Motivate Venture Capital is a Chicago-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups across the US and Canada. The firm focuses on fintech (broadly defined), vertical AI, and enterprise/industrial software, typically serving as the first professional capital in a company's lifecycle.
36% of their portfolio is in Fintech. Deal activity increased 33% year-over-year (4 deals in the last 12 months). Their most common stage is seed (45% of deals). Average disclosed round size is $8.7M (across 42 rounds with reported amounts).
Portfolio
37
Fund Size
$81M
Top Stage
Seed
Last 12 Mo
4
Team
Portfolio Breakdown
Stage Distribution
Sector Distribution
Investment Activity
DealsAvg Round Size
Portfolio
47 investments
| Company | Round | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
 Rowan | Seed | $3.3M | Mar 2026 |
 Ammobia | Seed | $7.5M | Jan 2026 |
 Cyphlens | Seed | $3.8M | Dec 2025 |
 VeroSkills | Series A | $5.3M | Oct 2025 |
 Obviant | Series A | $7.1M | Jun 2025 |
 Telgea | Unknown | — | Apr 2025 |
 UpWell | Seed | $6.5M | Feb 2025 |
 Upwell | Seed | $6.5M | Feb 2025 |
| UpWell | Seed | $6.5M | Jan 2025 |
| NNmbr | Seed | — | Jan 2025 |
| Upwell | Seed | $6.5M | Jan 2025 |
 NetNow | Pre-Seed | $1.8M | Sep 2024 |
 HubiFi | Seed | $2.5M | Aug 2024 |
 Wilya | Seed | $4M | Jun 2024 |
 Gig and Take | Seed | $4M | Jun 2024 |
 Wilya | Seed | $4M | Jun 2024 |
 iink | Series A | $12M | Oct 2023 |
 Finofo | Pre-Seed | $1.3M | Aug 2023 |
 Architect Financial Technologies | Pre-Seed | $5M | Jan 2023 |
| Architect Financial Technologies | Seed | $5M | Jan 2023 |
 Telegraph | Series A | $10.1M | Dec 2022 |
 Klover | Series B | $25M | Nov 2022 |
 Banyan | Series A | $43M | Oct 2022 |
 Banyan | Series A | $43M | Oct 2022 |
 Surebright | Pre-Seed | $2.5M | Aug 2022 |
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Top Co-Investors
Plug and Play Tech Center7 shared
Green Egg Ventures4 shared
Schematic Ventures4 shared
The Vertical Group4 shared
Automotive Ventures4 shared
25madison3 shared
Iron Prairie Ventures3 shared
Ironspring Ventures3 shared
Circle Ventures3 shared
Mercury Fund3 shared
Core Innovation Capital3 shared
Silicon Valley Bank3 shared
Starting Line3 shared
Mercato Partners3 shared
Realty Corporation2 shared
Antler2 shared
Motier Ventures2 shared
National Grid Partners2 shared
Alumni Ventures2 shared
Anthemis2 shared
Last updated: 20 October 2026