Chicago VC Firms
Your search for “Chicago VC firms” has led you to our site! Welcome! We’re happy you found us! Author Capital Partners is a venture capital firm based in Chicago, and we’re looking forward to helping your company reach its potential for the long term.
We believe all highly entrepreneurial family- and founder-led businesses should have access to objective advice and appropriately tailored capital. We’ve seen too many great businesses form partnerships with investment firms that don’t fulfil their promised objective.
It can happen that the investors at these firms don’t invest the time to fully understand the unique objectives of each owner. So, they end up structuring investments in a “cookie-cutter,” one-size fits all manner.
At Author, we’re different from other Chicago firms. We’re all about being a purpose-driven capital partner. And we focus on gaining trust, redefining long-term partnerships, and enabling owners to reach their potential.
What’s more, we’re geared toward people. We love sitting with our great founders and family business owners who want to stay involved. They need a like-minded, experienced capital partner to take their companies to the next stage of growth. We aim to keep their interests and objectives in mind, offering our flexible capital and strategic advice. We want to succeed together.
How Do We Redefine Long-term Partnerships?
At Author Capital, we’re in it for the long term, and we look way beyond the short-term horizon of traditional private equity firms. We empower owners with capital and expertise to enable them to implement sustainable, growth-oriented operating procedures that allow the value of their organisation to compound.
Dedicated to Partner with the Underrepresented
As a minority-owned and -led private equity firm, we have gained unique insight into the challenges and opportunities faced by high-potential women and people of colour. We strive to advise and be the capital partner of choice for underrepresented owners.
We believe strongly in developing and maintaining an inclusive culture internally and externally through our partner, client, and investor base.
Why Choose Us?
At Author Capital Partners, we aim to be different from other firms. We believe entrepreneurial family- and founder-led businesses should have access to objective advice and appropriately tailored capital.
We’ve based our practice on four core values, including:
Excellence
Unlike other VC firms, we strive to deliver our very best to the companies we serve and our investors without exception. We do this by fostering a culture dedicated to professional excellence in our services and execution.
We never take the “cookie cutter” approach. Instead, you can count on our team getting to know you and your business and then identify tailored, creative solutions for the desired long-term outcome.
Integrity
We do what’s right to earn your trust and respect, which makes us different from other Chicago firms. Our reputation is the most valuable asset we own. We know the immense effort it takes to develop relationships and build trust with our clients and portfolio companies.
We aim to maintain that trust through the highest level of ethics and integrity.
Transparency
We openly and honestly share our thoughts, beliefs, and motives to maintain trust. We regularly communicate with our partners, clients, and investors in an open, transparent manner. We also strive to offer our best advice, even if this means expressing an unpopular view.
Inclusion
We believe that embracing diversity often generates better ideas, leading to better outcomes. We know that mitigating risk and identifying opportunities requires diverse perspectives. So, we’re committed to maintaining an inclusive culture internally and externally through our partner, client, and investor base.
We aim to embrace diversity and inclusion, focusing on those who are underrepresented owners.
Our Approach
Investment Focus
Equity Investment: $5M to $30M+
EBITDA: $2M to $20M
North America
Based Businesses
Resilient Businesses with
Sustainable Competitive Advantages
Highly Entrepreneurial Family-
and Founder-led Businesses
Businesses With Long-Term
Growth Prospects
Management Teams Seeking
Long-Term Partnership
Advisory Services
Long-term Strategic
& Financial Planning
M&A Advice &
Execution
ESG Policy Assessment &
Other Governance Matters
Capital Structure
Optimization
Capital Allocation & Dividend
Policy Review
Ownership Transition &
Succession Planning
Sales &
Marketing
Tech-Enablement &
Optimization
MBE Considerations &
Certification
We partner with amazing companies and help them grow. We work with businesses to help them reach their full potential and continue scaling. This is another reason we’re different from other Midwest private equity firms.
Our growth-oriented model leads to stronger companies that employ amazing people. The businesses become socially responsible and develop strong returns for the long term. We play a vital role in helping companies realise their potential.
We’re dedicated to building and growing great companies. And we stand by our Midwest values, integrity, excellence, transparency, and inclusion.
Compare all of this with other Chicago VC firms, and you’ll find they come up short. We’re different because we understand the considerations faced by founders and business-owning families. We’re here to provide differentiated capital and create a strategic relationship that helps them develop sustainable value creation.
At Author Capital, we’re all about long-term, minority, and majority investment capital, tailoring our investment to meet owners’ objectives. We also offer financial and strategic advice to owners as they consider taking investment capital, allowing owners to benefit from our expertise and extensive network in advance of a specific capital need.
What’s more, our team can fulfil these objectives because it draws from its collective experience as founders, multi-generational family business owners, operators, bankers, and investors across the UK. We support owners and management teams to reach their full potential.
We’re a responsive venture capital company focused on developing and maintaining long-term relationships. Our team is responsive, determined, and committed to adding value to each investment.
When you work with us, you can count on developing a true partnership. We’re dedicated to adding value to each investment and creating bespoke opportunities to help your organisation grow and reach its potential. And we understand that each business is unique and requires a different solution. You may not find this treatment at other Chicago VC firms.
Author Capital Partners is a leading VC firm that works with each client and partner in full transparency, integrity, inclusion, and excellence.
If you’d like to learn more about what makes us different from other VC firms, contact us today. We’re looking forward to answering your questions about our services. We’ll be happy to talk with you about investments for the long-term goals you want to achieve. Rest assured, we listen to what you’re saying and tailor our services to meet your needs every time.
We take the time to get to know you and your company. We’ll provide you with a tailored investment to help your business reach its potential.