Impact Engine, a Chicago VC firm that invests in for-profit startups focused on providing a positive impact on the world, has raised a new fund to back more companies that measure how much good they do in addition to their bottom line.
Impact Engine announced Monday that it closed its second fund at $25 million. Impact Engine backs startups operating around economic empowerment, education, environmental sustainability and health, and it has so far invested in nine companies from the latest fund.
Investments in fund 2 include Cancer IQ, a software startup that helps healthcare providers identify patients who have a genetic predisposition to certain cancers; FutureFuel, a student loan benefit platform for employers; and Fixer, a startup from former Grubhub co-founder Mike Evans that provides on-demand handymen.
Impact Engine closed its first fund back in 2016. The $10 million fund was part of a pivot for Impact Engine, which began in 2012 as a startup accelerator---but shuttered the program to focus solely on the fund.
Led by Jessica Droste Yagan, Roger Liew and Tasha Seitz, Impact Engine has invested in 30 early-stage companies across its two funds. It typically invests between $200,000 and $500,000 in seed and Series A rounds.
Half of Impact Engine's investments are startups with a female CEO, and 27% of its portfolio has a non-white CEO, the company said. More than half (57%) if its investments are in companies located between the coasts. The firm has $52 million in assets under management.
“This new fund allows us to continue and deepen our support of early-stage, high-impact entrepreneurs,” Droste Yagan said in a statement.
