A new venture capital firm geared toward early-stage tech companies has launched in Chicago.
Supported by The Pritzker Organization (TPO) and headed by co-founder and managing partner Jason Pritzker, 53 Stations launched an $190 million fund this week aiming to serve less as a traditional VC firm and more as a "whatever-it-takes" service provider.
"We've been as a family and TPO doing direct investing in companies of all stages for years," Prtizker told Chicago Inno. "In its modern formation, TPO has largely been middle-market private-equity focused. The thinking was we're getting really good at late stages. If we can get really good at early-stage and marry the two, that gives us an even more differentiated place in the market."
Pritzker said the last few years have seen aggressive capital deployment that has resulted in some highs and lows, and he's excited to bring a more steady hand to early-stage companies.
"What the last few years in the VC cycle have shown is that having a great capital partner has a material impact past the dollars invested in the company," he said. \
Pritzker said one thing that will set 53 Stations apart is the access it provides to The Pritzker Organization's portfolio.
The VC firm plans to invest in early-stage companies with initial checks from seed to Series B stage.
While Pritzker wouldn't call the firm "industry-agnostic," he did say that it would be "50% opportunistic."
"The other 50% of the capital is going to be deployed into verticals where we think we have an edge," he said. "We have 12 platforms, each which has scale in their industries: We're the largest concrete contractor in the country, we have a large wealth management platform ... and we think we can deliver mentorship, business model excellence and a network of executives and customer base to early-stage companies."
The fund has invested in seven companies across five industries thus far, including Chicago-based Black Buffalo, producer of smokeless tobacco alternatives, a startup that The Pritzker Organization has supported in the past.
