dec 14, 2023	Cadenza Bio	$2.4M Seed	Justin Wilson	Boyd Street Ventures, Cortado Ventures, Oklahoma Life Science Fund
May 1, 2022	Natrion	$2.0M Seed	TechNexus Venture Collaborative	7GC & Co, BlueRun Ventures, Camber Creek, Conductive Ventures, Grit Capital Partners, Interplay Ventures, Left Lane Capital, M13, QEY Capital, Raine Ventures, Dennis Crowley, Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings, Mark Cuban, Tamarack Global
Oct 21, 2021	Mesh	$4.9M Seed	World Within	Anorak Ventures, First Leaf Capital, GAN Ventures, Lateral Capital, SOSV, TechNexus Venture Collaborative
Dec 14, 2020	Network Perception	$2.7M Seed	Energy Foundry, Jeff Bocan, ROB Schultz	Early Light Ventures, SaaS Ventures, Service Provider Capital
May 24, 2019	Gokada	$5.3M Series A	Nazar Yasin	Adventure Capital, IC Global Partners
Aug 1, 2017	Kin Insurance	$4.0M Other Equity	—	500 Startups, Chicago Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Omidyar Network, Portage
Mar 29, 2016	Havenly	$5.8M Series A Extension	Binary Capital	Chicago Ventures, Foundry Group
Jan 20, 2015	Chromatin	$12.0M Series F	Illinois Ventures, Wood Creek Capital Management	—
Sep 1, 2014	Rithmio	$650K Seed	Marcin Kleczynski	Hyde Park Venture Partners, Erik Moore, Bonaventura, FOX Ventures, Serra Ventures, Techra Investments
Jan 9, 2014	Chromatin	$36.0M Series E	BOB Saul	Adventures IV, BP Alternative Energy, Equity, GE Capital, State OF Wisconsin Investment Board
Nov 6, 2013	Phi Optics	$250K Seed	Serra Ventures	Newport Holdings
Oct 1, 2013	Persio	$3.0M Series A	Brent Hill	Corazon Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels, OCA Ventures
Mar 20, 2013	ShareThis	$23.0M Series C	—	Blue Chip Venture Company, DFJ, Harbourton, Matthew Pritzker Company, Blair Garrou, RPM Ventures, West Capital Advisors
Nov 9, 2012	Personify	$3.5M Series A	—	AMD Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Serra Ventures
Oct 25, 2011	Chromatin	$10.0M Series D	—	Justin Adams OBE, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, Quantitative Investment Holdings, Unilever Ventures
Jul 7, 2011	Caterva	$1.2M Seed	Illinois Ventures	Bill TAI, RPM Ventures, Serra Ventures
Jun 1, 2011	Semprius	$20.0M Series C	Siemens Venture Capital	HG Ventures, Applied Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, GVC Investment, IN Q TEL, Intersouth Partners
Jan 23, 2008	ShareThis	$6.0M Other Equity	—	TIM Schigel, DFJ Mercury, Queen City Angels, RPM Ventures