Starting Line Launches $17M Early Stage Venture Capital Fund

venture capitalStarting Line has launched a $17M early stage Fund I to invest in consumer startups focused on giving access to technologies, products, and experiences for Americans.

Founded by Ezra Galston, the firm received financial support from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in both Chicago and the rest of the country, such as: – Matt Maloney, CEO of Grubhub,
– Bloomberg Beta,
– Wicklow Capital,
– Dan Levitan, Co-founder of Maveron,
– Joe Floyd, General Partner at Emergence Capital,
– Nick Green, CEO of Thrive Market,
– Principal Haley Kwait Zollo, who formerly scaled Analytics and Strategy at Trunk Club (acq. Nordstrom), later VP of Biz Ops at Mac & Mia (acq. Stitch Fix), – Venture Partner Ade Olonoh, founder of Formstack, as well as Marketer in Residence Nate Turner, employee #18 and previously VP, Demand Generation at Sprout Social.

The firm has already made seed investments into companies such as Cameo, Made In Cookware and Truman’s.

Galston, formerly a Principal with Chicago Ventures, had previously made investments in high growth consumer startups such as Flyhomes, Hungryroot, M1Finance, Prettylitter, Spothero and Sunbit.

The fund’s advisory board consists of Maloney, Rebecca Kaden, General Partner at Union Square Ventures, Seth Levine, General Partner at Foundry Group and Roy Bahat, General Partner at Bloomberg Beta.

FinSMEs

08/11/2019

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