13 DEI Investors Based in Chicago

Your odds of raising from local investors are better than trying to raise capital from outside your city. We put together this list to help Chicago-based founders connect with dei-based investors that write checks into DEI companies. Here are 13 investors that match that criteria.

1) Ablorde Ashigbi

Fund: 4Degrees
Title: Founder / CEO
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed
Sectors: AR/VR, Agriculture Tech, AI, Cosmetics, Internet of Things, Clean Tech, Fashion, Cloud, Communications, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, DEI, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Media, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Proptech, Robotics, Sales Tech, Social Impact, Space, Transportation, Travel

2) Allison Weil

Fund: Hyde Park Venture Partners
Title: Partner
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: AR/VR, Marketing, Agriculture Tech, AI, Art, Cloud, Communications, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, eSports, Government Tech, DEI, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Media, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Parenting, Proptech, Quantum Computing, Food Services, Robotics, Sales Tech, Sex, Social Impact, Space, Transportation, Travel

3) Brittany Henry

Fund: Impact America Fund
Title: Sr Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Sectors: AR/VR, AI, Web3, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, EdTech, Fintech, Government Tech, DEI, Legal, Marketplaces, Consumer, Parenting, Proptech, Social Impact, Transportation

4) Courtney Trunk

Fund: Motivate Venture Capital
Title: Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: AI, Cloud, Communications, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, DEI, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Marketplaces, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Proptech

5) Dawn Nguyen

Fund: Hyde Park Venture Partners
Title: Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: Marketing, Agriculture Tech, AI, AR/VR, Art, Clean Tech, Cloud, Communications, Web3, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Electronics, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Government Tech, Recruiting, Hospitality, DEI, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Marketplaces, Enterprise, Parenting, Quantum Computing, Sales Tech, Food Services, Sex, Social Impact, Space, Transportation, Travel, Proptech

6) Dozie Ibekwe

Fund: Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC
Title: Senior Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: AR/VR, Marketing, Agriculture Tech, AI, Art, Cosmetics, Internet of Things, Cannabis, Clean Tech, Fashion, Cloud, Communications, Web3, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Electronics, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Government Tech, DEI, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Chemicals, Media, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Parenting, Professional or Technical Services, Proptech, Quantum Computing, Food Services, Robotics, Sales Tech, Sex, Social Impact, Space, Transportation, Travel

7) Jackson Bubala

Fund: Motivate Venture Capital
Title: Senior Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: AR/VR, Marketing, AI, Clean Tech, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, eSports, DEI, Recruiting, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Marketplaces, Media, Enterprise, Robotics, Sales Tech

8) John Drake

Fund: Motivate VC
Title: Analyst
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: Future of Work, EdTech, Fintech, DEI, Enterprise

9) Jonathan Ellis

Fund: Sandalphon Capital
Title: Founder & General Partner
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: AR/VR, Marketing, Agriculture Tech, AI, Art, Cosmetics, Fashion, Cloud, Communications, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Electronics, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Government Tech, DEI, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Parenting, Proptech, Quantum Computing, Food Services, Robotics, Sales Tech, Transportation, Travel

10) Julia Ruge

Fund: Sandalphon Capital
Title: Venture Partner
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: Marketing, Agriculture Tech, AI, Cosmetics, Fashion, Communications, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Electronics, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Government Tech, DEI, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Media, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Parenting, Proptech, Food Services, Sales Tech, Social Impact, Travel

11) Jyothi Vallurupalli

Fund: Lightbank
Title: VC
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: Travel, Social Impact, Space, Transportation, Sales Tech, Robotics, Food Services, Proptech, Media, Marketplaces, Manufacturing, Logistics, Legal, Internet of Things, Insurtech, DEI, Hospitality, Recruiting, eSports, Food and Beverage, Fintech, Clean Tech, Agriculture Tech, AI, Art, Fashion, Web3, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech

12) Nick Moran

Fund: New Stack Ventures
Title: General Partner
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: AI, Cloud, Communications, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, Fintech, eSports, Recruiting, Hospitality, DEI, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Parenting, Professional or Technical Services, Proptech, Food Services, Robotics, Sales Tech, Sex, Space, Transportation, Travel

13) Sam Cavender

Fund: M25
Title: Analyst
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: Marketing, Agriculture Tech, AI, AR/VR, Art, Cosmetics, Internet of Things, Clean Tech, Fashion, Cloud, Communications, Web3, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Electronics, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Government Tech, Recruiting, Hospitality, DEI, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketplaces, Chemicals, Media, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Parenting, Professional or Technical Services, Proptech, Quantum Computing, Food Services, Robotics, Sales Tech, Social Impact, Space, Transportation, Travel, Other

Hopefully this list helps you find more local investors that invest in companies in your sector. If you’re looking to pitch these investors + the rest of the Confluence.VC investor network, make sure to check out Commonapp.VC