16 Media 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 media-based investors that write checks into Media companies. Here are 16 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) Declan Zidar

Fund: TechNexus Venture Collaborative
Title: Investor
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B
Sectors: Travel, Food Services, Manufacturing, Logistics, Internet of Things, eSports, Food and Beverage, Future of Work, AR/VR, Digital Health and Wellness, Web3, Communications, Clean Tech, Entertainment, Media

4) 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

5) Fernando Naranjo

Fund: G Squared
Title: Analyst
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Series B
Sectors: Fintech, E-Commerce, AI, Insurtech, Logistics, Marketplaces, Media, Food Services

6) Haley Zollo

Fund: Starting LIne
Title: Partner
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: Fashion, Communications, Digital Health and Wellness, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, eSports, Marketplaces, Media, Consumer, Parenting, Sex

7) Hylton Irons

Fund: Listen Ventures
Title: Investor
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
Sectors: Cosmetics, Art, Cannabis, Fashion, Digital Health and Wellness, Future of Work, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Internet of Things, Marketplaces, Media, Consumer, Food Services, Sex

8) 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

9) Josh Graves

Fund: Corazon Capital
Title: Investor
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: AR/VR, Cloud, Communications, Digital Health and Wellness, Entertainment, eSports, Internet of Things, Marketplaces, Media, Consumer, Enterprise, Other Tech, Sales Tech, E-Commerce, Internet of Things, Marketing

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) Lance Dietz

Fund: KB Partners
Title: Partner
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Sectors: AR/VR, AI, Digital Health and Wellness, Entertainment, eSports, Marketplaces, Media

13) Matt Shandy

Fund: Dundee Venture Capital
Title: Principal
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sectors: Agriculture Tech, E-Commerce, Future of Work, EdTech, Fintech, Food and Beverage, eSports, Government Tech, Recruiting, Hospitality, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Legal, Logistics, Marketplaces, Consumer, Media, Enterprise, Other Tech, Robotics, Sales Tech, Travel

14) Saaya Nath

Fund: Jump Capital
Title: Vice President
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Sectors: AR/VR, Marketing, AI, Cloud, Web3, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, E-Commerce, EdTech, Entertainment, Fintech, eSports, Insurtech, Legal, Media, Enterprise, Other Tech, Sales Tech

15) 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

16) Tarun Gupta

Fund: Jump Capital
Title: Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Stages: Series A, Series B
Sectors: Cloud, Fintech, Media

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