Top 8 VC investors in the basketball-mad Great Lakes region

March 21, 2017

Can’t get enough of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament? Same here. Of the 16 teams still alive, five—Butler, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and Xavier—are located in the Great Lakes area, more than in any other US region. So we know the Great Lakes is a hot spot for hoops; what about for VC?

The states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin have been home to 385 VC deals since the beginning of 2016, according to the PitchBook Platform, with 575 investors participating in at least one of the rounds. Roughly 43% of the capital invested has gone to the IT industry, with the healthcare sector coming in second at 26%. In terms of geography, meanwhile, almost half of the funding has gone to companies based in Illinois (49%), followed by Minnesota (17%) and Ohio (11%).

Here are the 8 most active VC investors in the Great Lakes region since the beginning of 2016, along with their deal counts (not including accelerator rounds):

1. Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (24)
T-2. Hyde Park Venture Partners (23)
T-2. Hyde Park Angels (23)
T-4. M25 Group (19)
T-4. Elevate Ventures (19)
6. Rev1 Ventures (18)
7. Chicago Ventures (13)
8. Service Provider Capital (12)

PitchBook Platform users can check out the full data on VC activity in the Great Lakes region.