Funding Structure

IllinoisVENTURES is a seed and early-stage technology venture capital firm focused on research-derived companies in information technologies, physical sciences and life sciences, with a particular emphasis on those deriving from research conducted at the University of Illinois and other regional research institutions.  We work closely with inventors and entrepreneurs to mold concepts, vision, intellectual property, sweat and passion into breakthrough, high-growth companies.  Located in Champaign, we have started over 25 companies and have recently named by Entrepreneur magazine to its 2005 list of the top 100 venture capital firms nationally for entrepreneurs. 

Seed funding is the earliest stage of ventures funding that pays your expenses while you are getting started.  Some companies may need no more than seed funding.  Others will go through several rounds of funding to reach scale and profitability.  That said, we want to challenge the notion that it always takes $15 million or more to build every a successful software/web services company.  We don’t think so.  Some of the fastest growing companies in the world required little or no financing. The bottom line is that the more money you raise the larger exit you will need to get wealthy.  

In this program, we are looking for ideas that could reach scale with more modest amounts of capital in less than 2 years.  A great idea, however, is not good enough.  The people in your team are what matter most to us.  Your idea is will most definitely shift and move during the 10 weeks, so we will evaluate your ability to go with the flow.  The goal of the iventures10 program is to get you through the initial phase of turning your idea into a company, which means that you’ve built something impressive enough to raise money on a larger scale. At the end of the program, we will evaluate your company as a candidate IllinoisVENTURES investment. 

We will fund up to $25,000 per team for the 10 week period which we think is just enough resources to prototype your idea.  The funds can be deployed at the team’s discretion except for compensation.  Each team member will receive up to $5,000 for the 10 weeks (you can take less if you want) and the rest can be used to purchase specialized hardware, software, consulting services or whatever you need to build your prototype and prove your concept.  At the beginning of the program, we will help you with all of the paper work in forming and setting up your company.  The $25,000 is not a grant, so we will work with you on the terms of the investments before you started so there are no surprises. Although we don’t want officially publish terms on a web site (as I’m sure you can understand), what we can say is that our experience says that the terms are extremely fair. We want to make sure you are as motivated as possible to turn your idea into the next internet juggernaut. Again, at the end of the 10 weeks your idea will be evaluated as a candidate IllinoisVENTURES for further venture capital investment(did we say that already?). 

Keep in mind, we will provide much more than just capital.  The IllinoisVENTURES team has been through the start-up process many times before.  From how to set up servers to how to think about your business model, we will provide you with as much coaching as you need.  If we aren't able to personally answer your question, we will find the right person who can.