61
Startups
107
Founders
84
With Chicago Founders
74
Led by Underrepresented Founders
4
Exits
What Our Founders Think
“I loved being introduced to the “women of Lofty” when Chris committed to sponsoring someone from the portfolio companies for the Bonfire cohort. It was a great night to see all of the ways that Lofty has been curating a kickass group of women. All Chris had to do was a 60 second intro, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t give him back the “mic” for an hour.”
Suzanne MuchinBOONFIRE
“Chris has always been teaBOT's biggest fan! 2020 was a rough year for our business, but it was made infinitely better by the support of the Lofty family and Chris's boundless enthusiasm! I know 2021 will be great as we've spent the "downtime" improving and building our product!”
Rehman MeraliteaBOT
If the biggest value a founder received from Lofty was the money we invested, then we believe we have failed.
Geography
Chicago-based (preferred) or in some cases we’ll consider startups with strong Chicago ties, plan to relocate to Chica
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)
