Corazon Capital

Corazon Capital LLC is a Chicago-based venture capital firm that specializes in early-stage investments, particularly in seed and Series A rounds. Founded in 2014, the firm combines a strong investment background with operational expertise, providing practical and actionable guidance to entrepreneurs. Recognized for its deep understanding of the startup landscape, Corazon Capital leverages its extensive network both within and outside of Chicago to support innovative technology companies across the United States. The firm was co-founded by Sam Yagan and Steve Farsht, both of whom have impressive track records in building and scaling successful businesses. Their experience includes founding several companies and leading significant growth initiatives, as well as participating in substantial investment activities. Corazon Capital's team is committed to fostering entrepreneurial success by aligning financial and operational strategies for the companies they invest in.

Nina Essandoh

Vice President

Steven Farsht

Co-Founder and Managing Director

Josh Graves

Investor

Greg Johnston

Vice President

Smriti Jayaraman Kekre

Investor

Phil Schwarz

Partner

Victor Westerstrand

Senior Associate

Sam Yagan

Co-Founder and Managing Director

Zhou Zang

Senior Associate

Past deals in Illinois

@hotel

Series A in 2022
TripScout, Inc. is a travel entertainment company based in Chicago, Illinois, established in 2015. It has developed an application that enables travelers to visually discover destinations through a variety of content, including articles, posts, blogs, photos, and videos contributed by influencers and publishers. The application allows users to create personalized travel itineraries by mapping relevant content, serving as an up-to-date travel guide for those eager to explore new places. TripScout aims to enhance the travel planning experience by providing a comprehensive platform tailored to the needs of modern travelers.

Amper Technologies

Series A in 2022
Amper Technologies, Inc. develops and operates a clip-on device that helps factory owners and managers to analyze power consumption of their machines, predict downtime, and deploy predictive maintenance. It offers hardware and software to improve productivity and OEE. The company offers a solution from the hardware to the software, including non-invasive sensors, Internet-connected gateway, and web dashboards, as well as online dashboard to configure and see alerts, real-time status, key metrics, and rich reports. Its technologies also provides plant managers in factories to increase machine and labor productivity by having retrofit sensor that monitors across machine types. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

@hotel

Seed Round in 2021
TripScout, Inc. is a travel entertainment company based in Chicago, Illinois, established in 2015. It has developed an application that enables travelers to visually discover destinations through a variety of content, including articles, posts, blogs, photos, and videos contributed by influencers and publishers. The application allows users to create personalized travel itineraries by mapping relevant content, serving as an up-to-date travel guide for those eager to explore new places. TripScout aims to enhance the travel planning experience by providing a comprehensive platform tailored to the needs of modern travelers.

Varuna

Venture Round in 2020
Varuna helps water utility leaders to effectively manage a water system.The Varuna platform collects, analyzes, and displays relevant operational and business data. The platform enables the utility to perform real-time water quality monitoring using advanced sensors, predict quality issues using machine learning, determine their resource needs, and generate up-to-date mandated reports with a few clicks. Varuna was founded in 2018 by Seyi Fabode, Jamail Carter, and Chris Karr.

@hotel

Seed Round in 2019
TripScout, Inc. is a travel entertainment company based in Chicago, Illinois, established in 2015. It has developed an application that enables travelers to visually discover destinations through a variety of content, including articles, posts, blogs, photos, and videos contributed by influencers and publishers. The application allows users to create personalized travel itineraries by mapping relevant content, serving as an up-to-date travel guide for those eager to explore new places. TripScout aims to enhance the travel planning experience by providing a comprehensive platform tailored to the needs of modern travelers.

Draftbit

Seed Round in 2019
Draftbit is a new way to build cross-platform, native iOS and Android apps in minutes instead of months. Whether you're a designer or developer, with Draftbit you can design your app visually, and then export clean, well-documented code and libraries that give you full control.

Mac & Mia

Series A in 2018
Mac & Mia provides a personalized at-home shopping experience that exposes moms and dads to boutique and specialty clothing pieces for their newborns to six year olds without any of the hassle of traditional shopping

Heretik

Seed Round in 2017
Heretik Inc. operates in the technology industry. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

SpotHero

Series C in 2017
SpotHero Inc. provides a digital platform for reserving off-street parking in North America, aiming to alleviate urban congestion by streamlining the parking process. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with an additional office in Detroit and operations in Toronto, the company offers a mobile application and website that enable drivers to locate, compare, and book discounted parking spots. Users can easily access information about nearby parking facilities, facilitating a more efficient parking experience and reducing the time spent searching for parking. SpotHero also collaborates with mobility companies to integrate parking solutions into their services, enhancing overall convenience for users.

Precognitive Inc

Seed Round in 2017
Precognitive, Inc. develops fraud prevention solutions. It provides Adaptive-ID, a device intelligence solution that performs a real-time assessment of each device, adapting itself to optimize tracking capabilities based on the device type, connection, and prior interactions. The company’s fraud prevention technology includes device intelligence, advanced behavioral analytics, and a real-time decision engine to detect and prevent fraud. It serves banking and FinTech, travel and entertainment, and ecommerce. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. As of January 18, 2019, Precognitive, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of ShopRunner, Inc.

Mac & Mia

Seed Round in 2017
Mac & Mia provides a personalized at-home shopping experience that exposes moms and dads to boutique and specialty clothing pieces for their newborns to six year olds without any of the hassle of traditional shopping

Remote Year

Series A in 2016
Remote Year, Inc. provides services for curating work and travel programs for professionals to see the world without quit their jobs. It operates a community of digital nomads from across the globe to spend a year working, traveling, and exploring cities in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and South America, as well as exploring the local community through cultural tours, speaking events, and volunteer opportunities. The company provides co-working spaces, private rooms, transportation, and community activities and events. Remote Year, Inc. was founded in 2015 and is based in Dover, Delaware.

Catalytic

Series A in 2016
Catalytic Inc. operates a SaaS based automation platform to remove data processing tasks. The product enable business users to rapidly build an intelligent automation layer to process data, documents, emails, web sites, and systems by coordinating people, bots, and AI. It can be used to automate tasks such as, scanning and generating documents & spreadsheets, automated response to triggers, and collection of data; connect to systems to push and pull data and to create custom integrations with APIs and SFTP; and to automate cognitive tasks with machine learning. Catalytic Inc. was founded in 2015 and is based in Chicago, Illinois with an additional office in Naperville, Illinois.

Catalytic

Seed Round in 2016
Catalytic Inc. operates a SaaS based automation platform to remove data processing tasks. The product enable business users to rapidly build an intelligent automation layer to process data, documents, emails, web sites, and systems by coordinating people, bots, and AI. It can be used to automate tasks such as, scanning and generating documents & spreadsheets, automated response to triggers, and collection of data; connect to systems to push and pull data and to create custom integrations with APIs and SFTP; and to automate cognitive tasks with machine learning. Catalytic Inc. was founded in 2015 and is based in Chicago, Illinois with an additional office in Naperville, Illinois.

Visibly

Series A in 2016
Visibly, Inc., a healthcare technology company, provides online eye examination services to patients in the United States. It provides a refractive eye exam that measures a person’s prescription for glasses or contact lenses. The company was formerly known as Opternative, Inc. and changed its name to Visibly, Inc. in November 2018. Visibly, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Pearachute

Seed Round in 2016
Drop in to the best kid classes in Chicago! Pearachute is a new way to help your child discover and explore activities that best fit your family’s schedule. From ballet to baseball, Pearachute gives you flexibility and variety - all in one monthly membership.

Monica+Andy

Venture Round in 2015
Monica+Andy is an operator of an online baby clothing shopping platform. The company's baby clothing platform offers an organic clothing line that enables consumers to purchase clothes for their children which are made from trustworthy fabric. Founded in 2014 by first-time mom Monica Royer, Monica + Andy was created from her heart to deliver the softest GOTS-certified organic essentials, to support new parents in a seamless shopping experience online and in Guideshops, and foster a community committed to making things better for babies and making things better for the planet.

Shiftgig

Series A in 2014
Shiftgig, Inc. operates a mobile platform that connects businesses in need of temporary labor with individuals seeking short-term work. Founded in 2011 and based in Chicago, the company serves various industries including healthcare, hospitality, retail, and experiential marketing. Its platform facilitates on-demand shift opportunities by enabling businesses to post job openings and allowing qualified workers to claim them based on their skills and availability. Shiftgig collects data on hiring requirements and worker capabilities to ensure efficient and timely matches. The company also provides tools for event management, enhancing the overall staffing process. In addition to its Chicago headquarters, Shiftgig has offices in several major cities, including Milwaukee, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and New York.

Curiosity

Series A in 2014
Why do people sneeze in sunlight? Why is a black hole called a "singularity"? Why aren't fish electrocuted when lightning hits the water? Curiosity answers the questions you never knew to ask, and digs into the things you've always wondered about. The company spun out of Discovery in 2014 and today reaches an audience of 70 million a month globally through a website, iOS and Android app, weekly podcast, daily email, Chrome extension, and Amazon Alexa skill. With five new stories on a variety of topics every day (plus thousands more to discover), it helps people have fun learning about everything from the scientific and relatable to the awe-inspiring and downright weird. Count on Curiosity to explain even the densest subjects in a way that's entertaining, witty, and easy to understand.

Monica+Andy

Seed Round in 2014
Monica+Andy is an operator of an online baby clothing shopping platform. The company's baby clothing platform offers an organic clothing line that enables consumers to purchase clothes for their children which are made from trustworthy fabric. Founded in 2014 by first-time mom Monica Royer, Monica + Andy was created from her heart to deliver the softest GOTS-certified organic essentials, to support new parents in a seamless shopping experience online and in Guideshops, and foster a community committed to making things better for babies and making things better for the planet.

Telnyx

Seed Round in 2014
Telnyx is a VoIP telecom service provider, providing a cloud-based platform that offers access to carrier grade voice services over the internet. It is focused on enabling a communication fabric for developers and platforms to integrate voice, messaging, and other forms of communication into their applications and to facilitate that communication universally. Telnyx accepts all outbound traffic profiles, including mission critical conversational traffic, short duration dialer traffic, and high CPS machine generated traffic. It gives its clients the complete control over their outbound termination. Telnyx was founded in 2009.

SpotHero

Series A in 2014
SpotHero Inc. provides a digital platform for reserving off-street parking in North America, aiming to alleviate urban congestion by streamlining the parking process. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with an additional office in Detroit and operations in Toronto, the company offers a mobile application and website that enable drivers to locate, compare, and book discounted parking spots. Users can easily access information about nearby parking facilities, facilitating a more efficient parking experience and reducing the time spent searching for parking. SpotHero also collaborates with mobility companies to integrate parking solutions into their services, enhancing overall convenience for users.

Visibly

Seed Round in 2014
Visibly, Inc., a healthcare technology company, provides online eye examination services to patients in the United States. It provides a refractive eye exam that measures a person’s prescription for glasses or contact lenses. The company was formerly known as Opternative, Inc. and changed its name to Visibly, Inc. in November 2018. Visibly, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Rocketmiles

Series A in 2014
Rocketmiles is a startup that lets travelers earn frequent flier miles in major airline programs when booking hotel stays through its site. It was built with the sole purpose of helping people travel more and travel farther. They feature a premium, hand-picked hotels in each city that have been screened by their staff of experts.

Inventables

Series B in 2013
Inventables, Inc. is a Chicago-based company that specializes in 3D carving machines, software, and materials designed for digital fabrication. Its flagship product, the X-Carve, allows users to create intricate designs in various materials, including wood, plastic, and metal. The company also offers Carvey bits, a tabletop 3D carving software, and Easel Pro, a cloud-based design tool. In addition to machines, Inventables provides a wide range of materials such as acrylic, circuit board blanks, and machinable wax, along with essential machine components and finishing products. With a catalog of approximately 30,000 items, Inventables caters to small manufacturers and designers, facilitating the production of diverse products from jewelry to furniture. Founded in 2002, the company aims to make manufacturing accessible and efficient for its customers.

GiveForward

Series A in 2012
GiveForward Inc. owns and operates a Website that provides personalized fundraising Webpages to raise money for loved ones during times of need. It offers GiveForward, a fundraising support system that provides online fundraising pages, allowing friends and family to raise money directly for a loved one when they need it the most. The company helps people raise funds online for various things, such as general medical expenses, chemotherapy, transplants, funeral expenses, and disaster-relief. It provides its online fundraising tools to individuals and non-profit organizations. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. As of March 29, 2017, GiveForward Inc. operates as a subsidiary of YouCaring Dot Com, LLC.