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INVESTMENT THESIS

We are founder-focused, Chicago-focused, & love being first-check or as early as possible. Our founders become part of the Lofty Family and we are committed to helping them grow holistically as both people and entrepreneurs throughout their careers.

Geography

Chicago-based (preferred) or in some cases we’ll consider startups with strong Chicago ties, plan to relocate to Chicago

Diversity

We don’t have a diversity mandate per se but nearly three-quarters of our startups are led by underrepresented founders. We deeply believe that when we support a more diverse startup community that everyone wins and all boats rise.

Team

Brilliant, scrappy, gritty, coachable, humble and hard working founders with the highest integrity and tremendous passion for the problem they are solving. Strong problem/founder fit is critical.

Product

We are industry agnostic, but we love investing in products that help us build community, hack serendipity, or we personally use in other ways. (We eat Tovala meals, host virtual events on Gamerjibe, make intros via Bridge, manage relationships with 4Degrees, share stories with Gather Voices, drive hiring with Consider, and so much more.)

Timing

As early as possible, usually first-check to seed (typical post-money valuations/caps <$8M, with sweet spot of $3-4M)

Check Size

$10k to $100k (in rare cases larger)

MEET THE LOFTY TEAM

Christopher Deutsch

Founder

Spencer Gordon-Sand

Director of Operations

Kiko Wemmer

Intern (alum)

Batchimeg Ganbaatar

Intern (alum)

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