CSA Partners

CSA Partners, LLC is a venture capital firm located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that focuses on investing in early-stage and high-growth startups. The firm primarily targets companies in the Midwest region, collaborating with entrepreneurs to foster innovation and support the development of their businesses. By providing financial backing and strategic guidance, CSA Partners aims to help these companies achieve their growth potential.

Steve Mech

Managing Director

30 past transactions

Pet Krewe

Seed Round in 2022
Pet Krewe Inc. specializes in designing and manufacturing a range of pet costumes, toys, and crafting kits. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, the company offers products for both dogs and cats, including a variety of costumes and unique items such as pet horoscopes. Pet Krewe sells its products through an online platform and a mobile application, making it accessible to pet owners seeking innovative and fun accessories for their pets.

Edda

Venture Round in 2021
Edda operates a cloud-based platform designed for investment management and performance tracking, specifically catering to the needs of venture capital firms. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Paris, France, the company facilitates the management of investments, the tracking of fund performances, and the generation of relevant reports. Additionally, Edda provides tools for communication with companies and monitoring of the latest news related to those companies. The platform aims to streamline the investment management process, helping venture capitalists enhance their operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Zizzl

Venture Round in 2021
zizzl LLC provides benefits consulting services with HR and payroll solutions. It offers HR and payroll solutions to manage the moments like hiring, onboarding, benefits administration, and performance, as well as to engage with employees, control costs, and reduce compliance risk; and benefits consulting services, such as funding strategies, employee communication, compliance, wellness, annual document filing, benefits technology, plan performance, perks and rewards, and vendor management services. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Wildwonder

Seed Round in 2021
Producer of beverage products intended to provide tea-based sparkling wellness drinks. The company's beverages include herbs and teas blended with real fruit juice and made with fresh ingredients and are offered in a variety of flavors, providing consumers with herbal drinks packed with nutrition and various health benefits.

Agricycle

Seed Round in 2021
Agricycle Global Inc. specializes in manufacturing and selling solar-powered drying machines to farmers' cooperatives in Africa and the Caribbean. The company focuses on ethical brands and utilizes a systems-based, zero-waste approach to international development by transforming food waste and agricultural byproducts into all-natural and organic consumer packaged goods. Agricycle collaborates with majority-women cooperatives, providing them with training and support. By purchasing products created through their technology, Agricycle develops on-trend brands that emphasize storytelling, sustainability, and transparency. Each brand leverages the byproducts of others, fostering local production and maximizing margins through a shared supply chain and similar production processes. Founded in 2019 and based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Agricycle aims to create sustainable solutions for agricultural communities while addressing food waste.

Elena Velez

Seed Round in 2021
Elena Velez is an apparel and fashion company known for its non-traditional synthesis of metalsmith and high fashion. It was founded by Elena Velez in New York, New York in 2018.

Carson Life

Venture Round in 2020
Carson Life, Inc. is a manufacturer and supplier of natural health and beauty products, focusing primarily on the Hispanic market. Established in 2014 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, the company offers a range of products including hair care, skin care, weight loss solutions, vitamins, and anti-aging treatments. Carson Life stands out by securing exclusive endorsement deals with prominent Hispanic celebrities, enhancing its brand visibility. Its products are available through various retail partners, such as Walmart, Walgreens, Kmart, and CVS, in addition to being sold online via its own webshop and major e-commerce platforms like Amazon. The company's mission is to provide sustainable and eco-friendly options that empower customers to lead energetic and confident lives.

Onepanel

Seed Round in 2020
Onepanel, Inc. is a technology company that specializes in providing an open and extendable platform for building, training, and deploying deep learning applications. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Onepanel offers a fully managed, distributed, and elastic infrastructure that supports complex model training. The platform includes pre-built environments equipped with popular open-source tools and is designed to scale efficiently across multiple instances. It emphasizes collaboration and reproducibility by version controlling code, data, parameters, and environments, which facilitates knowledge transfer and accelerates the ideation process. Onepanel is built on Kubernetes and can be deployed on-premise or across various cloud providers.

B/2BNOW

Seed Round in 2019
B/2BNOW is a strategically focused B2B Cloud Solution which is uniquely positioned to serve SAP’s S/4HANA global customer community. B/2BNOW automates, integrates and manages the exchange of critical business data between S/4HANA systems and external business partners. As the first and only dedicated S/4HANA B2B solution provider in the market, B/2BNOW is recognized by SAP and leading System Integrators as the subject matter exert and recommended choice for customers requiring B2B cloud solutions.

Bright Cellars

Series A in 2019
Bright Cellars Inc. operates an online wine subscription service that personalizes wine selections for its members. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company employs a questionnaire and customer feedback to understand individual tastes and preferences. Using a machine-learning algorithm, Bright Cellars generates tailored wine recommendations that are shipped monthly to subscribers, helping them discover and refine their wine palate. The service also includes options for gifting wine, making it accessible for users to share their experience with friends. Bright Cellars aims to educate and inspire a new generation of wine enthusiasts through a curated and transformative wine experience.

Ease

Seed Round in 2018
Ease, Inc. is a software company that specializes in providing a freelancer management platform and project management tools designed for business owners to efficiently work with remote talent across the United States. Founded in 2016 and based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ease's platform helps organizations manage their independent contractors and freelance workforce seamlessly. The company focuses on delivering cloud-based solutions that facilitate the remote placement of freelancers, workforce consulting, and support for startup scaling. By offering tools that streamline the management process, Ease enables businesses to access top talent from various fields, including software development and digital strategy, thereby enhancing productivity and operational efficiency.

Bright Cellars

Venture Round in 2018
Bright Cellars Inc. operates an online wine subscription service that personalizes wine selections for its members. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company employs a questionnaire and customer feedback to understand individual tastes and preferences. Using a machine-learning algorithm, Bright Cellars generates tailored wine recommendations that are shipped monthly to subscribers, helping them discover and refine their wine palate. The service also includes options for gifting wine, making it accessible for users to share their experience with friends. Bright Cellars aims to educate and inspire a new generation of wine enthusiasts through a curated and transformative wine experience.

YachtLife

Seed Round in 2017
YachtLife Technologies, Inc. develops YachtLife, a mobile application that enables yacht owners to charter their luxury yachts. The company’s application allows its users to find and book yachts. It serves customers primarily in Nassau, Bahamas; Chicago, Illinois; Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Newport, Rhode Island; Ibiza, Spain; Cannes, France; and The Hamptons and New York, New York. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

PrettyLitter

Seed Round in 2016
PrettyLitter's subscription lightweight cat litter monitors feline health by changing colors when it detects urinary abnormalities. For the same price and 80% lighter than traditional cat litter, PrettyLitter provides peace of mind, health wellness and convenience with the best cat litter ever created. www.prettylitter.com

DATTUS

Seed Round in 2016
Here at DATTUS, they may be experts in industrial innovations, but really they consider theirselves to be guides. They help their clientele navigate Industry 4.0. Nothing brings us greater joy than to implement a system that saves companies millions—literally—by achieving near zero-downtime while simultaneously increasing safety and decreasing overhead. They help industrial facilities compete with hardware and software solutions that enable data-driven decision making. Their platform provides a seamless path for industries to make their operations “smart.” This allows companies to ensure value delivery in maintenance and reliability, operational efficiency, process and quality management, yield and throughput, environmental health and safety — and post-sale support and warranties for machinery OEMs. Located in Indianapolis, DATTUS was born out of an Entrepreneurship Program at Purdue University. In 2016, they won the Techpoint Mira Award for Best New Tech Product. While their roots are local, their vision is global. They believe in the promise of smart machines, the industrial internet - and the next industrial revolution. They’re committed to delivering on that promise to their customers, around the world.

Understory

Series A in 2016
Understory, Inc. provides real time datasets and graphical views of the movement and intensity of weather events. It builds, installs, maintains, and harvests data networks in Kansas City and northeast Dallas. The company offers precision hail, hail forensic, and precision wind reports for advanced property level analytics; and weather verification reports that include precipitation date, precipitation event, ice dam conditions, and wind event reports. It serves insurance companies, and property owners and managers; and students and staff at degree-granting institutions, including high schools, undergraduate colleges and universities, and post-graduate degree programs. Understory, Inc. was formerly known as Winstruments, Inc. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

OpenHomes

Seed Round in 2015
OpenHomes Inc. operates a residential real estate platform that facilitates the buying and selling of homes, primarily in Wisconsin. The platform connects qualified buyers and sellers, providing them with secure and immediate access to view properties in person, mimicking the experience of an open house. OpenHomes streamlines the transaction process by allowing users to communicate and negotiate directly, minimizing reliance on agents and reducing transaction costs. Additionally, the platform supports users with essential services related to paperwork, negotiation, and drafting, ensuring a transparent and comfortable experience for both parties involved in the real estate transaction.

Bright Cellars

Seed Round in 2015
Bright Cellars Inc. operates an online wine subscription service that personalizes wine selections for its members. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company employs a questionnaire and customer feedback to understand individual tastes and preferences. Using a machine-learning algorithm, Bright Cellars generates tailored wine recommendations that are shipped monthly to subscribers, helping them discover and refine their wine palate. The service also includes options for gifting wine, making it accessible for users to share their experience with friends. Bright Cellars aims to educate and inspire a new generation of wine enthusiasts through a curated and transformative wine experience.

gener8tor

Venture Round in 2014
Gener8tor is a nationally recognized accelerator based in Madison, Wisconsin, dedicated to investing in high-growth startups across various sectors, including software, IT, e-commerce, and MedTech. The organization operates three accelerator cohorts each year, in which it invests $100,000 in five selected startups. These startups benefit from a comprehensive 12-week program that emphasizes mentorship and tailored support, connecting them with a network of experienced mentors, technologists, corporate partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists. Gener8tor is also associated with the Global Accelerator Network and has been ranked as a GOLD-tier accelerator by the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project. Additionally, it manages Gener8tor Fund II, a venture capital fund that focuses on the software and technology sectors, aiming to invest in a minimum of ten companies.

Bright Cellars

Convertible Note in 2014
Bright Cellars Inc. operates an online wine subscription service that personalizes wine selections for its members. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company employs a questionnaire and customer feedback to understand individual tastes and preferences. Using a machine-learning algorithm, Bright Cellars generates tailored wine recommendations that are shipped monthly to subscribers, helping them discover and refine their wine palate. The service also includes options for gifting wine, making it accessible for users to share their experience with friends. Bright Cellars aims to educate and inspire a new generation of wine enthusiasts through a curated and transformative wine experience.

ReviewTrackers

Seed Round in 2014
ReviewTrackers is a customer feedback software that is used to measure and transform the customer experience. Its platform collects review data from review sites to generate new reviews that engage its customers and listen and respond to their comments to discover key business insights that enable brands to listen, comprehend and make data-driven decisions about what their customers truly need or want. ReviewTrackers helps busy professionals save time, money and resources so they can focus on what matters most of their customers. It was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Docalytics

Venture Round in 2014
Docalytics Inc. operates a cloud-based platform for marketing and sales communication. Its platform allows companies to leverage their marketing documents to generate and sell leads; and provides analytics and tracking tools. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As of February 18, 2016, Docalytics Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Contently Inc.

EatStreet

Series B in 2014
EatStreet is an online and mobile food ordering service that streamlines commerce between restaurants and diners. To college students and young professionals, EatStreet is a smart, simple, and affordable way to order delivery and takeout from their favorite restaurants. To restaurant owners, EatStreet is a one-stop-shop for online ordering and marketing. By providing web, mobile, and social products for online ordering, EatStreet brings in new business for restaurants. Diners enjoy the upside of fast, simple ordering while restaurants see their sales soar. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, United States.

Spirit Shop

Seed Round in 2014
SpiritShop.com is the leading online apparel and merchandise retailer for officially licensed high schools and amateur sports teams in the US. Spirit Shop sells through its own 100,000 online school and team stores offering more than 20,000 products with stock and customizable designs. Spirit Shop also integrates its ecommerce platform for online retailers, team registration software companies, sports leagues, national and state athletic associations as well as national sports media companies including CBS MaxPreps, USA Today HS Sports, Varsity News Network and more.

OpenHomes

Seed Round in 2013
OpenHomes Inc. operates a residential real estate platform that facilitates the buying and selling of homes, primarily in Wisconsin. The platform connects qualified buyers and sellers, providing them with secure and immediate access to view properties in person, mimicking the experience of an open house. OpenHomes streamlines the transaction process by allowing users to communicate and negotiate directly, minimizing reliance on agents and reducing transaction costs. Additionally, the platform supports users with essential services related to paperwork, negotiation, and drafting, ensuring a transparent and comfortable experience for both parties involved in the real estate transaction.

Docalytics

Seed Round in 2013
Docalytics Inc. operates a cloud-based platform for marketing and sales communication. Its platform allows companies to leverage their marketing documents to generate and sell leads; and provides analytics and tracking tools. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As of February 18, 2016, Docalytics Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Contently Inc.

Music Dealers

Convertible Note in 2013
Music Dealers provides sync-licensing and artist discovery solutions that enable visual media creators such as advertising companies, filmmakers, game developers, and more to streamline the complexity of working with independent music. Clients also use the company’s services to gain access to the collective intelligence of crowd-sourcing and original custom content. Brand clients use the company's search service as a versatile platform to identify unique artists for corporate campaigns. The company is based in Chicago, with offices in Atlanta, New York, Mexico City, and London.

Scanalytics

Funding Round in 2013
Scanalytics Inc. offers software solutions to monitor and analyze customer behavior at retail stores and events. It offers a system that automates and analyzes information for actionable insights; and Analysis Lab, an actionable comparison tool that allows users to fine-tune their operations to create the profit machine. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Scanalytics

Seed Round in 2013
Scanalytics Inc. offers software solutions to monitor and analyze customer behavior at retail stores and events. It offers a system that automates and analyzes information for actionable insights; and Analysis Lab, an actionable comparison tool that allows users to fine-tune their operations to create the profit machine. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.