About LaunchCapital


Venture Partner Woody Benson (left) with CIO Bill McCullen (right)

Venture Partner Woody Benson (left) with CIO Bill McCullen (right)

Who We are

In 2008, Elon Boms, with investors Karen Pritzker and Michael Vlock, helped build the seed investing industry with the introduction of LaunchCapital. At the time, the seed investment market was small and fragmented. So LaunchCapital was founded with a mission to help entrepreneurs gain quick access to seed capital and mentorship. Over the past decade, LaunchCapital is proud to have invested in over 200 companies that are reinventing industries across the nation.

LaunchCapital is focused on entrepreneurs at the seed stage. With a permanent base of capital, the question for us isn’t how you get to the next metric that VCs want to hear, it’s how you build a great business.


SevenOaks Biosystems CEO Sameer Sabir

SevenOaks Biosystems CEO Sameer Sabir

Our Investments

Typically we invest when teams are raising their first or second round of institutional capital. From an idea on paper to a post-seed business, we’re game to get involved.

For every seed investment we make, we plan to make significant follow-on investments in exceptional companies as they continue growth. Our Growth Fund both supports our seed investments and makes investments in great companies we meet at later stages of development.

When we invest, we keep true to the following principles:

  • We enable great people to accomplish great things

  • We are industry agnostic

  • We encourage an unwavering commitment to milestones

  • We appreciate capital efficient companies

  • We look for innovative thinkers and creative solutions

  • We focus on developing entrepreneurs as well as businesses

  • We believe that the entrepreneur is at the center of everything


Managing Partner Cliff Sirlin (center) and Venture Partner Stefan Pepe (right)

Managing Partner Cliff Sirlin (center) and Venture Partner Stefan Pepe (right)

Portfolio Support

Our focus is on helping you build from seed funding to scale… as you grow your team, provide value to your customers, and develop your business – positioning you for either fast and sustainable growth or, in many cases, for the next round of venture funding.

We do this by bringing the resources of a major investment firm and a team of operators who have been there. Our Portfolio Support program is designed to provide our companies a network of entrepreneurs to connect with, advisory support on the core issues of your business, and the accelerators that make it easier to for you to focus on executing.

In other words, when we invest, we’ve got your back.


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PRITZKER-VLOCK FAmily Office

LaunchCapital is backed by the Pritzker Vlock Family Office (PVFO).

PVFO owns and manages a broad portfolio of public equities, consumer, biotech, industrial and medical equipment and technology businesses, several venture funds, and real estate. Karen Pritzker runs PVFO and is involved in numerous national philanthropic efforts individually and through her family foundation with emphasis on literacy, education, medicine, theatre and land preservation. She received a B.A. from Northwestern University.